
Indiana Bell moved a functioning building in 1930 - sogen
https://kottke.org/19/11/the-indiana-bell-moved-a-functioning-building-in-1930
======
joezydeco
Pshaw! Back in 1855 we took entire blocks of downtown Chicago and raised them
up 4-14 feet to make room for sewers.

[https://chicagology.com/prefire/raising/](https://chicagology.com/prefire/raising/)

~~~
dev_dull
Sometimes I wonder if we were just a different type of people 100 years ago.
People were standing in the balcony while it was being lifted? Going to work
as normal!? Society would never tolerate such risk these days.

~~~
copperx
I would follow the money to find the answer. People aren't less risk averse,
but companies are because the huge financial toll of potential litigation.

~~~
Shivetya
not only that we unfortunately live in a society of fraud, where our mass
transit system has to resort to their cameras to prove who wasn't on a bus
when a car bumps it.

------
henridf
A timelapse of a building being moved in 2012 in Zurich:
[https://vimeo.com/42984680](https://vimeo.com/42984680)

It's taken from close up so you see how a concrete platform has been poured
under the building, then the whole thing pushed on rails.

~~~
blkhawk
Banner seen at the start of the Video can be translated as "Starting May 22th
this Building is going crazy.". Its a play on words that also means that the
building is being moved starting May 22th.

------
kolinko
Lubomirski Palace in Warsaw in 1970s, was also moved to line it up with a
park. But it wasn't functioning during the move.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubomirski_Palace,_Warsaw](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubomirski_Palace,_Warsaw)

------
pionar
The building that it was moved to construct in 1930 is still there and is
still owned by AT&T -
[https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7713545,-86.1579046,3a,75y,2...](https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7713545,-86.1579046,3a,75y,230.31h,113.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sB5qYGC4PPTs7_rShcfUsmQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en)

------
code_duck
Very cool! My grandfather owned a house moving business. At some point, I
wondered, how exactly did he do this? From what he said, pretty much as
described in the article. They would put jacks under the house and lift it 1/4
inch on every corner until they could fit supports under it.

~~~
sogen
cool! do you have any pics to share or more info?

~~~
code_duck
I wish I did, but I don't have much to add. He operated the business from
about 1940 to 1980, so he was retired for all of my life. I imagine that my
mother has some photos.

------
krilly
I am reminded of that Thunderbirds episode where they attempt to relocate the
Empire State Building, with predictably disastrous consequences. [1]

It's interesting how in many ways, the future the show predicted was more
negative than the present. It seems the hubris of man has calmed down a bit
since then. Or is that the spirit of adventure? One of the two.

[https://youtu.be/i4qfSrN27qo](https://youtu.be/i4qfSrN27qo)

------
tallanvor
The source that Kottke used seems like it would have been better to link to
since it contains the same information and has more pictures of the move.

[https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/10/an-incredible-move-
ind...](https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/10/an-incredible-move-indiana-
bell.html)

------
matthewmcg
"inch by inch 16 meters south"

Moving a building while it's in use: impressive. Switching to a different unit
system in the middle of a sentence: confusing.

------
jefftk
Yeah, yeah, people move buildings, that's a thing... Wait, what!?

> _All utility cables and pipes serving the building, including thousand of
> telephone cables, electric cables, gas pipes, sewer and water pipes had to
> be lengthened and made flexible to provide continuous service during the
> move_

Moving a building and rotating it with _active gas service_ is incredible.

------
jake-low
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20901264](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20901264)

