Daniel M. AbramsonObsolescence, an architectural history

In the spring of 1910, hundreds of workers worked day and night to demolish the Gillender Building in New York City, which was once the tallest office tower in the world, to make way for a higher skyscraper. The New York Times questioned who would sacrifice this 13-year-old structure, “as ruthlessly as if it were an old cabin”. In New York City alone, the Gillender has joined the original Grand Central Terminal, the Plaza Hotel, the Western Union Building and the Tower Building on the list of metropolitan monuments razed by a single generation.

With Rotor, we try to promote materials recovery practices. This activity leads us to regularly rub shoulders with contemporary and Brussels versions of the same phenomenon of demolition of recent buildings. In this regard, the book by historian Daniel M. Abramson provides valuable insights into the implications of these far-reaching decisions.

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