Rubble: Unearthing the History of Demolition

by Jeff Byles

From the straight boulevards that smashed their way through rambling old Paris to create the city we know today to the televised implosion of Las Vegas casinos to make room for America’s ever grander desert of dreams, demolition has long played an ambiguous role in our lives. In lively, colorful prose, Rubble rides the wrecking ball through key episodes in the world of demolition. Stretching over more than five hundred years of razing and toppling, this story looks back to London’s Great Fire of 1666, where self-deputized wreckers artfully blew houses apart with barrels of gunpowder to halt the furious blaze, and spotlights the advent of dynamite—courtesy of demolition’s patron saint, Alfred Nobel—that would later fuel epochal feats of unbuilding such as the implosion of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe housing complex in St. Louis.Rubble also delves beyond these bravura blasts to survey the world-jarring invention of the wrecking ball; the oddly stirring ruin of New York’s old Pennsylvania Station, that potent symbol of the wrecker run amok; and the ever busy bulldozers in places as diverse as Detroit, Berlin, and the British countryside. Rich with stories of demolition’s quirky impresarios—including Mark Loizeaux, the world-famous engineer of destruction who brought Seattle’s Kingdome to the ground in mere seconds—this account makes first-hand forays to implosion sites and digs extensively into wrecking’s little-known historical record.Rubble is also an exploration of what happens when buildings fall, when monuments topple into memory, and when “destructive creativity” tears down to build again. It unearths the world of demolition for the first time and, along the way, throws a penetrating light on the role that destruction must play in our lives as a necessary prelude to renewal. Told with arresting detail and energy, this tale goes to the heart of the scientific, social, economic, and personal meaning of how we unbuild our world.Rubble is the first-ever biography of the wrecking trade, a riveting, character-filled narrative of how the black art of demolition grew to become a multibillion-dollar business, an extreme spectator sport, and a touchstone for what we value, what we disdain, who we were, and what we wish to become.From the Hardcover edition.

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 18, 2007

About the author

Jeff Byles is an author and journalist who has written about architecture, urbanism, and culture for The New York Times, The Village Voice, Metropolis, Modern Painters, Cabinet, The Believer, and other publications. His book Rubble: Unearthing the History of Demolition was named a Best Book of the Year by The Village Voice and Time Out New York.

Reviews

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book looks at demolition both historically (firebreaks against the Great Fire of London and Haussman’s ruthless renovation of Paris) and more contemporary efforts such as the demolition of the World Trade Center remnants post 9/11, the destruction of countless public-housing projects and the reversion of parts of Detroit to wilderness (on the grounds that letting the city shrink is the optimum solution to a shrinking population). Mixed in is the evolution of wrecking technology (the Wrecker’s crowbar really is a classic wrecking tool), demolition as visual spectacle, economics within the profession (China now soaks up a lot of leftover metal from demolished homes) and the mixed view of architects on having their work torn down.

[Deb Urbano · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellently researched, thorough history of demolition. The older history included details on Paris' reconstruction which Haussmann began in the 1850s. Also examined: demo of large buildings, big personalities in the industry, low-income housing demo cycles, and demo as entertainment. The chapter on post traumatic demo (like 9/11 and the Berlin Wall) was fascinating. Artfully written with photos sprinkled throughout along with pertinent quotes from poetry and literature.

[Renmarie56 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay and had some interesting chapters, but overall I'm not sure I'd recommend it. some chapters, such as the ones about Penn Station and the London Fire were interesting, but others dragged and it felt like it was lacking something in the end. It's one of those books I wished could have been a bit longer and given more specific details about actual demolition jobs.