Beauty and the Beast, in buildings
Sometimes we debate whether buildings are beautiful or ugly. I’m certain I’ve found an example where no one will disagree that a gorgeous building has been replaced by something hideous.
Jaime passed along this Denver Post series of color photos from 1939 to 1943 compiled from the Library of Congress’ collection.
Photo number 57 in the series shows a corner in Dillon, Montana, in August 1942. The metadata says “Dillon is the trading center for a prosperous cattle and sheep country.” It’s late afternoon. Shadows are starting to stretch across the streets. And there’s not a lot of activity on the streets. Two men are standing in front of the Moose Bar to the left of center in the photo. Perhaps more people will be on their way into town as the sun goes down and the day’s business comes to a close on nearby ranches.
Here’s what it looks like today:
Image from Google Street View.
The beautiful Italianate details of the building have been replaced by garish metal siding. The many large windows which provided natural light (and were shaded when necessary, as seen in the original photograph) have been boarded up and replaced with small portholes. What was once a beautiful building is now ugly. There’s no way anyone can claim it’s attractive now.
(If you look to the left, you’ll note the Moose Bar is still in business.)
There’s a term, facadism (facadectomy is also popular) for the act of saving the facade of a building while demolishing the rest to rebuild. Reskin is often used for the opposite, like what was done to this building, but the word doesn’t carry a pejorative connotation. I’d like to come up with something negative to describe this travesty. The one word should hit home and make it clear that a beautiful building has been turned into a hideous mess.
It’s worth noting that Newark, New Jersey, has recently passed rules to help encourage building owners to expose those original facades hidden beneath years of ugly signage and siding.
So, have at it in the comments. What word would you create to mean “replacing the original facade of a building with something much uglier?”