Changing View from the Library

Shortly after 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, 24 November 1996, the 3-building complex consisting of the 17-story Systems Management America Tower, the 6-story Rennert Building and the 4-story J.C. Penney building was imploded to make way for the construction of the MacArthur Center Shopping complex. The photographs in this month's lobby exhibit were taken from the window of Kirn Library's Children's Department.

SMA BUILDING JUST BEFORE DEMOLITION.

This was the view from our window just before the implosion. The complex, built by Rennert Garage Corporation of Baltimore, opened in 1959 on the site of the former Norfolk Armory and City Market. It was the tallest structure in Norfolk at the time and was known locally as Maritime Tower because of the many maritime firms occupying office space there. Other original tenants were J.C. Penney Company and Hot Shoppes Inc. The building also featured one of the first modern parking ramp facilities in the area.

BEGINNING OF IMPLOSION.

Shortly after 8:00 a.m. Sunday, 24 November 1996; building buckling, cloud of dust beginning. The SMA Tower begins to buckle, with the help of 775 pounds of dynamite strategically placed throughout the structures.

BUILDING TOPPLING AMID BIG CLOUD OF DUST.

The tower and adjacent buildings topple, covering downtown Norfolk in a dense blanket of dust. The structure joins the ranks of other downtown buildings imploded over the past two decades -- the Monticello Hotel (1976); First American Bank (1988); and the Flatiron Building (1991).

5-STORY PILE OF RUBBLE WHERE 17-STORY BUILDING ONCE STOOD.

How are the mighty fallen! A 17-story building reduced to a 5-story pile of rubble in seconds. And the view from our window has changed too.

VIEW OF CATERPILLAR EQUIPMENT SORTING THROUGH DEBRIS.

And then the Caterpillars (tractors, that is) came. Looking a lot like dinosaurs, they pick through the debris, sorting wires into this pile, scrap metal into that pile... Bricks, concrete and other masonry are being ground up on site and will be incorporated into the foundation of MacArthur Center.

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