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It was demolished in 1940 and has since been replaced by the Dirksen Federal Building.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.
To hell with the 1950s and ’60s.
To be fair – a number of those buildings weren’t built to last – and the standards changed pretty quickly.
They weren’t maintained.
Weren’t built to last?! I think when you’re building with marble and granite that’s exactly what you intend for them to do; last. And without human stupidity, those things would last damn near forever with a little maintenance. That was the entire point of building structures in that fashion back then. They intended them to last forever. It was the shortsighted people who came into ownership of those buildings decades later that had the wrong idea.
Most of these fell to urban renewal. Contrast that with new cultural institutions investing in permanence. Foster and Gehry are designing museums built to last centuries. We’re finally learning.
Too bad Gehry’s and many other architects’ are ugly monuments to his ego
Christ I hope this monstrosity doesn’t last centuries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stata_Center?wprov=sfla1
#15 being demolished in 2012 is crazy. There had to be serious structural issues or something for people to let it go by then
That was mislabeled. I found an article on the building and it was actually demolished in the 1970s. It was altered a lot from the photo and was in severe disrepair. A park replaced it but from what I could find the site will be used as a future government building again. That website actually has a few misleading information. Some photos are of older iterations of buildings that had already been replaced long ago and the dates on those talk about the originals which were by that point long gone.
Well, that was depressing
I’m a preservationist by trade. You can’t save them all but people try. A lot of these would have fallen down in their own and the best preservation would have been documentation. Most often things like train stations and other public buildings just outlive their use. Look up lighthouses and all the different ways to keep them useful and relevant. Restaurants, b and bs, hotels, light keeper experience destinations. The world passed them by for their original purpose. It’s often cheeper to tear it down and replace than maintain it. All that being said, the number of people that want to tear things down because it doesn’t shut their particular plan or it just annoys them, is astounding.