Yes, those ideas have been developed by Ruskin in the mid 19th century. He favored minimal restoration and letting buildings die when their time has come over a

Yes, those ideas have been developed by Ruskin in the mid 19th century. He favored minimal restoration and letting buildings die when their time has come over a more continuous view of the life of buildings that can undergo deeper changes. That view was unsurprisingly espoused by none other than Viollet-le-Duc, one of many architects of Notre Dame (he was however very criticized even by the French, so it's a philosophical more than a nationalistic difference for sure).