Lost – Burroughs Wellcome Building
by Paul Rudolph, Durham, USA, 1969-1972

Docomomo International received the sad news that the Paul Rudolph designed Burroughs Wellcome Building (Elion-Hitchings Building), by Paul Rudolph, Durham, USA, 1969-1972, – the most important modern site in North Carolina, and perhaps Rudolph’s 2nd most influential built project to Yale – is being demolished. “A landmark building that helped raise the profile of Research Triangle Park and where scientists pioneered the use of AZT to prolong the lives of countless people infected with HIV is coming down. The Elion-Hitchings Building is both an important part of Paul Rudolph’s architectural legacy as well as the only Rudolph-designed structure in North…

National Theatre of Albania demolished
Giulio Berté, Tirana, Albania, 1938

Docomomo International regrets to inform that the National Theatre of Albania in Tirana has been demolished by the opportunistic politics of the government of Albania. The National Theatre of Albania was exposed as an Architecture in Danger where Docomomo International opened a worldwide alert regarding threatened Modern Movement heritage in Tirana, Albania. In the  Architectuul‘s Forgotten Masterpieces – FOMA number 35, Saimir Kristo discussed how the municipality of Tirana and socialist governments tried to demolish and replace the theatre with new high rise profitable developments: “This is not just the fall of a building designed by Giulio Berte in 1939, part of the architectural and…

Oslo’s Y-block with Murals by Picasso demolished
By Erling Viksjø, Oslo, Norway, 1969

The Norwegian Government has decided to demolish one of its most important modernist monuments. A monument by the architect Erling Viksjø, with contributions by Carl Nesjar and Pablo Picasso. A monument that survived a terrorist attack in 2011 and remained structurally sound. A monument of European importance that must be saved. We are talking about the Y-block from 1969 which forms together with the H-block from 1958 the modernist contribution to the government quarter of Oslo. Just before the attack in 2011, both buildings were about to be granted protection by the Directorate of Cultural Heritage. Experts, inside and outside…

Antiguo Mercado Central de Frutas y Verduras de Legazpi [old Fruit and Vegetable Market of Legazpi]
by Francisco Javier Ferrero, Madrid, Spain, 1932-1935

Docomomo International is sorry to inform that demolition works have started this month in the Antiguo Mercado Central de Frutas y Verduras de Legazpi. After the transformation project for the site, which envisioned serious alteration its patrimonial, architectural and historical values, was approved, it is now unclear what will be the outcome of the works and what will actually remain and be used from the original structure. The market was an extraordinary testimony of the modern Spanish architecture of the 30s, that had been preserved until now without irreversible alterations. The rationality of its layout and structure, its versatility and its infrastructural condition, made it an…

Transgas Complex
by Ivo Loos, Jindrich Malátek, Václav Aulicky, Jirí Eisenreich, structure Juraj Kozák and Josef Tomášek, interior design Ivo Loos, Jan Fišer, Josef Vrana, Prague, Czech Republic, 1965-1978

Docomomo International is sorry to inform that, after the validation of the demolition permit of the Transgas Building (Prague, Czech Republic) on February 1st 2019, demolition works have been initiated this week. On February 6th, the developer Group HB Reavis announced they have decided to sell the Transgas building, which led to uncertainty regarding the course of events for the building itself. Docomomo International appreciates the efforts and the commitement shown by Docomomo Czech Republic to protect the Transgas Building. The previous campaign to preserve the building can be found here. More details: facebook + website + Newsreport

Villa Aghion

It is with great deception that docomomo International informs that Villa Aghion, residential project of the brothers Auguste (1874-1954) and Gustave Perret (1876-1952) has been completely demolished in recent days. Located in Alexandria, Egypt, Hotel Avignon, how it was also known, has been projected between 1926-1927 for the high society architect Gustave Aghion in the Palladian style. Part of it demolition started in 2009, illegally, once it was total indifferent with the Egyptian law.The other half of the project was put down in 2014, after it has been withdrawn from the list of Historical Monuments at that same year. That allowed its…

Glasgow´s Red Road flats

“Glasgow´s Red Road flats final demolition Explosions on Sunday, 12 October, destroy most of the iconic postwar housing estate Explosions on Sunday, 12 October, destroy most of the iconic postwar housing estate The demolition of the famously infamous Red Road estate, in Glasgow, is nearing its end. On Sunday past, 12 October, the remaining six of originally eight high-rise residential buildings were brought down by explosion. The demolition as been a long affair, with the first tower block falling in 2012 and a slab following in 2013. In 2014, the proposal to incorporate the demolish the remaining tower into the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth…

Majestic Theatre: Demolition Started

Opened on 1 March 1930, The Majestic Theatre was built for John Fuller & Sons. Billed as ‘The Showplace of Christchurch’, the Art Deco building contained three upper floors of offices, known as Majestic House. It is Christchurch’s first fully steel-framed building. The building is a Group 2 scheduled heritage building, of ‘national or regional significance’. This landmark building in Christchurch’s central city is to be demolished. More than 235 listed heritage buildings have been demolished in Christchurch city and suburbs and in Lyttelton over the three years since the earthquake emergency. Heritage buildings are still being demolished by CERA:…