Moving Immovable Property: When a Building Relocates

palac_lubomirskich_pap_19700800_00b.jpg, default, Relocating Lubomirski Palace, Warsaw, 30 March 1970, photo: Adam Urbanek / CAF / PAP

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Although ‘immovable property’ denotes an architectural feature that permanently binds a structure to the ground, we have heard of buildings that are no strangers to movement.

It took 30 days in November 1930 to relocate the headquarters of the Indiana Bell Telephone Company in Indianapolis by rotating it 90 degrees. The company responsible for telephone services for the entire state of Indiana had 170,000 subscribers and employed over 5,000 people. Along with the development of telecommunications technology, the Indiana Bell Telephone Company continued to grow, and it soon became apparent that its headquarters, built in 1907 at 240 North Meridian Street in Indianapolis, was too small. The initial idea was simple: the existing building should be demolished and a new, larger one erected in its place. The same architects who designed the existing building, the team from the firm of Vonnegut, Bohn & Mueller, were hired to perform the job.

However, the architects, in collaboration with engineers from Bevington, Taggert & Fowler, devised something entirely different. They proposed rotating the seven-storey brick and stone building, which weighs 11,000 tonnes, by 90 degrees and moving it 15 metres south and 30 metres west so that a new office wing could be built on the land thus freed up. Their idea had many merits, and the biggest (and perhaps most surprising) was the assurance that, while the building was being moved, it would continue to function without any interruptions.

Without interrupting service

First, the entire structure was lifted using hydraulic jacks, then a massive spruce beam was slid underneath it.

Indiana Bell Telephone building during moving process, 1930, photo: William H. Bass Photo Company – Ray Hinz Collection, public domain

While the building was slowly being slid onto the beam, workers on the other side were already sliding another one in. Following that pattern, the building moved at a speed of 40 centimetres per hour. The 600 people working in the building, it was later reported, did not feel the movement at all and were able to perform their duties without interruption; the company did not stop functioning even for a moment. Only outside did the walkway leading to the building entrance have to be moved from time to time. Erected in 1907 and relocated in 1930, the Indiana Bell Telephone Company’s headquarters in Indianapolis still exists today, and the relocation project is considered one of the most significant engineering successes of the time.

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Engraving depicting Buckingham Palace by J. Woods after picture by Hablot Browne & R. Garland, published in 1837, photo: public domain

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Was that achievement from nearly a century ago an inspiration for other similar projects? Indeed, throughout the history of cities, numerous projects have been undertaken to relocate buildings. Furthermore, such operations are still practised today and can involve vastly different structures. The Marble Arch in London was built in 1847 as the entrance gate to the grounds of Buckingham Palace. However, the royal residence soon required expansion; just a few years later, the stone triumphal arch was relocated to a new site near Hyde Park, where it still stands today. In 1936, Turkish president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk moved his summer house by 4 metres to save a tree growing on the plot. In the 1960s, the Egyptian Abu Simbel pyramid had to be moved more than 200 metres inland due to a nearby dam that threatened the safety of the monument. In 2023, in a city in China, a bus station building was relocated nearly 300 metres and rotated 90 degrees because it was obstructing the expansion of an adjacent railway interchange.

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Kiruna, Sweden, photo: Luossavaara / Johan Arvelius / CC BY 2.5

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However, the most impressive in terms of scale is probably the process of relocating the Swedish town of Kiruna, situated 200 kilometres above the Arctic Circle. The initiative has been ongoing for several years and is scheduled for completion by 2035. The decision was made in 2007, and a plan was ready three years later to relocate all the buildings approximately 3 kilometres east of the area currently threatened by the continuous development of the local iron ore mine. Over 20 of the most historically valuable objects will be moved in their original form (smaller ones are transported on special platforms), while the rest may undergo changes during the ‘move’. In total, 6,000 people will relocate, taking with them their homes, shops, schools and even a historic wooden church weighing 600 tonnes.

Travelling churches & palaces

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Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Warsaw, before its relocation in 1962, photo: Andrzej Wiernicki / Forum; Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Warsaw, 2019, photo: Krzysztof Chojnacki / East News

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On 30 November 1962, the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Warsaw travelled a distance of 21 metres at a speed of 9.3 centimetres per minute. This Baroque church, weighing 6,800 tonnes, had stood on this site since 1682. After World War II, however, the site proved to be inauspiciously situated. The church stood where one of the most important post-war investments in the capital, the East–West Route (Trasa W–Z), was planned. In war-ravaged Warsaw, every surviving monument was protected, and there was no question of demolishing or rebuilding the church; such a decision would also have been extremely damaging politically for the authorities. Consideration was then given to relocating the historic building further into the plot and away from the street. The idea seemed feasible, especially since there was a monastery garden behind the church, providing space for the building. According to reports, the idea was very well received by, among others, Stanisław Marzyński, a church designer and member of the Primate’s Council for the Reconstruction of Warsaw Churches. The relocation project was developed over several months by engineers from the Mostostal Steel Structure Design and Research Office (Biuro Studiów i Projektów Konstrukcji Stalowych ‘Mostostal’), and the concept was drawn up by Lech Stanisławski in collaboration with structural engineer Władysław Makowiecki.

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Preparations for relocating the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Warsaw, 30 November 1962, photo: Andrzej Wiernicki / Forum

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A reinforced concrete grate was laid beneath the entire building to ensure the stability of the monument and prevent such things as cracks in the walls. The building itself was secured and reinforced in several other ways before the operation started. Steel rails and rollers were used to move the structure, and it was set in motion by hand-driven winches. The equipment used to move the building was operated by approximately 20 workers, and the teams changed several times during the operation. ‘The building was prepared for relocation almost in its entirety, so that only foundation footings had to be laid at the new site, with the basements deepened to 3.3 metres’, reported Jan Zbigniew Lenart in the magazine Ochrona zabytków (Protecting Monuments) in 1963. The undertaking proved to be a success: ‘No new cracks in the walls were observed. The old existing cracks did not widen. During the journey, the church was illuminated and could be used’, the magazine reports. The author of the article also highlights the advantages of the relocation idea itself:

Preparations for relocating the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Warsaw, 30 November 1962, photo: Andrzej Wiernicki / Forum

An economic analysis of the application of the described method indicates significant benefits. The cost of the work carried out did not exceed 50% of the cost of constructing a new building with the same cubic capacity. This method can be successfully applied not only to historic buildings but also to other buildings that have not lost their utility value but cannot remain on their original site for various reasons. A particular advantage of this method is the possibility of using the building without interruption while the works are ongoing, which significantly increases the method’s economic value. Further development of this type of solution should be anticipated.

Moving heavy objects

The journey of the 33-metre-long, 22-metre-wide and 18-metre-high structure took 227 minutes. Although churches were moved several times in the early 20th century, these were significantly lighter and smaller wooden structures. The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Warsaw was the first brick church to be relocated to a new site not only in Poland but in all of Europe. It was, however, not the first relocated building in Warsaw. In 1961, one of the two Grochów tollhouses, dating from the first half of the 19th century, was moved 10.5 metres to the north; this was necessary due to the reconstruction of Zamoyskiego and Grochowska Streets. In 2001, the second of the Praga tollhouses made a similar, albeit two metres shorter journey.

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Relocating Lubomirski Palace, Warsaw, 30 March 1970, photo: Adam Urbanek / CAF / PAP

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Perhaps the success of the pioneering project on Leszno Street inspired the initiators of another building relocation in the capital. From 30 March to 18 May 1970, the Lubomirski Palace, weighing 8,000 tonnes and measuring 65 metres in length and 16 metres in width, was rotated 74 degrees. The 18th-century residence originally belonged to the Radziwiłł family. In 1790, the new owner, Aleksander Lubomirski, rebuilt the edifice in a classicist style, similar to the one it retains today. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the palace changed hands, was even converted into a tenement house, and eventually fell into disrepair due to a lack of renovation. In 1938, it became the property of the Warsaw authorities, but the outbreak of World War II thwarted plans for its renovation. The building was damaged during the war and subsequently rebuilt.

However, it fitted less and less into the changing urban landscape around it. In 1970, the decision was made to relocate the palace so that its majestic colonnaded façade would close off the axis of the Saxon Garden (Ogród Saski), thereby creating a frontage for the square that had emerged between the enormous blocks of flats in the Za Żelazną Bramą (Behind the Iron Gate) housing estate. Here, too, steel rails were used; it was on these rails that the palace, severed from its foundations, was moved to its final site. According to some accounts, the originator of the change in the building’s location was Marian Spychalski, an architect and co-founder of the Bureau for the Organisation of the Rebuilding of Warsaw, as well as the first post-war mayor of Warsaw.

A new site for a saved building

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Elements of Emilia Furniture Store pavilion stored at Towarowa Street, Warsaw, photo: Anna Cymer

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Relocating a palace or a brick church is a unique event; however, smaller buildings are moved and relocated much more frequently. In 2016, when the decision was made to demolish the Emilia Furniture Store pavilion in the centre of Warsaw, the Warsaw Conservator of Monuments proposed that the modernist building be dismantled so that the original structure could be reconstructed elsewhere. The former Emilia Furniture Store is to be rebuilt at the foot of the Palace of Culture and Science, next to Świętokrzyski Park.

For now, there are no funds for the construction, but the structural elements are being stored and await being re-erected into a pavilion. For several years, they could be seen stored in a car park on Towarowa Street, but today they have been moved to the northern outskirts of the city. In 2019, one of the historic post-industrial buildings at the Norblin Factory site in Warsaw was gradually relocated over a period of five months. This was accomplished using eight sliding beams, special actuators, hydraulic pumps and other components. Another aspect of the process was the construction of a new, extensive underground section into which the historic building had to be integrated after its relocation.

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Helena Grossówna’s house, Toruń, photo: Kujawsko-Pomorskie Heritage Centre in Toruń

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Relocating buildings is often the only way to save them. This was the case of the historic house in which Helena Grossówna, a pre-war actress and dancer, was born and raised. Built in 1890, this two-storey house stood on PCK (Polski Czerwony Krzyż, Polish Red Cross) Street in Toruń. Although it was not particularly impressive, it represented the most characteristic style of old buildings in the region, featuring a wooden frame filled in with bricks. However, as the city developed and new buildings emerged in the 21st century, it fell into disrepair until a developer decided it had to be demolished. However, in response to protests from residents and community activists concerned about the city’s identity and heritage, the building was entered into the Registry of Cultural Property. Subsequently, the voivodeship authorities decided to relocate it to a new site. It was dismantled and rebuilt in 2024 on św. Jakuba Street. It now houses a centre supporting the activities of amateur artists.

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Writer Jalu Kurek’s house, photo: GDDKiA

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The most popular type of relocation is that of wooden houses. This process does not require teams of engineers and is sometimes carried out by private individuals, such as those moving an old house from a village to their own plot of land. However, this does not mean that relocating a wooden cottage is any less important or necessary. Thanks to such a relocation, it was possible to preserve and give a new function to the historic wooden house that belonged to avant-garde writer Jalu Kurek. The writer built the Zakopane-style building in the village of Naprawa in the 1950s. He spent a lot of time there, and the result of this is, among others, his famous novel Grypa szaleje w Naprawie (Influenza Ravages Naprawa). Sometime later, it turned out that the historic house stood on the site where road builders planned to construct a tunnel for the Lubień–Rabka-Zdrój route, which was necessary for the modernisation of the popular route known as the zakopianka (roadway between Kraków and the Tatra Mountains, ed.). The mayor of Jordanów, the borough in which Naprawa is located, took over the building by signing a donation agreement with the road authorities and designated a new site for it nearby. In this case, the wooden house will become a place accessible to residents, serving as a cultural centre.

Translated from Polish by Anna Potoczny

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