About the patina of age and cleaning buildings ---

I don't see what's so bad about keeping buildings clean -- think of it in
terms of your car, your suit, your face, your sheets.  I have been known to
ruin clothes in the wash so I shouldn't be allowed to clean buildings, but
many people are pretty good about cleaning stuff.

I have seen many examples of overcleaning and destruction from sandblasting,
from harsh chemicals, and from too much water pressure.  Just because some
people are bad cleaners is no reason to stop cleaning altogether.

While it is in Japanese decorative arts tradition to value the patina of age
on an object,  they keep their sidewalks very clean and coat their wood walls
regularly.
Pre 1950s building owners and designers in the US, I believe, expected that
buildings would be kept clean.  (After about the 1950s deferred maintenance
and no maintenance came into fashion.)  Now some designers worked with
weathering, like York & Sawyer at the Federal Reserve in NYC. The Renaissance
Revival style facade has a deliberately variegated appearance due to the
choice of stones that weather differently.  That is a little unusual.  Most
architects, I think,  expected that buildings would not be streaked with
grime or caked with black pollutants.


Signed,

Ms. Clean