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Would you like a lost gem to be rebuilt?

27K views 53 replies 30 participants last post by  rd77 
#1 ·
When I saw the pictures on the renaissance of traditional architecture in the US, I decided to share one of the many lost beautiful buildings that the city of São Paulo lost "for the sake of progress", and would like to know what you think about the possibility of rebuilding lost gems.

Contrary people will usually say that what is lost is lost, and that a new one wil never be the same, for one thing the original materials are gone.

But, if we can´t have that very same building, why not have at least the beauty and the charm on the very same site? All in all, at least in São Paulo, few are the ones that were replaced with anything better.

Also, who would agree with building the old façades on newer buildings that have no architectural value, in cases when old buildings were replaced with cold, square glass/concrete boxes?

I´ll start by sharing Palacete Santa Helena:

 
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#5 ·
Bethlehemskirche, the church built for the 18th century bohemian inmigrants in the Mitte District, BERLIN and destroyed by bombing in 1943

This is an art work by the Spanish artist Juan Garaizabal that recovers its magnificent story/volume at the original place/size

I find it completely revolutionary.
This is how it looks by nightby night:



Bravo!
 
#12 ·
The destruction of Cluny is one of many reasons why the French Revolution was altogether terrible.
 
#13 ·
While Napoleon was off conquering Europe, the former monastery at Cluny,
largest in Christendom, was being wantonly demolished in 1810. Some
businessmen bought it outright, and started the demolition (for reuse as building
material). When the people from the village began to realize what was going on,
and were protesting to higher authorities, the new owners took more drastic
(and quicker) measures, and started blowing up parts of the church with
gunpowder in order to speed up the process. By the time they were finally
stopped only 1 transept (and its' tower) were left standing, and can still be seen
today.

What really makes this entire matter even more depressing is the fact that for
up to 50 years later... boys living in the area around Cluny were making paper
airplanes from the scattered illuminated manuscript parchment of the Cluny
library!! :eek:hno:
 
#15 ·
One of the things I thought would be interesting would be to take spots in my home city where they plan to tear down 1870's houses which have really cool looking old rooms in them and use some type of lifting system to lift them on top of the new office or condo building when they build the new building in the same spot. In that I like the idea of them putting in new more denser buildings but at the same time I don't want to see the old houses get torn down.

I would love to see the former Richmond James River Canal system get rebuilt.
 
#16 ·
Königsberg Castle in Kaliningrad... One of the most beautiful castles ever built. It was destroyed in WWII.


In the Soviet times, it was replaced by this hideous hunk. To make it worse, this new building was never used or finished. Ever. It is a worthless concrete lump that needs to be demolished for a replica of Königsberg Castle.
 
#19 ·
Königsberg Castle in Kaliningrad... One of the most beautiful castles ever built. It was destroyed in WWII...
Yes, I agree.

I would add the entire city of pre-war Königsberg, but I know this thread is only for individual buildings.
 
#18 ·
Imperial Hotel, London. Destroyed by greed.

Ok - how about this one lads.

I know absolutely nothing about this building apart from the fact that it needs absolutely no words to describe it and there are simply no words to explain how this one could have been pulled. I still can't believe this was demolished in the 60's - and I wasn't even born then!

This is the masterpiece that was the Imperial Hotel in Russell Square



Look at the detail!





This building was the centrepiece of Southampton row, a street that quite possibly was the grandest in London, atleast that is how it appears from what I have seen.





Here it is now...............



Yes - we really did do it!

I can only imagine how immense this area looked - just to the right (or left if looking at it) of the Imperial Hotel stands the very beautiful and still standing Hotel Russell. To have seen this and the original Imperial building virtually next to each other must have been something else. Does anyone have any good, colour pictures of this scene (I know the hotel Russell can be seen in the two Southampton Row snaps but they don't show the grandeur of both in one picture).

Anyway - only in London!!

This one really does hurt.
 
#20 ·
The beautiful old gem of midtown Manhattan - the original Penn Station:



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/NYP_LOC4.jpg/800px-NYP_LOC4.jpg


Here is the elegant waiting room. Isn't it beautiful?

Exactly right for the great metropolis of New York:



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Penn_Station1.jpg


Here is the classic concourse.



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/NYP_LOC5.jpg/340px-NYP_LOC5.jpg


Here is a wide view:




http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Penn_Station3.jpg





This maginificent building was in every way the equal of its brother train terminal, the more famous and equally beautiful Grand Central, across town.

My parents and grandparents grew up with and often talked about its beauty.

Then it was destroyed in 1963.

Why? To make room for Madison Square Garden and some hideous office towers. :eek:hno::cry:


Here is the new entrance to the ugly new Penn Station:



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Penn_Station_NYC_main_entrance.jpg/800px-Penn_Station_NYC_main_entrance.jpg



:uh::eek:hno:


Why would anyone do such a thing to a beautiful building that was an important part of New York? And anyone who knows NYC is well aware that the area between seventh and eight avenues is now one of the ugliest areas of the city.


I am ashamed that the city I was born in would do such a thing to one of its own treasures that everyone could enjoy.

Very sad. I would love to see the old Penn Station brought back. :)
 
#27 ·
The beautiful old gem of midtown Manhattan - the original Penn Station:

a cool idea i drew up a few years back for a new Penn station

 
#21 ·
A couple of buildings in Sofia, which I would like to see rebuilt. Most though would not be able to rebuilt in their exact location because of the huge urban changes that happened in the city after the communism rebuilt the downtown area.

Balkan Holding Building



Hotel Union Palace





This building was never built because of WWI, short of a few months - The Teacher's Credit Union



Residential building on Moskovska street



Private house of General G. Vasov



The old Post Office



 
#26 · (Edited)
Wow.... Caravaggio.... I was reading this thread, and thought to add the Tuileries palace, but you beat me by a few days!

The Tuileries was the 4th side of the Louvre Palace complex that closed off the open arms of the
Louvre facing the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysees.

Here's a Wiki map showing the location of the Tuileries (on the left) before it was burned by the
Commune of Paris (mob) in 1871, and the shell taken down 11 years later (against the protest of Baron
Hausmann and others)....


Here's the story of the Tuileries...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuileries_Palace
 
#28 ·
There are 3 buildings I wish were still standing in Indianapolis.

The first and most tragic being the old courthouse.



Demolished in the 1960's for the front yard of this.


------------------------------------------------------------

English Hotel



Replaced with this. :(



------------------------------------------------------------------

Indiana State Bank- Demolished for parking lot. :(





 
#46 ·
There are 3 buildings I wish were still standing in Indianapolis.

The first and most tragic being the old courthouse.
^^Oh my God!! I don't even... For a front yard of a box?? :picard:

Sure ... T_T

Tenochtitlan
Besides being a ceremonial and political center of fundamental importance, Tenochtitlan was also a busy commercial point. As described in the Charter of Relationship, the main market was in Tlatelolco, where there were about 25,000 merchants selling food , textiles, footwear, puma and jaguar skins, stone tools, obsidian and copper, ceramics, snuff, carved wood and other crafts, jewelry of gold and jade.

^^Now this is a great example :cheers1: I love the Native American urbanism and although I prefer the Mississippian culture(they were less mean) I would totally love to see an international student workshop building a Tenochtitlan look-alike with original materials, gaining experience with earth made walls... And than donating it all to me.


Anyways, I have a recent example of town degradation here where I live;
this is "Cvjetni trg(=Flower market)" in Zagreb Croatia on an old postcard:



As you can see the buildings on the left side were not in a good ratio, and the square itself needed some new meaning so what does the profession offer?



Very creative! As if the socialist block on the left wasn't enough damage... But of course, here is the super/whimsy/glossy model for the "in life" presentation(because we all have tilt-shift filters in our eyes):



When you actually end up with this:



Wow... Another H&M...

So I'm in for the reviving of the historic centers and I don't think we should hold on to buildings as relics but if this is what modern architecture has to offer I'd rather see those lame neo blocks back on place.
(not to mention that a few months ago the glass on the penthouse cracked and cost thousands to be replaced or the big protests before the building began which obviously had no effect...)
 
#30 ·
Just in general:
The stone and terra-cotta facades of many surviving old skyscrapers taken down during the 60's-70's in the name of "progress".
Dense and aesthetically-pleasing development lost to surface parking lots. Arguably (with a strong emphasis on that term) unavoidable as many became dilapidated during the depopulation of urban cores in the mid-to-late 20th century. But a lot of times simply due to the owner purposefully sitting on the property to get them to decay.

Specific example not mentioned already:
Many of the turn-of-the-century buildings on the Atlantic City Boardwalk (Marlborough-Blenheim, Traymore, Haddon Hall, etc). Yes, I came across them when watching Boardwalk Empire, doesn't makes them any less of lost gems.
 
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