Edgar Allen Poe residence, New York City

The preservation of Edgar Allen Poe's residence in New York was litigated for several years, and when New York University finally relented and said they would restore the building, they completely razed the old and built a whole new structure because "there simply weren't enough bricks left." University officials called it an "homage;" preservationists called it "phony... tacky... a joke... an insult... absurd... frightfully bad..."