I see evidence some exceptionally large terra cotta lion heads in the rooftop cornice, and of course spandrel panels with wreath designs can be seen on the upper floor along with the massive columns on the entrance, all hand-made with great care.
It's a stately imposing building and should remain standing, I'm against demolition of this hotel, but as we all know, money talks and people will destroy anything to make a buck.
All the protests, letters and faxes in the world don't stop an idiot intent on making money even if it means destruction of a priceless relic, antique or building, that is why you see people on Ebay selling "antique art prints" which are little more than RIPPED OUT pages removed from rare and antique books.
I've even seen pages torn out of a rare hand printed Guttenburg Bible from the 1500's I think they were, and pages of buildings torn out of rare books on architecture from the 1880's to sell as individual "Art Prints" solely because the make more MONEY selling the individual pages as they would the book as a book.
Old books, like old buildings are not in unlimited supply! and like the dodo bird or passenger pigeon, they can go the same way.
As a sculptor and former New Yorker who works exclusively in recreating and reviving Victorian and Art Deco architectural ornaments, gargoyles, keystones etc I'm appalled at the destruction that continues unabated in NYC, Chicago and elsewhere. I see plenty of evidence of the destruction even from 1500 miles away in the form of salvage yard photos showing the acres of materials ripped out of old buildings and sold off as bric-a-brac
I see evidence some exceptionally large terra cotta lion heads in the rooftop cornice, and of course spandrel panels with wreath designs can be seen on the upper floor along with the massive columns on the entrance, all hand-made with great care.
It's a stately imposing building and should remain standing, I'm against demolition of this hotel, but as we all know, money talks and people will destroy anything to make a buck.
All the protests, letters and faxes in the world don't stop an idiot intent on making money even if it means destruction of a priceless relic, antique or building, that is why you see people on Ebay selling "antique art prints" which are little more than RIPPED OUT pages removed from rare and antique books.
I've even seen pages torn out of a rare hand printed Guttenburg Bible from the 1500's I think they were, and pages of buildings torn out of rare books on architecture from the 1880's to sell as individual "Art Prints" solely because the make more MONEY selling the individual pages as they would the book as a book.
Old books, like old buildings are not in unlimited supply! and like the dodo bird or passenger pigeon, they can go the same way.
As a sculptor and former New Yorker who works exclusively in recreating and reviving Victorian and Art Deco architectural ornaments, gargoyles, keystones etc I'm appalled at the destruction that continues unabated in NYC, Chicago and elsewhere. I see plenty of evidence of the destruction even from 1500 miles away in the form of salvage yard photos showing the acres of materials ripped out of old buildings and sold off as bric-a-brac