Those who place little or no value on preserving our past clearly place little value on our future and what we leave behind for future generations. Why are they so selfish/self-centered?

if i understand your question...

you have no idea what being in the present means do you?

Now you are attacking those people because you don't understand

what being in the now means? haha... Sad

...i say that those that are constantly within their mind with one thought after another, one opinion after another, one attack after another, and never getting outside of thought, are the self centered selfish ones because they don't get beyond their ego.

...there is a deep truth within each person, all enlightened masters that have been on this earth, have pointed this out and have shared their awareness about this truth that is beyond our thoughts, beyond our ego, and how to experience the light within our souls. This is not selfishness nor being self centered, nor not caring about where we have been or where we are going. This is in fact our truth of being, and once realized we are complete.

...I am not saying all of this to attack nor chastise you or anyone. I care about the completeness, the enlightenment of all people, and the joy and happiness that comes with the experience of this realization.

Good Morning Rosie...

Great question.

It is from the past that we gain knowledge. Most often it takes a "past" of failures to achieve a success. When we destroy those things that represent our path of learning, we begin to get further and further from the lessons that motivated us to create that which we now seek to destroy. If we have no past to show, how do we teach.

As you know, one of my life's passion is the preservation of those things that illustrate our history. I do this mainly through the preservation and repair of  residential properties. I also take this interest to industrial and commercial buildings, automobiles, furniture, music and other various avenues.

There is a building that is most likely going to be completely demolished in the coming years. It is a building I would consider to be a great lose to our history. It represents, in its beauty and scale the best of what America was at the time.

Sadly the building has been left to suffer the scars of time, nature and vandalism.

It is the Packard Plant in Detroit. The Packard story is an amazing one. It is the story of a young man who is told, "If you think you can do it better......", and through the failures, the successes led to what is that building. It was the best in the world. It was innovative and ahead of its time and, its over 6/10ths of a mile long. Packard made what many to consider to be the finest cars in the world, its only competition being the Rolls and cars of that class, for nearly 50 years until bad decisions mixed with the war drove them out of business. The building is still in decent shape. Despite the rotting of roofs and interiors, the concrete and steel skeleton is still structural, from what I have read.

One of our Great losses was the demise of Penn Station in New York. This would have been, had we thought to preserve it, our Versailles in a few hundred years. It was a grand structure that again represented what we think of as being the best of American thinking. Although it was used as a rail station the Government did not build this, private industry did, well one company anyway. The man who ran the company saw a need and set out to satisfy it, when everyone else said it couldn't be done. Boy, did he show them. He bored under the river and constructed a grand palace as its hub. It is no more, never to be seen again.

There are times when we tear things down because they now represent that which we deplore. A tobacco factory that used slave labor, Housing complexes ala' Cabrini Green. Insane asylums, most of which are quite beautiful and architecturally significant, Danvers state hospital as an example. I think we should also preserve these as well. We don't want to forget these things. We should be reminded of the ugliness that has been, and could be ours. We should take them and not destroy them but turn them into something useful. The Durham Bulls Stadium and surround business park is a great example. It is an old tobacco factory that has been repurposed and now serves a variety of shops and business's. They have even kept the old smoke stacks. It is now a beautiful place, and a great place to see a ballgame.

Some of our most beautiful early skyscrapers that were built in a variety of styles and contained beautiful details to represent those styles. These buildings were works of art. The Singer building in New York, the Chicago Federal Building and so many others that are our "Pyramids", our "Acropolis", our castles..Gone

We somehow sat by and watched what was one of the grandest homes in the country, still holding the title of 2nd largest house ever built here, acres of exquisite gardens, gradually fall into disrepair, ravaged by vandals and neglect it was eventually torn down, leaving only eerie skeletal remains scattered throughout the developed neighborhood. The massive columns of the front portico still stand as a reminder.  This would be comparable to England watching as Buckingham Palace is razed.

Some of our grandest theaters are gone, our most beautiful homes, our landmarks...gone.

These things are important. They show everything we had to go through to get where we are now, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Most of the time when we do tear these things down we don't even attempt to save and reuse the best of what's there. We can no longer cut old growth trees which produced some of the most beautiful woods, once that material is gone, its gone. Doors, trim pieces, mantles, stone, flooring all get crushed along with the rest. The idea that we tear something down into useless ruble to then go out and burn through new resources to produce that which we just destroyed is curious to me.

Having aid all that that, there is also this. Most new buildings are fairly uninteresting. I can look at the new worlds trade center for about 3 seconds before I have seen all it has to offer visually. One square foot looks just like every other square foot. Now, I look at say the Chicago tribune Tower or the Woolworth building and my eyes are full for quite a while. I am inspired by its imagination and its beauty. I am thankful that the building really asks me to stop and gaze at it. Not just because of its sheer size, but because of its magnificence, its statement, its thoughtful attention to detail. It wants to engage me. The steel and glass towers of today just kind of yell "Hey, and that's it. The Singer building wanted to have a conversation.

Thank you for asking this question. I used to talk about the structures we have built, but the use of a building could be seen as a metaphor to what we choose to do with our own pasts. We cant erase our past, we just have to find its relevance to path. We look upon our past failures and learn how to not repeat them. We look upon our past successes and learn how to build upon them.

It is not what we build which defines us, rather, it is what we have destroyed, and as always...

Have a wonderful day m'dear

First of all des I want to thank you for being my friend. You honor me with the care, thought and time you give to answering my questions. I always learn about things I didn't know and this reply is no exception. I wish there were more people like you out there who cared. Now I have  2 questions for you and a statement. Question one How does one go about trying to save buildings? Whom do you contact? What are the steps you go through to get to the right people?  Do petitions signed by thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions of people help at all? Do you write to your congressman in whose district the  building to be destroyed is located? I guess with private property the owner can do whatever he/she dam* well pleases including destroying all evidence that it ever existed . Question 2 how do you get a place designated as an Historical site?  What is involved in doing that? Here's the statement.  I am going to  ask a question  using your words because I think it is a very good question. It will go like this. "A very close Answermug friend said 'it is not what we build which defines us, rather, it is what we have destroyed.'  Do you agree/dis/why?"  I think it is very true.   Thank you for the compliment m'dear but you do know that you are the inspiration for the question.  Happy Sunday des! :) ((hugs))

Hello again Rosie...

Thank you for the kind words. I feel it would be a disservice to both of us if I didn't take as much care with my answers as you put into the question, and this question is an important one. You asked what we can do, well this is a great start. It is my hope that someone will see this question and consider these things, so that  the next time they are walking down a street in their hometown and come across one of these buildings they might look at it in a different way,

When trying to save a building there are many things to consider. Is it a site of local significance, or National importance. Is it historical because of an event that happened there, or is it the first, last, best example of a certain style or use.

There are different ways to get a building registered or designated as a historical site.

A lot depends on who owns the building and what their intentions are.

If an owner of a building wants to get their property registered, it is much easier than if the owner seeks to demolish against the wishes of the community.

It is always better to start locally, local designations will most often off the best protection because it would require any alteration be approved by review of city officials. In most cases this just buys time.

Most large cities and counties will have some kind of Historical review  or resources, If not, the state will.

First one must petition for a designation, whether it be through the local venue or through the National Park Service.

The petition must show why the building is significant. The most used argument against preservation is that the building is beyond repair, in which case you would want to have engineering reports that prove otherwise. Once application is made. the nominated property will be sybject to hearings through the planning commission. This is where one would present evidence and comment. These are local officials and they will pay attention to a large group who seek to save the building. Sadly and too often these same officials are romanced by the amount of revenue a new building brings to the city through building fees and tax revenue.

One could also seek a state designation through the office of historical recourses or preservation. These commissions will usually have public meetings quarterly. There are also Environmental quality Impact boars who can determine a buildings impact to the community. If an EIR.(environmental impact report) is generated then the state can require alternatives to demolition. 

Then there is the National Registry Of Historic Places. Once a state has issued a designation, it will then be sent to the National Park Service for review.

If the owner of the property objects, the property can still receive a "determination of eligibility", which automatically triggers an environmental review for any alteration.

Many times these properties are owned by the city or town or state due to things like unpaid back taxes on  abandoned properties. Often the city wont have the funds to maintain these properties. Federal or National designation does open up some availability of funds, but most times it is private donation through various Historical Societies that will save a building.

In any case it does help to have as many people as possible to donate funds, time and expertise.

Like anything else Rosie, it requires that people get involved. For that to happen we must first peak their interest. It starts right here. Imagine someone reads this thread and it causes them to think of buildings in their own community. Imagine further that this person takes an interest and takes a trip to their local planning commission about that theater they are about to tear down.

As for the Packard Plant in Detroit. This property is currently owned by a Peruvian developer. He bought the property from the city for around 400K.  The only thing that will save it is to gather an interested group of investors. That will never happen in a city that has nothing else to offer.

So, while the city of Detroit cant save this building, there are certainly things they can do to help attract those investors. First by providing a safe, clean environment. While they may not be able to take on the enormity of demolishing or rehabbing the Plant, it is over 3.5 million sq. ft. They can certainly level the immediately surrounding area, they can provide some basic infrastructure to the area. They can do more to foster an attitude of community. Get people to care....

Thanks again for the question Rosie and for your interest and passion. I am honored that you found an inspiration in my answer....

Have a wonderful day m'dear

You're welcome des. Thank you for the guidance with regard to how to go about doing something about preserving things in one's own community. It is very helpful to be given instructions about "how to". It  saves a lot of time and wasted effort. If even one person reads this thread and does something in his/her community   with regard to preserving what exists wouldn't that be awesome? At least we can't say we didn't know what to do or how to do it so we did nothing. It seems to me that historical buffs would be especially open to getting involved. I mean  if what went before interests them then they can be catalysts for preserving what we have now so that future historical buffs will be able to read about them. It's hard to care about things that are no longer there...that you never saw because it was demolished/destroyed before you were born. I know we can only live in the present. But that shouldn't preclude us from honoring our past and trying to preserve it because that paves the way for a better future. Happy Monday des! :).