The cracking of bricks and shattering of glass echoed throughout the intersection of Baxter and Lumpkin streets Wednesday as the former Tau Epsilon Phi house came crashing down.

“It’s depressing,” said Brad Binder, TEP scribe. “I can’t believe our history is coming down.”

Binder said he recently went to the former location at 150 Baxter St. just to look at the old house. Abandoned and in disrepair, it no longer looked like the same house that he moved out of in May.

And although he said the old house looked like a “shack” compared to the new “mansion” on River Road, he appreciated the 53-year-old house’s centralized location and history.

“It was pretty cool with all the people that lived in the house and everything,” Binder said. “[The new house] is a lot nicer. It’s not the same, obviously, but I like it.”

The TEP house is one of three fraternity houses to face demolition this week.

The 55-year-old Phi Delta Theta house – located next to the TEP house – has already been razed. The Pi Kappa Alpha house is still standing after 44 years at 360 S. Lumpkin St., but is surrounded by a construction fence and caution tape.

The land is being cleared to make way for additional buildings for the Terry College of Business and the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Until then, the land will be used for a parking lot.

“The plan is to have the land cleared and parking lots in place by the first week of November,” said Tom Jackson, vice president for public affairs. “It doesn’t take long when you’re tearing down.”

Jackson said three demolition companies are each tearing down one house. Physical Plant funds will foot the $200,292 bill.

The demolition will leave only two fraternity houses on what was once a street filled with Greeks. Once Chi Phi leaves their house next year, only Sigma Chi will remain.

“It’s just another step in implementing the campus physical master plan that has been underway for a couple of decades now,” Jackson said.