America’s cities were once home to remarkable buildings and landmarks that defined their communities and reflected the values of their time. From grand train stations and towering hotels to historic courthouses and theaters, these structures stood as symbols of American culture and ambition. Over the decades, many of them were torn down to make way for new development, parking lots, and modern buildings. Below is a collection of iconic American landmarks that no longer exist.
It was demolished in 1968.
It was demolished in 1956.
When the terminal burned in 1946, the bridge became useless. It was demolished in 1948.
It was demolished in 1931.
It was demolished in 1935.
It was demolished in 1960.
Stoneleigh Court, completed in 1902, was home to many Washington notables over the years, including Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. It was demolished in 1965.
It was constructed in 1860 by Gilbert Hatheway and demolished in 2005.
It was demolished in 1972.
It was demolished in 1952.
It was demolished in the 1950s.
Originally built in 1869, the hotel went through a long series of owners and renovations before finally being demolished 117 years later in 1986.
It was demolished in 1970.
Built in the 1880s and demolished in 1966.
It was demolished in 1956 for a parking lot.
It was demolished in 1963.
All of these buildings were demolished around 1990.
![[Factually Corrected] City Hall Post Office, New York State, 1905.](https://www.bygonely.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/American_demolished_Landmarks_buildings_19.jpg)
Designed by Alfred Mullett, completed in 1880 and demolished in 1939.
It was demolished in the 1950s to make way for a much larger office building.
It was demolished in 1960 to build an underground parking garage.
It was demolished in 1927.
The hotel was demolished in 1968.
Demolished around 1970 to make room for a mall.
It was demolished in the early 1950s, and for many years its former site stood empty as a parking lot.
It was demolished in 1971.
It was demolished in 1992.
It was demolished in 1940 and has since been replaced by the Dirksen Federal Building.
It was demolished in 1937.
It was demolished in 1968.
It was demolished in 1941.
It was built as the National Surgical Institute in the mid-1890s, but quickly went bankrupt. After serving as a medical school for a short time, it was converted into a hotel. In the late 1940s it was demolished for a parking lot.
The Hotel Manhattan was designed by Henry Hardenbergh, architect of the Dakota Apartments and the Plaza Hotel, and built in 1896–1897. It was demolished in 1961.
It was demolished on June 23, 2013.
It was demolished in 1962.
It was demolished in 1958 after being gutted by a four-alarm fire.
Built in 1882 and demolished in 1930.
The residence was demolished in 1970.
It was opened in 1890 and demolished in 1961.
It was completed in 1908 and demolished in 1967.
Demolished in the 1920s and now there is a Crown Plaza.
It was demolished in 1960 and replaced by the current library building.
It was demolished in the 1960s.
It was demolished in 1954.
It was demolished in 2007.
It was demolished in the late 1950s.
It was demolished in 1920 to make way for the National Bank Building at 660 Woodward Ave.
The Tuller was demolished in 1992, and the Statler went down in 2005.
It was demolished in the 1960s.
Built in 1899, closed 1971, demolished 1982.
Built in 1878 and demolished in 1984.
The old lighthouse was demolished in 1982 and replaced with a new one.
Demolished in the 1920s and replaced with a new building.
The Casino was demolished in 1930.
Young’s Million Dollar Pier survived until 1981, when it was demolished and replaced with a concrete pier known as “Ocean One.” In 2002 it became “The Pier Shops At Caesars” but is currently in foreclosure.
It was demolished in 1977 and replaced with entirely new structures.
It was demolished in 1972.
It closed in 1978 and was demolished a year later.
In 1951, the Orphan House property on the corner of Calhoun and St. Philip Streets in downtown Charleston was sold, and the Orphan House itself was demolished.
It was demolished in the 1950s.
Old City Hall was demolished in the 1960s.
It was demolished in 1931.
The Hotel Ryan was demolished in 1962.
The hotel was demolished in 1933.
It was demolished in 1937.
The Grand Circus building was built in 1887 by David Whitney. It was demolished in 1914.
It was demolished in 1967.
It was demolished in 1960.
It was demolished in 1960 to make way for a nursing home.
It was demolished in the 1980s.
It was demolished in 1980 to make room for a parking lot.
It was demolished in the 1970s.
It was demolished in 1902.
It was completed in 1893 and demolished in 1976.
It first opened in 1885 and was demolished in 1962.
Demolished in 1959 to make way for Prudential Center.
It was demolished in 1961.
It was demolished in 1980.
It was completed in 1885 and demolished in 1936.
It was demolished in 1929.
One of the first structures to be called a skyscraper, the 26-story St. Paul was completed in 1898 and demolished 60 years later.
It was built in 1897 and demolished in 1976.
It was completed in 1905 and demolished in 1975.
It was demolished in 1970.
The original hotel was destroyed by a fire on New Year’s Day in 1918 and rebuilt in 1919. It was demolished in 1976 as part of Norfolk’s ongoing urban renewal project.
It was demolished in the early 20th century.
It was built in 1884 and was demolished in January 2012.
The Cossitt was demolished in 1958.
It was demolished in 1936.
Built in 1900, shuttered during the Depression, and demolished in 1936.
It was demolished in 1918.
It was demolished in 1940.
Opened in 1892 and demolished in 1971.
It was demolished in 1926.
It was completed in 1892 and demolished in 1939.
It was completed in 1897 and met the wrecking ball in 1910.
Basically, you can measure collective morale by looking at what people have accomplished. Because there were measurable rewards for doing their work and craft, people took pride in what they did. While there were iniquities, the lack of aspiration in today’s prefab slop world of tornado graves is conspicuous. Art and architecture are always visual indicators of a society’s state of development.
well said.
Brother, I hope you build something beautiful.
There is quite a bit of old architecture in the area where I live. I’ll tell you right now that most people are relieved to see something new and modern. Buildings need to be maintained otherwise they will start to fail. Additionally, old buildings require much more maintenance because of all the fancywork and trim. What is the result? Rundown buildings that need tons of work and money to be restored to their former glory. When someone wants to bring a building back up, be prepared for severe sticker shock. There are often structural issues, foundation issues, lead pipes, lead paint, and asbestos present, and it’s never just a matter of sanding and painting. The floors would need to be stripped, sanded, and refinished. New insulation to make heating and cooling affordable. If you don’t want to replace old, proportioned windows with new, off-the-shelf windows that will look odd and unproportioned, you can have custom windows made. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay an electrician and possibly a networking specialist if you don’t want exposed phone lines, internet or TV cabling, or romex. Did I mention the cost of permits, engineering approvals, and inspections? There’s a very good reason why we build the way we do today. Lessons learned from mistakes made in buildings, such as those described in this article, are the reason for this. In some cases, those lessons were learned the hard way, when excessive maintenance and utility costs bankrupted the building’s owner. The fire codes and ventilation requirements have been learned through injury, disease, and death. Over the past 60 years or so, we have learned lessons about sustainability, building efficient buildings, and planning for potential future uses of a building that we cannot anticipate. Many discussions of why we don’t build in this way today ignore the fact that we care a lot more about the environment than we did even 20 years ago and incredibly more than we did 100+ years ago. Several of these buildings were made possible by the use of very cheap building materials. There is a huge environmental cost associated with very cheap building materials. Not to mention the extremely exploitative conditions of work.
There are some really good points here.
The roman Pantheon, which has lasted over 1500 years, is far more sustainable than all these glass/steel boxes that last less than 100. It takes more pollution to build a modern structure than to build a stone structure.
Does this collection exist in book format? Sorry if it said so above…I scanned through quickly.
Why did these people build such stunning buildings only to tear them down instead of renovating them?
The people who built them probably weren’t the ones who tore them down. However, it still stinks
Sometimes, especially in New York, where the population grew so rapidly for so long, it was necessary to build something even bigger. Sometimes there wasn’t enough money to do such renovations. In the 1950s-70s, urban design and city planning completely changed. Quite frankly, people didn’t care nearly as much about preserving architecture as they do now
Whenever this topic arises, I have to remind people that these probably contained asbestos and lead paint.
I had to stop looking. There were so many that didn’t last more than a few decades. My personal biggest heart break was Penn Station. To replace such an elegant destination with MSG is, and always will be, inexcusable. Imagine the beauty of the trim moldings, the masonry, the lighting, the paneling in the hotels and offices. Wow, actual craftsmanship. For parking spaces. The enemy is us, and we are the enemy.
It’s sad that so many of these buildings only lasted 30-40 years before being demolished.
Modernism has taken away so much from us.