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This essay is paradigmatic of what draws me to Substack. Having no special interest in architecture, it's a delight to be snared into contemplation: Why have I always been partial to Art Deco and find myself returning to its best manifestations in cities such as Barcelona or Paris? Come to think of it, I have been victimized by the brutalism of Bauhaus architecture at several college campuses, literally in one case, where the flat-roof library was infamous for dropping clods of ceiling on study carrels and their unsuspecting students.

Now, I am armed with theories to explain Art Deco's untimely demise, from cultural to economic supply-side to the conspiratorial (I'm keyed in to a lot of conspiracy theories but the Tartaria conspiracy ain't one of them).

So many wordsmith edibles here, it would be hard to choose just one. When you note the trickiness to defining Art Deco because it "contains multitudes," I immediately recalled the very American poetry of Walt Whitman:

"Do I contradict myself?

Very well then I contradict myself,

(I am large, I contain multitudes)."

Come to think of it, Uncle Walt might just have been the poetic avatar of the Art Deco style, roughly 3/4 of a century before its too-brief, butterfly existence!

And yes, it is "objectively more profound to hear Billie Holiday sing of summertime."

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I'm glad you picked up on my Walt Whitman reference! I agree that he's an excellent poetic pairing for Art Deco. So funny that you were literally brutalized by Brutalism. And thank you for all your kind words.

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“after 1945 our plutocrats, bureaucrats, board chairmen, CEO's, commissioners, and college presidents undergo an inexplicable change. They become diffident and reticent.”

This is Burnham’s Managerial Revolution. BTW they just gave up, it’s “democracy” - which means committees. It has now trust me infected most government and corporate workers. That’s if one is even still working…

The GOOD NEWS is when someone gives up … they also get out of the way. Time for Beauty- even if it takes the Beast.

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It’s also due to willful (and well-intentioned) relinquishment of privilege by the former ruling class and the “meritocracy” that followed. Pick any name out the 1924 Social Register and look at their estates as compared to the homes of those in the Forbes 400. We’ve experienced a precipitous decline in taste.

Will caveat this by acknowledging I’m a big fan of modern architecture, but only the good stuff (Seagrams building included). 90% of what’s built today, however, is complete trash, including “ornamented” McMansions in the suburbs.

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Oh god, I recently had to drive through Jersey to buy a beautiful vintage table, which took me past the most garish McMansions I have ever suffered to see. Yes, ornamental does not automatically = beautiful!

I would say that this is the umpteenth reason why New Yorkers look down our nose at Jersey, except we have our share of architectural shame, too.

Also, I will only forgive wrong, bad opinions about the Seagram Building if they come from subscribers ;)

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I come at this from working class, something must be done to improve the dignity of labor and pride in work - and so I find Art Deco and the first architecture I ever appreciated . It also helped that by chance for years I lived in a restored Art Deco building that had been a hospital, part of the Jersey City, NYC revival of historic buildings. It was the Jersey City Medical Center, it is now called The Beacon. A tour inside was more enamoring than out. It was the tiling restored - the beauty- go and look.

Also the history.

I must point out to the author- Art Deco was far from a rich man’s cathedral, the very sewer manhole covers and many, many small machines such as lamps, furniture, clothing… electrical generators, post boxes- that sanitation workers could make and handle covers of beauty - THAT is American.

Look here; once what we covered our shit 💩 with is more beautiful than our modern towers.

https://fineartamerica.com/art/manhole+covers

Never mind the internal tiling and decor - art deco really is more beautiful on the inside.

Again this was a Hospital, built by Frank Hague, Jersey City Boss, Kingmaker of FDR in 1932, man of the people, maternity ward named after his mother, and by the way has a mile long underground tunnel to City Hall. Hague used to walk from City Hall to the Hospital to take payoffs there- also visit his mistress.

https://rich.mcclear.net/2017/04/18/art-deco-hospital/

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I certainly didn't mean to suggest it was just for rich men to enjoy! I agree, those small details uplift even the most unseemly tasks, and we should find a kind of moral virtue in that.

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Not at all ! It should be our 🇺🇸 Creed for every object great or small! We are going to Space, we must build machines that last centuries. No more consumerism, but conquest of the Infinite.

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Or consumerism that values beauty!

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We must consume the infinite .

The alternative is nuclear war due to bad midterm polling- which almost happened in 2022.

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Who said "Art Deco is the Twentieth Century we were supposed to have?"

That is true, and tragic.

The century of speed and progress, and streamlined, gleaming metal, became the century or death camps, gulags, aerial bombing, totalitarian torture chambers, and the lands of freedom and dynamism slowly losing their confidence and their optimism, and then their hope, and then their identity.

Can it be reclaimed?

Can it be gotten back on track?

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Here's to hoping...

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Thank you for this essay! It’s one of the most incisive and enjoyable pieces I’ve read on here

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So kind of you to say!

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coincidentally, another Substacker- Sterling HolyWhiteMountain- just posted on his quest for American Art Deco architecture landmarks, with photos https://substack.com/@aphoristic/note/c-69504240

I added some examples from Scranton, PA in the replies.

like this one https://www.retroroadmap.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Screen-Shot-2021-08-04-at-2.46.04-PM.png

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Thanks so much for sharing this! Americans need to demand better architecture.

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Brilliant. Peak American architecture.

We need to do it again for space.

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Outer space? Fuck yeah! Art Deco spaceships are the way of the future.

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Yes , and Art Deco launch pads and hangars.

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I think I would sacrifice my very life to guarantee such a future for humanity and my descendents.

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The GOOD NEWS is when someone gives up … they also get out of the way. Time for Beauty- even if it takes the Beast.

Step up, Beautiful Beasts.

(Seriously, all The Modernists are beat on every Front, this one’s on y’all).

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I had always told myself the story that the reason ornamentation, or even just well made buildings, disappeared was because of expense alone. But since I’ve been thinking more about the influence of high culture on the average person’s taste and behaviour, it makes a lot of sense that the neglect was also down to a lack of demand. Society rightly or wrongly looks up to the cultural elite, for a judgement on great art, design and architecture. With their current attack on the past, the cultural elite, who are the instigators of cultural norms, have turned the overt display of beauty into a low status idea. It seems to me that on one hand, in the mainstream, it is still ok to love ornamentation from the past, (a sort of clinging on to what we know is true) but on the other hand it is not a style that a fashionable person would wish to recreate. If only the mainstream would go with their heart in this moment, rather than looking to the so called cultural elites to guide them!

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It is absolutely a status misalignment! They shamed our culture into shying away from beauty.

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I am really happy I stumbled upon your article. I just wrote my own substack about this very topic, except through a philosophical lens. Reading your work reaffirms to me that the ornamentation was a philosophical decision not a cost/benefit one. I would love to know your thoughts on my article, where I explore the dehumanizing and antinatal nature of the International Style and also Postmodernism.

https://otterlycorrect.substack.com/p/an-antidote-to-modern-architecture?r=49cyhv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true

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Thanks for this! I hadn't thought of the International Style as antinatal before. It's such a shame that most schools are built ugly; we're so happy that this year, our daughter gets to attend preK in a gorgeous old building. I don't know if this is true, but it at least seems like children would cherish their education more if they experienced it somewhere beautiful.

You mention that a Marxist offers the best critique you encountered of postmodernism. Here's one of my favorites — I don't recall if he discusses architecture (he does talk about art, so he might, but it's been years since I've read it so I can't remember), but check out Steven Hicks's book on postmodernism:

Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (Expanded Edition) https://a.co/d/987FXDQ

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I think there is something to it because I changed schools several times as a child and the one I remember the most is the one with a big grassy field and brightly lit classrooms. The structure itself was modern but not ugly.

Thanks for the recommend definitely putting it on my list.

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I never thought to compare glass skyscrapers to John Cage’s silent composition. I like this. But it’s almost, like pop music now, the compulsion to make profits drives the industry. It’s harder to get “indie” skyscraper architecture. Driven by fear and pumping out sequels because they’re low risk

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Although the compulsion to make profits was strong in the Art Deco era, too. I'm with Hughes that the decline in ornamentation was caused by a cultural choice rather than economic concerns.

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Outstanding article! Makes me think ornamentation and beauty are one of those solutions that are so ancient that we have forgotten what problems they solve, or that they solve anything at all. Only by getting rid of the solutions do the ancient problems come to the surface again.

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Thank you! And well put.

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I’ve just started this essay and it’s excellent so far but you really need pictures!! I’ve never seen an article that called for them more.

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I've been maintaining a strict aesthetic policy with my substack where the only images are my pencil drawings. I figure everyone has google to investigate more for themselves. When I write for Quillette we add other images, though, and you may also enjoy this piece which pairs well with the one you're reading:

https://quillette.com/2024/09/20/the-totalitarian-artist-politics-vs-beauty/

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It basically triples or quadruples the time I take to read the article because I keep googling stuff. Also, I want to be able to trust the author to curate what’s important or most representative of what you’re talking about, just like one does with words. Anyway I’ll still read but it’s going to take much longer to finish. For other articles it might make the difference between reading or not reading at all.

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I'll keep that in mind and mull over my policy. Maybe I'll try to have my cake and eat it too by including hyperlinks to images.

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That doesn’t help much. Internet is slow sometimes and you have to keep going back and forth.

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Well upgrade your internet, Richard! You only make a living off it!

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P.S. If you like architecture from that era, check out the lobby of The Daily News Building across the street. It's right out of Superman comic with a giant globe and time zone clocks all done Art Deco. I always drop in when I'm nearby. I expect to see Clark Kent racing for a phone booth one day.

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I haven't been inside and I'll definitely take you up on that recommendation! I'm more of a Batman kind of gal — perhaps because I grew up on the 90s cartoons that featured Hugh Ferriss style architecture! — but Superman has his charms, too.

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Thank you so much for helping me cultivate my nascent interest in architecture and aesthetics.

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The pleasure is mine!

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Absolutely wonderful - thoroughly stimulating ideas well written. Thank you

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Thank *you* 🥰

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Instant subscribe.

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🥰

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