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  #1  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 7:24 AM
antinimby antinimby is offline
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Your city's greatest architectural loss

For New York, Penn Station ranks up there.


The original:












Demolished in 1964 and replaced by this in 1968 :

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  #2  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 8:01 AM
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In Lansing it would be the Lansing City Hall and Annex





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.



What replaced it...Kennedy Square + Kennedy Square Underground Garage



What replaced it in 2006...One Kennedy Square



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  #3  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 8:04 AM
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Alhambra Theatre - Sacramento, CA - demolished 1973 for a Safeway grocery store!!!
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  #4  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 8:29 AM
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In my opinion, this is Chicago's:



Replaced by:



I know comparing van der Rohe's replacement isn't the same as Madison Square Garden for being so blatantly awful, however, Chicago has nothing but room to expand and I get pissed off every time I think about all the buildings they had knocked down because god forbid they could've thought outside the loop (yeah, bad play on words, I know).
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  #5  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 10:25 AM
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For Charlotte, it would either be Hotel Charlotte built in 1923:



or the Southern Manufacturers Club built in 1894:

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  #6  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 10:56 AM
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Calgary: Southam Building (1913-1972)






What is terrible is that they demolished it for a little piece of shit 70's lowrise building. Alas, it was just the most vivid example of the raping that downtown Calgary's heritage underwent in the 70's and 80's.
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Last edited by Boris2k7; Nov 28, 2006 at 11:12 AM.
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  #7  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 11:56 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by antinimby
For New York, Penn Station ranks up there.


The original:




Demolished in 1964 and replaced by this in 1968 :


Holy shit that's bloody terrible!
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  #8  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 12:13 PM
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This entire swath of Downtown Los Angeles:







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  #9  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 1:32 PM
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For Cleveland it's easily the loss of 200+ historic homes along Euclid Avenue. Some were lost due to construction of the Innerbelt (I-90) highway, others were demolished after their wealthy owners couldn't bear to see their homes subdivided into apartments - many had been demolished by the 1930s. At one point 60% of the world's millionaires had a home on Euclid Avenue. Of the 200+ homes, four are left. Here are some images:

On the north side of the street (on the left) were the large homes; the south side had smaller (but lavish) townhomes:


Of the mansions you see here, only the one to the right of the round turret still stands:


A not-recent photo of the existing mansion in question:


Another mansion that still stands:


The rest no longer exist:








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  #10  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 1:45 PM
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Most recently for St. Louis, I would say the Century Building, which was one of the only office buildings constructed entirely of marble left in the United States. It was recently replaced with a gigantic parking garage...YUCK!


photo from www.builtstlouis.net

I swear, some of the people behind these demolitions should be prosecuted.
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  #11  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 2:27 PM
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For Ottawa:

The Capital Theatre - A 2500 seat Art Deco movie theatre built downtown and demolished in the seventies. Replaced by same office building, though I'm not sure which.



Daly Building - Ottawa's first department store and only building in Ottawa built in the Chicago style. It was demolished in 1991 after the NCC's attempt to find a developer to restore it to safe conditions failed due to the expense of the venture. It was the first designated heritage building in Ottawa to be demolished and the site wasn't used until 700 Sussex, was built there.



An almost demolished, but luckily saved and rehabilitated is the Aberdeen Pavilion.
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  #12  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 2:50 PM
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I would definitely say the old Toronto Star building

Scraper on the left


It was replaced by First Canada Place (Toronto's tallest).
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  #13  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 2:52 PM
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For Regina, I'd have to vote the old Capital Theatre. Maybe not the most iconoclastic piece of architecture, but from an urban fabric point of view, tearing down the last old-style theatre in the downtown area has pretty much doomed downtown Regina to be an uneventful place after business hours. What replaced it was the new Crown Life Insurance building built when the company moved from Toronto. There's a quality sordid political story there, but I won't get into it. Here's a couple shots of the Capital:



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  #14  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 2:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LMich
In Lansing it would be the Lansing City Hall and Annex



Is that H.H. Richardson?
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  #15  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 3:25 PM
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A few for Miami:

The Everglades Hotel (built in 1925):


Fell into disrepair and demolished in 2005


At least its getting a decent replacement: 2 538-foot towers:




Another candidate would be the Roney Palace demolition in Miami Beach:
Original:


Replaced with this monstrosity:
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  #16  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 3:41 PM
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Detroit has FAR too many to name. Most disconcerting are buildings that have been scavenged so much that there is nothing left.

Michigan Theater (The One Used in Eminem's 8-Mile and Rap Video) Converted into parking in the late 1970s



From DetroitYes.Com


Michigan Central RailRoad (also from DetroitYes.Com) abandoned since the late 1980s



Sadly for Detroit there are too many gone, but still standing to list
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  #17  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 4:21 PM
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i wouldnt even know where to start - thousands of buildings from the mid 1700s to the early 1900s were destroyed from the 1950's - 1980's.
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  #18  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 4:27 PM
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For Salt Lake City? Probably the old Auerbach Building:







In the late 40s, early 50s, it was demolished for the Centre Theater:

Centre Theater u/c:





That then was demolished in the early 1990s for this:



I'd take the Auerbach Building over the theatre and tower any day.
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  #19  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 4:55 PM
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Check out the book Lost Chicago. It will bring you to tears.
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  #20  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2006, 5:00 PM
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There are two candidates.

The Langren Hotel, which was replaced by a two story parking deck in the early 1980's. The parking deck serves the building that replaced the Nichols Shoe Co. building in the foreground -- the Akzona Building, perhaps the most hideous thing I.M Pei ever designed.



Or possibly, the Old Battery Park Hotel.



The New Battery Park Hotel replaced it in 1927.



Probably, for most grievous loss, the Langren wins out. Tearing down a grand dame hotel for an elegant high-rise might be defensible but tearing down an elegant hotel for a two-story piece of shit parking deck is not. From the 1960s on through the early 90's Americans were so relentlessly stupid when it came to urban issues it's a miracle anything worth loving survived to the present day at all.
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Last edited by hauntedheadnc; Nov 28, 2006 at 6:18 PM.
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