GDG- cylclorama

[James Cameron]

<< If it weren't for its location, the Cyclorama on Cemetery Ridge at 
Gettysburg would be a structure worth saving just as was the Jenskins house 
near Stone's River National Battlefield, which was torn down to make way for 
development.  While many think their reasons for wanting the cyclorama 
destroyed are valid, the truth is the effect is no different.  A national 
treasure will be destroyed and lost forever.  >>

I realize this is something of an "eye of the beholder" kind of thing, but 
the report posted by Margaret, in my opinion, sums up the balance of issues 
to be considered quite well.

While the architect is doubtless well know and respected, I think it a 
stretch to call the cyclorama building a national treasure.  Architectural 
preservationists will, to be sure, disagree.  As I see it, it is a building 
constructed for a specific purpose, which has, over time, simply outlived 
its usefulness.  Indeed, part of its intended utility was lost years ago, 
when it became evident that it was inadequate for its other, and very 
primary function, that of being the park's visitor center.

Ultimately, it is a failed structure, the damage the cyclorama painting 
itself sustained while there clear evidence that it was poorly designed even 
for the task of displaying and preserving that artifact.
I find it somewhat ironic that those who demand the building be preserved do 
so despite the fat that, whatever its esthetics and pedigree, it represents 
what was, in the final analysis, an architectural failure in terms of its 
intended uses.

I also question the assertions that the building is somehow historic in its 
own right.  But even if viewed in that way be some,
as the report to the Advisory Counsel stated,
"There are other Neutra buildings; there is only one Gettysburg Battlefield. 
The proper treatment of the Building would be considered under quite 
different criteria, of course, were it on some other site without superior 
historical competition.
The continued existence of the Building is consequently pre-empted by 
another controlling historic preservation objective."

As the report concluded, "The Building must yield."

Jim Cameron