Undoubtedly new buildings have been greeted with this response forever, but it is particularly sanctioned by the architectural culture of the last few decades. This is true both because of our increasing sensitivity to historic preservation issues since the 1960's, but also because of ideas associated with postmodernism in architecture. As the critique of modernist architecture evolved in the 70's, one of its most important themes was that modernist buildings often did violence to their contexts. The postmodernists looked to the past, to high art classicism and premodernist vernaculars, for alternatives to the modernist emphasis on the new and abstract. By now, most critics, and even many of postmodernism's protagonists, have been disappointed by the results of this type of thinking.
Contextual design can become a trap.
The worst examples are greviously lacking the detail and substance of their neighbors, and even many of the best look like their only goal in life is to be inconspicuous. This isn't too surprising, given a theoretical position that always values the old over the new. One of the great values of Frank Gehry's work is that it provides a more dynamic range of responses to the issue of context. At first glance, this might seem a surprising statement. Unlike some big names, though, Gehry has a history of providing buildings that respond very specifically to their sites.