BREAKING NEWS: State Theater building wall collapse

[NOTE: Please check major news outlets for other post-noon updates!]

Just before noon today I was on my way to open the Green Hand Bookshop, and a friend ran by, telling me that the High Street side of the State Theater building was collapsing. On arriving at the corner of High and Congress Streets, it looked better than I had imagined. You can click on the photos to see more detail.

You can see the collapse is very centralized. A source with a studio on the Congress Street side of the building was in her studio this morning, and when she noticed the fire engines and cordoned off street, tried to leave via the High Street exit and was told by officials that she had to leave the building from the Congress Street exit because the High Street exit was "unsafe."

She also reported hearsay from other building tenants that there had been a small explosion that morning (a jeweler's torch tank? it seemed possible on first consideration with all the artist studios in there), which would explain how centralized the incident was. However, another friend did point out that none of the windows are broken, which would belie that explanation.  Another person has stated since that the loud "CRACK!" could have simply been the facade forcibly separating from the structure.  Architect Tom Hitchins had this to say, after looking at the photos:

"Basically what you have there is a brick veneer coming loose from the structural wall, which seems to be intact. The fact that the windows aren't broken is another good sign. Brick veneers are often secured to the structural wall with metal brick ties, leaving an air space between brick and wall for moisture control (brick and mortar are porous). Sometimes, as the building ages, particularly if there isn't adequate drainage between the veneer and the wall, moisture can build up and corrode the brick ties which causes them to fail, leading to situations like this. It's a bit messy, and may require the brick skin to be redone but structurally the building is probably sound."

Since then another person has weighed in (see comment below) with information that a few years ago all the jewelers in the building's studios were told they could no longer have tanks on the premises.

The most recent word is that they have workmen up there with crowbars levering bricks out one by one.

Any more demolition engineers out there want to weigh in? [NOTE: The above paragraphs updated as info comes in.]

You can see it is primarily the facade layer of bricks that was affected, which hopefully means good things for the building's infrastructure, which was my first worry (I'm sure I wasn't alone in that!). Here in Portland we have watched the new owners slave over improving that building through the last few years, and none of us wants them to fail. The State Theater building is a huge cornerstone of the Arts District.

A small crowd had gathered in Congress Square Plaza to observe the state of the building, as well as higher-ups from the Portland Police and Fire Departments, and a smattering of news video cameras.
 
 
All this madness, of course, is piled on top of the already busy day. This Sunday in June is when the Old Port Festival is held, which adds tens of thousands of visitors to the already busy city traffic. In fact, on arriving intown this morning, I assumed the fire truck blocking High Street was part of an Old Port Festival related traffic arrangement. Many others probably did the same.

Another source reported hearsay that there were small chunks of masonry falling onto the sidewalk, which prompted a call from a watchful citizen who happened to be passing by. They looked up and noticed the bulge in the wall and called the city immediately. Thanks, whoever you are! In this photo you can see the remains of the detritus:


More photos here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151727038621115.1073741827.760946114&type=3&uploaded=13

The State Theater's website is here: http://www.statetheatreportland.com/

UPDATE: Casco Bay Bridge/State Street activity

Last night we covered some police activity that occurred at the bottom of State Street and on the Casco Bay Bridge. This morning, we are no more informed than we were when we took our photos, with the exception of a note from a neighbor across the street from the activity, who wrote to us, "...Last Sunday my husband and I noticed there were two police cars out in front of the brick building on the corner of State St. and it looked like a domestic violence call to us. Now yesterday all that drama went down in the same building and the coroner's van was the last to leave the scene. I think something pretty sad must have happened."

None of the main news channels have picked up on the events, and neither has the Portland Press Herald. The only news outlet that has reported on it is the West End News.

To see the original post from last night, please click here.

BREAKING NEWS: Casco Bay Bridge Activity

A slew of siren-laden vehicles rushed past our apartment this evening, just after 8:00pm. When they didn't let up, and fire trucks joined the police cars in the parade, we thought we'd see what was up.

We encountered the logjam of emergency vehicles at the intersection of Danforth and State Streets here in Portland, where they had the street blocked off down to where State and York Streets join at the base of the hill. Some of the fire trucks were departing, but several police and EMT vehicles remained on the lower part of the street. A few Portland Police Department cars suddenly appeared, heading across the Casco Bay Bridge, and we drove across in their wake.

Just past the control booth at the halfway point on the bridge, we saw a woman in a hot pink jogging suit jacket on the opposite side of the walkway than one expects to see people. She was hanging onto the wall with one arm as we drove past, and officers were approaching her on foot from their cars. (Let us also mention the High Weirdness of seeing a dark SUV pulled over on the southbound side of the bridge with the vanity plate "FNORD"!) On reaching the South Portland side of the bridge, we drove out through the marina to see if we could spot what was going on out over the water.

We were just in time to catch these shots, as officers, after joining her on the water side of the walkway wall, apparently convinced her to return to the land of the living. In this sequence of shots, you can identify the unknown person by her bright pink jacket, as she climbs back over the wall. Please click on the photo for a larger image.Since none of the news channels is on top of this story, we have no idea what happened. Conjecture is almost useless, but we wonder if someone who was involved with whatever happened on State Street ran from the scene in an effort to either escape, do away with themselves, or distract attention from the original scene. The coincidence of these two incidents occurring within clear walking distance from each other and almost simultaneously implies a connection. But what do we know? Just what we glimpse.

All photos by Michelle Souliere, (c)2008