List of destroyed heritage of the United States

This is a list of destroyed heritage of the United States. The year of demolition is marked in parentheses.

This is a list of cultural-heritage sites that have been damaged or destroyed accidentally, deliberately, or by a natural disaster, sorted by state. Only those buildings and structures which fulfill Wikipedia's standards of notability should be included. The simplest test of this is whether the building or structure has its own article page.

Cultural heritage can be subdivided into two main types—tangible and intangible heritage. The former includes built heritage such as religious buildings, museums, monuments, and archaeological sites, as well as movable heritage such as works of art and manuscripts. Intangible cultural heritage includes customs, music, fashion and other traditions within a particular culture.^[1]^[2] This article mainly deals with the destruction of built heritage; the destruction of movable collectable heritage is dealt with in art destruction, whilst the destruction of movable industrial heritage remains almost totally ignored.

Alabama

David Rinehart Anthony House
Augusta Sledge House (circa 2010)
Birmingham Terminal Station (1969)
Cedar Haven (2000s)
Daniel Payne College

California

International Savings & Exchange Bank Building (1954): Demolished by the city government of Los Angeles.^[3]
MGM Silent and Early Sound Film Archive (1965): A fire in one of the studio's archival vaults destroyed the only copies of hundreds of silent and early sound era MGM films.^[4]
Richfield Tower (1969): Demolished to clear site for City National Plaza.
Wolf House (1913): Jack London's house which burned down before he and his family ever got to move in

Georgia

Bonaventure Plantation (1804): fire
Georgia Guidestones (2022): bombing
Greenwich Plantation (1923)
Wetter House (1950)

Illinois

Chicago Federal Building (1965)
Garrick Theater (1961)
Home Insurance Building (1931): Demolished to clear site for the Field Building.^[5]
Masonic Temple (1939)

Indiana

Bridgeton Covered Bridge (2005): arson
Bucklen Theatre (1986)
Cadle Tabernacle (1968)
Indianapolis Traction Terminal (1972)
Louisville and Nashville Railroad Station (Evansville, Indiana) (1985)
Snyderman House (2002): arson
Terre Haute Union Station (1960)
Tomlinson Hall (1958): fire
Wilbur Wynant House (2006): fire

Louisiana

New Orleans Cotton Exchange (1964)

Massachusetts

Kragsyde (1929)

Michigan

Detroit City Hall (1961)
Franklin H. Walker House (1998)
J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition (1998)
William Livingstone House (2007)

Minnesota

Metropolitan Building (1961)

Mississippi

Brierfield Plantation (1931): fire

Missouri

Kiel Auditorium (1992)

New Jersey

20th Century Fox Silent Film Archive (1937): A fire in the studio's archival vault destroyed the only prints and original negatives of a majority of silent era films produced by the Fox Film Corporation prior to 1932, as well as the majority of the silent film negatives of Educational Pictures.^[4]
Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel (1978): Demolished to clear site for construction of Bally's Atlantic City.^[6]
Traymore Hotel (1972): Demolished during a downturn in economic fortunes in Atlantic City.^[7]
Ulysses S. Grant Cottage (1963): Demolished by owners.^[8]

New York

Larkin Administration Building, Buffalo (1950)
World Trade Center (2001)
Pennsylvania Station (1963)

Ohio

Heinrich A. Rattermann House (2005)
Nasby Building

Pennsylvania

Broad Street Station (1953)
Carnegie Building (1952)
La Ronda (2009)
Linden Grove (2000)
Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal (1954)
Whitemarsh Hall (1980)

Rhode Island

Whitehall (1971)
America Street School (1996)

Tennessee

Luther Brannon House (2021)

Virginia

Abingdon (1930)

Washington, D.C.

Raleigh Hotel (1964)
Wylie Mansion (1947): destroyed partially by fire and then demolished

References

^ "What is meant by "cultural heritage"?". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016.
^ Stenning, Stephen (21 August 2015). "Destroying cultural heritage: more than just material damage". British Council. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
^ "Wreckers Put Hammer to Old Health Building". Los Angeles Times. December 30, 1954.
^ ^a ^b Pierce, David (1997). "The legion of the condemned – why American silent films perished". Film History. 9 (1): 5–22.
^ Taussig, Meredith. Field Building (Report). Commission on Chicago Landmarks. p. 5 – via Archive.org.
^ Spatz, David (October 18, 2009). "Kaboom!". Atlantic City Weekly. Archived from the original on October 9, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
^ Hallstead, William (May 1973), "BIG BANG on the Boardwalk", Popular Mechanics, retrieved March 4, 2022
^ Carino, Jerry (August 29, 2016) "In Long Branch, a President Slept Here – A Lot", Asbury Park Press. Retrieved May 6, 2020.

Damage, destruction and looting of cultural heritage

Human-
caused

By location	Afghanistan Destruction of art Canada Monuments removed in 2020–2022 China Destruction of the Four Olds Iran Disappeared statues in Tehran, 2010 Iraq Archaeological looting Destruction of Mosul Museum artifacts Ireland Destruction of country houses, 1919–1923 Israel Destruction of the Shrine of Husayn's Head Kosovo Destruction of Albanian heritage Destruction of Serbian heritage Middle East Damage in 21st-century conflicts Nigeria Benin Bronzes Palestine Destruction of cultural heritage during the Israel–Hamas war Saudi Arabia Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites Spain Missing landmarks Syria Damage in the Syrian civil war Ukraine Demolition of monuments to Lenin Damage in the 2022 Russian invasion List of damaged sites from 2022 Russian invasion United Kingdom 20th-century destruction of country houses Demolished buildings and structures in London Churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London and not rebuilt Churches in the City of London Public art formerly in London United States Artwork damaged or destroyed in the September 11 attacks
By type	Attacks on museums Destruction of cultural heritage by the Islamic State Destroyed libraries Museums destroyed by war Napoleonic looting List Stolen and missing Moon rocks Tallest voluntarily demolished buildings
World War II	Art theft and looting Restitution claims Works by Vincent van Gogh Libraries Looting of Poland Destruction of Warsaw Nazi plunder