Everything about the postwar era is ugly: its politics, religion, morals, music, philosophy, art, housing and its architecture all reflect a decadent civilization.
The Lunatic Responsible for Destroying Every Beautiful City in the World
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I guess I’m in the minority but I actually like the appearance of modern monstrosities like Boston City Hall and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. I regard them as symbols of 20th century progress. Every era has to define itself, they cannot keep repeating the styles of the past. Sometimes they get it right and sometimes they don’t.
HW thank you for this.
Regardless of words, I believe that everyone “organically” on “our side” can immediately recognize good architecture vs. bad architecture.
In fact, I believe this to be the case with art in general.
Forget the words we fill up these comment boxes with.
Can’t we all rally around art and architecture that truly speaks to our soul?
Can’t we all immediately without language rally around true beauty?
It requires no ideology but is simply self-evident.
If you don’t get it, you are not us.
Great comment. We are more connected to our own creations than we realize.
It is almost as a certain force and people who control the dynamic narrative and social planning/engineering have engaged in a course which makes the masses feel defeated and depressed…. Nahhhh, must be a “conspiracy” theory
Going vertical in hight with buildings is not going away with any major city centers in the developing world.
Paris in the west somewhat stands out not mixing 300 ft+ banking corporate, big business and motel/residential buildings in the center city blocking the old world architecture on a large scale. It did incorporate it to a degree on visual pleasure aesthetically.
I lived on lake front property in Vermont,
Don’t block the view of the water was a major concern for the Yankees!
However the wind turbines keep popping up on mountain ridges, and the rich elite Yankees keep building larger and taller homes on the water front
Hey I’m drunk posting and lamenting however; what happened to the Noter Dane Cathedral speaks volume and the contrast of Russia rebuilding the Orthodox Cathedrals!
Here is where the ‘language’ of E.M. Jones can be used properly- the Ethnoi (the various people groups on Earth) have jettisoned the Logos (only one- Sh’ma- as it were) and, in doing so, have lost their way. Without the Incarnation of the Good, the Pure, the True, the Beautiful, ugliness will dominate.
Or, you can look at it a bit more Calvinistically, and say that the penchant for evil, inbred in the heart of man, creates the ugliness that is within.
Either way, the spirit of Christendom (that even influenced non-Christian cultures with their version of our modern ‘Babel Towers’ (skyscrapers)) has departed, and we find ugliness wherever we look.
Philadelphia is colonial before the Victorian area and has very generic housing not designed to be beautiful except in a few parts.
Although it’s a leftist trope, I can’t help but remember hearing that little ditty; “little boxes, little boxes, made of ticky-tacky…”
The little boxes have grown to gargantuan proportions. Eyesores everywhere you look…
Art reflects what we value and admire. It is an expression of the hearts and minds of it’s creators. When men strife for beauty they will create it. Modern Art is ugly because Modern Man is ugly on the inside and we have lost our way for a higher purpose.
Modern architecture is just another way of the ruling class giving the finger to everyone else. The point of modern architecture is that it’s hideous, unpopular and decrepit in no time. Everyone knows this, hates it and it gets shoved down the public’s throats as a big ‘FU’ to the world. They do this for one reason, because they can.
I actually love brutalism because that’s how future dystopian buildings were portrayed in the films I grew up with, and since we actually live in a dystopian hellscape, it’s perfectly appropriate.
I find most modern architecture ugly and faceless, and it seems to be going into a new phase of such.
Living in Boston, i found City hall and Government plaza cold and faceless. Also it stank because bums camped out under the wings of city hall and you could smell urine.
Boston itself is a contrast of creepy architecture and human, elegant places like Beacon Hill, the Back Bay, and various neighborhoods.
Living in St. Louis, it has some attractive architecture, but also a lot of crud put up by corporations and banks that seem like monoliths designed to kill life. Why is it banks always put up such cold, faceless buildings?
As someone put it, modern architecture is seen as the architecture of ‘democracy’, while the neo-classical works of Hitler and Stalin seem as works of dictatorships. maybe, but even Speer’s Reichschanchellory looks dignified compared to what took its place. if it was rebuilt, it would be a huge tourist trap.
I remember a nasty earthquake in Mexico City some years ago, and I sent money to help in the rebuilding. Mexico City has much likable architecture, and an old-fashioned dignity most American cities lack. Most of the older architecture wasn’t damaged, while a lot of modern stuff collapsed. As one Mexican official put it, ‘what was new was destroyed, and what was beautiful remained.’
Sometimes, Mexico gets it right.
dargason,
I forgot to mention that soon I leave for the Holyday and will not be back until after the New Year. So if you respond and it needs a reply I might not catch it in time.
I mention this so you will not think I was being rude if I did not reply.
dargason,
Yes sometimes Mexico does get it right even if unintentional. Too many windows in modern buildings and in many homes.
Did you mean the earthquake from the 1980’s that killed thousands? That was nice of you to send money to help. I have criticized Americans a lot. But I will give credit where praise is due. Americans are a very generous group especially the Anglo ones.