National Trust of Australia's Victorian branch criticizes facadism

The National Trust of Australia's Victorian branch has released a discussion paper denouncing facadism as an acceptable architectural practice for heritage redevelopments.

The National Trust of Australia (Victoria), an independent heritage advocacy organization, has recently published The Facadism Discussion Paper 2023 in response to what the organization describes as a growing trend, over the past 15 years, for heritage redevelopment projects to preserve only the external faces of a building and demolish the remainder.

The paper states that to demolish everything but the external face of a structure erases all evidence of how a building was previously arranged, used, and constructed deleting any record of the characteristics that once "made that building a lived place." It urges architects, developers and planners to "retain as much significant heritage fabric as possible," including internal features, room arrangements and construction materials to "provide evidence of how and when the structure was built," as well as "indicate former use and history."

The document also encourages those within the built environment profession to "substantially set back" any new additions to a heritage retained building so as to clearly define the new form as a separate entity, avoid visual domination of the historic form, and be respectful of the original building's character and architectural expression.

"If everything but the facade of a building has been demolished, it is no longer a building, and most of its heritage significance has been lost. Facadism should therefore not be considered an acceptable heritage outcome in the redevelopment of a heritage place," the paper reads.

"The National Trust strongly believes that the heritage significance of a place is associated with that place as a whole. It is evident in the bricks and mortar, but also in its internal spaces, which provide evidence of its former use and story. It does not rest only in the facade, even if this may appear to be a building's most notable feature from the street level.

"Furthermore, this loss of significance cannot be mitigated through a token setback of a new development only a few metres from the facade. Enough original fabric must be retained to ensure that the heritage place can be appreciated and understood."

In accordance with the Planning and Environment Act (1987), local councils in Victoria are responsible for safeguarding heritage sites in their municipality by including a Heritage Overlay in their Planning Scheme. In recent years, many councils have revised and amended their heritage policies to discourage facadism, the paper acknowledged.

Certain councils have updated their heritage policies to ensure that a minimim depth of at least two rooms is retained when redeveloping. The document states that this specific policy modification is "a practical guide for most Victorian or Edwardian homes," however, is not as useful for other building typologies such as "pubs, hotels or former industrial and commercial buildings," leading the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) to call for more explicit, site specific guidelines.

The paper commends several projects for their preservation of a historical building, including the Holdsworth Buildings in Carlton's Lygon Street. The terrace-style buildings were designed by architect George Johnson, with construction completed in 1871. In 1986, a shopping centre was added to the rear, with ten metres of depth from the original building retained. The redevelopment has been highlighted as an exemplary model of preservation.

To view the list of commended projects or read the full discussion paper, visit the website.