Beacon Street Collapse: 'It Was Just a Matter of Time'

Richard Sullivan, owner of R.F. Sullivan & Son, a pub known for its burgers, was outside when a parapet collapsed at 296 Beacon St. Monday morning, sending heavy rubble and debris onto the sidewalk.


By chance, no one was under the parapet when it crumbled to the ground.

"It just went boom," Sullivan said, and then there was a cloud of dust. "It was quick." The pub is about a block away from the collapsed building, which was home to two restaurants, Zoe's Chinese Restaurant and Mixtura.

Sullivan said "it was just a matter of time" before the facade of that building came down. "It's always been leaning," he said. "The whole facade has been like [that] for years."

"You could see it warping," he said. "We always looked up" when walking past the building, he added.  A postal worker passing by agreed.

Renne McLeod, owner of Petsi Pies, which is across the street from the crumbled building, said the collapse "sounded like a big truck going by ... and we didn't even go outside to look."

She said about the building, "You could see it was crumbly," and she noted, "several people were concerned about it."

However, Hugo Cerna, owner of Mixtura, which will be closed for at least a month due to the collapse, said he never noticed anything out of the ordinary with his building. "There was not a sign that this was going to collapse," he said, adding, "You know, Boston buildings are old."

Cerna said a structural engineer would determine the amount of damage. It's possible the parapet's collapse did not diminish the structural integrity of the building, he said. If that's the case, workers would need to remove the remaining portion of the parapet before Mixtura could reopen. That would take about a month, Cerna said. However, if the building needs more significant structural repairs, Mixtura could be closed for longer than a month.

Somerville Patch was not able to speak to the owners of Zoe's Chinese Restaurant. If any of you know how long Zoe's will be closed, please leave a comment.