Demolition at St. Edward's: Parishioners say goodbye to beloved building

Click photo to enlarge

Virginia Easterling salvaged a brick from the wreckage. She said she wanted a memoir of her old school where she attended kindergarten to fourth grade.

The demolition crew from Creed Inc. arrived shortly before 9 a.m., and the first blow to the building happened half an hour later. "We were all bawling," said parish secretary Julie Lopez.

Parishioners had known that the building was in need of repairs and updates for a few years, but when a plumber declared it unsafe last fall due to toxic gas in the pipes and asbestos was discovered on the floor shortly after, the church was left with no other option than to tear the building down and build a new one in its place.

"This building has served us well, but we didn't realize what condition it was in," said the Rev. Father Cyprian Uline, who has been at St. Edward since 2005. "When we found out about the plumbing and gas and that it was actually unsafe, I got together with the building committee and we decided to close it. It had more problems than we knew about."

According to Uline, the building was built in 1949 and served as a Catholic grade school until 1988, when all grades moved to the current St. Edward Catholic School building on Walter Street.

Since then, the building had served as a Sunday school area, Jonah's House Food Pantry and social hall and meant a lot to many people. Its frequent use, Uline said,

"It is a sad day," said Uline. "The building itself is not historical. It was traditionally built in 1945-style, and many of the schools in Carlsbad were built around that time. But it has meaning to the people. Many people went to school here. They were baptized in our church, married in our church, and buried their grandparents in our church. For them it's really hard to see it go."

Virginia Easterling was at the demolition site

Virginia Easterling salvaged a brick from the wreckage. She said she wanted a memoir of her old school where she attended kindergarten to fourth grade. (Natalie Gross)

See original here:
Demolition at St. Edward's: Parishioners say goodbye to beloved building