Washington National Cathedral needs major repairs after quake

From St. Louis-

The Washington National Cathedral will need "tens of millions of dollars" over "numerous years" to repair extensive damage to the nation's second-largest church after an Aug. 23 earthquake, church officials said this week.

The landmark church requires $25 million "just to get to June 2012, for the first phase of work and to resume worship and programming. We know it will ultimately be much more," Richard Weinberg, a spokesman for the cathedral, said.

The Episcopal cathedral, which advertises itself as "a spiritual home for all," has been the setting for presidential funerals and other major national events. An estimated 35,000 worshippers and visitors arrive there every month.

Its stone-upon-stone, hand-crafted Gothic architecture took 83 years, from 1907 to 1990, to complete.

In the earthquake, the central tower sustained damage on three of its four corner spires, and three capstones fell off. There are cracks on some of the upper floors and in some of the flying buttresses, a distinguishing feature of Gothic architecture, in the oldest portion of the building.

Read more:

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/article_f762cdb7-c1b1-58f4-9b14-1e91b9f2366e.html#ixzz1aBnJ43GI