i CHARLESTON CONTRADICTIONS: A CASE STUDY OF ...

significance by making a visual distinction between old and new.” The overall guiding
principle is that the new addition must be “subordinate” to the existing historic building
(USNPS 2010). These statements, clearly drawn from and inspired by the Venice
Charter, show how the implementation of the policies of historic preservation interrupt
the way architecture has been traditionally practiced.
A good example of this idea in practice is the addition of a steeple to the
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston. The historic church was largely
completed in 1907, but the congregation lacked the funds to build the steeple (which was
part of the original design) at that time (Behre 2010b). When the funds were finally
raised, nearly 100 years after the building was initially built, the Board of Architectural
Review in Charleston stipulated that the new steeple design must be differentiated from
the historic building. While no one disputes that the new steeple is an elegant addition to
Charleston’s modest skyline, the fact that the original design could not be built reflects
the Modernist philosophy of historic preservation that separates the new construction
from the existing historic fabric.
Due to the flaws in its ideological background, historic preservation is attempting
to further separate contemporary practice from architectural tradition. While tradition is a
living thing that changes and adapts over time, historic preservation seeks to capture a
moment in time rather than perpetuating the tradition that created that moment in the first
place. An important consideration in historic preservation is the value placed on criteria
and the evaluation of those criteria. Thus, it is more important to save a building as an
example of a period in history rather than as a useful building. What good is it to save a
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