A thread about:
Destroyed unforgettable buildings in New York, Phladelphia, Chicago and other US cities. Any mansion, low-rise, train station or skyscraper that has been demolished can be posted.
If you have background knowledge, you can write this too.
an example from Philadelphia:
I hope for active participation and discussion on a historical topic.
The St. Louis Area, the original home of the Blues.
The St. Louis Riverfront was a gorgeous neighborhood, but was eventually raised for the arch.
The top photo is the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood in mid - town St Louis, the bottom photo is essentially the same neighborhood after urban renewal.
St. Louis
Now the Veterans Administration Building circa 1970
Century Building before the demolition 2004
Grey = Extant historic buildings
Blue = Altered historic buildings
Red = Demolished historic buildings
Makes me so sad too see how much of this city they destroyed.
I agree with you, they were beautiful old buildings.
What a shame that Century Building was destroyed in 2004, could it not have been preserved?
https://www.landmarks-stl.org/architecture/the_century_building/
It should have been saved. If only they could of held out a few more years for the loft conversions to really take hold in downtown. Now it’s another parking garage.
The Century Building is a late loss to St. Louis. But I don’t think the parking garage looks that bad.
They shouldn’t have destroyed the building.
Similar look then and now
Gosh, poor Saint Louis! All of those great buildings have been demolished, such a shame. And sadly the city isn’t seeing as much new development as they would like, so no new skyscrapers are being built.
It doesn’t look that bad if you didn’t know what was previously there. But I’ve always hated the back side of the Sullivan Building. It’s such a bad contrast to classic American architecture to boring modern architecture.
We’re actually in the biggest boom we’ve had in a long time. I’ve been thinking about starting a thread on St Louis development. There’s been a lot of new and upcoming developments that are slowly bringing the city back.
Three old buildings in St. Louis
Old Post office built 1873-1884
https://www.builtstlouis.net/syndicate2.html
and a new Skyscraper
Ah okay, that’s really good to hear! I’m rooting for you all, Philadelphia was in a very similar place not long ago
Old Broad Street Station in Philadelphia destroyed 1953.
does anyone have color photos of the old Broad Street Station ?
I was weirdly reading about this the other day, it’s a shame they tore it down. Plus the train shed was incredible until it burned down.
I’m curious. If the twin towers were still standing today, will the new developments such as 432 Park, Central Park Tower, and Hudson Yards be existing?
That’s an interesting question, if the twin towers were still standing I believe 30 Park Place would never of been been built because I think it’s whole point was to bring residential space and a hotel close to the modern WTC. But the WTC pre-9/11 already had a hotel so there would’ve been no point for 30 park place to be built.
Then I believe 56 Leonard street and 50 West Street wouldn’t be built at all as well, since they are also close to the modern WTC
Safe to say the Bankers Trust Building and Fiterman Hall would still be here, as would 4 Albany Street; if I remember right Deutsche Bank abandoned both of their buildings for demolition after they were damaged and contaminated on 9/11, and Fiterman Hall was being renovated before it was damaged beyond repair.
I usually attribute those buildings (50 West, 56 Leonard, etc.) to the New WTC or at least a post-9/11 boom in construction, so it’s hard to say whether they wouldn’t get built, or if they would get built anyways later on. It would be sweet if 50 West wasn’t built and we still had that old coppertop building.
