Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
I drove past Saint Michael's Lutheran Church on Getz Road in Fort Wayne, after eating dinner at a nearby Pizza Hut on the evening of June 28, and was shocked to see the unique A-Frame structure torn apart by a wrecking crane. Half of the building still stood, while the other half was on the ground in front of what remained of the church. I quickly stopped and photographed it as the light was fading. A few days later, I drove down Getz Road again, and it was all gone.
The old building had already been replaced by an ugly modern building, as seems to be the fashion for churches today.
Film was Tri-X in PMK, lens was the 35mm C-Biogon. Handheld at 1/15 of a second because I forgot to put my tripod back in my car, where it usually resides.
robert blu
quiet photographer
It s a shame that buildings with such a "personality" are destroyed in order to leave place for modern "ugly" buildings. The process takes place in Italy as well, but at least we have some old churches, no more used as church, which have been converted in studios for artists or residential building, like an alternative to loft. I have seen recently a book by a photographer who documented many of these cases. I'll try to google in order to find some links later. It's good you are documenting this, it would be nice to see pictures of the place before and after...
robert
robert
paulfish4570
Veteran
nice lines in that shot. awfully sharp for 1/15 ...
FrankS
Registered User
A-frames are not my favourite type of structures, but are still better than flat-roof boxes.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
A-Frames make interesting churches, but I used to know someone who had an A-Frame house. The second floor was tiny! Didn't like the design for a house.
dave lackey
Veteran
As a recovering city planner and architect, I have given up on the American urban scene. I taught city and regional planning courses at Georgia Tech for years and enjoyed the experience very much. But, looking around, I can find nothing I ever did, as hard as I worked and as passionately I tried, has really made a difference.
Old buildings taken down in the name of progress and junk architecture. Roads continue to be widened. Cars (SUV's?) still get bigger and gas mileage is no better than it was in the 1980s. People don't care. Politicians are still crooks. Bread truck drivers make more than I ever made as a professional in either engineering or planning. Materialism is more rampant that when the hippies were around trying to change things. And on and on and on...
I think it is wonderful that you are actually documenting these buildings. Once they are gone, they are gone because we cannot download our images within our minds.
Great photo as the perspective is quite striking.
Old buildings taken down in the name of progress and junk architecture. Roads continue to be widened. Cars (SUV's?) still get bigger and gas mileage is no better than it was in the 1980s. People don't care. Politicians are still crooks. Bread truck drivers make more than I ever made as a professional in either engineering or planning. Materialism is more rampant that when the hippies were around trying to change things. And on and on and on...
I think it is wonderful that you are actually documenting these buildings. Once they are gone, they are gone because we cannot download our images within our minds.
Great photo as the perspective is quite striking.
blw
Well-known
I hear ya Dave...I actually just read an article yesterday (it's on my work computer and I'm home for the next several days, or I'd link to it) about a woman in ATL who was just tried and convicted for vehicular manslaughter for crossing a busy road with her 3 children from the bus stop to her apartment and her youngest was hit by a car.
Now I won't claim to know all the particulars, but the surface story sure sounds bad and the article was certainly condemning local traffic and urban planners. And I worked in our local planning office until I was moved back to our Mapping office 2 years ago because of budget issues.
Back on topic though, in my limited experience in this world the Lutherans and Episcopalians tend to build the most beautiful churches- at least from the outside. And I always think it's a shame when something old is torn down to make way for something new..it just seems so wasteful.
Now I won't claim to know all the particulars, but the surface story sure sounds bad and the article was certainly condemning local traffic and urban planners. And I worked in our local planning office until I was moved back to our Mapping office 2 years ago because of budget issues.
Back on topic though, in my limited experience in this world the Lutherans and Episcopalians tend to build the most beautiful churches- at least from the outside. And I always think it's a shame when something old is torn down to make way for something new..it just seems so wasteful.
zauhar
Veteran
Great photo Chris. I hate to see interesting architecture torn down, or as often the case, left to rot.
Speaking of urban planning, a prominent urban planner was featured in the paper the other day, criticizing Philadelphia for NOT tearing down enough old buildings. Seems that big ugly modern boxes are more "egalitarian".
Randy
Speaking of urban planning, a prominent urban planner was featured in the paper the other day, criticizing Philadelphia for NOT tearing down enough old buildings. Seems that big ugly modern boxes are more "egalitarian".
Randy
gb hill
Veteran
I don't have any photos but one thing I admire about the planners of the old tobacco warehouses in Durham NC is they kept the old buildings looking original while turning the insides into shops, restaurants, & apartments. Sad that too many old buildings are not being restored & towns are loosing their identity.
alan davus
Well-known
Love your stuff Chris, keep them coming.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Thanks everyone. So many of the places that I have photographed have been demolished, but this is the only one I have caught in mid-demolition. I had never thought to photograph it before that.
kzphoto
Well-known
.
That's a sharp photo for 1/15! Looks super wide too, like a 21mm!
Great shot.
bobby_novatron
Photon Collector
Nice shot, Chris -- keep 'em coming!
This phenomenon you mentioned of bland new buildings replacing old character / historical buildings just keeps going and going ... it happens everywhere.
In my city, most of the heritage buildings are gone. When I look at photos of the streets of Edmonton in the 1940's and 1950's, I can't even recognize it. When my mother arrived to the city as a 20-something, looking for work in the late 1950's, she was impressed by the original city hall, the law courts building with its grand colonnades, the main public library, the central post office with its grand sandstone entrance ...
There were also several absolutely gorgeous movie theaters, many of which were quite cavernous and decadent in their decorations. And dance halls. And lovely 19th-century hotels. And 'clinker brick' apartments, which were unique in being constructed in a roughly-hewn, obsidian-like brick that was quite beautiful.
Shall I go on? All of that is gone. There's not much left from that era.
Meanwhile, the hordes of people way out in the 'burbs complain that they can't get to their big-box stores fast enough because of slow traffic on the freeways.
If it's any consolation, this isn't necessarily a North American phenomenon. I think this kind of thing has been going on in many locations around the world for centuries.
I was in Italy last year and visited Rome. When I went to the Roman Forum, I was shocked at how little of ANYTHING was left to gaze at. After the fall of the Roman empire and the decline of Rome as a city, the inhabitants just tore down temples and buildings in a haphazard way, so they could either (a) steal the building materials or (b) clear out the space and use it for something else.
So our modern gripes about this are not so modern after all.
This phenomenon you mentioned of bland new buildings replacing old character / historical buildings just keeps going and going ... it happens everywhere.
In my city, most of the heritage buildings are gone. When I look at photos of the streets of Edmonton in the 1940's and 1950's, I can't even recognize it. When my mother arrived to the city as a 20-something, looking for work in the late 1950's, she was impressed by the original city hall, the law courts building with its grand colonnades, the main public library, the central post office with its grand sandstone entrance ...
There were also several absolutely gorgeous movie theaters, many of which were quite cavernous and decadent in their decorations. And dance halls. And lovely 19th-century hotels. And 'clinker brick' apartments, which were unique in being constructed in a roughly-hewn, obsidian-like brick that was quite beautiful.
Shall I go on? All of that is gone. There's not much left from that era.
Meanwhile, the hordes of people way out in the 'burbs complain that they can't get to their big-box stores fast enough because of slow traffic on the freeways.
If it's any consolation, this isn't necessarily a North American phenomenon. I think this kind of thing has been going on in many locations around the world for centuries.
I was in Italy last year and visited Rome. When I went to the Roman Forum, I was shocked at how little of ANYTHING was left to gaze at. After the fall of the Roman empire and the decline of Rome as a city, the inhabitants just tore down temples and buildings in a haphazard way, so they could either (a) steal the building materials or (b) clear out the space and use it for something else.
So our modern gripes about this are not so modern after all.
dave lackey
Veteran
Yes, I agree it is a human tendency that has existed for ages and is behind the "disposable, materialistic" society that we live in now with throw-away everything. It takes education and an entirely different way of thinking to do otherwise.
Think M3 versus a plastic DSLR/cell phone/ipod,ipad,etc. and you can see how we continue the downward spiral from things that were designed to last a lifetime to a cycle of a few months, or years.
Thanks again for documenting this process, Chris.
Think M3 versus a plastic DSLR/cell phone/ipod,ipad,etc. and you can see how we continue the downward spiral from things that were designed to last a lifetime to a cycle of a few months, or years.
Thanks again for documenting this process, Chris.