On the morning of May 26, demolition began on the Palace Amusements complex in Asbury Park, NJ, immortalized in Springsteen's "Born to Run."
The Palace (along with adjacent Lyric Theatre and Talking Bird restaurant) is being razed to make way for a hotel, retail and entertainment facility planned by Asbury Partners. Demolition began suddenly with the carousel house -- both the oldest and best preserved section of the Palace, constructed in 1888 and opened in July of that year. The structure was a classic example of Victorian architecture, and housed one of the world's largest carousels, carved by the famed Coney Island carousel designer Charles Looff. The demolition came unannounced, one night after a membership meeting of the Asbury Park Historical Society was called to consider last minute preservation strategies.
The demolition process is expected to take three weeks, including removal and preservation of portions of the building's exterior. Two painted murals -- one of bumpercars and one of "Tillie," the namesake of the Save Tillie organization that worked to preserve the landmark -- will be chiseled off and saved, in addition to dozens of other artifacts from the building's interior.
"Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard"
This from backstreets.com:
On the morning of May 26, demolition began on the Palace Amusements complex in Asbury Park, NJ, immortalized in Springsteen's "Born to Run."
The Palace (along with adjacent Lyric Theatre and Talking Bird restaurant) is being razed to make way for a hotel, retail and entertainment facility planned by Asbury Partners. Demolition began suddenly with the carousel house -- both the oldest and best preserved section of the Palace, constructed in 1888 and opened in July of that year. The structure was a classic example of Victorian architecture, and housed one of the world's largest carousels, carved by the famed Coney Island carousel designer Charles Looff. The demolition came unannounced, one night after a membership meeting of the Asbury Park Historical Society was called to consider last minute preservation strategies.
The demolition process is expected to take three weeks, including removal and preservation of portions of the building's exterior. Two painted murals -- one of bumpercars and one of "Tillie," the namesake of the Save Tillie organization that worked to preserve the landmark -- will be chiseled off and saved, in addition to dozens of other artifacts from the building's interior.
"Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard"