We were in South Kensington the other day, scoping out some upcoming development, and the building at 1627 N. 2nd St. caught our eye. It captured our attention not because it's some new and exciting project, but instead because it looks like a large dragon took a bite out of it.
The roof collapsed at the Putnam Building back in March, and we honestly thought it had been demolished in the interim. Nope, it turns out it just looks like a giant sat on it.
The building is owned by the Kensington South Community Development Corporation, which purchased it back in 2002 for $250K. According to 6ABC, the property had been used for art studio and office space, and there was some construction taking place as well. It's likelier that the collapse was due to an old faulty roof rather than the construction, but we're not structural engineers so you shouldn't take that word as gospel.
Speaking of us not being structural engineers, are there any structural engineers out there that would care to speculate on the structural integrity of the building while it's in this condition? Does the ruined roof make it more likely that the rest of the structure could suddenly collapse or does it look worse than it actually is? We wonder, if this building were located downtown, would the City allow it to remain in this condition for half a year?