>
>Kevin Daly, completing the fabulous combination of a run-on sentence and a
>lack of a real point--
>
 Point is well taken - Dresden solution (not only Dresden, there are other
similar accidents in post war Europe) could happen in Warsaw. I think it
took the power of the visionaries to save the remains of the buildings,
rebuild the missing parts and restore the city as a whole. You can trust my
opinion that Warsaw without the Old City could be dead by now. What has to
be considered in contemporary conservation is use of scale - if you have
doors of great historical  value with missing lock you can put modern
standard lock to keep the appearance true or you can put the copy to show
the original beauty of the assemble. Same going from the lock and door to
the door and the building up to the idea that the city can have historical
and artistic value too even if it is not Siena or Florence. I grow up in the
city of Szczecin (frmr. Stettin) where all old city was destroyed by the
allied carpet bombing in 1944. What left was couple of churches, ruins of
the medieval city hall, castle and one (!) XVI century "apartment" building.
The rest was leveled, lot of brick was taken to rebuilt Warsaw. In the
fifties and sixties couple of "modern" houses were build on the site leaving
the rest as a green no man's land. Three years ago decision was made to
build the new Old City. Main principle executed by the landmark commission
was to maintain original foundation (often medieval with some archeological
discoveries reaching to the 10th century), scale, material and orientation
of original roofing giving architects the freedom to design contemporary
housing project. The effect passed all the expectations - the city of
Szczecin got it's balance back, looks like the area is going to be a great
economic success. You have over there mix of styles (every bulding has its
own designer no way for one architectural genius to take over) - not
everything is perfect but this is the freedom of the life. Good project
looks beautiful when surrounded by the ordinary...
Ooops - so far away from Warsaw and I can't remember - gas stations? yada
yada?

Witold Karwowski