Woman Marries Building

Bruised or not, she says she'll marry her beloved building as planned come Sunday.

Babylonia Aivaz's bride-to-be is a 107-year-old warehouse that sits at 10th and Union in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. She has been planning to enter into what she described as "a gay marriage" with the building.

"If corporations can have the rights as people, so can buildings," said Aivaz, referencing a Supreme Court decision on political advertising. "I'm doing this to show the building how much I love it, how much I love community space and how much I love this neighborhood. And I want to stop it from gentrification.”

The building had been slated for demolition for some time, but Aivaz expected the wedding to precede the demise of her beloved one. But demolition crews began their work on Thursday.

When Aivaz learned demolition work was under way, she rushed over to the site and changed into her wedding dress on the street.

She was then seen climbing on the equipment and trying to get in the way of the demolition. But minutes later, she left, telling a KOMO News photographer that she was expected at work. So far, demolition crews have torn down the warehouse's awning. A mix-use apartment building is planned for the site.

Aivaz has invited the public to her planned wedding on Sunday. She created for the event a Facebook invitation open to the public.

"Yes, I'm in love with a 107 year old building! Yes, ITS A GAY MARRIAGE! How is that possible? Well there must obviously be a deeper story," she wrote.

Aivaz said back in December, she and 16 other "activists" linked arms and occupied the warehouse "for a cause in which we believed strongly. That cause was COMMUNITY SPACE."

"We strung up lights. We adapted toilets. We removed pounds and pounds of unecessary building materials. We fed 200 people. We dreamed. We dreamed. We dreamed. I was and am constantly transformed by this whole event," she said.

In spite of Thursday events, Aivaz remained spirited about her planned wedding. She described the event as a community potluck, and asked attendees to "BRING FOOOOOOOOD~."



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