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The United States of America has resembled an architectural battleground in the past twelve months, with many high profile buildings across the country in danger of being, as architect Todd Williams put it, “reduced to a memory”. As we question the value of our cultural heritage versus the potential of urban renewal, architectural advocates have never been more divided over the future of our built environment.
Here are 10 of the most significant cases, five that survived and five that died. Peruse each scenario and decide for yourself if the right decisions were made…
Via Gallery Hip
LOST: Prentice Women’s Hospital, Chicago (1975 – 2014)
Bertrand Goldberg’s brutalist icon was mourned by many when its demolition was finally completed early in 2014. Its distinctive, sculptural form and innovative cantilevered concrete shell was the subject of a hard-fought preservation campaign — Save Prentice — supported by prominent architects including Renzo Piano and Jeanne Gang. Ultimately though, the structure’s high maintenance costs and perceived functional flaws led to its demise.
© Alison Yue
Via the Preservation Leadership Forum
SAVED: Hinchliffe Stadium, Paterson, N.J.
One of the last remaining stadiums in the U.S. where Negro League baseball games were played, the structure has suffered from marked deterioration over the past few decades but will now be integrated into the Great Falls National Historical Park in Paterson. The art deco arena opened in 1932 and hosted several teams including the New York Black Yankees and the New York Cubans.
Via Arch Plus
LOST: Facsimile at Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco (2006 – 2014)
Proposed as a fusion of technology, art, and architecture, Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s moving screen was installed at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center just eight years ago, and transfixed pedestrians with displays of the center’s internal activities — when it actually worked, that is. Unfortunately, the project was beset with technical problems from the get-go, and was eventually deemed untenable due to maintenance and repair costs.
Via NASA
SAVED: Moffett Federal Airfield Hangar, California
Hangar One at NASA’s Moffett Field was constructed back in the 1930s to house a gargantuan airship, the USS Macon. For decades it was left abandoned, deteriorating to the point that razing seemed the most likely end result. However, Google came to the structure’s rescue, linking up with NASA to renovate the building and give it new life as a scientific and educational facility.
Via Wikipedia
LOST: Third Church Of Christ, Scientist, Washington D.C. 1971 – 2014
Araldo Cossutta’s brutalist structure was met with praise by some architectural critics on its arrival, but never escaped the skepticism of the people that mattered most: its congregation. The Church’s attendance shrank over the years, and this was blamed, in part, on the oppressive nature of the building’s shadowy interior. The building was granted landmark status in 1991, but after a lawsuit and hearings, the District of Columbia issued a demolition permit in 2009 — and so the building was doomed.
Via Buildipedia
SAVED: Cincinnati Union Terminal, Ohio
The former railway station was designed by Alfred T. Fellheimer and Steward Wagner in 1933, although consultant Paul Philippe Cret is credited for the building’s classic Art Deco style. While the building has long been utilized a venue for civic activities — it currently houses museums, theaters, and a library — it was named as one of the 11 most endangered historic places in the U.S. earlier this year due to deterioration. Nevertheless, help is on the way: The National Trust reported in November that local voters are to fund a much-needed renovation.
Via Albany Kid
LOST: Domino Sugar Factory, New York City (1882 — 2014)
Journalist Aymann Ismail was met with a surreal sight when he visited the remains of the 132-year old Domino Sugar Factory at the end of last year — few walls remain of what was once the largest sugar refinery in the world, and the letters from its iconic neon ‘Domino Sugar’ sign lay scattered across the ground. The prominent waterfront location will soon host luxury condominiums, although several artifacts — including the sign — will be saved and installed in a new waterfront park. Nonetheless, it is a crying shame that the landmark building could not be retained and integrated into the new development in a similar manner to, say, Battersea Power Station in London.
Via Oregon Digital
SAVED: Green Mountain Lookout, Washington
This rickety timber structure sits atop a mountain in the stunning Cascade Range in Washington State, and had a plethora of uses in its early years, from being built by FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s to serving as a fire detection station to being repurposed as a lookout post during World War II. Its fate was in jeopardy after preservation groups argued that a much-needed renovation had violated the Wilderness Act, but President Obama came to the rescue, signing the ‘Green Mountain Lookout Heritage Protection Act,’ specifically written to preserve the remote hut indefinitely.
Via NY Times
LOST: American Folk Art Museum, New York City (2001 — 2014)
Perhaps the most publicized demolition on this list, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien’s unusual façade was the subject of heated debate as the proposed expansion of MoMA by Diller Scofidio + Renfro threatened its existence. Williams lamented the decision not to retain it, expressing his devastation publically: “Yes, all buildings one day will turn to dust, but this building could have been reused. Unfortunately, the imagination and the will were not there.”
© Ralph Basui Watkins
Via Watkins’ Word
SAVED: Daily World Building, Atlanta
The birthplace of one of the first African American newspapers in the United States, the Daily World building was in danger of being razed after suffering substantial tornado damage in 2008. The structure’s original function is not being preserved, but the building fabric will at least be saved: it is to be restored by a developer as housing and retail, with signs commemorating its notable history.
Which significant buildings will meet their grizzly end in 2015, and which will be rescued from the wrecking ball? Only time will tell…
Yours endangered,
The Angry Architect
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h/t to Architect Magazine & Gizmodo