By Bridget Halloran
LACKAWANNA — The copper dome over Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica is about 80% restored, and the pastor says the scaffolding that has wrapped one of Western New York’s best-known landmarks should be gone by the end of next summer.
Monsignor David LiPuma, the basilica’s pastor and rector, told 7 News WKBW last week that a mild fall let crews push ahead before winter.
“It’s been beautiful,” LiPuma said. “It’s been a great fall, which means that we can really move along on restoring that beautiful dome.”
The cupola comes next
The next step is at the very top. Crews are getting ready to take the copper off the cupola, the small structure that crowns the dome, and put a protective covering over it for the winter, WKBW reported. LiPuma said the temporary cover lets the team see how it holds up through the cold months before crews come back in the spring to replace the copper and keep working on the dome.
Work is expected to continue into December, weather permitting, before a winter break. The current schedule calls for the dome and cupola to be finished in July 2027 and for all of the scaffolding to come down in August.
“If the weather continues and things move along, by the end of July, we should have the dome completed with the cupola and by the end of August, all the scaffolding will be down, and we’ll be able to see it in its entirety,” LiPuma said.
Why the copper had to go
The basilica’s own restoration page explains the problem. When construction was finished in 1925, the dome, 80 feet across, was the second largest in the country, behind only the U.S. Capitol, the basilica says. It has taken a century of lake-effect wind, rain and snow.
The original roof was 16-ounce copper sheeting. Most sections have worn so thin that new patches can no longer be soldered to them, according to the basilica. The replacement is 20-ounce sheeting, which the basilica expects to last more than 100 years.
“It’s amazing that, at this time in history, we can restore it for the next 100 years because it lasted 100 years; that copper dome lasted 100 years,” LiPuma told WKBW.
In an interview with Buffalo Rising in March, he described what crews found. “The building was in need of extensive work. The entire drainage system had to be fixed. The copper dome had holes in it, causing water damage,” LiPuma said. “The interior dome is being restored with its original beige colors, blue accents and gold leaf. And it’s all being lit up, including the murals. It’s been dark for so long – now you can see all of the details. It really pops!”
Who is paying for it
The dome is part of a larger restoration. Buffalo Rising reported that the total restoration was estimated at about $13 million and that a capital campaign launched in August 2024 with a $3 million goal.
A “Save the Dome” drive included an “Adopt-An-Angel” program, starting at $1,000 per angel, drawn from the 2,000 angels painted in the basilica’s frescoes. That effort alone raised more than $1.4 million from 2,808 donors, according to Buffalo Rising.
As of September 2025, the dome still had a funding gap of close to $1.2 million. New York State then provided $1.2 million, an amount originally slated to be $250,000, which Buffalo Rising credited to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Assemblyman Patrick Burke.
Other work has drawn on local hands. Kittinger Furniture Company was retained to restore the basilica’s African mahogany pews, and crews have been cleaning the four 18-foot copper angels that stand around the dome, Buffalo Rising reported.
What is still unanswered
The public figures stop short of a full ledger. It is not clear from published reports how much of the roughly $13 million has been raised, whether the dome itself is now fully paid for, or whether the cost has changed since the work began. The Buffalo Chronicle has asked the basilica and will update this story with its answers.
For neighbors along Ridge Road, the practical news is simpler. The scaffolding stays up through the winter and into next summer. If the schedule holds, the full dome should be visible again by late August 2027, a little more than a century after Father Nelson Baker’s basilica was finished.
The basilica is at 767 Ridge Road. Information on the restoration and donations is on its website.
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