Facadectomies: The Travolta-vs-Cage of Architecture

vanshnookenraggen

vanshnookenraggen

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InTheHood said:
He frankly doesn't like facadectomies.
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Neither do I. I see them all the time and I think they are the worst possible solution. It makes a joke out of historic preservation.

the bad news is that we won't see any 111 Huntingtons, either.
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I think you missed the line where it said he was responsible for the hat on 111 Hunt.
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

I'd sure rather keep the Filene's facade than lose the building entirely. We may just have to disagree (or take it to another thread).
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

^Why do you think facadectiomies are the worst possible solution? I'm not trying to be antagonistic, I'm just curious as to why you feel that way? I'd assume that straight up demolition of a building and replacement with something more bland would be the worse possible solution (a la Dainty Dot and SC&L).
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

Eh, if 101 Arch St were carried to its base, that block of Summer St would suck.

Long live facadectomies.
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

^ Agreed, and same thing with 125 Summer.
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

I would argue that Filene's is the exception to the rule. But this is how I usually see them:

fungus_campanotus.jpg


This is an ant that has been eaten alive by a parasite which then builds a shaft to attract birds to eat it, further spreading itself. Every time I look at the Hearst Tower in Manhattan I think of this.

2007_9_stann.jpg


There is also a new NYU dorm that was built over an old church but only the steeple was saved. What is left is a tower that looks as if it was ripped from the rest of the building and placed next behind a skyscraper.

I'm not arguing against reuse of a building, say, gutting it and leaving the facade only to rebuild the inside. I'm against destroying everything but the facade and building a tower that has no relation to the saved facade, such as Russia Warf is doing.
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

vanshnookenraggen said:
I would argue that Filene's is the exception to the rule.
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I think it's more a matter of facadectomies done well versus being done poorly.

I'll agree that poorly done facadectomies are about as bad as architecture gets, but that doesn't discredit the entire practice and 101 Arch and 125 Summer prove that Filenes is more than merely an exception.

PS. I fucking hate insects, so thanks for that. :eek:
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

Exchange Place is another well-known (but older) local facadectomy. I can't actually think of any others right now.
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

Another is One Lincoln aka State Street Center
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

Ron Newman said:
Exchange Place is another well-known (but older) local facadectomy. I can't actually think of any others right now.
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I still have mixed feeling on that one though.
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

The first in town was likely Rudolph's rebuild of the First & Second Church on Marlboro Street. (If after a catastrophic fire counts).
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

statler said:
I'll agree that poorly done facadectomies are about as bad as architecture gets, but that doesn't discredit the entire practice and 101 Arch and 125 Summer prove that Filenes is more than merely an exception.
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Perhaps I have been too hard on them. You gotta understand, I work out across the street from that church and see it almost everyday, so my mind stays with that image and I have a hard time looking past it.
 
Re: Facadectomies: Good or Bad?

Ugh, we almost had that picture buried on a back page.

Keep posting people!
 
To be pedantic:

The word facadectomies is a misnomer. It implies that it is the facade that is being removed, rather than the core.

But alas, it's still the best word available.
 
statler said:
To be pedantic:

The word facadectomies is a misnomer. It implies that it is the facade that is being removed, rather than the core.
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Back in the 80's, around the time of the completion of Exchange Place, Robert Campbell referred to the building as "RoboCop."
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

statler said:
I still have mixed feeling on that one though.
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Don't like that one at all. Yes, the end result is better than having the State St. building torn down completely; compare One Beacon to its predecessor. But the glass tower is nothing special, and wouldn't be missed if it dematerialized tonight.

Facadectomy is ok to update the machine within, or to save buildings and their context; for example, the War of 1812 and Truman renovations of the White House, or the post 1945 rebuilding of virtually every Northern European city.

I'd rather have that first Dainty Dot rendering without the old facade stuck on, but I'd also rather have the old facade stuck on to what we are likely to get.
 
Re: Profile of Boston's Chief Planner; discusses towers and Dainty Dot

commuter guy said:
Another is One Lincoln aka State Street Center
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One Lincoln didn't keep any building facade's in place. They salvaged a handfull of the white stone pieces from the demolished building on Kingston Street and put up that aweful 'historic wall' on Essex adjacent to the main entrance.
 
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