When architects were designing the new Owens Corning world headquarters in downtown Toledo, a 1920s bridge and its unique trusses were seen as a historic structure worthy of saving.
We treated it like a piece of sculpture that serves as a great gateway piece to Owens Corning, said Mark Shoemaker, the principal architect in charge of the project.
But now more than 15 years after the companys facility was designed the city wants to remove a portion of that same bridge, citing it as an eyesore and costly to maintain.
Deputy Mayor Tom Crothers said the city hopes to remove the older, top part of the structure, though not the deck and railing portion, which are newer, having been put in place in the 1990s.
The bridge detracts from the Owens Corning building on the other side of Swan Creek, which is a very fine structure, Mr. Crothers said, speaking Monday at a meeting of the Toledo City Historic Districts Commission.
Furthermore, it costs the city about $50,000 to $60,000 every five years to maintain the structure, he said. City spokesman Jen Sorgenfrei said the upkeep comes from the need to sandblast the bridge to remove paint, rust, and debris. Then it requires painting, she said.
The Washington Street bridge was built in 1920 by the Toledo Bridge and Crane Company, using the scherzer movement type of bridge from the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co. of Chicago, according to the Library of Congress Historic American Engineering Record.
The bridge was built to provide access to the railroad dock yards on the Middlegrounds, which is the area Owens Corning now occupies. The lift allowed barge and small boat traffic to travel up Swan Creek and gave canal boats access to the Miami and Erie Canal. The last year of lift operation was about 1945, according to the librarys Web site.
The heyday of the canal was the 1850s, but sections of it were still used by farmers and small barge operators shipping produce, lumber, and sand to Toledo until the 1920s, requiring moveable bridges to accommodate these boats.
Mr. Crothers told the historic commission that the city was acting on behalf of Owens Corning and the move was about a downtown corporation wanting to remove what they perceive as an eyesore.
But thats not what the company said.
When the location of the structure was negotiated during the acquisition of properties required to allow the construction of our corporate facility, Owens Cornings understanding was that aesthetic maintenance of the bridge section which is owned by the city would be performed regularly by the city, Owens Corning officials said Tuesday in the prepared statement. Today, the bridge is rusting severely and the supports for the superstructure are showing signs of deterioration. We have requested that the city provide a regularly scheduled maintenance program to ensure the long-term viability of this structure. If the level of deterioration, or any other factor, prohibits such action, we would welcome a chance to discuss other options the city might pursue.
Owens Corning moved into its current home in September, 1996.
Mr. Crothers message wasnt met with much enthusiasm by historic commission members on Monday, though some said they would be open to the structure being placed in a park or somewhere else where it could still be viewed by the public, rather than just scrapped.
We have very few of these bridges left in the state of Ohio, said Steve Shrake, chairman of the Toledo City Historic Districts Commission, speaking at the groups meeting Monday. A similar bridge on Monroe Street, built in 1907, was scrapped in 1995. It linked the railroads Maumee River docks with the Warehouse District.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr. Shrake added that the bridge is important to the heritage of Ohio. The bridge is listed on the Ohio Department of Transportations Historic Bridge List.
Irene Martin, a commission member, said, This was done by a Toledo company. It shows what Toledo did. I think its an important part of Toledos history.
Photos on the Web site of Connecticut-based architecture firm Pelli Clarke Pelli, which designed the building, show photos of the building viewed from the bridge.
When the Middlegrounds site was redeveloped in the 1990s to accommodate Owens Corning, planners determined the bridge wouldnt be capable of supporting the projected increase in vehicle traffic, according to the Historic American Engineering Record. To increase the load strength, while trying to preserve the historic character of the bridge, it was removed from its foundation and a fake counterweight and a new concrete pile foundation and deck were installed, with the original bridges truss-work on top.
Mr. Shrake said while it is part of the fabric of downtown, he would prefer to see the bridge saved in a Metropark rather than lost forever.
Mr. Crothers said he would explore the feasibility of placing the structure elsewhere, such as on the Metroparks Towpath Trail along the Maumee River, a canal trail connecting Farnsworth, Bend View, and Providence Metroparks.
Although it has moved structures before, Metroparks Spokesman Scott Carpenter said his organization typically preserves structures in their original location, such as the Stranahan home, which is the Manor House in Wildwood Preserve Metropark. Mr. Carpenter said the bridge might be far-fetched for the Towpath Trail, however, as it preserves a piece of northwest Ohio history the way it was.
The City Historic Districts Commission did not take any formal action on the bridge on Monday, as city officials didnt present a formal plan, but were there to explain their position on the bridge.
I commend [city officials] for coming to us before making any decisions, said Tom Gibbons, principal planner with the Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions.
Depending on the citys final proposal, the City Historic Districts Commission would make a recommendation as to how to proceed, Mr. Gibbons said.
Contact Kate Giammarise at: kgiammarise@theblade.com, or 419-724-6091.