Facade Retention

What is Facade Retention?

Facade retention or facadism is when only the facade of a historic building is preserved and a new structure is built behind it. The practice is controversial and often disliked. Many believe that this practice is a superficial shortcut for developers to get around historic preservation guidelines making an effort to preserve a historic building. While this is sometimes the case, facade retention is used for many different reasons. Facade retention is not ideal and is very rarely the first choice when deciding what to do with a historic building but rather a possible solution when demolition or historic rehabilitation are not desirable.

Research Methods

This reference guide aims to analyze the main factors that determine if facade retention is appropriate. The analysis is applied to several vacant buildings that could be candidates for facade retention. This analysis was done through research and interviews. The interviews include; Sarah Quinn, a member of Pittsburgh’s Historic Review Commission; Matthew Craig, executive director of the Young Preservationists; Tom Price, principal at Strada Architects and architect of the Penn at Walnut on Highland, which uses facade retention; and Seth Cohen, principal at Venturi Scott Brown Architects and architect of Lenfest building, which uses facade retention.