In 1963, the 1910 Pennsylvania Station, an architectural landmark designed by McKim, Mead & White, was demolished. The New York Times called it:
“a monumental act of vandalism against one of the largest and finest landmarks of its age of Roman elegance.” The loss of Penn Station eventually led to the formation of a Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Well now it’s happening again. This time the New York Public Library is the victim. The building will remain but the interior of a beloved historic landmark will be desecrated.
Unless he is stopped, the end of history rests in the hands of this evil architect from the UK – Norman Foster.
Current vs Proposed Library
History dies but an insensitive architect lives on to claim another landmark.
Check out this article which provide the full sad story.
UPDATE – GOOD NEWS!
Not only preservationists but people that care and respect history teamed up with a fight to save this landmark. Here is their website.
With law suites and protests abound it was budget cuts that created this miracle. There are really no heros except for the people that fought for what they believe. Norman Foster, the evil British architect still walked away with 9 million dollars. He has his money but America still has its landmark.
For those not familiar with this library, it is quite different from the library we all know. Books are stored under ground and retrieve upon request.
From what I can tell, the Rose Reading Room (pictured above) is NOT slated for alteration- it’s the stacks below the reading room that are proposed for replacmenet. Still a total waste, and a completely illogical and worthless loss of integrity, but at least the reading room- provided it is not damaged during the project- would remain intact.
how can anyone help… this should remain a landmark. thank you for making us aware of this.
If we allow British architect modernists to diminish the integrity of our National Historic Landmarks, we will diminish the number of resosurces which could be included in an American counterpart to Johathan Foyle’s website on Great Britain’s historic built enevironment, i.e., http://www.built.org.uk.
The crux of this issue is addressed in the Architectural Record article. The patent stack space cast iron and steel system provides the structural support for the Rose Reading room above it. It does not make practical, economic, and/or monetary sense to demoish it.
The St. Louis Central Library recently did an excellent renovation where they preserved and restored many historical elements and modernized it to meet today needs. Maybe Old House Guy should to a post on it!
http://central.slpl.org/
Nice restoration. There seems to be a modern addition to the historic building. If this is the case it’s good that nothing historic was altered. However this does bring up the subject of context.
While it is sometimes necessary to add on to historic structures, that addition must not falsely represent history. The addition must be recognized as new construction and not be constructed so accurately that one think of it as older than it is.
However the addition should be of a style that blends with the old and not provide a visual shock. Context is important so stay tuned for an article about this.
Looking through our relatively recent history of destroying gorgeous ornate architecture, it appears to have ramped up, and even been inspired by, the efforts of Frank Lloyd Wright who worked diligently to strip American architecture of the word “baroque”.
Very good point Scott!
The NYC Library is both an architectural and engineering landmark and I don’t understand how those in charge could even think that such an extensive renovation makes any sense in function, history or budget. The reading room is iconic. Thank god saner minds and reality intervened.