Classical architecture makes us happy. So why not build more of it?

Spectator (UK) ^ | 15 March 2017 | Ed West

[x]

Architects got the idea they were artists, just like judges decided that they were philosopher kings. They don't just want to do a job, they want to be "creative."

But they do have a point. Independence Hall and Mount Vernon and the UVA Rotunda are great buildings, but when you start seeing copies all over the place it's not that appealing and it cheapens the original.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Because classical architecture is pretty. Leftists worship ugliness.

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The state capitol complex in South Carolina has buildings that were built over the past 140 years. They are progressively uglier; the newer are ugly concrete boxes and the old are classic beauties.

[WVMnteer]

In the last decade, Princeton built a new residential college in the style of “classic” Princeton architecture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The cost for what was essentially 9 dorms and a cafeteria - $130 million. I can’t even begin to imagine what the cost of upkeep is.

There’s a reason we don’t build with marble a whole lot these days.

[Little Ray]

I have always liked the example in Talahassee, FL - There is classical capitol building domanated two high-rize office buildings.
Good planning, guys...

[Wuli]

Correlation is not causation.

People that happen to be living in the blocks of housing the art critic/critics thinks/think are so beautiful might be “happier” NOT for the housing they are in per se, but for whatever paths in life they’ve had that have brought them to living there; such as they may be (a) more successful than average, (b) more satisfied than average regardless of any measure of success, (c) less stressed than average for any number of reasons, (d) healthier for any number of reasons, or numerous other possible variables possibly NOT related to the architecture of their environment.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Thankfully they also tend to chase what is trendy so if you just wait you can pick up appealing things that they discard for a fraction of what they paid.

Viva la Thrift Store!

[ottbmare]

Well, classical architecture is expensive to build and maintain

Not necessarily. The factors that make classical architecture beautiful are not necessarily the pillars and pediments, though these contribute. It's the proportions, the way the sight of the building leads the eye around its façade. There is something about classical proportions--including the arrangement of progressively smaller windows, the line of the roof, the symmetry, and appropriate sizing--that gives visual pleasure to the viewer.

Victorian and Georgian architecture includes a lot of very humble attached housing we Americans would refer to as townhouses. These places were built for low-income workers, but they still give pleasure to the modern eye, and the modern home-buyer.

Here in the US, many new subdivisions are built with reference to historical precedents. That's what people like to buy and live in. Hyper-modern subdivisions don't sell. In the U.K., however, there have been only a few traditionally-styled new towns built.

[jmcenanly]

They actually used a section of the London Subway as a set for an Imperial base in the recent Star Wars movie Rogue One.



Nothing to cheer up commuters like an Early Death Star decor