{"id":6263,"date":"2015-12-30T07:38:30","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T12:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=6263"},"modified":"2015-12-30T10:39:37","modified_gmt":"2015-12-30T15:39:37","slug":"glorious-implosions-on-the-north-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/12\/30\/glorious-implosions-on-the-north-side\/","title":{"rendered":"Glorious implosions on the North Side"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Debris <\/a>
Debris from Three Rivers Plaza apartment complex. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Three <\/a>
Three Rivers Plaza high rise apartment complex r being imploded at 7 a.m. (Post-Gazette photo) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Mayor <\/a>
Mayor Tom Murphy , with his son T.J. Murphy, age 8, react to the implosion of Three Rivers Plaza on the North Side early Sunday morning. (Martha Rial\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Three <\/a>
Three Rivers Plaza high rise apartment complex was imploded at 7 a.m. Watching the implosion are construction workers, invited guests and media from the command post center on Gen. Robinson. The apartment was demolished to make way for a new baseball stadium complex on the North Side. (Post-Gazette photo) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Three <\/a>
Three Rivers Plaza high rise apartment complex implosion March, 1999. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Pittsburgh's <\/a>
Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium is imploded early Sunday Feb. 11, 2001 in downtown Pittsburgh. At left is the new football only stadium, home to the University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Steelers beginning next season.(AP Photo\/Gene J. Puskar) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Thousands <\/a>
Thousands of spectators crowded into the Point to watch the implosion of Three Rivers Stadium at 8 a.m. on Sunday . At left is Heinz Field under construction. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Smoke <\/a>
Smoke and dust , from the implosion of Three Rivers and the white smoke from the Fireworks, crosses the confluence at Point State Park and heads toward Mount Washington. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The dust cloud eminating from the imploded Three Rivers Stadium rolls over the city as spectators leave Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington section on Sunday morning, Feb. 11, 2001. (Keith Srakocic\/Associated Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Three <\/a>
Three Rivers Stadium is absorbed by dust during the implosion Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Who says large-scale blasts are not exciting? If they claim no victims, are controlled by professionals and have to do with already crumbling structures, they can be. Monday\u2019s Greenfield Bridge implosion was a blast. It provided an excellent background for selfies<\/a>, boom-ka-boom-smash comments, RIP\/ \u201cgoodbye Greenfield Bridge\u201d tweets and a reason for jokes like the one about the implosion being the perfect metaphor of the Steelers\u2019 playoff hopes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

The last time an implosion gathered a Steel City crowd of comparable size and triggered that much of media frenzy happened more than 15 years ago, and it was not just one-day implosion. It was a two-year project to pave a way for a new ballpark, known to Pittsburghers today as PNC Park.<\/p>\n

The first Big Implosion happened in 1999 — 12 explosions brought down a six-story Three Rivers Plaza apartment building on the North Side. There were no drones to speak of back then, so the Post-Gazette focused its story on two teenagers who on a March day at 7 a.m. embarked on an ambitious project that involved wielding real cameras and making a video of the event. The teens — living in the pre-YouTube era — were working on a documentary about Pittsburgh implosions and were hoping it would be shown on national television one day.<\/p>\n

The second massive North Side implosion happened two years later. It brought down the doomed Three Rivers Stadium in February of 2001. The stadium that witnessed triumphs and defeats since 1970 drowned in a gray cloud of dust. A massive explosion was not enough — there were fireworks at 8 a.m. to accompany the \u2018drop.\u2019 Seismographs recorded a little ground vibration.<\/p>\n

The man in charge of large Pittsburgh implosions of the late 90s, including the Three Rivers Plaza apartment complex and the stadium, was quoted extensively in Pittsburgh newspapers.<\/p>\n

Douglas Loiseaux described implosions \u201cas not just pure science, but probably an art form, you learn how to take a building apart.\u201d He said that Three Rivers Plaza was especially challenging because of the structure of the building. \u201cYou learn your adversary. You learn where its weak points are and attack them. You use the weight of the building itself to bring it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

To bring it down with a wrecking ball would take two weeks, with dynamite — it took eight seconds.<\/p>\n

The implosion of Three Rivers Stadium was an event that drew huge crowds. \u201cA crowd estimated at 20,000 in Point State Park, 3,000 to 4,000 on Mount Washington and untold others in Downtown skyscrapers and elsewhere endured the 21-degree temperature to gape in awe and bid adieu to the concrete bowl that had witnessed so many highs and lows in Pittsburgh sports,\u201d Tom Barnes wrote in the Post-Gazette. <\/a><\/p>\n

\"Boom!\"
Three Rivers Stadium tumbling down…(John Beale\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pittsburgh-born architect of the much-criticized structure Dahl Ritchey was alive then to witness the coming down of his own creation.<\/p>\n

When Three Rivers Stadium was being designed and built, the newspapers predicted that it will be \u201cone of the most beautiful in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The design was a challenge. It was hard to reconcile the differences between football and baseball. \u201cA baseball field, that\u2019s shaped like an apple. A football field, it\u2019s a rectangle,\u201d Ritchey explained, \u201cIn baseball the best seats are between first base and home, and third base and home. In football, everyone wants the 50-yard line. In baseball, people want to sit right at the grade of the field. In football, you have to be up high so the people in the first row of seats can see over the bug guys standing on the sidelines.\u201d At the end it was a compromise, maybe a misguided one. The stadium was the source of pride for Ritchey\u2019s firm.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think Ritchey would be saddened by its destruction.<\/p>\n

But according to one of Ritchey\u2019s colleagues that was not the case. \u201cYou can tear down the structure,\u201d he said, \u201cBut you can never tear down how you feel about the memories. That\u2019s what Dahl has and they\u2019ll never be taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albeit the implosion of Three Rivers Stadium happened four years B.Y.T (before YouTube), the video lives there still.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Douglas Loiseaux described implosions \u201cas not just pure science, but probably an art form.\u201d<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesGlorious implosions on the North Side<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[945],"tags":[963,969,972,976,988,1047],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/5YS00KLS.jpg?fit=1536%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":472,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/07\/11\/brady-street-bridge-blowup\/","url_meta":{"origin":6263,"position":0},"title":"Brady Street Bridge blowup","date":"July 11, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"In 1963, PennDOT announced plans for a replacement. So what happened during the next 10 years? 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