16.cathedral/fine/dt1st

No. 16

Agreements Reached for Downtown Cathedral

After two years of wrangling over a site, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ effort to replace earthquake-damaged St. Vibiana’s Cathedral finally got underway.

In October, ground was broken for the $163 million Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on a 5.5-acre lot at the corner of Temple Street and Grand Avenue in downtown. The cathedral, now set for completion in mid-2001, will be the new focal point for the region’s 4 million Catholics, the largest archdiocese in the country.

Construction began in earnest last month with the start of the first phase: an underground parking lot, administrative buildings and a residence for Cardinal Roger Mahony and his successors. Work on the 70,000-square-foot cathedral itself, which is being designed by Spanish architect Jos & #233; Rafael Moneo, won’t begin until later next year.

Mahony, along with the cathedral’s financial backers and city development officials, hope that the cathedral will serve as a one of the keys to downtown’s revival, especially the Grand Avenue cultural corridor that includes the Music Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art and soon, the Disney Concert Hall, which is now under construction.

Howard Fine