Can't Get Out of the Box [The Rog Majal]

OpinionJournal (WSJ online) ^ | September 13, 2002 | MICHAEL S. ROSE

[maryz]

It has been applauded as a "landmark of remarkable architectural intelligence" by some and derided by others as a "concrete monstrosity." Yet most critics are evaluating the new Los Angeles cathedral according to the canons of modernist architecture--i.e., what the building says about itself.

[maryz]

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is not about the people of God, not about the Catholic Church, her saints, her traditions, or her faith. It's about itself.

The Clintonian cathedral!

[american colleen]

With its hulking shape, sharp-edged profile, asymmetrical layout and unsettling lack of right angles, the building consciously breaks with the historical continuity of two millennia of Catholic church architecture. Instead it pays homage to the past 50 years of banal and uninspiring utilitarian office structures that have littered the landscape of downtown Los Angeles (and many other American cities).

Boy, does Mr. Rose hit the nail on the head here, but I've never liked modern architecture anyway. Think how inspiring and edifying a church like St. Patrick's in NY would have looked among the "utilitarian office structures that litter the landscape of downtown LA."

And ya think $200 Mil would have ensured the Cathedral would be a bit more than a yellow armadillo or an airplane hangar.

[Catholicguy]

That's a good piece. It brought back memories of Thomas Wolfe's "From Bauhaus to Our House."

[maryz]

"From Bauhaus to Our House."

LOL -- "Worker Housing," anyone? -- that actual workers won't touch with a 10-foot pole!

[maryz]

but I've never liked modern architecture anyway.

I agree; and I feel the same about modern art and literature -- my feelings about the two have a common root, I think:

Yet most critics are evaluating the new Los Angeles cathedral according to the canons of modernist architecture--i.e., what the building says about itself.

Art and literature also started going downhill, by my reckoning at least, when artists and writers started saying things like "All art is essentially about itself."

[ELS]

Available at Amazon.com

[Desdemona]

"It has been applauded as a "landmark of remarkable architectural intelligence" by some"

?????

I'm lost already. Why? Because it's earthquake proof?

[Gophack]

Ping

[ThomasMore]

It is meant to be a sacred structure charged with transmitting the truths of the Catholic faith to current and future generations. It is meant to evangelize, to inspire and to beckon. It is meant, above all, to be a house of God wrought in the fashion of heavenly things. Unfortunately, Cardinal Roger Mahony's new center of Catholicism for Los Angeles does little of that.

This says it all!!!

Thanks for the article, Maryz!

TM

[ThomasMore]

My review!

Great book, must read!

TM

[ELS]

My review!

Which one? One of the customer reviews?

[NYer]

With its hulking shape, sharp-edged profile, asymmetrical layout and unsettling lack of right angles, the building consciously breaks with the historical continuity of two millennia of Catholic church architecture. Instead it pays homage to the past 50 years of banal and uninspiring utilitarian office structures that have littered the landscape of downtown Los Angeles (and many other American cities).

With a price tag of 200+ million (which means it probably cost much more) and it is still under construction.

Although Mr. Moneo is a Spaniard designing a cathedral for a diocese that is largely Hispanic, neither his abstract vocabulary nor his utilitarian design reflect a grounding in Spanish culture, which would be most fully manifest in Mission-style architecture, beloved in California, of colorful icons, sacred imagery and organic forms.

I can only imagine how magnificent a Mission style cathedral would be! Here is one example:

[ElkGroveDan]

LOL, My friends and I have been calling it the Taj-Mahoney.

[John Locke]

My favorite - the Basilica of San Carlos Borromeo at Carmel:

[Palladin]

Grand Central Station has more "architectural intellect" than Mahony's monstrosity.

One must wonder what Senor Moneo was smoking when he designed it.