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Groundbreaking of the Art Museum


weill

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  • 2 weeks later...

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Interesting article in this month's Metropolis Magazine about the Seattle Library reminds me of the art museum debate here in Roanoke. People in Seattle seem to either love or hate the library. This passage in the article gives me some hope that people here will soften their opposition to the museum.

Looking at pictures of a building, reading about a building, or jetting in to visit a building are all ways to experience architecture. But they are not the same as living in a city where old known places are razed for that building, where cement is poured and traffic snarled for that building, and where cars and pedestrians are rerouted while that building is being built. A public building has a gestation period during which a city's populace accustoms itself to change, in the same way that a woman accustoms herself to future motherhood during the long months of pregnancy. Often the daily experience of the building as it goes up has residents warming to it or beginning to dislike it long before it opens its doors. And that's what happened to me: my affection for the library grew as the building took shape.

Full article here.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Some news on the Museum, some inside redesigns have been made, now a theater, but not an IMAX will be inside, and the Tony's Place restraurant building has started removing its bricks to make room for the art museum. Everything is a go, now they just need permits. The museum also metioned installing a webcam for the interested.

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  • 2 weeks later...

BREAKING NEWS

The developer Alan L. Amos, Inc. will close Salem Avenue, SE, between

Williamson Road and Market Street on Sunday, May 21, to

remove the front of the old Toney's Restaurant which is the

building that is needed so the art muesum can go up

And....

On Thursday, May 11, Centex Construction will close the streets

near the art museum site in order to begin construction of the new Art Museum.

All roads around the site will remain closed until the completion of the project.

This is major news, somebody here must go out and take pictures!

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As of Sunday, May 14, 2006

View from the skywalk

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View from Market St.

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Back of Lonesome Dove, the building that is soon to meet its grave.

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Lonesome Dove, the building that is the last one on the right

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View from Salem Ave.

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Lonesome Dove, Unknown Building, Billy's, and the Wachovia Tower

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I think the unknown building houses 'Say Cheese'; an establishment providing fine foreign and organic cheeses, along with other gourmet foods. Its sad to see the lonesome Dove go, but at least its being replaced by a building, as opposed to the replacement of many former downtown buildings; a parking lot.

Weill, you're probably too young to remember this; even my memory is a little sketchy, but there used to be a 'Viaduct', coming off 581/Williamson, that sped traffic off the bridge into downtown where the Wachovia tower now sits. Remnants of the viaduct stood at the site of the current parking lot/future museum for years before being demolished.

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Im glad its not another surface lot. A building like the art museum has the potential of bringing a lot of visitors annually.

On the viaduct/off-ramp, is that the one that is branching off of Williamson Road on Microsoft Live? Ive been trying to figure out what that was. Maybe that is it.

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Weill, you're probably too young to remember this; even my memory is a little sketchy, but there used to be a 'Viaduct', coming off 581/Williamson, that sped traffic off the bridge into downtown where the Wachovia tower now sits. Remnants of the viaduct stood at the site of the current parking lot/future museum for years before being demolished.

Ah, the viaduct. Always a touchy subject for my family. My grandfather wrote several letters to the Roanoke Times expressing his vocal opposition to the construction of the tower/viaduct removal. Shortly thereafter, his employer (Roanoker Magazine) fired him over his letters and the Times ended up doing a couple articles on the firing. He's 85 years old now, but the mere mention of the viaduct still enrages him to no end.

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I know I rode in a car on the viaduct, but I can't remember exactly how it ended. Was there a merge onto Jefferson St? I bet your grandfather was mad when they tore down most of the viaduct and then left just a small part to remind him of its demise. I wonder if he realizes that the museum is located on the site of the viaduct.

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I know I rode in a car on the viaduct, but I can't remember exactly how it ended. Was there a merge onto Jefferson St? I bet your grandfather was mad when they tore down most of the viaduct and then left just a small part to remind him of its demise. I wonder if he realizes that the museum is located on the site of the viaduct.

I haven't dared mention the museum to him- god only knows what that reaction would be. But I can't remember exactly what the traffic pattern was. I want to say it emptied onto Salem around where the tower is now, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that I'm very wrong.

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I can't remember exactly what the traffic pattern was. I want to say it emptied onto Salem around where the tower is now, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that I'm very wrong.

We need someone who is old enough to have actually driven on the viaduct but young enough to be able to still remember it. Unfortunately at 27, I'm already slipping into senility. :unsure: At this rate I won't even remember my own name by 30. :wacko:

There's a slim chance I have a photo of the viaduct. Now to try to figure out which box it might be in.

Good idea, that would be neat to see.

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Don't have an intact viaduct photo except some shots from Mill Mt where you can sort of see where it was. I do have a couple of it when they were dismantling it. Here's the only one on my hard drive. I'll fire my scanner up it in a bit. I have some other older downtown views ya'll might be interested in. Roanoke before the Wachovia or NS towers looks kind of weird.

downtown.jpg

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