The Conservatory was never loved, and died a lingering death. It opened shortly before the stock-market crash - a bad time for upscale shopping. ("Not what you need," said the ads, "What You Want." Bad juju in 1987.) It opened fully rented with nice upscale stores, their names engraved in plates on the expensive marble floors. At either end are big sweeping staircases that take you down to . . . no where in particular. Dark and claustrophobic, with atrocious traffic-movement patterns, it failed to attract shoppers - perhaps because people feared they would lose their way and never come out.

Plus, it was purple. It cost $85 million to build, and was sold for $1.5 million before it was demolished. (The site now belongs to the US Bancorp builiding.)

Next: scenes from before and after demolition. These are videotape screengrabs from the previous century, so picture fidelity is somewhat compromised.