Implosion of 1958 Orlando City Hall

Implosion of 1958 Orlando City Hall

Orlando City Hall Implosion

Orlando (Fla.)

City halls--United States

Cinema

The implosion of the 1958 Orlando City Hall, which was featured in Lethal Weapon 3. During Mayor Bill Frederick’s (b. 1934) campaign to beautify and transform Orlando, a new city hall had been built to replace the one built in 1958 under Mayor Bob Carr (1899-1967). Through the marketing efforts of Orlando-based production manager Oscar Testagrossa, the city government’s desire to demolish the old city hall attracted the attention of Hollywood production company Silver Pictures. A $50,000 agreement between the City of Orlando and the production company for exclusive rights to footage of the implosion worked to offset the $80,000 demolition cost. The demolition was contracted to the Orlando firm Chapman &amp

Sons, Inc. with its explosives phase subcontracted to Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI) of Phoenix, Maryland. Before the demolition, the new city hall—less than 10 feet away—was insured for $20 million. Through a collaborative effort between CDI and Warner Bros. to synchronize 180 pounds of explosives and 400 special effects charges, the building collapsed within six seconds.

de Bont, Jan

Original color film still: Orlando Remembered Exhibit, Orlando City Hall, Orlando, Florida.

1991-10-25

Digital reproduction of original color film still.

Orlando Remembered Exhibit, Orlando City Hall, Orlando, Florida.

Orlando City Hall Collection, Orlando Remembered Collection, Orlando Collection, Orange County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.

image/jpg

294 KB

1 color film still

eng

Still Image

Orlando City Hall, Downtown Orlando, Florida

Donation

History Teacher

Civics/Government Teacher

Geography Teacher

Originally created by Jan de Bont.

Copyright to this resource is held by Orange County Regional History Center and is provided here by RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.

Orlando Remembered

Wolf, Casey

Cepero, Laura

"Orlando City Hall.” Controlled-demolition.com. Accessed April 7, 2016. http://www.controlled-demolition.com/orlando-city-hall.

"Executive Producer - Bio." Planet Media Group Production Credits & Bio. Accessed April 7, 2016. http://www.planetmediagroup.com/RJTbio.shtml.

McLaughlin, Abraham T. "Want to Get Rid of a Bridge? Have Hollywood Blow It Up." The Las Vegas Sun, October 21, 1997. Accessed April 7, 2016. http://lasvegassun.com/news/1997/oct/21/want-to-get-rid-of-a-bridge-have-hollywood-blow-it/.