

Today I went on with my sightseeing tour through Erie. I visited State Street with the old Warner Theater.
Two picures taken from nearly the same place... from about the 1940ies and today. The sign of the old Warner Theater is still there, but nearly hidden behind trees. And there is a building in the background with a rectancgular shape on it's roof that still can be identified. Between these two still existing landmarks a new and higher building was constructed and the building in the left foreground seems to have lost it's upper stories.
The right side of the street looks totally different. Not a single building survived. Instead of the ornated structures of the old architecture there are simple concrete blocks, which don't look very invitingly, just the opposite. They look like simple functional buildings, faceless and - please don't resent me this - boring.
Comparing both pictures the lack of urban life in the new one is obvious. What has happened to this beautiful and busy spot of the city? Why are the old buildings gone? Where is the street life, the shops with marquees and nicely decorated store windows? Where are the sidewalk cafés? It looks a bit like Kassel (Hesse) in Germany, where there huge town highways turned formerly alive town quarters into bleak urban canyons. But Kassel was totally destroyed in 1945, only nearly 10 percent of the town survived the heavy bombings and later several blazes bolted down the rest of the town. Later the architects denied all traditions, all heritage of the town, because they wanted to create a modern town. A town for car drivers.The result looks quite similar (but much, much, much worse): Broadloom streets, nearly no streetlife, concrete blocks....
But perhaps it is only a not very representative picture of the business district of Erie.... It's difficult to learn something about a place when you can't visit it personally. Street View is a good thing, but it is only a snapshot.
I fell in love with Erie, long ago. So this is no slandering and this post is filed under "I love Erie", because I do love Erie very much. Please don't understand my words this way, I don't want to slander Erie. It's just the opposite, an ardent avowal of my interest in Erie: The deep wish that things will turn out good for Erie after losing a lot of it's industry, that this wonderful street life will come back. I nearly daily experience how difficult the revitalization of a town can be when urban life is gone. I experienced how the architects of the period after WW II murdered the old town of Kassel. Erie is so beautiful, the landscape around so awesome and breathtaking. There are so many beautiful spots in the town. But the urban districts become more and more desolate, in Erie and in Germany or Kassel. There are big changes which cause this deployment: The demographic change, new kinds of retail (internet shops, shopping TV, factory outlets, malls) cause shrinking business districts in our towns. The formerly beautiful department stores close and empty buildings or 1-Dollar-Shops follow. The shrinking process and de-industrialization leave empty buildings and street canyions with no urban life. Our business districts have to become more concrete. The retail must be concentrated and pedestrian zones should support the retail. Old and characterizing buildings should be conserved, because these landmarks are important for the identification of the citizens with their home town.
I would like to know if you are thinking similar in America or if you think different. I'm very involved in town planning since my study was town geography and my daughter currently is studying architecture and town planning. I also love old buildings, so I'm very interested in conserving them and the protection of historical buildings. In Germany nearly all old buildings are historical buildings (even my great grandfather's house I'm currently renovating). We lost too many architectureal gems in Germany during WW II and during the 1960ies and 70ies, when many old buildings were broken down to build concrete blocks, which are called "Plattenbau" in Germany. The translation is "plate building", because they were made of concrete plates.
Here is the most cruel way of town planning I know: The Altmarkt (Old Market) of Kassel before 1943 und today (nearly the same view; look at the two church towers) after it was rebuilt in the 1950ies, 60ies and 70ies. Simply terrible, isn't it?

Recent Comments