The Christian Specht Building is located at 1110 Douglas Street in downtown

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

, Nebraska. It is the only existing building with a

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

facade known in Nebraska today, and one of the few ever built in the state. The building was deemed an

Omaha landmark This article covers Omaha Landmarks designated by the City of Omaha Landmark Heritage Preservation Commission. In addition, it includes structures or buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places and those few designated as Nation ...

in 1981, and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1977.

History

Italian Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ...

Style. This was a popular style for cast-iron facade buildings. Christian Specht's company, the Western Cornice Works, manufactured the facade. The company was a manufacturer of galvanized iron cornices, finials and other metal building products. Today the building is renowned for its artistic value by representing this period's usage of iron.

Proposed demolition

In 2001 the Omaha Performing Arts Society, led by the publisher of the ''

Omaha World-Herald The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...

'',

John Gottschalk John E. Gottschalk (; born 1943) is the retired chief executive officer and publisher of the ''Omaha World-Herald'' and was the national president of the Boy Scouts of America from 2008 to 2010. Early life Gottschalk grew up in Rushville, Nebras ...

, proposed building an

arts center An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for ...

adjacent to the Specht Building. Plans called for the demolition of the entire block the Specht Building sits on, including the Specht and four neighboring historic buildings. In 2001 the City of Omaha was presented with a

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

90 million gift for a downtown performing arts center contingent on the demolition of the downtown block containing the Specht Building and three other restored historical buildings. Shortly thereafter, the Omaha City Council voted to condemn and immediately demolish the Specht Building and the three other buildings to make way for green space for the performing arts center. Before voting to demolish the Specht building, the City Council did not discuss the fact that since 1981 the Specht building had been a designated Landmark of the City of Omaha. Early reports indicated that the historic buildings would stop the project from happening, particularly after the historic building owners secured a temporary restraining order against the City of Omaha that prevented city attorneys from using

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

to take the four buildings. Pressure upon the major donors of the performing arts center and the donors requested that the buildings be spared. After negotiations the plans were saved and the location of the buildings was intact. However, during the demolition of the rest of the block, some of the historic buildings were badly damaged, with one of the buildings completely demolished.(nd
"Historic downtown Omaha building accidentally damaged in implosion"
. AP. Retrieved 7/9/07. The Specht Building was remodeled thereafter and is now loft apartments.

References

External links

Modern photo
{{NRHP Omaha History of Downtown Omaha, Nebraska National Register of Historic Places in Omaha, Nebraska Houses completed in 1884 Buildings and structures in Omaha, Nebraska Italian Renaissance Revival architecture in the United States Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska Cast-iron architecture in the United States

History

Proposed demolition

See also

References

External links