Art: Period for a Period Piece?

While some U.S. cities spend millions rebuilding the past after it has been destroyed (as witness, Williamsburg, Va.), others heedlessly continue to destroy a rich heritage of irreplaceable architectural monuments. Case in point: the impending destruction of one of the finest Gothic Revival mansions in the U.S., designed in 1846, and maintained in near perfect condition as a period piece both inside and out until it was willed to the city of Bridgeport, Conn, last year by the late Industrialist Archer C. Wheeler. Because the mansion stands on what is now valuable downtown real estate, Bridgeport's Socialist Mayor Jasper McLevy last...

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