Head stonemason Joe Alonzo "I feel good" about repairs from earthquake damage #wtop pic.twitter.com/IfeuVm0Jis
— Dick Uliano (@DickUliano) February 18, 2015They repaired windows too #WTOP pic.twitter.com/znj4qtTluv
— Dick Uliano (@DickUliano) February 18, 2015This is a privileged view of the Center Boss Stone on the ceiling above Nave at Wash Nat Cathedral #wtop pic.twitter.com/9vVpTA9KcL
— Dick Uliano (@DickUliano) February 18, 2015You don't get higher than this inside Wash National Cathedral. 100' above the Nave. pic.twitter.com/d5HPK5uv1X
— Dick Uliano (@DickUliano) February 18, 2015The nave ceiling has been cleaned and repaired. First time it was touched in 75 years #Wtop pic.twitter.com/4R9sWwIvY9
— Dick Uliano (@DickUliano) February 18, 2015Earthquake restoration in nave is complete. Inside scaffold coming down tomorrow #Wtop pic.twitter.com/wO6eMWLdqS
— Dick Uliano (@DickUliano) February 18, 2015You wouldn't't otherwise see these stained glass because they're near top of the nave #Wtop pic.twitter.com/jMYzlbrvkF
— Dick Uliano (@DickUliano) February 18, 2015So I'm on scaffolding 65' high in the National Cathedral #wtop pic.twitter.com/a3W3eQXo5O
— Dick Uliano (@DickUliano) February 18, 2015
WASHINGTON — The scaffolding inside the Washington National Cathedral is coming down this week as the interior restoration to repair damage from the 2011 earthquake wraps up.
But before the scaffolding disappears members of the media were given the chance to get an up-close look at the repairs to the stone ceiling, stained-glass windows and six flying buttresses.
To reach the platform soaring 65 feet above the floor of the church, first you scrunch into a tiny elevator with others for the ride up. Then you must squeeze through horizontal stone columns where the walk space is so narrow, you hunch your shoulders to fit through.
Then there’s an 8-foot ladder to climb before reaching the scaffolding, which soars above the floor of the cathedral.
“Where the earthquake shook the building, mortar between stones became loose. So we took that mortar out and put new mortar in,” said Jim Shepherd, director of preservation and facilities at the cathedral. He spoke from a podium erected on the scaffolding above the nave of the cathedral.
To see more repairs, it’s down the ladder to a separate level of scaffolding suspended by cables above the center of the church. Here you can see the center Boss Stone, which hovers ten stories above the heads of visitors. The ornately carved sculpture depicts the Risen Christ with four of his disciples at his feet.
“The cathedral is in the shape of a cross. Right there at the intersection, this is the center point of the cathedral,” says Joe Alonso, head stone mason for the cathedral.
The magnitude 5.8 earthquake caused $32 million worth of damage to the cathedral that day.
To see more repairs requires another climb up a 40-foot ladder to reach the top scaffolding nearly 100 feet above the floor.
Using a green laser light, Alonso points above his head to masonry repairs to the ceiling.
“We cleaned a lot of the stone work here … mortared joints where the mortar fell out during the earthquake,” he says.
The vaulted ceiling of the cathedral had not been touched for 75 years until workmen conducted the earthquake restoration.
“We are celebrating today because it’s a great milestone to get the scaffolding out of the inside of our building,” says Shepherd.
But earthquake restoration at the cathedral is far from complete and the scaffolding visible outside the cathedral will remain.
“We still have a lot more to do,” Shepherd says. “We still have $22 million more to raise to finish all of the work on the outside of the building.”
