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“Nothing Here Survived To The Present Day”: 30 Of The Most Spectacular Examples Of Architecture, As Shared On This Group (New Pics)
There have been countless architectural gems built over centuries that people have had the chance to admire. Everything from authentic houses of worship to spectacular bridges, stations, and entire old towns, among other structures, have been a mesmerizing sight for their eyes at some point throughout history. Unfortunately, quite a few buildings like these weren’t able to stand the test of time and can now only be admired in photographs.
We have gathered some of such photographs on this list for you to marvel at. They were shared by the ‘Lost Architecture’ community—“a subreddit devoted to images and discussion of interesting buildings that no longer exist,” as their own description reads. It covers all sorts of impressive structures that were destroyed by wars and other calamities, sadly leaving us with not much more than a picture of what it once was.
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San Francisco’s Cliff House 1896–1907
This is the second Cliff House. The first version was built in 1863 and destroyed in a fire in 1894. The version pictured above was also destroyed by fire, in 1907. The current Cliff House was built in 1909 (in a neo-classical style), was heavily modified into a "roadhouse" in 1949, then restored to it's 1909 appearance in 2004. The last restaurant/bar, which had opened in the building in 1973, permanently closed on December 31, 2020, and the Cliff House has remained vacant ever since.
Skete Of All Saints, Ukraine (Largest Wooden Church In Ukraine, Burned Down 2022)
Neue Elbbrücke Bridge From 1887-1959 In Hamburg, Germany
The bridge is still there, but the towers were removed when the bridge was widened.
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.
St. Peter's Hospital, Bristol, England. Built In The Late 14th Century As A Merchant's House, Destroyed In The Bristol Blitz In 1940
Salzhaus And Haus Frauenstein. Built Around 1600 In Frankfurt, Germany. Both Destroyed In 1944 By An Raf Raid
slighly unsettling, kinda looks like is gonna fall to the right
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."
Cathedral Of Christ The Saviour, Located In Borki, Near Kharkiv In The Russian Empire (Modern-Day Kharkiv, Ukraine). Pictured In 1894. It Was Destroyed During The Second World War
Los Angeles In 1918, Nothing Here Survived To The Present Day
The Old Times Square. (1904)
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.
Graham House, West Vancouver, Canada, Designed By Arthur Erickson In 1962, Demolished In 2007
The house was destroyed to make room for a larger one. Flat roofs and rainforests don't mix. (What is it with mid-20th century architects and flat roofs? Just stop it!)
The Baths Of Diocletian, 298 Ad. A Couple Of Walls Are Left, Still Impressive
Park Hotel Bremen, Bremen, Germany. Built In 1890 And Was Lost To A Fire In 1907
Small time window there. Very similar to the cliff house in San Francisco (currently #1) in that way.
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.
Świnoujście/Swinemünde Pier, Poland (Formerly Germany). The Place Existed Between 1890s And 1920s
Pennsylvania Station, New York City, Ca 1910
While its destruction was sad, it actually saved hundreds of other cultural heritage buildings due to the public outcry of it being demolished. It lead to the creation of modern historial preservation in the US. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Station_(1910%E2%80%931963)
1890 Sioux City Corn Palace, Iowa. From 1887 To 1891, Sioux Cityans Celebrated The Autumn Harvest With A Festival Featuring The Construction Of A Large Building In Downtown Called A Corn Palace Covered In Corn And Other Grains
I thought this rang a bell. There is a corn palace in sout dakota that still exists. I saw signs for it when I drove to SD to see Mt. Rushmore. Didn't actually go to the building. "Built in 1892 in Mitchell, South Dakota, the Corn Palace was created to dramatically display the products of the harvest of South Dakota's farmers, in murals on the outside of the building. The murals are made from thousands of bushels of corn and other grains and grasses such as wild oats, rye, straw, and wheat."
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.
Ancient Egyptian Fortress Of Buhen - Lost To The Aswan Dam (Lake Nasser)
A Digital Reconstruction Of Old St. Paul's Cathedral, Which Was Located In London, England. Completed In 1314, It Was Destroyed In The 1666 Great Fire Of London. The Current Cathedral With Its Iconic Dome Was Built Between 1675 And 1710
1905 Photo Of The Park Avenue Hotel (A.k.a. Working Women's Hotel) At 32nd And Park Avenue In New York City. Opened In 1878, Demolished In 1925. (Partial Ai Colorization)
Gorgeous. Including the hilariously inaccurate, vaguely American flag.
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.
Helmond, The Netherlands (Demolished In 2019 For A Big Appartement Block)
And here I thought (or hoped) we were done with this nonsense of needlessly destroying these architectural witnesses of the centuries - it doesn't look in disrepair or anything.
Base Of The Spire, Seen From The Southwest, Notre-Dame De Paris, 2018
Notre Dame was under reconstruction when the fire broke out. In fact, the fire started in the rafters of the scaffold. (I remember reading that it probably started because of a recklessly discarded cigarette butt). Anyway, many of the statues had been taken down for cleaning, so by lucky coincidence, they were not affectd by the fire.
Park Terrace, Duluth, Minnesota. Built In 1890 And Demolished In 1936
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.”
Leaning Tower Of Zaragoza "Torre Nueva"(1504-1892)
Steele High School, Dayton, Ohio. Built In 1894, Demolished For A Parking Garage In 1955
Galloway's Furniture Store, Sarasota, Florida, Designed By Victor Lundy In 1959. Partially Demolished In The 1970s, Some Of The Structure Still Survives Within A Nondescript Exterior
I knew Victor Lundy (friend of my parents) and his buildings were notorious for not aging well. He was one of those architects who get so enthralled by their concepts that they completely overlook the fact that people will need to use the building.
Color Photo Of Penn Station In 1963 Just Prior To Demolition
The Old Tripe House, Digbeth, Birmingham, U.k. (1533-1893)
Everything In This Photo Was Destroyed - Skopje, North Macedonia Before The 1963 Earthquake
Saratoga Hotel In Havana, Cuba. Destroyed By A Gas Explosion
Paleis Voor Volksvlijt, Amsterdam. Finished Building 1864, Burned Down 1929
Church In La Jalca, Peru. Built In 1538, Collapsed In An Earthquake
National Palace Of Haiti, 1912-2010, Severely Damaged By The 2010 Haitian Earthquake And Demolished In 2012
Oklahoma City State Capitol Bank Built In 1962, Complete With A Conversation Pit Elevator! Since Remodeled
Broadwater Natatorium, Helena, 1889. 100 Heated Changing Rooms, Electricity, Stained Glass Rose Windows. Demolished 1946
Natatorium: indoor swimming pool, I guess? Boy, am I learning fancy English architectural speak.
Venice, California Before The Canals Were Filled In And The Buildings Were Demolished, 1906
The Chicago Federal Building (1898-1965)
Old City Hall Post Office, NYC. 1880-1938
Pittsburgh Was Once One Of The Most Beautiful Cities Not Only In The Us, But In The World. Most Of It Was Demolished
Pittsburgh IS still a beautiful city. Surrounded by hills and suspension bridges, the downtown of Pittsburgh features an amazingly complex assortment of skyscrapers crammed into a narrow triangle where two rivers join to form the Ohio River. Short of mega-cities like New York and London, I don't think you can possibly find more fascinating architecture per square mile as you can in Pittsburgh.
The Beach Hotel, Galveston, Tx. Built In 1882 And Destroyed By A Mysterious Fire In 1898
Would've been destroyed in 1900 by the horrific hurricane which erased Galveston off the map. Thousands upon thousands of people died. The focus of the metro area shifted inland to Houston, whereas Galveston had been the larger city. Today, Galveston does have some gorgeous architecture!
Mount Adams Incline, Cincinnati, Oh (1872–1948)
One Of Philadelphias Most Gorgeous Corners In The Year Of 1900, Broad Street Station. (Razed In 50s)
Man, people in the the fifties and sixties were just chomping at the bit to ignore history and continuity, and just bulldozed beautiful old buildings w***y-nilly, to put up the FUGLIEST concrete boxes you ever saw, weren’t they? With zero regard for historic value, significance, art, beauty, all that is good and keeps us aligned with our past. My parents’ generation, the one that calls itself the “greatest generation”. Except for getting drafted on the winning side during WWII and managing to survive, they weren’t really all that great at most other things. They polluted our rivers, their factories belched smoke and polluted our air, they threw their trash out their car windows, they created the plastics industry, they drove the most gas guzzling cars and filled them with leaded gas so that anyone born before leaded gas was taken off the market now has traces of lead in their lungs from breathing in the exhaust. They were also the ones in the seventies, who had made it into the executive suite, and threw away every single scientific study that proved their company’s product was environmentally unsound and dangerous, was using up dwindling necessary resources, was totally upsetting ecosystems, was killing people. And they didn’t care, they didn’t try to make their products any cleaner, any less impactful, any less dangerous. They’re the generation who ramped up climate change and kept making it worse instead of trying to clean their messes up. Yeah, THAT generation. I’m 62, and yes, my generation f****d up the economy more than once, and contributed to climate change, though we were too young initially to be making the rules. When we got older, we started being more aware, and at least some of us try to live cleaner lives. It’s going to be the generation entering adulthood now and for the next few decades who will be doing the heavy lifting, cleaning up their parents’, grandparents’, great-grandparents’, and great-great-grandparents’ enormous and dangerous messes. We dropped the ball. I hope they take it, run with it, and finally do what we said we would do, but failed.
New York World Building, Demolished In 1955 For A Ramp Extension Of The Brooklyn Bridge
Denver 1880s: None Of The Buildings In This Photo Have Survived To The Present Day
Not true! Tivoli Brewery still stands and is a brewery (on the MSU campus) once again!
The Toy Building Was Constructed In 1913, And Anchored Milwaukee's Small Chinatown Community, The Building Hosted A Restaurant And A Theater, But Was Demolished In 1946
Milwaukee has a charming mix of old, surviving buildings, and new beautiful buildings.
City Hall Of Galveston, Texas. Built In 1888 And Demolished In 1966
Monroe Palace In Rio De Janeiro. Built In 1906 And Destroyed In 1976
Culver House In St. Louis. Demolished 7/19/22 For Symphony Hall Expansion
Palace Theater, Long Beach, Ca: Opened In 1916 And Demolished In The Late 1980s
Long Beach still has a lot of cool, beautiful architecture. And an area called Naples that still has canals
Prentice Women's Hospital In Chicago
Great Ape House, Kansas City Zoo 1966-2015
The General Motors Pavilion At The 1964 New York World's Fair, Aka 'Futurama,' Also The Source Of The Name Matt Groening Gave His Show From Visiting The Futuristic Attraction As A Kid. Torn Down After The Fair Ended, 1965
Trinity Episcopal Church. Washington, Dc. (1851-1936)
Ibm Pavilion "The Egg," 1964 World's Fair. Charles And Ray Eames Architects
Palast Der Republik, Berlin. Demolished In 2008 Due To Asbestos
People called it Erich (Honecker)'s Lampenladen (Erich's Lamp Store) because of the gazillion lamps inside
Transgas Building, Prague (Built 1978, Demolished 2020)
Wow! Brutalist Socialist architecture that's actually SORT of neat looking (depending on the context)!
This post was particularly painful for me. I am obsessed with old architecture from across the world. This list doesnt only make me sad about what we have lost but also what all can soon be lost in future :(
Melbourne, Australia, my home city, had many wonderful architectural buildings that were demolished in order to 'modernise' the city prior to the 1956 Olympic Games. These were the Fish Markets, built in 1890 to complement the style of the nearby Flinders Street railway station. They were replaced at the time by a car park Hish-marke...fbb656.jpg
Load More Replies...Architecture has really gone downhill. Instead of awe inspiring things of beauty, we now have identical moden blocks with no character or charm.
The Forestry building in Portland should be listed too. https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/world-largest-log-cabin-portland/
This post was particularly painful for me. I am obsessed with old architecture from across the world. This list doesnt only make me sad about what we have lost but also what all can soon be lost in future :(
Melbourne, Australia, my home city, had many wonderful architectural buildings that were demolished in order to 'modernise' the city prior to the 1956 Olympic Games. These were the Fish Markets, built in 1890 to complement the style of the nearby Flinders Street railway station. They were replaced at the time by a car park Hish-marke...fbb656.jpg
Load More Replies...Architecture has really gone downhill. Instead of awe inspiring things of beauty, we now have identical moden blocks with no character or charm.
The Forestry building in Portland should be listed too. https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/world-largest-log-cabin-portland/