The Historic Preservation of Not-Old Buildings

The subject of Chapter Two, “The Historic Preservation of Not-Old Buildings,” is ongoing controversy over a particular variety of architectural modernism, Brutalism, a globe-spanning approach to building whose heyday was the first several decades following World War II. The first portion of this chapter describes the evolution of American historic preservation from the nineteenth century to the present, emphasizing the expanding scope of the built environment deemed suitable for protective measures. In the latter portion of the chapter the focus is on Brutalism, an approach to building and urban planning that reflects two seemingly contradictory concepts, benign and disruptive modernity. This discussion is anchored in a case study from Chicago in the early 2010s, the controversy regarding whether or not to grant landmark status to architect Bertrand Goldberg’s iconic Prentice Women’s Hospital building.