Preservation Dallas aims to stop Praetorian Building implosion
Conservation group Preservation Dallas has implored Dallas city officials to reconsider plans to use controlled explosion to demolish the 103-year old Praetorian Building. In the letter, interim executive director Carol Roark beseeches city officials to keep the implosion from happening. Writes Roarke, “We are not seeking to prevent the demolition of the Praetorian or the other low-rise buildings in the center of the National Downtown Historic District.” But they do want the city to stop allowing implosions downtown. Starting with the Praetorian.
City Hall sources say that building officials have reviewed the permit and found it in compliance with city ordinances. And, they remind: If any surrounding buildings are harmed during the big bang, then Headington and Dallas Demolition, which is handling the implosion, will be held liable.
Theresa O’Donnell, director of Sustainable Development and Construction, says this evening the last she heard the building was due to come down “some time in August.” There are a few steps left to be taken, though: She says Headington Oil has a demolition permit, but not an implosion permit, which they’ll have to get from Dallas Fire-Rescue. “The fire department then convenes a big meeting with all the departments, and they’ll block off the streets, utilities will be informed — it’s a pretty extensive project. I know [surrounding owners] are worried, and I appreciate that. But it is the same demolition company that took down First Baptist no problem. They know what they’re doing. We’re confident in their abilities.”
But that’s not good enough for Roark and Preservation Dallas, which asks that Mayor Mike Rawlings, City Manager Mary Suhm and the city council “require that the building be dismantled in the traditional, top-down deconstruction method outlined in the City’s demolition ordinance.”
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