Location Zeigler's Grove Construction started 1958 Demolished March 8–9, 2013 Town or city Gettysburg Architectural style Modernism (Mission 66) Architect Richard Neutra | Country United States Completed 1962 Opened 1962 Cost 687,349 USD Inaugurated 19 November 1962 | |
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Address 125 Taneytown Road
Gettysburg Battlefield Similar Gettysburg Cyclorama, Gettysburg National Military P, Gettysburg Museum and Visito, Gettysburg Battlefield, Cemetery Hill | ||
The Cyclorama Building at Gettysburg was an historic modernist concrete and glass Mission 66 building dedicated November 19, 1962 by the National Park Service (NPS) to serve as a Gettysburg Battlefield visitor center, to exhibit the 1883 Paul Philippoteaux Battle of Gettysburg cyclorama and other artifacts, and to provide an observation deck (replacing the 1896 Zeigler's Grove observation tower). The building was demolished in 2013.
Contents
Map of Cyclorama Building at Gettysburg, Cumberland Township, PA 17325, USA
History
Richard Neutra was awarded the design, and began work in 1958. Design requirements included a central park administration office, and space for the cyclorama painting previously held remotely at Baltimore Road. Orndorff Construction Company, Inc., won the construction contract with a bid of $687,349, in 1959. The site at Ziegler's Grove was intended to tie the painting closely to the battle location it depicted.
However, by the end of the 20th century attitudes towards battlefield presentation had changed, and the National Park Service sought to remove many modern structures from key sites. In 1998, the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places noted that the building possessed "exceptional historic and architectural significance." Funding requests to rehabilitate the Cyclorama Building were denied in 1993 and 1996, i.e., $2.7M in 1993 for roof removal/replacement, asbestos ceiling removal, patching cracks and treating masonry, and efficient redesign of interior. On September 24, 1998, the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places determined the "Cyclorama Building was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places", reversing conclusions by the National Park Service in December 1995 and the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Officer in May 1996. In 1999, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts opposed its demolition.
In 2005, the Gettysburg Cyclorama was removed for restoration (reopened in the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center in 2007), and the Cyclorama Building was closed to the public.
After the building was not added to the National Register of Historic Places, in 2010, a U.S. District court judge ruled for the Recent Past Preservation Network (Plaintiff) that the NPS "had failed to comply with federal law requiring it to analyze the effect of the Cyclorama Center demolition and come up with alternatives to destroying it."
In August 2012, the court-ordered NPS study concluded that "the best course of action would be to demolish the Cyclorama Building that has stood in the park for 50 years." In January 2013, the Park Service announced plans to demolish the building during the winter of 2013. In February 2013, there was a protest.
In March 2013, the building was demolished. The National Trust for Historic Preservation cited the site as one of ten historic sites lost in 2013.