On the first photo above is the state of this part of the old town 90 years ago, the castle wasn't restored yet.
A few blocks of the old town as the synagogue were removed to build the highway and UFO bridge during communist times.
In September of 1944, the RAF bombed the city center and port destroying 12,500 buildings in what was named "the storm of iron and fire". Large parts of the city were completely rebuilt from the ground up.
Thankfully, Street View reveals that it's not as bad as it looks on most photos - small pockets of historic buildings survived.
Palace of the Nawab of the state of Awadh of India. Destroyed by the British after a failed nation-wide armed struggle for independence 1857-59
The last photo is from 2016 I believe or sometime shortly before it was demolished and the last picture is the new development that is going to be built on the vacant site.
The Glass Bank was used mainly as a bank and a restaurant on the top floor which was known as the Sky Room Restaurant, Ramon’s Rainbow Room Restaurant and Night Club, and Marby’s Rainbow Room Restaurant and Night Club until that closed in 1972 due to the downturn in the economy post Apollo. A lawyer eventually bought the restaurant space and converted it into a penthouse in the 1980s and he made severe renovations to the building by adding stucco and concrete as the building’s glass had been shattered severely during storms such as a tornado which damaged the building in 1977.
This might’ve sounded like a good fix until the 2004 Hurricane Season came along and absolutely destroyed many older buildings on the east coast of Florida. Many of which had to be vacated and were abandoned shortly after such as the Treasure Island Hotel. This is exactly what happened to the Glass Bank. Up until 2004, the building was still being used by a bank, gym, and some office space. The building was severely damaged by the 2004 Hurricane Season to the point where it caused the building’s asbestos to become exposed to the elements. After the last tenant of the building committed suicide, the building was demolished.
There has been some really nice redevelopment proposals for the building. I really hope they go through.
The first image is from before the fire of 1863 during the Restoration War.