May 28, 2008

2008 11 Most Endangered

Boyd Theatre

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has just released its 2008 11 Most Endangered list. They are:

  • Vizcaya and the Bonnet House (Miami and Fort Lauderdale, FL) -- Development threatens vistas surrounding the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami and the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens of Fort Lauderdale.
  • Sumner Elementary School (Topeka, Kansas) -- Demolition is authorized for the school that was the center of the U.S. Supreme Court desegregation ruling (Brown v. Board of Education).
  • Boyd Theatre (Center City, PA) -- This vacant art-deco movie palace is vulnerable to demolition.
  • Charity Hospital and the Adjacent Neighborhood (New Orleans, Louisiana) -- The hospital, made famous by Hurricane Katrina, and nearby homes are planned for demolition.
  • Peace Bridge Neighborhood (Buffalo, NY) -- Expansion of the bridge threatens homes and parks dating to the 1850s.
  • The Lower East Side (New York, NY) -- Famed immigrant neighborhood is threatened by development.
  • Michigan Avenue Streetwall (Chicago, Illinois) -- Construction of large-scale towers threatens the 12-block facade of historic buildings.
  • California's State Parks (Statewide, CA) -- Budget reductions could force the closure of 48 parks.
  • The Statler Hilton Hotel (Dallas, TX) -- Nearby development threatens this fifty-two year old, modern hotel. Dallas is notorious (and brazenly shameful) for tearing down its history.
  • Great Falls Portage (Great Falls, Montana) -- A power plant is planned near the best-preserved section of the Lewis and Clark Trail.
  • Hangar One, Moffett Field (Santa Clara, CA) -- Cleanup of hazardous materials threatens the former Navy dirigible hangar.

    The organization made this short video featuring the endangered sites with The History Channel:

  • 2 comments:

    1. Anonymous8:22 PM

      Chris,

      Well done. I'm pleased you chose to publish this on your site. Having worked with numerous developers in my history, the only thing they tend to notice is $$$. And, you're so right about Dallas. If you have to give anything to Ft. Worth, it's that it's been too poor, lazy, to tear apart what little history it has. We all need to remember what a travesty it was to destroy Penn Station. In fact, the history of that beautiful piece of architecture is worthy of "Exquistely Bored"!
      As ever,
      Ed

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    2. I completely understand how the need to earn income (profit, even) from a piece of land trumps anything else. I get it. But, surely there's a way to do both?? Maybe not. You are so right about Fort Worth. They have absolutely taken the opposite approach. And the fact it is so close to Dallas makes that contrast slightly ironic. Good point about Penn Station. At least its destruction awakened people to the need to preserve, but what a shame!

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