Partial Building Collapse in Winchester
The old Taylor Hotel at 127 N. Loudoun Street has been empty for years except for the pigeons which is good since the roof caved in yesterday afternoon. For those of you familiar with Winchester, the building is located on the downtown mall directly across from Bell's. Here's a picture for you.
I left for work a little early so I could get some shots of it. It's a rainy day here so the pictures aren't that great (sorry for the water spots). This was the first shot I took when I saw it. It's from the ground so you can't see much. 
Here's another one a little closer. Actually, that's as close as anyone is going to get for a while. I've circled the entrance to the walkway from the Braddock Street Parking Garage to the downtown mall. A lot of people that work downtown park there and walk that way everyday. No one was there when it happened. They would have been fine...except for maybe their pants!
I took my life into my own hands for the next pictures. Just kidding! I went to the top of the parking garage to get them. These are pretty good but not as good as what's in the paper today! I'm not that nutty, sorry.
We now move around front. In this shot you can see a little bit of the collapsed part and the other side of the walkway. 
After all the years sitting there vacant something will FINALLY be done with the building! And, it has to be done quickly. Right now a big chunk of the mall is blocked off along with parking access. I don't think the business owners in the area are going to put up with it for too long.
I have a theory as to what happened. When I was walking to work yesterday morning, I noticed that the four trees in front and slightly north of the Taylor Hotel had lost all their leaves. It was like all of the leaves on those four trees turned yellow and dropped off overnight. All the other trees on the mall were and are still green and full. Later that day, the building collapsed. I'm thinking that, during the night, there was a micro burst or some weather related event that happened there. It took all the leaves and weakened the building enough so that the rain finished it off later that day. My husband thinks I'm nuts but I'm sticking to my theory.
I'll keep you posted if I hear what's going to happen.
This entry was posted
on Friday, October 26, 2007
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building collapse,
downtown
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