Key points
- Facadism keeps the wall facing the street and demolishes the entire interior behind it.
- Ruskin argued that the value lies in all of the matter, not in the face we see.
- Many rules protect only what is visible from the street, which makes the gutting legal.
False Fronts. Why saving historic buildings has sometimes become a great lie carved in stone.
We explore facadism, or façade preservation: demolishing the interior of a historic building and keeping only the street mask. We talk about authenticity, heritage, the decorated shed, the simulacrum and the business behind the stone, with Ruskin, William Morris, Venturi and Baudrillard. We walk through John Ruskin's lamp of memory, William Morris's building as document, the decorated shed of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, and Jean Baudrillard's simulacrum. We see the steel cage holding an empty wall for months, what is lost inside — staircases, courtyards, ceiling heights — and why the law that protects the facade permits gutting everything else.
Frequently asked questions
What is facadism?
The practice of demolishing the interior of a historic building and keeping only its facade, held up by a steel structure while a new construction rises behind it.
Is there an honest way to keep a facade?
Yes: by not pretending. The new building declares itself new, with its own material and shape, steps back from the old wall or is clearly distinguished, instead of imitating what no longer exists.
