Friday, May 16, 2008

Clemens mansion chapel roof collapses

Hot on the heels of Paul McKee finally securing the old Clemens Mansion on Cass Avenue comes word that the long-rotting chapel has suffered a serious roof collapse.

Photos and video at Fox News. (The latest video rather amusingly refers to the chapel as a "cathedral". The initial video even more hilariously confuses the building with the Mullanphy Emigrant Home, while also stating "we believe this may have been a church". It's pretty overt evidence of the disconnect between the city and the suburbs.)

Additional reporting and photos at KSDK.

Though the timing may seem suspect in light of how frequently Blairmont's properties are subject to deliberate destruction, the collapse is not surprising. The chapel roof had rotted through over five years earlier, allowing rain and snow to rot the structure, and just this week Ecology of Absence reported a bowing west wall.

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