Heading north on Union Boulevard, we see the damage to Waterman Place; normally the house above and below are largely shielded from view but with the trees destroyed, they are exposed.
Many of the windows on the Chesterfield, below, have been blown out; I have been told that throughout the area affected by the tornado, many windows were shattered by flying debris such as terracotta.
Kingsbury Place was also heavily damaged.
Again, trees that had grown over generations were savaged.
Luckily, the gates, including the unique sculpture, seem to be unscathed.
Looking east down Westminster Place, we can again see how the streetscape has been transformed forever.
Washington Terrace was also hit.
Unfortunately, the gatehouse of Washington Place has been damaged, with its pinnacle knocked off; at least the roof has been wrapped with tarp to prevent further water damage.
We then approach the intersection of Delmar Boulevard.
Update: The church was repaired remarkably quickly.
Westminster Presbyterian Church, which I could have sworn closed a couple of years ago, was hit hard. The entire roof decking of the northern half of the nave has been completely ripped off, exposing the vaulting to the weather. This is not good at all. I do not know how quickly the damage from rain and the weather can be arrested.
I was told the windows of this apartment building were knocked out by flying debris.
I’m not sure what happened to the roof of Union Avenue Christian Church, but it looks like it was damaged by the tornado.
Basically every institution north of Delmar, whether it’s a church, library, school or other building has been damaged. It is truly heartrending to see.
Chris, I’m Facilities Manager at Pilgrim Congregational and can fill in some information. Westminster was sold to a company called Eurodesign or something close. They sell art design items from Europe. They intended to renovate the building and am positive their insurance will allow that to happen. They have already started on the north side roof structure.
Union Avenue Christian Church lost much of their tiled roof but lost the complete section over their worship area. I understand that they are putting a shingled roof on quickly but have plans to retile when inventory becomes available
Salt Covenant Church across from Union Avenue Christian, posts very rare Tiffany window fronting on Union. That enormous wind then completely blew out the wall on the second floor at rear of building. Salt Covenant has plans to rebuild and will meet at Union Christian or somewhere else nearby until the building is repaired.
The Boo Cat Club, (old Artist Guild building), had major damage and a huge sycamore tree blew over and crushed their roof. That tree has now been removed and plans are underway to fix that building.
Pilgrim Congregational UCC lost the three 15 foot by 5 foot stained glass windows in their balcony, fronting on Union. Between 30% and 40% of slate roof was blown off and slate will not be replaced. Pilgrim was uninsured due to exorbitant insurance rates on a $5.5 million building (street value at 1/10th that) which their remaining scrappy 60 members could not afford. Fortunately, with insurance premiums set aside for 4 years, that amount will cover all repairs other than the huge stained glass windows on Union Avenue . But they have plans to honor that exact window as well.
The Danforth Chapel, part of the Pilgrim complex, was spared due to the timely removal of the giant Tree of Heaven within the last 9 months. That 100 year old tree would have duplicated what happened at Boo Cat, had it still stood.
Ron, thank you so much for your detailed update on all of the buildings along Union. BTW, so Westminster was sold to a private company–I was wondering why Google Maps said that!