Destroy, demolish, raze mean to pull or tear down.
Destroy is so general in its application that it may imply the operation of any force that wrecks, kills, crushes, or annihilates.
Demolish implies a pulling or smashing to pieces; when used in reference to buildings or other complex structures (as of wood, stone, or steel), it implies complete wreckage and often a heap of ruins.
The term implies the destruction of all coherency or integrity in a nonmaterial thing and, consequently, of all its usefulness.
Raze implies a bringing to the level of the ground; it may or may not imply an orderly process with no destruction of usable parts <several buildings were razed to make room for the new city hall).
The term may imply obliteration or effacement, more, however, with reference to the implication of scraping than to the sense of pulling or tearing down.