Washington Street Building Will Probably Be Demolished

A temporary fence is being installed around the perimeter of a Washington Street building owned by the Church of Scientology in preparation for what will likely be a demolition of the crumbling structure.

The Church is still awaiting instructions from the city’s Inspectional Services Department, but Attorney Marc LaCasse said he’s confident permission will be granted to demolish the building.

“I think everyone’s on the same page,” he said Thursday morning. “The immediate concern was securing the area.”

The Church has also sent several demolition contractors to evaluate the site.

The former Ivory Bean building, located at 1769 Washington Street, after a neighbor reported bricks falling from the façade. Firefighters warned that the wall was in danger of “imminent collapse,” and a structural engineer was called in to evaluate the property.

The city had previously notified the church of the building's condition, according to Paul Bradford, the Church’s Legal Administrator. But efforts to demolish the building sooner were delayed by the South End Landmarks District Commission, which reviews exterior renovations that take place within the neighborhood's historic district.

“The Church was specifically ordered not to demolish the building,” LaCasse said, referred to the Commission’s decision dated April 6, 2010.

In a second decision, which came after the Church submitted a report from a structural engineer, the Commission modified its stance and ordered that as much of the façade as possible be preserved and “some salvaged brick…be reused.”

With the building in such poor shape, LaCasse acknowledged the difficulty of preservation. A street-level storefront below the brick wall has been boarded up to cover what is probably a gaping hole in the building, he said. The rear of the structure is also caving in due to the weight of abandoned machines.

“There’s a whole lot of neglect and abuse that happened to that building over the years,” he said.