In Sex and Real Estate, Marjorie Garber remarks on the phenomenon of restoration in our country. She lives in a colonial home in Cambridge, MA, and she can only paint her house certain approved "authentic" colors. Interestingly enough, however, these "authentic" colors are the faded versions of the colonial colors. The bright hues of the of the American colonists just weren't quite "colonial" enough for the Historical Preservation Society.

But the notion of a new beginning--starting from scratch, the tabula rasa--had been taboo ever since Le Corbusier's brutal attempt with the Plan Vicin to scrape everything away at once. The harshness, the shock, the incredible insanity--but at the same time the incredible eloquence--of his operation closed the book on the question of a new beginning for generations to come. ~Rem Koolhass, S,M,L,XL 1103

When Michelangelo renovated a statue, he wanted you to see the seams.