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A lot of old beautiful buildings were destroyed and replaced by new development in the 60's and 70's all over Europe.
Indeed they were either destroyed in WW2 and never rebuilt (Milan, Coventry, Frankfurt, ecc. sopme of the most noticeable examples) or destroyed in the period between the 50's and 70's (Nordic cities suffered the most from this)
nei, please show us the NYC (or was it Chicago) the demolished rail station, just to make me feel better.
Happy to oblige. I want it back. NYC's Penn Station:
from above right after it was built (1911). It's on the edge of Midtown, near lots of massive skyscarpers. Note how it was all low rise back then.
The waiting room
(Photos from wikipedia) New York City wasn't the only city to lose its rail station, but it's more frustrating. Many American cities lost much of their rail ridership, but New York City didn't. It was just more profitable to tear the building down, and there weren't historic preservation laws then. 600,000 riders pass through the current Penn Station per day, but now it's cramped and underground. From some videos posted, it manages to look as crowded as much busier Tokyo stations due to poor design.
It was built in 1911, not earlier because before there were no rail tunnels on both the Hudson and East Rivers; passengers had to take a train to the river's edge and then take a ferry to Manhattan. Building the tunnels also created the first wave of suburbia on Long Island; before then commuting that far was impractical. The other Manhattan station (Grand Central — which still survives) serves trains going northward with no wide river in the way, the direct rail connection has been around for longer. A new station was built in the early 1900s because electrification allowed trains to go underground, so a new station was built. First Grand Central Station:
current one:
They really liked classical exteriors back then...
Yea, I must have gone through Penn Station hundreds of times in my life. That area of Manhattan by 7th avenue has to be one of the least attractive parts of it. A lot of those generic looking 10ish story building used to be garment factories, btw.
Indeed they were either destroyed in WW2 and never rebuilt (Milan, Coventry, Frankfurt, ecc. sopme of the most noticeable examples) or destroyed in the period between the 50's and 70's (Nordic cities suffered the most from this)
Yes, that's true. The people in charge should be brought to The Hague for crimes against humanity.
The problem is that many of those outlier suburbs here were made of wood, and were in quite bad shape.
Some were restored, like Port Arthur here in Turku, and are quite lucrative these days:
Some areas looked originally worse than this:
But others got some new life in them, and will stand for the next 100 years as well:
Yes, that's true. The people in charge should be brought to The Hague for crimes against humanity.
The problem is that many of those outlier suburbs here were made of wood, and were in quite bad shape.
Some were restored, like Port Arthur here in Turku, and are quite lucrative these days:
Some areas looked originally worse than this:
But others got some new life in them, and will stand for the next 100 years as well:
Those houses kinda look like old American wooden houses.
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I want it back. 
