Photos By John HoffHere are pictures from today's Christmas Eve surprise demolition of 3009 Park Ave. in South Minneapolis, the former home of renowned textile artist Pauline Fjelde. Above, the license plate on the truck of a member of the wrecking crew. Click "Read More" to check out more photos...
Above, this appears to be the bundle of lumber which was dropped through the roof--whoopsie daisy!--BY ACCIDENT (cough, cough) and supposedly this ruined the structural integrity of the house. Uh huh. I wonder if it was dropped "by accident" one time or SEVERAL times. I mentioned in my previous blog post that James Schoffman is a scum bag, and the point needs to be reiterated.
Here, above, you can see some of the historic trim on the house...which was not saved, but just smashed to smithereens while committed neighborhood activists and preservationists watched.
Above, the face of Connie Nompelis (No-bell-iss, it's Greek) shows sadness as the house meets its fate before her eyes.
Note the green mark on the side of the building. Somebody had painted "We're sorry, Pauline" before the words were covered over. Geez, even when I do vigilante graffiti abatement, at least I make an effort to MATCH THE COLOR. But, hey, the property is owned by scumbag James Schoffman, so what can you expect?
Above, this is what the roof--already scorched from the mysterious arson--looked like after the bundle of lumber oh-so-accidentally fell through.
Reporter Sheila Regan of TC Daily Planet talks to one of the workmen, click here for a previous article she wrote about the Pauline Fjelde house.
Note how the backhoe operator had his machine completely supported by the beams of the first floor. Lack of structural integrity, indeed. This place was built like a Sherman tank and went down fighting.
While the backhoe did its work, a little boy watched from a neighboring house. He appeared fascinated and having a good time, but was this child's future made better by the demolition of this building? Definitely not.
It was a sad day, but the house did not go down unloved, unnoticed, and undocumented. Now, neighbors appear to be turning their attention to requesting investigation of the oh-so-mysterious circumstances of the damage and IMMEDIATE demolition, plus they'd like to make sure James Schoffman never never never gets his precious parking lot.
Post corrected to reflect the fact Shiela Regan works for TC Daily Planet, not MinnPost, though her stories are, in fact, often picked up by MinnPost.
ReplyDeletePlease contact me regarding your video. mdougla@pclink.com
ReplyDeleteOMG!
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I saw the actual lumber that was supposed to be used to repair this roof.
I defy anyone to put this weight on their home's roof regardless of the homes age or condition.
What was this supposed to be used for? Rebuilding roof joists? These 2x4's don't look long enough to span as rafters. Was it the plan to go cheap by sistering the lumber to make it meet the load requirements? Is this legal?
Whats more, there was no permit on this. Construction of this magnitude should need a comprehensive plan before beginning construction. I would like to see how this lumber was to be used?
Conveniently, there was no permit. The City says that construction had not started so no permit was required. I would say that the moment that lumber was placed upon the roof, construction had started and the owner would have been in violation.
Anyone with more construction background like to comment?