Quote:
Originally Posted by Latoso
Masonic Temple Building in Chicago
Destroyed: 1939 For no good reason.
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Well, there
was a Great Depression going on. Construction of the State Street Subway was going to require replacement of the building's floating foundation with caissons, at a cost of $100,000. The lower nine floors were designed for shops that faced the interior rotunda, and many of those spaces were undoubtedly vacant after a decade of hard times. The top four floors had been built for Masonic halls. So they were facing a huge structural repair, tough times with hard-to-renovate space, and very low demand for 40-year-old office space on State Street.
Unfortunately, mortals have to make decisions based on their best judgment at the time.