Comments on: Facadism

By: mike

mike — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:35:03 +0000

i think the fire stations are going away from the model Josh talks about…

The newer ones are being made to keep the public out, going as far as eliminating or hiding ‘front’ doors to avoid des publicums.

By: JoshMahar

JoshMahar — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:47:47 +0000

I lived across from the fire station on Queen Anne for a while and very frequently there were firefighters hanging out around the outside, chatting and keeping an eye on things. A few times they had barbecues or parties and opened the big doors up. You were also always welcome to go in and have a free tour or get your blood pressure checked. Once they even brought up the antique fire trucks just for fun and all the people walking by got to stop and check them out.

While that particular police station building is pretty horrible I think police and fire stations can be a very active and wonderful part of streetscapes by connecting the community and allowing people to engage personally with the local authorities. You can only have so many bars and restaurants before it gets mundane.

By: Just like all of their buildings

Just like all of their buildings — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:53:05 +0000

More like bland, soulless and cheap-looking above.

By: Sabina Pade

Sabina Pade — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:10:15 +0000

A postive by-product of facadism is the sometimes very attractive interior spaces of unexpected geometry and surface finishes in the newly facaded building – spaces that hadn’t existed as such during the facaded building’s original existence, and certainly wouldn’t have been created within the context of a conventional demolition and redevelopment.

Personally, however, I always weep a quiet tear at seeing old structures eviscerated, even when the facades remain standing, because I love period interiors!

By: dave

dave — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:33:58 +0000

I agree re: the liquor store (and Richmark offices to the west) being a worse offender. I’d love to see that demolished and redeveloped.

By: wes

wes — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:10:03 +0000

I think the state ran liquor store kitty corner is worse than the police station.

I was happy to hear this building wasn’t getting demolished for the new development. I was shocked a few weeks ago as I walked by to see the pictured above. Well, it is the facade that makes the beauty of the building as we can’t really see the inside of it from the street. As long as the finished product doesn’t look horrible as has been exhibited in other situations.

All in all, I am happy that this Barrientos, Shapiro, and Dunn folks are doing a lot of the development in the area as they have been doing an awesome job. Can’t wait to see the development down by 6 Arms to get underway.