America built some of the world's greatest architecture... and then demolished it.
A thread of wonders that were lost (and why)... 🧵
1. Cincinnati Library: replaced by a parking garage
The most beautiful library ever built in the US, with towering cast-iron book alcoves. An institution since 1874, it was demolished in 1955 and the library moved to a new site with more space. Today, a parking garage stands in its place.
2. The Chicago Federal Building (1905 - 1965)
Demolished to make way for larger premises that more government departments could fit into: the modernist Kluczynski Federal Building.
Chicago lost what was the largest dome in the US (larger even than the US Capitol), and a wonder of the Beaux-Arts era.
3. Old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, NYC (1893 - 1929)
If you ever wondered what was demolished to make way for the Empire State Building, this is it. A German Renaissance design containing the world's largest hotel — which also set the standard for luxury.
4. The Singer Building (1908 - 1968)
Maybe the greatest of the early skyscrapers, and once the tallest building on Earth. When its antiquated floor plan was deemed too inefficient for modern use, it was razed — and replaced by something far less dignified...
5. Garrick Theater, Chicago (1891 - 1961)
A wonderfully ornate theater inside what was a landmark of early modern architecture (by Louis Sullivan). Despite considerable protest, it was demolished for a parking garage.
6. Old Penn Station, NYC (1910 - 1963)
New York's majestic gateway might be the greatest train station ever built. After just 50 years, it was demolished to make way for Madison Square Garden, and the station pushed underground…
And here's the before and after shot.
7. The “Mayan Revival” Fisher Theatre, Detroit (1928 - 1961)
This theater still stands (inside the Fisher Building in Detroit), but it was gutted in the 1960s so it could be "modernized".
8. Old Metropolitan Opera House, NYC (1883 - 1967)
When the Metropolitan Opera Association moved to a new venue, rather than risk competition from a new company buying the Old Met, they handed it to developers. It was demolished for bland commercial property to be built.
9. Old Detroit Library (1877 - 1931)
Like the one in Cincinnati, it had a huge atrium (five-stories) with skylights, ornate iron railings and towering columns. Scaling the tall bookshelves was deemed an inefficient way to run a library in the modern world, so it was demolished.
10. Festival Hall, St. Louis, (1904 - 1905)
A gem of classicism that became an icon of the World's Fair held in St. Lous. It was built as a temporary structure (plaster and wood) to host large-scale musical pageants.
11. Erie County Savings Bank, Buffalo (1893 - 1968)
A truly unique, Romanesque design that was the city's most beloved building. It was demolished in an "urban renewal" project of the 1960s that saw a bland, modernist tower built instead.
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Less than 20 years ago, it sold for just $1,000... 🧵
The Salvator Mundi, supposedly a lost da Vinci, shocked the world in 2017 when it fetched $400m at auction (plus $50m fees) — the highest ever.
But what could possibly make a painting worth that much? And is it even a real Leonardo?
In 2005 it was bought by a dealer at a New Orleans auction, in this condition, for $1,175. He carried it off in a trash bag to be analyzed, before eventually it was authenticated (controversially) as a Leonardo original.
This is not from Medieval Europe. This was built in New Jersey — in the 1950s.
So here's a thread of the most spectacular (and unique) churches in America... 🧵
1. Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ (1954)
On a par with Europe's Gothic wonders: equal in footprint to Westminster Abbey and taller than the Notre-Dame de Paris. And inside is convincingly medieval...
2. Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, MO (1914)
It's hard to believe you're still in America when looking up at the vast Byzantine dome. It's also one of the world's largest mosaic collections: 41m+ tiles in total.
Whenever they tell you it can't be done in the modern age, show them Dresden.
Everything you see in the bottom image was rebuilt in the last 20 years... (thread) 🧵
The German city of Dresden was a jewelry box of Baroque beauty — once known as the Florence of the Elbe. This is how it looked at the turn of the 20th century:
Many don't know the extent of the devastation that happened here. When Churchill turned his bombers on civilian targets in 1945 to demoralize Germany, Dresden was obliterated.
25,000 people died in one night — and possibly far more.
This is what the Cold War did to American art... (thread) 🧵
In the '90s, some former CIA officials admitted they had used abstract art — by Pollock, de Kooning, and others — as an ideological weapon in the Cold War.
But why and how?
Well, after WW2 the threat of communism was looming over Europe, and the U.S. wanted to inoculate European intellectuals against it.
A new form of warfare was emerging: a war of ideas...