Chicago's Historic Holy Name Cathedral On Fire From Renovation It Appears

How often while trying to improve on something that wasn't terribly broken in the first place does an historic building or home or what have you end up in worse shape than it was before the so called improvement specialists made the scene?

Here's a little quick story ........I once had an attic fan installed in my townhouse at the time to "save energy" in 1990 (below) and 1 week after it's installation the damn thing overheated and caused a fire in my attic, and the night before I had been at a Blackhawks game returning home at about 2 am on a Monday morning.

So In a deep sleep at 5 am a few minutes before work get up time my neighbor is banging on my front door at at which I semi awaken to answer, and he's all juiced up going like "man ....Ray your roof is on fire!!" and I keep looking at my car in the driveway a few feet away thinking he meant my convertible, and he's like "no, no,.... wake up man, your roof's on fire, your house man!!"


Then I wake up.. and he had already called the fire department and they proceeded to do their job upon their arrival minutes later which was putting out the small fire, something I really coulda' done with a garden house if I had one long enough and some planning, and so when they were done about twenty minutes later I was left with a flooded attic that ruined 2 rooms of my indoor ceiling, the obvious roof damage, an oriental rug all dirtied up from mud and water and about a 10,000 total damage bill!!! (homeowners picked up at a later date)

All for a Go* Blessed, do gooder attic fan to save a few bucks on energy and air conditioning!!! That's part of the reason I started hating environmentalists adn liberals.......lol kind of


Well this morning Chicago's century old Holy Name Cathedral across the street from the equally historic Water Tower Pumping station and world famous Water Tower Place, an upscale indoor shopping mall, once burned down in the infamous Chicago fire and was then later rebuilt by the parish.


It is now facing the same fate after a fire has broken out and is presently burning at 7:45 am, having apparently started in the darkness this morning ahead of what was to be a congratulatory service at 6am for the repairs being done as a result of the repairs being done .! (can you say illegal construction workers, my personal early thought and opinion)

How tragically ironic is that? (this is a picture of it's beauty and majestic architecture, spent a few Christmas eve's in these pews myself over the years) Church website here

Fire at Holy Name Cathedral

- Chicago Breaking News: "Flames shot off the roof of Holy Name Cathedral this morning. More than an hour later, firefighters were still pouring water.

Jimmy Lago, chancellor of the archdiocese, called the damage 'awful.'

'It's a tragedy just to see it,' he said. '...My heart goes out to the parishioners and those who worship here.'


The five red, broad-brimmed cardinals' hats, or galeros, suspended from the ceiling, were soaked, Lago said. Each of those hats was raised to the ceiling on a cardinal's death.

The fire may have been related to some renovation. Lago noted that work was being done on pillars in the cathedral and on some deteriorating wood high in the rafters. He said a worker was present at the time the fire broke out, but didn't know if he was working in the area where the fire started. (Earlier, Lago said no workers were present.)

The fire was under control at 7:30 a.m., but fire officials said they still would make larger holes in the roof to pour in more water.

Cardinal Frances George was on his way to the scene.

The fire started in an attic area in which major repairs were being made. The cathedral had been closed for six months to undergo major structural repairs and had only reopened at the end of august, church officials noted......continued

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