Bidding Fond Farewells : Demolition Under Way on Fillmore Hotel and Masonic Building

Nearly 100 people gathered Tuesday to watch a bulldozer pick and push at Fillmore’s historic Masonic Building, witnessing the daylong demolition of the most prominent building in the city’s downtown district.

The ground shook and dust billowed as the building’s brick and mortar walls crumbled with each knock of the machine’s claw.

“It’s a sad day, but it has to come down,” said Fillmore Councilman Mike McMahan, watching the demolition crew at work. “Just looking at how easy it is. I’m surprised it didn’t fall earlier.”

A block away, a much smaller crowd gathered to witness the demolition of the Fillmore Hotel. Hand crews began tearing down the walls on the second floor of the badly damaged building.

City officials didn’t expect heavy equipment to be used on the hotel until today.

While the hotel owner had fought to prevent the demolition of his structure, owners of the Masonic Building had to fight to tear down their building. The Masonic Assn., which owns the building, struggled first with the state Office of Historic Preservation and then local residents intent on saving the building.

To them, Tuesday’s demolition was more of a relief than a tragedy.

“When I saw the building right after the earthquake it was an emotional experience,” said association member Jack Starnes while holding a camera to record the event. “Right now, though, all that emotion has left me. It’s sad to see it go, but it had to. It was unsafe.”

The demolition crew from Reed Land Clearing of Ventura at one point stopped the demolition and plucked a piano from inside a second-floor auditorium. The bulldozer driver, Darrell Lahon, impressed the crowd with his deft handling of his rig, keeping bricks from cascading onto the piano until the team was able rescue it.

After saving the piano, Lahon picked up a large steel beam with the jaws of the bulldozer and used it to knock out the walls on the back half of the structure. As a large portion of one wall along the street toppled, the wood arched ceiling of the auditorium collapsed with the creak of snapping wood.

“He sure knows how to handle that thing,” said Ken Glenn, president of the Masonic Assn., as the dust from the walls settled.

Glenn said he was glad that the demolition could finally proceed. He said association members worried that someone might be hurt if the building fell.

A last-ditch effort a week ago by a group of local residents to save the building had association members worried that they would have to wait weeks or months before demolishing the structure.

The effort to save the building ended last week when a Superior Court judge refused to block the demolition.

“They weren’t looking at reality,” said Glenn as he watched another piece of the second floor fall away from the building. “It’s not even solid bricks. It would have cost $2 million to repair it.”

The building, constructed in 1919 with bricks and hollow red tile, sustained severe damage during the Jan. 17 earthquake. While preservationist said it could be repaired, engineers hired by the association determined that the costs were too high.

The demolition crew also was able to retrieve a safe that contained records dating back to World War I.

The crew will finish tearing down the building today, when association members hope to rescue one last item from the rubble--a time capsule still sealed in the cornerstone of the building.

“I don’t know what’s in there. I guess they put in all sorts of things,” Glenn said.