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If US Major metropolises, which do you think is great/best at preserving their respective cities landmarks or historic places/neighboorhoods.
I'm particularly curious about those out west cause scince they are younger then the old north cities (If you want to compare when cities "came of age" as major hubs) I don't hear that much about them doing that.
Philly does a fair job with it's neighboorhoods near independence mall (not to mention the mall itself) among others
I hear Boston has done a good job preserving and highlighting certain buildings and even entire neighboorhoods.
DC has done a good job with architecture in Georgetown (they even got in a tizzy with Apple over having their store design be too modern) to say nothing of it's other world renowned landmarks.
Any big southern cities deserving of praise (I hear teh ATL has lost a bit of it's old architectural flavor scince the 70s when it came of age).
I bet Texas would be big about historical preservation, though I see that more so in certain smaller or more isolated instances (such as the Alamo) in relation to cities, due to their cities really getting big after the war (just my impression DON'T STONE ME, TEXANS!)
TO reiterate, I would really like to hear from those people out west for what they think about their big cities (LA, San Fran, Seattle, Phoenix, Denver. Texas, etc.) but all are welcome.
While there might be a best, I'm disappointed of what people find as acceptable to do to historical sites or potential historical sites. No city is that good at preserving history.
Philly does a fair job with it's neighboorhoods near independence mall (not to mention the mall itself) among others
Old City Philadephia 1930.Independence Hall at the forefront
Unfortunately Independence Mall took out a whole neighborhood of 18th + 19th centuries homes and businesses. Philadelphia should have done a much better job at protecting its past over time.The theory was to give Independence Hall and the Liberty a so called "spotlight". I think they should have left things alone.
Same location today.Thankfully they only demolished this one section of old city.
Alot of cities did that to show off an important feature. The Arch in Saint Louis. The Capitol in Saint Paul. The Mall in Washington. At least we got vacant space instead of projects.
I'm not the expert on preservation that I should be, but I think New Orleans would be one of the strictest among large cities.
Old City Philadephia 1930.Independence Hall at the forefront
Unfortunately Independence Mall took out a whole neighborhood of 18th + 19th centuries homes and businesses. Philadelphia should have done a much better job at protecting its past over time.The theory was to give Independence Hall and the Liberty a so called "spotlight". I think they should have left things alone.
Same location today.Thankfully they only demolished this one section of old city.
That's tragic. That was a gorgeous old section of the city.
Up in Boston they do an excellent job of preservation, but the 60s spelled disaster for huge chunks of the old city. The ENTIRE West End neighborhood was demolished for a "tower in the park" style neighborhood with highrises that would fit into just about any city. Scollay Square was demolished for the horrible City Hall Plaza. Philly is not the only one who has some mistakes in that regard.
And its not just Philadelphia and Boston. New York obviously torn down alot of old buildings to build those skyscrappers. I believe that even the house that George Washington lived in when he was President was torn down to build the Brooklyn bridge. Housing projects now occupy the sites of several Coney Island amusement parks as well as the Polo Grounds (ex NY Giants) and Ebberts Field (ex Brooklyn Dodgers).
They leveled hills and filled in bays, streams and ponds including The Collect which would be beautiful if it was still in downtown NY. Even the orginial New York Common (now City Hall Park) has half its room used up by buildings. The old Sugar house with its Revolutionary and Colonial history and which actually survived until the late 1800s, is now buried within Police Headquarters.
But the worst, the absolute worst of them all was the destruction of Pennsylvania station in the 1960s.
On a more postive note - and getting a bit offtrack from the OP is how many ships we have saved.
This is especially true compared to the Royal Navy - incredibly and sadly none of the Royal Navy WW1 and WW2 battleships and aircraft carriers have been saved. There is one old wooden ship of the line saved, Nelson's Victory.
Just off hand there are battleship and aircraft carriers saved in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, California and Hawaii. The passenger liner Queen Mary is perserved in California. In addition the old wooden frigates Constitution and Constellation are found in Boston and Baltimore harbors respectively.
I believe the battleship USS Wisconsin is also looking for a permanent home also.
Old City Philadephia 1930.Independence Hall at the forefront
Unfortunately Independence Mall took out a whole neighborhood of 18th + 19th centuries homes and businesses. Philadelphia should have done a much better job at protecting its past over time.The theory was to give Independence Hall and the Liberty a so called "spotlight". I think they should have left things alone.
That's a shame. There's some beautiful architecture in that neighborhood.
And its not just Philadelphia and Boston. New York obviously torn down alot of old buildings to build those skyscrappers..
It's a shame. It happens in most of the older cities. I love looking at pictures of NYC from the 1930s... absolutely gorgeous. The skyline with all of those spires and the old low rises filling the gaps. I did a research paper on the old Singer Building (demolished) when I was in 8th grade.
Your point about ships being preserved is a good one. I can think of a bunch of them in my area... we have Battleship Cove (The U.S.S. Massachusetts and others), The Schooner Ernestina, U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironsides" whose sister ship is in Baltimore's Inner Harbor) and a bunch of others.
Hopefully we learn from our mistakes in the past (namely the 60s) and start preserving, because once they're gone, they're not coming back.
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.Thankfully they only demolished this one section of old city.
