By Noel Smith
It began on September 22, 2016 with moving a 125 year-old building the first 30 feet using the same techniques used by the ancient Romans, Egyptians and the prehistoric builders of Stonehenge. For the last several months, great care has been taken to remove false ceilings, partitions, floor coverings and decorative elements that were not part of the original building and the intended use of the three structures that make up the Apple Barn. Then, to make sure it wouldn’t fall apart as it was being moved, it had to be strengthened and then split into two for the trip.
From its original use as hay storage and then an apple packing shed, it spent its next fifty years as the Antique Fair, a collection of sellers of used and antique furniture and interior decorations, the building sat at the edge of Trout Gulch Road. Now it is moving to be the centerpiece of the new Aptos Village as part of the New Leaf Community Market next to the Village Common.
“The public will be able to see the original historical features of the barn,” such as the ceiling beams, the skylight/vents and its wooden floors,” said Mary Gourlay, Aptos Village development project manager for Barry Swenson Builder.
The move is not a simple task as the building is 181 feet long by 100 feet wide. To move the two sections of the building into its final location, it must be rotated 160 degrees and moved a distance of 250 feet in several stages into place over about five weeks before the concrete footings can be poured. Then the concrete must be allowed to cure before the building can be lowered onto its new foundation.
When asked if this was an unusually difficult move, Howard Kelly of Kelly Brothers House Movers said, “There is a growing effort to preserve our history in California so we are seeing more moves of this type. But because of the size and condition of the building, I would say yes.”
The method of moving something heavy on rollers, which are moved from the back to the front as the object moves forward, has been in use for thousands of years. For the Apple Barn, the building was lifted by 25-ton jacks onto steel beams that are used to provide a solid, flat surface for the rollers. Winches pulling steel cables are used to move the building a foot or two forward at a time as workmen move the steel rollers the building is resting on from back to front on the steel beams. At some point in the moving process the building will be places on rubber-tired dollies for the trip over uneven ground.
The road to developing a modern Aptos Village has been a long one. Historically, Aptos Village has been a hub of activity. It was a lumber town in the late 1800s and a commercial apple-processing center from 1900 to 1959. During the 1960s most of the buildings were torn down. The Aptos Village project replaces what has been torn down and will reestablish the Village as the heart of our community.
Aptos Village had one of the first Community Design plans in the state and was adopted in 1979 and revised in 1985. The County Supervisors approved the current Aptos Village Plan unanimously in 2010. Barry Swenson Builder took on the challenge and designed a project to match the Aptos Village Plan. This was also approved unanimously in 2012.
What is now a dusty, 8-acre empty lot will become during the next 18 months the first phase of Aptos Village. Phase one which includes construction of 17 town homes, 40 residential units, new streets called Parade Street, Granite Way and Aptos Village Way, seven buildings that include mixed-use retail and apartment buildings plus a restaurant with residential units above and the renovated Apple Barn and New Leaf Market as a mixed use office/market building. These will be centered around the 16,000 square-foot village common – an outdoor area with trees, bike parking, seating and a stage.
Aptos Village (and barn) finally on a roll!