Cathedral of Learning to get makeover starting in March

Emma Rose may only have contributed a dime to the building of the Cathedral of Learning, but… Emma Rose may only have contributed a dime to the building of the Cathedral of Learning, but her dime and others like it eventually became a big reason for its construction.

“I grew up in a family that was always interested in helping the community,” Rose said. “I was always told to save some money and to give some.”

Rose, 83, was one of 97,000 schoolchildren who gave 10 cents to the construction efforts during the 1920s. These “Builders of the Cathedral of Learning” were some of the first people to fund-raise for the Cathedral, but their dedication is still being implemented.

Pitt announced today that it will undergo a $4.8 million exterior preservation project that will begin in March. The project aims to clean nearly 70 years of soot and grime from the Cathedral of Learning’s facade and to replace and restore the building’s damaged stones.

Joe Fink, the associate vice chancellor of facilities management, said that continuous exposure to the weather caused the building’s deterioration.

“All buildings are subject to similar types of repair,” Fink said. “It’s something that happens over time.”

Part of the initiative for the restoration project came from the results of the 2005 University of Pittsburgh Civic Center Conservation Survey, which reported on the quality of Pitt’s historic buildings.

Fink said that the building started to become dirty as soon as it was built in the 1930s, and while the weather has washed and cleaned many parts of the building, there are also many parts that have been missed.

The building’s limestone will be washed with pressurized water, and workers will start to clean the walls of the lower levels before working their way to the top. Part of the reason for this, Fink said, was so that the workers would not disturb the peregrine falcons who are nesting on the Cathedral’s 40th floor.

“I think it’s important to spend the money so that it isn’t in a state of disrepair,” Fink said. “We have a stewardship responsibility.”

Albert Novak, the vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement, said that although the restoration survey may have crystallized the restoration project, the ideas to preserve Pitt’s buildings are not new.

Pitt intends to fund the project through a Cathedral Preservation Society fund raiser, which had two donors even before it was conceived.

Ellen and Loren Roth, the society’s first two donors, made a contribution to preserve the Cathedral of Learning years ago.

“It’s a symbol of our campus and the University of Pittsburgh,” Novak said.

Novak expects to raise money not only from some of Pitt’s alumni, but also members of the community.

“There were a lot of individuals who contributed to the building who never took a class [at Pitt],” Novak said, speaking of people like the “Builders of the Cathedral of Learning.”

“It’s a special building. We should feel an obligation to pass it on to those who come after us,” Novak said. “We owe it to those who come after us to give them a building that is well-preserved and well-taken-care-of.”