Penn Station is a monumental loss. I agree!
And again, to reiterate what I said before in what is clearly an inelegant post on my part (re: my examples):
Quote:
I'm not advocating against demolishing those buildings.
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My examples are very weak. Fair enough.
And yes, nobody misses the original Salt Palace, though it does may be a bit sad to see buildings only survive a couple of decades (seems wasteful and poorly planned). And much better examples, like the Newhouse Hotel, completely did not cross my mind.
Better examples recently, including the old Pantages Theater on Main that could have been made into something. But even better would be preserving Abravanel Hall as something that can be around 100+ years.
I guess I am trying to make a case that if SLC treats
good buildings like Abravanel Hall as "disposable," it really makes the city not much better than the Paradise "Strip" of Las Vegas (or you could substitute the tourist parts of Orlando/Kissimmee). I know that hurts to hear, but I think I'm making a fair criticism.
Many of the buildings in the city are just disposable "cars." We drive 'em to 30 years and then smash them and get something new. But if we treat *all* of the buildings like that (Abravanel), then what is left? The Cathedral of the Madeline and the Salt Lake Temple and... what?
And if we foster a culture of disposability now, future generations will respond in kind, and eventually everything gets demolished. And what will SLC look like in 130 years? (Think that's hyperbole? Look at what cities lost in the
1950s. And the
1960s. And the
1970s. And the
1980s... But suddenly it's the 2020s, and we're immune from short-sightedness because... how exactly?)
(TL;dr - Abravanel has potential to be a long-lasting building. We are stewards of it at this point of time and have the power to hand it to future generations. Glad the county didn't abruptly put out an RFP for demolition because that would be short-sighted and theft from future Utahns).