Implosion of 1958 Orlando City Hall

OR00177.JPG

Dublin Core

Title

Implosion of 1958 Orlando City Hall

Alternative Title

Orlando City Hall Implosion

Subject

Orlando (Fla.)
City halls--United States
Cinema

Description

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.

Creator

de Bont, Jan

Source

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

Date Created

1991-10-25

Is Format Of

Digital reproduction of original color film still.

Is Part Of

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

Format

image/jpg

Extent

294 KB

Medium

1 color film still

Language

eng

Type

Still Image

Coverage

Orlando City Hall, Downtown Orlando, Florida

Accrual Method

Donation

Mediator

History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Geography Teacher

Provenance

Originally created by Jan de Bont.

Rights Holder

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.

Contributing Project

Orlando Remembered

Curator

Wolf, Casey
Cepero, Laura

Digital Collection

External Reference

"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/.

Citation

de Bont, Jan, “Implosion of 1958 Orlando City Hall,” RICHES, accessed October 31, 2024, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/7860.

Locations

Categories