Ageing gracefully: restorations which retain historical decay

By Ike Ijeh2019-01-16T06:00:00

Instead of making a neglected building look brand-new, why not refurbish it to preserve and showcase the damage worked by fires, damp, squatters and the passage of time?

Decay is rarely a condition sought when restoring old buildings. The very idea of preserving decay as part of a renewal process seems to verge on the absurd, as since the conservation movement began in earnest around 50 years now its entire purpose has been to eradicate decay rather than keep it. Walk around Windsor Castle today and all trace of its devastating 1992 fire has been obliterated, and it would have been a foolhardy architect indeed to suggest otherwise when reconstruction proposals were sought in the disaster’s aftermath.

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