The 106-year-old landmark Murphy Building in East St. Louis, Illinois was torn down in 2015. The city cited the deteriorating condition of the back portion of the structure and the negative image it presented to commuters cutting through the city on Metro Link trains.

The long-vacant six-story office building, at 234 Collinsville Avenue was built with an eccentric array of architectural elements on the Beaux-Arts facade, including elaborately carved female figures that flanked the entrance, a terra cotta cornice ornamented with festoons, and a pinnacle resembling a stem of flowers that ran three stories high.

The building was located less than a block off the 1940s-50s alignment of Route 66 through town. Photo by Kathy Alexander.