Chunk of gargoyle falls from church, kills woman

Sarah Bean was just a few blocks from her South Loop home, walking to lunch with her boyfriend before starting a late shift at Lurie Children's Hospital. After spending years and raising two children together, the couple had decided to marry, her family said.

Several stories above, a piece of decorative metal came loose from the outside wall of Second Presbyterian Church, a century-plus-old architectural jewel that in recent years had been hit with a number of building violations. The metal fell and knocked off a chunk of stone from a gargoyle jutting from a corner of the church's southeast tower, city officials said.

The stone hit Bean, 34, squarely on the head as she walked along the sidewalk outside the church around noon Thursday, killing her almost instantly, according to officials and witnesses to the noontime tragedy.

Her boyfriend, Lance Johnson, fell by her side, screaming and holding his hands to his head, said Broderick Adams, who watched from his fifth-floor apartment across the street before running out to help.

I saw that crack on her head and thought, She's definitely dead,' Adams said.

Bean was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where some family members gathered.

She was a beautiful person, Bean's older brother, Michael Willis, said at the hospital's emergency room. This is not good. This is not something you expect, at all.

The church, a Gothic revival structure at 1936 S. Michigan Ave. built in 1874, failed a string of inspections between 2007 and 2011 for violations including failing to remove obstruction from building exits and failing to maintain an interior stairway system in safe condition, according to the city's Buildings Department.

All of the building's outside walls had fractures, washed out mortar at various locations, spalling (flaking) stone at various locations at (north, south, east and west) tower elevations, according to a citation record from February 2010.

In 2011, the city went to court seeking fines for code violations that included failing to maintain exterior walls from holes or other conditions that might admit rain or dampness. The case was dismissed in court after it was determined that the church had come into compliance, said Buildings Department spokeswoman Mimi Simon, as well as city and court records.

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Chunk of gargoyle falls from church, kills woman