Famed cathedral to get major restoration

NEW YORK - New York City's famed St. Patrick's Cathedral is 133 years old and is finally getting a much needed restoration.
  
The 133-year-old church's marble and granite facade is pitted and cracked. Exterior mortar has loosened. Chunks of stone are missing. Interior plaster walls are stained from candle smoke. Stained glass windows need re-leading.
  
The restoration is a huge undertaking that will be done in three phases over three years and will cost $177 million.
  
The first phase is already under way. The magnificent facade of the Fifth Avenue neo-Gothic Roman Catholic cathedral is shrouded in scaffolding. Inside, the choir loft and rose window also are obscured by scaffolding.
  
When the renovation is complete, the cathedral will be brighter and lighter, like the day it opened in 1879.