In a city of glass and steel, master stone carver Chris Pellettieri is preserving an art form that has shaped skylines for centuries.

Pellettieri, 58, has spent more than three decades chiseling and shaping blocks of marble and sandstone into a variety of stone carvings — a skill he says has taught him patience, and given him a sense of pride.

Raised in New York City, Pellettieri graduated from college still searching for a career that inspired him. At 21, he found it at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where he joined a paid apprentice program called Cathedral Stoneworks.

There he was trained in stone carving techniques to help the Episcopal Diocese of New York complete construction of the massive Gothic Revival building. After two years, he left to pursue a freelance career in the trade. The apprentice program was discontinued in 1993. The Cathedral is still a work in progress, according to the diocese.

Today, Pellettieri can be found in his midtown Manhattan workspace he describes as “intentionally obsolete.” While most modern-day stone carvers rely on machines that scan and duplicate, Pellettieri’s work remains hands-on from the first whack of the hammer.

Projects include a marble portrait bust, a church façade carving in Virginia and custom fireplace mantels. He has also inscribed memorial names for Jewish Temples.

Though his career has been fulfilling, it hasn’t always been steady. “That’s kind of what got me the courage to say, I’m going to start this nonprofit,” he said.

He founded the Pellettieri Stone Carvers’ Academy, a nonprofit dedicated to training new craftspeople and raising awareness of the fading trade. “It took me 25 years to build the confidence to teach,” Pellettieri said. “Hopefully I can give other people the same kind of… joy that stone carving gave me in my life."

Preservation experts say his work is vital. “The traditions of stone carving in the U.S. come from European traditions,” said Scott Henson, a preservation architect with Henson Architecture in New York City. “During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, European immigrants brought those skills with them,” Henson said. “That’s why you see elaborate stone carvings across New York City.”

“It’s a little bit of a dying art,” added Blaire Walsh, director of preservation services at the New York Landmarks Conservancy. “We’re very concerned about what the next generation of stone carvers will look like,” Walsh said. “Where they’ll come from and how they’ll learn.”

Pellettieri hopes his academy will help answer those questions. “My hope,” he said, “is that a hundred years from now, because of what I’m doing, young people still have the awareness and the ability to engage with these kinds of traditions.”

AP video by Joseph B. Frederick