Jul 20, 2009 10:27 pm US/Central
Holy Name Cathedral Renovated After Massive Fire
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Holy Name Cathedral underwent massive renovations after a fire damaged the church in February 2009.
CBS
It's hard to forget Chicago's beloved
church on fire as heavy flames and history went up in smoke at Holy Name Cathedral in February. The damage was severe. Nearly six months later, Holy Name is almost ready for worship. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine got a rare look inside the cathedral at the dramatic changes.
Some of them you see. Some you don't. They've been working 10 hours a day, six days a week, to repair and restore one of Chicago's architectural treasures.
On Monday, CBS 2 got an exclusive first look at the new Holy Name Cathedral.
Its huge 55-pipe organ, by far Chicago's largest, was being tested today as others continued putting the finishing touches on the cathedral.
The pews are being reinstalled after being returned from Wisconsin where they were all refinished. And the marble columns look like they've never been touched when in reality all the marble had to be stripped off.
"On the cast-iron columns behind the marble, we were draining 50 gallons of water out of either side of those," said Archdiocese Director of Construction Greg Veith. "And our fear was that they would rust from the inside and we'd never know it."
The water, poured on the 135-year old cathedral, for hours, as firefighters tried to keep its roof from collapsing.
Watch Raw Footage of the damage inside Holy Name Cathedral after the fire in February 2009.
One firefighter told Holy Name's Pastor it didn't look good.
"The first thing he said to me was, 'Dan its coming down, we've lost it.' His presumption was that ceiling had caught fire, and if it had the walls were coming down, and we'd be a pile of stones right now," said Holy Name Cathedral Pastor Father Dan Mayall.
Mayall says the reason it stands today is because of "eight fellas who went up into the attic with a hose."
Just over five months ago, CBS 2 started a climb to the attic to gauge the extent of damage to roof of Holy Name. At the time, all we could think about as we were climbing were the firefighters who had their hoses and air packs, and everything else they needed to fight the blaze 200 feet above the ground.
Five months ago, the path to the attic was just a maze of fire damage, debris and collapsed timbers. Now it has all been replaced; it's like new.
You can see the new wood, and the old, up in the attic above the ornate wooden ceiling, whose 23,000 panels have all been sanded and refinished, with the gold leaf that had long ago disappeared, now back.
Watch Raw Video of Holy Name Cathedral undergoing renovations.
There's still work to be done. The new slate for the roof has not yet arrived. They're installing new stained glass window frames and a new elevator. They hope to be done by Thanksgiving, and then they'll cross their fingers.
"We had our structural problems in February of '08, we had the fire this year in February of '09. We're gonna skip February next year," Mayall said.
They're still not absolutely sure what caused the fire, or its final cost, though insurance is expected to cover most of the $6 million repair bill. And bring Holy Name back to life on August 1st.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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