This is one of the only "before" photos I have of a very lovely old building downtown, the Ames or MJA building on the corner of Second and Stewart. The "before" means before it was nominated for landmark designation. The vote for nomination failed. If a nomination fails, the building can't be renominated for five years. The owner, who had redevelopment plans for the property (demolition and new construction of a much taller building), had all of the beautiful terra cotta tile removed from the building. It was hammered off, tossed in a dumpster and taken to the dump. The building was re-surfaced with fake stucco EIFS material. Now it is safe from future attempts at landmark designation.
CB Richard Ellis leases this property. The building was defaced last October, in order to circumvent any new landmark nomination, but of course nothing can be built there in the current market. On the CBRE web page, this building is shown with terra cotta intact. Over the picture it says "Reduced Rate!". Of course it was worth more before it was ruined, and tenants left when leases were up because the future of the building was uncertain. I am still in shock every time I see this building. If I walk past it, I tap on the fake stucco panels in the hope that the terra cotta might still be behind them, even though I know better. It's just so hard to believe.
I remember walking through Dublin when Ireland was roaring towards the height of its boom years. Whole streets of old buildings were nothing but facades with timbers holding them up, so new construction could go in behind. Same thing that year in Glasgow. That was the rule, and it made a level playing field for all players. Development wasn't slowed in the least. Cristalla did this, keeping the terra cotta facade of the Crystal Pool and natatorium. If we designated the buildings worth keeping with one broad brush and leveled the playing field, everyone else would do the same. It preserves history, and beauty, and the wonderful sense of streetscape and streetwall that gets lost in the midst of the grand new behemoths. There's no excuse for this sort of waste.
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