A Shadow Lifted, Berlin’s Smokestacks Felled
Corey and I went to Berlin to watch the stacks fall today, but bad weather, confusion, and some dud explosives conspired to leave me with no usable pictures of the event.
We arrived early and lined up a perfect view of two out of three towers that were to be felled, but as the explosions started it became clear that I was mistaken about which smokestacks were being destroyed, and instead we had a really good view the one stack that was supposed to be left standing at the end of the day. And the other tower we had a great view of didn’t fall as was expected.
So, without any pictures of my own, I searched Beyond Brown Paper for images of the old Burgess Mill before it was dismantled, and of those smokestacks that so dominated the city’s skyline. See it in 1952, 1950, and 1914
KDPaine & Partners has a nice post (copied here?) and pictures. It turns out the problem with the third stack wasn’t dud explosives, but the heavy duty rebar reinforcement it was built with. As the demolition crew tried to cut it as a last ditch effort, the stack came down on power lines and caused some injuries.
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Thanks for the mention. I was in almost the same boat. I was in a great location, but my camera got so wet it wouldn’t work. But there are great videos here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7WTfhCQQ70
and Mark Ducharme has taken the best pictures ever here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanadian_8/sets/72157602033218817/
@Katie Paine:
Mark’s photos are great. I’d encourage anybody who’s taken photos or video to post a comment at Beyond Brown Paper. There’s a great opportunity for before and after comparisons there.