Cathedral of Junk To Be Dismantled, Says Owner

Update (6/18): Vince Hannemann has reached a deal with the City of Austin that will allow the Cathedral of Junk to remain.

After months-long negotiations with the city and a tentative agreement that would have allowed a similar, albeit heavily modified, version of the structure to remain, the Cathedral of Junk is being dismantled, says owner and artist Vince “Junk King" Hannemann.

"To all the people who have helped try and save the Cathedral of Junk; to the people who laid on hands, brought cases of water, sandwiches, tacos, power bars and other food; to the people who wrote the mayor and turned up to the Spider House benefit; to the unknown people who left art in the front yard or shoved money under my door; to the lawyers, and to both architect and engineer; to the core volunteer team; to the people who have showered me with love and help: I thank you," wrote Hannemann, who feels that the final terms in his lawyers' negotiations with the city would have altered the Cathedral so significantly that "little of its original charm [would be] left."

"I will be continuing to dismantle what remains. Also, visitors will be turned away. Thank you everyone. It's a sad day for me, but much more so for Austin and, by proxy, the world."

The original statement from Hannemann is posted after the jump.

"To all the people who have helped try and save the Cathedral of Junk; to the people who laid on hands, brought cases of water, sandwiches, tacos, power bars and other food; to the people who wrote the mayor and turned up to the Spider House benefit; to the unknown people who left art in the front yard or shoved money under my door; to the lawyers, and to both architect and engineer; to the core volunteer team; to the people who have showered me with love and help: I thank you.
Your efforts have helped soothe my bruised heart. Nevertheless, I feel obligated to tell you that our efforts have been in vain. The City has made me alter the Cathedral so much that little of its original charm is left. They are still wanting a building permit for what is left. Therefore, I will be continuing to dismantle what remains. Also, visitors will be turned away. Thank you everyone. It's a sad day for me, but much more so for Austin and, by proxy, the world.

Yours gratefully,
Vince Hannemann, AKA “Junk King"

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By Allen Y Chen in News on June 15, 2010 12:45 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

John

The COA is closing down everything that makes it beautiful, this is a disgrace.

nausea1995

I would imagine he is turning away visitors because it is not to code, so now if someone got hurt, there would be no question about his negligence. I'm not a lawyer, but that's my guess, and I would also guess a lawyer told him very directly not to allow visitors.

Austin may have a reputation for being weird, but code is code, why should the city make an exception for code in this instance? Because people visit it? That only strengthens the argument to enforce the code on it. You can't buy a house that doesn't meet code as long as you sign a waiver right? As I understand it, you can get code exemptions, but an engineer looked at it and deemed it unsafe. What did you expect then?

I wonder what the owner means when he says it would lose most of it's charm. That was his judgment call, wasn't it? The city gave him options, but insisted on it somehow being deemed safe by those who know best (engineers). So, while it may suck for those who enjoyed it that it is being dismantled, what did you expect the city to do?

Andrew

Why isn't the guy allowing visitors to get a last look? I'd like to see this before it's gone.

tim

Oh c'mon. I'm sad about this too, but this is the risk you take for flying under the radar. If someone had been electrocuted or seriously injured by the sculpture everyone would have been asking how the city could have allowed such a dangerous attraction to fly under the permitting system.

Sometimes there is no good solution.

andypants

Honestly, the risk is to no one but Hanneman and those entering the cathedral. He should be able to allow only adults and have them sign a waiver before entering. This is probably one of the most unique pieces of art/construction in Austin and I would've gladly signed my right to frivolous lawsuit away if it meant being able to enjoy it. Too bad the city didn't go after the Barton Barriers (boooo) instead lol

tim

Sure, but this has always been a code violation. People should have been pursuing getting this legally approved a long time ago, rather than waiting until the city could no longer turn a blind eye. The problem is that they waited until the city had no choice to act, to start the legal process.

I think we should all take this as a lesson that if we like a part of Austin we should make sure it is formally preserved, and not leave it to the city turning a blind eye.

Shanna

It is a sad day when a unneighborly neighbor can call in a complaint on a piece of local art and culture and get a life's work torn down. Whereas less than a mile just up the road, a whole neighborhood can get absolutely no help whatsoever from code enforcement, police, the mayor's office, and the city to tear down an abandoned commercial building that's a dangerous structure, crack house, squat, crime magnet, and potential fire hazard.

Bottom line - big business owns the dangerous structure (and can't bankroll their planned sky rise redevelopment with this economy) and a regular Austin citizen owns the Cathedral.

Patrick Knisely

As a native Austinite who has never visited the Cathedral of Junk (and now never will be able to), I call out to everyone to go do those things in your town that you keep putting off because you think they'll always be there tomorrow.

Brad

This is the worst. The Mayor and City Council should be publicly flogged, banned from enjoying anything else in Austin and shipped off to Dallas where they can revel in the lack of individuality.

rocky

Yeah, the city can be a major buzz kill, thank goodness we still have the soft core images of American Apparel's artistic integrity available for our cultural viewing pleasure.

Adam S

What a shame. Still, the efforts of the volunteers and the local businesses who created and helped support the "Save the Junk" campaign were inspiring. The Cathedral didn't go down without a fight.

ret0dd

The neighbor who complained and got the ball rolling on this needs to GTFO of South Austin, and move to Steiner Ranch with their trifling ass.

And SHAME on the City of Austin for allowing this to happen.

Wes

I'm not sure why you're so upset at the neighbor who complained. South Austin became popular, expensive, sold out, packed up and moved to East Austin a long time ago.

Adrienne

A part of me feels like I should have done more to help, and a part of me feels like nothing more could have helped. Way, way sad. It will be missed. I can't believe a city would have allowed this to happen.