Centennial restoration

After a century of masses and baptisms,

St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral is receiving some much-needed structural care from TNT Construction and shoring up the old building with its antiquated construction poses challenges for TNT and HMC Architects, both of Reno.

"A 100-year-old building has a lot of things we aren't used to seeing," says on-site Project Superintendent Kirk Smithson. "When they are discovered, we have a lot of questions on how they are best handled. But we just refer back to the architects and the engineers. Their idea and concept of what has to happen on this building is all very straight when it is drawn, but when we actually get on site we discover all kinds of things that don't quite jibe."

The Roman Catholic church at Second Street and Arlington Avenue is constructed of brick atop a mortared granite block foundation. Time exacted a heavy toll on the three-story structure.

"The building was failing," says Mike Quilici, chief development officer for the Catholic Diocese of Reno. "We were going to lose this building. We weighed out all the various options, such as the possibilities that we would move, but we always felt this cathedral is a centerpiece to the diocese, and it has been for 100 years. There was no appetite to tear it down. We acknowledge it is too small for a cathedral, but we need to have a downtown parish and presence. This church now will be safe and sound hopefully for another 100 years."

One architectural twist was tying in the first-floor joists with the brick exterior, a time- and labor-intensive process. Additionally, decades of flooding had weakened wooden support posts in the lower level, so TNT will cut rotted sections and replace them with steel stirrups. Workers are pouring a hidden concrete shear wall designed to give the building greater stability, and they soon will install a large steel brace frame through the building's attic to tie in the existing roofline.

Tom Casazza, an associate with HMC Architects, says the most difficult aspect of the job is figuring out how to protect the building seismically while keeping its historic appearance and artifacts intact.

"It's definitely a very complicated structure," he says.

TNT also is replacing the roof and upgrading the building's electrical and sewage systems, as well as installing an elevator to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. TNT started work in April and expects to be completed Nov. 18 in time for Thanksgiving services. Crews were scheduled around church services until St. Thomas Aquinas' 100-year anniversary June 21-22; however, mass is now being held offsite as TNT removed the pews and is refinishing and raising the altar area.

The interior is a sea of scaffolding.

TNT has a crew of six on site but expects to ramp up to at least 10. The goal, Project Manager John Itzaina says, is to leave the building exactly as it was, only stronger and safer.

Construction is being funded through charitable donations, and Quilici notes there is plenty of work to be done in that area. "We still need to focus on fundraising activities because of the way we pay for these projects," he says. "We need everybody's help on this one.

"There are generations of people in this community that have real strong emotional ties to this place, and we were mindful of that," he adds. "We want to make sure that we preserve this building. We view it as a treasure and an enhancement to the downtown corridor."