In San Francisco, it seems to take forever to tear any existing building down, which is either a good or bad thing depending upon your point of view. For instance, the Galaxy Theatre multiplex at Sutter and Van Ness closed for business in 2005 and it has taken six years to start taking the building down.
The architecture by the local firm KMD Architects appalled a lot of people when it went up in 1983, but I was always amused by the glass children's building block aesthetic. Still, it's not a major loss, such as losing the Coronet on Geary five years ago or the palatial Fox Theatre on Market in the 1960s. (Click here for a wonderful website devoted to movie theatres called "Cinema Treasures.")
The colored windows were recently removed and the building is being gutted from the Hemlock Alley side (click here for some photos at The Tender).
Going up on the site will be a generic 13-story, 107-unit apartment building designed by the San Francisco-based Cristiani Johnson Architects, seen in illustrations above on Van Ness and Sutter Streets. The plan is to have it completed by early 2013.
Interesting post about the odd building. And I'll save my theory about "controlled demolition" and how buildings made of steel can now be reduced to bite-size rubble with the impact of an aircraft and jet fuel.
ReplyDeleteDear Donald: You're invited to come over this Thursday at 7PM for Episode 25 of FotoTales where you can tell us your Truther theories and we'll disagree mildly.
ReplyDeleteHi Mike,
ReplyDeleteOh cool -- I'll plan to show up!
But only if we can skip "the Truther side of Donald". I am sworn to secrecy.
Best regards, Don
Dear Donald: Look forward to seeing you. There was a funny scene when I asked somebody in front of the big "elephant in the room" at the Opera in the Park concert if they were affiliated with the Truthers. "You do know that's a perjorative term, don't you?" he asked, and I replied that its perjorative quality was news to me.
ReplyDelete