>There was a construction similar to this down in Memphis, on Beale Street...
>except they never rebuilt the building behind the facade, just left the facade
>standing (supported by some I-beams arching over the sidewalk) and created an
>outdoor cafe behind the facade. I think the building was an old hotel that
>burned.
>
>I found the whole setup really interesting, kinda bizarre, but interesting...
>allowing change to occur around remnants of the past... layering today over
>yesterday. And I certainly understood the streetscape better than if the
>facade had been torn down.

A number of the buildings on the street were that way before the
redevelopment got started in earnest.  When I was in Memphis from 1982-86,
Beale Street was just beginning to become something you could maybe imagine
might could possibly be a positive urban heritage tourism resource.  It had
existed practically like a ghost town in the middle of a barren desert
(aimlessly blowing litter huddled against the curb was the urban
tumbleweed).  Urban renewal had been going great guns in the 60s,
everything to the south had already been demolished (in fact, there was
nothing to connect Beale to the urban fabric--it was completely
disconnected and isolated from any other buildings by about 3-4 blocks at
the closest), and they were just starting to gnaw on Beale Street itself,
when a few voices of reason said "Hey, didn't something musical sorta go on
here once upon a time?"  They stopped, stabilized, actually managed to get
it designated a National Historic Landmark District (not without a great
deal of dialogue with the NPS), and today it's quite a bit different in
downtown Memphis.

_______________________________________________
Dan Becker,  Exec. Dir.       Much like the Lorax who speaks
Raleigh Historic                    for the trees
Districts Commission          I speak for the buildings and
[log in to unmask]                 even for Mies...
            DISCLAIMER:          ...But my views may not be
                                               RHDC's