Donald Trump is being called out for demolishing the Bonwit Teller store in 1980. He tore the building down to build the Trump Tower in New York City. Trump’s response to the Charlottesville rally has upset many. Donald tweeted, “Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments.”
The Bonwit Teller building had two beautiful Art Deco sculptures as seen in the image below. Trump promised The Metropolitan Museum of Art that he would preserve the sculptures along with metal grillwork from the front of the building. Donald agreed to donate the pieces of history to the museum so they could be featured in the 20th century sculpture collection.
 |
| Bonwit Teller Donald Trump |
Trump ultimately decided that it was too expensive to preserve the sculptures. He advised his workers to destroy the sculptures because it would have cost $32,000 to preserve them. Trump is being called out because he didn’t care about preserving history then but he does now:
Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You…..— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017