Lincoln's Metropolitan Apartments Demolished?

[edsas]

Emporis.com lists Lincoln's Metropolitan Apartments as demolished:

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=125504

Is this true? These buildings are supposed to be on an historic preservation list. When were they demolished and why? Or is emporis' information wrong? Are they still standing?

[DTO Luv]

I don't remember ever seeing that building. It would be a shame if they did tear it down. It looks like a nice building.

[edsas]

Yeah, it is a nice building. It sits (or did sit) two blocks from the capitol. I can't imagine why it would have been torn down. I googled -- "Metropolitan Apartments" demolition -- but nothing turns up that these buildings were destroyed. They were still there the last time I was in Lincoln a year ago.

[Coyote]

Jim McKee: Historic buildings often lost to parking, 'modernizing'

Nearly every community in Nebraska has lost a building or house nearly everyone felt should have been saved. Sadly, the lost structure was often razed for a parking lot, "new" construction that did not meet expectations or simply because it was old, outmoded.

Many of our historic treasures have been lost.

Just northeast of Broken Bow, the two-story sod house built by Isador Haumont in the 1880s was bulldozed by the builder's grandson in 1972. In North Platte, a world-famous WWII canteen was razed, several blocks of downtown buildings leveled and the significant Musselman Apartments converted to a parking lot. Adams County's historic courthouse is now a square block of parking.

In Lincoln, two Lincoln Telephone & Telegraph Co. buildings, the amazing C.C. Burr House, the white terra cotta Castle, Roper & Matthews Mortuary, the Missouri Pacific depot, the landmark high-rise Metropolitan Apartment building and the Christian Science Church are all now parking lots.

The number of schools, depots and churches lost in the name of progress across the state is almost countless. And there are still some out there waiting for either the demolition ball or redevelopment.

Brothers Isaac and Aaron Raymond moved to Lincoln in 1871 to open a grocery on North 10th Street. The retail operation became a wholesale business within a year. After several moves, each resulting in increased business, the five-story, 65-by-142-foot building on the southeast corner of Eighth and O streets was completed.

As the grocery business grew, the brothers became interested in insurance, banking and meatpacking while Isaac was elected to the Nebraska Legislature.

In 1951, the business was absorbed into the H.P. Lau Co. and today the impressive building, used only for storage, awaits potential renovation as one of the last pieces in the Haymarket District.

In March 1924, the old Whittier grade school was razed and the new Whittier Junior High building at 22nd and Vine streets was dedicated as the first purpose-built junior high school in the United States.

As the student population moved south and east, the building was closed. After serving as a community college and having its ownership drift between public and private hands, it has survived decades — nearly, but never completely, vacant. Its sister school Bancroft recently was razed by the University of Nebraska, but Whittier has waited patiently for possible, sometimes probable, redevelopment.

In Omaha, the 1898 Burlington Station on South 10th Street has sat empty for decades just across from Union Station, now beautifully resurrected as the Durham Western Heritage Museum.

Another Omaha architectural gem is the 1905 Strehlow Terrace on North 16th Street. The six-building complex designed by Frederick Henninger, although listed on the National Register of Historic Places, sits empty with an uncertain future.

Today, there is a disincentive for people to buy or develop historic property. An owner who invests thousands of dollars in restoring or renovating a historic building immediately faces increases in property taxes resulting from the building's new value. Thus, demolition can be a viable, often arguably economic, escape mechanism.

In 2004, Nebraska is the only state that does not have legislation to assist and encourage preservation of historic buildings by putting a temporary hold on increased taxes for restored properties.

Amendment 1 on the Nov. 2 ballot would allow the Legislature to craft laws that would be revenue-neutral in the short run and revenue-producing in the long term for such properties. It creates no taxes or grants and removes no property from the tax rolls.

The simple net result would be to stimulate economic growth in downtown business districts and older residential neighborhoods while preserving our rich but finite architectural heritage.

Once a building has been demolished it is gone forever.

[Big E]

<<<<In 2004, Nebraska is the only state that does not have legislation to assist and encourage preservation of historic buildings by putting a temporary hold on increased taxes for restored properties.
>>>>

Well, duh. Do you know how many WalMarts and ConAgra campuses you could build if you could get rid of these tired old buildings?

-Big E

[edsas]

A parking lot. I feel sick.

I just don't understand the mind of a person who not only thinks this is okay to do, but then would actually go and do it. I'm disgusted.

[almighty_tuna]

There was also talk of tearing down a couple apt buildings (4-story or something) north of the Capitol to preserve sight lines. Much like the views from the west and north of the Capitol.

[edsas]

The Capitol sitting in the middle of a 4 square block lawn, should be sight line enough. I'm all for respecting the capitol, but these people need to undestand that great architecture is enhanced by other architecture, not by sight lines.