Devshirme

Is the building project at the Cathedral completed?  Well, except for a few small things Phase 2 Stage 2 pretty much is (we are currently working on the kitchen, which is a separate part of the project).  We still of course have to raise some more money but hopefully that will come in good time.  The refurbished Cotsidas Auditorium as well as the classrooms and the new “Bumpout” are beautiful, and I look forward to all of the spaces getting heavy use.  Check out pictures here.

I have been taking pictures throughout the projects (the ones in the link above were not taken by me) but haven’t posted them – for the most part people could see through the doors what was going on.  But below are two pictures I took because they are a piece of history and can be considered Cathedral archaeology.  The stairwell at the Russell/Cedar Streets corner (the one by what was the Food Pantry entrance) was demolished as part of the remodeling, but a segment of stairs remained, now buried behind the wall of the storage area where the stage used to be.  Here are pictures of the stairs before they were sealed up:

How about some photos of the latest stage in the construction process?  The Founders Court and classroom areas (and my office) are completed, and work has begun on the auditorium itself.  This all started a few weeks ago.  I rolled into the parking lot one day and it looked like the parking lot was being strip-mined!  It turned out to be digging for the “Bump Out”, as we are calling the stairway shell and dedicated space for the Orthodox Food Pantry.  Here is a picture – from the lack of mountains of snow you can tell this is not the most recent picture:

You will have noticed that the seal is in place in the foyer.  There were rumblings about why there was a delay with this, and you know how stories can take on a life of their own.  The original seal was broken in transit and had to be sent back, so in the meantime the space was bare.  George K. – a true artist – came and put in the replacement when we received it:

Here is the last picture ever taken of the floor with the Grecian keys still in place.  The building project is awesome, but there is also a sad aspect – we will miss some of these things, but it is all for the best:

These are photos of the Cotsidas Auditorium abatement.  One of the main thrusts of this stage is, well, pushing back what was the stage area so there is more room.  The theory is that stages are used, in our case, five or ten times a year, so why not have portable stages that can be stored away, freeing up more room?  One irony in all this is that our architect did the Grecian frets design around the stage by hand when he was a 14 year old intern during  the original construction – this is bittersweet for him as well:

The entryway into the auditorium is being redone, and, as you can see from the frames, the design on the wall will, sadly, be covered up.  I am always surprised by how rarely people pick up on the Star of David pattern.  I have no idea if this was intentional in the original design or if it was merely meant to be a pattern of triangles which, when arranged this way, would of course result in a six-pointed star.  I don’t have much pull in the building project, but I will definitely work on our architect to somehow recreate this design elsewhere in the plans.  Here is what will probably be the last photo of the pattern for many, many years:

It is very exciting to walk through the construction areas and see that we are almost done with phase 2 stage 1 (it has taken me a while to get the terms down).  Here is a picture of the floor in the foyer – George K. was here literally all weekend working on this – as well as the door into the first classroom/my office area upstairs.  Some stuff still needs to be done – notice there is no glass in the door – but there is a palpable sense of the project being near completion.  I can’t wait until everyone gets to check it out in its entirety.

The project is really coming together, and we are hoping to have the occupancy permit and all that other stuff soon – we even scheduled the coming General Assembly – Nov. 14 – to be in the Founders Room.  Here are the latest pictures:

Check out these countertops – I want them for my kitchen!

And this is the ceiling of the foyer area, with a view from right outside the Tonna Room:

Things are humming along, and we hope to have an occupancy permit soon for the new rooms.  I took an impromptu tour of the work today while looking for something that finally turned up in one of the piles on the auditorium floor.  A few pictures:

This is one of the upstairs classrooms.  You can see the duct work and new windows as well as the nice orange/rust color of the paint:

George K says the bathroom tile will be done today.  Here is an “action shot” of the tile being put in and finished:

Today was a typically wild and wonderful September day at the Cathedral.   The Tuesday/Thursday preschool sessions started, and so Vaia had her first day of school.  By all accounts it was a success, and Prez and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Vaia had no first-day jitters, either – she pretty much dismissed us as soon as she entered the classroom and got down to business, and she is looking forward to Thursday.  The seniors took a bus trip to Foxwoods for a fun day.  There weren’t any big winners but all enjoyed lunch, shows, shopping and some light slot machine action.  The younger kids started Greek School today (older kids go on Monday and Wednesday) and construction continued apace.  George K. started putting in the bathroom tiles today – they are going to look fabulous.  There were some hospital visits and other runnings-around as well.  Finally, I met with our new GOYA officers and we plotted out the next three months in GOYA activities.  Pictures:

Some wood that will soon be going up – Ray, the construction manager, said there is way more on the way:

Two sides of the stage in the Church Hall (what we are now calling the area below the Cathedral) – most of it is now a Greek School/Sunday School classroom, while a small part behind the curtain allows for the altar boys to cut the prosphora, etc.

Another view of the foyer area:

GOYA met last night for the first time this fall, and it was a good mix of fun and service.  It was also an adjustment – our big room will all of the couches is now about half the size it was and, well, the couches are history, since they were all falling apart.  Jim V. directed the group in moving stuff around on the stage and in the church hall, and they were rewarded for their hard work with food.  We then had elections.  Everyone seems excited for a fun and busy year.  Here are our new GOYA officers:

President – Maria Parafestas

VP – Georgia Varetas

Treasurer – Helena Kiritsy

Secretary – Kostas Karamanakis

Congratulations to them all.  Here are a few photos of construction – this is a view of what you would see if you came in the back entrance with the auditorium on the right and the the bathrooms and foyer ahead to the left:

And here is the preschool classroom all set up:

Things are coming along, especially in the church basement/school part of the project.  Here is a view of one of the new classrooms.  Note the shade of green – conducive to learning – and the countertops:

These pictures show the installation of smoke detectors in the church.  We need to have these since the church building is now also a school building.  Due to the way they work and the structure of the inside of the church they shouldn’t go off due to incense but we will see

We are putting a link up on the Cathedral site (see column to the right) from the Family Center page to here – the idea is that you can check out the photos from the construction.  This is good motivation for me to post frequently.  Further motivation is provided by our new MacBook computer.  I finally made the transition to becoming a Mac person, and I am loving it.  On to the pictures:

This photo is from the upstairs classrooms in the auditorium and it shows the new ductwork being put in:

And here is a view of the entry to the foyer from the hall – check out the framed arch: