The Buckner Building is an abandoned former U.S. military building in

Whittier, Alaska Whittier is a city at the head of the Passage Canal in the U.S. state of Alaska, about southeast of Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage. The city is within the Chugach Census Area, Alaska, Chugach Census Area, one of the two entities established in 201 ...

, on the Western edge of the

Prince William Sound Prince William Sound (Sugpiaq: ''Suungaaciq'') is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Tr ...

History

During the early stages of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, General

Simon Buckner Simon Bolivar Buckner ( ; April 1, 1823 – January 8, 1914) was an American soldier, Confederate combatant, and politician. He fought in the United States Army in the Mexican–American War. He later fought in the Confederate States Army ...

commanded the defense of Alaska and was concerned they would be attacked by air. To protect the troops, General Buckner recommended a facility that was independent from local power plants, bomb-proof, and that had sufficient storage spaces. Whittier, Alaska was the perfect place to have this military base. First, the bay area around Whittier, Alaska has deep-water ports that stay ice-free year round. With Whittier being one of two all-weather railroad ports that supplied Anchorage with military necessities, it was important that it would stay functioning and safeguarded. Second, the almost constant cloud coverage would protect the facility from air strikes.

Annex

The Cold War triggered the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

to quickly build housing and recreational spaces for 1,000 soldiers moving to Whittier. The Composite Bachelor Housing Service and Recreation Center, also known as the Buckner Building, was completed in 1953. This combined building had a mess hall, sleeping quarters, movie theatre, bowling alley, small jail, and tunnels connecting the town of Whittier, Alaska. The building used to be one of the largest in Alaska, often being referred to as "the city under one roof". The building is six stories tall, about 500 feet long by 50–150 feet wide and is approximately 275,000 square feet. The building was cast in place by reinforced concrete on

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke (German ''grauwacke'', signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lit ...

bedrock, 8,1.

Earthquake

In 1964, Whittier was hit by an earthquake that lasted about four and a half minutes. A total of 13 people died in Whittier and damages to federal and privately owned land was estimated to cost over $5 million. The Buckner Building was slightly damaged, though it was minimized due to the foundation being on

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

, as opposed to the majority of the town which rests on unconsolidated sediment and therefore received more damage. The Buckner Building also runs northeast–southwest, oblique to the seismic motion, decreasing the effect of the earthquake on the building. There was no structural damage to the building, and subsequent inspections found the building to be in good condition.

Decline

The building continued to operate until 1966, at which point the military pulled out and the Port of Whittier was transferred to the

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gover ...

. After the military left, the ownership of the Buckner Building went through a handful of people. At one point, it was owned by one Pete Zamarillo who wanted to turn it into the state prison. In 1972, it was purchased by the citizens of the new City of Whittier and soon fell into disrepair. With the windows and doors missing, the elements began to take it over, water infiltrated, leaving the building in a constant state of freezing and thawing. The building went into

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mortg ...

in 2016. The city assumed ownership and a fence was built to keep trespassers out. A structural assessment of the building in 2016 concluded that it was unlikely that any significant portion of the building could be rehabilitated for occupancy.

References

{{Reflist 1953 establishments in Alaska Apartment buildings in Alaska Buildings and structures in Chugach Census Area, Alaska Government buildings completed in 1953 Office buildings in Alaska Residential buildings completed in 1953 Unused buildings in Alaska

History

Annex

Earthquake

Decline

See also

References