What large North American cities have done the best job with historic preservation?

[JManc]

At least Denver's skyline and downtown fabric has improved since that old photo. The area around 16th St. mall area is now pretty walkable.

[SAN Man]

Originally Posted by DCReid

Did Denver do that or the companies that bought the land to build the skyscrapers? Seems like they companies may have done it just to have parking for their new building. Disgusting.

It looks like all the roads were widened to 4 lanes. I'm thinking the city is responsible. Or rather, the taxpayers in the city probably approved a bond measure presented by the city to the taxpayers.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by JManc

At least Denver's skyline and downtown fabric has improved since that old photo. The area around 16th St. mall area is now pretty walkable.

I dont think "It got rebuilt 50-60 years later" is much of a silver lining.

[Manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by Obadno

I dont think "It got rebuilt 50-60 years later" is much of a silver lining.

Especially since pre-wars are vastly more beautiful than whatever modernist eyesores took its place. When I went to Denver, tourists were snapping away taking pics of Larimer Square and Union Station. Nobody was taking pics of the 1980s lowrises, for obvious reasons.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Obadno

I dont think "It got rebuilt 50-60 years later" is much of a silver lining.

It would be if it was left as a sea of parking lots. Houston bulldozed much of its downtown in the 60's and 70's as well which looked like a hell space for 40 years until relatively recently. Still plenty of open lots. It's not the cohesive pre-war fabric it once was but there's something there at least.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by DCReid

I heard that in Japan, even single-family houses have a lifespan of 30-50 years and are torn down when they get that 'old' rather than refurbished.

Not surprising. Traditional Japanese residential architecture is essentially "disposable" with thin wood and even paper walls. Nobody expects it to last long.

[pdxtex]

Portland has some old stuff. We have 30 sq miles of 100 year old wooden bungalows and tons of seismically sketchy brick apartments. I think Chicago wins the beauty contest tho. Its got the best old timey housing stock in the country.

[DetroitSky]

Originally Posted by DCReid

Did Denver do that or the companies that bought the land to build the skyscrapers? Seems like they companies may have done it just to have parking for their new building. Disgusting.

It was a city sponsored voter-approved project called the Skyline Urban Renewal Project. 27 blocks and 120 acres of the center of downtown Denver was demolished in the name of "progress". Most of those buildings were replaced with parking lots. The area has been built up now, but it took 40-60 years to regain what was lost.

Here's an old SSP thread with more photos.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by SpireGuy

I love Chicago architecture and my heart is broken every week with reports that our historic structures are being torn down. Aside from some gems downtown, this city does not care about historic preservation. On the north side we have demolition by cannibalization and on the south/west sides, it's demo by neglect.

I'm not a NIMBY, but I am for thoughtful development. Toronto is a good example. They do lots of facademies and I'd take that any day over out right demo.

I don't really like what Toronto does with facades. Most of the time it looks wildly inappropriate because they save the face of some tiny two story building that looks out of place and put a mega building behind it which looks even more out of place. It gives the city an uncanny look. Sometimes it's okay to let cities evolve and build new grand buildings that are appropriate for their larger size. Modern architecture can be just as impressive too, look at the amazing things China builds.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by The North One

I don't really like what Toronto does with facades. Most of the time it looks wildly inappropriate because they save the face of some tiny two story building that looks out of place and put a mega building behind it which looks even more out of place. It gives the city an uncanny look. Sometimes it's okay to let cities evolve and build new grand buildings that are appropriate for their larger size. Modern architecture can be just as impressive too, look at the amazing things China builds.

If you want an environment which is interesting for pedestrians, I think it's important to not have block-long facades at street level, but to mix up materials, massing, and design every few storefronts. It doesn't have to be historic, but the more jumbled/fine grained it is, the better.

[SAN Man]

Originally Posted by DetroitSky

It was a city sponsored voter-approved project called the Skyline Urban Renewal Project. 27 blocks and 120 acres of the center of downtown Denver was demolished in the name of "progress". Most of those buildings were replaced with parking lots. The area has been built up now, but it took 40-60 years to regain what was lost.

Here's an old SSP thread with more photos.

Oooof.

Originally Posted by RyanD

Denver 1979 via Dave Higgins, on Flickr

Originally Posted by RyanD

[giallo]

Originally Posted by DetroitSky

Surprised no ones mentioning Denver and it’s insane wholesale downtown demolition in the 70s as being among the worst.


C. 1922-1930


Same area in 1976.

It's like looking at images from a snuff film.

[SIGSEGV]

One of those images was a postcard? Jesus...

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

One of those images was a postcard? Jesus...

Come visit Denver, check out our parking lots. We have ample parking for tourists so that you can see more parking lots where beautiful buildings used to be.

[SlidellWx]

Originally Posted by photoLith

^
Also, wasnt there a plan in the 1920s or 30s in NOLA to annihilate the French Quarter with a highway, well something similar as there obviously wasnt highways yet? I think I remember that it was blocked due to historic preservation concerns way back then.

Yes, it was called the Riverfront Expressway plan. A portion of it would have run underground, and a small section of tunnel was actually built. It is now used for parking beneath the Harrahs Casino. The Claiborne, Westbank, and Pontchartrain Expressways were the other parts of the plan, and they all got built. A new Union Passenger Terminal that is still in use today was also constructed along with the first span of the Crescent City Connection.




all images courtesy nola.com

https://www.nola.com/news/article_50...dd41786f6.html

[craigs]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

Portland has some old stuff. We have 30 sq miles of 100 year old wooden bungalows and tons of seismically sketchy brick apartments. I think Chicago wins the beauty contest tho. Its got the best old timey housing stock in the country.

Portland ripped out its historic, fine-grained, traditionally urban downtown. It ripped out the city's original riverfront for a highway (that was torn down a long time ago) and kept the bulldozers rolling going farther and farther inland. Horrific.


source

[lio45]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Are we talking about right now, or in the aggregate since the end of WW2?

Because sometimes the worst of one is the best of the other.

I'd give St. Louis an F - like worst possible grade in all of North America - if you include the postwar era, but I think it's doing well with whatever it has left in the last few decades.

That's a great point.

When's the last time Quebec City let a greedy developer raze a building dating from the French Regime? Answer: 2019

https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/563...ruite-a-quebec

When's the last time Boston gave the green light to razing a building predating the American Revolution? If the answer is "the 1960s", I'm satisfied... if 2019/2020, I'll be disappointed.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by DCReid

I heard that in Japan, even single-family houses have a lifespan of 30-50 years and are torn down when they get that 'old' rather than refurbished.

Japanese culture associates new with “clean.” It is seen as somehow dirty to live in a house once occupied by another family.

Not single family houses and rental buildings under 3 stories are built to be very temporary.

Most are actually pre fabricated and then assembled on site.

[SAN Man]

Originally Posted by craigs

Portland ripped out its historic, fine-grained, traditionally urban downtown. It ripped out the city's original riverfront for a highway (that was torn down a long time ago) and kept the bulldozers rolling going farther and farther inland. Horrific.

Ouch!

I've never been up to Portland before, I'm assuming that all of those areas have been rebuilt. For a couple decades, Portland was seen as the model for urban infill by it's western peers.

[Stan31]

I'd say Philadelphia, in some parts it's still all 1700s original!