Façade (noun): the front of a building

“Still, when I thought about where I’d be living – no Googling for me, no mapping and no photos, not a single search to see the street, the façade of the building, the pocked ribbon of Maryland Parkway stretching north toward Downtown, pavement dusted white with alkaline, homeless huddled at intersections, hiding first from the piercing winter wind and later from the sun – the image that arose was that of a college town.”

“Walk with Me” – David L Ulin

This is another one of those words that have a dual meaning as when I first encountered this word I thought of its meaning as fake or superficial, however that did not make sense in the context as you can not really have a superficial building. This caused me to look up the word and find out its alternate meaning.