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Architectural Vandalism
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As described in The Gargoyle News #54, Sept 29, 2003
click any photo to see a larger image
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Someone
took sledge hammers to the limestone facade of this once glorious old bank
building, probably so some tacky 1960's siding could be pasted over it. It
appears that more recently someone made a partial attempt to once again reveal
the beauty of the building. I suspect the first floor was too badly devastated
to be salvaged, so it was covered with synthetic stucco. That new work doesn't
really integrate with the classic elegance and proportions of the
original.
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Months of highly skilled hand carving were destroyed by a few hours of sledge
hammer vandalism. The grace and beauty of the original still shows through, but
it is only a shadow of its former self. The Corinthian capital alone took
hundreds of hours. The rope molding in the arches involved complex geometric
layout, and strangely, only half of those stones were smashed. That shows how
senseless the damage was- if the projection of that molding was in the way of
the new siding, how come alternate pieces were left intact?
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