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Baltimore's striking tribute to Florence, a clock tower known as the Bromo Seltzer Tower, officially opened as artists' studios six weeks ago after a six-year renovation.

The 15-story building was the tallest in Baltimore when it was built in 1911 and was even taller thanks to a 51-foot-tall, spinning Bromo-Seltzer bottle that came down 25 years later.

After a trip to Italy in 1900, architect Joseph Evans Sperry made a replica of the Palazzo Vecchio for the manufacturers of the hangover remedy. It was donated to the city 30 years ago and used as offices. In 2001, the newly formed Baltimore Office of Promotions and the Arts undertook the renovation.

"The building was in pretty serious disrepair," says Bill Gilmore, executive director of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts. "The city was obviously interested in saving the building and making it viable again, so we proposed artists' studio space."... Read More →

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Weeks after a Chicago-based developer announced plans to redevelop its 1950s apartment complex, the company demolished the complex's 1959 tennis club, designed by Gertrude Lempp Kerbis, the first female architect in Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Chicago office.

Draper and Kramer began demolishing the Prairie-style Lake Meadows Tennis Club last week.

"There was a private restaurant on the site that was abandoned for 20 years. The structure had deteriorated to the point of being unrepairable and an agreement was reached with the City to demolish the structure," according to an e-mail from Kim Dooley, Draper and Kramer spokeswoman.

Draper and Kramer, which built the Lake Meadows apartments on the razed site of a run-down neighborhood, wants to clear the 100-acre site again over the next decade, tearing down almost all of the 10- and 20-story towers and replacing them with new, higher-density housing.

Lisa DiChiera, director of advocacy at Landmarks Illinois, says Draper and Kramer has an outstanding track record. In fact, last fall, Landmarks Illinois presented Draper and Kramer with its annual Real Estate and Building Industries Council award for its restoration of Chicago's Palmolive Building.... Read More →

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Of all the hangars in all the towns in all the world, they bulldozed this one.

But the facade of Hollywood's most famous hangar—if such a thing exists—was saved in December, when a hotel bought the 1928 structure that appeared in the final scene of "Casablanca."

On Jan. 29, the hangar, which almost completely demolished last month to make way for development, was moved to another site at California's Van Nuys Airport.

"It's a twofer: It's a victory for preservation of the original hangar at Van Nuys Airport. And it's a tribute to the movie industry of Southern California," Airtel Plaza Hotel CEO Jim Dunn told the Daily News.... Read More →

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Leavenworth, Kan., is perhaps best known for its penitentiary, but it's also the state's oldest town, founded in 1854. This month, locals are trying to save two of Leavenworth's buildings: a former high school and a jail.

Yesterday the city's preservation commission conducted a tour of the 1933 school and 1939 jail, closed eight years ago.

"This is the time to get the discussion going," says Sally Hatcher, chairman of the commission. "I realize that it's the responsibility of the owner of the building to justify demolition, but you need to help them see the light." ... Read More →

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As much a landmark in Ionia, Mich., as the Statue of Liberty, a 1922 barn seemed doomed to fall for a Wal-Mart. Now a nearby YMCA is reconstructing the red barn to use as a living classroom.

Four years ago, Michigan farmer Keith Benedict sold 35 acres and the barn his father had built to Wal-Mart. Developers tore down the farm's main house, two machine sheds, and a corn crib to make way for a Wal-Mart and Taco Bell, built in 2005.

When locals—led by self-described "Barn Lady" Jan Corey Arnett—heard about the barn's potential demolition, they bought the structure from Wal-Mart, promising to move it. The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Midwest Office, along with the Michigan Barn Preservation Network, encouraged the company to save the building. ... Read More →

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