Fundraising Hurdles Loom as St. Theodosius Cathedral Begins Rebuild

This article was published through an exclusive content-sharing agreement with neo-trans.blog.

Cleveland’s Landmarks Commission today approved a two-phased plan to rebuild the fire-damaged St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral — not only to protect the church’s decoration-laden interior from the elements now, but to help revive the congregation’s stalled fundraising efforts for a full $17 million rebuild.

A full rebuild of the historic cathedral at this time is not possible due to a lack of funds, estimated to be about $5.6 million short. That’s according to members of a team of architects, engineers and church leaders who are working to help the 114-year-old edifice in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood recover from a May 28, 2024 fire and subsequent water damage in extinguishing the flames.

St. Theodosius is located at 733 Starkweather Ave. The cathedral’s rebuilding team is led by James Wamelink, vice president at WR Restoration of Twinsburg, selected by Father Jan Cizmar and the parish to be the restoration project’s construction manager.

The team includes Bostwick Design Partnership of Cleveland, EverGreene Architectural Arts, Inc. of New York City, Osborn Engineering of Cleveland and Radius Track Corp. of Crystal, MN. The latter firm makes precision-engineered metal framing systems for curved and complex buildings.

Within hours of the fire being put out, temporary repairs were made to prevent the roof from collapsing. All but two of the cathedral’s 13 distinctive, copper-wrapped, onion-shaped domes were removed and placed into a secure storage area. So were many of the church’s valuable, removable interior decorations.

But when the rebuilding team went out for construction bids this past summer, they came back significantly more expensive than the $10 million that two insurance companies were willing to cover at this time — with more possible pending an unresolved legal dispute. Additionally, an unknown amount was raised from among several fundraisers.

The increased expense is the result of unexpected damage discovered in an attic plus new federal tariffs. The latter is estimated to incur more than a half-million dollars in additional cost, team members told the Landmarks Commission.

So a two-phased rebuilding plan was presented to and approved by the Landmarks Commission. Restoration of the eight small domes, two of the four medium-sized domes and the one large dome at the center will have to come later — possibly by securing sponsors for each of the rebuilt domes. The 13 domes, which are actually one onion dome and 12 cupolas, represent Jesus and the 12 Apostles.

The rebuilding plan also includes the use of less-expensive materials — such as asphalt roof shingles instead of pricey slate that was added in 2002 and aluminum panels rather than costly copper on the rooftop barrel vaults.

But it is the intention of the rebuilding team to reconstruct the 11 domes out of copper so that, after years of weathering, they will match the two green-aged domes that remain, said David Hogue, a senior associate at Bostwick Design Partnership.

“At this point, the church has secured a civic amount of fundraising, but I think as of late that fundraising has slowed and essentially come to a halt,” he said. “And I think a large part of it is, from talking with the church, they think that they just haven’t seen enough progress on the exterior. So the thinking is, if they can see the roofs start to be restored, the domes start to be restored, people may be more willing to donate.”

However, the domes would not return until phase two. On the inside, it is not ready to accept congregation members and visitors because of the destroyed ceilings and structural pieces, Hogue added. The congregation has been out of the church for more than a year. All church services are held in the hall next to the cathedral.

Donations to the church can be made at the St. Theodosius Web site.

“So we think that when we can demonstrate progress, if we can obtain some sort of even partial occupancy on the inside, people will start to trust that the restoration is possible and is feasible, and the hopes are that the fundraising efforts and donations would continue,” he said.

Last winter, a three-phase rebuilding plan was envisioned but the latter two phases were combined into one. They could be separated out into additional phases with each dome or group of domes added, depending on fundraising, however.

“What would be more impactful are those domes so if you’re able to put the two (medium-sized domes) back that are intact as part of phase one, I think that would show that we are still rebuilding and we are missing funds from you (the community) to finish it up,” said Landmarks Commission Chair Julie Trott. “But overall I’m in support of the revisions, so thank you for the care of a great facility.”

In addition to repairing damage to the church’s roof structure and copper domes, the rebuilding team will restore stained-glass windows, interior finishes such as frescoes, plasterwork, and marble floors, heating-ventilating-cooling systems, plus chandeliers and other lighting.

The fire accidentally began when another contractor was making repairs to copper on the roof. Initial efforts to stabilize the church and keep its roof from collapsing were made within hours of the fire being extinguished. That included using the latest technology to map out how best to bring back the historic cathedral.

St. Theodosius Cathedral is considered by many to be one of the finest examples of Russian church architecture in the United States. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It was constructed for a mere $70,000 in donations by the people of Cleveland and possibly beyond. It is believed that Russia’s Czar Nicholas II–the one whose entire family was murdered during the Revolution of 1917–also contributed, according to local historians Michael Rotman and Jim Dubelko.

For more updates about Cleveland, sign up for our Cleveland Magazine Daily newsletter, delivered to your inbox six times a week.

Cleveland Magazine is also available in print, publishing 12 times a year with immersive features, helpful guides and beautiful photography and design.