Your city's greatest architectural loss

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Latoso

Check out the book Lost Chicago. It will bring you to tears.

yeah, chicago has ripped itself apart and rebuilt itself so many times; the architectural losses here are staggering, to say the least.

as there are way too many to list, i'll just give one example of what we have lost:



Chicago Masonic Temple

- designed by Burnham & Root
- completed in 1892
- 21 floors/302ft. - the first building in chicago to surpass 300 ft.
- demolished in 1939 because it was considered "old-fashioned"
- it was replaced with a terribly non-descript two story building that housed a Walgreens for many years
- the site is now being served proper justice with the construction of MoMo, a very nice modern high-rise condo.







and MoMo, the building that is finally being built on site after nearly 7 decades of wasted opportunity since the masonic temple was ripped down in 1939.

[Cirrus]

I'm happy to say that Washington's greatest loss never happened. In 1970 and 1971, demolition permits were issued and Congress appropriated money to tear down the Old Post Office. Locals fought the measure and ultimately saved the building, which is to this day Washington's 3rd tallest. The battle to save the Old Post Office is, at least according to locals, second only to the loss of NY's Penn Station as a seminal moment for the American historic preservation movement.



... Of course, that's not to say DC doesn't have a lot of losses. Like every city, we have our fair share. The most famous is probably not a single building, but the Southwest Urban Renewal Area, which totally ripped out one of the city's oldest neighborhoods with a clump of towers-in-the-park and a shitty shopping mall.

And although not a building, I want to mention the Georgetown Aqueduct, which was a canal bridge over the Potomac River that allowed Alexandria shipping to be connected via canal to the much larger C&O Canal, which had its terminal in Georgetown. The first aqueduct was built in 1833 and the last torn down exactly 100 years later in 1933, to make way for the admittedly lovely Key Bridge, connecting Georgetown and Rosslyn.

This image shows the aqueduct sometime after 1868, when an upper level was added to support a footpath. The spired building in the background is part of Georgetown University, and is still there. The picture is taken, somewhat ironically, from what would today be the very middle of Rosslyn.

[hauntedheadnc]

What was planned to replace the Old Post Office in DC?

[BTinSF]

In San Francisco, it's very hard to say because half the city was detroyed in 1906. But the lost structure most locals most regret is the Fox Theater on Market St.

How it was:

Lit up at night


The Grand Staircase


The "candy counter"


The West Lobby


Stage from the balcony


Stage curtain


The upper balcony


The lower balconies


The Wurlitzer organ


The "diamond horseshoe" foyer


Mens' smoking room


Womens cosmetic room


"Deco" lounge


"Moorish" lounge



How it is now:

Fox Plaza Apartments


The lobby


The Laundry room


Well, OK--the one redeeming feature: The View

[JManc]

the michigan buildings...so much destruction...



the one turned into a parking garage with the fresco ceiling still in tact is an insult. rather just see them pull it all down.

[muppet]

For London the Crystal Palace of 1851, the first great iron wrought architecture, incorporating all those arches. Over 1000ft long it was surrounded by 87 fountains (some of the biggest in the world) and masses of statues, pavilions and gardens, and two 500 ft high towers at either end - in short it was the largest building in the world at the time.

It was moved to South london in a n even bigger version of the original but struck by lightning just before the war and burned to the ground,.

[Cirrus]

What was planned to replace the Old Post Office in DC?

An empty lot.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

An empty lot.

there should be a requirement or incentive to build mutli-level parking decks because so many irreplaceable buildings have fallen victim for increased demand for parking spaces

we had an 20-storey art deco-esque building knocked down for a mcdonalds.

but houston's worst was:



knocked down for a surface lot.

[DecoJim]

Originally Posted by jmancuso

the michigan buildings...so much destruction...



the one turned into a parking garage with the fresco ceiling still in tact is an insult. rather just see them pull it all down.

The Michigan Theater was built as part of a modest skyscraper. They could not tear down the theater because of the office floors above the theater.

Here is a picture I took from the upper parking level whch shows the remains of the theater. Near the top you can see the rear of the balcony seating area. The bright area in the middle left is same the theater lobby shown in the pictures posted earlier.


No one has mentioned the late great Hudsons Department store (25 stories, 2.2 million square feet) that was imploded in 1989.

The Statler Hotel was one of the more beautiful hotels in Detroit and the shame of it all is that it was torn down just last year while many other abandonded buildings are now being redeveloped. If only they have held off for a few more years.
Here is a picture I took during the destruction of the Statler:

I took the picture on a gloomy day; it fit my mood then.

[Exodus]

Originally Posted by LMich

People might disagree, but I'd say Detroit's Old City Hall. While Hudson and Statler had some interesting and stories histories, architecturally, Detroit's City Hall can not be replaced.

I agree with you on this. When it comes to the larger buildings, the Real Estate Exchange Bldg. was the greatest loss.

[CGII]

Take your pic:Two railroad depots demolished for a freeway project, one of which was never built. The latter stood where O'Donnel Park (a cleverly disguised parking garage) now stands, at the foot of the lake and Calatrava.



Most of 19th century downtown has been entirely obliterated, unfortunately, and collectively I'd call Westown a near total loss.

[DetroitSky]

That San Francisco demo is terrible.

[Altauria]

Edluva reminded me of another city whose whole downtowns almost taken away. Here are a couple pics of Boston, the first in 1923 and the second in 1946.





And then came the Central Artery and the West End Clearance (urban removal). This is the same area of Boston within the past 5 years....before the artery came down, of course.

[Cirrus]

That first Milwaukee station is gorgeous. The second I could take or leave, to be honest. It's a little awkward.

[marcus]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

This image shows the aqueduct sometime after 1868, when an upper level was added to support a footpath. The spired building in the background is part of Georgetown University, and is still there. The picture is taken, somewhat ironically, from what would today be the very middle of Rosslyn.

It just blows my mind that thats rosslyn!

[CGII]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

That first Milwaukee station is gorgeous. The second I could take or leave, to be honest. It's a little awkward.

I can see that but natives seem to mourn the loss of the C&NW station more, and I can relate with them (I mean, the location was perfect), especially considering a few years back there was a photo exhibition featuring photographs leading up to its final demolishion. There were photos of the destroyed clock and broken windows, gutted interior and construction workers, and then finally a set of about 7 showing the tower being knocked down. Pretty much ruined my lunch.



Though, for your viewing pleasure, here's a photo of the Milwaukee Road Depot, and park (also long gone).

[KB0679]

Those old LA pics almost make me want to cry.

[clubbster]

Philadelphia has lost a huge number of historically and architecturally significant buildings over the centuries. The wholesale demolition carried-out to form Independence Mall and Independence National Park, the swathe cut through the city for the Vine St Expressway, and more successfully, to create the Parkway, all lost the city huge numbers of significant buildings. However, a few of the worst or more recent losses below.

Broad St Station
The main train station in Philadelphia from 1881, and gradually phased out with the building of 30th St Station, until it was demolished in the 1950's. Although it was an amazing building, the "Chinese Wall" of train tracks split the city in half from City Hall to the Schuylkill River. Penn Center now sits on the site of the headhouse, and the Chinese Wall is now JFK Blvd.



Had an amazing Frank Furness interior.



Keystone Building
Wonderfully eccentric building on S Broad, now replaced by the woeful po-mo Bellevue parking garage.



Morris Building
Frank Furness skyscraper from 1910, built for the Girard Bank. Was allegedly damaged in the Meridian fire and finally demolished in 1991, although had been plans to get rid of it since the 60's. The 1441 Chestnut condos (or perhaps just a stumpy parking garage) are due to be built on the site any decade now...



One of many amazing Furness buildings now lost.

Bulletin Building
Beautiful Beaux Arts building next to City Hall, with amazing tiled dome, which was home of the Evening Bulletin until the 50's, when they moved to Howe and Brown's modernist masterpiece (still standing, if slightly mangled) at 31st and Market. Was on the National Register of Historic Places, but demolished in 1985 to make way for the new Criminal Justice Center, which is actually not too bad of a building.



The Wanamaker Mansion
Built by creator of the world's first department store, John Wanamaker. At 21st and Walnut, now a surface lot. Suffered severe fire damage in 1978, and demolished in 1980.

[trueviking]

winnipeg city hall and public market building replaced in 1964:



by this:



and this:




the capitol theatre was lost only a few years ago to a 5 storey piece of shit office box.



while not lost, the st. boniface cathedral was reduced to a shell by a worker's cigarette in the attic....it is still pretty cool

[BTinSF]

Just wanted to mention that being an old fart doesn't have a lot of advantages, but one of the few is that I remember the original Penn Station in NYC: awesome. Took the train to NYC from Washington several times in the very early 1960's.