Cyclorama Building (Gettysburg)

Richard Neutra was awarded the design, and began work in 1958. The design included a central park administration office, space for the cyclorama painting previously held remotely at Baltimore Road, and an auditorium that opened out onto the adjoining lawn.{{cite web |title=Visitor Center and Cyclorama Building |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/allaback/vc3.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=March 28, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130710081031/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/allaback/vc3.htm |archive-date=July 10, 2013 }} Neutra subtitled the building "the Abraham Lincoln Shrine of the Nation."{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jun-27-tm-neutra26-story.html|title = Who Chooses History?|website = Los Angeles Times|date = June 27, 2004}}

Orndorff Construction Company, Inc., won the construction contract with a bid of $687,349, in 1959.{{cite web |title=Completing the Visitor Center |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/allaback/vc3g.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=March 28, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130707134503/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/allaback/vc3g.htm |archive-date=July 7, 2013 }} The site at Ziegler's Grove was intended to tie the painting closely to the battle location it depicted.{{ cite journal |title=Richard Neutra's Gettysburg Cyclorama to be Demolished | date =January 25, 2013 | journal = Architectural Digest | last=Owens | first = Mitchell | url= http://www.architecturaldigest.com/blogs/daily/2013/01/richard-neutra-cyclorama-gettysburg-national-military-park}} The total construction cost was $959,603. The building was dedicated on November 19, 1962, the 99th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.

Toward 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 1977, the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation recommended that the Cyclorama Building be relocated to a less central portion of the battlefield. 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 redesign of interior.{{Cite report |title=Oversight hearing on Gettysburg National Park general management |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55Q2AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA118 |publisher=United States Congress House Committee on Resources, Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands |access-date=January 24, 2011 }}{{Rp|126}} But, in 1998, the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places noted that the building possessed "exceptional historic and architectural significance,"[http://www.mission66.com/cyclorama/ "Cyclorama Richard Neutra's 1961 Lincoln Memorial at Gettysburg."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705041646/http://www.mission66.com/cyclorama/ |date=July 5, 2007 }} reCyclorama June 7, 2007. making the determination that 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.{{Rp|118}} In 1999, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts opposed its demolition.{{Rp|126}} During this time, Dion Neutra, the architect's son (who worked on the design) launched a preservation campaign that generated more than a thousand letters of support. Frank Gehry wrote that Neutra's building "reflects the highest ideals of his own time, and deserves the highest appreciation of ours." The American Institute of Architects described the Cyclorama as "one of the most important buildings constructed by the [Park Service] during the 20th century."

In 2005, the Gettysburg Cyclorama painting was removed from the building for restoration (it would be relocated to the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center in 2007), and the Cyclorama Building was closed to the public.{{cite news|last=Ruane|first=Michael E.|title=Old Gettysburg Cyclorama Building, which once housed famous painting, to be razed|url=https://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-10/local/36272613_1_cyclorama-paul-philippoteaux-civil-war-battlefield|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412092924/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-10/local/36272613_1_cyclorama-paul-philippoteaux-civil-war-battlefield|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 12, 2013|access-date=March 28, 2013|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 10, 2013}}

After the building was not added to the National Register of Historic Places,{{Cite web |date=January 1999 |title=Section 106 Case Report, Cyclorama Building, Gettysburg National Military Park |url=http://www.mission66.com/cyclorama/docs/section106.html#4.0 |format=reprint |work=reCyclorama |publisher=Mission66.com |access-date=January 25, 2011 |quote=----[webpage quote regarding "urging of the National Park Service goes here]----- |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714102220/http://www.mission66.com/cyclorama/docs/section106.html#4.0 |archive-date=July 14, 2011 |url-status=dead }} 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."{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gettysburg-neutra5-2010apr05,0,6761863.story |title=L.A. architect wins battle at Gettysburg|author=Amy Worden |date=April 5, 2010|work=Los Angeles Times}}

File:Gettysburg Cyclorama Neutra PA5.jpg

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." {{Dead link|date=November 2012}}{{cite news|url=http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/29/4767224/nps-says-demolish-gettysburg-cyclorama.html |title=NPS says demolish Gettysburg Cyclorama Building |author=The Associated Press |date=August 29, 2012 |publisher=Sacramento Bee }} {{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In January 2013, the Park Service announced plans to demolish the building during the winter of 2013.{{cite news|last=Ruane|first=Michael E.|title=Old Gettysburg Cyclorama Building, which once housed famous painting, to be razed|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/old-gettysburg-cyclorama-building-which-once-housed-famous-painting-to-be-razed/2013/01/10/fb9cfd2c-5b49-11e2-beee-6e38f5215402_story.html?hpid=z5|access-date=January 11, 2013|newspaper=Washington Post|date=January 10, 2013}} In February 2013, there was a protest.{{cite news |last=Weaver |first=Stephanie |title=Protesters: Keep Cyclorama Building |url=http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_22660474/protestors-keep-cyclorama |access-date=March 28, 2013 |date=February 25, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228024304/http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_22660474/protestors-keep-cyclorama |archive-date=February 28, 2013 }}

In March 2013, the building was demolished.{{cite news|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20130311_Gettysburgs_Cyclorama_building_is_no_more.html|title=Gettysburg's Cyclorama Building is no more|work=Philadelphia Inquirer|first=Amy|last=Worden|date=March 12, 2013}}{{cite news |last=Stansbury |first=Amy |title=The death of the Gettysburg Cyclorama Building |url=http://www.eveningsun.com/news/ci_22755285/death-old-cyclorama-building |access-date=March 28, 2013 |newspaper=The Evening Sun |date=March 9, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313101726/http://www.eveningsun.com/news/ci_22755285/death-old-cyclorama-building |archive-date=March 13, 2013 }} The National Trust for Historic Preservation cited the Cyclorama Building as one of ten historic sites lost in 2013.{{cite news|last=staff|title=A look at 10 historic sites saved, 10 lost in 2013|newspaper=Associated Press as reported by the Post Crescent|date=January 5, 2014|page=F3}}

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{{Commons category|Gettysburg Cyclorama (Richard Neutra)}}

• {{HABS |survey=PA-6709 |id=pa3988 |title=Cyclorama Building, 125 Taneytown Road, Gettysburg, Adams, PA |photos=103 |color=7 |dwgs=24 |data=76 |cap=8}}

Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1962

Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 2013

Category:Buildings and structures in Adams County, Pennsylvania

Category:Defunct museums in Pennsylvania

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Pennsylvania

Category:Gettysburg Battlefield

Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania

Category:History of Adams County, Pennsylvania

Category:Mission 66

Category:Modernist architecture in Pennsylvania

Category:Museums disestablished in 2005

Category:Richard Neutra buildings