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It’s a shame when a piece of history gets swept aside simply because some developer or another decides that the property it’s on would be more valuable if a high-rise condo were built upon it. With a city as dense as New York, that’s just a fact of life. Unfortunately, even the buildings that are trying to be placed on the landmark preservation list might fall victim to this urban development, as the incredible backlog of petitions has caused the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to scrap many requests.

Most of these will make it back onto the list eventually, as just because they’re removed doesn’t mean they can’t try again. But in the interim, a handful will fall to the bulldozer. Developers will no doubt rush to demolish these properties while they can so that they can get back to business as usual. And while NYC certainly needs progress, when does progress become an abandonment of our history?

Photo courtesy of קרלוס הגדול via Wikicommons