Cedar Point hotel loses landmark status

Only architects and stupid people could make such ridiculous statements. You know where you could see that "visual relationship?" From the air! You know where I could see it? The park map and post cards! Please!

If you've ever set foot in that lobby and rotunda, you know what the feeling is in there. It's old, very turn of the century.

Besides, the wings they tore down for the tower were employee dorms. Ask them how much they "enjoyed" the historical significance of those rooms.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

pfft.  who cares?  its still a gorgeous hotel, and anybody that sets foot into it knows it. 
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Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

Sorry Jeff I disagree here, a lobby and rotunda do not make a historical landmark hotel, its no longer a historical landmark when you change in away that they did. I still like the place but if we did this(modernize) to all historical landmarks what would we have left. History is a key to CP's success over the years. Lets put it this way, mean streak is made of wood and we keep the same stucture as it used to be but now we make it steel, is it the same coaster, its the same that apply's here its not the same Hotel with the updates to it.
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Army Rangers lead the way

*** This post was edited by supermandl on 11/25/2001. *** *** This post was edited by supermandl on 11/25/2001. ***

Its just a label that didn't really mean anything to begin with, supermandl.  What really matters is that the hotel is old, beautiful, and has a ton of history behind it. 
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Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

Ravenguy98 you forget most of this hotel is no longer old and with a ton of history just the lobby and rotunda. I hope you where kidding about historical landmarks just being labels, I do believe they are a big part of our history, so according to you its ok to change Historical Landmarks because its just a label.
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Army Rangers lead the way *** This post was edited by supermandl on 11/25/2001. ***

Jeff has mentioned it before, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Bon-Air wing bite the dust sometime in the fairly near future.  Sure it's great for a school trip or whatever, but when compared to newer accomidations, it just doesn't stack up.  I personally don't really like the look of Breakers from the park side, but if you're out on the beach, the whole thing is beautiful.  Half the people that visit the park probably don't realize just how beautiful it is out on the beach.  I know I didn't the first two times I visited.  My only wish is that they could somehow improve the service in the Breakers TGI Friday's.  It is a nice spot to eat, but the waits and service are terrible.

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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

I never really seemed to notice any marketing attached to this past historical status. I don't think Cedar Point will loose any income over this decision.

It's also my personal opinion that the requirements for a historical building need to be loosened. How can buildings be safe and profitable with ancient codes building requirements?
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Jes
Webmaster, Jes's Roller Coasters
"Thank You Jeff Putz"

CP will only make money from this, its just a matter of loosing a historical landmark and gaining a money making landmark.

Zero-G this is what my company does is restore buildings and you have many historical buildings that are safe and profitable(restaraunts and bars come to mind here). I'm caught in between here, I love my old buildings but here they are stuck they need to modernize a an old building loosing its historical value but gainging a money maker, which means more money to CP for rides.
Don't get me wrong I HATE to see landmarks loose there historical landmark status, but in rare cases it has to be done, but if its done alot it will take away from our history.

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Army Rangers lead the way *** This post was edited by supermandl on 11/25/2001. ***

Now that the title is gone maybe they can get rid of some of the historic mattress they have. I believe the one I slept on was a Breakers original.

i've stayed at hottel breakers, and can see that the old remaining part isnt even half of the entire hottel breakers, and was very much in need of new rooms, not to mention that the rooms needed to be more modern. 

For those of you who don't know, all National Historical Landmark status means is that the building is protected from being altered by projects which use federal dollars.  Some people I've talked to think CP did something illegal by tearing down the older parts of the hotel.  I am an architecture student, and yes, they did violate the rules of being a Historic Landmark....visual and spatial relationships are important wherever they're viewd from according to the rules.  Cedar Point knew this and could've build a compleltely knew section that retained the same spatial relationships and not lost Historic Landmark status, but htey conciously made a decision not to as it's not a major marketing point.  And Jeff's comments about "only architects and stupid people"...well after 4 years of school, i think some architects are the same as stupid people;-P 

-seth

supermandl: Like I said... the wings that were torn down weren't even accessible to the public, so from the public's view, the historic parts haven't changed. What they're suggesting is that because it looks different from the air, the parts the public has access to, unchanged, aren't significant enough to call them historic. Do we yank the title from the lighthouse next because it's surrounded by pre-fab cottages? It wouldn't be that different from what we're talking about here.

Why do I care? Well, the theatre I worked in at school (Ashland Univ.) was a piece of crap as far as its functionality goes. Why was it designed as it was?

It looked good from the air.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

Form follows function :)

If they were looking at the continuity issue, why did they not do this when breakers east was built? That threw the angles from up top off right there.

I couldn't care less what it looks like from above. The only thing I wish they would have done better is at least make it blend in a bit with the older sections. Having those bland generic almost warehouse looking building next to the beautiful Victorian like buildings of the old breakers looks kind of silly. I wish they could have at least added the same style roof or something.

I have a pretty good picture of the Breakers Complex  from spiral. Just ignore magnum ;).

Unfortunatly, I am quite naive on this subject, but from an observers point of view, wouldn't they just take upgrades into account?

No historical landmarks have no place for upgrades...from what they say anyway.  Look at Gettysburg.  They tore down a very popular observation tower b/c it ruined the asthetics of the place.

I have a fondness for Hotel Breakers but the upgrades were absolutley necessary.  Yes, a dorm was taken down but so was the B wing to make room for the tower.  The A & C wings were taken down to make room for Breakers East.  Most of the rooms were on about the scale of a Knights Inn but you weren't paying $29.99.  They were over $100 which was insane.  It was embarassing to charge those prices.

As long as the company preserves the Lobby and Rotunda I will have no problem with the improvements they are making.

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I'm not sure how I feel about this.

I've always thought that the new additions were atrocious from an aesthetic point of view. I think it did negatively impact the character of the hotel and the surrounding areas but does removing the Historic Landmark designation really serve any useful purpose? It almost seems like a petty punishment to Cedar Point. The most important parts of the hotel still stand and I don't think they are any less significant then they were before the additions.

Blue Streak may no longer fit the rules for an "Ace Coaster Classic" but it is still a classic to me. Hotel Breakers may no longer fit the rules for a National Historic Landmark but it is still historically significant and for that, it deserves some kind of recognition.

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everything's better with a banjo

Well, from an architectural perspective, the building that's there now is ugly as sin.  Cedar Point deserves loosing landmark status, just like the ACE coaster classic on the Blue Streak.  It's obvious by now that Cedar Point is not interested in it's history at all, especially with the addition of Wicked Twister.  They need to take a hint from Kennywood.

uh, Jeff,   There's a reason it's called an amusement PARK.  The park setting is an important aspect of any amusement park.  The Breakers is exactly what it's name implies, a BROKEN piece of once beautiful architecture.  I've seen factories more asthetically pleasing than that.  Are you associating architects with stupid people?  Trust me, the general public has noticed the degradation of Cedar Point's asthetics over the years...

"I need to find some shade"

"Where did the train station go?  Oh, there it is, under that giant sail"

Because they choose to reconstruct the Breakers, you conclude that Cedar Point is not interested in it's history?  Now that is a lame statement.

Cedar Point promotes it's history in tons of ways, sometimes overdone if you ask me.  There is the museum, the landmarks throughout the park, the employee orientations, etc.  You know what happens when you live in the past?  You get a great park like Lake Compounce almost dieing.  You lose parks like Idora, the original Elitch Gardens, etc.  Kennywood is a rare exception and a good example of maintaining old and new but to say Cedar Point isn't interested in it's history is ridiculous.

If you know anything about building you know it would have almost taken an act of God to save the wings of Breakers that Cedar Point tore down.