My sister owns a "historic building" in Norwalk, Ohio. When applying for help to restore the building, she was told that the cost of restoring the facade was too great and so it would not be done. Basically, she was told the previous owners had too much money to spend and kept the building well maintained and updated. Today, those updates are simply not the "in" fashion. What this illustrates is simply this: A reasonably prosperous downtown means that many of the older historic buildings either have been updated and have lost their unique character or they have been replaced. While many have grumbled about how much has been lost in the above pictures, has anyone noticed the good? Like the old, commercial waterfront - would you still prefer that to what we have today? Just stop and look at our city at night sometime - best seen from the water. It is one of the best looking night cityscapes I have seen in this country.
With progress, and that was part of what happened to downtown, simply progress, also comes both good and bad. How many of us love the "new" city hall? Great, historic building. It wasn't always there, you know. At some point, just about each and every "historic" building replaced another building of some type. Just consider if they were not allowed to tear down some historic building when they built the empire state building or the Guggenheim museum or ...the list could get very long. Yes, I know that Europe is filled with many, many historic buildings and that many cities seem prosperous even with saving it's hundreds of years old buildings. But don't forget to figure in a couple of world wars. There are plenty of empty places to build new after a war so why would they need to tear anything down? OK, that is stretching it a bit, but you get the point. Not every old building got saved in Europe either. And don't forget that this is the US of A. We are "brand new" in many ways even after a few hundred years. And we do save many, many historic buildings through out the country. It should not surprise you that a reasonably successful city would be very much comprised of every conceivable architectural style from every possible era - in fact, I for one would be very disappointed if it didn't. Aren't any of you wondering what new building is being designed today that someone will be calling historic in fifty or a hundred years? Don’t forget that the new library will probably be on someone’s “must save†list someday.
All that said, don’t stop complaining or nothing will get saved. And yes, it is time to return to the “old ways†and have a pedestrian friendly downtown again. We all know it is time because we all are lamenting the loss of the old historic buildings. Instead, save what is really worth saving and then lets see what new and exciting “historic building of the future†they will build next.