|
Published by The New York
Times, May 16,
2004
Restoring the
Cupolas of a Landmark Cathedral
By ROSALIE R. RADOMSKY
The five copper
onion domes of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of
the Transfiguration of Our Lord at 228 North 12th
Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, are being reclad
as part of a $1.2 million restoration.
The yellow brick
structure across from McCarren
Park
is more than 80 years old, and it suffered damage
in a storm in 1995 as well as corrosion from
airborne pollutants.
Its five cupolas
— the central dome is 85 feet in diameter, and
four corner ones are 12 feet across — are being
reclad with sheets of red copper. The three-bar
patriarchal crosses atop the domes are being
refurbished, and the domes' yellow brick octagonal
bases are being repointed and reinforced during
the restoration.
"Given all the
water damage, the church is still standing and
there are no immediate structural failures," said
William Stivale, the project conservator, who
began reviewing the building's condition eight
years ago. "There were some leaks," he said, "but
not water pouring in like buckets."
"When a windstorm
blew the door of the main cupola open in 1995,"
said Mary Durniak, a trustee who was baptized in
the cathedral 75 years ago, "rain came down the
main cross, down the chandelier, into front of the
altar." The current work is to be done by October.
It is being financed in part with $350,000 from
the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and
Historic Preservation and $25,000 from the New
York Landmarks Conservancy Sacred Sites Fund.
Later phases are to continue the restoration of
the church.
The sanctuary
features a grand chandelier suspended from a sky
blue ceiling below the main dome and clerestory
windows.
Crosses removed
from two corner domes are now being resoldered and
cleaned at Schtiller-Plevy, the contractor, in
Newark, and the others will be done later. Next
month, the 950-pound bronze bell — where an A
rings out before 9 a.m. liturgy (in English and
Slavonic) at the push of a button each Sunday — is
to be suspended temporarily in midair so its
housing can be repaired.
The Byzantine-style church, whose rector is the
Very Rev. Wiaczeslaw Krawczuk, was built between
1916 and 1921. It was designed by Louis
Allmendiger, who modeled it after the Cathedral of
the Dormition in Moscow. The church became a city
landmark in 1969 and was put on the National
Register of Historic Places in 1980.
|
