Throughout history, humanity has made some truly impressive feats with the help of engineering, from inventing simple machines during the ancient era, to creating entirely artificial islands during the modern era. One of these mind-blowing feats was made in 1930 when a building was rotated 90 degrees, without disturbing a single worker in the building. This is the story of the Indiana Bell Building.

It all started in 1929 when the building in question was bought by the Indiana Bell Telephone Company, whose initial plan was to demolish it and build their new headquarters in its space. It was quickly realized that this plan would have negative consequences, as the current building was providing the city with an essential service. They couldn’t expand the building either due to its inconvenient position on the site, but with the help of Kurt Vonnegut Sr, a famous architect (and father of the famous author Kurt Vonnegut), they conceived a plan: they would rotate the eight-story building — which measured 100 x 135 feet (or 30.48 x 41.148 meters) and weighed about 11,000 tons — 90 degrees over the span of one month, to make enough space on the site for the expansion they wanted. 

Over a period of four weeks, starting on October 14, 1930, and ending on November 12, 1930, the massive steel and brick structure was shifted inch by inch — with the speed of about 15 inches per hour — 16 meters south, then rotated 90 degrees, and then shifted again 30 meters west. The move was mostly powered by hand-operated jacks, and supported by a steam engine. Basically, the workers used a concrete mat cushioned by Oregon fir timbers, with hydraulic jacks and rollers, and moved the mass off one roller while placing another ahead of it simultaneously. Each jack was manually operated by a team of workers who turned handles through an arc of 90 degrees six times in about 30 seconds, which helped the building move in a straight line.

One of the most interesting and impressive facts about this move is the fact that during the move, there was no interruption to gas, heat, electricity, water, sewage, or, most importantly, the telephone service the company provided. This was made possible through lengthening all utility cables and pipes serving the building — including telephone cables, electric cables, gas pipes, sewer pipes, and water pipes — and making them more flexible. The employees could work as usual in all areas except the basement, and a moveable bridge made out of concrete and steel connected to a curved wooden passageway that moved with the building, made the entrance and exit easily accessible for both the employees and the public during the entirety of the moving process. 600 employees were able to continue their work as usual without feeling any disturbance during the four weeks it took to move the building, and the company did not lose a single day of work throughout the process.