This thread hurts.
The original Scott County Courthouse in Davenport was built on poorly compacted soil so it started to crack soon after being completed. It finally had to be torn down in the mid-1950's and replaced by a souless aluminumn-clad piece of crap.
Original 1880's Courthouse
But by far the most painfull loss for me was the Villa De Chantal school just two blocks from my home here in Rock Island. This beauty was gutted by fire in July, 2005 while I was in Boston. When I was notified of this fire it put a slight damper on my trip.
Even though just a shells remained, they are going to spend a million or two to rebuild this structure but unless they hire the best European artisans and craftsmen, it just will not be the same.
Villa De Chantal, summer 2004. A year before the fire.
I used to walk my dog around the grounds of this building all of the time, now I can just barely see the remaining shell through the trees since the grounds have been roped off while it's rebuilt.