Out With the Old by Ronda Carman 

Written 01/12/2011
Updated December 6, 2017

And so it begins. Another new year filled with promises of change, a better life and starting anew. I am as guilty as the next when it comes to pledging self-improvement and other typical resolutions. But over the past few years I have slowly come to realize that imperfection is a part of life, and some things should not be changed, only accepted.

I find the whole notion of "out with the old and in with the new" increasingly alarming. As an American living in Scotland, I often find myself living between two worlds, and neither is perfect. But it does offer a unique perspective, especially where conservation, preservation and architecture are concerned. 

In the United Kingdom, and Europe as a whole, physical space is at a premium. To simply tear down, start anew or move further out-of-town is often not a viable option. The case remains, whether a preferred alternative or a fact of life, most Europeans have to make use of existing spaces and buildings. Of course there are benefits to new construction, one being innovations in energy efficiency.

That said, when I return home to the US, which is often these days, I see a sea of sameness in the vast American master planned suburbs. Even at the risk of losing a little piece of history, most seem to holdfast to the idea of onwards and upwards. 

In the past few years there have been numerous depressing examples that continue to remind me that buildings and monuments are not only historically important to a region and culture, but they serve as visible symbols linking us to our past.

In 2009 I was gripped by the images of La Ronda, a 1929 historic mansion in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, designed by the renowned architect Addison Mizner. The fifty-one-room Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Gothic Revival structure was sold for 6 million dollars to Joseph and Sharon Kestenbaum, who in turn demolished the historic home in order to build a new 10,000-square-foot house.