NEW YORK – Three weeks after one of the biggest snowstorms in New York’s history set back the building timetable, the warmest day of the year gave workers of international construction giant Skanska USA the opportunity to pour the concrete for the floor of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox National Shrine at Ground Zero.
The auspicious event beneath a blue sky on February 20 is a milestone in the journey of the historic parish of St. Nicholas and an important stage in the construction process, but there was also personal dimension to the day.
A few miles uptown, the Greek-American community was saying farewell to Michael Jaharis, a man who was instrumental in the Church’s reconstruction near its original home. At his funeral in Holy Trinity Cathedral Archbishop noted the coincidence that moved the congregation of family and friends.
Although people given guided tours of the site – usually by Andrew Veniopoulos, project assistant for the Archdiocese – still need to hear a description of what is being built in order to imagine what the new Church designed by renowned international architect Santiago Calatrava will look like.
Soon visitors who until recently who had to be careful when walking on the narrow ledges framing the maze of heating, ventilation, and electrical elements will be able to stand on solid ground in the space that will eventually be topped by a majestic dome inspired by the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople.
Veniopoulos works on the project with the Archdiocese’s Executive Director of Administration Jerry Dimitriou and Fr. Alexander Karloutsos, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. As he crossed from the edge of the all-but-completed Liberty Park to the area that will become the Church’s Narthex he noted to TNH that a set of sliding glass doors will open into the nave.
From either side of the narthex people will pass through candle rooms where they can venerate icons before entering the Church. Nearby will be a gift shop and access to space-saving spiral stairways – although the new Church sits on 4500 square feet of land compared with 1600 for the beloved original St. Nicholas, spaced is still tight at Ground Zero, where Greeks are the only ethnic group in American history to be given the right to build on government land.
The stairways lead to the nondenominational bereavement center on the floor above the narthex and parish facilities on the third floor. Those areas will have windows onto Liberty Park and 9/11 Memorial Park.
Skanska employees Matt Stokes and David Tennies, a superintendent, provided some technical details for the buzz of activity. In recent days an 18 1/2 gauge metal deck was installed and on Saturday morning it was ready to receive the 5000 psi lightweight concrete.
Seventy cubic meters were being poured that day, donated – as is all the concrete for the Church – by the Titan Group and Corona Ready Mix. The Southwest corner of the Church received the first batch.
The pipes from the latter’s truck parked on Liberty soared above the site that so far consists of an interstitial space that is filled with HVAC and other components, and steel rebars that so far reach about four feet high.
That profile will soon begin to alter dramatically. TNH was informed that in about 28 days the walls and piers of the Church will begin to rise and after four to five months, in late summer, the steel for the base of the dome will be placed atop the concrete.
Readers can follow the construction progress live at stnicholas.org.
After the snowstorm, Skanska employees scrambled to remove the snow from the interstitial space and its crucial mechanical elements that were then open to the sky. For the next month the floor will be covered by a dark tarp. Later in the construction process the 4 ¼ floor that was placed on February 20 will receive a layer of insulation and another of concrete before the floor of pentelic marble is placed.
The Church’s exterior shell will consist of marble from the Athens quarry that supplied the stone of the Parthenon. And it will glow at night.
The pouring of the concrete is the last task undertaken by Skanska employees at the site besides overall supervision. The sub-contractors that will be working with the concrete walls and other structures are now being bid upon.