Larry Morgan Presents Construction History of Cathedral of Saint Paul

TKDA Engineer Larry Morgan was the featured speaker at this month’s meeting of the Engineers’ Society of Saint Paul. His presentation “Construction of the Cathedral of Saint Paul – From Concept to Masterpiece in 36 years” provided a look back in history on how this grand structure came to be. Designed by famed French architect El Masqueray, the Cathedral had a final construction cost of $1.625 million upon its completion in 1915. Today’s cost to duplicate the exterior and interior construction is estimated at $2 billion.

TKDA was founded in 1910 as Toltz Engineering and the firm was involved in the design of the Cathedral’s heating system. That original system is still operational. Of the more than 30 firms and contractors that contributed their skills to design and build the Cathedral, TKDA is one of only four that are still in business today.

The Engineers’ Society of Saint Paul has been gathering for monthly meetings since 1883. For Morgan’s presentation, TKDA hosted the group at its downtown Saint Paul office, just four blocks away from where Toltz Engineering was originally founded 105 years ago.

Download a PDF of the presentation! (5 MB)