photos by David Halterman

What would you do with a slew of heavy machinery, an empty 250,000-square-foot hospital and the law of gravity on your side? If you were the City of Durango, you would bring that building to the ground. Over the past several months, demolition of the old Mercy Medical Center has been in progress in order to clear the lot for construction of the new public library. The rubble-filled lot sits on half a dozen acres at the end of East Park Avenue; in limbo between the old and new, after more than six decades of service to Southwestern Colorado. Without the use of expolosives, this building was brought down with an artistic touch that only a Hitachi excavator can deliver. Behold, the art of careful destruction.