On the morning of February 25th, excavation trucks turned up on site at 2316-2320 Colfax Avenue South. Then came the backhoe. By around 9 o’clock, demolition was under way. The backhoe went at the Orth House all day, but still hadn’t completely demolished it. Compare that to the usual time it takes to demolish a modern dwelling–less than an hour.

See video and stills of the demolition here.

Demo begins at the back of the house.

Two men worked on the demolition, one on the backhoe and another guy walking around seemingly aimlessly, heedless of peril from lead-filled particulates and falling debris. Neither wore respirators to protect themselves from the toxic dust.  At one point the machine operator knocked the chimney and a large chunk of the front gable and cornice onto the front of the backhoe.  The site was not roped off, and at times debris fell onto the sidewalk.

The backhoe chews through the west side.–A.C.

The backhoe does its job on top of rubble from the house.–A.C.

Brian Finstad, who watched the demo, reported on this OSHA nightmare: “The Orth House demolition was done without proper procedure for lead containment. Neighbors watched as literally plumes of lead contaminated dust rose into the air and on a very windy day disbursed upon the neighborhood. Only after well into an hour into the demolition (and they probably realized they were being photographed) did they bring out a hose to spray down the dust, but even that was only a token effort and the contaminate continued to disburse into the neighborhood.”

The other guy with a woefully inadequate hose.–A.C.

A long shot from the back end of the site. The other guy looks on.–A.C.

2316 getting hit by the backhoe.–W.L.

Clouds of lead-filled particulates rise from the debris.–W.L.

The side view, with the back half in rubble.–W.L.

The top half is gone, ‘hoe working on the first floor.–W.L.

A chunk out of the middle, south end.–W.L.

Closeup of the foundation.–W.L.

The front entrance, with temporary house number so crew knows which house to wreck.–W.L.

Backhoe tearing into curved bay window on north side.–W.L.

Just before the curved 122-year-old window was smashed to smithereens.–W.L.

The temporary house number.–W.L.

The Orth House, built by master builder T.P.Healy, 1893. Wrecked by Michael Lander, with the aid of CM Lisa Bender, 2015.

The original leaded glass house number.–T.B.

             Le roi est mort, vive le roi!   The Orth House is gone, long live the legacy of T,P. Healy, King of the Queen Anne!

2320 Colfax Avenue South, 1893-2015,–B.R.

Photo credits: Anders Christensen, Will Lumpkins, Trilby Busch, Bob Roscoe.

–T.B.