NY Architecture and the lack of Good Design

The NYPR Archive Collections | Jan 1, 2000

On this segment of Around New York, Robert C. Weinberg comments on failures and triumphs of recent architectural design and the lack of a cohesive style. He praises several recent constructions such as the Whitney Museum and the National Maritime Union, which are "are works of art of a forward-looking kind," and the new wing of the Gracie Mansion as "an exquisite piece of justified antiquarianism."

However new houses built in the suburbs are derided as "cutey-cutey, pseudo-colonial contraptions, put up by the million and poorly designed subdivisions, or equally inept stabs at being modern." Roger Starr, author of "The Living End," is cited as a wise critic of these recent trends.

Retro-antiquity is only justifiable, according to Weinberg, as additions to old buildings or for rehabilitation. He discusses several banks in the area that succeed and fail in this endeavor. He argues that it the responsibility of the citizens, like Roger Starr, to assist with taste-making towards a sensible, cohesive style.

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

WNYC archives id: 150058
Municipal archives id: T1930

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