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WITH the recent death of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the concept of assisted suicide was in the news briefly. It may come as a surprise to many people that assisted suicide for buildings is promoted by owners who have deemed them less than optimal for their plans. These are buildings that are vacant and are either so unusable or undesirable that their owners would rather see them degrade to the point of danger than invest time or money bringing them into usefulness.
"Demolition by neglect" is a development strategy. It promotes a positive regard for a potential project by creating such a negative connotation for the existing building that the public welcomes anything new.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Davies Mansion on Prospect Street in New Haven, designed by Henry Austin in 1868, was allowed by Yale University to decay to the point where it could be seen to be irretrievable, despite its history. However, the historic preservation community in New Haven protested so loud and long that, after several proposals were entertained, Yale invested to save the building by using it as...