Hotel San Diego

[tombarnes]

The Hotel San Diego was destroyed yesterday. I find it an especially stupid and useless destruction. The interior was a mess, but the exterior walls could well have been incorporated into the new courts complex being planned for the site.

SignOnSan Diego - Union Tribune

There is a video of the implosion as well.

[sd_urban]

I agree, it's always sad to see a historic building reduced to rubble. By East Coast standards, a 92 years old isn't old at all, but around here it's considered ancient. I believe it was the events of 9/11 that caused this building to come down because new laws prohibited this building to be incorporated into the new courthouse building design. It had to do with the building so close to the sidewalk/street or something like that. On top of that, the building was not built to withstand a strong earthquake.

Here are some still pics of the implosion taken from a local newstation's website-

All we can do now is focus on what will be built in it's place

This shows how it will add to the density of downtown.

[PghUSA]

I am also quite saddened by this, seems like cities all over the country are tearing down our history--literally. I am all for progress but at least recycle the facades or mezzanines, Pittsburgh is recently tearing out a lot of turn-of-the-century structures to put up yet another glass box skyscraper and retail complex, only thing is much of the new development could easily use the recycled structures that denote the rich architectural history of the district. That's progress though .

[sd_urban]

^^I couldn't agree with you more.

[urbanesq]

Wow. What a loss. Cool-looking building going up in its place, but such a shame that it's at the expense of what looked like a great piece of the city's history. So very, very sad...