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Cincinnati Public Library, Cincinnati -

Designed by architect James W. McLaughlin, the stunning library, with huge cast-iron book alcoves and spiral staircases, opened in 1874. It was demolished in 1955 when another library opened down the street, and today a parking lot and an office building stand in its place.

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Original Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York -

The original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Fifth Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets, pictured here in its opening year in 1897. It was demolished in 1929 to make room for the Empire State Building.

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Peacock Alley at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel -

Peacock Alley was a 300-foot-long corridor that functioned as a lobby connecting the Waldorf and Astoria Hotels. It gained fame in the early 1900s as the spot where the fashionable socialites would parade their fashion and jewelry.

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Roxy Theater, New York -

The architecture of the Roxy doesn’t look like much from the outside but...

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Roxy Theater, New York -

It was incredible! It was demolished in 1960, however, for an expansion of the Taft Hotel and for an office building.

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Pennsylvania Station, New York -

This is the original Penn Station in 1911, one year after it opened.

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Pennsylvania Station, New York -

Modelled on the Baths of Coracalla, in 1924 NYC it stood out from its surroundings.

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Pennsylvania Station, New York -

But by 1940 as pictured, the station welcomed millions of travelers to this thrilling metropolis and became the hub it imagined it would be. Unfortunately, it was largely demolished in 1963 and the only parts that remain in the new Penn Station are the underground platforms and tracks.

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Chicago Federal Building, Chicago -

Pictured here freshly constructed in 1906, the building was demolished in 1965, replaced with the Kluczynski Federal Building.

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Costessey Hall, Norfolk -

This manor house in Costessey, England had a long history dating back to 1066, and was demolished in 1925.

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Nordbahnhof, Vienna -

The railway station, pictured in 1890, was built in the style of the gothic revival. It was demolished in the 1950s.

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Newcastle Town Hall, England -

Pictured here in 1938, the building was demolished in 1973 after having deteriorated to an inhabitable point.

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Cabaret de L'Enfer, Paris -

The famous cabaret in Montmartre, founded in 1892 by Antonin Alexander, was demolished in 1950 to allow for the expansion of a Monoprix supermarket.

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Great Synagogue of Nuremberg, Germany -

The synagogue, pictured here around 1900, was destroyed in 1938.

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Detroit Museum of Art, Detroit -

First opened in 1888,  the old museum was demolished in 1960. It's now the Detroit Institute of Arts.

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Palácio Monroe, Rio de Janeiro -

Originally used in the US as the Brazilian Pavilion during the 1904 World Fair, the palace was then dismantled and transported in ships to Rio de Janeiro, where it was rebuilt in 1906. It was a ballroom, the home of Congress, and the home of the Brazilian Senate, but in 1975 then-president Ernesto Geisel authorized the building's demolition, despite being recognized as an official state landmark in 1974.

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Kėdainiai Palace, Lithuania -

The beautiful estate was destroyed in World War II. 

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University Hall, Ann Arbor -

This Michigan university building, pictured in 1910, was demolished in 1950, soon after another hall on campus burned.

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Casa de Velázquez, Madrid -

The Spanish school was located on the front line in the battle for Madrid during the Spanish Civil War, and was largely destroyed in 1936.

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Shibe Park, Philadelphia -

The brand new Shibe Park is pictured here in 1909. It was baseball's first steel-and-concrete stadium.

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Shibe Park, Philadelphia -

It was later renamed the Connie Mack Stadium and went through a lot, from a destructive fire to becoming a place for squatters, before it was demolished in 1976.

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The Portland Hotel, Oregon -

After 1913, the grand Portland Hotel was outpaced by the newer neighboring hotels, and after financial problems it was bought out and soon demolished in 1951 for parking space.

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Original Madison Square Garden, New York -

Built in 1874, this earliest version of the famed MSG seated 10,000 spectators. It was demolished in 1890, replaced with a new building on the same site.

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The second Madison Square Garden, New York -

The second iteration sprung up, from 1890–1926, which was also the last to be located at 26th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan.

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The second Madison Square Garden, New York -

Pictured is the interior of the second version of the now-world-famous venue, hosting a shoe manufacturers' convention.

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The third Madison Square Garden, New York -

Built in 1925, this MSG seated 20,000 and was located on the west side of 8th Avenue, between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan. Demolition commenced in 1968 after the opening of the fourth and current version.

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New York World building -

At the height of the New York World newspaper, the building was erected in 1890, commissioned by newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer. At the time, it was the tallest building in the city, until it was demolished in 1955 to make space for the ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge.

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Prentice Women’s Hospital, Chicago -

Bertrand Goldberg’s 1975 hospital was an innovative moment in both technology and architecture, nine storeys cantilevered on top of a five-story rectangular base.  It was torn down in 2013 to build a new biomedical lab.

See also: Time travel through the futuristic architecture of Zaha Hadid.

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