The 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center will be torn down to make room for luxury apartments.

Hip hop fans are in mourning today: not for a fallen comrade, but for the legendary graffiti art installation and urban museum 5 Pointz, nicknamed “The Institute of Higher Burnin’.” Scheduled for demolition later this year, the owner of the Queens building, developer Jerry Wolkoff, has taken the strangely spiteful step of painting it white and destroying decades-old street art.

“I’m grieving right now,” a Marie Flageul, a 5 Pointz spokeswoman, tells the NY Daily News. “It was the largest aerosol art center in the world. You can never replace it.”

The 5 Pointz collective had sought an injunction against the demolition, citing the Visual Artists Rights Act, which protects works of art that have “recognized stature,” but Federal Judge Federic Block rejected the move last Tuesday.

“The biggest art crime was committed today by Jerry Wolkoff,” says the official 5 Pointz Twitter account. “The ground is cursed for ever who wanta to live on a gravestone ? That’s ur legacy jerry.” Here’s what the building looks like now (via StreetArtNews); a mini-documentary about 5 Pointz during better days follows.

Update: developer Jerry Wolkoff defends his decision in an interview with New York Magazine: “I had tears in my eyes while I was doing it. I know it seems like a bitter pill to take, but it’s medicine. I didn’t like it, but it’s going to get me better. It’s best for them, and it’s best for me. In my new building I’ll have walls for them to express their aerosol art.”