When I was living in Charlottesville, I watched this happen to one building.

But, here in DC, I’ve seen this happen a few times.  I wrote about one such move- when the US Park Service moved the lockkeeper’s house about 50 feet to make it more of a museum.

And, just the other day (9 January 2019), the Jewish Museum of Washington was moved from its “new location” at 3^rd and G street to form a major component of the new Lillian and Albert Small Jewish Museum, one block away (3^rd and F Street).

This museum used to be the home of Adas Israel, a conservative Jewish synagogue in DC that dates back to Ulysses S. Grant (who attended it’s dedication way back in 1876.)  And, it was moved – all 270+ tons of it- without falling into a massive debris pile.

After all, this is the 3^rd time this building has been moved! Back when I still lived in New York, the synagogue was moved because WMATA (better known as the DC Metro system) decided it wanted that site for its headquarters.  Then, 2 years later, it was moved to afford the massive construction and reconstruction of the area near Union Station (called Capitol Crossing) with its cornucopia of residences, office buildings, and restaurants.

What’s truly amazing is that this technique was developed by Eugeniu Iordachescu, an engineering professor in Romania.  To thwart the plans of the ruthless dictator (Nicolae Ceausescu) of the country.  Ceausescu planned to raze Bucharest to create the “first socialist capital for the socialist man”.

Iordachescu was enamored with many of the old churches that dotted the city- all of which were slated for razing.  (You do remember that Communism considered religion the opiate of the masses and wanted all vestiges of religious institutions destroyed, right?)

Iordachescu pondered what could be done, until he was “inspired by God”.  His goal was to create a concrete tray, and place it under the foundation of the building.  Then, using hydraulic jacks, the building would be lifted, to be moved by winches and electric trolleys along a set of rails.  In so doing, he could move the buildings more than 800 feet, out of the planned destruction zone of Ceausescu.

This effort crowned Dr. Iordachescu with the moniker as the “guardian angel of churches’, as he protected some 30 buildings- churches, banks, hospitals, and apartment buildings- including their water and gas lines!

Now, buildings had been moved before.  For example, the only historic religious structure in Charlottesville, VA, was moved a century ago to a side street, because the town fathers wanted its site for a library.  (And, they did not want Congregation Beth Israel, a synagogue, to have such an exalted home, on the main street, opposite the Albemarle County Courthouse [dating to Jefferson’s time].)   But, that moving was done brick by brick- and required the reconstruction of the building in its new location.

As you can readily see, that was akin to the desire of Ceausescu- who wanted all these historic churches moved away from prominent locations in the city.  Whether they were moved or destroyed made no difference to him.

Dr. Iordachescu died on January 2 2019 at the age of 89.

Think of him the next time you see a building rolling down the road.