Tenants escaped 241 Carroll Street in the Carroll Gardens section around 1:30 a.m. Monday as the wall started to peel away, crashing down into the space between the building and a school next door.
Hand demolition began Tuesday on the four-story brownstone, and the street is closed until the job is complete. The job is being done by Tucci Demolition. Pieces of the top floor will be removed first, and then workers will make their way down. The demolition of the top floor is expected to take several days. It will then take one to two weeks to demolish the rest.
Luckily, only six of the 13 residents were home at the time of the collapse, and they were shaken from their beds and fled to the streets as the walls caved in around them.
There were no permits, violations or complaints against the 95-year-old 19th-century building. The building department believes that the collapse was caused by age and deterioration.
"I think a lot of these old buildings, even though we all pay a lot of money to live here, are in that situation, where they could," resident Linda Lerner said. "There are fault lines. There are cracks."
The residents of for neighboring buildings were also evacuated. Those buildings aren't expected to be torn down, but city engineers are inspecting them as a safety precaution.
Those forced to evacuate are hoping to return home soon.
CLICK HERE to see images from the scene.
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