In the past month I've had a couple different people say terribly uninformed things about small historic buildings in and around downtown. "Nobody's going to tear down any more buildings
that matter." (Emphasis mine.) And, "They're just nondescript brick buildings. Who cares? Tear 'em down and build something new!"
So, I'd like to open the floor to a discussion about why these little old brick buildings matter.
Some reasons off the top of my head:
They provide spaces for artists, dreamers and entrepreneurs to make a start. As Jane Jacobs said: "Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings."
They're cool in a way that modern buildings can't replicate. (See McNellies for an example of why "nondescript" brick buildings aren't so nondescript after all.)
"The greenest building is the one already built." There are now several websites that can help calculate "imbodied energy" as well as the energy it takes to tear down a structure and rebuild a new one. Quick and easy tools can be found at
http://www.thegreenestbuilding.org When you start thinking about energy in these terms, it's obvious why even the greenest building will take years to offset the waste of demolishing an existing building!
They create the "urban fabric" that connects places to each other. In downtown Tulsa, we have some terrific Islands of Interest. Imagine if they were still linked together by the historic buildings that used to exist.
Older buildings are human-scaled and pedestrian friendly. They are not separated from the street by surface parking lots. And they add variety and interest to the street, rather than monolithic boredom.
Older materials and craftsmanship are irreplaceable. Few can afford to build things this well anymore.