JacobR
September 28th, 2009, 08:30 AM
http://www.exit133.com/images/2698t.jpg
Picture from Exit133.com (http://www.exit133.com/)
http://i.feedtacoma.com/photos/969-rand-3r86j9k5.jpg
photo from Tacoma Daily Index (http://i.feedtacoma.com/TDI-Reporters-Notebook/luzon-buildings-blank-canvas/)
http://www.kevinfreitas.net/img/20090926-078.jpg
picture from KevinFreitas.net (http://www.kevinfreitas.net/)
Demo pics here:Photos ~ Luzon Building Demolition (http://www.kevinfreitas.net/journal/photos-luzon-building-demolition/)
King5 Story (http://www.king5.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=402320)
Luzon: Within hours, four stories brought down (http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/895044.html)
KATHLEEN COOPER; The News Tribune
There was no stay of execution for the Luzon.
Demolition of the 119-year-old building began at 7:25 Saturday morning when a small excavator pulled away the wooden lean-to on the building’s north side. That revealed the red-and-white painted brick from the Fun Circus days, a stark contrast to the muted colors on the rest of the structure.
By midafternoon, the building was down to the second story. Project manager Jason Roosa said most of the debris fell where it was planned to: wood inside the building’s shell, and brick outside.
“There was a little bit more dust than we had anticipated,” he said, because the brick and mortar were deteriorated and soft. That required more water during demolition. The water was drained to basins and vacuumed farther south on Pacific Avenue.
Tests of the air from asbestos monitors were at the lab, he said, with results expected Saturday evening.
A handful of people gathered before the 7 a.m. scheduled start, pacing in front of the building in the early morning light. Virginia Haugen, a city councilwoman from Auburn, carried a placard that read “HISTORY DYING.”
Another early onlooker was Tom Heindel, who works for the Washington State Historical Society.
“It may not be a real pretty building, but it’s a terrific loss for the city,” he said. “God only knows what they’ll replace it with.”
Demolition work continued through the morning, and the crowd grew to about 50-60 people on Pacific Avenue, a handful on Commerce Street and three on the roof of the building behind the Luzon.
By 10:30 a.m. almost a third of the building was gone. The crowd stayed for several hours.
Late Friday night, local lawyers Jack Connelly and Jim Bush were working to find a judge who would grant a temporary restraining order to halt the demolition. Those efforts ended a day of desperate measures to save the structure designed by Daniel Burnham and John Root, two Chicago architects. The Luzon’s internal metal structure was an early precursor to modern skyscraper construction methods.
The city blocked off South 13th Street between Commerce Street and Pacific Avenue in mid-August because of the danger from a north wall leaning four or five inches toward that street. At the same time the city blocked off one southbound lane of Pacific Avenue.
Connelly said Saturday that Presiding Judge Bryan Chushcoff had agreed to hear arguments even as early as 2:30 a.m. Saturday. But Connelly said the group of people who were trying to save the building didn’t have legal standing to make such a claim, especially because the owner of the building wasn’t involved.
“There was some discussion about the fact that it was a political issue more than a legal issue, given the people involved” in the late-night attempt, Connelly said.
On Saturday morning, a high-reach demolition excavator stretched its orange arm to the top of the Luzon and pulled the bricks to the outside while dropping everything else into the cavern of the building.
Several people in the crowd said the demolition was sad, but it might have been necessary if the building was becoming dangerous. Others blamed the city for not doing more to save the building even though it’s under private ownership and has been vacant since the mid-1980s. Still others wondered why the money spent tearing it down couldn’t have been used to rehabilitate it.
“We all know: what government wants, government gets,” said Nikki Elrod, 29, of Tacoma. Elrod stood along Pacific Avenue with her friends Avery Giles, 31, and Cassie Hodge, 27.
“There’s a lesson to be learned in all this,” said Frank Rossiter, 81, of Fircrest.
But nobody seemed to agree on what it might be.
“I thought we were just a lot more sophisticated on historic preservation stuff,” said historic preservation consultant Michael Sullivan.
Sullivan said he believes the desire to remove the Luzon, instead of bracing it for rehabilitation, stems in part from the presence of the shiny new Pacific Plaza across 13th Street. The $40 million project was planned and constructed by a partnership comprising the city and PCS Structural Solutions.
Sullivan didn’t view the demolition Saturday, saying it seemed ghoulish.
City manager Eric Anderson, who ordered the demolition, did attend.
“Personally it makes me sick,” he said by phone later Saturday. “I hate losing that building.” Anderson paused for several seconds, then sighed. “It’s just a shame,” he said. But historic preservation isn’t a single agency’s charge.
“It’s not something that the city can do something about all by itself,” he said. “The usual answer is throw a bunch of money at something and that will change it.”
The Luzon reverberations will continue. Mayor Bill Baarsma said Saturday that one city engineer told him he disagreed with the conclusion that the building wasn’t safe. And Anderson’s quarterly review comes before the council study session on Tuesday, Baarsma said.
“We’ll talk about this and other issues,” he said. “I’ll be interested to hear from the council.”
http://media.thenewstribune.com/smedia/2009/09/27/18/03634382_H10216041.standalone.prod_affiliate.5.JPG
THE NEWS TRIBUNE - Modern buildings overlook the remains of Tacoma's 119-year-old Luzon Building as excavators continue the demolition Sunday. This view is looking across Pacific Avenue toward South 13th Street. (Drew Perine/The News Tribune)
Picture from Exit133.com (http://www.exit133.com/)
http://i.feedtacoma.com/photos/969-rand-3r86j9k5.jpg
photo from Tacoma Daily Index (http://i.feedtacoma.com/TDI-Reporters-Notebook/luzon-buildings-blank-canvas/)
http://www.kevinfreitas.net/img/20090926-078.jpg
picture from KevinFreitas.net (http://www.kevinfreitas.net/)
Demo pics here:Photos ~ Luzon Building Demolition (http://www.kevinfreitas.net/journal/photos-luzon-building-demolition/)
King5 Story (http://www.king5.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=402320)
Luzon: Within hours, four stories brought down (http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/895044.html)
KATHLEEN COOPER; The News Tribune
There was no stay of execution for the Luzon.
Demolition of the 119-year-old building began at 7:25 Saturday morning when a small excavator pulled away the wooden lean-to on the building’s north side. That revealed the red-and-white painted brick from the Fun Circus days, a stark contrast to the muted colors on the rest of the structure.
By midafternoon, the building was down to the second story. Project manager Jason Roosa said most of the debris fell where it was planned to: wood inside the building’s shell, and brick outside.
“There was a little bit more dust than we had anticipated,” he said, because the brick and mortar were deteriorated and soft. That required more water during demolition. The water was drained to basins and vacuumed farther south on Pacific Avenue.
Tests of the air from asbestos monitors were at the lab, he said, with results expected Saturday evening.
A handful of people gathered before the 7 a.m. scheduled start, pacing in front of the building in the early morning light. Virginia Haugen, a city councilwoman from Auburn, carried a placard that read “HISTORY DYING.”
Another early onlooker was Tom Heindel, who works for the Washington State Historical Society.
“It may not be a real pretty building, but it’s a terrific loss for the city,” he said. “God only knows what they’ll replace it with.”
Demolition work continued through the morning, and the crowd grew to about 50-60 people on Pacific Avenue, a handful on Commerce Street and three on the roof of the building behind the Luzon.
By 10:30 a.m. almost a third of the building was gone. The crowd stayed for several hours.
Late Friday night, local lawyers Jack Connelly and Jim Bush were working to find a judge who would grant a temporary restraining order to halt the demolition. Those efforts ended a day of desperate measures to save the structure designed by Daniel Burnham and John Root, two Chicago architects. The Luzon’s internal metal structure was an early precursor to modern skyscraper construction methods.
The city blocked off South 13th Street between Commerce Street and Pacific Avenue in mid-August because of the danger from a north wall leaning four or five inches toward that street. At the same time the city blocked off one southbound lane of Pacific Avenue.
Connelly said Saturday that Presiding Judge Bryan Chushcoff had agreed to hear arguments even as early as 2:30 a.m. Saturday. But Connelly said the group of people who were trying to save the building didn’t have legal standing to make such a claim, especially because the owner of the building wasn’t involved.
“There was some discussion about the fact that it was a political issue more than a legal issue, given the people involved” in the late-night attempt, Connelly said.
On Saturday morning, a high-reach demolition excavator stretched its orange arm to the top of the Luzon and pulled the bricks to the outside while dropping everything else into the cavern of the building.
Several people in the crowd said the demolition was sad, but it might have been necessary if the building was becoming dangerous. Others blamed the city for not doing more to save the building even though it’s under private ownership and has been vacant since the mid-1980s. Still others wondered why the money spent tearing it down couldn’t have been used to rehabilitate it.
“We all know: what government wants, government gets,” said Nikki Elrod, 29, of Tacoma. Elrod stood along Pacific Avenue with her friends Avery Giles, 31, and Cassie Hodge, 27.
“There’s a lesson to be learned in all this,” said Frank Rossiter, 81, of Fircrest.
But nobody seemed to agree on what it might be.
“I thought we were just a lot more sophisticated on historic preservation stuff,” said historic preservation consultant Michael Sullivan.
Sullivan said he believes the desire to remove the Luzon, instead of bracing it for rehabilitation, stems in part from the presence of the shiny new Pacific Plaza across 13th Street. The $40 million project was planned and constructed by a partnership comprising the city and PCS Structural Solutions.
Sullivan didn’t view the demolition Saturday, saying it seemed ghoulish.
City manager Eric Anderson, who ordered the demolition, did attend.
“Personally it makes me sick,” he said by phone later Saturday. “I hate losing that building.” Anderson paused for several seconds, then sighed. “It’s just a shame,” he said. But historic preservation isn’t a single agency’s charge.
“It’s not something that the city can do something about all by itself,” he said. “The usual answer is throw a bunch of money at something and that will change it.”
The Luzon reverberations will continue. Mayor Bill Baarsma said Saturday that one city engineer told him he disagreed with the conclusion that the building wasn’t safe. And Anderson’s quarterly review comes before the council study session on Tuesday, Baarsma said.
“We’ll talk about this and other issues,” he said. “I’ll be interested to hear from the council.”
http://media.thenewstribune.com/smedia/2009/09/27/18/03634382_H10216041.standalone.prod_affiliate.5.JPG
THE NEWS TRIBUNE - Modern buildings overlook the remains of Tacoma's 119-year-old Luzon Building as excavators continue the demolition Sunday. This view is looking across Pacific Avenue toward South 13th Street. (Drew Perine/The News Tribune)