Thursday, August 9, 2007

Facadetomy

Washington, DC is the location of a very strange phenomenon: the facadetomy. Essentially what happens is that developers stopped tearing down the entire building and leave the facade hanging precipitously in space on a steel framework. The picture below illustrates the absurd level that they sometimes reach to save the facade.None of these views currently exist; the buildings have been completed and now the 19th century facades form the front of one large blocky building, formed by the strict height limits in Washington, DC.
These two last pictures are taken in the actual alley that John Wilkes Booth fled down after shooting President Lincoln in the nearby Ford's Theatre.

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A Blog detailing the beauty of St. Louis architecture and the buildup of residue-or character-that accumulates over the course of time.