This is a reminder of the old Kresge Building on Elm Street, which was probably late 20s to mid 30s era. It had a huge mosaic on the front and was beloved by many. It was bought by a part of the Hunt family who fought for many months or years to demolish it. They finally got a demolition permit one Friday afternoon, so they smashed in the mosaic front in a thunderstorm at 11:00 at night. It then sat for several years with no further work. Finally it was torn down and has been a vacant parking lot for years until a new apartment is now under construction.

I think that the City needs stonger controls on demolition. For example, I woutl not permit demolltion of SOME buildings until plans are approved for the new building. That would prevent years of sitting empty. It would also allow time for other uses to evolve. Downtown Dallas has suffered because of rampant demoliton that eliminated possible sites for small boutiques and restaurants like one sees in other major downtown areas in older buildings.

Trey, I have just finished whinging in dutiful response to your cue, and while it was magnificent as usual, something else has now occurred to me.

Did you really mean to say whining instead?

Emilio

Esquire Theater anyone? Wilshire Theater? Wouldn’t those have vastly served the public good over what came later - in the case of the Esquire, nothing.

I returned to SMU a few years ago to take another Art History course with the celebrated Alessandra Comini. She flashed a slide of the Dr Pepper building and asked if anyone remembered it. Only about 3-4 hands went up of the hundred or so in McCord Auditorium.

” Some neighbors said they believed the developer destroyed the building on a Sunday to avoid scrutiny.

Others said they believed it was targeted this particular day because the structure was pictured in Sunday’s Dallas Morning News, as part of a story about efforts to preserve architecture from the 1950s.

“When they realized something was happening with this article, they did a midnight run,” said Earl Schander, who also lives next to the property. ”

Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner. (Does this remind anyone else of the recent circumstances surrounding the Hard Rock Cafe demolition?)

Sometimes our lack of civic dedication to preservation makes Dallas a painful place to live. I’m a native and I often wonder where all the buildings I remember from my childhood went.

And I’m only 38 years old.

I will miss that building. It was an oasis of restraint in this city obsessed with Enhanced Stucco Embellishments. Have you seen the turrets behind Lucky’s??? What are they thinking?

I also miss that building on Lee Park that was removed for senior living. A vacant lot now with a for sale sign.

Progress involves tearing old obsolete buildings down to build new functional buildings.

Of course, this could have been a 90 year old rail terminal that hadn’t been used for forty years and somebody would have pitched a fit that it was “historic”.

Dallas: Ugly in the Name of Progress.

I like it.

I don’t really care.

Dallasite I do agree with you about the removal and replacement of obsolete buildings with new and functional buildings, but Preservation Dallas and other Architectural Groups are in the business of educating the public to expect more from our real estate developments in Dallas. The idiotic ordinance in the M streets that allows you to build anything you want as long as the residence has enough gables, and maybe a peice of stained glass is an example of Preservationist Idiocy. If you are going to tear a building down. I would hope that the next building on the property would be a great example of Modern, French Beaux Arts, American Colonial, or Spanish Derivative, and not a pastiche of what is popular at Home Depot. This requires an educated populace, and not one that gets thier design ideas from HGTV or too many visits to expensive resort hotels.