This Blog is taking August off (it will return on September 7th) but history suggests preservationists cannot do the same.
We are regularly cautioned to beware the Ides of March but it is the month of August that has historically been the bane of preservationists. What could be so dangerous about August? Buildings don’t get sun burned. Historically it has been a time when those advancing agendas benefiting from less, rather than more, publicly scrutiny go into overdrive. Whether they be a developer, agency or institutions, having reasoned that with many (if not most) people’s attention focused elsewhere (fishing, the beach, reading a good book, the mountains, the pool, anything but preservation) it is a very good time to do the deed and hope few people are paying attention.
Most dangerous of all is the Friday in August. Case in point—it was on a Friday in August, to be specific, Friday, August 14, 1981 that the demolition began on the landmark quality interiors of the Biltmore Hotel. From experience I can testify that on a Friday in August it is very, very hard to find judges to approach for injunctions, let alone legal counsels to prepare papers for such judges, let alone senior staff members to activate the lawyers to try to find the judges. You get the picture.
Even in August one might be able to get some press attention focused on the dirty deed and I remember being kicked out of the Biltmore Hotel with Gabe Pressman as he tried, that August decades ago, to cover the demolition of the Biltmore’s famous Palm Court. However, the value of such press can be discounted because much of the audience for such coverage is away consciously trying to avoid the news.
The Biltmore Hotel, Madison to Vanderbilt Avenues, East 43rd to East 44th Streets, was designed by Warren & Wetmore and built in 1914. The building and its famous interiors were lost. Demolition began in August of 1981.
It was also in August, this time in 1990, when the Board of Estimate decided to eliminate some buildings from the designation of City and Suburban Homes (see the blog entry focusing on that battle) and it approved Columbia’s Plans for its biomedical laboratory at the expense of the true preservation of the Audubon Ballroom.
Times have changed a bit and now thanks to technology we are almost all connected, almost all the time, no matter where we are. We can also now use web cams (as preservationists did with 2 Columbus Circle) so it is harder for anyone to do something to a threatened building without it being highly visible–even to people miles away. Despite these advances, I still get a nervous feeling when August rolls around. Experience still suggests that if you leave town in August, only rest easy if you’ve left in place a robust crew to cover your preservation beat. For some of us that old admonition: “the price of preservation is constant vigilance” rings particularly true in August.
On that note, enjoy August and please return here on September 7th!!
I remember Monday the 17th of August picking up a copy of the New York Times , reading about the demolition of The Biltmore Hotel and not believing what I was reading.
What a waste of history and for what? The building that took its place lost its name this year its now just a street address.Tenants are scarce and the realty company is advertizing the structure as the old Biltmore Hotel!
Go figure , the dog days of August.