30 Examples Of Historic Architecture That No Longer Exist Today

Architectural monuments are a priceless part of any country’s heritage. In addition to their practical significance, they become a way of immortalizing certain influences, important events and customs for future generations to appreciate. Trying to determine the number of such influential structures is close to impossible; as well as counting all that have been lost over time.

Luckily, architecture enthusiasts and historians are determined to keep their memory alive, even if only in pictures. Tom Ravenscroft, the person responsible for the ‘Lost Architecture’ subreddit, is an avid architecture enthusiast himself. In a previous interview with Bored Panda, he said that he’s been following this passion for years, and continues to do so by being the editor of Dezeen, the world's largest architect and design site.

Tom told Bored Panda that the community started with the demolition of one building—the Bertrand Goldberg's Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago (which is kept as the subreddit’s icon to this day). He said that after posting the picture of this authentic building on Reddit, he realized that there wasn’t a place on the website dedicated to similar architectural structures that have been lost over time and that’s why he started one.

According to Dezeen, the brutalist-style clover-shaped women’s hospital building was created using one of the earliest three-dimensional modeling programmes. A coalition between several organizations, ‘Save Prentice’, dedicated to saving the building, emphasized its significance in a letter to the Mayor of Chicago, which reads in part: "Prentice propelled advances in the fields of architecture and engineering that are still recognised today. [...] Upon completion in 1975, critics and engineers worldwide celebrated Prentice as a breakthrough in structural engineering."

The hospital in Chicago was far from the only somewhat recently destroyed building, the picture of which ended up on the ‘Lost architecture’ subreddit. Others on the list include the Palast Der Republik in Berlin, which was voted to be demolished by the German Parliament in 2003, the Transgas Building in Prague, destroyed in 2019, and the Culver House—a historic 19th-century, Queen Anne-style home in St. Louis, demolished in July 2022, among others.

Some structures on the subreddit were, however, destroyed hundreds if not thousands of years ago. A couple of the arguably most spectacular ones have been the Baths Of Diocletian in Rome, dating back to as far as 298 AD and the Ancient Egyptian Fortress Of Buhen built on the west bank of the Nile somewhere around 1860 BCE.

Quite a few buildings discussed on the subreddit have been lost due to numerous wars and conflicts over the years. In cities such as Warsaw in Poland, Antwerp in Belgium, or Bristol in England, just to name a few, numerous constructions have been forever lost after WW2-related bombings, and that’s just one of the conflicts that have ravaged cities over the course of history. 

In addition to conflicts, fires have also destroyed countless cities, each home to authentic examples of local architecture. For instance, the Great Fire of London in 1666 is believed to have destroyed over 13,000 homes and damaged the iconic St. Paul's Cathedral, among other constructions. Another example, the massive fire in Hakodate, Japan in 1907, is the reason why the majority of its historic buildings date back to the 20th century.

A devastating fire that has recently seized one of the most well-known landmarks in Europe was the fire of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2019. The construction of the spectacular monument started in the early 12th century and resulted in what was considered the tallest building of its kind back in the day. 

Even though the devastating tragedy destroyed nearly all of one of the oldest surviving timber frames in Paris, according to Vox, and was the cause of the collapse of the iconic spire, it revealed new surprising information about the building. The blaze uncovered iron staples used to bind stone blocks, making the Notre-Dame the first Gothic Cathedral to extensively use iron in its construction.

Engulfed by fire, the spire of the Notre-Dame Cathedral was also added to the subreddit’s collection of the lost gems of architecture. Due to its somewhat upsetting origins, this exact collection is one no architecture enthusiast would arguably like to see expanding. The sub’s founder, Tom Ravenscroft, also pointed that out in his previous interview with Bored Panda, saying that “‘Lost Architecture’ has showcased lost buildings of all styles from all around the world. Although I enjoy the sub, there are many, many buildings I never want to see in it.”

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