Downtown Mobile drivers may have noticed lane closures near the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception this week, as crews worked high above the historic building to replace lighting damaged more than a year earlier by a lightning strike.
Repairing Damage From a 2013 Storm
Lightning struck the 163-year-old cathedral in June 2013, damaging both its electrical system and its organ. According to Facilities Manager David Wilton, the organ has since been repaired, but the exterior lighting on the building’s domes still needed attention. Wilton said the current round of work, which is blocking nearby traffic, was expected to wrap up by the end of the week, weather permitting.
A High-Wire Job at 160 Feet
The work has fallen to employees of Huff Electric, a Theodore-based electrical contractor that has serviced the cathedral’s lighting for seven years. Crews are being lifted roughly 160 feet into the air in a metal basket attached to a crane to reach the domes, where they are replacing bulbs and ballasts and addressing damaged interior wiring. Wilton estimated the job involves swapping out about 100 bulbs and two dozen ballasts, along with removing unused fixtures that had been identified as lightning hazards.
For electrician Brent Turner, the assignment was something of a long-awaited opportunity. “I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks. I’ve been wanting to do this for five years,” he said of the chance to ride the crane basket up alongside the cathedral’s domes. Huff Electric owner Pat Huff said the vantage point is a rare one, even for a company that has worked on the building for years. “It’s not often you get an open view,” he said, noting he had only been up in the crane at the cathedral five times over the past seven years.
Services Continue Despite the Work
Despite the ongoing repairs and the lane closures they have caused, worship services have continued uninterrupted at the cathedral, with parishioners directed to enter through a side door on the building’s south side while the exterior work is underway.
The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception has long stood as one of downtown Mobile’s most recognizable landmarks, and the repair work reflects the ongoing maintenance required to keep a structure of its age and historic significance in good condition, particularly after storm damage of the kind sustained during last year’s lightning strike.