Your city's greatest architectural loss

[Altauria]

^I think I now need to go see a shrink.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by nick_taylor

A city like London which is 2 millennia old is naturally going to have many such 'situations'. The largest single devastation was probably not the Great Fire of London, but the Blitz, whereby one third of the entire city was levelled.....

A city doesn't have to be 2000 years old to have had serious "situations". Mine is only about 250 years old, but we too have had "situations". In my previous post, I was limiting my response to buildings intentionally torn down, but here's some pictures of our worst "situation":

Panoramas after the "situation"




Area affected by fire


City Hall


SF Call (newspaper) Building


Downtown



I think this is Van Ness Ave. (the street I live on)


Sacramento St. (climbing Nob Hill)

[clubbster]

Originally Posted by bryson662001

I thought the house now incorporated into the base of the Wanamaker House condo tower was the original Wanamaker mansion.....no?

Yup - you're right, I thought it was the next block up Walnut. The facade was retained when the rest of the house was demolished.

[ArchWatcher]

so mant ghosts

[rgalston]

Along with the old City Hall and Market Square (posted by trueviking), these are among Winnipeg's greatest losses:

Merchant's Bank on Main and Lombard. Built in 1900, it was Western Canada's first steel-framed office tower, and its tallest until the Union Bank was built down the street in 1904. It was demolished in 1966 for the Richardson building/plaza


Portage And Main. Of the all the buildings in this photo, one stands today, a small McKim, Meade and White bank building, barely visable on the left. They were all replaced by: (l-r) a half submerged shopping mall; a low-Modern era skyscraper, a post-Modern skyscraper, and a gravel parking lot


Child's on Portage at Main. The tallest building in Winnipeg from 1910 to the '60s. Replaced by a post-Modern skyscraper in 1989


The über-imposing Post Office on Portage Avenue. Made way for a parking garage in the 1960's

[Exodus]

Originally Posted by LSyd

2/3 of Columbia were burned to the ground by General Sherman in 1865



for a single loss, i'm going with the 3rd City Hall/Opera House, the building with the domed towers on the left, built in 1900





demolished in 1926 for the Wade Hampton Hotel



and is now a small plaza/surface lot, although a local developer has a vision for a 25-story tower and new opera house/meeting hall to go on the site...the empty area across the street



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What happened there and to Atlanta

[marcus]

baltimore was burned to a crisp too

[Altauria]

To Exodus: The American Civil War happened to them.

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by pdxstreetcar

But for a single building probably the biggest loss was the Portland Hotel (1890-1951) by McKim, Mead & White which was torn down for a parking lot (which then late became Pioneer Courthouse Square).

Portland Hotel:

OHS

Ironically, pioneer courthouse square is arguably a better central focus point for the city than the hotel was.

[Exodus]

Originally Posted by Altauria

To Exodus: The American Civil War happened to them.

Yes, I know.

[Walk2Work]

Not all was lost in Los Angeles. Broadway has been essentially preserved since the 1920's (although a bit worn out.)

1937
http://www.flickr.com/photos/misters...n/photostream/

2006
http://www.flickr.com/photos/misters...n/photostream/

1925


1966


New

[muppet]

Thats one absorbing post NickTaylor,.


This makes me want to cry. Those towers were nearly 500ft tall, the building was the first great wrought iron structure - if it had survived it would be this earlier, larger structure not the Eiffel Tower that would be symbolic of that landmark feat of engineering. The complex housed huge trees inside and was surrounded by a network of ornate fountains, including the largest in the world at the time. When the fire took hold flocks of escaped parrots and exotic birds flew across London, dying over the next few days from to the cold.

Londons been destroyed or suffered heavy citywide damage no less than 8 times in its history (war-desertion-war-war-riot-revolt-fire-war) and has lost a HUGE amount of buildings, tho many have miraculously survived all that, right from the original Roman Wall. What gets me though is the mindless destruction postwar planners did - no need for bombs or fires anymore.

The destruction of the huge and iconic Euston Station arch was the turning point in 1973. Despite massive opposition British Rail went ahead with its 'modernisation' plans for the entire terminus, its excuse that the platforms needed to be lengthened for longer trains - fair enough - except when the brutalist new block was finished, due to budget constraints, the platforms were in fact no longer at all.



The arch went too, the cherry on top to the destruction in order to widen the road - a wider road that also never materialised. British Rail made the executive decision not to rebuild the arch to the left, not even to record or store the building blocks despite sensitive onsite workmen who dismantled it having done so already. Thirty years later the fate of the arch was discovered - broken up and thrown as lining into a canal. Utter psychotic standard business practice - no sense of giving unless its to ones own advantage, no concept of guilt or remorse or charity, brutal competitiveness, expoitative, and everything it does it does to make to its own benefit.

Since that loss heritage groups vowed never to let this happen again, saving the whole Covent Garden district from being concreted the next year - in part thanks to Euston there are now over 20,000 protected buildings in the city, more than any other in the world.

[muppet]

To London's losses I'll add Nonsuch palace, built by Henry VIII to outdo Francis I's chateau at Chambord and so that there would be nonesuch building in the world.

It was richly ornate in a REnaissance style, with tall octagonal towers and onion domes. It was broken up in the 17th century and nothing remains except a few pieces in the British Museum.

[Rejinx]

I can't think of a biulding I miss, but this is a beach I went to as a kid and now:

[Altauria]

Originally Posted by Exodus

Yes, I know.

Ah, I thought it was a question, actually. I did think it'd be an odd question being your location.

[Exodus]

Those London pics are hard to look at, along with Frisco.

[spyguy]

Like others have said, Chicago has had some serious losses in the past.

One that I liked is the Schiller Building or Garrick Theater, demolished in 1960



For a home, definitely the Palmer Residence on Lake Shore Drive, demolished in the early 1950's I think.

[LSyd]

Birmingham, Alabama

Terminal Station - destroyed in 1969 for a Social Security Building that was built somewhere else.

but its destruction, along with the destruction of the 1914 Tutweiler Hotel in 1972 for a black box, the city went on a strong effort of conservation that continues (a permit to destroy the 1910 Birmingham News building was denied this year, although the News said its destruction for parking was needed for them to stay downtown.)

then





now




Morris Hotel - knocked down in the 50s/60s for a 2 story parking garage

http://bplonline.cdmhost.com/cgi-bin...6&CISOPTR=1147

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=479836

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=479837

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=479839

lost signage is another loss (see the "Trade in Birmingham" sign in the above photos)



the Barber's sign and clock was removed for roof repairs after Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and wasn't put back up



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[CGII]

That Terminal Station is a huge loss. Wow.

[Arseniq33]

In New York, The MSG is very ugly