All Souls Cathedral repair bill tops $10 million after Helene

The cost to bring All Souls Cathedral back from Helene now stands at about $10 million, and the delay leaves one of Biltmore Village’s best-known landmarks still unusable while the neighborhood tries to rebuild around it. The cathedral, founded by George Washington Vanderbilt II and consecrated on Nov. 8, 1896, remains shut as work crews and preservation planners sort through a restoration that reaches far beyond cosmetic repairs.

The Very Rev. Sarah Hurlbert said roughly $4.5 million of the bill is tied to the sanctuary, choir room, library and restroom work alone. The rest includes repairs to the parochial wing, kitchen and education wing, plus ADA compliance and fire-prevention upgrades. The cathedral is also planning flood-mitigation measures, including deployable walls and gel bags, to blunt the kind of damage that hit Biltmore Village when Helene’s floodwaters tore through the district in late September 2024.

That storm left parts of the historic neighborhood under as much as 20 feet of water, and the recovery has been uneven ever since. A July 2025 update said nearly 70% of pre-storm shops were expected to return, with the full business roster projected by spring 2026. Some storefronts have reopened and started drawing people back, but the cathedral’s continued closure remains a visible sign that the comeback is still unfinished.

For worshippers, the damage changed more than a building. The congregation moved services to St. George’s Episcopal Church on Asheville’s west side after the storm, keeping parish life going even as members dealt with flooded homes and fallen trees of their own. Hurlbert said the parish remained active and socially engaged, but the loss of the historic home has slowed the return to normal worship and limited use of the offices that support the cathedral’s daily work.

Funding will come from a mix of sources. Hurlbert said the cathedral has already received FEMA grants and is working with Partners for Sacred Places and the National Register of Historic Places, with some local donors also pledging support. The project is more than a building repair for a church that serves as the cathedral for the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina and the seat of Bishop José A. McLoughlin. Historic sources describe it as the only surviving church designed by Richard Morris Hunt, which makes its restoration a test case for whether Asheville’s most iconic storm-damaged landmarks can realistically come back after Helene.