"Here's the Church, Here's the Steeple . . ."

On May 29, 2013, a thunderstorm toppled the smaller steeple on the building that was once St. John's Lutheran Church. 

At the time, it was reported in the Register-Star that the owner of the building, Henry Hirsch, was thinking of dealing with damage by simply capping off the steeple. The building, after all, was for sale. In November, when the scaffolding on this part of the building had been removed, it seemed that capping off was exactly what had been done.

Photo Credit: Windle Davis

Tonight, however, it seems there is more to come. A flatbed is parked on Sixth Street between Prison Alley and Columbia Street, with cargo that appears to be the spire for the steeple.

On the flatbed, the spire seems hardly tall enough to replicate the steeple as it was before, but could that be an optical illusion? Do vertical lines appear to be longer than horizontal lines of the same length, or is it the other way around?

Strangely, although the building is in a locally designated historic district, the plan to repair the steeple never came before the Historic Preservation Commission for a certificate of appropriateness.
COPYRIGHT 2014 CAROLE OSTERINK

Thanks to Rob Perry for alerting Gossips to the arrival of the flatbed bearing the spire.