According to multiple news reports, a portion of a brick building on the 400 block of Lawrence Avenue fell outward Thursday afternoon in Ellwood City. Parts of brick at 425 Lawrence Avenue, Franus Architects Associates, fell outward and onto the roof of the neighboring building, Taste of China, causing some noise and chaos.
According to Dan Franus, president of Franus Architects, the brick veneer on a portion of our building that faces Taste of China pulled loose.
“Our building is structurally sound as is the Taste of China Building,” said Franus in a statement to EllwoodCity.org. “That was confirmed by Jeff Richardson, the commercial building inspector for the Borough.”
“We can’t pinpoint the exact cause of the failure of the brick veneer, but we do know our building is over 100 years old. This was not uncommon for a building of that age.”
Responding police and fire fighters were able to inspect the damage after blocking off areas of Lawrence Avenue and to the building’s rear, Bell Avenue. There were no injuries report.
Crews will be removing all of the brick veneer along the portion of the building facing Taste of China and will replace it with a siding material. Although areas of the sidewalk will be blocked off while debris is removed and repairs are made, both businesses will remain open.
“We have checked the other sides of the building with Jeff Richardson and they are straight and true. It appears that the only wall that was subject to the problem was the West facing wall which is the weather side of our building,” Franus concluded.
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