Historic Tarpon Springs church seeks $6M for hurricane damage repairs
Historic church repairs fundraiser
One church is a staple of the Tarpon Springs community. It has a rich history with deep ties to Greece. But after the 2024 hurricanes, the Greek Orthodox Cathedral started crumbling. Now the community is working together to raise money to fix it. FOX 13's Danielle Zulkosky reports.
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - Leaders of the historic Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Tarpon Springs are launching a $6 million capital campaign to urgently repair the building after it sustained severe damage from recent hurricanes.
Tarpon Springs cathedral history
The backstory:
The Greek Orthodox church has an 82-year history in Tarpon Springs, but the congregation dates back to 1907 when parishioners worshiped in a wooden building.
Dr. Michael Pikos, a co-chairman for the restoration capital campaign, emphasized the importance of the effort.
"It's significant to make sure that we can maintain this cathedral in every sense of the word," Pikos said.
Hurricane damage to church
What we know:
It is a beautiful building but take a closer look and the cracks start to show.
"We need to stop water leaking from the roof upstairs," said Tim Klimis, another co-chair for the restoration effort. "The windows are all going to be taken down, all going to be redone by the original company that did it 80 years ago."
The church took a beating in the last few hurricanes and now a simple rainstorm makes it worse.
Klimis showed crumbling plaster powder sitting on the windows where the walls are cracking apart with just a little moisture.
"A lot of it was just insidious damage that we didn't know about till more recently," Pikos said. "And all of a sudden, things are starting to appear."
Tarpon Springs sponge industry ties
Why you should care:
This church is deeply important to many individuals with ties to the local community and the historic sponge industry.
"And the spongers were the ones who really, really built this church," said John Lulias, the third co-chair.
Lulias explained that every time boats came in to sell sponges, a percentage went to the church, which is how it was built.
The building also features marble from the same mountain as the Acropolis in Greece, giving the cathedral a highly unique history.
Cathedral fundraising project numbers
By the numbers:
The group currently has about $3.2 million pledged toward their $6 million goal.
$1.2 million will go toward phase one, which involves repairing the roof and windows.
The remaining money will go toward restoring the inside of the cathedral, updating Tryfon Hall, and the St. Nicholas Community Center in phase two.
"All these icons, though, are all hand-painted. However, they're painted on vinyl," Klimis said, noting the vinyl will come down so what is behind it can be cleaned and restored.
Remaining restoration timeline details
What we don't know:
While campaign organizers know the full project will cost $6 million, the exact timeline for completing the second phase of construction has not been detailed.
Phase one repair bids
What's next:
Bids for phase one come out soon with a goal of starting construction in September.
The windows will all be taken down and redone by the original company that completed them 80 years ago.
"For us, it's something that our grandparents and parents were part of," Lulias said. "And we want to continue that to be able to keep the church."
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from interviews with restoration capital campaign co-chairs Dr. Michael Pikos, Tim Klimis, and John Lulias, as well as historical details and financial figures regarding the church's repair project.