wazzzy
2007-06-21 05:04:14 UTC
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/nyregion/21lemessurier.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
William J. LeMessurier, a structural engineer who became a hero to
other structural engineers when he detected and repaired a potentially
catastrophic flaw in the Citicorp building in Manhattan, died on June
14 in Casco, Me. He was 81.
The cause was complications of surgery he underwent on June 1 after a
fall the day before, said his daughter, Irene LeMessurier Jenks.
Mr. LeMessurier (which he pronounced Luh-MEASURE) was an expert on the
structure of high-rise buildings. He helped design the supporting
skeleton of the Citicorp building, at 53rd Street and Lexington
Avenue. At 900 feet, it is one of the tallest buildings in the world.
In 1978, after the building was completed and occupied, Mr.
LeMessurier discovered that it had a flaw: If hurricane-force winds -
70 miles an hour or more - hit it at a 45-degree angle, the building
could weaken and possibly topple.
Later the Red Cross estimated that 200,000 people could die if the
structure, which weighs 25,000 tons, collapsed. The building's
repairs, which were kept secret from the public, did not become fully
known until an article in The New Yorker in 1995.
Mr. LeMessurier was first alerted to the problem by someone he
regarded as a nettlesome engineering student in June 1978. But the
more he thought about the problem, the more it concerned him. He had
considered the stresses of head-on winds but had not calculated those
from other angles.
He later learned of an aggravating problem: Unknown to him, the
Citicorp building's braces had been joined with bolted joints, a
cheaper method but one accepted in the industry, instead of with the
far stronger welded joints.
"At first, Bill couldn't believe it," said William Thoen, his business
partner and friend. "He reviewed the calculations over and over again.
Gradually, it dawned on him that the building didn't have the required
factor of safety."
Mr. LeMessurier oversaw a furious schedule of repairs in August 1978,
in which drywall workers, carpenters and welders repaired the flawed
joints. Instead of being vulnerable to a potentially lethal problem
from a hurricane of the strength that shows up every 16 years, the
building is now believed to be able to withstand a storm of the sort
that might occur once in 700 years.
While Mr. LeMessurier was overseeing the Citicorp repairs, a newspaper
reporter tried to reach him, having heard something was wrong with the
building. Mr. LeMessurier hesitated but returned the call late that
afternoon. But that day the city's newspapers had gone on strike, and
the story was never extensively covered until The New Yorker article
in 1995.
William James LeMessurier Jr. was born on June 12, 1926, in Bloomfield
Hills, Mich. He was the youngest of four children of William James
LeMessurier Sr., who owned a dry-cleaning business, and the former
Bertha Sherman, a homemaker.
Mr. LeMessurier majored in mathematics at Harvard and earned a B.A. in
1947. He studied architecture at Harvard's Graduate School of Design
and received a master's from M.I.T. in building engineering and
construction in 1953.
Besides his daughter Irene, of New Ipswich, N.H., Mr. LeMessurier is
survived by his wife of 54 years, the former Dorothy Judd; another
daughter, Claire, of Westminster West, Vt.; a son, Peter, of Boulder,
Colo.; and seven grandchildren.
He once told a class at Harvard: "You have a social obligation. In
return for getting a license and being regarded with respect, you're
supposed to be self-sacrificing and look beyond the interests of
yourself and your client to society as a whole. And the most wonderful
part of my story is that when I did it, nothing bad happened."
By ANTHONY RAMIREZ
William J. LeMessurier, a structural engineer who became a hero to
other structural engineers when he detected and repaired a potentially
catastrophic flaw in the Citicorp building in Manhattan, died on June
14 in Casco, Me. He was 81.
The cause was complications of surgery he underwent on June 1 after a
fall the day before, said his daughter, Irene LeMessurier Jenks.
Mr. LeMessurier (which he pronounced Luh-MEASURE) was an expert on the
structure of high-rise buildings. He helped design the supporting
skeleton of the Citicorp building, at 53rd Street and Lexington
Avenue. At 900 feet, it is one of the tallest buildings in the world.
In 1978, after the building was completed and occupied, Mr.
LeMessurier discovered that it had a flaw: If hurricane-force winds -
70 miles an hour or more - hit it at a 45-degree angle, the building
could weaken and possibly topple.
Later the Red Cross estimated that 200,000 people could die if the
structure, which weighs 25,000 tons, collapsed. The building's
repairs, which were kept secret from the public, did not become fully
known until an article in The New Yorker in 1995.
Mr. LeMessurier was first alerted to the problem by someone he
regarded as a nettlesome engineering student in June 1978. But the
more he thought about the problem, the more it concerned him. He had
considered the stresses of head-on winds but had not calculated those
from other angles.
He later learned of an aggravating problem: Unknown to him, the
Citicorp building's braces had been joined with bolted joints, a
cheaper method but one accepted in the industry, instead of with the
far stronger welded joints.
"At first, Bill couldn't believe it," said William Thoen, his business
partner and friend. "He reviewed the calculations over and over again.
Gradually, it dawned on him that the building didn't have the required
factor of safety."
Mr. LeMessurier oversaw a furious schedule of repairs in August 1978,
in which drywall workers, carpenters and welders repaired the flawed
joints. Instead of being vulnerable to a potentially lethal problem
from a hurricane of the strength that shows up every 16 years, the
building is now believed to be able to withstand a storm of the sort
that might occur once in 700 years.
While Mr. LeMessurier was overseeing the Citicorp repairs, a newspaper
reporter tried to reach him, having heard something was wrong with the
building. Mr. LeMessurier hesitated but returned the call late that
afternoon. But that day the city's newspapers had gone on strike, and
the story was never extensively covered until The New Yorker article
in 1995.
William James LeMessurier Jr. was born on June 12, 1926, in Bloomfield
Hills, Mich. He was the youngest of four children of William James
LeMessurier Sr., who owned a dry-cleaning business, and the former
Bertha Sherman, a homemaker.
Mr. LeMessurier majored in mathematics at Harvard and earned a B.A. in
1947. He studied architecture at Harvard's Graduate School of Design
and received a master's from M.I.T. in building engineering and
construction in 1953.
Besides his daughter Irene, of New Ipswich, N.H., Mr. LeMessurier is
survived by his wife of 54 years, the former Dorothy Judd; another
daughter, Claire, of Westminster West, Vt.; a son, Peter, of Boulder,
Colo.; and seven grandchildren.
He once told a class at Harvard: "You have a social obligation. In
return for getting a license and being regarded with respect, you're
supposed to be self-sacrificing and look beyond the interests of
yourself and your client to society as a whole. And the most wonderful
part of my story is that when I did it, nothing bad happened."
By ANTHONY RAMIREZ