It's over. The Richard Neutra-designed building that once housed the Gettysburg cyclorama—the painting in the round depicting a famous civil war battle—will be demolished. The effort to save the building, which sits on the National Park Service's Gettysburg historic site, lasted for 15 years and involved everyone from historic preservationists to Neutra's own son.
The debate was over which history was more important: civil war history or 20th-century architecture history. Civil war historians felt the building, erected in 1962, was an anachronistic blotch on what the Park Service was turning into an otherwise period-perfect landscape. Preservationists felt Neutra's building was some of the important architect's best work. There was talk of removing the building from the battlefield, but it ultimately proved impossible.
Demolition could start in February, depending on how quickly the asbestos removal goes.
· Controversial Cyclorama building on Gettysburg battlefield to be demolished [philly.com]
· Richard Neutra's Gettysburg Pride Will Likely Be Demolished [CPHI]
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