Despite the level degradation across all of the West, the 'colonies' of America, Canada and Australia are extremely susceptible to the destruction of historic structures and statues compared to Europe.
Maybe it's after a certain length of time, it becomes so ingrained into cultural identity that you can't displace it. It's just startling that after a fire they 'gave up' attempting to save and restore when you have situations like Dresden being flattened and after decades they DID get rebuilt.
These were everywhere, at one point (the coffee palaces), but they largely didn't survive the architectural purge that was the 50s through the 80s...
Although, walking through city streets and seeing some of the examples of façadism that is all the rage now (which is what would have happened to the building in the OP, if it hadn't burned down), perhaps... Perhaps it is "better" that these buildings didn't live to see that happen to them.
In a sense, anyway.
I'm all for "adaptive reuse", like with many stations in the US, for example, but yeah, façadism and ripping the whole thing down... Are sort of two sides of the same bad coin, really...
Despite the level degradation across all of the West, the 'colonies' of America, Canada and Australia are extremely susceptible to the destruction of historic structures and statues compared to Europe.
Maybe it's after a certain length of time, it becomes so ingrained into cultural identity that you can't displace it. It's just startling that after a fire they 'gave up' attempting to save and restore when you have situations like Dresden being flattened and after decades they DID get rebuilt.
I was reading about this one today (in Philly): http://jamesmcgahey.blogspot.com/2012/06/broad-street-station-what-should-have.html
Or, for another Antipodean example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Coffee_Palace
Read it and weep... :-(
These were everywhere, at one point (the coffee palaces), but they largely didn't survive the architectural purge that was the 50s through the 80s...
Although, walking through city streets and seeing some of the examples of façadism that is all the rage now (which is what would have happened to the building in the OP, if it hadn't burned down), perhaps... Perhaps it is "better" that these buildings didn't live to see that happen to them.
In a sense, anyway.
I'm all for "adaptive reuse", like with many stations in the US, for example, but yeah, façadism and ripping the whole thing down... Are sort of two sides of the same bad coin, really...