General contractor, Hightower Construction, recounts in video some of the key details of the restoration work on the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston, South Carolina. All the events are presented in chronological order.

General contracting by Hightower Construction.
Cold molds by Hightower Boatworks.
Architecture by Glenn Keyes Architects.
Bells by Christoph Paccard Bellfoundries.
Brownstone restoration by Dan Lepore and Sons.
Cranes and lifts by All Carolina Crane.
The copper archways, finials and gilded cross are by Copper Exclusive.

This video is the property of Hightower Construction and is placed on this site by the gracious permission of the owner. All rights reserved. Please contact Hightower Construction for terms of use.

Administrator’s note:
A special thanks to Jimmy Hightower and his magnificent crew. Your persistence and creative innovation are an inspiration and we are all blessed by your efforts. Thank you.

Just before 11:15 AM on May 2nd, dressed in Sunday best, we walked toward the sound of the happily ringing bells of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist beckoning everyone to the Restoration Celebration Mass commemorating a 120 year long dream of a fully completed cathedral.  Strains of Johannes Brahms’ “How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place” (Wie lieblich sind Deine Wohnungen) gloriously streamed from the magnificent organ above the entrance calling everyone’s attention to the indisputable fact that this Earthly dwelling place was indeed, lovely.

A few pews in and there was our team.  Our friends.  Looking sharp in suits and smart in dresses.  A short while ago many of us met in dirty work clothes or with rolled up sleeves in offices…all of us problem solving and creating.  And there we all were in Mass together.  Some Catholic, some of other faiths and some who hadn’t attended a religious service in years.  The choir was nothing short of, well, heavenly, and the message delivered by Bishop Guglielmone was meaningful and thought-provoking.

A celebration luncheon followed the service. It is humbling to meet the people who made this phenomenal building project happen and who gave us this opportunity to work together.  Who knows what sacrifices each one contributed to the cause.  When you build for any client, you always want to give better than your best, but for this particular group we all went the extra mile.  This wasn’t paid for by a single wealthy individual or corporation.  This build was paid for by those who gave up family vacations and did without all kinds of extras, big or small.  This build was paid for by people who donated countless amounts of their time, their talents and their resources.  And it was paid for over the course of over a century.  These exceptional people could have given up after the fire and the wars and life’s challenges.  They could have put up something cheap and easy.  There are always choices.  But their choice was to stay with the dream and save for a lasting art piece to crown their Cathedral.  We will never forget that.

As we conversed with our work comrades, many behind-the-scenes stories began to emerge.  There were many “a-ha” moments and we began to understand each other in a way we hadn’t fully before.  But one common element was always present in every conversation.  That element was the gratitude of every team member for our providential meeting.  Our team just worked.  There was a synergy that no one had ever previously encountered and we all wished for more opportunities to work together again and again.

Who would have suspected that Jimmy Hightower’s expertise in boat building would have led to the ingenious cold-molds integral to the tower design?  It doesn’t seem now like there was ever really any other choice.  Maybe there never was.  The actual Cathedral building was built using old architectural methods, and the engineering problems weren’t limited solely to the building of a spire on this old-style structure.  Charleston is seismically active and hurricane-prone, and the list of challenges facing the structural engineers seemed almost endless.  We’ll leave off the numerous other challenges the Hightower team faced, but suffice it to say, they had the persistence, creativity and talent to effectively solve for all of them.  (Jimmy drives the long way to and from work every day just to pass by the Cathedral.)

Glenn Keyes Architects are considered top of the line in their specialty of historic restorations.  Rueben Solar headed much of the architectural work on the spire project.  If he hadn’t decided to leave for Charleston several years ago to pursue his passion for historic architecture, what a loss that would have been!  The steeple design is up for over 10 awards (at last count).

And who would have thought that somewhere out in Utah was one of the world’s top fine sheet metal craftsmen who would hold the key to effectively solving the countless copper spire related issues?

Somehow, the team came together and complemented each other, filling in the gaps.  We have a new found respect for one another and sincerely hope for many more opportunities to collaborate.

A big congratulations and thank you to EVERYONE!  What a story!  What an outcome!

Please consider donating to help the congregation achieve their debt-free goal.  They are almost there!  Every little bit helps.

Please visit http://www.charlestoncatholiccathedral.org/ or call (843) 724-8395 for information on how you can help out.

The pictures in the following gallery are a combination of pro and very amateur.  The really pretty (ok amazing) ones are likely the work of the Churches of Charleston Project.  Stunning photography and a marvelous undertaking.  Please visit their site!    The artist donates 10% of the sales of his photos to the church. We have purchased these images for our use, but they are still under copyright, so please do not use any of these images without first asking permission.  Thank you and enjoy!

Our project garnered the attention of master fine metal craftsmen in France.  They do some truly lovely work over there, and we are honored by their kind words.  This website, Echo du Coucou is directed primarily to European roofers, but of course all lovers of fine craftsmanship will enjoy browsing its content.

Click here to see the post: 

http://www.echoducoucou.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=530:copper-steeple-cathedral-of-st-john-the-baptist-in-charleston-sc-&catid=36:projects&Itemid=66&lang=fr

Thank you, Cyril for your feature!  Your website is fantastic!  We feel the love!  As you said,

“Quality ! A Hungarian in the USA chatting in French with Thomas in Poland, Gillou in Sweden, and Dan in Wales ! We are on an amazing road with this website ! Lets all together show to the whole world what roofing is all about, let’s show them that it is a profession a trade a metier and not just a job like many people think!”

Well put.  We’re all on a global mission to raise standards and make the Earth a beautiful place to live.  Hoch lebe unsere Spenglerkunst!

Liebherr is the brand of crane used in our spire lift.  This really fun clip shows the magnitude of Liebherr’s German engineering in an entertaining and certainly unconventional way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=RobaJKGMMiE

Have fun watching, and remember, don’t try this at home! 

A large part of our crew on lift day.  Pretty good looking bunch!

Click the photo for a larger view.

Photo courtesy of Mr. Douglas Deas.

Here are some links featuring the restoration of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist project in the news:

http://www.thestate.com/2009/11/17/1031566/a-century-after-construction-church.html

http://www.themiscellany.org/index.php/news/3137-lift-high-the-cross

http://www.live5news.com/Global/story.asp?S=12105396

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/mar/09/holier-skyline/

http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0310/713744.html

http://www.midlandsconnect.com/news/story.aspx?id=426613

Keep your eyes open for this documentary, too.  The Cathedral restoration will be a feature of this work.

http://www.thecharlestonfilm.org/index.html

http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2009/todays-news/charleston-cathedral-to-gain.html

Historic King Street Shopping

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2007/dec/17/holy_city_gain_new_steeple25195/

http://www.designandbuildwithmetal.com/Dir/ProjectType.aspx?pid=850&sid=1380&id=5

Holier skyline:  St. John’s now 167 feet high to top of its gilded cross

By Robert Behre

Charleston’s skyline was blessed with a new landmark Monday afternoon, as a crane hoisted a new copper-clad spire onto the top of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.

Shortly after Bishop of Charleston Robert Guglielmone shook holy water on the 16-foot-tall cross, he recalled a recent visit to James Island…

To read the whole story, please visit: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/mar/09/holier-skyline/

120 Years later, church gets steeple
Posted: Mar 08, 2010 4:38 PM MST Updated: Mar 08, 2010 4:39 PM MST

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – The mother Church for the Diocese of Charleston finally has its steeple. On Monday, the new steeple was raised at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on Broad Street, more than 120 years after the cornerstone was laid…  For the accompanying news article, please visit: http://www.live5news.com/Global/story.asp?S=12105396

*Followers of our blog will know that there is no fiberglass in the cross.  The ornate archway or “lantern” directly below, however, consists of a fiberglass form covered in copper.  Otherwise, a fun and accurate news story.

Click here for a quick review of how the cross was constructed:  http://www.stjohnthebaptistcathedralrestoration.com/general/966/the-cross-a-masterpiece-of-disguise/

Click here to review how the fiberglass cold molds for the lantern were built:  http://www.stjohnthebaptistcathedralrestoration.com/general/336/hightower-boatworks-and-the-steeple/

Take a moment to review some of our past entries.  It’s fun to see how everything finally came together!

ALL Carolina Crane Rental lifts the spire of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

The crane was the star of the show on lift day.  No doubt about it!  The leading man was crane operator, Michael Black, of ALL Carolina Crane Rental.

http://www.allcrane.com/

ALL lifted and placed our precious ornaments with surgical precision.   Every ALL crew member whether stationed above or below or somewhere in the middle ensured perfect synchronicity.  We were profoundly impressed.

ALL’s German-made cranes are state-of-the-art, and their highly skilled and experienced operators who, throughout their careers, have driven what they contend to be a spectrum of cranes, emphatically assert they will never operate anything but an ALL crane ever again.    We can see why.  We’ve come across the best machines and operators in action all over the world and we know great when we see it.  ALL’s expertise  was abundantly evident.  We are fans.

Though the glamorous and dramatic spire lift was what got the big applause, ALL has been helping us out for months now.  You’ve seen most of these pictures before, but here is a flashback from some of our favorite ALL crane moments:

More lift pictures of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist’s spire

By a stroke of luck, we were introduced to pro photographer and Charleston local, Jeni Rone, of Sea Star Arts during the last few days of our stay here.  Jeni is known for her fine art photography throughout the southeastern United States and has proven her professional mettle photographing all manner of places, events and circumstances.  Actively involved in capturing moments showcasing important proceedings in her very historic home town of Charleston, South Carolina, Jeni made no exception to exceptionally covering the pre to post details of this monumental day.

We purchased several of her photos which are featured below.  Make sure to buy some of your own, too!

http://seastararts.smugmug.com/Events/St-John-The-Baptist-Steeple/11457538_t7U9P#805911245_dwzE7

or

http://seastararts.smugmug.com/Events/Steeple-Installation/11473366_hkcrZ#807112616_Q53iE

All photos in this gallery are posted with the kind permission of the artist.  Thanks, Jeni!