Building Was Once Rotated 90 Degrees While People Still Worked Inside

A building was once rotated 90 degrees while workers were still inside going about their business.

In an incredible feat of engineering, in 1930 the Indiana Bell Telephone Company headquarters was moved 15 inches an hour to allow the construction of a second building on the site.

All of this went on while its 600 staff worked away inside uninterrupted - with electricity, gas and water all still carrying on as usual.

Twitter user Stefan Plattner (@splattne) explained the original plan was to demolish the building but that would have meant that a large part of Indiana was left without phones, something they didn't want.

So, a new plan was made to ensure the phones would remain connected while the building was still shifted into its new home.

The eight-storey, 11,000-ton building was moved via hand-operated jacks, with a steam engine providing additional support, according to Amusing Planet.

With each pump of the jacks, the building moved 3/8 of an inch - an incredible time lapse made using still images from the event was shared online, giving us all a glimpse of a much-speeded up version of how it happened.

In the end, it was relocated 52 feet (16 m) to the south, rotated 90 degrees, and then moved 100 feet (30 m) west.

Once moved into its new position it remained there for more than 30 years until it was demolished.

More recently a US homeowner spent a whopping $400,000 (£283,000) having his £3.6 million ($5m) home moved around half a mile away on the back of a truck.

Incredible footage showed the beautiful Victorian home being carefully moved across San Francisco at speeds of around one mile per hour.

Tim Brown, a real estate broker, took 139-year-old property was moved from Franklin Street in San Francisco to Fulton Street.

House mover Phil Joy, who oversaw the operation, told the San Francisco Chronicle: "We had to get 15 different city agencies to agree to this.

"Maybe it was 18 agencies. I'm not really sure."

But he reckoned it was definitely worth all the effort, adding: "Why don't we demo it? Look at it.

"It's historic. Original lumber. You cannot get lumber like that any more.

"Tight grain from 800-year-old trees. No knots. It's a beautiful thing.

"Move a house, save a tree."

Topics: Interesting, US

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19