Countdown to Destruction

This article was scraped from Rochester Subway. This is a blog about Rochester history and urbanism has not been published since 2017. The current owners are now publishing link spam which made me want to preserve this history.. The original article was published April 29, 2012 and can be found here.

Doomed Brewery buildings as seen from Cataract Street from Saint Paul Street. The High Falls Historic District and Kodak Tower are in the background. [PHOTO: Crystal Pix, Inc.]

As North American Breweries / Genesee Brewery are preparing to demolish the Cataract Brewhouse, we are preparing to capture the tragic event as it unfolds. Crystal Pix, Inc. (Fairport, NY)

has graciously volunteered to document the development of the GardenAerial

project, and as part of that story, the demolition of 13 Cataract will be immortalized as well... sadly.

A closer view of 13 Cataract and the pedestrian bridge. [PHOTO: Crystal Pix, Inc.]

These are a few shots taken by Crystal Pix while scouting for vantage points from which to capture the destruction. The shot above was taken from one of the buildings on Saint Paul Street owned by John Thomas Properties. Thank you John Trickey for opening up his building to us. And while I'm at it, thank you to Crystal Pix for donating your talents and all the time toward the GardenAerial project.

This shot was taken from the 15th floor of First Federal Plaza

on Main Street...

13 Cataract as seen from First Federal Plaza in Downtown Rochester. Mist from High Falls can be seen in the foreground. The big brick building behind the Genesee Brewery sign is the old headquarters of Bausch & Lomb. [PHOTO: Crystal Pix, Inc.]

And a slightly closer view...

13 Cataract as seen from First Federal Plaza in Downtown Rochester. [PHOTO: Crystal Pix, Inc.]

Here's the back side of 13 Cataract Street as seen from a viewing platform near High Falls overlook...

The back side of 13 Cataract Street as seen from a viewing platform near High Falls overlook. [PHOTO: Crystal Pix, Inc.]

And this is 13 Cataract as seen from the High Falls parking ramp on State Street...

13 Cataract as seen from the High Falls parking ramp on State Street. [PHOTO: Crystal Pix, Inc.]

The metal grain silos obscuring the view of the building will most likely be removed before the building is demolished. I wonder how much all that metal would be worth at the scrap yard?

Anyway, while we don't yet know the exact dates of the demolition, keep it tuned to RochesterSubway.com and our Facebook page

for the latest updates. I know how we Rochesterians love to watch a good train wreck.

Hey, remember this one...

On the bright side, maybe the Brewery will schedule this one for the 4th of July. The City could save some money on their fireworks display.

[Video by Mike Battle

]

Chris Gemignani