Three-Bay Going Down

*This post was deleted by Blogger on about Thursday of last week. It has re-appeared, as shown below:

Here's what the house at 216 S. Johnson looked like yesterday.


The salvage crews have extracted a great deal from the building.

Here's what the building's facade looked like today:

Just down the block, proving there's rarely a dull moment in the Footprint, a car was being searched by police.  The occupant was arrested for distribution of heroin.

Someone in the S.W. Green House Tonight

This evening, as I drove through the VA Hospital Footprint on the way to dinner with a friend, I saw shadows moving in the S.W. Green House.  The floodlights revealed silhouettes of people moving in a first floor room.  I screeched to a halt, took a few photos, and called the authorities to report the trespassing as the cat catcher drove by in his truck.

If you enlarge the photo above, you'll see the figure in the lower window.

Two officers arrived within about 10 minutes or so - it was difficult for them to find the address of 219 S. Miro because the street is literally gone between Banks and Cleveland.  They searched the entire house, but did not find anyone inside.  It's a large house, and I'm guessing those inside saw/heard me and left out the back.

At this stage, we're still watching the house closely because it's unclear what's going to happen next.  While many preparations are in place, we had also heard from some sources that the house was meant to be moved over the course of Thanksgiving weekend.  At present, the preparations necessary for a move are not evident from the outside of the house.  In the meantime, it's crucial to prevent anyone from further damaging the home.

Crime in the Footprint

Criminals, it's become apparent, are targeting the rapidly de-populating VA Footprint.  And that comes even as the NOPD has stepped up patrols of the area.

Last evening, I encountered a man next to his van, its windows broken.  A police office filled out a report in a squad car just behind.  The man, a member of a band, had multiple keyboards and speakers stolen after deciding he was in no position to drive home from Deutsches Haus on Saturday night.

Crews also moved to secure this artist's home at 2310 - after it was burglarized for the third time, according to a neighbor.  The house is one of four being considered for moving intra-site by the VA for use in the final complex.

The Pace Quickens

These three houses on S. Galvez Street are slated to be the first three moved off the VA Footprint site by Builders of Hope.

As you can see, the roofs and porches have been removed from the two houses on the right, and a crew is currently removing the roof of the pink double shotgun on the left.  Streetcar and power lines apparently necessitated the transformations for moving.  The camelback "hump" of the camelback will ostensibly be removed and transported separately.  I'm concerned about what this might mean for the houses' National Register "contributing status" that determines eligibility for various things related to ownership and rehabilitation of an historic home.

I've heard varying numbers from varying sources as to how many houses will be moved, and I'm quite certain the list is still somewhat fluid.

Overall, there were more work crews out in the VA Footprint today than I've ever seen before - working at a variety of sites.  One group informed me that they had caught a thief who was stealing architectural elements off houses in the Footprint, a problem in recent weeks as outlined here.  The police presence in the Footprint has certainly gone up as of late, too.

This house on Palmyra was also seemingly being prepped for a move: