Grand Palace Hotel, New Orleans

[1] Designed by William Nowland Van Powell and Henry Ehrensing[2] as the Claiborne Towers apartment building, construction started in April 1950 at a cost of $10 million.

[3] By 1952, the building featured a wide range of facilities and occupants, including a team of cleaners,[3] a ground floor lounge,[3] a beauty shop,[3] a lingerie boutique,[3] offices of Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company, and a Walgreens store.

[5] Perhaps the most famous story from this period of the building's history is when the Jewish-American mobster, Phillip "Dandy Phil" Kastel, was found dead in his apartment by a private nurse on 16 August 1962.

[10] The main demolition of the building (after months of preparatory work) was by implosion on 22 July 2012,[1] a story which was covered by many worldwide news organizations due to its speed of just 10 seconds.

[11] The implosion, previously scheduled for 20 November 2011, then 18 December 2011, was undertaken to make way for the new University Medical Center, a replacement for Charity Hospital, which was also damaged by Hurricane Katrina.