DC’s Phillips Collection has built an extension behind its traditional facade. “Preserving this facade was a big mistake,” writes Benjamin Forgey. It was “a fruitless exercise in neighborhood nostalgia. After nearly 30 years of experience with our preservation ordinance, we as a city ought to have learned not to fear the architectural future, but to embrace it. And then to apply the law accordingly. Thus, a great opportunity was lost. Instead of getting a new building that speaks honestly about what is behind its facade — and that speaks for the 21st century while respecting its neighbors — we got a timorous fake.”