Aug 3

Aug 3 Moving Day

“You may be high
You may be low
You may be rich, child
You may be poor
But when the Lord get ready
You gotta to move
You see that woman
Who walks the street
You see that police
Upon his beat
But then the Lord get ready
You gotta to move
You gotta move”

— You Gotta Move, Mississippi Fred McDowell

You boys and girls who like to play with your ”twucks” should have been at the corner of Clark and Newport in Wrigleyville either today or yesterday. The CTA is upgrading its system so that Brown Line traffic no longer delays Red Line traffic. As part of that upgrade, the Red Line tracks at Clark and Newport will be straightened. About three years ago, the CTA purchased 16 buildings that were subsequently demolished so that the work could proceed.

Ah, but the CTA ran into trouble. A historic 3-story building stood in the path of progress, but it was a designated historic landmark, so the CTA could not demolish it. In 2016, the CTA purchased the building— known as The Vautravers Building—for $1.75 million. This past April, Wolfe House and Building Movers began preparing the site for the move, which would reposition the building 35 feet to the west and 5 feet to the south. That involved placing massive steel girders under the building for support, constructing a trackway for the move, and digging a new foundation. The last step was handled by another contractor. Yesterday Wolfe did the westward move, and early this morning they completed the southward move.

The Vautravers Building has been a thorn in the CTA’s side since the construction of the Red Line over 100 years ago. The owners refused to sell it, which explains why there is a curve in the tracks.

The building was designed by the Chicago firm of Fromann & Jaebsen, and built in 1894. If it looks familiar, you must be a beer drinker. Its design was incorporated into “25 turn-of-the-century Chicago taverns for the Milwaukee-based Joseph Schlitz Brewery,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

While visiting the site, I spoke with a representative of Wolfe House & Building Movers. He pointed out the trackway that is used to push or pull the building and the “red rulers” that sit on top of the trackway. I asked if cracks ever develop as a result of the move. He indicated that the company goes to great length to position the track relative to the structure so that cracks do not become an issue. He did not say one way or the other, but I assume the objective is to make sure that forces on the structure are evenly distributed.

Now that the move is complete, Wolf will leave the site until the new foundation is completed. Once the new foundation is in place, Wolfe will remove the beams. The process should be completed by Thanksgiving.

I think I was present when the building moved south, but moving a building is a very, very slow process, so I am not entirely sure whether I saw the actual move. One thing is for sure: The move was not cheap. The CTA estimates that move and subsequently restoration will cost another $1.75 million, but that pales in comparison to the $570 million overall project cost.

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