Façadism: an acceptable practice or an easy shortcut ?

In architecture, façadism is a practice that consists of demolishing a building—often a heritage one—while preserving only its street-facing façade, and completely rebuilding what lies behind it, regardless of the original condition of the structure.

Numerous past and recent examples of this practice can be found throughout our urban environment. A few years ago in Québec City, the saga surrounding the façade of the Patro Saint-Vincent-de-Paul generated significant public debate and brought to light the risks this practice poses to our built heritage.

Indeed, one of the pitfalls of façadism is that it can become an easy shortcut—a way for developers to absolve themselves of their responsibility to preserve and enhance our shared heritage, which they nonetheless own. Unless a building has been exposed to extreme weather or exceptional conditions for many years, it is extremely rare that rehabilitating or reinforcing the original structure is truly impossible.

It is true that the genuine preservation of a historic building involves high costs and a significant level of technical and functional complexity. However, these constraints should not override the duty to conserve our heritage. That said, when there truly is no way to save a building’s main structure, preserving only the façade can be a perfectly legitimate solution.

Although there are a few interesting examples, this practice should not become the norm. No regulation should, in any way, encourage the emergence of buildings that too often reduce important pieces of our heritage to little more than lifeless masks—frozen, artificial smiles.