Perfumed historic buildings: Issues of authenticity

Abstract

Contemporary historical preservation practice includes olfactory preservation as an experimental method of architectural preservation. The implementation of manufactured scents in historic buildings raises important issues of authenticity. This paper focuses on three important issues in the relation between olfactory preservation and authenticity: the importance of phenomenology in memory evocation; the relative character of the authenticity concept; and the significance of social values in historic preservation. This requires a critical examination of charters, documents and theoretical interpretations which reflect a broader concept of authenticity. The paper discusses certain articles of the Venice Charter, the Nara Document on Authenticity, as well as the sense of smell in architectural experience through critical analysis of the theories of John Ruskin, Viollet-le-Duc, Roger Scruton and Juhani Pallasmaa and their concepts of authenticity. Authenticity issues are illustrated by the examples of olfactory preservation: olfactory reconstruction of Philip Johnson’s Glass House; interior restoration and olfactory reconstruction of the Arts Club in Mayfair, London; and the creation process of the perfume brand Arquiste, a meaningful example which relocates the olfactory reconstruction context. These critical analyses raise the question of scent in historic buildings as a value in itself.