A 208-year-old building in Petersburg, Virginia, that survived the Civil War, the Great Petersburg Fire and multiple tornadoes was demolished on Jan. 8, according to the Progress Index.
The John Nash building demolition was under the supervision of John H. Hines, the building official of the city’s code compliance office.
The building’s owners, Bank Street LLC, became aware of the building’s instability in December when an inspector evaluated it. Hines concluded that the structure was a threat to public safety and needed stabilization or demolition, reports the Progress Index.
The Petersberg City Council voted 5-2 to demolish the building on Jan. 3 after surrounding roads had been blocked off by a fence and police tape for nearly a month, preventing parking and access to nearby businesses.
Demolition was pushed back a day because of problems with equipment.
During demolition, an excavator “scraped at foot-thick brick walls,” the Progress Index reports, and by the end of the day had all four walls methodically torn down as dozens of onlookers watched.
Watch a time lapse of the demolition here, taken by Michael Phillips:
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