The Elson Building
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| The Elson Building
Quarlesbank [25,3]
Basic Info:
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Description
The Elson Building is an impressive, high-rise apartment building dominating the landscape of this quiet suburb of Quarlesbank with a Mobile Phone Mast built on the roof. Built in 1967, the Elson Building was the first in a series of apartment buildings aimed at improving Quarlesbank's public image in Malton, as up until 1962 the suburb had relatively few high-rise structures. Of course over the years these efforts focused less on apartment buildings and moved towards high rise office buildings due to the increase of Malton's flourishing economy, as was seen with the construction of Summers Towers and Baber Towers, but local residents rarely forget the splendor of the Elson Building's original grand opening.
Originally, during the buildings first development stages, it was seen as 'too modern' by the suburb's most infamous celebrity and land owner Lord Pitman, however due to the public's awe and attraction to the building's height and revolutionary design, he had no other option than to let it be built. Many other architects attempted to replicate The Elson Building's grandeur and scale with attempts such as the Milnerr Building but none prevailed. It has been rumoured that buildings such as the Milnerr Building were given specific funds by Lord Pitman in an attempt to replace the Elson Building as the main building of Quarlesbank. This is one of the reasons why there is a much more concentrated area of buildings towards the north and north east of the suburb. During Lord Pitman's final attempts at making a new central building for Quarlesbank, he 'bought' the local Mayor a nice new car and in return was allowed to allocate buildings where he wanted. This is still seen today by the clustering of office buildings and aparments around the wasteland in the north of the suburb. However those buildings were quickly shunned by the public after a controversial incident where Necrotech puchased two of the buildings in a very high profile bid to introduce more science into Quarlesbank. Hence, these are some of the reasons why, even today, The Elson Building remains one of the most respected buildings in the suburb.
In later years the building's height and location makes it an ideal spot for wireless communications, and prior to the outbreak the landlord had managed to lease out its rooftop space to several cellular service providers. Once the mobile tower was installed it delivered superior wireless telephone service to all subscribers in the area. In turn, the lease rates provided significant income to the tenant/owners in the building, which allowed many projects and enhancements to the fine building and surrounding grounds including a refurbishment of Club Furnell and a new roof for St.Alberics Church. Well, that was until the city's recent little problem with zombies.
In July 2005, only a few months into the "Malton Incident", a serious fire broke out on the 18th and 19th floors when survivors, using molotov cocktails (with liquor bottles scavanged from the refurbished Club Furnell), set fire to several apartments during a fight with the zombies from the recently raided Pitman Mansion that had managed to breach the building's barricades that night. If not for the sprinkler system donated by the recently built Kembry Boulevard Fire Station the damage to the building might have been more severe, but as it was, both of those floors were mostly gutted by the inferno and few survivors are willing stay on those floors these days. Of course the building is still structurally sound despite the fire damage. Some of the residents whom survived the raid and subsequent fire of The Elson Building believe it was a final attack on the people whom defied Lord Pitman in the past and thus such a building would have been an obvious target to him and his hordes, as they ravanged their way through Quarlesbank.
These days the Elson Building is monitored and protected by the Elson Phone Mast Building Caretakers, a group of dedicated survivors who strive to maintain cellular service and a friendly home to any survivors throughout the zombie infested suburb. Survivors of similar interests are encouraged to join up, as mobile phone service for the entire suburb is at stake as well as several other buildings and the Caretakers plan to be there to lend a hand for as long as they are able.
Barricade Policy
This building should be Extremely Heavily Barricaded (EHB) at all times. The reason for this is because this building houses the mobile phone tower for the suburb, and as such, must be protected at all times. The building is also home to the Elson Phone Mast Building Caretakers, the survivor group which monitors the building. Hence because this is their safehouse, it serves as yet another reason to keep the building's barricades high. Survivors are reminded that if you see this building's barricades low, to barricade them up and alert somebody nearby as to the situation! This is in accordance with the Uniform Barricading Policy followed by local survivors.
Support and Maintainance
As stated in the description of the The Elson Building, it is maintained by Elson Phone Mast Building Caretakers who work tirelessly maintaining the barricades and the electricity for the building. Anyone wishing to join or contact the caretakers can do so on their forum - here or in person at the building. They are currently looking for more survivors willing to aid them in their fight. So if you want to be part of a well established group, with over 5 years experience between them, that play a big part in keeping Quarlesbank safe then this is the group for you. Although it may not seem like it, a caretaker's job is never done so you can expect plenty of action while making a name for yourself in a great community.
In the past, before the 'Malton Incident' the building was run by a two caretakers who took it upon themselves to take care of everything, from cleaning the floors of the building to clearing the pigeon nests from the rooftops. They were specificaly chosen by the landlord and given various pay rises due to their care and attention to detail. It is rumoured that it was this which inspired the current caretakers to look after the building and put it back to its original glory. Unfortunatley it is said that the two caretakers were killed by a freak accident when they were visiting Pitman Mansion just before the start of the outbreak, however local survivors have apparantley heard the maintenance doors closing and a squeaky wheel from a cleaning trolley, rumoured to belonging to the two caretakers before they passed away.
Revives
While the Elson Building is not an active revive point, the cemetery just one block north is one. Survivors looking to be revived should post a revive request and the Caretakers will help as soon as possible. Do be aware that during busy times a revive may take a while, but someone will eventually get to you. It is advised that anyone wishing to be revived read the How to request a revive topic first, then follow what it says. Overall it means that you get revived that much faster!
Current Events
6/18/2009 You are inside the Elson Building. The building has been very strongly barricaded.Somebody has spraypainted Join NecroWatch! onto a wall.
It has been tough recovering the Elson building from the zombies. But a concerted effort by a lot of people has brought success. The human grip on the building is a tenuous one, but it is getting stronger every day. The revive queue has been emptied, which is helping with keeping the area in human hands.But for how long is hard to know.--Sid1138 09:24, 3 May 2008 (BST)
The area is relatively calm, although there are still active zombies chewing on the barricades. Elson is one of 15 phone systems back in operation. the area around Elson is in survivor hands and the revive queue at the cemetary is small.All in all, we are holding out against heavy odds (across the city there are twice as many zombies as there are humans). -Sid1138 11:35, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
It should be noted that as of today, The Elson Building is only 1 out of the 9 active mobile phone masts in the whole of Malton! The record of this can be found here. It's nothing highly important, although the caretakers have made sure that they account for over 10% of all the phone coverage in The entire city. Acoustic Pie 14:25, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
The caretakers have taken by the building from the ravnaging MoB and are currently holding it down, this was probably the most recent and longest time the zombies had the building in their hands for. Acoustic Pie 17:07, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
Extinction Strike Teams successfully assaulted and took over the building. --Krazyxman 19:33, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
Drama Club staged a performance of "Army of Darkness" at the Elson Building as part of their Border Tour of Malton. The group is traveling clockwise around the border suburbs of Malton with one show in each suburb. Today they performed for the 12 survivors here by request of Elson Phone Mast Building Caretakers. See the Drama Club group page for performing groups, schedules and booking information.
