Recently, I passed by the renovating Domino Sugar building on the Williamsburg waterfront. Standing at more than 10 floors tall, broad frame, dark bricks, curved windows, this 19th century building harkens to a time when intricacy was prized. It’s firmly devoid of efficiency.
The developers are keeping the external facade of the building more or less the same and will continue to have the giant Domino Sugar sign on display. The biggest changes are to the interior of the building to house modern, slick spaces and addition of glass walls in the penthouse to maximize the views. Previously housing a sugar refinery, this building will soon be home to many offices, retail spaces, a beautiful gym amongst many other things.
It is quite interesting for a building like this from the 19th century to be “renovated” and have a completely different purpose. One of the things that gnawed at me was the question of “preservation”. The Domino Sugar building wasn’t necessarily a cultural artifact, just a factory from the 19th century. Yet, there’s a purposeful choice in choosing which parts of the building are still aesthetically pleasing in modern times to showcase the uniqueness of “Williamsburg”.
What does it mean to “preserve” styles from different time periods in renovations? What should architectural preservation look like? What does it mean to have a burden of architectural history?
Things have a way of coming to you. I attended a very topical talk on this idea of preservation at the Japan Society. The talk primarily focused on the city of Matsue and its historical spaces. Matsue is on the smaller end of cities in Japan with 200,000 residents but it boasts of a long imprint in Japanese history. Its crown jewel is Matsue Castle, one of the oldest castles in Japan. Constructed in 1607 during the early Edo period it is one of the few remaining feudal Japanese castles that still retains its original wooden keep. Most of the castle was dismantled in 1875 but it underwent a complete reconstruction between 1950 and 1955. The city currently even has a 5 million yen cash reward for anyone with old photos or blueprints of the old gates of the building, so they can restore the castle fully to its old glory. There was a huge emphasis on the idea of “preservation” in this talk. Even though Matsue castle is the most prominent fixture, the mayor of the city also introduced the tea and food culture of Matsue which intermingled with many of the historical spaces.
We yearn so much for history and this is certainly not a modern fascination. There was a time when even Plato bemoaned the short Greek history in comparison to the storied Egyptian civilization.
“Preservation” can take shape in different ways but it can solve the purpose of being a door to the past. Architectural burden can be different in different societies depending on the value we assign to them. It’s hard to draw a direct connection between the Matsue castle and the Domino Sugar building because the historical significance of the buildings are vastly different. Yet the capturing of historical “essence” to share in contemporary times is evident in both pursuits. “Preservation” can perhaps be devoid of efficiency, but in times when people all over the world are searching for shared identity in their communities, it is especially pertinent.