1964: Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys washing the car outside his family home, 3701 W. 119th Street, Hawthorne CA. Neighborhood was demolished in the 80’s to make way for I-105 Freeway.

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The Hollywood Hotel: Established in 1902, famous for its long list of celebrity occupants, was torn down in 1956 after decades of decline.

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Alton Theatre Hazleton, PA. 1938-1967. Lost to fire. Now a parking lot.

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The Administration building, one of the many buildings from the Chicago Columbian World Exposition (1893) most of the buildings were not built to be permanent and only 2 remain today

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West Boston before “urban renewal”

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Demolition of the Hungarian National Theatre in Budapest, 1964. Completely demolished by the Communist Government to make way for a new metro line, however some people suspect that was simply an excuse to erase cultural relics of the city. Pictures of the theatre before demolition in the comments.

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Wych Street in London, much of which was from the Elizabethan period, was demolished entirely as part of a redevelopment plan in 1901.

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Trinity Episcopal Church (1849-1936 Washington DC) was one of the most prominent buildings in the Judiciary Square neighborhood. During the Civil War it was converted into a hospital with the pews serving as beds.

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Sauter Building (Stearn Brothers department store) in Waukegan, IL. Built in 1894, demolished in November 2014.

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“It’s not possible to take such a photograph anymore, as the buildings outside block the sun rays.” Grand Central, NYC (1929)

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AZM Offices, Herlen, Netherlands, designed by Laurens Bisscheroux in 1970. Nicknamed the Tietengebouw (Boob building) by locals, it was demolished in 1987.

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The Ship Cafe: Built in 1903, Los Angeles on Venice beach. It was torn down in 1946.

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574 Fifth Avenue - New York, NY - 1879-2020

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Liberty Theatre, Salt Lake City. Built in 1911 and razed in 1968.

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McGregor, Iowa - John Goedert meat market - Probably built between 1894 and 1902, destroyed by a tornado July 19, 2017

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International Exposition Building - Detroit 1889. This Building stood for six years before being torn down to produce soda ash.

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Mummers Theatre: Built in 1970, Oklahoma City. Controversial from its inception for its bold design, it was demolished in 2015 due to the cost of upkeep and preservation.

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Los Angeles in 1910, crowded as the streets were. Nothing in this picture remains.

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The Covey Flats, later renamed La France Apartments, Salt Lake City, UT. Built in 1904 and demolished May 2022.

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SAVED ARCHITECTURE. Buda Castle Bazaar. Budapest, Hungary. Suffered significant damage during WW2 and was left in shambles for decades. The Promenade was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2014 and was brought back to its former beauty. More pictures in the comments.

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Odakyu Department Store at Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Built in 1967 by Junzo Sakakura, who worked under Le Corbusier in 1930s. Demolished in 2022.

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New York, NY. Temple Beth El. Brunner & Tryon, archs. (1891). Demolished 1947

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Rangoon Government House: Established in 1885 as the seat of the British colonial government in Burma. Became the presidential residence post-independence before being demolished in 1985 after being damaged in an earthquake.

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Five-storey pavilion in Bandar-e Anzali, Iran overlooking the Caspian Sea. It was a summer retreat belonging to Iran's royal family. Demolished in 1885.

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1940's photo of Newport News, Virginia. it looks drastically different (and worse) today.

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The New York Botanical Garden Holiday Train Show has some wonderful recreations of beautiful lost architectural works of art in the NYC area.

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Best Products store. This is how it was supposed to look. Every store has its own unique weird design.

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The Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico. Built 1960, and collapsed today.

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150 year old danish hotel burned down this week. The building was sat on Denmarks highest point. Know as the “himmelbjerg”.

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Old Government House of Ontario: Built in 1870, it was demolished in 1915 due to railway expansion.

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Third Presbyterian Church, originally called Gunton Memorial Chapel, Salt Lake City, UT. Built in 1904 and demolished in the 1960s.

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Parish of the Assumption, Santiago, Chile. Built in 1876 was burned down today during a riot.

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Trajan's Bridge (built in 105 AD by Apollodorus of Damascus) was the first long-span arch bridge in human history, setting a record that would remain uncontested for over 1,000 years

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Federal Coffee Palace in Melbourne. Demolished in 1973 and replaced with a concrete office tower.

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Tuileries palace - it formed the facade of Louvre, before it was burned down during 1871 Paris uprising as a symbol of monarchy, and city authorities decided not to rebuild it.

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Rest House of Tutankhamen, removed during the excavations c.1932. Photograph taken from the head of the Great Sphinx of Giza.

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Restored Architecture: building in front of the Hungarian parlement in Budapest (Kossuth Lajos Square) was recently restored to its formed glory (including the statue)

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The Richardson house. Built in Massachusetts c.1730, moved to Long Island in 1923, & demolished in 2022.

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Palacio de la Quinta Meiggs. Located in Santiago de Chile, Chile. Demolished c1940.

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Minoma - St. Louis, Missouri / an Italianate residence built ca. 1849, later used as a nursing home, demolished in 1959.

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The Salmenstein House, Frankfurt, Germany. Built around 1350 on the side of the Frankfurt Wall, razed along with the wall soon after in 1810.

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Detroit Olympia - Opened in 1927 and demolished in 1987. Nicknamed The Old Red Barn it was the home of the Detroit Red Wings.

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Jamsil Siyoung Apartments at Seoul, South Korea. Built in 1976 for relocated residents from demolished houses, Razed in 2004 for newer apartments.

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Old Train Depot - Star Mississippi

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Lake Front Depot, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (1890-1968)

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The Palladium nightclub, New York City, by Arata Isozaki (1985, demolished 1998)

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3rd and Townsend Depot in San Francisco (Demolished 1975)

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It may not be much but I’m going to miss it a lot. This house and the accompanying 12 acres of land sold recently for 200k. Driving by today I found nothing but an empty field. 1774-2019.

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Jockey-Club, Bucharest. Demolished in 1939

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Portland High School housed fifteen classrooms, two recitation rooms, a library, museum, laboratory, art room, model room, administrative offices, and a large assembly hall | Oregon, 1907

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Plaza de Armas, Santiago, Chile 1859 - 19XX.

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Temple of Gwalior, India. Destroyed during the Islamic invasions.

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Two newly scanned typical intersections in Los Angeles in 1902 reveals the european style of the city at the time. Nearly every structure you see was demolished in the 1930s and later 1960s including the railway.

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The Vaults of Heaven - Karl Friedrich Schinkel's finest Gothic Revival creation, New Altstadt Church, Konigsberg, built 1845; destroyed 1945.

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The wonderfully unique Mummers' Theater, Oklahoma City, designed by John Johansen in 1970 and demolished in 2015 to make way for a now-cancelled development

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The Stone Chamber of the Provincial Council Buildings, Christchurch, New Zealand, designed by Benjamin Mountford in 1864. The building collapsed in the February 2011 earthquake.

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The Taylor House - Ocean City, Maryland. Built in 1920, demolished in 2018.

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New York World Building, demolished in 1955 for a ramp extension of the Brooklyn bridge

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the opposite of r/Lost_Architecture

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Takara Group Pavilion for Osaka Expo at Osaka, Japan. Built in 1970 by Kisho Kurokawa, Demolished after the expo.

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Notre Dame Cathedral, Phnom Penh: Completed in 1927. During the Cambodian Civil War it housed up to 10,000 refugees, before being dismantled by the victorious Khmer Rouge as a political statement.

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Trans Mississippi station, New Orleans la

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The White Hart Hotel, Broad Street, Reading, UK. Demolished in the 1960s for a shopping centre. The only building left from the whole street is on the far left

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Upper Silesian Tower in Poznan: Built in 1911, Poland-- partially destroyed in 1945 and demolished in 1947. Was the architectural inspiration for the film Metropolis (1927).

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A reconstruction of the Sacred Palace, part of the Great Palace of Constantinople, as it existed by the 11th century -- only a few arches and vaults remain

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Broad Street Station, Philadelphia .Designed by Frank Furness. Opened 1881, demolished 1953.

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Pierce's Palace Hotel, Buffalo, NY. Built in 1877 and was only open for four years before burning down in 1881.

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Lindheimer Observatory at Northwestern University, Evanston IL, by Walter Netsch (1966, demolished 1995)

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The Qualco/Majestic Industries plant in Passaic, New Jersey. Built 1906, burned down January 14th in a massive fire. Got these from Google Street View.

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Federal Hall on Wall Street, New York City. Built from 1699 to 1703, remodeled by Pierre Charles L'Enfant in 1788. Demolished 1812 or 1813.

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Dollis Hill House, London. In its day, it hosted William Gladstone and Mark Twain. During WW1, it served as a hospital, while during WW2, it was one of the locations of Winston Churchill's War Cabinet. Heavily damaged by fires in the 80s and 90s, it was controversially demolished in 2012

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State armory building in Lowell, Mass. Now known as Armory Park.

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Pan Am Hotel on Midway Island: Built in 1935 and torn down in 1957. A luxury hotel built for wealthy passengers on route to China. As flight technology improved, the layover to Midway became obsolete.

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Atelier Esders, Paris, France. Designed in 1920 by Auguste Perret, the father of reinforced concrete. Demolished in 1960.

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42nd Street Airlines Terminal (1941-1978), originally located at the southwest corner of Park Ave. and 42nd St. in Midtown Manhattan, was the first of three airline terminals constructed in NYC.

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Schneider Mansion 1891 - 1958 demolished to build a parking lot.

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Fjalarkotturinn in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was demolished in 1985. At the time, it was the world's oldest surviving movie theater, established in 1906.

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National Library of Serbia - Bombed in 1941. and burned to the ground along with all it's precious contents.

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2 Columbus Circle in NYC: Designed by Edward Durell Stone, opened in 1964 as the Gallery of Modern Art. Amid controversy it was rejected for landmark designation and was renovated 2005-2008, completely altering its once-distinctive and unique appearance in exchange for an unremarkable glass facade

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Statue of Zeus at Olympia, built around 435 BC, destroyed 5th century AD.

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The original University of Santo Tomas — the oldest existing university in Asia — in Intramuros, Manila during WW2

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New Brighton Tower: Completed in 1900, it was the tallest structure in Britain before falling to neglect, and being sold for scrap. The base continued to be used as a dance hall before burning down in 1969.

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Governor's Palace in Raleigh, NC. Built in about 1816, abandoned following the Civil War for being tainted by the yankees because they occupied it. Later torn down and replaced with a fire station, and the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium.

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June 9, 1938: The Roosevelt Building at 9 N. Illinois Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. The gothic Revival inspired building was designed by Vonnegut-Bohn. Built in 1923 and demolished in 1990.

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Lebanon, Iowa - Rural School - Demolished sometime after 2012.

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Union Carbide Building in New York City, NY by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois. Built in 1960, demolished in 2019. It was the tallest peacefully demolished building.

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South-Eastern side of Bremen Market Square with its set of Gothic and Renaissance townhouses - Demolished in 1860

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Hancock Mansion: Built in 1908 LA, and razed in 1938. A few rooms were salvaged and relocated to USC.

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Tiny Naylor's drive-in restaurant at the north-west corner of Sunset Blvd and La Brea Ave, circa early 1950s. It opened in 1949 and closed in 1980, and the building was demolished. One of the best examples of Googie architecture in L.A.

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Schieffelin-Bowne House, 35 West 57th Street New York. Built in 1891 as a wedding gift for William Vanderbilt's granddaughter, demolition permits filled earlier this year.

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The Grand Mosque of Seville. Built in 1172, it became a Catholic cathedral when Seville fell to Castile in 1248. Between 1434-1517, the Moorish architecture was demolished and replaced by a new Gothic-style structure. The Giralda (belltower; former minaret) is all that remains of the original mosque

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Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1965-2020), Los Angeles, CA

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Windsor Rice House, Salt Lake City, UT. Built in late 1890s - early 1900s and demolished in the 1960s. All houses pictured around it were demolished as well. Replaced by an apartment complex in the 1980s.

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The Old Synagogue in Dortmund was one of Germany's largest when it opened in 1900. It was seized and demolished by the Nazis in 1938.

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Glasgow Christian Institute, designed in 1879 by John Macleod. By the 1970s it had fallen into severe disrepair and was demolished.

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Before and after “urban renewal” in Denver, Colorado during the 70s

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Warsaw, Poland 1939. No need to say what happened here. Truly a tragic loss.

4yr ⋅

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Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building Oklahoma city, built in 1977, destroyed in a bombing in 1995. 168 people died

4yr ⋅

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1800s painting of Vienna. The city would dramatically change its appearance later in the last part of the 19th century.

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Old Carvedras Viaduct, Truro, England, 1859-1902. This was one of 42 temporary wooden viaducts built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the cash-strapped Cornwall Railway. Over the course of fifty years they were gradually replaced by masonry structures.

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The Rattenbury Wing of Chateau Lake Louise, one of Canada’s grand railway hotels. Designed by Francis Rattenbury 1900-1912, it was destroyed by fire in 1924 and replaced by the Barrot Wing a year later

4yr ⋅

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Pittsburgh City Hall, sold in 1952, demolished for parking garage, corner of Smithfield/Oliver.

4yr ⋅

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The Portland Hotel, 1888-1951. Demolished for a parking lot

4yr ⋅

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The capital city of the Aztecs, Tenochtitlan, one of the most advanced civilizations in it's time. Founded in 1325, almost completely destroyed in 1521 after the Spanish invasion, Mexico City was built on top of it's ruins.

4yr ⋅

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Singer Building (1908-1968), 41 storey office. Tallest structure to be demolished intentionally.

4yr ⋅

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Snyderman House, Fort Wayne, Indiana, designed by Michael Graves in 1972. In 2002, a developer's request to demolish it was blocked; shortly afterwards it burned to the ground. Arson was suspected.

3yr ⋅

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Old Madison Square Garden. This version of the building was constructed in 1890 and demolished in 1929. Its architect, Stanford White, was murdered here in 1906 by the husband of his former lover.

4yr ⋅

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Rogers Block, Cambridgeport, Massachusetts / razed circa 1961.

4yr ⋅

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The Roman Palace of Diocletian in 4th century AD, still visible in the center of modern day Split, Croatia.

4yr ⋅

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Interior of St. Laurentius Roman Catholic Church at Fishtown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built in 1882, demolished in 2022 after its closure in 2014

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Fire Station No. 19, Portland, Oregon / the building survives but much has also been lost.

4yr ⋅

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Women's Industrial Christian Home, Salt Lake City, UT. Built in 1889 by anti-polygamist activists as a refuge from polygamy and its attendant evils. Few women & children took advantage of the facility, it was closed in 1893. Later used as a hotel & athl. club. Demolished in 1985 for a parking lot.

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Dreamland Tower: Built in 1904 as a Coney Island amusement park, the tower like the rest of the park was made of staff, a flammable material used in making temporary structures. The tower along with Dreamland park burned down in 1911.

4yr ⋅

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The Nasby Building: Built in 1895 Toledo, Ohio. Its cupola was removed in 1930, and its exterior changed in the 1960s. Today it no longer resembles its original composition.

3yr ⋅

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Paleis voor Volksvlijt (Palace of Popular Diligence) standing proudly alongside the Amsterdam houses, circa 1890. 40 years before it burned down and was demolished.

3yr ⋅

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Hartford Public High School, built 1883, demolished for I-84 in the 1960s

9mo ⋅

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The Castle, originally located on Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, CA. It was moved and slated to be restored, but was burnt down by arsonists. 1882-1969

4yr ⋅

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London, Sainsbury’s unique eco-millennium store, built in 1999 „with every aspect of the standard retail ‘shed’ re-assessed to maximise energy efficiency, minimise environmental impact and make shopping more pleasant for customers“, demolished 2016 for an IKEA

4yr ⋅

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Lost and rediscovered

5yr ⋅

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Cabaret de L'Enfer In Paris, Demolished in 1950 to make way for a supermarket

4yr ⋅

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Upjohn Corporate Headquarters, Kalamazoo, Michigan, designed by Bruce Graham of SOM in 1961 and demolished in 2007 after the company was taken over by Pfizer.

3yr ⋅

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The Observatory Building, Des Moines, constructed in 1896, demolished in 1937

4yr ⋅

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Madison Square Garden

1yr ⋅

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The Nadeau Hotel, built in 1881, demolished in 1932 for the Los Angeles Times Building #4. - Los Angeles, c. 1905

3yr ⋅

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An example of how things change. The first house was built in 1866, torn down in 1892 for the second house which was torn down in 1920 for industry. Now an empty lot. Fort street at Swain and Vineyard, Detroit.

4yr ⋅

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Electric Tower, California Midwinter International Exposition, San Francisco, 1894 — designed by Leopold Bonet. Topped by the most powerful electric lamp yet constructed and featuring an electric elevator to carry patrons to the The Belle Vista Cafe. Taken down after exposition ended.

9mo ⋅

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Asian style structure with dragon at Paris World Fair 1900's

2yr ⋅

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St Mary's Catholic Church, Fort Wayne Indiana, destroyed by fire from lightning strike in 1993

4yr ⋅

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Medieval town of Lisieux, Normandy - once one of the most preserved in France - destroyed by RAF bombardment today, 76 years ago.

4yr ⋅

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Correctionville, Iowa - Hillside Motel & Cafe - Built ca. 1963, demolished 2015 to 4-lane US 20.

2mo ⋅

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Baghdad houses, then and now!

3yr ⋅

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Blum's Building, San Jose, Cal (1933). The entire neighborhood was razed for surface parking

2yr ⋅

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The Great Hall, Euston Station, London, Demolished 1963 (Photo: 1960)

4yr ⋅

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The Municipal Theatre of Corfu 1902-1943. Destroyed by German bombardment in WWII.

4yr ⋅

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Los Angeles looked quite a bit different in 1899. The only surviving building is the the 1876 Cathedral of St. Vibiana in the middle right, and even that was slated for demolition.

4yr ⋅

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Synagogue of Marburg, built in 1897 and destroyed by the nazis in 1938 during the Kristal Nacht. begining of the XXth century.

1mo ⋅

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Denver Mining Exchange Building. Demolished in 1963 to make way for a 42 story brutalist tower (Then the tallest in Denver).

4yr ⋅

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Federal Plaza Motel, Springfield, Massachusetts. Can’t find any info on it other than the fact that it existed.

2yr ⋅

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Palace of Machinery shown under construction for the 1904 World's Fair.

3yr ⋅

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Dayton's first Post Office, Ohio. (1892-1911)

5mo ⋅

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Atlantic City was a whole different city back in the day.

4yr ⋅

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A reconstruction of the long gone Despot castle in Belgrade, Serbia. Story in the comments

3yr ⋅

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Union Station, Worcester, Massachusetts (1875 - 1911; tower demolished 1959)

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