Above is a glowing view of San Francisco’s gorgeous Golden Gate Bridge, constructed in under 5 years from 1/5/1933 to 5/28/1937.
What other architectural wonders took less than 5 years to build? A Free Press reader sent us the following list. (Note: The Cherry Street Project is not on this list.)
The Empire State Building, built in 11 months, 3/17/1930-5/1/1931
The Hoover Dam, constructed 4/20/1931-3/1/1936
The Eiffel Tower, constructed 1/1887-3/31/1888
Seattle Space Needle, finished in about 400 days on 4/20/1962
The Pentagon, constructed 9/11/1941-1/14/1943
Disneyland, 1/16/1954-7/17/1955
Transcontinental Canadian Railroad, constructed 1881-1885
The Sears-Willis Tower, built 1970-73
And the tallest building in America since the Sears-Willis Tower was built fast and steadily enough that the Chicago Tribune captured a time-lapse movie of its 2005-2009 construction:
All these marvels got completed in less time than the Cherry Street Project – a rehab of an existing 5,000 sq.ft. building that has been blighting our fair town for 5 years (and counting).
Related: Unhappy Birthday: Cherry Street Project Turns Five Years Old
Jim Scarantino was the editor and founder of Port Townsend Free Press. He is happy in his new role as just a contributor writing on topics of concern to him. He spent the first 25 years of his professional life as a trial attorney, then launched an online investigative news website that broke several national stories. He is also the author of three crime novels. He resides in Jefferson County. See our "About" page for more information.
Good one!
My first job as an architect for USAF space systems started in 1967 and fist launch of this new system was in 1971. That was the time it took to define the requirements, hire the contractors, develop the designs, test the designs and then proceed to launch
How about bad reputations in local politics? Some still being worked on.
I’ll be happily sharing this! What a complete and total waste that entire project is and always was. Thank you for shining light on this.
Port Townsend, and the county government both have an established history of “progressive” leaders, who promise that their latest, greatest project with its accompanying tax hike will finally target the ‘root causes’ of the homeless crisis we have, and even with taxpayer’s moneys re-defined as, “grant money”, they have failed miserably.
WAIT. Are you suggesting, Jim, that
reality and fancy ideological agendas
might actually be incompatible with
one another?!
Excellent comparisons!
Also, the Atom Bomb didn’t take that long to build. Maybe we can have the Port Townsend Albatross trucked to White Sands to see how well it’s built.
The Cherry Street Building would make a great practice “fire” site for EJFR. After it finished, it would be gone. Yes, City takes a hit but we all know it will always take a hit on this albatross. At least my suggestion provides some utility out of it. It also “stops” the bleeding.
Good minds think alike Trash to ashes, ashes to dust. !
They could also use it to teach proper containment and disposal of asbestos. cough
Don’t get too technical. They don’t even know how to patch the streets so they’re flat. Patches are either high or low, never level with the rest of the street. You’re expecting a lot from them. Working on a building must be very hard for City Hall to plan or even hire someone with the knowledge to do the job. Besides, it’s only taxpayer money that they could use to feather their own nests. Maybe this year’s kindergarten class will see it done at high school graduation… I doubt if we will. ever live long enough see it end.
A request for Mr Scarantino:
A reading list, if you please?
Your name was mentioned recently as the source for one of our council members to read a book called San Francisco. I thought that was a most excellent recommendation and hoped you might be open to sharing some more suggestions for folks to use to educate themselves about the challenges currently facing our city.
Thanks in advance, should you choose to share your knowledge on this issue!
*San Fransicko
It’s a good’un for sure.
this is one of the most brilliant things i’ve seen in a while because it’s so universal. i live in a large-ish metropolitan area that is basically run by developers where urban sprawl, needless construction and cost overruns are accepted without question. this list can at least bring a bit of shame and perspective where needed.
Just think. The money spent on the Cherry Street project could have gone to repairing the existing Mountain View pool.