Saving Architecture Because It’s Worth Saving
Imagine if the Europeans, once they revolted and overthrew monarchies, decided that those big old buildings atop hills were just were better off as parking lots. We wouldn’t have all the castles representing hundreds of years of history, and delightful tourist destinations, like the world’s most visited art museum, The Louvre. Train stations, of the 1800s also became new things, restaurants and retailer destinations on the small scale and a contemporary art museum on the larger with the Musée D’Orsay.
In America, we find a different fate for our large buildings. Today a retrospective on train stations:
2. MEMPHIS – UNION STATIONWhen this city’s Union Station opened in 1912, it was the largest stone structure in town. But when the U.S. Postal Service announced that it needed new land in the city in the late 1960s, the magnificent building was chosen for demolition because it no longer attracted the crowds that it had once brought into the city. Any interest in saving the structure itself was ignored.
These days Memphis is expressing interest in being part of the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor.
THEN: A grand Beaux Arts depot for a thriving city
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WHAT’S THERE NOW: A windowless postal facility surrounded by barbed wire stands on site of the old station.
5. CHICAGO: GRAND CENTRAL STATION
Perhaps more than any other American city, Chicago’s destiny has been a result of its transportation links to the rest of the country. As such, it had something of an abundance of train stations. Even while it still has four commuter terminals inside the Loop, knocking down impressive stations like Grand Central did not yield much for the city. The site of this former station, prime real estate on the banks of the Illinois River, is still a vacant lot after nearly four decades.
THEN: Located on the banks of the Chicago River, the beautiful station with ornate marble floors, Corinthian columns, and a fireplace. It served travelers to DC and many other cities.
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NOW: A vacant lot
h/t boing boing
