The Boulevard (née The Times/Littlest Bar) | 110 Broad St | Downtown

Equilibria said:
Why? It's not load bearing in the new building. They can easily attach it to the concrete structure behind and reset the bricks...
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I'm looking at the cracks towards the left of the pic. No braces nearby, it wouldn't even be safe for anyone to work near to make a supporting structure.
 
In my not so proffessional opinion, it looks like the shoring for this was woefully under designed. That's on the GC & whoever they hired to design the shoring.

The shoring is entirely from the exterior, and the way it's set up I just don't see how it's working to keep the facade up. The beams are almost leaning into the building, and you just have ~8' sections of C channel on the inside holding the facade to the bracing. I would think that if the structure that is supporting the brick facade is the wood floor joists, you would want to replicate that structural support. My thought is that you would create openings in the floor and drive supports on the inside, then tie the support to the facade. Compare the way that the times is supported from the inside....

5FWWCcch.jpg


to the way the Ferdinand building was supported...

370ca488-246c-41d2-aeca-3dc5b0878fae


8104093032_26c2b05e2d_c.jpg


I'm no structural engineer, but the way the times facade is supported just doesn't seem adequate.
 
bobthebuilder said:
In my not so proffessional opinion, it looks like the shoring for this was woefully under designed. That's on the GC & whoever they hired to design the shoring.

The shoring is entirely from the exterior, and the way it's set up I just don't see how it's working to keep the facade up. The beams are almost leaning into the building, and you just have ~8' sections of C channel on the inside holding the facade to the bracing. I would think that if the structure that is supporting the brick facade is the wood floor joists, you would want to replicate that structural support. My thought is that you would create openings in the floor and drive supports on the inside, then tie the support to the facade. Compare the way that the times is supported from the inside....

5FWWCcch.jpg


to the way the Ferdinand building was supported...

370ca488-246c-41d2-aeca-3dc5b0878fae


8104093032_26c2b05e2d_c.jpg


I'm no structural engineer, but the way the times facade is supported just doesn't seem adequate.
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Like maybe they were planning on a "whoops, sorry, me bad" moment?

Now let's revisit that alternate plan with the glass atrium entryway, shall we?
 
^ Like I said in my earlier post: they should have done partial-demo; install steel endoskeleton; then complete the demo. Instead they half-assed the external steel gussets and did a nuclear demo.

Theoretically either inside vs. outside structure could both work, but the spacing is way too wide between those wimpy exterior gussets for a brittle brick wall. Walls/beams/joists were all an integrated system in these old structural wall buildings.
An artisan mason may still be able to save this aesthetically.
 
Wish I had some of those beams for use in carving guitar bodies.
 
I know. It looks like they didn't do any salvage operation on this project at all.
 
^ Maybe it would help some of the area's overpriced hipster restaurants be less overpriced if they didn't have to pay a lot for their random "weathered" decor.
 
You know why those "hipster" restaurants have to pay a lot for that decor? It costs a lot more money to go in and salvage those building materials than it does to just tear them out. You're talking about going in and carefuly dismantling the building, stacking the materials for transport, and then paying to store the materials until they're wanted elsewhere. You're also talking about crews of masons & crews of carpenters, plus a crew of laborers to perform this work vs. a couple equipment operators & a crew of laborers.

If you really want some of the joists, or maybe some of the brick call up JDC and ask them if you can come buy at the end of the day and pull some wood out of their pile.
 
odurandina said:
was there ever a time when old bricks were recycled?
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Absolutely - we just did a backyard landscaping and got some of the reconditioned bricks (from a Maine factory being taken apart) which according to the wife looks 10x better than the new bricks (they better as they are 3x more expensive). There's a huge market for them in the new build housing market in the sunbelt - especially for front porches and permanent landscaping.
 
Old growth timber - even floor joists, are of a vastly superior quality to any wood you can buy today. It's why people are doing dangerous salvage operations of sunken logs out of rivers and old barns are worth more dismantled than standing.

Old bricks, as mentioned above, are also worth a boatload. Besides aesthetics, they are invaluable on historic restoration projects where portions of the facade need to be matched.

And all of this is before you even get into the sustainable side of things: the massive embodied energy in the original production of these materials is now going to a landfill instead of being recycled into new use. The demolition crew they used was likely cheaper than a salvage operation, but I'd bet time was more a factor. Since the developer couldn't be bothered to properly preserve the bullfinch building, I'm not suprised they also didn't want to spend the time waiting for a proper salvage team to go in there and take the buildings apart.
 
The facimg brick is likely to be the most valuable. The interior wythes are apt to be a coarse brick.

Where you are restoring / repairing an old brick facade, all facing bricks that are in good condition would be salvaged. Its often impossible to use newer brick to match older brick, even using the same brickyard, particularly brick with a distinctive hue.
 
davem said:
Old growth timber - even floor joists, are of a vastly superior quality to any wood you can buy today. It's why people are doing dangerous salvage operations of sunken logs out of rivers and old barns are worth more dismantled than standing.
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Kelly (a good guy) has a nice little explanation. http://www.kellyguitars.com/mystery_of_the_molecules.html

P.S. One theory? "old growth wood" from the "Little Ice Age" is more dense because of the tighter ring pattern brought on by slow growth, and sonically brighter. Wouldn't be surprised if the wood in Stradivarius violins grew in the coldest years of the Little Ice Age.
 
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A great reclaimed lumber place is Long Leaf over by Fresh Pond. They've got a small showroom if you're ever in the area with some time to kill.
 
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