The senseless demolition of Brownhurst began on the first of this month. I did not venture out to see the carnage, but this video and photos below were captured by Wampa-One. you can see his set of demolition and before shots on Flickr.
Before demolition I visited Brownhurst twice to photograph. Both times I found the door into the basement from outside wide open, so I was lucky enough to see the beautiful interior before its destruction.
A member of the Kirkwood Landmarks Commission who was working actively to save the mansion requested that I hide my interior photos from public view to keep vandals from pillaging the amazing architectural details. I did so and also said the house had been secured, which was a lie. Its owner the Society of Mary at Vianny High School didn't give a shit who went in or what happened to the interior, which highlights the hypocrisy of the situation since the claimed the mansion was a threat to their students! All my photos, including interior can now be seen again on Flickr now that there is nothing left to protect. I understand that some interior elements were salvaged legally.
3 comments:
Wow. The first picture makes me sick to even look at. What a shame, that was beautiful.
That's just sickening. It hurts my heart to think about. I believe that a wonderful old home like that has a soul, after all the live and times it has seen. So ripping it down feels like killing a living thing. Not to mention the history that is completely lost. Just horrible and sad.
When Vianney refused to accept the offer from the St. Louis philanthropist, it was obvious there was no saving Brownhurst. And I've said all along, that the story of 'Brownhurst being a danger to the Vianney students' was a line of pure BS from the school...IF that were the case, the well would have been properly covered AND the building would have been locked down tight. That house was a treasure and had SO much life left to live...it's just a shame and I am disgusted with Vianney.
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