San Francisco Considers a 'Facadectomy'

A proposed development of a 12-story glass tower on Pine Street in San Francisco has not prompted significant opposition from neighbors, but it has provoked its own kind of controversy, according to an article on Socket City.

The current plan for the site is to "raze the existing garage on the site, a building that’s been deemed to be associated with 'the temporary commercial reconstruction in the aftermath of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire' and San Francisco’s historic Auto Row." Because of that historic lineage, however, "the Historic Preservation Commission would like the existing façade of the 1545 Pine Street building to be preserved and incorporated into the new development, 'to maintain the historic character of the block.'"

The HPC's recommendation for what's known as a facadectomy complicates the nature of historic preservation—and despite the neighborhood opposition, this particular iteration has inspired plenty of commentary on the Socket Site comment board. The larger concept of facadism, however, has long provided a schema for debate about the value of historic preservation, exemplified by an article by Paul Goldberger about a similar situation in 1985.