The ‘Restoration’ of Our Old Buildings [1904]

Abstract Muthesius criticizes restoration architects whose aim is to return a building to an ideal past state, an approach he decries as both impossible (because one cannot replicate the work of a craftsman of 500 years before) and dangerous when nearly successful (because it conceals the stages of the building’s construction). Drawing on the ideas of William Morris, he instead calls for preserving buildings by repairing them where needed in materials that contrast with the rest of the building, thus clearly distinguishing new from old.