façade

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The face of a building, especially the principal face.
2. n. An artificial or deceptive front: ideological slogans that were a façade for geopolitical power struggles.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In architecture, a front view or elevation; the chief exterior face of a building, or any one of its principal faces if it has more than one: as, the façade of the Louvre; the façade of St. Peter's in Rome.
2. n. In organ-building, same as prospect, 12.

Wiktionary

1. n. The face of a building, especially the front view or elevation.
2. n. The face or front (most visible side) of any other thing, such as an organ.
3. n. A deceptive outward appearance; a front.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The front of a building; esp., the principal front, having some architectural pretensions.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the face or front of a building
2. n. a showy misrepresentation intended to conceal something unpleasant