Bethlehem Steel Demolition Begun: Citizens Gather at "Cathedral of Industry", Protest Failure of Leadership, Lost Opportunity

what a crying shame

Bang your head against the wall - Progress WNY style!

Well, ya might as well just knock down the basilica. Church attendance is dropping and all, might as well get a jump on the demo to make way for "progress".

The most disappointing of all this is that with each demo Lackawanna City Hall moves up the list of most significant architectural structures in that town. Vomit.

The Lackawanna Industrial Heritage Group (LIHG) has learned that Gateway Trade TURNED DOWN several offers of developers to take control of the property....

Amazing how little details aren't announced until the wrecking ball strikes.

Unbelievable. This is a real loss for our region.

Thank you to Dana, Danielle and the rest of the Buffalo Young Preservationists, Preservation Buffalo Niagara and the C4GB for their help in trying to stop this. Your efforts of community events, meetings, petitions, camp outs and letters to politicians across WNY were all important in this effort, regardless of the outcome.

HIstoric structures in the Buffalo area are really taking a big hit so far in 2013.
The unique architectural environment that plays a part in former resident's returning to the area and new people relocating here is being lost.
If the trend continues, Buffalo will look just like any other bland, uninteresting place that you can find anywhere in the US.
One less reason to come back---tragic!

nauseating

Congratulations on managing to turn a story about the demolishing of a treasure into some weird sentiment about abortion.

This is absolutely mind-boggling and sickening at the same time. How could the inherent value of this building be completely lost on those in charge? Other cities would kill for this building.

Paulsobo,

I was following your post with interest.
However, when you weirdly tried to weave it into the abortion issue, the Twilight Zone theme started playing in my head.

The usual excuses don't apply here. The building was not in the way of "progress", did not present a danger to the community, and most would agree the building was appealing regardless of their feelings on preservation.

Sad.

This made me laugh though:
"Recently, he declared in The Buffalo News, "it's time we got more progressive. Bring down that building." LIHG sees the mayor's actions as anything but progressive..."

See?! "Progressive" is a useless word. It seems to mean whatever anyone wants it to mean, therefore it is useless. So, can we please stop using it 50 times in every post here?

I feel better now; thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

The built environment of a city belongs to the citizens, a city is by design a public place. We all have an interest in preservation and protecting the assets that we hold in trust. Preservation is about self preservation, it is about preserving the real value of great architecture even when that value has not yet been fully realized. Demand for attractive, interesting, and historic properties continues to increase as inventory continues to decline. Our future prosperity depends on leveraging these assets. Buffalo has an advantage, we have quality and quanity, we can't afford to continue diminishing that stock.

Black Rock Lifer,

Well said--I moved back to Buffalo after spending the last 35 years away pursuing my career.
I left reluctantly and when I was finally free to relocate anywhere, my memories of the built environment here in my home town were so compelling in my decision to return.
About a week after I'd moved back, I took a drive over the Skyway out toward's Lackawanna.
When I saw the old Bethlehem Steel Admin. building, I was awestruck that it was still standing.
I used to look at that structure through the yellow-brown haze that the smokestack's caused back in the 60's when we would speed past it on the old Father Baker Bridge and even as a kid was amazed at the elegance of it in the middle of all the industrial muck.
I immediately thought "moving back and seeing this still standing after all these years validates my decision to return here."
Wish those who don't appreciate what is still left would realize how important Buffalo's architecture is to those of us who grew up with it while Buffalo was still in it's glory days.
A whole new generation is appreciating that more than mine did, that what's keeping me optimistic about Buffalo's future.
To all of those dedicated people I say " don't ever give up the fight and Thank you!!".

Today, while driving home from Hamburg, I looked over and saw the lone warrior sitting by his tent with his car parked out in front. I did not even notice any demolition taking place. I told my daughters to look over there as I slowed down on Rt.5, there is a man fighting the bitter cold in a tent making a stand for saving a building.

That my friends is a preservationist in action. I salute that man. Szymanski you dumb ass.

we should have called for a boycott of lackawanna (shops, cafes, the basilica, etc.) until the demo order was rescinded.

As a life long resident of Buffalo, I can honestly say that Lackawanna had 3 things I ever thought were cool. The Basilica, the Father Baker bridge, and the Bethlehem Steel building. I guess two of the three will be gone. What a pathetic mayor they have. I think we were all upset that the mayors weren't doing anything to get it developed. I suppose one way to get that monkey off their back is to just remove it.

It really is such a sad, sad, ridiculous waste.

I don't even want to tell my 91 yr old Dad. He'll ask the obvious question, "Why?"

Mr. Mayor"ski",

Just another moron politician from Lackawanna. A city born from the Steel Mill, and died from the Steel Mill. Don't look at Bethlehem, PA for ideas, help, shared collaboration with what they did with their steel mill or what their doing with the HQ building....your next progress should be to dissolve that armpit of Western NY that you hold throne to.

Truly a sad day. That being said, something proactive should have been done years, if not decades ago, to preserve this building. I'll truly miss seeing this structure.

Location, location, location. This building, while arguably an architectural "gem", is in a very poor location. It's the lack of any surrounding development that this building's doom was all but guaranteed.

Wrecking Ball 3 Preservationists 0. Smoke Shop Building, Church and now this. Whats next those peace bridge houses ?

Do we know anything about the offers to purchase the building? Who were the potential purchasers and were the offers reasonable?

I echo the sentiments of a fellow reader from a previous article stating that the preservation community in the city needs to be less reactive and more proactive. This building has been vacant since 1982. That more or less gave the region thirty years to develop some type of reuse plan for the structure. Of course, as things generally do, nobody steps up, protests, plans or does any research until the wrecking ball is poised in position. When that is the case there is a mass outcry of hysteria and lamenting and often very little thought other than to "save the structure". It seems to me it would be more beneficial to identify sites in danger that aren't structurally compromised and begin to hypothesize solutions for their preservation, instead of waiting until the last minute and making spur of the moment decisions based on emotional highs. I have seen this happen time and time again and the preservation communities, for the most part, do not seem to learn. We let a structure go and corrode for decades and then when it is demolished due to structural compromise and a frenzy of last minute court decisions we lament it as "wrecking Buffalo". Let this be a lesson and let us be more prudent in identifying and rallying around endangered structures for adaptive reuse before they spend decades crumbling to the ground.

That foolish unemployed preservationalist sleeping in his tent protesting should apply working for a Demolition Co. in the area,that seems to be a hot job!

Your right about that Mr. Rockpile ! Is he going to move his tent in front of the Peace Bridge houses, theyre probably next !

Might be resting up from the "Occupy" movement.
If so, all the credit in the world to this hardy soul.
Not many of us could do this.

I always try to keep an open mind, I really do. Unfortunately, I feel like the preservationist are pushing me away.
I loved this building. Everytme we drove to Hamburg I looked forward to seeing and thinking of what coulda been?
All those years passing by it just sat there. What a shame. Then it magically turned into an icon that needed love.
There in lies my problem, the preservationist seem to claim the Mayor is not progressive but yet did nothing the previous 30 years?
Your message is becoming deluted. It is the same everytime a demo permit is issued. "This is a must save"?
I could drive around the city and pick out a dozen buildings I feel the same about.
Please do the same, and before the next lawsuit, have done something about one of those buildings.
Please let me read that article before the next attempt to stop a demo.

Can't save em all,Maybe while they have the equipment warmed up they can take care of the central terminal too!

"We should be building on our strengths, not wiping them out." Dana Saylor, historian and member of Buffalo's Young Preservationists agreed, saying, "Adaptive reuse was economically feasible and would have been an excellent way to tie in all the waterfront investment happening along Lake Erie. Now, the area will suffer from the loss of potential that preservation activities would have brought to this site. Interesting redeveloped places like the Hotel@Lafayette and Steel Stacks in Bethlehem, P.A. are a draw!" Who are these investors and if adaptive reuse was feasable why was it not done? Besides Dana saying it was feasible did anyone who might understand the construction process and costs associated with it look at this?

glad its gone, you had 30 yrs to do something about it. still laughing at the unemployed fool in his tent protesting. lol, get a life!

Why did they knock it down... I cant see it in the above comments as I looked through. Just because?

Well the next thing that ought to be gone is the 'City' of Lackawanna. Can anyone justify why this should not be annexed to the City of Buffalo?