Holy Trinity Cathedral, a century-old Byzantine Revival landmark in downtown Salt Lake City, is heading into a full seismic overhaul more than five years after the magnitude 5.7 Magna earthquake damaged the building’s interior. Church leaders say the cathedral was found to be structurally sound overall, but the quake drove cracks through roughly 1,500 feet of interior wall surfaces, pushing the project well beyond a basic repair.
The plan is as hands-on as it gets for a historic brick building. Crews will strip the structure back to bare brick, then apply shotcrete to thicken and strengthen the walls. According to parish leadership, the exterior wall lines will move inward about 6 inches on each side. Specialized cranes are also expected to lift the cathedral’s dome so a diaphragm can be installed under and around it, helping the dome move with the ground in a future earthquake. Stained glass will be boarded up during the work, and the iconostasis will be replaced, with original icons preserved for display in the museum.
For mason contractors and restoration crews, projects like this highlight what unreinforced masonry retrofit work really involves: careful demolition, protection of historic features, tight access planning, and constant coordination with structural engineers. Because the cathedral is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, approvals must go through federal historic preservation review before repair work can begin.
The broader takeaway for the Utah market is clear. The Utah Geological Survey has tied major losses from the 2020 quake to older unreinforced masonry buildings. FEMA has estimated there are more than 140,000 unreinforced masonry buildings along the Wasatch Front, and Salt Lake City’s “Fix the Bricks” program is aimed at reducing collapse hazards before the next big event. Funding for Holy Trinity’s work is expected to come from a mix of grants and fundraising, including $1 million already appropriated by the Utah State Legislature, with the parish working to cover its share as the project moves ahead.
Read the full, original article from Hoodline here.