Buildings that marked a historical era but no longer exist

The Alexandra Tea Room

The building in the photo was at the beginning of Corso Regina Margherita, which after the war was named after Luigi Nuvoloni, a hero of the Resistance. It existed before the Hotel Riviera Palace (1903).

At the beginning it was a tailor's shop and over the years it was raised by one floor, lengthened at the back and housed in order: the Pensione Azzurra, the English Bank (owned by the Asquasciati family) and finally the Alexandra Café and Tea Room.

For a time, the latter also had a bridge room run by Princess Melikoff of Krusenijerna.

The building, which had taken on a pleasant Art Nouveau style after being transformed, was demolished in 1936 as part of the road widening work carried out by the Guidi administration to make way for the Rivera Square.

In the course of the works, which completely altered and transformed the physiognomy of the area, only one Ficus Macrofila plant was spared, which grew in a small garden between the Scottish church and the Alexandra and which still today, having become gigantic, towers over the road.

Further information:
Around the time the building was used by the Asquasciati brothers as the English Bank during the crisis, this article appeared in a local newspaper, in 1915 at the start of the Great War dated 9 February:

"Banca Asquasciati has closed its doors. Demand for arrears. La situazione dell'Istituto - Giacomo Gandolfi, telephoned us at 19.00 hours:
For several days there had been whispers that a credit institution in our town was in difficulty because of the economic crisis which had been going on since last August. Having obtained reliable information, I learned that the bank in question is the ancient and well-known Asquasciati Brothers Bank.
I can assure you, however, that it is not a matter of disaster, but of an embarrassment that has grown over the last few days due to the excessive influx of depositors withdrawing their deposits, so that the Bank, unable to liquidate its considerable securities and assets, has decided to ask creditors for a delay in order to reach a calm and well-considered liquidation.
I did not think it opportune to inform you immediately because negotiations were underway with a national institution to save the situation. This morning, however, the Bank was not opening its doors and a sign warned customers to contact the notary Roverio for clarification. Naturally, this caused the most distressing impression on the entire townspeople and neighbouring municipalities, where there are many depositors. On the other hand, it is claimed that the assets are greater than the liabilities, and this circumstance will serve to advise a confident calm in our populations.
Even as early as this morning, the public in the vicinity of the Bank had the impression that depositors will undoubtedly agree to devise means to avoid harmful complications. For the record, the sums deposited amounted to some ten million and the securities and property of the Asquasciati brothers to over 12 million. The financial distress is essentially due to the seriousness of the international situation, which has caused a very sharp fall in all securities'.

(sources: elaboration from texts by various authors including Roberto Colombo; images from Private Archive)