The Lovely building is

The Lovely building is no more.

Down on Hauksan Dori, the major thoroughfare near our house, stood a building that made me smile every time I walked by. It had a certain style, a panache that the buildings surrounding it lacked.

Seven stories high, it fit in with its neighbors. Except for one feature. Running down the center of the building from the top floor to the entrance was a giant tile mosaic. The background was pale green & pink, turned dirty from years of traffic. In the center a daisy with stem, leaves and all, was interpreted in realistic white, yellow and dark green. Near the bottom, picked out a 1950s advertising script in gold tiles slightly tarnished with age, was the word Lovely.

Shortly after we moved into the neighborhood the Lovely building was surrounded by scaffolding. I had hopes that they were renovating and cleaning the mosaic.

But earlier this week the scaffolding came down to reveal a giant hole. The Lovely building is gone. I'm sure they will build something new in its place, but I'm sure it won't be as Lovely.