SHARON, PA. Police close section of street after bricks fall from building

The owner said he had that portion of the facade repointed in 1997.
SHARON, Pa. -- Bricks falling from a facade near the top of the Sharon Hotel forced police to close half of a one-block section of adjacent Pitt Street on Friday.
A city employee driving past the hotel at 45 N. Railroad St. about 1:15 p.m. Friday noticed bricks falling from the near-top of the northeast corner of the building onto the sidewalk and immediately notified police and fire officials.
The hotel sits at the corner of Railroad and Pitt, and authorities initially closed both Railroad Street from State Street to Pitt, and Pitt from Railroad to Vine Avenue while firefighters using a ladder truck removed some additional loose bricks, leaving a 3-by-5-foot hole in the facade about 5 feet below the roof line of the three-story building.
Fire Chief Arthur Scarmack said it appeared that only the facade was damaged, and the underlying brick wall appeared sound.
Likely cause
It looked as though water had gotten into the bricks, and the resulting freeze and thaw cycle this time of year caused them to come loose, he said.
He said another portion of the facade at the same height, but at the northwest corner of the building, appeared to be bulging, an indication that bricks were coming loose there, too.
Owner Charles Pope said he was inside and heard the bricks fall but thought it was only some ice coming off the building.
A patron came in and told him it was bricks, he said.
Pope said he had the building repointed from the roof down the exterior walls a distance of 10 feet by a restoration company in 1997.
He called the restoration company Friday, and city officials said they would leave the south lane of Pitt Street (which is a one-way street running east) closed until the area was secure.