Voluntarily Demolished Skyscrapers

[Jim856796]

I just viewed a thread about voluntarily demolished skyscrapers on the skyscraperPage forums, and this inspired me to create a thread about that subjest here on Skyscraper City.

This is an incomplete list of the tallest buildings ever to be voluntarily demolished. That would mean skyscrapers that were in a perfectly good condition to be taken down purely at the choice of the owner, mostly to make way for a taller building, a shorter building, or something else other than a building. Some of these buildings have lived a full life. Some of them have been demolished way before their time. Some of the skyscrapers were damaged by a natural disaster, but remain stading and then had to be voluntarily demolished or imploded.

Any skyscraper over 300 feet tall can be in this thread.

1. The Singer Building, New York City, 1908-1968. Demolished to make way for 1 Liberty Plaza and because its floorplates were too small. 614 ft 47 floors

2. Morrison Hotel, Chicago, 1925-1965. Demolished to make way for the Chase Plaza. 526 feet 45 floors

3. City Investing Building, New York City, 1908-1968. Also demolished to make way for One Liberty Plaza. 487 feet 33 floors

4. J.L. Hudson Department Store, Detroit, 1927-1998 (tallest portion was constructed in 1946). Imploded in 1998 because it became severely decrepit (the tallest building ever to be imploded). 439 feet 28 floors

5. National City Bank Building, New York City, 1928-1986. Demolished to make way for 60 Wall Street. 433 feet 32 floors.

6. State Office Block, Sydney, 1965-1998. Demolished to make way for Aurora Place. 420 feet 32 floors

7. Savoy Plaza Hotel, New York City, 1930-1964. Demolished to make way for General Motors Building. 420 feet 33 floors

8. CAGA House, Sydney, 1977-1992. Demolished for no reason other than to make way for the Governor MacQuarrie Tower. 410 feet 30 floors.

9. First National Bank, Pittsburgh, 1912-1970. Demolished to make way for One PNC Plaza. 387 feet 26 floors

10. Hanover National Bank, New York City, 1903-1931. Demolished to make way for expansion of 40 Wall. 385 feet 22 floors.

11. Centre International Rogier, Brussels, 1960-2001. Demolished to make way for Dexia Tower. 384 feet 30 floors

12. Landmark Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, 1969 (or 1963)-1995. Imploded and a parking lot stands on this site. 365 feet 31 floors

13. Furama Kempinski Hotel, Hong Kong, 1977-2002. Demolished at age 25 to make way for AIG Tower. 361 feet 33 floors

14. Edificio Wilson Mendes Caldeira, Sao Paulo. 1951-1975. Imploded to make way for some metro station. 361 feet 28 floors

15. 60 Wall Street, New York City, 1905-1977. Demolished to make way for 60 Wall Street. 351 feet 26 floors

16. Hennessy Centre, Hong Kong, 1981-2007. Demolished at age 26(!) for unknown reasons (a 26-year-old building at that height is not old enough to be demolished). 458 feet 41 floors

17. World Building, New York City. 1890-1955. Demolished to expand an onramp onto the Brooklyn Bridge. 350 feet 20 floors

18. Drapers Gardens, London, 1967-2007. demolished to make way for a shorter, more modern building. 328 feet 30 floors.

19. Hudson Terminal Buildings, New York City, 1908-1966 (the other building stood for a longer time period while the WTC was under construction). Demolished to make way for the World Trade Center which was killed in the 9/11 arracks. 276 feet 22 floors

20. St. Regis Los Angeles Hotel and Spa, Los Angeles, 1984-2007, Demolished at age 23 to make way for The Century condominium tower. They would have built this thing 10 years earlier, in 1975. 390? feet 30 floors.

21. Poltegor Centre, Wroclaw, 1982-2007. Demolished to make way for the Kompleks Sky Tower. 302 feet 25 floors.

22. Knickerbocker Trust Building, New York City, 1909-1964. Demolished to make way for an addition to the Bank of New York Building. 381 feet 27 floors

23. Hotel Sofitel Tokyo, Tokyo, 1994-2008. Is being demolished for unknown reasons. 348 feet 26 floors

24. New York Coliseum, New York City, 1956-2000. Demolished to make way for the Time Warner Centre. 345 feet 26 floors

25. Farmers Bank Building, Pittsburgh, 1902-1997. demolished to make way for a 5-story building. 344 feet 26 floors

26. Southwark Plaza Towers II and III, Philadelphia, 1963-2000. Imploded to make way for townhouses (Southwark Plaza I was converted to senior apartments). 340 feet 26 floors.

27. Netherland Hotel Parking Garage, Cincinnati, 1931-????. 341 feet 27 floors.

28. Quincy Street Garage, Chicago, 1930-1961. Demolished to make way for the Dirksen Federal Building. 280 feet 25 floors

29. Stardust Hotel and Casino West Tower, Las Vegas, 1976-2007. Imploded with the 9-story East Tower to make way for the Echelon Resort. 350 feet, 32 floors.

30. Sparkasse Hagen, Hagen, 1973-2004. Imploded for unknown reason. 331 feet 23 floors.

31. Southwark Towers, London, 1976-2008. Demolished to make way for London Bridge Tower. 328 feet 24 floors

32. Limebank House, London, 1969-1997. Demolished to make way for a 9-story building. 305 feet 26 floors

33. St. Paul Building, New York City, 1898-1958. 315 feet 26 floors

34. Consolidated Zinc Building, Melbourne, 1963-1988. Demolished to make way for 101 Collins Street. 312 feet 26 floors.

35. Ocean Building, Singapore, 1974-2007. Demolished to make way for the Ocean Financial Centre. 390 feet 28 floors.

36. 20 Fenchurch Street, London, 1968-2008. Demolished to be replaced with a 160-metre 39-story building with a walkie-talkie design. 300 feet 25 floors.

37. Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Hong Kong, 1993-2009. Demolished to make way for a proposed office building. 462 feet 31 floors.

38. 1515 Tower, West Palm Beach, 1974-2010. Imploded because of severe damage by Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. The Modern (a new residential tower) is being built in its former site. 320 feet 30 floors.

39. Belmont Hotel, New York City, 1908-1939. Demolished to make way for some lowrise building. 308 feet 22 floors.

40. One Meridian Plaza, Philadelphia, 1972-1999. Was severely damaged in a 1991 fire and was torn down eight years later. The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton now occupy the site. 492 feet 38 floors.

41. 130 Liberty Street, New York City, 1974-2010. Is currently being deconstructed because of damage resulting from the collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. 565 ft 40 floors.

If you have any further information or photos of these buildings, please post it in this thread.

[eusebius]

Hagen, Ruhr area:

http://www.wirklichewelt.de/fotos/sp...nhochhaus.html

Sparkassen-Hochhaus 'Langer Oskar' 100mtrs

[Jim856796]

I guess I should add the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Hong Kong to this list as well. I got involved in a fight to save the building from demolition for a dumb-ass office building. Its height is 462 feet 31 floors and was completed in 1993.

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by Jim856796

I guess I should add the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Hong Kong to this list as well. I got involved in a fight to save the building from demolition for a dumb-ass office building. Its height is 462 feet 31 floors and was completed in 1993.

One on the left :

[charmedone]

im kinda suprized that The Singer Building was torndown i never found it to be such a nice building but 1 Liberty Plaza isent really such an amazing building its self

[Jim856796]

(crickets chirp) Aren't you going to post anything else about these towers that I listed on the first post?

[Jim856796]

AfE-Turm in Frankfurt (382 feet 32 floors) is to be demolished soon.

[Darhet]

AfE-Turm

[waccamatt]

If that building in Detroit was the tallest ever demolished by implosion, how was the Singer Building torn down? I can't imagine it was demolished by a wrecking ball.

[hudkina]

They probably dismantled the building floor by floor from the top down.

BTW, the Hudson's Building wasn't "severely decrepit" It was torn down because it was a massive building designed for a specific use that no longer functioned as such. The city tore it down in an era when there was little hope for renovating buildings half its size. The building was replaced by an underground parking structure designed to support a mid-rise structure above ground. Right now the city has given the development rights to Quicken Loans who have recently decided to build their new World Headquarters on the site of that building or another location nearby.

[coexist]

Originally Posted by waccamatt

If that building in Detroit was the tallest ever demolished by implosion, how was the Singer Building torn down? I can't imagine it was demolished by a wrecking ball.

I'd imagine it was dismantled. Implosion is illegal in New York State.

[charmedone]

Originally Posted by coexist

I'd imagine it was dismantled. Implosion is illegal in New York State.

it was jackhammared down i believe and implosion is not illegale in new york state heres a building they imploted on long island in 1989 maby it is now but im sure back then it wasent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iey7bWI3L24

[Jim856796]

Now I should see what you think about the other skyscrapers on my list, such as the Mendes Caldeira, the Furama Hotel, and the CIR.

[Darhet]

more Singer Building:











http://en.structurae.de/structures/d...fm?ID=s0002471
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/GON003.htm

NY in 1908:

[Jim856796]

Should there be any 300+-foot-high skyscrapers slated for demolition soon?

[ZZ-II]

i miss the Singer Building, was such a wonderful tower

[TalB]

I wouldn't be surprised if NYC holds the record for the most voluntarily demolished skyscrapers.

[Sbz2ifc]

Originally Posted by ZZ-II

i miss the Singer Building, was such a wonderful tower

Were you even alive before it was demolished?

[TalB]

The World Bldg, which was the first skyscraper to give NYC the WTB, was demolished in 1955 to create a roadway to the Brooklyn Br.

[charmedone]

anyone hav any pictures of them tearing down The Singer Building,??