What famous building from history would you remove?

[drewxcore]

Just been having a conversation with a friend of mine and the following question was raised;

If you could remove any building from history which would you choose?

Personally id pick the eiffel tower. why? because its an oversized pylon x

 

[sr71plt]

Mao's tomb. It ruined a perfectly designed/proportioned square.

 

[ishtat]

Mao's tomb. It ruined a perfectly designed/proportioned square.

Good choice and good point.

I would nominate almost anything built in Naples in the past sixty years. Mafia corruption has ensured that the entire city has been ruined with rubbish building. Stoke up Vesuvius.

 

[TheRealFATANG]

The tower of Babel. It would save a lot of trouble.

 

[oggbashan]

Canterbury Castle in Kent.

It is now a ruin but it was used to imprison Protestants in the reign of Mary, and Catholics in Protestant reigns. Many of both died from inhumane treatment within its walls.

Those that survived were burned at the stake for being the wrong religion at the wrong time.

There are better castles in Kent. Canterbury Castle is a reminder of man's inhumanity to man in the cause of religion.

Og

 

[Boota]

The first Walmart. Without the first one there would be none of the others.

 

[3113]

The first Walmart. Without the first one there would be none of the others.

LOL!

 

[lesbiaphrodite]

Trump Towers......the ultimate symbol of big money and big pretense without any usefulness except to show off.

 

[3113]

Personally id pick the eiffel tower. why? because its an oversized pylon x

Building: "Permanent or temporary structure enclosed within exterior walls and a roof...."

I'd argue that the eiffel tower is not a building as it has no roof or "walls." It's an edifice.

Edifice: "An elaborate conceptual structure."

 

[oggbashan]

Please note: The Eiffel Tower was intended to be a temporary structure erected for an exhibition and was then to be demolished.

Parisians liked it so much that they decided to keep it.

Og

 

[lance gt]

I'd like to see the Tower of London brought down. Too many were tortured and imprisoned there for centuries. Long live William Wallace, Freedom!

 

[Liar]

Most of the old Greats, The Great Wall of China, the Giza pyramids... they are monuments of power drunk mad men and built on the backs of countless slaves.

 

[3113]

the Giza pyramids... they are monuments of power drunk mad men and built on the backs of countless slaves.

You've been watching the Ten Commandments again, haven't you? Lies and Judeo-Christian propaganda! The pyramids were built by conscripting folk, yes, but they were almost entirely born-and-bred Egyptians citizens, freemen and well paid, able to send money back to support their aging parents while getting married and supporting their own families. Also able to learn engineering on the job and move up in rank as they became older and less able to do the physically demanding parts of the job.

And the pyramid wasn't just a monument to the one it was built for, it was a monument to the greatness of the empire and to the gods they believed in.

 

[ishtat]

Canterbury Castle in Kent.

It is now a ruin but it was used to imprison Protestants in the reign of Mary, and Catholics in Protestant reigns. Many of both died from inhumane treatment within its walls.

Those that survived were burned at the stake for being the wrong religion at the wrong time.

There are better castles in Kent. Canterbury Castle is a reminder of man's inhumanity to man in the cause of religion.

Og

Perhaps that's a good reason to keep it Og?

 

[rgraham666]

Nothing. Not a damn thing.

History's too important to destroy.

 

[oggbashan]

Perhaps that's a good reason to keep it Og?

It might be, but there are no signs, no memorials, nothing to tell people what happened there.

I know because I'm informed about local history. Any casual visitor to the castle wouldn't know.

There are memorials to the Protestant martyrs in the field where they were burned. The memorials to the Catholic martyrs are much less obvious in the Catholic Church. Neither of those commemorate the prisoners who were starved and beaten to death in the Castle.

Og

 

[Liar]

You've been watching the Ten Commandments again, haven't you?

Come think of it, I'm not sure I ever have.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Falling Water.


Stupid, ill-located, unlivable sorry excuse for a house. Lloyd-Wright has to go down in history as the most egomaniacal architect ever born. The nerve of the man believing that by hiring him to build a house you should surrender your entire existence to his personal taste.

Yeah, it looks pretty. It's also noisy, cold and damp. The people who had it built abandoned the wretched thing after a year and no one has ever attempted to live there since. All it's good for is as a monument to a complete twerp.


http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii177/1volupturary_manque/falling-water-house.jpg

 

[TE999]

The Reichstag in Berlin, Germany. The Nazis torched it and thus enabled Hitler and his posse to take the country over.

 

[CharleyH]

Just been having a conversation with a friend of mine and the following question was raised;

If you could remove any building from history which would you choose?

Personally id pick the eiffel tower. why? because its an oversized pylon x

Not even one significant architecturally rich or historical building would I destroy. Why? Buildings speak about culture, about us. I'm more prone to rip down pre-fab homes, your home, because it means nothing to me and let's face it ... in 100 years? Your home won't stand. We don't build many like we used to build 'em.

 

[CMatthews]

My neighbor's house or the Watergate Hotel

 

[sr71plt]

Falling Water.


Stupid, ill-located, unlivable sorry excuse for a house. Lloyd-Wright has to go down in history as the most egomaniacal architect ever born. The nerve of the man believing that by hiring him to build a house you should surrender your entire existence to his personal taste.

Yeah, it looks pretty. It's also noisy, cold and damp. The people who had it built abandoned the wretched thing after a year and no one has ever attempted to live there since. All it's good for is as a monument to a complete twerp.


http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii177/1volupturary_manque/falling-water-house.jpg

Aesthetically, this one is wonderful. Agree with you on the functionality and the "it's all about the egomanical architect" aspect of it. You didn't mention the worst of this. The request was to build something so the family could be near and observe a favorite location--a rock outcropping on the river. Wright plunked the house down right on top of the rock, so you no longer could either observe it or enjoy it in nature--only the personalized "crown" Wright put on top of it.

Still, it's high on my list of places to visit.

 

[Huckleman2000]

Aesthetically, this one is wonderful. Agree with you on the functionality and the "it's all about the egomanical architect" aspect of it. You didn't mention the worst of this. The request was to build something so the family could be near and observe a favorite location--a rock outcropping on the river. Wright plunked the house down right on top of the rock, so you no longer could either observe it or enjoy it in nature--only the personalized "crown" Wright put on top of it.

Still, it's high on my list of places to visit.

It really is a striking building, though it is a stretch to call it a "home". Much smaller than you'd think from the pictures, as well.

 

[Tarakin]

The Reichstag in Berlin, Germany. The Nazis torched it and thus enabled Hitler and his posse to take the country over.

Emmm - please. The Reichstag stands for the past as the symbol of the first ruling democracy in Germany (after the brief Paulskirche-episode in 1848/49) and is our current House of Parliament. You could better 'remove' the Krolloper in Berlin, there democracy in Germany really had it's darkest hour, for the parliament allowed Hitler to rule unopposed right there (cause the Reichstag was torched). On the other hand, they have good music in this opera...

 

[trysail]

Falling Water.
Stupid, ill-located, unlivable sorry excuse for a house. Lloyd-Wright has to go down in history as the most egomaniacal architect ever born. The nerve of the man believing that by hiring him to build a house you should surrender your entire existence to his personal taste.

Yeah, it looks pretty. It's also noisy, cold and damp. The people who had it built abandoned the wretched thing after a year and no one has ever attempted to live there since. All it's good for is as a monument to a complete twerp.

Almost needless to say, the EPA would have a myocardial infarction if somebody tried to erect something like Fallingwater today.

My candidate: the Louvre's glass pyramids. They are, to put it mildly, hideous obscenities.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/Louvre_pyramids_at_night.JPG