What is building moving? Well technically, those in the industry refer to it as structural moving because there’s no limit to what can be moved. Homes, garages, safes, lighthouses, bridges, machinery, facades…the list of what can be moved is as varied as the reasons why you would move something.
Nantucket has a long and special relationship with building moving. Our location nearly 30 miles out to sea has necessitated a unique understanding of the world’s oldest recycling industry. For example, the Dreamland Theater was originally built as a Friends Meeting House by the Quakers then sold and transformed into a straw hat factory. In 1884, the building was moved to Brant point and used as part of the Nantucket Hotel. In 1906 the building was dismantled and moved by barge to its final location on South Water Street. In the winter of 2009, the building was dismantled once again, coincidentally, by a crew of building movers. It will ultimately be rebuilt using pieces of the historic structure as a theater and performing arts center.
Another of Nantucket’s iconic structures, Sankaty Head Light was built in 1850 for a cost of $10,330. Known as ‘the blazing star’ it was New England’s most powerful light, reportedly seen as far as 40 miles away. In 1990, the Army Corps of Engineers estimated that Sankaty Head Light would be in danger of falling over the eroding bluff within 10 years. In September 2007, preparations for an historic move began. Weighing in at about 500 tons and at a cost of around $4 Million, the lighthouse was moved 390’ northwest and 250’ from the bluff’s edge.
While not all buildings or structures that are moved have so much history, the value can be just as great to someone who is able to buy their first home because someone else chose to recycle rather than demolish an unwanted home. There are numerous examples of individuals or families who were given homes for the cost of the move and the price of a lot. This saves the recipient of that home tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in building and material costs. It also saves the person donating the home the cost of the demolition and land fill fees. This can also represent tens of thousands of dollars. The average 2000 square foot home uses 102 trees. The average home relocated saves approximately 45 tons of debris from being piled into our local landfill.
There are other reasons someone might choose to hire a structural mover. Anyone who is familiar with the erosion Nantucket has experienced in Sconset and Madaket knows that many people have been, and are, in jeopardy of losing their homes to the elements. The ability to pick a home up and using steel beams, cribbing, hydraulic jacks and dollies, move it back on the same lot or even to another property allows families to retain homes and memories that may have been around for generations.
So whether you are saving an historic structure or raising your home to add a full basement with a playroom because your wife is expecting twins, we will continue to use structural moving as a creative way to protect our history, recycle and provide affordable housing. Three things very important in Nantucket.