-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Davidson <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, October 08, 1998 6:34 AM
Subject: Re: Gas stations and Yada Yada


>Heidi  wrote > what does it matter as long as the building remains
standing<
>two examples come to mind...one was the restoration of Warsaw Polands old
>town...well first there was no restoration; as Warsaw was leveled in WW 2
the
>old town was entirely rebuilt from photograph and living memory; as a
resident
>there 6 months It was a great result; and even though it was communist
times;
>the resulting restoration was impressive.

Michael,

It was still restoration even if basic method of it was reconstuction. The
basis for reconstruction was not living memory but the survey and invetory
work of staff and students of the Institute of Architecture in Warsaw done
just before the war. Next was excessive research work done among the ruins
after deliberate act of destruction aimed at the heart of the nation's
cultural heritage which did not have any military or industrial importance.
The only possible answer was to restore the past even if it was fragmented
beyond imagination. There was enough substance left on the first floor level
to give the impression of authenticity when you walk the streets of the Old
City. It was difficult to find anything new on the roof level but a lot of
discoveries was made on the street and cellar level. Warsaw Old City
reconstruction is a complex restoration project not easy to undertake in the
difficult times after the war and complicated in it's philosophical layer.
The way of the restoration was meet with understanding in preservation
circles in Europe (second sample can be Old City in Gdansk). I can not
imagine Warsaw with modern achitecture of fifties and sixties (if you know
what was modern at this time) rised in the place of the Old City. In the
attached drawings you can find brick and mortar analisis form, result of the
research and drawing showing the ratio of remains to reconstructed area of
the building substance.

Witold