Historic Preservation, a magazine published in Washington by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has a feature article in its May-June issue titled 'Tackling Impossible Buildings. 'It describes and pictures the fortress-like stone Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia, which resists developers' rehabilitation efforts, adding, mammoth Union Station in Kansas City does not work either, frustrated developers say. It is too big even for the Kansas City rehab market, one of the most active in the nation. So today plaster is falling from the 93-foot high ceiling and the 260-foot long marble floor is littered with debris. Architect Jarvis Hunt made the Beaux Art structure an imposing symbol, a gateway to the west, and he tied it to the city so well that the public feels like it belongs to them. Adaptive use isn't always a miracle cure - just look at Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia and Union Station in Kansas City. The lengthy article gives the facts of the dilemma for both. For Union Station: Building costs prohibitive for office space (just to clean the ceilings would probably run close to a million dollars); retail use impractical because of proximity to the struggling mall (Crown Center) across the street; as a Science Museum voters' rejection of the $10 million bond issue. The postcard was published by J.E. Tetrick of Kansas City and is similar to the picture used by the magazine. Kansas City Times, May 23, 1986.
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