It’s been the season of notable demolitions here in Chelsea: a week and a half after the Wolverine was demolished, another crew started the work of razing the livery building. The notion of leveling that particular historic building to make way for a parking lot generated a bit of controversy that resulted in delays, but in the end, the project moved forward.

The initial word was simply that demolition would begin sometime during the week — there was no specific start date given. I didn’t want to miss the beginning, so I went on Facebook and asked locals to keep an eye on the site and let me know when the demolition seemed to be starting. How effective was that tactic? Well, when the crew arrived, not only did I get several Facebook messages, but I also got a message on Twitter and even an email! Because of the helpfulness of those wonderful people, I arrived a few minutes before the demolition began. My thanks to all those who kept me informed!

The crew started by knocking out the boarded-up windows.

The excavator patted the building on the head…

…and then punched it in the face.

Notice the year painted on the building:

It turns out that’s not the year that particular building was built. That livery building was constructed in the early 1900s, a few years after the Mack Building. (The Mack is visible on the other side of the livery in the first few pictures.) The livery is gone, but the Mack — a building with its own great history — is still standing.

When he’d cleared enough of the wall, it didn’t take much to bring down the top.

That let him take a few bites out of the roof.

The work drew a few spectators.

That was where work stopped on Wednesday. Do you know what that means? Yes, that’s right: this is the first in what will be a series of posts on the livery demolition.

(SPOILER ALERT: it ends with an empty lot.)