RAISING AND MOVING MASONRY BUILDINGS.


RAISING AND MOVING MASONRY BUILDINGS.

The first important application of the method of lifting massive structures and moving them to another spot was made two years ago at Boston, Mass., in the moving back of a hotel that stood about fourteen feet on the line of a proposed widening of Tremont Street. Since that time several analogous cases have occurred in several cities of the United States, so that, for this sort of work, a general method of operating has been devised, notwithstanding the special difficulties that present themselves according to the different methods of construction and the surroundings.

All structures, before being moved, must first be separated from their foundations and then raised. These operations are certainly the most costly and those that take the longest time. It is necessary to take minute precautions and to exercise great watchfulness in order to succeed in planting solidly on the ground the timber work that has to support the pressure of the screws by means of which the entire building is to be afterward raised. The success of the operation depends absolutely upon the care and attention that are bestowed upon these preliminary operations, since the least negligence may lead to a disaster.

Fig. 9.—MOVING A HOUSE BETWEEN TWO FIXED WALLS.