Posted September 11, 200717 yr I ran across some great retro slides--some as old as the early 1970's--taken by Hamilton resident Jay Antenen. Contrasting them with today shows some progress, but also some disappointment. Hamilton cladding! Today (well, actually the first two buildings to the left have seen improvements in the past couple months) Today Between Municipal Building and County Annex Today, Rialto Theater and Bus Depot demolished by city Gone Coming down in 1996 Today the site is Lintel Park Today Webster Building Demolished by Harry Wilks in mid-70's :cry: Today, there is actually a large office building back there, but it is a whole in the streetscape regardless McCrory Building Today, under restoration Remainder of Mercantile Buildings Today, under restoration S. Third St. Today, brighter colors and Fat Wally's Old Palace Theater and Datillo's Produce Today, Palace under restoration, Datillo's vacant Shafer Implements Today, Presbyterian parking lot Anthony Wayne Under restoration Today, senior housing Anthony Wayne retail wing Today, Hamilton Welcome Center Globe Opera House Today, WOW! Journal-Square side Today Burg's Today, restored and houses the new Riverbank Cafe and a couple other things
September 11, 200717 yr VERY cool! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
September 11, 200717 yr I had no idea how pervasive the whole cladding thing got by the '70s. And we're still dealing with it today. It just goes to show what happens when people choose "new" without deciding if it's "better" or "worse".
September 11, 200717 yr Hamilton looks a lot better today than it did in the 70's. Thank god they are removing a lot of that cladding... I don't understand why they cover beautiful buildings with crappy vinyl.
September 11, 200717 yr The trees along High make a BIG difference...that whole cladding phase was a major mistake. Glad to see Hamilton working to get rid of that nonsense. This is fantastic ink, thanks!
September 11, 200717 yr Great job! I love that feeling of relief on "then and now" photos when there is enough historic fabric left to recognize a view. As an "outsider" to Hamilton, even though there are losses, I dare say that Hamilton has fared better in that time period than several other communities we could name (thanks in part to Ann and Jay Antenen). That includes a handful of really important "saves," including the Anthony Wayne and the Globe Opera House - which would make my list of the 100 most significant 19th century buildings standing in Ohio.
September 11, 200717 yr Some losses, some wonderful gains! It looks like the Webster Building had a fire before it was demolished. The cladding applied in the sixties and seventies was more often metal than vinyl; usually aluminum, sometimes coated steel on commercial buildings. There's probably some pretty good scrap value in it now.
September 11, 200717 yr ^ Yeah, actually there was a fire. I remember it which makes me think it was a bit later than the '70's but maybe memory doesn't serve. A girl I went to grade school with's dad worked in the building when it burnt so it had to be late '70's - early '80's.
September 11, 200717 yr Holy crap, thanks for sharing! This cladding issue was prevalent across many cities. I remember many storefronts and buildings in my hometown of Ashland, KY being covered with metalwork. Most of it was deteriorating by the 1990s, which is no surprise, and some of it started falling during windstorms. There is a major effort now to remove the last of it. As for the Globe Opera House, it reminded me of a massive air exhaust vent. But it is amazing how much was preserved under that metal sheet; I've seen metal tear-offs that have revealed MUCH worse.
September 12, 200717 yr Amazing! Reminds me of how in 1997 a tornado swept through Hamtramck and uncladded several buildings. Perhaps the first time a Tornado has left a town looking better than it found it. Again, thanks! It's amazing how much beauty can be a mere 2 inches of currogated away.
September 12, 200717 yr Wow. So it was like this then -- Before (I wish I had more photographs) -- After -- Every ornate detail was chopped off. The black on the left was from a fire, hence the "need" back then to cover it up with something that resembled ceiling tiles.
September 12, 200717 yr I had no idea how pervasive the whole cladding thing got by the '70s. And we're still dealing with it today. It just goes to show what happens when people choose "new" without deciding if it's "better" or "worse". Today, it's EIFS (shudder).
September 12, 200717 yr Does anyone remember what the reasoning behind these metal facades was? Was it just aesthetic? Was it a way of covering up deteriorating facades for less than repairing them would cost? Was it a way of covering up embarassing empty upper stories?
September 12, 200717 yr Back in the late sixties, I used to hang out with a planning consultant who was a big advocate of this kind of stuff as a way to update business districts to look new and modern. The movement also included removing the business signs that hung over the sidewalks, to open up sight lines. The most "successful" of those programs resulted in the creation of main-street pedestrian malls in cities like Kalamazoo, Michigan and Richmond, Indiana. Few attained such a high pinnacle as Hamilton, though! :wink: I went with him in 1968 to Kalamazoo to take photos of the then-new pedestrian mall there, for a sales pitch he was making in Huntington, Indiana. That one was built, and most of the citizens hated its effect on traffic and parking access from day one. It's long gone. I still have those slides from Kalamazoo squirrelled away somewhere. Maybe a post, some day.
September 12, 200717 yr I had no idea how pervasive the whole cladding thing got by the '70s. And we're still dealing with it today. It just goes to show what happens when people choose "new" without deciding if it's "better" or "worse". Today, it's EIFS (shudder). I just looked up EIFS -- so that's what that garbage is called. I've seen buildings being slathered in that crap for years and wondered what it was. I HATE it.
September 12, 200717 yr I still have those slides from Kalamazoo squirrelled away somewhere. Maybe a post, some day. Please, please!
September 12, 200717 yr Ahhh! I love before and now shots from years ago. Thanks for the work you put into this. Why was it ever cool to cover windows? Imagine how dark and crappy it must be to have an office in one of those things. This one is just terrible. I mean I can still plainly see the ridiculously awesome building sitting behind it!
September 12, 200717 yr ^Yep, that is the one that bothers me the most. It is the one of the largest, most ornate buildings on High. PreservationOhio added it to their Most Endangered List this year. The Mehrum and Lindley Buildings: Cladding Peeking out...
September 13, 200717 yr Interesting study, Ink. The welcome center and the Mercantile project are especially astounding.
October 20, 200717 yr its funny that the people in the 1970s thought they were being stylish, when just a few decades later, there was a public outcry for restoration.
January 15, 200817 yr i was inside the mercantile buildings about 9 years ago......holy smokes is there a kick-butt interior on the upper floors, complete with a central arcade ( i wanna say 3 story high) like in the old shillito building in DT cincy
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