The Cathedral of St. Patrick's America's Cathedral

On March 17, 2012, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York unveiled ambitious plans to restore St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which he described as “America’s parish church and the soul of the capital of the world.” The restoration was projected to cost roughly $175 million and to be finished in December 2015.
Upon entering St. Patrick’s Cathedral you were immediately greeted by steel scaffolding, clanging, banging and men and women hard at work on the restoration of our beloved New York City landmark.
The original construction of the Roman Catholic Cathedral Church of the Archdiocese of New York at 50th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan was built by the architect James Renwick during the administration of Archbishop John Hughes. Although it was estimated that building the Cathedral would take eight years when work began in 1859, the project took much longer because of its interruption by the Civil War.
While scaffolding covered much of the church’s interior, it remained open to churchgoers and tourists alike throughout its restoration.
St. Patrick’s, which opened its doors in 1879, is being restored with all the tools the 21-century has to offer. Much of today’s restoration work currently being performed entirely by N.Y.C. Building Trades is cosmetic in nature, i.e. stone repair and replacement, stained glass cleaning and repair and plastering and painting.
Scaffolding, which encompassed much of the Cathedral, inside and out was an essential part of the construction process, enabling all trades to perform their respective tasks. As a result of it’s perpetual moving and reconstructing, furnishing and maintaining temporary light and power is an ongoing process vital to the success of the project.
Local 3, represented by B&G Electric is the sole electrical contractor on site. Their contract includes but is not limited to removal and re-installation of every lighting fixture in the church, after a Local 3 restoration company refurbished them.
A new Audio Visual System has replaced aged speakers and monitors with a state of the art system requiring miles of fiber optic cable run through confined spaces including the Cathedral’s attic and its undercroft where deceased Cardinals are laid to rest in a crypt.
The attic and its one hundred thirty plus year old dried timbers are being protected by a new fire-suppression system that relies on mist, instead of large amounts of water that would cause catastrophic structural damage. This system in itself is an elaborate fire alarm wiring system being performed by Local 3 journeypersons.
Modernization of security systems as well as large segments of the renowned pipe organ system, the electrification of the north tower bells formerly rung by hand, and extensive HVAC power and control wiring, in addition to countless other projects manage to keep between 15 to 25 journeypersons busy for the duration of St. Patrick’s renovation.
After much of the cosmetic work was complete, the Holy Father, Pope Francis graced New York with a visit. St. Patrick’s will now undergo a more comprehensive infrastructure restoration with new electrical vaults and an elaborate geothermal system. The state of the art geothermal system designed to enhance the newly installed HVAC system delves to 2200 feet below the bedrock foundations of Manhattan.
During the course of the restoration, Timothy Cardinal Dolan and Monseigneur Robert Ritchie have hosted blessings for the Cathedral workers including a special Mass and more recently an outdoor barbeque in the Parish house courtyard where they held a luncheon for over two hundred Building Trade Unionists.
Did you know? From October 1888 until October 1890, St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 330 feet high was the tallest building in New York City and the second tallest in America surpassed only by Philadelphia’s City Hall.