Tom Stoelker reports on the impending vote on whether to demolish a Brutalist "masterwork," Paul Rudolph’s 1971 Orange County Government Center in New York, and the moves preservationists are making to try to save it.
As difficult as many people find it to love the rough blocky appearance of Brutalist-era buildings, Rudolph's center has also been plagued by performance and maintenance issues for decades. The unevenly stacked boxes of the building have leaked since the day it opened. Now county leaders are pushing ahead with plans to replace the faltering building.
"On March 5, [Eddie] Diana, [the county's executive director] proposed a $75 million replacement of the 153,600-square-foot building in a style that would be more in keeping with the village's colonial past...But preservationists argued that closing the older buildings would sap village street life, to say nothing of county coffers," writes Stoelker. Renovation estimates for the Rudolph building presented at the same meeting were said to be inflated.
With a vote scheduled for April 5th to decide the fate of the building, which has been abandoned since last August when Hurricane Irene flooded the mechanical room, regional and international preservation agencies are boosting efforts to raise citizen awareness about its importance.
FULL STORY: Rudolph in Ruins
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
Google Maps Introduces New Transit, EV Features
It will now be easier to find electric car charging stations and transit options.
Ohio Lawmakers Propose Incentivizing Housing Production
A proposed bill would take a carrot approach to stimulating housing production through a grant program that would reward cities that implement pro-housing policies.
Chicago Awarded $2M Reconnecting Communities Grant
Community advocates say the city’s plan may not do enough to reverse the negative impacts of a major expressway.
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HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
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