Discussion | Destroyed Buildings and Historical Buildings

Chicago 1871

3 Likes

Chemical Bank Building - 270 Broadway


The Chambers Street elevation.



8 Likes

Fifth Avenue old and now
1824 1924


If this information is correct, then this recording would be the oldest outdoor recording of New York.


RCA Site


Above the ESB

1924

Collection by Miss Mackensen

5 Likes


https://www.instagram.com/p/C359_yprbQN/

And

10 Likes

I never gave much thought to all of those blocks they tore down north of the towers -

2 Likes

Yeah, pretty striking. About half of that would be come BMCC.

2 Likes


https://www.instagram.com/p/C817bxHsSex/

6 Likes

Unpopular opinion here but I think One Liberty Plaza is an upgrade.
The City Investing Building is the real loss.

3 Likes

While I lament the demise of the Singer building, it wouldn’t be very visible in today’s skyline.

2 Likes

But isn’t the street view just as important as the skyline? That’s what really is visible to those who live and work in the city. I love to walk around and gaze at the fabric of each block. The various styles often make the place sing regardless of the height.

7 Likes

and the interiors were magnificent!

1 Like

Credit: usa_vintage • Instagram photos and videos

image
View from the World Trade Center 1980

Skyline Pics by Collection by Miss Mackensen

8 Likes

One Meridian Plaza Philadelphia

4 Likes

It’s crazy how they actually proposed to keep the whole structure up and scrape the asbestos away. They even planned to remove 20 stories, then reconstruct the tower. But what they executed is way better

1 Like


https://www.reddit.com/r/ArchitecturalRevival/comments/1h74za0/before_and_after_1270_broadway_33rd_street_aka/?rdt=64798

Could someone do an update on the renovation of the Wilson Building facade?

5 Likes

Bruh. Why did they change that facade, the art deco is way better

2 Likes

that’s before art deco…

There must be some unbound corruption in NoMad/Koreatown for so many gem buildings being completely disregarded for historical preservation.

also gone…

this one was literally under the footprint of the Empire State Building and an older building/architectural heritage.

nice corner beaux arts building destroyed for nothing to rise in its place…

https://www.loopnet.com/property/316-5th-ave-new-york-ny-10001/36061-08330045/

4 Likes

Indeed, The Wilson Building, like the Flatiron Building, was designed in the Renaissance Revival Beaux-Art Style.

Idk about corruption singled out to a few districts more than I feel like the LPC just isn’t doing their job properly. I’m pretty sure this was just another unfortunate instance of the owner not wanting to do maintenance/upkeep anymore on the facade, so they reclad it in an extremely blah facade. I think no one may have known about the plan to reclad the building so LPC was never notified/ it was never brought to their attention, which I personally don’t believe is how LPC should work.

I would actually like to say but I can’t say for certain, though the ornate cornice has definitely been removed, that the hideous new cladding was added over the existing facade, which is why the windows look so deep. So if that is the case, a new buyer/owner could always restore the building to it’s former appearance, though sans the cornice unless they rebuild it.

In the instance of the Demarest Building (335 5th Ave), conservationists did bring attention of it’s demolition to LPC, but they deemed that it had been modified too much through it’s history (built in 1889) that it was not worth saving, which is still unfortunate because a developer could have always rebuilt the facade to it’s original appearance and could have built it into a new tower base. It’s planned replacement is ofcourse not worth the building it demolished.


Appearance in 1891


Appearance before demo

The original ornate corner column, buried behind the many ground floor renovations, was uncovered during demo and actually remained for several months before it too was demo’ed.

4 Likes

Trust me, even writing that comment I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned art deco. Oopsies

Owners in that area know they dodged a bullet when the original NoMad historic district was proposed so they have an incentive to alter/demolish buildings before the district could be reconsidered.