I’m glad you enjoyed it. I found it fascinating on more than one level. How did all that work and expense beat out razing and rebuilding? It probably helped that building codes were less restrictive at that time. What was it like to go work inside, knowing that the structure was moving, even if it was ever so slowly? What did the construction crew think about the architect? Maybe we don’t want to know, lol! Scooting 11k tons, quite a feat.
How did all that work and expense beat out razing and rebuilding?
Once built, a central office cannot really be moved to another site. To many moving parts to reroute.
A 100 year old copper line two blocks away from the CO building was hit in downtown Portland Maine this summer. It it effected individual phone service to people with land lines 10 to 12 blocks away. It took several days for them to get their service back.
That original CO building and a newer (70s era as opposed to 1900s) building next door have been sold for different types of redevelopment. The main building will continue to have cables running into it going to switches of some type servicing several different communication providers.