The Economy Sucks the Life Out of Building
As I was going through our RSS feeds, I saw a pattern emerging as I was scanning headlines.
No money -no building. Or even worse, buildings under construction that were stopped cold in their tracks. In Chicago, architecture critic Blair Kamen has been following the non-progress of several projects. He reports that construction on 111 W. Wacker has stalled at the 26th floor of a proposed 82-story building, and may stay stuck there for a while. The new Trump Tower and Hotel, on the city's river, is still waiting for it's spire to be hoisted into position at the top of the building. The ceremony has been planned and postponed several times. la curbed had a post the other day with the question, "Pondering Preservation: How Will the Economic Downturn Affect Preservation?" Even in Dubai the government has announced that they may have to cut back on some of their building programs until the world economy settles down a bit. Architecture, real estate development, and historic preservation may be in for a rough few years.
ca. 1861, aoc.gov; Capitol Building 2008, Ken Lund via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
It isn't just world-wide, hard economic times that can wreak havoc with your building
venture. War, or even fund raising issues, can spell trouble for a project underway. When Abraham Lincoln was sworn in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in 1861, the dome was unfinished and likely to remain that way for years to come. Construction was halted as relations had grown worse among the House and Senate members representing their northern and southern constituencies. As Lincoln took office the capitol dome project was doomed to failure as the country readied itself for civil war. Lincoln had other ideas and saw the dome as a great marketing tool. If he could keep the construction ongoing during the civil strife, it would send a powerful signal to the entire nation that the federal government of the United States was still in working order. Using the power of the presidency, and his powers of persuasion, he was able get construction on the dome back into operation a little over a year after taking office. The project was completed in 1863, a little behind schedule with a bit of an interruption, but fulfilling Lincoln's mandate to get the job done.
desingslinger]
The Washington Monument didn't have a Lincoln to keep it on track. On July 4, 1848 the
cornerstone was laid for the Monument and it wasn't completed until 1884. Did it really take 36 years to build the marble obelisk? Well, yes and no. It wasn't that complicated to erect, it had financial difficulties and got caught up in a war. Things went smoothly until 1854 when the collection box emptied. The monument was primarily funded through the generosity of the citizenry and the solicitation of subscriptions. The growing anxiety over the potential for war between the States didn't help matters any, and construction was halted at the 150 foot mark of what was to have been a 555 foot tower. And so it sat until 1876, that fine centennial year, when the Federal government finally stepped in and funded the construction. Opened to the public in 1888, it's hard to believe that one of our most recognized national monuments came so close to never being finished.
Hundreds of building projects will probably pile up, collecting dust on drawing boards around
the world in the next few years. The manifestation of the current economic crunch will be evident in abandoned building sites in cities and suburbs around the country. The visual evidence of half-finished columns, rusting steel, rotting wood, are the architectural reminders of the hard times we have seen throughout our history.
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