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I read this column from The Observer, and wondered if locals feel this way, too. Seems like a shame!
Quote:
The Carolina Theatre Preservation Society is gearing up to launch a drive to raise $2 million to restore the building’s historic details, including curtains, lighting and stenciling on the walls.
Clayton detailed the history of the preservation efforts, which date to the theater’s 1978 closing. “We’ve been trying to save it from the wrecking ball for all these years,” he said. “This town doesn’t like history for some odd reason.”
Having grown up here, I have to agree with him. There is seldom much hesitation before tearing down old buildings. Nobody seems to be batting an eye at the prospect of developers tearing down Hall House on North Tryon Street. It’s currently used as public housing, but the building started in 1940 as a grand hotel – and still has some attractive architectural touches. Its 12-story brick silhouette isn’t like any of our beige skyscrapers.
And I still mourn every day on my way to work as I drive by the ugly parking lot that used to be the the famed all-night Athens Restaurant – it shuttered last fall for Central Piedmont Community College expansion after 45 years in business.
I read this column from The Observer, and wondered if locals feel this way, too. Seems like a shame!
This is definitely a shame, and I don't get it, either. Here in San Diego, developers have not touched the historic main street and surrounding blocks in downtown San Diego. There are lots of skyscrapers in downtown, more than in Charlotte, but they're all on other streets, away from the historic area. And today, this historic area, which is called the Gaslamp Quarter, is buzzing every day and night of the week. ( http://www.gaslamp.org/ ) There are ALWAYS crowds of people there (like DC's historic Georgetown neighborhood and NY's Greenwich Village). The Gaslamp
Quarter is full of about every kind of restaurant you can imagine -- good restaurants -- and bars and nightclubs and music and interesting shops and hotels. Even some of the oldest hotels in San Diego, like the U.S. Grant Hotel, built in 1910, have been preserved and are now very posh, five star hotels (which the old Hotel Charlotte could have been if anybody had cared). The 1927 El Cortez Hotel is now high-end condos. I love walking around the Gaslamp District and reading all the historic markers on the beautiful buildings there. Imagine if all the historic buildings on Trade and Tryon streets had been left alone and those skyscrapers were built instead on some of the surrounding streets. An exciting and fun area like San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter could have been created. What an incredible waste and loss of potential!
I love the Gaslamp! Was there again last July and eating at local restaurants and seeing the front of very old, historic hotels made me smile. Love it there. As I love so many parts of downtown San Diego. Love the preserved culture and history. Some of my first experiences of theatre were downtown San Diego and lunching in famous, old restaurants afterward. Made a nine year old girl feel like a princess! I remember watching 'Sound of Music' in an old theatre and eating chocolate mousse in a historic restaurant afterward. Cannot beat those experiences...I remember nothing of the Chuck 'E' Cheese parties or McDonald's Happy Meals, by contrast. Who cares about experiences which can be duplicated anywhere, in identical fashion?
You're right there are many skyscrapers downtown, but at least there is Gaslamp, and Seaport Village and some gorgeous historic homes in Mission Hills, for example. Heck, F Street is a city institution!
It makes such a wonderful difference for a city to preserve it's historical architecture. The wolves will always be gnashing teeth to buy up land and tear everything down to make shareholders happy. But what is lost, culturally, psychologically is tragic. Just like the writer above says she 'mourns' every time she drives by the formerly Athens Restaurant.
These physical changes cause psychological changes for the people and it isn't good. Sure, makes a state economy grow...so does tearing down trees and a bunch of couples getting divorced. Doesn't anyone care about the social cost of these economic growth industries? Sigh. 'New and Improved, Bigger, Better' has got to stop in U.S.!
I can't really add much to what you've said here because you've stated it so well. You make an excellent point about the psychological impact on a community when it's historic treasures are lost. I haven't lived in Charlotte in 20 years, but I still mourn over the loss of the old Hotel Charlotte. The day they imploded that building, they were showing it on the news and I couldn't bear to watch. Whenever I see photos of old downtown Charlotte, as someone posted the other day, it makes me sad because I see all that has been lost. My grandmother worked in the old Ivey's department store downtown, which I think (and hope) has been turned into loft apartments? But I do remember when Belk's was demolished to make way for the current B of A tower. That broke my heart. Is there any reason that tower couldn't have been built one block over? I also remember that Athen's Restaurant. And when I was in Charlotte in December, I saw that they had now given up on preserving the Carolina Theatre facade. Why can't Charlotte learn from cities like San Diego and realize they can still grow and develop without sacrificing their history?
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to San Diego, in particular the Gaslamp District. But you forgot to mention the Hotel del Coronado, another wonderful historic landmark. Built in the 1880s, it's one of the largest all-woodframe buildings in the world. It seems everybody who comes to SD wants to visit the "Hotel del" while they're here. We've also got the Old Town section, just outside of downtown. Old Town is actually San Diego's original birthplace, the place that was founded by the original Spanish settlers (downtown was founded later by the Americans who moved into the area). Though some of Old Town SD has been rebuilt to look like the original town, it does still contain a few of the oldest existing Spanish colonial structures in the area, dating back over 200 years. Please come back to San Diego, sometime. And bring the Charlotte City Council and city planners with you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by muse1110
I love the Gaslamp! Was there again last July and eating at local restaurants and seeing the front of very old, historic hotels made me smile. Love it there. As I love so many parts of downtown San Diego. Love the preserved culture and history. Some of my first experiences of theatre were downtown San Diego and lunching in famous, old restaurants afterward. Made a nine year old girl feel like a princess! I remember watching 'Sound of Music' in an old theatre and eating chocolate mousse in a historic restaurant afterward. Cannot beat those experiences...I remember nothing of the Chuck 'E' Cheese parties or McDonald's Happy Meals, by contrast. Who cares about experiences which can be duplicated anywhere, in identical fashion?
You're right there are many skyscrapers downtown, but at least there is Gaslamp, and Seaport Village and some gorgeous historic homes in Mission Hills, for example. Heck, F Street is a city institution!
It makes such a wonderful difference for a city to preserve it's historical architecture. The wolves will always be gnashing teeth to buy up land and tear everything down to make shareholders happy. But what is lost, culturally, psychologically is tragic. Just like the writer above says she 'mourns' every time she drives by the formerly Athens Restaurant.
These physical changes cause psychological changes for the people and it isn't good. Sure, makes a state economy grow...so does tearing down trees and a bunch of couples getting divorced. Doesn't anyone care about the social cost of these economic growth industries? Sigh. 'New and Improved, Bigger, Better' has got to stop in U.S.!
As much as I love this area, this might be my single biggest complaint. I honestly don't get all of the tearing down of these wonderful historic places. I saw in the paper this morning where Mercy Hospital is expanding and they just unearthed a graveyard dating back to the mid-late 1700's.
Well I remember that NCborn! You shared with us that your grandmother worked in Ivey's during the 1930's. And yes the old building was not demolished just regutted and turned into condos. Here is a link of that very same thread you talked about with all those yummy pictures to drool over! http://www.city-data.com/forum/charl...u-arrived.html
I do agree that a city with a historic district does add something to the air. It's an intangible quality but one can feel it. I always asked myself the very same thing; "Why didn't they just leave that area be and make the modern buildings a few blocks over" Since Charlotte had alot of vacant land back then. I also do not like the "throwaway" mentality. It seems it is much easier to demolish something than to be proactive and find a different alternative, like a new use for an outdated building. Hopefully uptown(downtown) Charlotte can have stores again like they did during the first part of the 20th century.
Here is some usefull links regarding the Carolina.
Here is the article on the observer
http://www.charlotte.com/334/story/56070.html (broken link)
And here is the website for the Carolina Theater Preservation Society
http://www.theatreorgans.com/nc/metrolina/carolina/Article.CarolinaTheaterSection.Colorized.19270306. Observer.Page1.html (broken link)
This site has a ton of information regarding the historic building. It is worth a look! Did you guys know that Carolina Theaters in Greensboro, Durham and Winston-Salem are restored and working!!!
NCBorn, you're so right about Hotel Del! One of my favourite places, especially for the annual Xmas tree lighting. Magical place.
Spent a good portion of my childhood in San Diego and was able to partake in the rennovated downtown (Horton Plaza, etc); watch the middle class return to downtown. Not everything is great, don't like much of the shops in Horton Plaza, for example, but at least it brought people back to downtown.
When I move to Charlotte (or whatever area, still don't know), I will be donating my time to the preservation society and be involved with historic homes as well. Maybe there needs to be some serious activism against these developers. I like to think a small group of people can affect change.
Oh, so you were the one who posted those pictures! Thanks for providing the link back to that discussion. It makes me very sentimental seeing that. Imagine if Tryon St. still looked like that, and Bank of America, Hearst and all those other towers were over on College St. instead. How cool would it be for those buildings on Tryon to have been turned into cool clubs and shops and all kinds of ethnic restaurants. Think of the great dance club they could have turned Belks into. Oh well.
And yes, my grandmother worked in that Ivey's store! And she and the family lived less than two miles away from there -- on a farm! That farm was on Providence Road, just beyond Myer's Park. My grandfather owned it. But it was the depression and hard times hit, so he was forced to sell and had to leave town. The person who bought it resold it days later for about twice the money. I just think, if my grandfather had been able to hold onto that property for a few decades, maybe I wouldn't have to get up and go to work tomorrow morning.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anigirli
Hello again
Well I remember that NCborn! You shared with us that your grandmother worked in Ivey's during the 1930's. And yes the old building was not demolished just regutted and turned into condos. Here is a link of that very same thread you talked about with all those yummy pictures to drool over! http://www.city-data.com/forum/charl...u-arrived.html
I do agree that a city with a historic district does add something to the air. It's an intangible quality but one can feel it. I always asked myself the very same thing; "Why didn't they just leave that area be and make the modern buildings a few blocks over" Since Charlotte had alot of vacant land back then. I also do not like the "throwaway" mentality. It seems it is much easier to demolish something than to be proactive and find a different alternative, like a new use for an outdated building. Hopefully uptown(downtown) Charlotte can have stores again like they did during the first part of the 20th century.
You obviously know San Diego very well! I thought for some reason you were already living in Charlotte. Where are you now, if I might ask?
As for Horton Plaza, I guess I'm not much of a shopper because I can't tell a good store from a bad. But I do like the atmosphere at Horton Plaza. My gym is there. And the place does stay pretty busy there.
I'm glad to hear you'll be participating in a historical preservation society. That's something worth considering.
Quote:
Originally Posted by muse1110
NCBorn, you're so right about Hotel Del! One of my favourite places, especially for the annual Xmas tree lighting. Magical place.
Spent a good portion of my childhood in San Diego and was able to partake in the rennovated downtown (Horton Plaza, etc); watch the middle class return to downtown. Not everything is great, don't like much of the shops in Horton Plaza, for example, but at least it brought people back to downtown.
When I move to Charlotte (or whatever area, still don't know), I will be donating my time to the preservation society and be involved with historic homes as well. Maybe there needs to be some serious activism against these developers. I like to think a small group of people can affect change.
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Built in the 1880s, it's one of the largest all-woodframe buildings in the world. It seems everybody who comes to SD wants to visit the "Hotel del" while they're here. We've also got the Old Town section, just outside of downtown. Old Town is actually San Diego's original birthplace, the place that was founded by the original Spanish settlers (downtown was founded later by the Americans who moved into the area). Though some of Old Town SD has been rebuilt to look like the original town, it does still contain a few of the oldest existing Spanish colonial structures in the area, dating back over 200 years. Please come back to San Diego, sometime. And bring the Charlotte City Council and city planners with you!
You shared with us that your grandmother worked in Ivey's during the 1930's. 
And yes the old building was not demolished just regutted and turned into condos. Here is a link of that very same thread you talked about with all those yummy pictures to drool over! 
It's an intangible quality but one can feel it. I always asked myself the very same thing; 
Here is some usefull links regarding the Carolina.
