Charlie Gee

In Nina Heyn’s recent Food for the Soul reportage about the reopening of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, she noted that a wide range of artisans—including sculptors, glassmakers, carpenters, and stonemasons—must necessarily be involved in any cathedral restoration project. More than 2,000 skilled builders and tradespeople took part in the rebuilding of Notre-Dame after the dreadful 2019 fire, but globally, those skills remain in short supply.

Attracting young people to a career in stonemasonry or other preservation and restoration trades is one of the reasons why 23-year-old British stonemason Charlie Gee shares videos of his cathedral masonry work online.

Gee’s stonemason father, who likewise restores historic landmarks, inspired Charlie to become a cathedral stonemason beginning at age 15. After a three-year course at the UK’s Weymouth College, Gee was accepted for a prestigious four-year apprenticeship at York Minster cathedral and York College, receiving what he describes as the best cathedral stonemasonry training available in England.

Although the now self-employed Gee was not part of the Notre-Dame effort, he has already worked not just on York Minster but also Cologne Cathedral in Germany, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, and the Palace of Justice in Brussels. Explaining the deep artistry involved in this type of work, he says,

“The difference between commercial and cathedral stonemasonry is that commercial stonemasons use a lot more power tools and usually want to get the job done as quickly as possible…. I’m always using a mallet and chisel, which is a lot more traditional.”

American Michael Burrey—one of only nine U.S. artisans involved in the Notre-Dame restoration—shares Gee’s passion for preservation carpentry and masonry and noted that when the Paris cathedral burned, “one of the big questions … was if they had the talent to reproduce it in kind.” Fortunately, expert stone carvers, timber framers, wood-carvers, stained-glass artists, and organ builders were found, but Burrey warns against letting “modern conveniences, modern materials and modern engineering needs” threaten “thousands of years” of craftsmanship.

In the U.S., one in five college undergraduates majors in the health sciences, possibly funneling them into careers that perpetuate the Great Poisoning; another 19% major in business. However, there are reports that Gen Zers are also, in rising numbers, “ditching college for training in skilled trades”—and some of those are choosing historic preservation skills. Among the slightly older millennial generation, recent studies also encouragingly point to a growing interest in living, working, and “connecting” with historic places.

Acknowledging that he understands why young people might not initially be drawn to stonemasonry—“because it’s a lot of hard work and training and each job takes a lot of time and care”—Gee’s aspiration in sharing his videos is to convey the immense rewards:

“I hope that if people see how amazing it is to be working on these [historic] sites, they’re more likely to consider it…. I want to be able to spread the word.”