A Reading, Massachusetts, building's facade dramatically tumbled, sending bricks scattering but causing no bodily harm, authorities reported. The structural failure occurred around the late morning hours at 32 Lowell Street, home to the Northeast School of Ballet, which occupies what was once a church.
When the bricks began to fall, construction teams were on-site for renovation work. The old structure was compromised, revealing the aging bones beneath its veneer, according to WHDH. The Reading Fire Department disclosed the event time as roughly 10:15 a.m., fortunately, a time when the ballet studio had not yet begun its daily pirouettes and pliés, as per the NBC Boston account.
Reading Town Manager Matt Kraunelis, speaking to the gravity of the situation, expressed relief. "Thank God nobody was hurt, nobody was standing under it," he conveyed to NBC Boston. The sidewalk beneath the fractured facade was promptly closed off to the public to prevent any possible harm, with municipal officials and emergency crews erecting barriers while a drone hummed overhead, surveying the wreckage.
Kraunelis pondered the potential role of vibrations from the ongoing roof repair in causing the collapse, saying, "A building this old, any sort of vibration can have an effect," he told NBC Boston, stressing that no stone or structure could be assumed steady when time and tremors conspire against it. In the wake of the incident, the building inspector has evaluated the structure with plans for a structural engineer to provide a further in-depth assessment, a process unfolding even as the ballet school's afternoon classes hovered in uncertain postponement.
For now, the once-sturdy walls of 32 Lowell Street stand as a testament to both the fragility of our edifices and the necessity of vigilant maintenance – not just of the physical beams and bricks but of the community's safety net that catches us when the former fails, a point underscored by Kraunelis's commitment: "We’re going to err on the side of caution here and take a good hard look at the building before anyone is allowed back in," stating once again that the town's priority lies firmly in the realm of caution and safety, as reported by WHDH.
