Unbuilding the Grace and Pearman Bridges


For Sparky and myself, curiosity drives passion which in turn fuels our life's engine. Our passion was capturing the story of both unbuilding the Grace (1929 - 2007) and Pearman (1966 - 2007) Bridges and discovering the unbuilders. It takes a lot of passion to track a project from July 2005 until April 2007 - rain, shine, hurricanes or moving to Singapore. We discovered the joy of discovery learning. Ken Canty opened the front door for us - then Steve Testa, Ponch Billingsley and Mickey Rogers opened many side doors. Below are the highlights of what we discovered, who we met and what we learned.

And a reminder from T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets) 

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older
The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated
Of dead and living. Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment
And not the lifetime of one man only
But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.
Home Meeting St East Bay Drum Island Mt. PLeasant Pearman Stories Grace Stories Implosions Enginnering Insights Stories of unbuilders Learning Links Bridge Video Bridge Blog Unbuilding Archive All Unbuilding Segments Building the Ravenel Bridge Photo Essays About me
August 16, 2006:Singapore Unbuilding
Downward progress on one block, upward scaffolding on another

The worksite at about 7am this morning. Down another floor or so

Progress on the left. Note, though, the appearance of scaffolding around the building behind

Here is the sleeping grapple and sleeping hammer. Behind you can see progress in growing up the scaffolding. To the left, there are 2 - 3 levels. To the right, though, it extends above the image

Paris has many treasures, but one of my favorites is the Rodin Musee that displays many of his works in an outdoor garden. His masterpiece is the Gates of Hell - but the most famous of the components of the Gates of Hell is The Thinker. shown to the left. Below is Michael (because you can see his white gloves) in the Thinking position. This is a sign of a quality and highly skilled unbuilder. Many times, I have seen Jackie, Manny and Chris display the same thoughtful position.

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C. Frank Starmer

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