My beloved spouse, who goes by the blog name Enriched Geranium, had a recent post that got me to thinking about cool buildings that once stood in our fair city but came up against the wrecking ball, mainly because of greed and stupidity (and don't those two always go hand in hand?) He was listing venues where his old band, the Appliances SFB, used to play. One of those was Turner Hall, a downtown monument and beautiful building, that was torn down, yes, to put up a parking lot. I loved Turner Hall. It had a divey little bar in the basement, The Wagon Wheel, and the main hall hosted not only many local bands, but also Cycropia, an aerial dance troupe that uses trapezes in their choreography. I saw an amazing performance there where we sat on the floor and the dancers flew over our heads.Our public library puts up an annual exhibit of photos called "Lost Madison." I find it quite depressing, actually. The one that really gets to me is a house called "Mapleside." It was a beautiful limestone house that stood on a main thoroughfare, and was built by the first white settlers to farm in this county. In 1970, despite tremendous public outcry, Mapleside was razed to make way for (pardon my language, I don't usually swear in print) a fucking Burger King. I was 11 when it happened, and I remember it very well. In fact, I've boycotted Burger King for most of my life because of that travesty.
According to my friend the historical preservationist -- I'll call her "Beth" -- Mapleside became the poster child for historic preservation in the entire country. Its demise sparked the movement to try to preserve many old buildings nationwide. Unfortunately, what often seems to happen now is, developers are required to survey the property, but ultimately many buildings are still destroyed in the name of progre$$.
Right now our city seems to be undergoing a massive transformation. What I consider to be the landscape of my childhood is being changed to something unrecognizable. I have no idea where developers are getting their money, because there certainly doesn't seem to be any around for things like schools, for instance. The university is one of the worst offenders, and I know who's paying for that, given the absurd annual tuition increases. What a bunch of money grubbers!
Can you believe the city tore down this boathouse, designed by a young Frank Lloyd Wright?
And then, years later, out of guilt, we got this "Wright-inspired" convention center shoved down our throats:
Sigh. Sometimes I feel like such an old curmudgeon, but it sure seems as if humans are about the stupidest critters around.
9 comments:
Oh Suzy. It is sad. You do not sound like a curmudgeon to me, just someone who mourns the passing of important things.
I am always reminded of this when I think of the travels I have been on around the world.
People living in buildings in cities that have stood for hundreds of years. Or new buildings (mean only a couple of hundred) built on foundations of older (meaning several hundred or more) years old.
Nope. Not here. Tear it down and put up a parking lot.
It is very sad indeed.
Thank you for this soul stirring post. It is about a lot more than Lost Madison or torn down buildings.
What does this say about our collective soul as a people?
Deep, deep sigh.
Oh, Suzy. Why do you hate America?
BTW-Middleton just gave a boatload of TIF money to develop yet another cornfield even though there is a huge swath of vacant parking lots and shuttered businesses just 1/2 mile south.
(It's all in the area of old Highway 12 that was bypassed when the new highway was built.)
That is terrible. You would think on important things they would want to preserve not tear down. People...
Jess, where do they think our food is going to come from? China?
Hi Luminiferous,
This is an excellent post. I like the photos. My parents -- I'll call them Joe and Sally -- were urgent supporters of historic preservation in Madison. They took rolls of photos wherever we went, explaining that those buildings and details would be gone in a generation. Sally photographed every barn within 5 miles of Madison. Indeed, they are now absent.
My blood boils every time I see that parking lot. And every time I drive through what were once the outskirts of Madison (that monstrous Blackhawk church on Mineral Point Rd in what was recently beautiful farmland, for example). I've said it before and, unfortunately, I'll probably say it a few hundred times more: if I owned a flame-thrower, I'd most likely be in prison right now.
And another thing: that Frank-Lloyd-Wright-like Convention Mart! After spending millions to force it through, and after it was voted down in referendum after referendum, they finally get to build it and it loses money year after year. Can we hold a referendum to tear it down? Maybe turn it back into a park? I'm sure the Reptiles can find another place to play free outdoor gigs.
off topic -- i was thinking of you and all the fine people in Wisconsin when i saw all the terrible footage of the flooding
hoping you and your family are doing ok
Hi, Distributor Cap. Thanks for the well wishes. We are actually fine. Our basement is wet, and Sunday night we had an exciting time trying to find a route home from a party about 1/4 mile from our house that was not under water. Later we walked down to an intersection at a major thoroughfare near our house where the water was thigh-deep and there were kayaks going up and down the street. That was a little surreal.
I was looking at photos of the damage in the paper today. It was shocking; I had no idea. One of the places that was hardest hit is a man-made lake, and you've got to think that maybe rebuilding it isn't such a great idea. But when did common sense really ever prevail in matters of that nature?
What is especially worrisome is that 2 of the 4 counties that were hardest hit by flooding happen to be where most of the CSA farms are for our part of the state. They were already flooded last August, and now again. It will be hard for these small family farms to recover.
Thanks for the film website reccomend. I found a bunch of good looking films and other websites through that website.
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