What does it take to do a massive spire-to-sidewalk, inside-to-outside restoration of one of Manhattan's best-known landmark churches? The crew assigned to the three-year, $177-million upgrade of St. Patrick's Cathedral has found it comes down to preparation, coordination and an enormous amount of scaffolding.
The project includes replacing marble on the facade and interior of the historic structure, which looms from Fifth to Madison avenues and from East 50th to East 51st streets and is on the list of National Historic Landmarks. It also involves repairing or replacing more than 200 windows and cleaning the pipes on one of the biggest organs in Manhattan.