Business
La Crosse’s iconic “Pink Palace” being checked for special souvenirs, before being torn down
It’s an unusual, one-of-a-kind landmark on La Crosse’s Main Street, just a block from the library.
An apartment complex painted pink, which bears the nickname the Pink Palace, was approved for demolition by the city council, to be replaced by new housing.
This week, staffers from Habitat for Humanity for the Greater La Crosse Region have recruited volunteers to help go through the Palace to see what can be saved for other buildings or for souvenirs.
Habitat executive director Kahya Fox, on WIZM’s La Crosse Talk, discussed the salvage project.
“It’s just a wonderful opportunity for partner agencies,” Fox said, “so CouleeCap contacted us, and we organized our staff and volunteers, and we’ve been in the Pink Palace taking out all of those iconic things, saving them from the landfill, giving the community an opportunity to have a piece of the Pink Palace before it’s gone.”
Fox described that “very wild, 1970s, very hip” items are being removed from the building by the Habitat team, through this Saturday.
The city council voted this month to tear down the Pink Palace, which reportedly dates back to the 1800s.
The ‘palace’ would be replaced by a new affordable housing development called Haven on Main.
Nancy Wernecke
December 22, 2024 at 11:53 am
The home my father developed, where my sister and I grew up,⬆️ amidst my mother’s ever expanding array of remodeling projects (the pad complete with disco dancers painted on the walls & black lights to showcase them plus 3 water beds, (purpose being for a “bomb shellter”, African room, japanese room, garden room, outdoor swimming pool (later to be replaced by an indoor swimming pool plus the usual living room, dining room, upstairs bedrooms (mine decorated with purple poodle wallpaper and a canopy bed, my sister’s bedroom designed with a stage bed-Julie was into “acting.”porches, etc!