MURPHY-BROMELSICK HOUSE

We accepted the difficult challenge of moving this house that was slated for demolition. The house precedes Quantrill’s 1863 raid on Lawrence and was built of local limestone and very soft brick with lime and sand mortar. It is an excellent example of the architecture common to the city’s oldest residential and industrial district but was in bad need of repair. Simply put, the the masonry walls wanted to collapse as we lifted it. To address this we wrapped the building inside and out with plywood formwork that was secured to a custom steel grid welded in place. We lined the forms with rigid insulation to cushion the materials during the move. It was a lot like moving a big, very heavy egg in a custom crate. The tonnage was considerable as the walls averaged 18” thick. We relocated the house to a park 300 yards away that was once the homestead of John Speer, famed newspaper publisher and abolitionist John Speer. Today the house is a museum presenting Lawrence’s role in the build up to the Civil War.

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