I help maintain old buildings, and people are far too trusting that they will last forever and ever when abused. Buildings are machines, they move and wear down. Especially when they get wet.
I think over 500 years old Rotbav church tower also seemingly randomly collapsed in Romania, Transylvania in 2016. But of course there was the same reason, building got old, not enough maintenance, a bit lower quality materials finally gave way.
I never thought of a building as a machine but you're absolutely right! They move and sway and take on damage over time which needs repair and maintenance like a car. Well said.
@@ligametis "On the evening of February 19, 2016, the church tower clock struck twice in Rotbav, then came the end of it. The clock, bells, tower and part of the church’s nave dropped down to the ground in the blink of an eye." That nicely proves the swinging bells in the tower in the end brought it down
... Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Holy Spirit Can give you peace guidance and purpose and the Lord will John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus
Out of curiosity how do you go about fixing something like this? I imagine you can't just pluck out a brick and put in new ones especially if it was already that unstable.
@@matthewzeller5026 They built an internal steel brace within the Christ Church tower here (in Christchurch, New Zealand). A mistake was made in starting it further up the inside of the tower, relying on the base to hold up against the expected forces from earthquake, rather than anchoring it in the ground. When it was toppled by the earthquake here in 2011 it sheered off where the brace stopped. These sort of processes are difficult and extremely expensive, so it’s really only very significant buildings where this is viable - and the work done was not adequate in this case. Very few old buildings here survived that earthquake, and most of the much newer high rise buildings (most built from the late 1980s on) were severely compromised and had to be demolished. Not many complete failures and collapses, due to mandatory earthquake strengthening work. Rebuild must now be to much higher structural strength, so most buildings have very obvious heavy structural steel frames. (Insurers took a huge hit when most of the city was written off.)
@@boggisthecat thanks for the info. It's crazy how everything can look so stable and then collapse in an instant because of the tiniest things over time.
@@matthewzeller5026 Usually there are warning signs of building failure. In the case of the buildings that totally failed here, two were built by the same company in the late 1980s and were found to have been not constructed to the plans. Occupants of the building where the worst casualties occurred had complained consistently over years about structural issues, but no proper inspection was done and remedial work not enforced. The person responsible for constructing those buildings decided he needed to urgently travel to South America immediately after the earthquake. A replacement building near the city centre here that was nearly complete had to have major additional strengthening done. An architectural engineering student happened to be passing by and noticed what seemed to be major problems. They managed to get the ear of city officials and an inspection found that this was another building where the plan was apparently considered optional. People are highly resistant to learning when money is involved.
I live not far from there, and I know one of the firefighters who responded. He said it looked like a scene from a war movie. It's a miracle no one was killed, much less injured. He told me: "There was a lady inside in the back office when it happened. She said that she heard the noise, and went to go see what happened. When she opened the door to the sanctuary, she was met with sunlight and wind."
I'd like to know where the office was exactly, when you look at the aerial view of the collapsed building, the entire central area is filled at least 10ft plus of masonry & rubble. She'd do well to open the door let alone get out. Not dissing the story but an arrow pointing where said office was would help quell my doubt of this event.
A few questions@@pedecadonstudios714 What do you know about modeling Second what do you know about 3d animation Third did you see the Google earth mesh
@@pedecadonstudios714 stick to roblox kid, dont embarass yourself voicing your worthless opinion. Why dont you spend the hours and produce your own version if that's not to your liking ? Because you wouldnt even know where to start, and would have never put in the work, that's why you're blabbering in the comment section. now move along.
As a New London CT resident and a former member of the Second Congregational Church, I just want to say thank you for making this excellent presentation! You've visually answered so many questions that I've had for months. There hasn't been any coverage of the sudden collapse from the local news since February. I'm looking forward to hearing what the investigation report has to say. Hopefully it comes out soon.
@@kacperwoch4368it’s likely that with the tower gone, the rest of the building was structurally unsound. I’d wager that it was demolished to ensure safety while a permanent solution is decided upon. The sad part is that a restoration became almost impossible the moment the tower collapsed; the building’s fallen, it’s not coming back. They can rebuild it, but using the old materials and getting age-appropriate materials to match will be an enormous expense.
It's pretty surreal seeing a youtuber from halfway across the world analyze the church I used to go to. I had no idea the steeple had such glaring flaws from when it was first built or that the 2011 inspection was never signed off by a structural engineer
> Eidlitz added anchor ties in 1851 and in his words they were there "to stay the progress of the parting of the walls". He noted the ties were a temporary solution. _shows modern photograph with ties still in place_ Really demonstrates a key point - in construction, there aren't really "temporary solutions". There's what you built, and then there is (or isn't) the funding and will to maintain/improve it.
No funding because the Church had a lot of power once and governments really hated it, so tempted the public away from them. Nothing is temporary as far as the weather is concerned, and wet weather is the most destructive.
THE DISTORTED STAIRCASE tells us all we need to know. That degree of movement was ignored but proved to be fatal! Finally, speaking as a surveyor who monitored the movement of structures for 20 years of my career, it would have been an extraordinarily easy and cheap thing to survey the tilting movement of the tower externally, using modern survey equipment. A log of that movement would have demonstrated clearly any acceleration of the tilt. Why wasnt this very simple surveying procedure enacted?? Madness!
Anyone with a plumb line from the top of the tower to the ground, could have measured the tilt. Looks like a lot of people simply looked the other way, probably due to cost
It seems suspiciously convenient that structural engineers were excluded from that study. From the church electing to do nothing after initial warnings, to ignoring very obvious warning signs and omitting the people who would've sounded the alarm, it sounds like the owners of the church didn't want to hear confirmation of what they feared.
@@Drobium77 "in god we trust" it is written on their money..... Every time they look at money they think, should we spend this to repair this? nah.....
There's a war against beauty in modern times. Many old, neo-classical, barroque buildings around the world have been torn down one way or another. Therefore, there also seems to be a war against these kinds of buildings except for very iconic ones, like the Tower of Pisa and the Notre Dame Cathedral. For example, Mexico City used to have the nickname “the city of palaces”. Where did all those palaces go? The world changed a lot after WWII, and even WWI when many Christian monarchies disappeared.
Brilliant analysis. As an instrument maker, I'd just add that it's not impossible that the organ contributed another straw that broke the camel's back: if the masonry was already water damaged and loose, then the constant vibration could slowly shake more mortar loose. Subscribed. Cheers from sunny Vienna, Scott
@@alextirrellRI Thanks, that's good to know. But I don't think this was one of those churches. And you're right, of course: the bass pipes put out the most energy by far, and if one of them hit a resonant frequency of a room in the church, it could transfer quite a bit of that energy to the masonry.
As a pipe organ builder I don't buy a word of that. If vibrations like that was enough to "shake mortar loose" the mortar was already cracked and failing because it was crappy sand or lime mortar that has little more strength than sand, the mortar doesnt actually hold blocks of stone together in any case.
@@alextirrellRI "Stories" is just that, and has nothing to do with the building, it would apply to already weakened water damaged plaster covered walls and ceilings under or around the organ, but then slamming a nearby door would be all it would take to cause the plaster to fall in that condition.
@@therealzilch Oh come on now!!! LOL!! a church like this doesnt have pipes that big in the first place, this was not a massive cathedral that had 32 foot open wood or 32 foot stopped wood (that generates very low frequency tones) organ pipes in it! The organ was built in 1870 and had 16' facade pipes as the largest. The church had CLOCKS and at least one big heavy bronze bell if not more for the clock to ring out the time, they were all placed up at the top. Plenty of churches have had to stop using swinging bells because they are so heavy and the back and forth motion they have- literally SHAKE the tower when being used. From an engineering forum; I've been asked to take a look at a church bell tower. I was told that every time the bell rings, plaster falls off the ceiling. They want me to come down and take a look to make sure its not a structural problem. Doesnt sound like a structural problem to me, but I certainly will take a look. It sounds inevitable that vibrations from the bell after years of use would eventually shake some finishes loose. A response included; 2. I did work on a bell tower years ago that had a similar problem. It turned out that there was so much pigeon manure in the bell tower that the added load from the wet manure pile caused deflection in the wood joist and cracked the plaster. Really! There were areas 4' thick of manure! 3. If the church is new, then I would look more toward a structural vibration problem. Perhaps, the bell support structure needs to be stiffened? --- There's also this youtube video titled; Bell ringing at St Mary's Church exposes serious damage to building West Bridgford Wire News The video literally shows the stone wall MOVING back and forth as the bells are ringing!
What "insulting hyperbole"? It's easy to find examples of channels on this kind of topic that are not insulting or hyperbolic, and it's really difficult to find one's that are. Is my RUclips algorithm just better than yours or something? He's just another great channel, because there aren't really any channels that I've ever come across that fit your accusation. To be clear, I'm assuming that the reason my reality is different than yours is because I've clicked on "the right" videos and probably have watched way more of them (basically, I'm assuming you know something that I don't). Or maybe we are simply thinking of dramatically different genres that happen to both apply to this channel? TLDR: what the heck do you mean by "insulting hyperbole", considering how insultingly hyperbolic that accusation appears to be to this specific RUclips community? The irony. 😂
Wonderful video presentation! Thank you. I bought an old church c1450 we have repaired much of the tower now, but the main reasons for the damage from structural reports are primarily: water damage over decades washing out the lime mortar, then addition of a bell frame that was imposed into already weaker areas high up . The movement of the frame in part acted like a slow battering ram as the two main oak lintels rocked on the west wall corners. There were inadequate ties pinning the four wall at the corners together. Very interesting!
@@Mike-BellI would say it was rain from granite or slate roof where it met at the tower. Water slight leaking down against the roof affecting the already inadequate mortar. That would be my guess by the video. It looks like the tower sinks slightly down than toppling and breaking half way up during the fall. It's just a guess but rain water on roofs that arent checked adequately are a problem. The added prolonged wetness if hidden. From elements with prolonged dry periods is something can be a cause. These are guesses and ideas from everything I've seen other the years on the job.
This is incredibly sad. Had the church taken the advice given when it was built this may have been prevented. Had people monitored the tilt this could have been prevented. Had the structural damage been noticed and repaired properly this could have been prevented. Fortunately nobody was harmed but the many times it could have been prevented led up to the loss of this historic structure. We lose these historic buildings everyday often from lack of proper maintenance and monitoring. If we want these places to survive we need to be paying attention to structural changes and shifts. This building's lean doubled in such a short time. It shifted enough in such a short time that had there been monitoring it would have been caught by somebody before it was too late. You have done an incredible job with this video and you have brought up something very important that more should be aware about especially in places with historic buildings.
It seems almost miraculous in how avoided and disregarded the problems were, as a Christian it would potentially even suggest that it also was a case of God warning the church. Sometimes He uses very ordinary means to do that. As for why He'd do such, I can't say, I don't know the church, its people, or its history.
@@hia5235 I agree. We should be funding ourselves and stop putting the nation in even more debt. We could be doing more for our people on the streets or our vets who have PTSD and we could be maintaining some of our historic sites.
@@hia5235 Then again its not like the govt is giving much money, If you look at how much tehy are giving its less then 0,5% of the total amount the country makes. I don't think 0.5% would really make a difference even if we kept it
I sang for a wedding in this church back in the 90's. Hearing of it's collapse has truly unnerved me. I love old buildings and losing them is really sad.
Sadly, there are many churches with grand historical buildings and a dwindling congregation that lacks the resources to keep them in good repair. One by one, we lose these architectural gems.
@@alexhajnal107perhaps not the grandest example but my neighbour lives in the country church my grandparents were married in in Eastern Canada. It make a beautiful home.
@@alexhajnal107 In the small Virginia town I live in, the largest Baptist church moved out of their traditional sanctuary to a a more modern building on the town's outskirts in like the 2000s. The old building is now a performing arts center and business location (a coffee shop is in the annex, the old sanctuary is the auditorium and the church offices are used for various small businesses). A farmer's market is hosted in the parking lot as well, I believe. It was a historic landmark, so thankfully the townspeople found good use for it.
My mother works in the administration of the Lutheran churches in Lübeck, which includes five very large medieval brick churches. All of them have enormous maintenance costs, and two of them in particular have pretty much permanently been undergoing repairs and reconstruction for decades. They are very much not static objects. (Though one has to question the medieval architects' decision to build a giant church tower on the corner of "Sand Street".)
I used to live in New London and this is the first I am hearing that the church tower collapsed. Just stumbled on this video. That steeple was one of the few attractive elements of the town’s skyline.
If your model is accurate, the side that gave out had quite a few weak points. It appears to be thinner than the front wall, and there are two archways on either side, but offcenter towards the wall that gave out. Add to that two flat roofs on either side where water would pool and leak into the masonry. As so many disasters are, it's sort of a perfect storm. The mangled granite stairs should probably have been a dead giveaway...
Wow, this analysis is super high quality. I'm really impressed with all the effort you put into tracking the progress of the lean by modeling everything and syncing it up with the camera.
Mike, this video is is so richly detailed. I really appreciated the examples of other tilting structures, the historic references, etc. It is a testament to your reputation for quality that you were able to get the HD video that helped your analysis. Your voiceover script is very clear and readily understood. I think this is your best video yet! Congratulations!
We had a well known pharmacy building that changed hands and was to be remodeled by a regional pharmacy chain to return to their roots, the ‘new’ store being less than a block away from their founding store. They also acquired the building next door which had been a bar for decades. The contractor removed the load bearing wall between the two, even though the city stated they had only given permission for a couple openings between the two. The contractor thought it would work, but without warning, the pharmacy building slid down into the street. Almost everyone got out in time except for one employee (RIP) and a resident in one of the upstairs apartments in the pharmacy building (thankfully rescued with minor injuries). There was some worry about cascading failures in the next buildings, but some timely repairs were completed. The contractor was put under a microscope, some sketchy work was uncovered at other locations (including the next building over), and they are no longer in business. The new owner had the site cleared, proceeded with construction, and has since opened.
Chesterfield was granted a coat of arms in 1955, featuring a shield topped by a Derby ram, with a cockerel on one side and a magpie on the other. The motto below is just one word, but a very clever choice: 'Aspire.'
Amazing video, great investigation and explanation, im especially impressed how the architect knew something was off with the construction from the beggining and how those reports were preserved, also loved how you explained the 3d model usage and how you aligned it.
One way to ensure the stability and longevity of any structure is to keep it under a good roof. Once there is water ingress, the damage begins and ultimate failure of the structure is almost inevitable. Good video.
i live about 2 hours from here on the other side of the state, and i was just chilling at home and my phone pinged saying there was a building collapse in New London and then i heard it was this building and it was quite the sight to see, glad nobody was hurt
Did a deep dive of your channel just now. I see you have experimented with many narration and stylistic styles over the years. This is definitely the best id say. The self narrated and extensively animated with links to visual evidence is so great.
The stone had to gave way due to the increase of the lateral force. My guess is that the steeple was not made out of massive stones, but of small rocks and mortar.
Absolutely PHENOMINAL video. The great lengths you went to-to ensure your video was high production value and extremely informative is quite impressive.
Here a note from my 76 year old brother. Our family was a member of the church in the 50s-90s. "That stone step he points out was already moving back then. I went to the top of the steeple several times up those wooden ladders. The platforms were all covered with pigeon shit. We took bags of that crsp uot of there once. It was a mess."
Thanks for the information 👍 It makes sense that the heaved stairs had been that way for a long time and that why everyone had gotten used to them like that.
I live the next town over from New London. I drive into town from route 1. From there, you could see 1st Congregational Church and St Mary's Church ahead in the skyline. From a distance, they looked right next to each other. St Mary's looks very lonely now.
You can see on the photos from prior days, that there was snow on the ground at least part of the time. NL had gone through several freeze-thaw cycles in the preceding days. I don't think that the possibility of water infiltration (and resulting freezing) in some of the compromised masonry can be ruled out as a contributing factor.
@@peterhagen7258 As a Norwegian I can confirm. Sub-zero temperatures and moisture/water olibirate masonry buildings. There are very few ruins of masonry buildings in Norway for exactly this reason. If its not protected from the rain it will just smolder in a few decades. However, I don't believe it's part of the equation here mainly because the section that collapsed were inside the church. For something this big to freeze solid it needs to be very cold for weeks. I believe its several things happening, but those struts seems problematic. If they were to rust they would expand inside the walls just like freezing water, and crush the surrounding bricks, stone and mortar.
I've served as an expert witness (mechanical, not structural) where the official reports were not this well supported by images and models. Excellent work. To be honest, despite being relatively young, I'm old school. I bring physical models because I think it helps when people can hold the model. If I could make images like this, I probably would.
This might happen to the local to me All Saints Church in Isleworth. The 14th century bell tower is unsafe these days. Hopefully they solve it before we lose an icon.
Wow this is so well done! I am not an expert, but I think this situation could have been preventable by proper observations. This type of videos always fascinate me.
great editing and really thorough analysis! I know next to nothing about architecture and the ins and outs of evaluating structural integrity but this was still an interesting watch
I lived in front of this church for a bit while I was stationed in New London, at the Crocker House. It's crazy that it collapsed. Seems it could've happened at any moment while I was there.
Great engineering analysis! On the lighter side, a pleasure to listen to this gentleman talking! He kind of sounds like old, British character Mr Srooge! I can even imagine his old, musty house, with a steep roof, and dormers shedding a constant, misty rain! Brrr! I need a cup of very hot tea already! And warm biscuits! 🥶 ☕ 🍪
Appreciate your scientific modeling. PS - Would recently developed laser scanning technology been a better way to evaluate the building? Seems on documentary programs, this method of scanning allows for a better means of detecting subtle clues
Why didn't they save parts of the church!?!? The windows that were whole, all the beautiful wood! The beautiful detailed stones. Two of the towers were completely untouched, these could have been moved or even left standing. Now everything is gone forever😢
OMG! This was a town I frequented when I worked up there a few years, and not far from the train station I used to frequent when going home! If this was so catastrophic, I can’t believe it didn’t make some national news!
This is the good type of old school youtube content I miss. The algorithm just recommended this for some reason. Maybe because I was in a 9/11 wormhole, and the collapsing steeple is similar in a way. Nonetheless, good video... salute!
I had no idea this happened! On Sunday, June 7, 2020 I stopped there to take photos of the church for my upcoming photo book Classic Churches Of Connecticut. In the final print I couldn't understand why the church steeple seemed to have a slight curve, and I used PhotoShop to straighten it the best I could. But something didn't look right when I examined and edited the photos that night, but I couldn't figure it out as most architectural photos need a little angle correction. I just wonder if the homeless guy who accosted me was still sitting on those steps in the front when the collapse happened. Thank you for posting.
It’s difficult to measure stress in stiff construction materials like stone, mortar and concrete. Bedrock can separate during excavation and with stress relief, sheets can pop off due to differential stress within the material.
twisted church steeples remind me of «Мор. Утопия» maybe it's the masonry and stoneworks, maybe it's the twist itself, i dunno. good job hunting down the actual security footage and not a re-recording! PS: Fantastic job with your 3D modelling and maths! Very interesting stuff!
As a former geology student i basically have no engineering background, but water infitrations and granite don't mix well. And the stairs at 10:35 look tremendously under stress, the forces lifted up the blocks sheering the cement in the process, following the path with less resistance. EDIT: the document reports splitting of the steps, which from the picture seemed different blocks put together to make the steps. That's unbelievable, the tower was really really moving a lot to sheer that granite like this
I belong to a church which is getting long in the tooth like this one. Reports of deficiencies are regularly submitted to the church trustees with requests for funding to address those increasing deficiencies, especially when they become hazardous. the trustees consistently declined to fund those requests preferring to spend funds on ceremonial and church outreach functions. It's no wonder that church buildings and facilities will disappear under such management. this congregation seems to have realized that and sold the building before it totally collapses. I have recommended that our church do the same!
I love how people somehow know how to pronounce Connecticut properly even though they don't live anywhere near it. This is the first time I heard about this. I'm glad no one was hurt. It could have been a true tragedy. I hope someone pays you for your hard work. They should.
01:30 living near that church (its called "Oberkirche"), its quite something else to see. The tower itself was leaning around 5.5° in 2011 already. The top part leans a bit less (4.4 in 2011). The top was joined to the tower out of level on purpose in the year 1761. There are 3 really heavy steel beams at the bottom of the tower, supporting it to try to stop the leaning progress. It was calculated that if they had not compacted the ground with concrete and added the support beams, the tower would collapse in 2092. It was leaning at a speed of 6cm per year. Now with the supports, 2mm per year were measured. There was a lot of bureaucracy going on but in the end, the "evangelische kirche mitteldeutschland" and the "denkmalschutzbehörde" agreed to sell the area containing the tower. The city bought the area for 1€. Yep, 1€, thats not a joke.
There's a Church near me whose tilt was first noticed in the late 1800's and several tries at stabilising it failed until the 1990's. The tower now stands at an 5.13 degree angle and literally looms over you when you stand in front of it, and it's still being used normally. It's incredibly freaky and I'm actually wondering when, not if, it'll collapse.
It went from perfectly vertical to perfectly horizontal. Let's be glad that nobody was hurt. The irony is, that back in 1851 the original architect had already warned about the flawed construction.
Hey, great video. Thought you'd like to know that on the diagram of the lean angle (such as at 8:01) there is an error. The decade 1930s has no apostrophe in. You may be thinking of the apostrophe in '30s.
"The Tower is structurally sound" looks like how someone almost always says someone else is "just fine" right before you get word of that person's death.
Sad that they tore down the rest of the building! In Sweden there are several examples of how to perserve a facade of a building but totally renew the interior. The place could have been a really cool office space or something. With the two remaining towers, the wall out to the street and and the altar section. There was a fire destroying a market house (kind of bazar house in Uppsala, Sweden) ... the interior and the roof were totally burnt out. But the bricked walls here still standing. Today the facade looks like before the fire but the interior is completely new and modernized and it still is a "bazar" place with restaurants and small shops for expensive food ... :)
I’m guessing someone told the city council “look repairing this historic monument will be so much money but if you pay my crew we will take care of it in a week”
It already demolished itself. There’s no choice but to rebuild, and rebuilding any building the way it was prior to Industrial Revolution would be several times more costly than just building a new church. And if the church, who doesn’t even pay taxes, can’t afford the ground up restoration, than nobody can.
@@556johny556 but it was a historic structure that is old enough to be under historic protection. I’m sure if they asked the government for money it would have been given.
An organ tuner here, look behind that monster. That's the one space the walls aren't accessible that I see here.
person with common sense here thoroughly inspect the wall
I help maintain old buildings, and people are far too trusting that they will last forever and ever when abused. Buildings are machines, they move and wear down. Especially when they get wet.
I think over 500 years old Rotbav church tower also seemingly randomly collapsed in Romania, Transylvania in 2016. But of course there was the same reason, building got old, not enough maintenance, a bit lower quality materials finally gave way.
True. Water is a huge eroder.
I never thought of a building as a machine but you're absolutely right! They move and sway and take on damage over time which needs repair and maintenance like a car. Well said.
@@ligametis "On the evening of February 19, 2016, the church tower clock struck twice in Rotbav, then came the end of it. The clock, bells, tower and part of the church’s nave dropped down to the ground in the blink of an eye."
That nicely proves the swinging bells in the tower in the end brought it down
...
Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven
There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today
Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell
Come to Jesus Christ today
Jesus Christ is only way to heaven
Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void
Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
Holy Spirit Can give you peace guidance and purpose and the Lord will
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
Nah, judging from those stairs it was SCREAMING out in distress the same way the condo collapse in Surfside was incredibly preventable.
EXACTLY SO!!
The structure was indeed screaming its distress to all.
But nobody listened!
Out of curiosity how do you go about fixing something like this? I imagine you can't just pluck out a brick and put in new ones especially if it was already that unstable.
@@matthewzeller5026
They built an internal steel brace within the Christ Church tower here (in Christchurch, New Zealand). A mistake was made in starting it further up the inside of the tower, relying on the base to hold up against the expected forces from earthquake, rather than anchoring it in the ground. When it was toppled by the earthquake here in 2011 it sheered off where the brace stopped. These sort of processes are difficult and extremely expensive, so it’s really only very significant buildings where this is viable - and the work done was not adequate in this case.
Very few old buildings here survived that earthquake, and most of the much newer high rise buildings (most built from the late 1980s on) were severely compromised and had to be demolished. Not many complete failures and collapses, due to mandatory earthquake strengthening work. Rebuild must now be to much higher structural strength, so most buildings have very obvious heavy structural steel frames. (Insurers took a huge hit when most of the city was written off.)
@@boggisthecat thanks for the info. It's crazy how everything can look so stable and then collapse in an instant because of the tiniest things over time.
@@matthewzeller5026
Usually there are warning signs of building failure.
In the case of the buildings that totally failed here, two were built by the same company in the late 1980s and were found to have been not constructed to the plans. Occupants of the building where the worst casualties occurred had complained consistently over years about structural issues, but no proper inspection was done and remedial work not enforced. The person responsible for constructing those buildings decided he needed to urgently travel to South America immediately after the earthquake.
A replacement building near the city centre here that was nearly complete had to have major additional strengthening done. An architectural engineering student happened to be passing by and noticed what seemed to be major problems. They managed to get the ear of city officials and an inspection found that this was another building where the plan was apparently considered optional. People are highly resistant to learning when money is involved.
I live not far from there, and I know one of the firefighters who responded. He said it looked like a scene from a war movie. It's a miracle no one was killed, much less injured. He told me: "There was a lady inside in the back office when it happened. She said that she heard the noise, and went to go see what happened. When she opened the door to the sanctuary, she was met with sunlight and wind."
Noice.
That is one lucky person, to be so close to disaster and yet only hear noise. You'd think the collapse would have done more shaking.
@@Paul_Wetor I mean, it is/was made of stone, which is pretty sturdy and sound proof-ish. In either case, I'm sure she felt protected that day.
I'd like to know where the office was exactly, when you look at the aerial view of the collapsed building, the entire central area is filled at least 10ft plus of masonry & rubble.
She'd do well to open the door let alone get out.
Not dissing the story but an arrow pointing where said office was would help quell my doubt of this event.
@@ominous-omnipresent-they not noice
Outstanding 3D computer modeling and overall engineering analysis. I was never aware of this collapse in the news.
Uh... modeling was pretty poor actually especially with the amount of detail clearly visible yet ignored.
A few questions@@pedecadonstudios714
What do you know about modeling
Second what do you know about 3d animation
Third did you see the Google earth mesh
i think it went under the radar bc it was ENTIRELY overshadowed by the notre dame fire that happened like what? 4.5 years prior?
What news? The joke msm is useless today...
@@pedecadonstudios714 stick to roblox kid, dont embarass yourself voicing your worthless opinion. Why dont you spend the hours and produce your own version if that's not to your liking ? Because you wouldnt even know where to start, and would have never put in the work, that's why you're blabbering in the comment section. now move along.
As a New London CT resident and a former member of the Second Congregational Church, I just want to say thank you for making this excellent presentation! You've visually answered so many questions that I've had for months. There hasn't been any coverage of the sudden collapse from the local news since February. I'm looking forward to hearing what the investigation report has to say. Hopefully it comes out soon.
Always happy to hear my efforts are appreciated.
I know the church itself was demolished, but was the annex/offices demolished as well? I haven't been able to find a good answer.
@@crazychicken7125 last I saw, the annex building is still intact.
Why was the remaining structure demolished? Isn't this like a landmark? Where is the community, the city council?
@@kacperwoch4368it’s likely that with the tower gone, the rest of the building was structurally unsound. I’d wager that it was demolished to ensure safety while a permanent solution is decided upon. The sad part is that a restoration became almost impossible the moment the tower collapsed; the building’s fallen, it’s not coming back. They can rebuild it, but using the old materials and getting age-appropriate materials to match will be an enormous expense.
Another masterful presentation.
Glad you think so!
It's pretty surreal seeing a youtuber from halfway across the world analyze the church I used to go to. I had no idea the steeple had such glaring flaws from when it was first built or that the 2011 inspection was never signed off by a structural engineer
> Eidlitz added anchor ties in 1851 and in his words they were there "to stay the progress of the parting of the walls". He noted the ties were a temporary solution.
_shows modern photograph with ties still in place_
Really demonstrates a key point - in construction, there aren't really "temporary solutions". There's what you built, and then there is (or isn't) the funding and will to maintain/improve it.
“Nothing more permanent than a temporary solution.”
No funding because the Church had a lot of power once and governments really hated it, so tempted the public away from them.
Nothing is temporary as far as the weather is concerned, and wet weather is the most destructive.
@@spex357genuinely one of the dumbest thing I’ve ever read.
Church and state have always been separate in the United States.
@@baneofbanes Not so in the UK.
@@spex357 cool, this video takes place in Connecticut, aka the USA, not the UK.
THE DISTORTED STAIRCASE tells us all we need to know.
That degree of movement was ignored but proved to be fatal!
Finally, speaking as a surveyor who monitored the movement of structures for 20 years of my career, it would have been an extraordinarily easy and cheap thing to survey the tilting movement of the tower externally, using modern survey equipment.
A log of that movement would have demonstrated clearly any acceleration of the tilt.
Why wasnt this very simple surveying procedure enacted??
Madness!
Equally, the report cited at 10:30 is going to be used against the author(s).
Anyone with a plumb line from the top of the tower to the ground, could have measured the tilt. Looks like a lot of people simply looked the other way, probably due to cost
It seems suspiciously convenient that structural engineers were excluded from that study. From the church electing to do nothing after initial warnings, to ignoring very obvious warning signs and omitting the people who would've sounded the alarm, it sounds like the owners of the church didn't want to hear confirmation of what they feared.
@@Drobium77 "in god we trust" it is written on their money..... Every time they look at money they think, should we spend this to repair this? nah.....
There's a war against beauty in modern times. Many old, neo-classical, barroque buildings around the world have been torn down one way or another. Therefore, there also seems to be a war against these kinds of buildings except for very iconic ones, like the Tower of Pisa and the Notre Dame Cathedral. For example, Mexico City used to have the nickname “the city of palaces”. Where did all those palaces go? The world changed a lot after WWII, and even WWI when many Christian monarchies disappeared.
Brilliant analysis. As an instrument maker, I'd just add that it's not impossible that the organ contributed another straw that broke the camel's back: if the masonry was already water damaged and loose, then the constant vibration could slowly shake more mortar loose.
Subscribed. Cheers from sunny Vienna, Scott
I've heard stories of churches warning organists not to use certain bass stops because they might damage the building.
@@alextirrellRI Thanks, that's good to know. But I don't think this was one of those churches.
And you're right, of course: the bass pipes put out the most energy by far, and if one of them hit a resonant frequency of a room in the church, it could transfer quite a bit of that energy to the masonry.
As a pipe organ builder I don't buy a word of that. If vibrations like that was enough to "shake mortar loose" the mortar was already cracked and failing because it was crappy sand or lime mortar that has little more strength than sand, the mortar doesnt actually hold blocks of stone together in any case.
@@alextirrellRI "Stories" is just that, and has nothing to do with the building, it would apply to already weakened water damaged plaster covered walls and ceilings under or around the organ, but then slamming a nearby door would be all it would take to cause the plaster to fall in that condition.
@@therealzilch Oh come on now!!! LOL!! a church like this doesnt have pipes that big in the first place, this was not a massive cathedral that had 32 foot open wood or 32 foot stopped wood (that generates very low frequency tones) organ pipes in it! The organ was built in 1870 and had 16' facade pipes as the largest.
The church had CLOCKS and at least one big heavy bronze bell if not more for the clock to ring out the time, they were all placed up at the top. Plenty of churches have had to stop using swinging bells because they are so heavy and the back and forth motion they have- literally SHAKE the tower when being used.
From an engineering forum;
I've been asked to take a look at a church bell tower. I was told that every time the bell rings, plaster falls off the ceiling. They want me to come down and take a look to make sure its not a structural problem.
Doesnt sound like a structural problem to me, but I certainly will take a look. It sounds inevitable that vibrations from the bell after years of use would eventually shake some finishes loose.
A response included;
2. I did work on a bell tower years ago that had a similar problem. It turned out that there was so much pigeon manure in the bell tower that the added load from the wet manure pile caused deflection in the wood joist and cracked the plaster. Really! There were areas 4' thick of manure!
3. If the church is new, then I would look more toward a structural vibration problem. Perhaps, the bell support structure needs to be stiffened?
---
There's also this youtube video titled;
Bell ringing at St Mary's Church exposes serious damage to building
West Bridgford Wire News
The video literally shows the stone wall MOVING back and forth as the bells are ringing!
Fascinating and perfectly explained. So refreshing to be spared the insulting hyperbole typical of most content in this genre - thank you.👋👍🙏
LOL!
Agree
Agreed! Very well done!
Yes.
What "insulting hyperbole"? It's easy to find examples of channels on this kind of topic that are not insulting or hyperbolic, and it's really difficult to find one's that are. Is my RUclips algorithm just better than yours or something? He's just another great channel, because there aren't really any channels that I've ever come across that fit your accusation. To be clear, I'm assuming that the reason my reality is different than yours is because I've clicked on "the right" videos and probably have watched way more of them (basically, I'm assuming you know something that I don't). Or maybe we are simply thinking of dramatically different genres that happen to both apply to this channel?
TLDR: what the heck do you mean by "insulting hyperbole", considering how insultingly hyperbolic that accusation appears to be to this specific RUclips community? The irony. 😂
Wonderful video presentation! Thank you. I bought an old church c1450 we have repaired much of the tower now, but the main reasons for the damage from structural reports are primarily: water damage over decades washing out the lime mortar, then addition of a bell frame that was imposed into already weaker areas high up . The movement of the frame in part acted like a slow battering ram as the two main oak lintels rocked on the west wall corners. There were inadequate ties pinning the four wall at the corners together. Very interesting!
Thats is very interesting. Good luck on your project
@@Mike-BellI would say it was rain from granite or slate roof where it met at the tower. Water slight leaking down against the roof affecting the already inadequate mortar. That would be my guess by the video. It looks like the tower sinks slightly down than toppling and breaking half way up during the fall. It's just a guess but rain water on roofs that arent checked adequately are a problem. The added prolonged wetness if hidden. From elements with prolonged dry periods is something can be a cause. These are guesses and ideas from everything I've seen other the years on the job.
This is incredibly sad. Had the church taken the advice given when it was built this may have been prevented. Had people monitored the tilt this could have been prevented. Had the structural damage been noticed and repaired properly this could have been prevented. Fortunately nobody was harmed but the many times it could have been prevented led up to the loss of this historic structure. We lose these historic buildings everyday often from lack of proper maintenance and monitoring. If we want these places to survive we need to be paying attention to structural changes and shifts. This building's lean doubled in such a short time. It shifted enough in such a short time that had there been monitoring it would have been caught by somebody before it was too late. You have done an incredible job with this video and you have brought up something very important that more should be aware about especially in places with historic buildings.
It seems almost miraculous in how avoided and disregarded the problems were, as a Christian it would potentially even suggest that it also was a case of God warning the church. Sometimes He uses very ordinary means to do that. As for why He'd do such, I can't say, I don't know the church, its people, or its history.
@@Spartan322 I wish the warnings had been noticed. Too many beautiful old churches have been lost this year due to ignorance and accidents.
Maybe the govt should stop giving BILLIONS to random countries.
@@hia5235 I agree. We should be funding ourselves and stop putting the nation in even more debt. We could be doing more for our people on the streets or our vets who have PTSD and we could be maintaining some of our historic sites.
@@hia5235 Then again its not like the govt is giving much money, If you look at how much tehy are giving its less then 0,5% of the total amount the country makes. I don't think 0.5% would really make a difference even if we kept it
Very impressive. Your Plain-speak is much appreciated.
I sang for a wedding in this church back in the 90's. Hearing of it's collapse has truly unnerved me. I love old buildings and losing them is really sad.
Great video! I like that you found an old building appraisal
Sadly, there are many churches with grand historical buildings and a dwindling congregation that lacks the resources to keep them in good repair. One by one, we lose these architectural gems.
In many cases they are being repurposed. For example, there's a wonderful coffeehouse in Brunswick, MD that's in a former church.
@@alexhajnal107perhaps not the grandest example but my neighbour lives in the country church my grandparents were married in in Eastern Canada. It make a beautiful home.
And they are not building new ones like that anymore.
@@alexhajnal107 In the small Virginia town I live in, the largest Baptist church moved out of their traditional sanctuary to a a more modern building on the town's outskirts in like the 2000s. The old building is now a performing arts center and business location (a coffee shop is in the annex, the old sanctuary is the auditorium and the church offices are used for various small businesses). A farmer's market is hosted in the parking lot as well, I believe. It was a historic landmark, so thankfully the townspeople found good use for it.
@@thunderbird1921 That sounds lovely. (Not to mention being a much better use of the space IMO.)
I guess the angle was too steeple.
How has barely anyone liked this comment???
@@wildcatenthusiast8888 yea!
Nah 😰
You can never be too lean.
*_CARLOOOOOS!_*
My mother works in the administration of the Lutheran churches in Lübeck, which includes five very large medieval brick churches.
All of them have enormous maintenance costs, and two of them in particular have pretty much permanently been undergoing repairs and reconstruction for decades. They are very much not static objects.
(Though one has to question the medieval architects' decision to build a giant church tower on the corner of "Sand Street".)
haha especially since the danger of doing that was literally used as a parable in the Bible.
I used to live in New London and this is the first I am hearing that the church tower collapsed. Just stumbled on this video. That steeple was one of the few attractive elements of the town’s skyline.
If your model is accurate, the side that gave out had quite a few weak points. It appears to be thinner than the front wall, and there are two archways on either side, but offcenter towards the wall that gave out. Add to that two flat roofs on either side where water would pool and leak into the masonry. As so many disasters are, it's sort of a perfect storm. The mangled granite stairs should probably have been a dead giveaway...
Wow, this analysis is super high quality. I'm really impressed with all the effort you put into tracking the progress of the lean by modeling everything and syncing it up with the camera.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Mike, this video is is so richly detailed. I really appreciated the examples of other tilting structures, the historic references, etc. It is a testament to your reputation for quality that you were able to get the HD video that helped your analysis. Your voiceover script is very clear and readily understood. I think this is your best video yet! Congratulations!
Thanks Maud. Always appreciate and look forward to your comments.
A cautionary tale always check the structure behind your organ.
Regular prostate exams are recommended.
0:19 there is just a person delivering a pizza
Yea😂
bruh did not notice☠️💀
We had a well known pharmacy building that changed hands and was to be remodeled by a regional pharmacy chain to return to their roots, the ‘new’ store being less than a block away from their founding store. They also acquired the building next door which had been a bar for decades. The contractor removed the load bearing wall between the two, even though the city stated they had only given permission for a couple openings between the two. The contractor thought it would work, but without warning, the pharmacy building slid down into the street. Almost everyone got out in time except for one employee (RIP) and a resident in one of the upstairs apartments in the pharmacy building (thankfully rescued with minor injuries). There was some worry about cascading failures in the next buildings, but some timely repairs were completed. The contractor was put under a microscope, some sketchy work was uncovered at other locations (including the next building over), and they are no longer in business. The new owner had the site cleared, proceeded with construction, and has since opened.
This video is extremely well researched and high quality, great content!
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank goodness it didn't happen when the church was full. Good video Mike.
Tremendous video, Mike. It's wonderful that you are thorough and willing enough to use primary resources to ensure the accuracy of your work.
Thank you kindly!
A very thorough video
Chesterfield was granted a coat of arms in 1955, featuring a shield topped by a Derby ram, with a cockerel on one side and a magpie on the other. The motto below is just one word, but a very clever choice: 'Aspire.'
Amazing video, great investigation and explanation, im especially impressed how the architect knew something was off with the construction from the beggining and how those reports were preserved, also loved how you explained the 3d model usage and how you aligned it.
One way to ensure the stability and longevity of any structure is to keep it under a good roof. Once there is water ingress, the damage begins and ultimate failure of the structure is almost inevitable. Good video.
i live about 2 hours from here on the other side of the state, and i was just chilling at home and my phone pinged saying there was a building collapse in New London and then i heard it was this building and it was quite the sight to see, glad nobody was hurt
Mike, I have no idea how I got here but I'm glad I did. Fascinating stuff to learn here.
Amazing how the church administrator kept working after the collapse.
Imagine if the church congregation was full, there'd have been very few if any survivors based on the aftermath images
They all would have been with God. That's the main point of being religious.
Yeah don't tease me with happy endings.
What a brilliant video & very easy to understand. Thanks for sharing
Glad you enjoyed it!
Did a deep dive of your channel just now. I see you have experimented with many narration and stylistic styles over the years. This is definitely the best id say. The self narrated and extensively animated with links to visual evidence is so great.
Initially my son did the narration. I once tried a professional voice and then realised my audience prefers me doing the talking.
This is a great video Mike! Really interesting! Unbelievable that the structure got to such a state without a bigger fuss.
Thank you sir - very professional report ❤
Stunning work, well researched and fascinating video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
this is so good. so much information gathered and combined from that little material. you are a detective, dude.
Glad you think so!
The stone had to gave way due to the increase of the lateral force. My guess is that the steeple was not made out of massive stones, but of small rocks and mortar.
No one can look at that stairwell and say in good faith that nothing is wrong. Granite stone doesn't heave itself apart like that easily.
Impressive modeling and investigative skills! This channel will grow by leaps and bounds.
Absolutely PHENOMINAL video. The great lengths you went to-to ensure your video was high production value and extremely informative is quite impressive.
Wow, thank you!
Here a note from my 76 year old brother. Our family was a member of the church in the 50s-90s.
"That stone step he points out was already moving back then. I went to the top of the steeple several times up those wooden ladders. The platforms were all covered with pigeon shit. We took bags of that crsp uot of there once. It was a mess."
Thanks for the information 👍
It makes sense that the heaved stairs had been that way for a long time and that why everyone had gotten used to them like that.
An extremely well thought out and presented analysis. Well done.
Incredible video! Everything was perfectly explained, and the recreation was wonderfully done!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow, this was crazy detailed and concise. amazing video, you have my subscription instantly
Awesome, thank you!
Im a commercial building inspector and honestly im surprised this doesn’t happen more often with load bearing masonry construction
Really well made video, great work!
I appreciate the effort you put into the 3d animations, visually showing how it happened helps a lot
I live the next town over from New London. I drive into town from route 1. From there, you could see 1st Congregational Church and St Mary's Church ahead in the skyline. From a distance, they looked right next to each other. St Mary's looks very lonely now.
This is so sad, the architecture of that tower was so pretty
This must be a contender for the longest awaited "I told you so!"
great content, no fillers, and the trick of building the model from Google mesh is pretty cool!
Well done. I thought Building Integrity was the only one who went this in depth, but you arguably outdo him due to your CGI. New subscriber.
Welcome aboard. More like this to follow. Josh seems to have faded away.
You can see on the photos from prior days, that there was snow on the ground at least part of the time. NL had gone through several freeze-thaw cycles in the preceding days. I don't think that the possibility of water infiltration (and resulting freezing) in some of the compromised masonry can be ruled out as a contributing factor.
@@peterhagen7258 As a Norwegian I can confirm. Sub-zero temperatures and moisture/water olibirate masonry buildings. There are very few ruins of masonry buildings in Norway for exactly this reason. If its not protected from the rain it will just smolder in a few decades.
However, I don't believe it's part of the equation here mainly because the section that collapsed were inside the church. For something this big to freeze solid it needs to be very cold for weeks.
I believe its several things happening, but those struts seems problematic. If they were to rust they would expand inside the walls just like freezing water, and crush the surrounding bricks, stone and mortar.
I've served as an expert witness (mechanical, not structural) where the official reports were not this well supported by images and models. Excellent work. To be honest, despite being relatively young, I'm old school. I bring physical models because I think it helps when people can hold the model. If I could make images like this, I probably would.
Extremely well presented breakdown (no pun intended) of this event, very easy for an amateur to understand.
This might happen to the local to me All Saints Church in Isleworth. The 14th century bell tower is unsafe these days. Hopefully they solve it before we lose an icon.
Wow this is so well done! I am not an expert, but I think this situation could have been preventable by proper observations. This type of videos always fascinate me.
Awesome animations and explanation! Thank you very much!
You're very welcome!
I can imagine how confused those construction workers must have felt when they heard a loud noise near by thinking it was their wrong doing! haha 😂
Wow this is very interesting
The 3d models are great for understanding the collapse
I’m glad you appreciated the 3d’s 😊
That was a very professional model you perfected there, good job.
Thank you very much!
great editing and really thorough analysis! I know next to nothing about architecture and the ins and outs of evaluating structural integrity but this was still an interesting watch
Glad it was helpful!
I lived in front of this church for a bit while I was stationed in New London, at the Crocker House. It's crazy that it collapsed. Seems it could've happened at any moment while I was there.
I have zero interest in a church in the USA, based in the UK ... but your research and illustration was gripping !
0:21 That one person holding a Pizza hearing that roar must’ve been so startling… lol
😆
Nah, he was chilling 😂
Great video! Thanks for sharing! Subscribed!
Thanks for the sub!
Great engineering analysis! On the lighter side, a pleasure to listen to this gentleman talking! He kind of sounds like old, British character Mr Srooge! I can even imagine his old, musty house, with a steep roof, and dormers shedding a constant, misty rain! Brrr! I need a cup of very hot tea already! And warm biscuits! 🥶 ☕ 🍪
Appreciate your scientific modeling.
PS - Would recently developed laser scanning technology been a better way to evaluate the building? Seems on documentary programs, this method of scanning allows for a better means of detecting subtle clues
Yes Lidar radar is extremely accurate.
Why didn't they save parts of the church!?!? The windows that were whole, all the beautiful wood! The beautiful detailed stones. Two of the towers were completely untouched, these could have been moved or even left standing. Now everything is gone forever😢
That's "sky daddy" bashing Atheists for you...
Probably demolished quickly because someone wanted to develop the site.
@@numbersstationsarchive194 Athiests love old beautiful buildings as much as anyone else you weirdo.
It probably compromised the foundations as the retaining wall of a nearby building was also damaged
OMG! This was a town I frequented when I worked up there a few years, and not far from the train station I used to frequent when going home! If this was so catastrophic, I can’t believe it didn’t make some national news!
incredible work, this was a fantastic breakdown and intellectual exercise!
This is the good type of old school youtube content I miss. The algorithm just recommended this for some reason. Maybe because I was in a 9/11 wormhole, and the collapsing steeple is similar in a way.
Nonetheless, good video... salute!
I had no idea this happened! On Sunday, June 7, 2020 I stopped there to take photos of the church for my upcoming photo book Classic Churches Of Connecticut. In the final print I couldn't understand why the church steeple seemed to have a slight curve, and I used PhotoShop to straighten it the best I could. But something didn't look right when I examined and edited the photos that night, but I couldn't figure it out as most architectural photos need a little angle correction. I just wonder if the homeless guy who accosted me was still sitting on those steps in the front when the collapse happened. Thank you for posting.
Excellent presentation! Good work.
It’s difficult to measure stress in stiff construction materials like stone, mortar and concrete. Bedrock can separate during excavation and with stress relief, sheets can pop off due to differential stress within the material.
excellent video Mike, thank you!
twisted church steeples remind me of «Мор. Утопия»
maybe it's the masonry and stoneworks, maybe it's the twist itself, i dunno.
good job hunting down the actual security footage and not a re-recording!
PS: Fantastic job with your 3D modelling and maths! Very interesting stuff!
As a former geology student i basically have no engineering background, but water infitrations and granite don't mix well. And the stairs at 10:35 look tremendously under stress, the forces lifted up the blocks sheering the cement in the process, following the path with less resistance.
EDIT: the document reports splitting of the steps, which from the picture seemed different blocks put together to make the steps. That's unbelievable, the tower was really really moving a lot to sheer that granite like this
I belong to a church which is getting long in the tooth like this one. Reports of deficiencies are regularly submitted to the church trustees with requests for funding to address those increasing deficiencies, especially when they become hazardous. the trustees consistently declined to fund those requests preferring to spend funds on ceremonial and church outreach functions. It's no wonder that church buildings and facilities will disappear under such management. this congregation seems to have realized that and sold the building before it totally collapses. I have recommended that our church do the same!
I love how people somehow know how to pronounce Connecticut properly even though they don't live anywhere near it. This is the first time I heard about this. I'm glad no one was hurt. It could have been a true tragedy. I hope someone pays you for your hard work. They should.
Just discovered your channel. Very interesting and informative. Subscribed!
Welcome aboard!
01:30 living near that church (its called "Oberkirche"), its quite something else to see. The tower itself was leaning around 5.5° in 2011 already. The top part leans a bit less (4.4 in 2011). The top was joined to the tower out of level on purpose in the year 1761. There are 3 really heavy steel beams at the bottom of the tower, supporting it to try to stop the leaning progress. It was calculated that if they had not compacted the ground with concrete and added the support beams, the tower would collapse in 2092. It was leaning at a speed of 6cm per year. Now with the supports, 2mm per year were measured.
There was a lot of bureaucracy going on but in the end, the "evangelische kirche mitteldeutschland" and the "denkmalschutzbehörde" agreed to sell the area containing the tower. The city bought the area for 1€. Yep, 1€, thats not a joke.
There's a Church near me whose tilt was first noticed in the late 1800's and several tries at stabilising it failed until the 1990's. The tower now stands at an 5.13 degree angle and literally looms over you when you stand in front of it, and it's still being used normally. It's incredibly freaky and I'm actually wondering when, not if, it'll collapse.
Where is this church tower? Im curious to check it out.
I can't believe I'm just hearing about this now...
It went from perfectly vertical to perfectly horizontal. Let's be glad that nobody was hurt.
The irony is, that back in 1851 the original architect had already warned about the flawed construction.
Hey, great video. Thought you'd like to know that on the diagram of the lean angle (such as at 8:01) there is an error.
The decade 1930s has no apostrophe in. You may be thinking of the apostrophe in '30s.
Thanks. Useful to know. When I put that in, it didn't quite look right 🤔😅
"The Tower is structurally sound" looks like how someone almost always says someone else is "just fine" right before you get word of that person's death.
Absolutely brilliant graphics!!
I've rang the bells in towers that swing considerably side to side while the bells are swinging. Always terrifying
Sad that they tore down the rest of the building! In Sweden there are several examples of how to perserve a facade of a building but totally renew the interior. The place could have been a really cool office space or something. With the two remaining towers, the wall out to the street and and the altar section. There was a fire destroying a market house (kind of bazar house in Uppsala, Sweden) ... the interior and the roof were totally burnt out. But the bricked walls here still standing. Today the facade looks like before the fire but the interior is completely new and modernized and it still is a "bazar" place with restaurants and small shops for expensive food ... :)
Think that high advantage point cameras could, in the future, monitor skylines for minute movements of structures as a early warning system?
Combine that with Machine learning and we could have automated alerts
The fact that they started demolition just after a week tells me people of New London simply don't care about their landmark church.
I’m guessing someone told the city council “look repairing this historic monument will be so much money but if you pay my crew we will take care of it in a week”
It already demolished itself. There’s no choice but to rebuild, and rebuilding any building the way it was prior to Industrial Revolution would be several times more costly than just building a new church.
And if the church, who doesn’t even pay taxes, can’t afford the ground up restoration, than nobody can.
@@556johny556 but it was a historic structure that is old enough to be under historic protection. I’m sure if they asked the government for money it would have been given.
Well the church itself was built on the site of a prior church that was burnt down.
Very interesting. Now I want to know more about that shorter tower at 16:19. How is that still upright? I will check it out.