Report says that Playhouse stood the test of time
I mentioned yesterday that I would like to see the assessment of the present conditions of the Coconut Grove Playhouse, thank you Lowell Kuvin for sending them over.
The report, prepared by Douglas Wood Associates, Inc. is quite lengthy.
The report states that this agglomeration is what the theater is made of:
– Original Street Liner & Transition to Auditorium
– Original Auditorium
– Original Stage House
– Backstage Additions
– Southwest Additions
– Connector Addition
– Annex
– Mezzanine and 2nd Floor Additions
Not just the front wings or eyebrow, which is the only part that will remain in the county's plans.
They did core samplings of existing concrete and excavated soil adjacent to the exterior to the building.
Their basic observation says: "In general, this building could be considered to have withstood the “test of time” and therefore, to have structural systems that are generally adequate for their intended purposes."
But Douglas Wood Associates also says that building codes have changed since the structure was first built, and new codes may come into consideration when renovation is done. Hurricane and flooding could be an issue, but it seems that in almost 100 years, that was not a problem.
The report says, "At this time, the Building Code will generally allow straight forward minor repairs to structural members, without requirement for a specific investigation of the adequacy of the existing members."
On a related note, there's an interesting article in the NY Times about zoning codes. It says that 40% of the current buildings in Manhattan, many favorites, could not be built today under today's codes. But if all current codes applied to old and historic buildings, there would be no historic buildings left. And they are all still standing and operating, so someone did something right way back when.
The report is long and complete, I put it in a Dropbox here for you to see.
The report, prepared by Douglas Wood Associates, Inc. is quite lengthy.
The report states that this agglomeration is what the theater is made of:
– Original Street Liner & Transition to Auditorium
– Original Auditorium
– Original Stage House
– Backstage Additions
– Southwest Additions
– Connector Addition
– Annex
– Mezzanine and 2nd Floor Additions
Not just the front wings or eyebrow, which is the only part that will remain in the county's plans.
They did core samplings of existing concrete and excavated soil adjacent to the exterior to the building.
But Douglas Wood Associates also says that building codes have changed since the structure was first built, and new codes may come into consideration when renovation is done. Hurricane and flooding could be an issue, but it seems that in almost 100 years, that was not a problem.
The report says, "At this time, the Building Code will generally allow straight forward minor repairs to structural members, without requirement for a specific investigation of the adequacy of the existing members."
On a related note, there's an interesting article in the NY Times about zoning codes. It says that 40% of the current buildings in Manhattan, many favorites, could not be built today under today's codes. But if all current codes applied to old and historic buildings, there would be no historic buildings left. And they are all still standing and operating, so someone did something right way back when.
The report is long and complete, I put it in a Dropbox here for you to see.
posted by Tom Falco at 4:00 AM
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7 Comments:
Looks like they checked every nook and cranny in the place.
A shame that it was allowed to deteriorate for so long. Hopefully it will get resolved soon and the entire structure is saved.
"This building complex is a conglomeration of original construction, additions,
renovations and an annex. There are also widely varying uses for the various
spaces. Therefore, there are many different structural materials, systems and
configurations within this building complex.
Most all of the structural materials and systems are 60 to 90 years old.
Even in the absence of significant structural deterioration, most existing structural
members would not meet present-day Building Code requirements for strength and
deflection.
The measured depths of carbonation in all tested concrete samples, has reached the
depth of the steel reinforcement. Therefore, the chemical protection provided by
concrete against corrosion of the reinforcement has been lost throughout the
building.
The chloride ion concentrations in the concrete in the building in most of the samples
are sufficiently high to allow the initiation of corrosion of reinforcement in the
presence of oxygen and moisture."
County has overtaken the city in dirty politics to achieve its leaders and their backers goals.
Would the anonymous person (8:12) with the technical report please let us know who you are ,what your expertise level is and specifically what testing your information is based on. Your agenda if any does not matter but if you are going to present facts then you need to be more forthcoming.
My previous question references the posting at 10:09.
Take that possible down already.not because it's a playhouse but because more money private and public has been wasted on saving and tearing it down than it's even worth anymore.
Bill - the quote I posted above is from the Playhouse Assessment Report, page 28, the General Summary and Conclusions section.
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