Chicago church laments after falling gargoyle kills woman

Talk about a freak accident... you are out walking along and a gargoyle falls on you. Prayers for Sara Bean's children, fiance, and other family and friends. What an awful, and bizarre, way to lose a loved one.



source: news.yahoo.com...

A historic Chicago church apologized on Friday, a day after pieces of a gargoyle fell off the building's facade and killed a mother-of-two who was walking along the street.

Sara Bean, 34, was killed on Thursday while walking to lunch with her fiancé, who is her longtime boyfriend and father of her children, local media reported.

The Second Presbyterian Church in the South Loop neighborhood just outside downtown Chicago expressed its sympathy to Bean's family in a statement on Friday and said it was "deeply sorry at the death."

The church, which does not have outstanding complaints over its structure but has had violations in the past, was putting up protective scaffolding on Friday to prevent any more accidents.

"It's going up as we speak," said Denise Conway, interim office administrator at the church, one of the city's oldest and a national historic landmark. The church will remain open despite the accident, she added.

According to the Chicago Department of Buildings, a metal decorative piece on the exterior of the building gave away on Thursday and dislodged part of a gargoyle on the steeple and the broken piece fell and struck Bean, who worked at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago.

The city said that the church building failed an inspection in 2011, including violations such as failure to maintain exterior walls. The case was dismissed after repairs were made, it said.

The church was built in 1873, two years after the Great Chicago Fire. According to its website, it created a nonprofit organization in 2006 to oversee preservation of its historic facade and interior architecture, seeking funds for improvements such as new boilers and windows.

It was designated a historic landmark last year.

This reminds me of walking around in downtown Chicago in the winter and they often have signs up that say "watch out for falling ice"... as sheets of ice and icicles can fall off the buildings and kill people. What are you supposed to do, walk around looking up? Ice, and gargoyles and other debris, fall so fast - but so rarely - that being vigilant is really not practical.


Edited to add:

Here is a picture of the gargoyle - a big chuck of it came off and hit Ms. Bean (also pictured). RIP... very tragic, and seemingly random, loss of a young mom.

Biblical.

Sounds like exorcism time.

That's crazy, RIP.
A reminder to appreciate every moment alive, you never know what's coming around the corner.
It's like those stories of people killed by blocks of blue ice from airplanes.

Sounds like the church should be held accountable, if there were violations of the exterior structure in the past.

Terrible tragedy.

originally posted by: violet
Sounds like the church should be held accountable, if there were violations of the exterior structure in the past.

Terrible tragedy.

With time, you can see this might happen more and more as buildings get older and older. Freak accidents will, unfortunately, always occur... but at some point someone needs to be responsible for crumbling structures.

Apparently this church failed safety inspections in 2011, but then was cleared after repairs were made. I assume both the inspection and subsequent passing was done by the Chicago Department of Buildings. This particular church was granted historic landmark status, so I don't know how that plays into things.

Much of the infrastructure in the US is also crumbling - bridges, roads, etc. There are a lot of dangerous structures out there that desperately need repair before people get hurt - but, like everything it seems, it all comes down to money.

We can only hope that tragic accidents like this open peoples eyes and we can see that if buildings are allowed to exist, they must be safe and there must be accountability for that safety.

originally posted by: VegHead
This particular church was granted historic landmark status, so I don't know how that plays into things.

I wouldn't think that being on a historic register would exempt you from liability. I could be wrong, but they still need liability insurance just like any other building. The only thing I know that churches are exempt from are taxes.

I hope the church doesn't say it was "Gods plan".....
Thoughts go out to her family and children .

originally posted by: boymonkey74
I hope the church doesn't say it was "Gods plan".....
Thoughts go out to her family and children

.

She's not gay or a Muslim or anything so I don't think you'll get those Pat Robertson types speaking up. Hopefully. She was unmarried and had children though... but I don't think that's a strong enough angle for the fire-n-brimstone retribution Christians to latch on to.

Seriously, what a weird tragedy. I really hope she's the only one laughing about this right now.

Found a few more pictures of the gargoyles before and after...

a reply to: VegHead

God bless her and her family, this is a problem with old soap stone and similar material's on old architecture, it need's to be maintained and this is simply an accident, very sad but at least it must have been quick, I feel for her children and her fiance, hopefully the insurance will pay enough for the children's future but nothing can replace a mother and her guidence.
A young woman too at only 35 years of age.

Slain by Dragon.

originally posted by: Psynic
Slain by Dragon.

Its probably too soon but, that's hilarious. Her kids are the only people that can say their moms died destroying a dragon.

A similar thing happened in Edinburgh.

news.bbc.co.uk...

One problem is that masonry is crumbling, but the other problem is that apartment owners sell up their property the minute the maintenance committee announce that there is going to be an inspection.
The main cause of crumbling masonry is that the city organizes giant fireworks displays, and the shockwaves from the fireworks actually disintegrate the properties. So in the end, the council has to pay out for the repairs.

Reminds me of the beginning of Amelie when her mom was killed by the woman jumping off Notre Dame.

A very strange accident indeed

a reply to: VegHead

Why would they lament? It's obviously "God's Will" in action, right? Or is that only when its something good, and all things bad are of the Devil. It's funny how we interpret religious writings, such as the bible, to our own justification for reasoning and happening. How eternal God is but we change the laws and actions to accommodate modern times..... like the rule about wearing more than one kind of fiber at a time or stoning bad kids. Wiping out alllll the Canaanites, having Crusades, and so on. It's ALL Monty Python to me! BRIAN!!!!!!