The waste is astonishing!

[Beekissed]

The local nursing home is expanding. They owned several houses in front of the facility...old, well-built homes, one, at least, of a historical nature. One day they were there and the next they were simply gone! Nothing but a bare spot on the earth. I know they didn't move them, it would have made the town news. So, the alternative is they just bulldozed them and hauled them away in dump trucks. All the fruit trees, all the outbuildings, etc.

These houses were so cute, 2 story Victorians and one story and a half cottage, a duplex made from a large house. With all the Habitat Houses being built just 14 miles away...and they just threw these houses away! All those hardwood floors and door frames, all that good, oak framing, galvanized roofing, cypress siding....gone! That, to me, is a sin! People are having a harder time affording to build or buy houses and they are throwing 3 houses and a duplex apt. building away.

I'm sure there is some tax right off but I just ache to think that those homes could have been moved, donated to Habitat for Humanity, auctioned for the salvage and recycled. Anything but throwing them away!

 

[miss_thenorth]

That is sad. there are companies who strip old houses and use the parts for remodeling etc. Also companies who salvage old bricks. i really hate seeing old houses esp ones that still have potential-destroyed.

 

[Acre of Blessings]

I love old houses, they have such charm and boy if those walls could talk. If so, I would love to hear the stories they could tell. Every time we drive by an old house my hubby knows what I am about to say "oh, I sure could in that" and he just laughs all the way back.

But one day I will have a mansion on a hilltop that will never be torn down.

 

[Beekissed]

Amen, Chickcrew! I hope my mansion has a big front porch, an old porch swing, a creaky old screen door and a big sunny room....full of friends and family! My old dog Jim sitting on the swing like he used to, waiting for me to come on home....

 

[enjoy the ride]

I agree too- someone might have used that house if they had advertised it. But maybe someone had stripped it of good things inside- I can only hope.

 

[FarmerChick]

yup, progress!
bad word or good word?
it is a shame so much is wasted in this world!

 

[heatherv]

A casino near us just built an entirely new casino, same property. I was hoping they'd make use of the old building (community center or something? rent it out for banquets or something?) But nope, they tore the entire thing down to make room for more parking. So disappointing. There was nothing wrong w/ the older building. They just wanted to expand and have a newer facility.

 

[FarmerChick]

I know Heatherv
that just happened in my Moms little town
I pass by the same BBT bank and it looked fine but older and outdated architecture from the current times....but they tore it down and re-built the same bank...LOL

blows my mind..LOL---and who truly paid for that...me and you!

 

[the simple life]

This kind of stuff makes me absolutely crazy. We have a historical commission in our town that is pretty tough, but every once in a while they will allow something to be torn down or renovated if they think its beyond preserving.
I live in a house built in 1768 and I love it with a passion. I have done so much work to preserve all the original character of this place.
It use to be an old stage coach stop.
It had a shoe factory on the property at one time and Daniel Webster use to come here to get his congressman's boots made, its now the house my next door neighbor's live in.
I can only imagine the comings and goings that went on here in this old New England home and all the other historical homes.
I hate to see those old victorians go, its really a huge loss.
They could at least let someone buy the houses and move them.
What a shame.
Every so often you will hear of someone buying a house for a dollar and then they have to find a place to move it to.
Its so much better than tearing down a piece of history.

 

[Beekissed]

They were tearing down the biggest and nicest one today. I went by and it hurt to watch them tear the heart out of this grand old house. All that wonderful wood, the kind you can't even buy anymore....splintered and scooped. Windows breaking, that grand old fireplace dripping handmade bricks all over the ground. It was enough to make one weep. Someone built it with such love and care that it has lasted for over a century and protected their family from all weathers. Pave paradise and put up a parking lot...