About one month ago, I took some pictures of an old house on the verge of demolition. I thought that capturing it before it disappeared forever would be a nice way of reminding myself that newer isn't always better. The resulting entry was called Awaiting its fate, and I invite you to click back to see what it once was.
For some reason, that image has stuck in my mind since then, so last week I went back to the site. The house was still there, albeit in a somewhat more advanced state of demolition. When the house is completely gone, the way will be cleared for the law firm next-door to build yet another box.
Your turn: Are cities losing their uniqueness and sense of scale because of this seemingly relentless removal of heritage properties? If you had the power, what would you do to stop it?
What they have to do here in Vancouver is preserve the facades of old buildings. I think its nice to save at least part of a character building and incorporating it into a new design is a nice way of preserving it.
ReplyDeleteOh, Rick Mercer now has a blog. http://rickmercer.blogspot.com
Its hilarious.
I just blogged about the U.S. Supreme Court's brilliant decision on this very topic that might interest you. If there's a health or safety hazard, that's one thing, but what's going on now is heart-wrenching. What to do about it? Sadly, I just don't know.
ReplyDeleteI have this dream that if I ever win a lottery, I will buy and fix up small starter homes here in Saskatoon (with my team of renovateurs, of course). The aim would be to preserve the heritage, and then sell them again at a reasonable price. It's so wonderful to see heritage preserved, even on the small scale. That's my dream (and because I rarely buy lottery tickets, it may stay a dream for a long time). Ah well.
ReplyDeleteOh yes - I absolutly DESPISE those cookie cutter neighborhoods. Give me an old fixer upper with leaky roof and all... so much more interesting! I wouldn't mind so much if they'd go back to viewing architecture like ART instead of just FUNCTION! Great topic..
ReplyDeleteDiggin' up old posts...
ReplyDeleteYa know I aws drivin' thru town today... and the old tobacco warehouse where we use to take out tabacco was gone - it's a big flat empty lot now... I wish I had a photo of it... it's so sad to me it's gone... I had many memories there and to see it not there is like WOW. Yes, how'd you guess, Michele! ;)