Architecture

FAKE TEMPLES

“What’s So Great About Fake Roman Temples?” asks the smarmy New York Times headline. The obvious answer is the Lincoln Memorial (even though it’s actually a fake Greek temple). The Lincoln Memorial was not built by men in peruques and tricorn hats, but by modern Americans—it was completed in 1922. Nothing fake about it—it is built of Yule marble quarried in Colorado. It also incorporates all the optical refinements of ancient Greek architecture—entasis, slightly tilted columns, a curved stylobate—at the same time it is not an attempt to  build a replica. Greek temples didn’t have flat roofs and skylights,

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MAKE AMERICA CLASSICAL AGAIN

The proposed executive order announced by the White House, “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again,” has ruffled architectural feathers, according to a New York Times article. I haven’t read the order but it appears that it would make classical architecture the default style for federal buildings. Until about the 1930s, that was the de facto situation: virtually all federal buildings such as courthouses were classical. At that time there was no formal mandate—it was simply what most people, including most architects, felt was the right thing to do. The old federal courthouse, now the Nix Federal Building,

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A CURIOUS BUSINESS

The practice of architecture follows a curious business model. A painter’s work can grow in value over time (depending obviously on demand). A writer collects royalties, and if the reading audience grows, so do his or her advances.  A businessman’s business can increase in value as sales increase. If a start-up is successful, it can hope for a buy-out. But for the architect every new commission is, in effect, a fresh start—a new client, a new program, a new site. Every project is a custom job; there are no real economies of scale. A particularly successful building design cannot be repeated—there are too many variables.

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SNEAKERS VS. BROGUES

“Classic designs have the charm of a good pair of brogues. They last for years and the older they are the better they fit.” So begins the abstract to a recent article in New Design Ideas on the advantages of architecture that is built to last. The advantages are legion: energy savings over the long run, less disruption to the environment, buildings that gain the affection of generations of users. The authors point out that the limited range of building materials that are durable and can last has been developed over centuries of trial and error.

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ASTROTURF IN THE HOLY CITY

An article in the New York Times Real Estate section is titled “The Charleston You Haven’t Seen” and it describes a “gem” of a house that I certainly hadn’t seen on my visits. It’s a cartoon version of a gable-roofed house. There is a front yard (typically houses in the Holy City don’t have front yards),and lest you take that too seriously, it’s finished in Astroturf. And the house is painted black. The readers’ “Comments” are worth reading, especially those of the neighbors. My favorite is from California: “This isn’t ‘The Charleston You Haven’t Seen.’ It’s a single,

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THE FIRST MODERNISTS

This 1931 photograph of a group of party-goers at the Beaux-Arts Ball in New York is famous. That’s William Van Alen in the center (the Chrysler Building), flanked by Ely Jacques Kahn (the Squibb Building) on the left, and Ralph Walker (the Irving Trust Building) on the right. Three great skyscraper architects. William F. Lamb (the Empire State Building) was also there but didn’t make it into the picture. These men are all part of a generation of American architects that has been written out of the history books. That’s a shame. We all know their buildings—the Empire State, the Chrysler,

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CATFIDDLE STREET

Here is a recent photograph of Catfiddle Street an infill development in Charleston, which is slowly coming together. The house in the foreground is being built by Vince Graham and was designed by George Holt and Andrew Gould. The veranda has wrought-ironwork, a signature of colonial Charleston. The walls are  painted a deep Pompeiian red. The arched opening on the extreme right leads to Reid Burgess and Sally Eisenberg’s courtyard house. The next house was designed by Julie O’Connor. The turquoise house and its neighbor on the left are the work of Bevan & Liberatos.

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CHARLESTON, CHARLESTON

My friend Vince Graham holds a copy of my new book in front of his Charleston home. The house features in Charleston Fancy: Little Houses and Big Dreams in the Holy City, published by Yale University Press. The book combines three themes, architecture, cities, and real estate development. May 28 is the official publication date but the book is available now. You can read an early review in The New Criterion, and in the May 25 issue of the Wall Street Journal.

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