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Op-ed: History Vanishing Before Your Eyes

12/27/2013

This Old House

Now you see it, now you don't.

This house, 2006 Barton Avenue, on Richmond's Northside was built in 1890. It fell into disrepair, and in 2007 the Richmond Redevelopment Housing Authority bought the property.

Despite the over 120 years of history here, they chose to demolish the building earlier in December. I woke up one Thursday morning to this backhoe across the street from me. And when I got home from work the next day, the house was gone. It only took them one day to make the house and history disappear.

The very last Sunset seen by this 1890 house.

One house is maybe not such a big deal. And this particular house had a lot wrong with it— interior floors and walls collapsed, fire damage on the second floor. It would have been a total gut and re-build type of project. It would have been fun to do, to dress up those old bones.

I can see the benefits economically of the decision to demolish. But it gives me pause. Pryor, the company that did this demolition, is the same company that did the demolition of the Loving Warehouse in Shockoe Bottom. The Loving family had this historic and beautiful warehouse demolished to prepare the lot for sale to developers working on the plan for a baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom.

It starts to feel like a big deal when a City has the habit of knocking down and building on top, and asking questions later. One of Richmond's resources is its history. The good history and the bad history both deserve our respect. Demolition as a trend does not best serve the history in Richmond, or the citizens of Richmond. We need to take the time to understand the history of places, and perhaps chose to investigate with archaeology and research before moving forward.

Some might call the old house a blight, and be happy it was knocked down. I'm almost positive that what is built in its place will be more of a blight. But my disdain for vinyl is a topic for a larger column. I might be a fool for houses, and you can call me sentimental, but looking at the picture below just makes me sad: