Cathedral Restoration Update

Board of Trustees get a tour of the clean up “behind the big wall”.

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Everything is “big” about our Cathedral.  It is the largest Cathedral in the world, and the largest Gothic building in the world.  So why shouldn’t our clean-up be the biggest too!  Many have wondered just what is going on “behind the big wall”, that 150 foot high bluish wall on the East end of the Crossings (it’s made up of nearly 500 four-foot by eight-foot sheets of plywood).

You all recall the fire back in December 2001, which did over $50 million in damages.  After several years of negotiating with the insurance company, we got a settlement last year, and are now well into a 3 year cleaning and restoration project.  This past week, the Cathedral’s Board of Trustees got a first hand tour of the clean up, and came away very impressed by the scope of the project, and the efficient way it was being carried out.

The fire began in the gift shop, which was built over the unfinished North Transept (unfinished, because all work stopped on the Cathedral with the bombing of Pearl Harbor).  The photo at left shows some fire burn marks, and the old gift shop roof is gone.  What you see in the photo is the North entrance, which was finished complete with steps but never used.  There was a lot of thermal damage to the stone, which was hot from the fire, and then rapidly hit with cold water.  Lot’s of fractured stone had to be removed, but what is left is quite impressive.

Here’s another shot of the North transept, showing an unfinished stone wall.  The Trustees are standing on the old floor to the gift shop, or what was the old floor, but is now a poured concrete floor protecting the boiler room below, which would otherwise be exposed to the open sky.  This was a remarkable portion of our church rarely seen by Congregation members.  Our thanks to Steve Facey (the Cathedral’s Executive Vice President), in the lower right corner of the photo, who led our tour, and who is overseeing this remarkable restoration project.

This photo to the left and right, taken in the Baptistry, shows a test wall we poulticed to get the smoke and soot off some limestone.  You can see the different color from the middle panel, which is so much whiter than the panels on either side.  You can also see the polychrome shields of saints, surrounding a statue of Peter Stuyvesant, whose descendants funded the building of this beautiful space. 

Bishop Sisk and the Rev. Canon Storm Swain (seen at left) review the amazing scaffolding near the high alter.  The scaffolding covers the sides of the great choir all the way to a platform which completely hides the vaulted ceiling.

The photo at the right shows the poultice method at work – it is a spray-on process that stays on for several days, and then gets peeled off like a face mask.  Once removed, most of the pollutants are gone, and some mild washing is all that’s required.  It was developed at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London a few years ago, and is great on intricately carved surfaces.

Your Vestry is trying to arrange a date for a tour for Congregation members, and logistics are being worked out, since it is difficult to fit large groups in these tight spaces, and we are limited to times when work is not being conducted.  Notice will be given when a general tour is available.  However, in the mean time, I hope you find this little update interesting.

Blessings and Peace,

Chris Johnson,
Chair - Communications Committee
cjohnson@linley.com
www.saintsaviour.org