TARPON SPRINGS — Leaders of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral have launched a $6 million capital campaign to restore the downtown landmark, where a leaky roof has caused water damage throughout the 83-year-old building.
The campaign, “A Legacy of Faith, a Future of Hope,” kicked off May 3 and has already secured $3 million in gifts and pledges, committee officials said. The active fundraising phase will run six to 12 months, with pledge payments spread over five years.
“One day we looked up, and we noticed water was coming in,” said Dale Terrell, the cathedral’s longtime caretaker and self-described unofficial historian. “There’s a lot of damage that has occurred due to leaks in the roof, which has been repaired bit by bit over the years. But we can’t do any repair work inside until we get the roof repaired. And it’s not cheap.”
Finding the right contractor is also a challenge, Terrell said.
“You have to find the right people, experts in working with copper,” he said. “It’s not like you can just look these guys up in the phone book.”
The cathedral at 36 N. Pinellas Ave. has anchored Pinellas County’s northernmost city since 1943 and draws thousands of visitors each Jan. 6 for the world’s largest Epiphany celebration. Greek immigrants built the original wooden church in 1907 and named it for the patron saint of seafarers. After fire destroyed that structure and the congregation outgrew its replacements, parishioners erected the current cathedral, featuring marble from Athens, Czechoslovakian chandeliers, hand-painted icons and stained glass.
Now cracks are showing beneath the soaring ceiling.
Church leaders identified additional needs at the cathedral’s interior and exterior, as well as at the adjacent Father Tryfon Hall and the nearby St. Nicholas Community Center. The parish council approved the capital campaign late last year and formed a Capital Campaign Cabinet to oversee the work.
Sylvia Marakas, a longtime parishioner, restoration committee member and the 2026 Epiphany dove bearer, said the campaign will preserve one of Tarpon Springs’ most iconic landmarks.
“It’s such a beautiful place,” Marakas said during a walkthrough, pointing to cracked plaster and water damage. “You don’t notice the problems unless you are in here all the time and you really look hard.”
The project will proceed in phases, according to a dedicated page on the church website that Marakas said is designed to ensure transparency. Exterior work — sealing the building, repairing the roof, restoring stained glass windows and replacing doors — comes first. Interior work will follow, including refurbishing pews and flooring, resurfacing walls, updating lighting and wiring, and cleaning the marble. The final phase covers decorative elements: cleaning and restoring existing iconography and adding new iconography to the arches.
“We want to get the roof and the ceiling done first — we’re in the process of getting bids now — and then move inside,” Marakas said.
Terrell said the cathedral’s place in Tarpon Springs history is hard to overstate. Residents once heard its bell across town, he said, and the neon cross atop the tallest tower “used to be a beacon for ships,” a tradition brought from Greece.
“It’s truly unique in the development of the town,” Terrell said. “It’s in the very center of the city, and it’s on a high point, too.”
For Marakas, the work is personal.
“I grew up here, and that’s why I’m involved,” she said. “This is something that’s very important to me, and it’s important enough to do. And we will do it.”
More information is available at stnicholastarpon.org.