[?] I hate to sound like an old curmudgeon, but I’m a bit confused, here. At first glance, the thought of putting an old B&O Grain Elevator on the historical register (today’s headlines) sounded great. I’m all for saving or reviving these old railside objects.
But, it’s being turned into a shell for a bunch of condos ! What is the point in that ? Is this the only way to get recognition - by making historic objects into facades for modern dumps ? I’m surprised it wasn’t designated as the site for the world’s biggest Strarbucks Coffee shop … or maybe it could end up being a storage shed for e-BAY !!!
Time marches on. New uses are found for old structures or they are destroyed. I hope there is at least one historic grain elevator preserved as a museum, but not every historic place can be made into a museum or even should be.
With the emphasis on historical preservation I foresee a future America where all buildings are either pre 1900 or less than 15 years old[:o)][:D]
There is an old Reading grain elevator in Center City Philadelphia that was turned into residential 20 or more years ago and is still there. I think the residence was/is just at the “penthouse” level (you can see trees up there) and some commercial down at street level.
I’d be very interested to see what the residential spaces looked like in this Silo-condo.
But like Dschmitt said, adapt or demolish. I would much rather see the adaption rather than the demolition of most older building since most new commercial architecture in the US is utterly devoid of any character. Its the same horrid red tile roofed stucco box from coast to coast. I call it SpaMMM, Spanish Mediterranian Mish Mash. Truely horrid stuff.
Demolishing a historic stucture to me is a crime. But when a building original use is longer longer applicable, It must find a new use or face demolition. Not every old building can be turned into a museum, existing museums are having a hard enough time making ends meet without having to create a new museum every time an old building goes vacant or just to preserve what some would simply call a utilitarian structure like a grain silo.
I’m impressed that the developer chose adaptive reuse wich will keep a community landmark intact albiet in a new use rather than what happens out here most of the time, demolish without a iota of historical respect.
Architectural Critic Ada Louise Huxtable said it best when lamenting the demolition of a 200 year old farmhouse to make way for a Burger Kill drive thru…
Yeah, preservation beats demolition. There are several other cities where downtown buildings are being converted to lofts/condos. They are making the city centers “livable” again.
Downtown Long Beach has several converted multi-story department stores. This is near the MTA Blue Line. Downtown San Jose has some lofts being built, somewhat close to the (SP/CalTrain) station.
In Irvine, a former agricultural building was converted to a hotel. It is right next to the BNSF crossing at Sand Canyon Rd. BNSF trains, the Pacific Surfliners and Metrolink pass right by.