Hospital Stack Demolished

The huge chimney stack attached to the hospit-al laundry boiler house was made redundant with the erection of the new boiler house opposite the hospital. Since it was no longer needed and as it was considered an earthquake risk, the 16-year-old stack was demolished in one fell gwoop by the contractors who had erected it, C. Gibbons and Co. News of its demolition quickly spread and quite a large crowd saw the giant concrete structure topple. The most hazardous part of the operation was carried out earlier when workmen climbed the soot-encrusted stack to attach the cables leading to a bulldozer. Most of these pix were taken by the Peter Cooper Studio.

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A worm's eye view up the stack

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Reinforcing at its base was cut to facilitate demolition

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Bill Gibbons and laundry manager Bert Eyles cast an eye aloft as workmen attach cables to the top of the stack

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The dozer gets ready