The City of Havana is picking up the pieces after a major landmark collapsed on Monday.
The roof of the 110-year-old Lawford Theater caved in, forcing several other downtown businesses to close due to the damage and a gas leak.
City Hall remained closed Tuesday, and a post on the Havana Police Department’s Facebook page said the area will “look a little different” until engineers are able to look at affected buildings.
Fire Chief Matt Fliege said they are still early in the process of trying to determine what caused the collapse.
“So far, what we have been able to assess shows that the pitched roof that was put onto the building back in the mid ’80s was not anchored to the party wall with City Hall,” Fliege said. “Over time, between water damage and high wind load and things like that, the roof was actually shifting. And then it shifted enough that there was nothing to support the structure anymore on the roof line, causing the roof to cave in on itself.”
Fliege said no one was inside the theater when the incident occurred shortly after 5 p.m., but the immediate area was evacuated.
“Since there was gas service to the Lawford, it did shear the line within the Lawford Theater. So the gas was just emitting from that line,” Fliege said. “It was turned off there at the meter. But as a precaution because of the downtown structures and how they're all adjoining, we did evacuate until Ameren could deem the area safe from any other gas leakage or anything like that. It took about an hour and a half to two hours, and it was remedied then.”
The fire chief said his department and city officials are working with the property owner to secure the building site as quickly as possible.
“The south wall that is still standing, that is a concern to public safety that needs to be brought to the ground, along with the rest of the roof structure that is still on the front portion of the building, which is the north end of the building. That also needs to be removed,” he said.
Fliege said the adjacent buildings, including City Hall, did not sustain any damage, but the Neverending Story bookstore to the east of the theater lost power and will stay closed until its electricity can be restored.
While City Hall is expected to reopen Wednesday, Fliege said some areas near the theater will remain closed off until the safety concerns are addressed.
