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Stone trim falls off Northeastern building, forcing closure of Huntington Avenue

E-mail|Link|Comments () July 13, 2009 12:30 PM

No one was injured when the heavy stone cornice fell off a Northeastern University building onto sidewalk around 8:30 a.m. today.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent, and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Heavy stone trim on the roof line of a Northeastern University building peeled off and fell five stories onto the sidewalk this morning, forcing the evacuation of the building and the shutdown of a portion of Huntington Avenue, officials said.

City officials, fearing that the structural integrity of the building has been damaged, have closed Huntington Avenue between Massachusetts Avenue and the Museum of Fine Arts.

PHOTO GALLERY

Stone crashes from building facade

VIDEO Report from the incident

At about 11:30 a.m. today, Green Line service to Heath Street was fully restored after structural engineers concluded the building was not in danger of collapsing.

Bus Route 39 was also back to its regular schedule, the T said.

The stone trim on the apartment building owned by Northeastern used for student housing slammed into the sidewalk at about 8:30 a.m. today. Crews were resurfacing the roof at the time, the university said.

No one was struck by the heavy stones, a fact that Boston Fire Chief Ronald Keating called “amazing.’’

“It appeared they were doing some work on the roof and the parapet fell onto the sidewalk onto Huntington,” Keating told reporters at the scene. “At that hour in the morning, it’s amazing no one was hurt.”

Mark Jackson, who was visiting Northeastern with his wife, Deneen, for their daughter’s orientation, was standing at the corner of Opera Street and Huntington Avenue and saw the facade fall.

“There was a snap, and at first we thought it was just a piece of plywood, but it wasn’t,” Jackson said. “For a second, everyone just held their breath. It was really scary.”

Jackson said right after the accident happened, a police officer writing parking tickets and a construction foreman ran over to the rubble to make sure no one was underneath.

Michael Armini, spokesman for Northeastern University, said there are about 60 students who live in the building. The students have been evacuated and are not being allowed to return until the city determines whether the building is safe, he said.

Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve McDonald, said about 100 personnel – including police, fire, and EMS – were at the scene.

The stone cornice piece was about 200 feet long and weighed several tons, MacDonald said. It fell all at once, shattering when it hit the brick sidewalk. As it fell, the stonework damaged some of the building's facade and damaged several trees along Huntington Avenue.