St. Edwards Seminary Seismic Repair

A historic gem. Washington State Parks owns and operates the St. Edward Seminary building for visitors to enjoy recreationally. The historic building (listed on the Washington State Heritage Register) was damaged in the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, so Reid Middleton performed detailed post-earthquake damage assessment and safety evaluation, along with repair and rehabilitation cost estimates. Then, our engineers designed a structural stabilization of the 40-foot-tall unreinforced masonry boiler stack adjacent to the building’s bell tower. A reinforced concrete core was designed to anchor the existing brick fascia and ornamental precast concrete. As a result, the building is less likely to cause damage to itself or people from falling debris during the next earthquake.