I've followed the demolition since November 2012. It was all but inevitable but nobody wanted it. In 2013 we lost the J.A. McCord Apartments, most of Crum & Forster, and we're about to lose E. Rivers but this one hurts me more. But as performance art it's unmatched in the city.
Yesterday at the remains of old stone church at Hapeville Baptist. The men are trimming the granite matrix back to the corner.
Recapping:
This is from 1954. The portico was still there and the stained glass. Image purchased from the Atlanta History Center.
Fall 2012, though abandoned it was a stunning sight, weight and presence galore.
The southwest wall. The 1964 building wrapped around the east end of the stone church.
They couldn't go all the way to the edge without damaging the new building. Could they have sawn though the granite?
They had to do the rest by hand.
That's what they were doing yesterday.
Here are 47 seconds of delicate, choreographed jackhammer teamwork.
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I regret that few interior pictures have surfaced.
The scar from the old stone church.