New York Magazine architecture critic Justin Davidson appraises MBB’s renovation of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

In “What We Can Learn From the Restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral,” Justin Davidson writes:

“More than 150 workers, directed by the architecture firm Murphy Burnham & Buttrick, made 30,000 separate interventions, planned and tracked with advanced software but executed by hand. Workers filled the interior with a city of scaffolding. Specialists climbed it to heal cracks in stained glass, fix shattered bits of tracery with invisible puzzle pieces of steel, scour soot off blackened marble, rebuild eroded filigree, replace crumbling stones, replaster ribbed vaults, and revivify wooden screens.”

Davidson continues, “The result is so conspicuously glorious that it makes Rockefeller Center look suddenly shabby by comparison. When Pope Francis steps into the high, cream-colored nave on September 24 to lead Vespers, he will see a building overhauled by hand and eye, a monument to fine-grained labor.”

Thanks to New York Magazine. Read the full article here.

MBB Architects is proud to have completed this project to conserve and seamlessly upgrade a cherished landmark, St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Our firm led a 10-year, $175-million renewal effort culminating in an award-winning restoration and sustainable infrastructure improvements.

The renovation of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, one of New York’s most visited destinations, required strategic planning and phased construction across a campus spanning an entire city block. MBB’s comprehensive project scope included preservation of exterior and interior surfaces-marble, slate, metalwork, ornamental plasterwork, decorative woodwork, cast stone, and stained glass-as well as the installation of new glass doors at the Fifth Avenue entrance.

Campus infrastructure was upgraded with a seamless insertion of sustainable systems, including a state-of-the-art geothermal heating and cooling system. Upgrades to the campus landscape accommodated new hidden infrastructure while creating new garden and terrace designs.

The entire project was conducted while the Cathedral remained open for daily masses, welcoming the five million visitors who pass through its doors annually.”