Yes, I am posting about Milwaukee again. Some of you may have noticed the flashing pictures of Milwaukee a little lower and to the right on this page. One of the "stars" of that slide show is an old building on blocks sitting in the middle of a large empty lot. I spent about twenty minutes taking photos and video of the structure; just fell in love with it. It was just a very lovely old building. Broken but unbowed...if anything a bit pompous, actually, perched high above the ground as it was.
I didn't know the story of the building until now. I was sent this article from August 2005 that explains it all in some detail and includes, to the right of the page, a photo of the building at the original location. The title to the entry you are reading comes from the text of the article, a description of Milwaukee's old "Brewery Row."
I've chopped together the video I shot, which ended up being-unless you are extremely unusual-the most boring two minutes available in blog form. In the article they mention how the building will have to be heavily braced to be moved. Well it was, and part of that bracing consists of steel bands strapped around the building to hold it together. With high wind and low traffic, you can hear them whistling, which is my favorite part of the whole thing.
As always, you can download the pretty version (10mb) separately if you wish.
You can also take a look at a satellite view of the place here. (If it works. It is the first time I've tried that.)
Dirty Jobs did a show on moving a building this way....it was not very dirty, but it was interesting.
ReplyDeletenoted that there was a tradition of moving buildings around as 19th-century Milwaukee developed.
ReplyDeletewhoa, makes you wonder how *those* moves were accomplished...(possibly after a few pints?)