Once they're gone, they're gone. All over this country, people are tearing down our past, our communities, and our livelihoods. They are building McMansions, and faceless, gutless commercial buildings, all in the name of the all-mighty dollar. They are mowing down fruit orchards, filling them with concrete, and throwing up condos (pardon the pun).
What is the cost?
Well, first of all, a sense of place. Almost without fail, you literally cannot "go home again". There is no home to go to. Beyond that, it almost always costs more to tear down a building than restore it. To rip down an existing infrastructure simply doesn't make sense. But that is insignificant compared to the loss of community, the destruction of downtowns, loss of tourism to visit the beloved places, not to mention the infilling of ugly, inappropriate buildings next to ones that have soul.
In this lens, I am exposing the masses to the specific "crimes on history" that upset me enough to become a rather fierce preservationist. The point of this lens is not to wallow in our grievous mistakes, however, but to learn from them. It is also my hope that people who are out there thinking that their one vote doesn't make a difference, will see the importance of speaking up.
Herald Square at Night (Flower Show)
Table of Contents
- Herald Square at Night (Flower Show)
- Penn Station: The Turning Point
- The bottom line
- Penn Station, in all its glory
- Links of Interest
- Irving Felt questions the "architectural value" of Penn Station
- The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station
- Some more nifty blogs about preservation
- New York Residents are Shocked into Action
- Historic New York on Amazon
- Historic Preservation on CafePress
- AGBANY galvanizes the New York community
- Cool Panoramas of New York
- What events have moved you to become interested in historic preservation?
- Historic Preservation on Amazon
- Central Park in Winter
- Another memorable debaucle - the filling in of the Venice canals....
- Venice opens!
- The Beginning of the End
- Abbot Kinney (1850 - 1920) ~ Creator of the Venice Canals
- The first load of dirt
- Venice History on Amazon
- View looking inland along Pier Avenue, 1908
- Are there any significant buildings being torn down in your neighborhood?
- The Venice Dance Hall on the pier, 1921
- More Preservation on Amazon
- Hall of Shame: Government Center, Boston, MA
- Historic Boston on Amazon
- Landmark Restoration in Boston
- Scollay Square in Pictures
- The Solution? Dynamite it and start over.
- Still More Preservation Books from Amazon
- Bookmark us so you can come back later!
Penn Station: The Turning Point
[Please see http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/GON004.htm for the whole story]
"Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and, ultimately, deserves. Even when we had Penn Station, we couldn't afford to keep it clean. We want and deserve tin-can architecture in a tinhorn culture. And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."- "Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times editorial, October 30, 1963
In 1963, one of New York City's finest buildings was demolished to make way for a new $116M sports arena and entertainment complex. Sound familiar?
Pennsylvania Station, the monumental 1910 Beaux-Arts masterpiece of architects McKim, Mead and White, was leveled, and replaced with the fourth incarnation of Madison Square Garden.
In the 1950s the rise of the automobile and the frenzy of highway building had severely threatened the viability of passenger railways. The owner of Penn Station was near financial ruin. The four blocks of land the station covered in Manhattan had become too valuable not to sell.
The bottom line
Meanwhile, the owners of Madison Square Garden were also evaluating their earning potential of their old arena:By 1960, in the eyes of Graham-Paige, it was time to replace the 1925 Garden with a modern, more flexible facility that could handle greater crowds, provide more unobstructed views, and usher in a glitzy new look to attract new audiences.
The negotiations proceeded quietly, with little hint that the demise of Penn Station was being contemplated until a New York Times article appeared in July, 1961. The plan called for the demolition of the Penn Station terminal, and its relocation beneath the new arena.
Penn Station, in all its glory
Links of Interest
- Feng Shui Style
- Originating in China almost 6,000 years ago, Feng Shui literally means "wind"(Feng) and "water"(Shui). Feng Shui is also referred to as "Geo-mancy" or "Earth Wisdom." It is an ancient method of constructing and optimizing residences to bring about happiness, abundance and harmony. It includes architecture, urban planning, interior design, garden design, and placement of objects in our environment. It also involves the layout, framework, materials and colors of building structures.
- My MonaVie site
- Click here to learn about MonaVie juice - with the amazing acai berry - which Dr. Nicholas Perricone has rated the #1 Superfood for anti-aging & health.
Turn back the clock, and revitalize your body from the inside out! Order some today! MonaVie also makes a classy and thoughtful gift - packaged in a beautiful wine bottle. - Sell Your Home Quickly with Feng Shui
- When people walk into a home for sale, they decide within 15 seconds whether they want to buy it. Obviously first impressions count! Although we recommend a full blown Feng Shui consultation for pumping up all areas of your life, if you're selling your home, the common sense principles of Feng Shui can be used to increase your bottom line in a major way.
Irving Felt questions the "architectural value" of Penn Station
Irving M. Felt, Madison Square Garden Corporation president, also publicly sang the praises of the proposed development, perhaps in an attempt to dismiss "the image sometimes created of him as a greedy despoiler of his city's historical heritage."He questioned the architectural value of Penn Station, going as far as to say that "he believed that the gain from the new buildings and sports center would more than offset any aesthetic loss."
But once the plans were announced, public reaction was quick and loud. Now alerted, New York's architects, artists, and writers were outraged at the prospected demise of such a significant structure.
The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station
The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station
"In the early evening sunset during that summer of 1964, they looked like the remains of an ancient Roman temple toppled by an earthquake. The thirty Doric columns that once stood thirty-five-feet high lay broken and shattered in the meadow, their pink granite surfaces reflecting the sun's rays. Passengers on the train heading for the city could see the ruins and marvel at the incongruity; for the train was not, after all, traveling the Italian countryside en route to Rome. It was plying the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line, speeding across the New Jersey Meadowlands from Philadelphia to New York, and the columns were not a transplanted Roman ruin but the melancholy remains of the once majestic Pennsylvania Station."
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Some more nifty blogs about preservation
- Beautiful Buildings
- A blog about beautiful buildings. Ones that are being torn down, saved, lost, repaired, and loved.
- Get Rich by Saving Old Buildings (Or, why is Historic Preservation so smart)....
- Coming from Boston, I really have no use for anything built much past 1890..... I realize that "true" architecture snobs would probably prefer the cutoff point to be around 1830. I am not that extreme. Furthermore, I LOVE Victorians.
I feel quite passionate about preservation, and architecture in general. Toward that end, I offer the following lens to share all the reasons why preservation is so much smarter than tearing down our past.
New York Residents are Shocked into Action
The Historic Preservation Movement is Born
Many were angered that Penn Station was being taken down to make way for commercial development. "New Yorkers will lose one of their finest buildings, one of the few remaining from the 'golden age' at the turn of the century, for one reason and one reason only: that a comparatively small group of men wants to make money," wrote the news editor of Progressive Architecture on September 17, 1962.Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture critic for the NY Times weighed in:
"We are an impoverished society. It is a poor society indeed that can't pay for these amenities; that has no money for anything except expressways to rush people out of our dull and deteriorating cities."
Historic New York on Amazon
Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 07/25/2008)
Forgotten New York: Views of a Lost Metropolis
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 07/25/2008)
New York: 15 Walking Tours
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 07/25/2008)
Historic Photos of Broadway: New York Theater: 1850-1970 (Historic Photos.) (Historic Photos.) (Historic Photos.) (Historic Photos.)
Amazon Price: $28.76 (as of 07/25/2008)
Guide to New York City Landmarks
Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 07/25/2008)
Historic Preservation on CafePress
AGBANY galvanizes the New York community
Five architects banded together to form the Action Group for Better Architecture in New York (AGBANY). In August of 1962, after assembling a membership of 175 that included Jane Jacobs (close to victory in the battle to thwart Robert Moses and his plan for a Lower Manhattan Expressway, and fresh from publishing The Life and Death of Great American Cities) the group placed an ad in the NY Times which conceded that[Look to the right at Penn Station during demolition. Even in the midst of destruction, it is beautiful.]
"it may be too late to save Penn Station."
Nevertheless, the ad declared, "it is not too late to save New York," and boldly "serve notice upon present and would-be vandals that we will fight them every step of the way." Readers were urged to demand that politicians make "the preservation of our heritage an issue in the forthcoming campaign."
Ultimately, AGBANY lost the battle to save Penn Station. The Planning Commission refused to consider the architectural and historical attributes of the building, and awarded the permits and zoning variances that paved the way for demolition. On October 28, 1963, under the gaze of picketers wearing black arm bands, demolition began.
One bright light for preservationists did however result from this episode. AGBANY had galvanised the community into realising that the preservation of significant historical sites was too important to leave to the whims of commercial developers, or to the goodwill of politicians who were not bound by law to defer to the recommendations of historical protection bodies.
Cool Panoramas of New York
What events have moved you to become interested in historic preservation?
Maybe someone purchased your grandparents' house and tore it down
Or you went back to your elementary school to find it had been converted into condos.....Air your beefs! Maybe we can help!
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squidboo
My neighborhood is a series of teardowns, with McMansions going up at an alarming rate. As far as I know, I think there are about 10 original homes left in the 1 mile radius of my house. The new ones are completely gutless, pointless, non-aesthetically pleasing. This has to stop. Posted December 08, 2007 |
Historic Preservation on Amazon
The Old Way of Seeing: How Architecture Lost Its Magic - And How to Get It Back
This book should be a starting point, and frankly, required reading for anyone interested in Architecture, Design, or Preservation. It is so bloody good that I secretly wish I had written it myself. After reading this book, I scour the countryside looking for examples of "good design". I feel I have "new eyes" now.
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How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built
A close second to "The Old Way of Seeing".... Buildings evolve over time, and with each addition or subtraction we must take into account the entire structure. This book helps you look at a building that has "evolved" and be able to discern the history and time period behind each change. But beyond all that, it's a great read!
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Recycled Spaces: Converting Buildings into Homes
"Recycling" can preserve historic buildings in so many creative ways, and this book shows you how. It is divided by type of building (ie train stations, churches) and examples are given of each. Each home comes with a floorplan and brief history of what it was and its evolution. This is also an excellent design source.
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Victorian Domestic Architectural Plans and Details: 734 Scale Drawings of Doorways, Windows, Staircases, Moldings, Cornices, and Other Elements
My wildest fantasy is to build a "new" Victorian with "old" plans. This book is my inspiration.
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A Field Guide to American Houses
Extremely handy for identifying building styles while out and about. Indispensible.
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Central Park in Winter
Another memorable debaucle - the filling in of the Venice canals....
This particular injustice is especially painful for me, as a former resident of Venice, California. Living one block from the ocean, I am well acquainted with the love affair Abbot Kinney had with the former marshlands in Southern California. Nestled between the ocean and the (remaining) canals, which we strolled along, we would wonder about the strange street names. Street names such as "Coral Canal", "Lion Canal" and "Grand Canal". Being the history buff that I am, I started investigating Venice history.What I discovered was not only horrifying in its tragedy, but perhaps even more so in the fact that current Venice residents have virtually no clue about the glory days of their majestic city.
Abbot Kinney (b. 1850, New Brunswick, New Jersey - d. 1920, Santa Monica, California) was a developer, conservationist and a visionary. At the age of 16, Kinney traveled to Europe where he studied in Heidelberg, Paris and Zurich. He became fluent in six languages. During his last few months there he took a walking tour of Italy, and in particular, Venice and the Italian Riviera.
Kinney's world travels eventually brought him to San Francisco in 1880. He adored the health aspects of California. By 1891, Kinney had migrated south, where he and his partner bought controlling interest in Pacific Ocean Casino and a tract of land 1 1/2 miles long and 1,000 feet wide along the Santa Monica beach. His partner died, and his widow's new husband sold the interest to a group of men Kinney did not get along with. With a flip of a coin, which Kinney won, Kinney took the marshy southern half to build a seaside resort like its namesake in Italy - a "Venice of America".
Venice opens!
When Venice of America opened on July 4, 1905, Kinney had dug several miles of canals to drain the marshes for his residential area, built a 1200-foot-long pleasure pier with an auditorium, ship restaurant, and dance hall, constructed a hot salt-water plunge, and built a block-long arcaded business street with Venetian architecture. Tourists, mostly arriving by trolley from Los Angeles and Santa Monica, rode Venice's miniature railroad and gondolas to tour the town. But the biggest attraction was Venice's mile-long gently sloping beach. Cottages and housekeeeping tents were available for rent.Visitors were dazzled by the system of canals complete with gondolas and gondoliers brought in from Venice, Italy. Eventually Kinney gained control of city politics and had the name changed from Ocean Park to Venice in 1911. Kinney was also allowed to build a 60 foot breakwater to protect his facilities from ocean storm surfs.
The Beginning of the End
Kinney governed Venice with an iron hand and that's why the town flourished. When he died in November 1920, Venice became harder to politically govern. Tragically, the amusement pier burned six weeks later in December 1920, and combined with Prohibition (which had begun the previous January), the town's tax revenue was severely affected.It became obvious to the "powers that be" that more roads were needed for the ever-increasing amount of automobiles. The spring of 1924 brought the dawn of the darkest day in Venice history. A new administration was ushered in, and with it, a hysterical thrust for "progress". Suddenly, the canals were seen as a romantic throw-back to the past. Even the Venice Vanguard newspaper was advocating progress. Talk was afoot of filling in the beloved canals, to make more roads, for the ubiquitous cars.
The canal property owners, in horror, banded together, and went to court. Although they were able to stall the destruction of the canals, Venice's city government was becoming unmanageable, and finally in 1925, Venice become part of the city of Los Angeles. This was the final death knell for the canals.
Abbot Kinney (1850 - 1920) ~ Creator of the Venice Canals
The first load of dirt
The L.A. City Council announced their decision to fill in the canals during the summer of 1928. They claimed that only 62 people out of 7500 property owners in the assessment district protested.There was one catch. Since the canals had been dedicated to Venice by Abbot Kinney, with the condition that they be used "solely and only for permanent waterways and canals free to the public forever", the board feared (with good reason) that if the canals were filled in they would revert to the Kinney heirs.
Despite a gala three day canal filling celebration attended by five thousand residents and the Governor, the summer of 1929 proved to be one of the most ill-thought catastrophic events in California history.
"It was almost directly in front of the postmaster's house that an angry crowd of over a hundred jumped into the drained canal and started shoveling the dirt out almost as fast as the contractor's crew could fill it in.
Nonetheless work was completed before the end of the year at a cost of $636,205.85. Nearly 90,000 cubic yards of dirt was trucked in, rolled flat and covered by a seven inch layer of asphaltic concrete."
[To purchase "Venice California, 'Coney Island of the Pacific'" by Jeffrey Stanton, click below:]
Coney Island of the Pacific
Venice History on Amazon
Venice California 'Coney Island of the Pacific'
The book contains over 300 photographs, mostly B/W, but a few in color which appeared as postcards or are more recently taken photos by the author. Many are full page-sized archival quality photographs of great historical interest. Additionally, there are a half-dozen schematics of amusement park layouts.
There is extensive well-written & well-researched textual material on the rise and fall of Venice, its heritage & many eccentricities over the past 100 years. Reference material is provided. Venice Beach is a city founded by the rich & famous & it remains a place for some with Summer homes, a place for Hollywood film making & it's also known as the Skating Capitol of the World.
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View looking inland along Pier Avenue, 1908
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squidboo
When the Donner House burned (in San Jose, CA) I was personally very sad. I was a member of the Preservation Action Council, and we were always trying to save that building and utilize it to its fullest. You can read all about it here: Posted March 28, 2008 |
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SemperFidelis
Like your Feng Shui lenses, this one is great as well. :o) Posted September 19, 2007 |
The Venice Dance Hall on the pier, 1921
More Preservation on Amazon
The Timeless Way of Building
Aesthetically, this book is a pleasure. If you're in a hurry, just read the italicized sections. However, I find reading the whole thing to be absolutely necessary. Software Programmers will also find this book incredibly useful.
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Historic Preservation: An Introduction to Its History, Principles, and Practice
I was especially pleased to find the variety of real-life examples Tyler presents reflecting the way preservation is practiced and not just idealistic theory. The inclusion of basic economic, social, and architectural impacts in historic preservation are welcome contributions, and the various charts and lists are extremely useful.
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Lost Boston
A visual feast of historical deliciousness. If you're not sure why we need to preserve our past, just thumb through this book. It completely inspires me, every single time I look at it. TONS of black and white photos.
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The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of Nearly 400 Years of New York City's History (Historical Atlas)
I bought this while waiting at an airport in New York. Boy, what a find! [From --Stephanie Gold]: The atlas takes on the geologic history of New York, major eras (Indian, Dutch, and British), as well as the consolidation of Greater New York, neighborhood histories of Coney Island and Greenwich Village, and exploits of 1945 through 1996. But there's room for the small stuff, too, such as the political and cultural role of New York's taverns in the late 1700s.
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American Shelter: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Home
Wonderful line drawings of 100 styles of American housing. Exploded diagrams and floor plans,with text describing how each style evolved, and where it tends to be found. For homeowners, builders, architects, real estate agents, students, travelers and historians, American Shelter is an essential reference, but also a treat.
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Hall of Shame: Government Center, Boston, MA
The notorious "urban renewal" project which failed miserably
Another trainwreck I am well acquainted with - Government Center, Boston, MA. Being a Bostonian, and studying the History of Boston at Harvard, I am painfully familiar with all the reasons why Government Center happened, and 30 years later, it remains one of the most awful public spaces in the country.The picture at right is NOT Government Center, it is Scollay Square, the unfortunate area which was decimated to make Government Center.
Boston itself is a superb city, with a rich and varied history. Being a seaport, it was always a haven for immigrants, and with them, came new ideas. One rather infamous place for congregating, which later became somewhat of a den of iniquity, was Scollay Square. The area was a hotbed of activity, where international seamen and merchants frequented rather bawdy taverns, took in vaudeville and burlesque shows, and other intriguing entertainment.
Historic Boston on Amazon
Boston: A Topographical History, Third Enlarged Edition
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Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
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Buildings and Landmarks of Old Boston: A Guide to the Colonial, Provincial, Federal, and Greek Revival Periods, 1630-1850
Amazon Price: $8.76 (as of 07/25/2008)
AIA Guide to Boston, 3rd: Contemporary Landmarks, Urban Design, Parks, Historic Buildings and Neighborhoods (Aia Guides)
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Boston Sites and Insights: An Essential Guide to Historic Landmarks In and Around Boston
Amazon Price: $13.60 (as of 07/25/2008)
Landmark Restoration in Boston
Scollay Square in Pictures
Scollay Square (MA) (Images of America)
Scollay Square is a pictorial history of the infamous Boston entertainment district that was wiped away by urban renewal in the 1960s. Now Government Center, this twenty-two-acre area was once an entertainment hub where entrepreneurs, scientists, politicians, performers, and even con artists worked side by side. Inside are dozens of never-before-published photographs of the Old Howard and Ann Corio, the Crawford House and Sally Keith, Joe and Nemo, and the Casino Theater, along with the many characters and landmarks that made this area a favorite of high-school truants, businessmen, and sailors on leave.
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The Solution? Dynamite it and start over.
The decimation of Scollay Square resulted in the atrocious thing that is Government Center (look to your right). Built by Kallmann, McKinnell and Knowles between 1963 and 1968, the design for Boston City Hall and its accompanying plaza won a national competition to replace a 90-acre "urban renewal" site with today's Government Center. How ironic that nearby - but now effectively cut off thanks to the design of Government Center - is Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, birthplace of another trend in urban planning: historic preservation via the "festival marketplace."Why is Boston still stuck with this bloody thing? First off, the new attempts at redesigning it fail to take in the concept of the community, and how it congregates, as well as its nearby neighbors.
"It proves once again that design competitions accomplish little if nothing in creating great places. What does this say about design in a city with so many prominent designers (as opposed to placemakers) - a city where all the truly successful places are older?
While some places in the Hall of Shame have at least a few redeeming characteristics, everything about City Hall Plaza and the surrounding Government Center is all wrong. Bleak, expansive, and shapeless, it has an exceedingly poor image in a city where image should be paramount." [Great Public Spaces, PPS Project for Public Spaces]
Still More Preservation Books from Amazon
Authentic Color Schemes for Victorian Houses: Comstock's Modern House Painting, 1883
Actually, this one is on my Wish List. It sure sounds good, no?
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America's Painted Ladies: The Ultimate Celebration of Our Victorians
All the "Painted Ladies" books are breathtaking. Start with this one, and see if you don't get hooked.
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Preserving the World's Great Cities: The Destruction and Renewal of the Historic Metropolis
[From Library Journal] Having learned that the most useful information on architectural preservation often comes from other places, former New York City Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Tung decided to visit some of the world's most significant buildings inChina, Italy, Greece, Japan, and elsewhere. Here he aims to compile what he learned into one volume, recording his on-site investigations into the architectural preservation issues facing 18 major cities of the world.
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Creating a New Old House: Yesterday's Character for Today's Home (American Institute Architects)
(From the Editorial Review): Anyone who yearns for an older home - but is daunted by the prospect of owning one - will love this book. Through hundreds of inspiring photographs and engaging text, the author describes what gives traditional homes their enduring appeal. Versaci identifies Eight Pillars of Traditional Design that create a solid foundation for combining authentic, traditional design with livability to create homes that feel old yet live new.
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Historical Footnotes Santa Clara Valley
I am honored to know the author, Jack Douglas, so I can recommend this one with an extra bit of zest. I find this a fascinating read, for anyone, not just Silicon Valley residents. Virtually everyone will be amazed at how different the San Francisco Bay Area of California has become in the last 100 years. The land of "Sunshine, Fruit, and Flowers" has given way to the omnipresent silicon chip. Sadly, a heck of a lot of stunning architecture has been sacrificed in the process, although, it's only fair to say, a good amount of it was due to shoddy fire prevention services. Gorgeous black and white photos and fascinating stories make this book an enjoyable and inspirationial read.
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