SEQUIM — The landscape of East Washington Street began changing Monday as the first pieces were removed from the mural at Lehman’s Grocery.
In the midafternoon, workers using saws cut away a section measuring four feet wide and nine feet high from near the center of the wall.
Earlier, part of the painting at roof level on the west side of the mural was dropped to the ground in sections; it’s being stored inside the old grocery store building, which will eventually house small shops and possibly a restaurant.
Painted panels on the west side of the mural were covered with foam and sheets of plywood in preparation for future removal.
The building’s owner, John Lebowitz, ordered the mural taken down after an engineer’s report indicated that part of the wall holding the painting needed to be removed to improve the building’s seismic stability.
Muralist oversees removal
In the gray light of the winter sunset, mural artist Kim Kopp of Port Townsend explained how the removal of the one section had affected the integrity of the art, pointing to a man playing chess against an opponent no longer in view.
“It wasn’t painted with the idea of being taken down,” Kopp said as she surveyed where other cuts might be made in order to remove the mural.
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