Ohio Air Force Base Moves to Demolish WWII-Era Building
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Aug. 19, 2008
At Ohio's Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, located northeast of Dayton, a building that was the site of the first anti-gravity experiments during World War II will most likely fall to the wrecking ball.
In 1942, the Air Force constructed Building 55 to house a centrifuge for pilots. Researchers developed the first protective "G-suits" there, and NASA later used their work to develop spacesuits. An Air Force-commissioned study deemed the deteriorating Building 55 eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Six years after its construction, Building 55 became a dry-cleaning facility that operated until 2000. In the past two years, the Wright-Patterson Air Force has paid $165,000 to remove contaminated soil on the property.
"A mission no longer exists for Building 55," Raymond Baker, cultural resources manager at the base's Environmental Management Division, said in a statement to Preservation magazine. "It has been evaluated for reuse, and there are no short or long-term plans by WPAFB to utilize this facility."
The state historic preservation office is "up in arms," according to Justin Cook, its history reviews manager, because the Air Force backtracked on a 1999 Memorandum of Agreement, which pledged to preserve five of 15 buildings it had slated for demolition—including Building 55—as long as it had a "mission" for them.
"The Air Force committed to preserving Building 55 in a document nine years ago and reneged on that," Cook says. "Now they're getting off scot-free. … This is just one grotesque example that commitments can be made that don't have to be followed through on."
The poor conditions of Building 55 and Building 40, a 1944 structure also on the chopping block, complicate the situation, Cook says. "The buildings, quite frankly, are not worth fighting for," he says. "[Building 55] is shot. The whole thing is just kind of collapsing. It's a pretty bad poster child for projects we need to stand up to the Air Force for. … This office wants to see a commitment to preservation out of Wright-Patterson."
The building is one of 83 World War II-era structures in the Wright Field Historic District. The National Park Service plans to nominate the area as a National Historic Landmark. Baker says that razing Building 55 will not affect those plans. "We feel that the proposed demolitions do not represent a significant threat to the eligibility of the Wright Field Historic District."
Some preservation groups, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, fear that the Department of Defense's 2004 mandate to eliminate more than 50 million square feet of what it calls "obsolete and excess facilities" on military bases across the country is accelerating the destruction of historic buildings.
(In an effort to cut energy costs, the Department of Defense is "establishing new targets to eliminate over 50 million square feet of facilities and additional excess infrastructure by the year 2013," said Philip Grone, under secretary of defense, in his May 27, 2007, testimony to a Senate committee. The agency owns 535,000 buildings, more than any other federal agency, and says that 22 percent of its energy consumption comes from those buildings.)
The Air Force says that the mandate did not influence its decision to raze Building 55.
"This demolition will go towards the square footage reduction, but is not the driver. This action would be pursued regardless," Baker said.
The Air Force may award demolition contract by Sept. 30, according to Baker.
Subscribe to the Today's News RSS feed
Comments
