New Building in Old Cities: Writings by Gustavo Giovannoni on Architectural and Urban Conservation

The editors of the new monograph New Building in Old Cities: Writings by Gustavo Giovannoni on Architectural and Urban Conservation, published by the Getty, convene in a discussion moderated by Gonick Family Professor and Chair of Historic Preservation Frank Matero.

The Italian architect, historian, and restorer Gustavo Giovannoni (1873–1947) was a key figure in the fields of architecture, urbanism, and conservation during the first half of the twentieth century. A traditionalist largely neglected by the proponents of modernist architecture following World War II, he remains little known internationally. His writings, however, until now unavailable in English, represent a significant step toward the full appreciation of the historic city, and his insights are directly relevant today to the protection of historic resources in urban contexts worldwide. 

This abundantly illustrated critical anthology is a representative sample of Giovannoni's seminal texts related to the appreciation, understanding, and planning of historic cities. The thirty readings, which appear with their original illustrations, are grouped thematically into six parts organized around key concepts in Giovannoni’s conservation theory—urban building, respect for the setting or context, a thinning out of the urban fabric, conservation and restoration treatments, the grafting of the new upon the old, and reconstruction. Each part is preceded by an introduction, and each individual reading is prefaced by succinct remarks explaining the rationale for its selection and the principal matters covered. Six plate sections further illustrate the readings’ main concepts and themes.

Steven W. Semes is professor of architecture and director of the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability at the University of Notre Dame. He was academic director of the Notre Dame Rome Studies Program from 2008-2011. He is the author of The Future of the Past: A Conservation Ethic for Architecture, Urbanism, and Historic Preservation (2009) and The Architecture of the Classical Interior (2004), as well as many articles. His new book is New Building in Old Cities: Writings by Gustavo Giovannoni on Architectural and Urban Conservation, with co-editors Francesco Siravo and Jeff Cody (2024). Prior to joining the Notre Dame faculty in 2005, he practiced architecture for three decades in Washington, DC, San Francisco, and New York.

Jeff Cody was a senior project specialist in the Buildings & Sites Department at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles from 2004 until his retirement in early 2022. Trained as a historic preservation planner and an architectural historian (Cornell Ph.D., 1989), Jeff taught in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at Cornell University from 1989 to 1994, and in the Architecture Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1995 to 2004. In addition to New Building in Old Cities: Writings by Gustavo Giovannoni on Architectural and Urban Conservation and several peer-reviewed journal articles, his publications include Building in China: Henry K. Murphy’s ‘Adaptive Architecture’ (2001); Exporting American Architecture, 1870-2000 (2003); Chinese Architecture and the Beaux-Arts (co-edited with Nancy Steinhardt and Tony Atkin, 2011); Brush & Shutter: Early Photography in China (co-edited with Frances Terpak, 2011); and Historic Cities: Issues in Urban Conservation (co-edited with Francesco Siravo, 2019).

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