I spent the first few years of my life in the West End neighborhood of Birmingham, Ala. My mom would routinely pile us kids into the old Ford, and off we would go downtown, observing very old, very beautiful buildings all over the city.
These glimpses of structural beauty were deeply stamped upon me – I was deeply moved by them, though, naturally, as a child, I couldn’t explain why. It was not until several years later, while studying architecture, that I really grasped what it was about Birmingham’s signature architecture that made it so beautiful and majestic.
The reason? These buildings were the progeny of the École Des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the “gold standard” school of the classical arts which, one might say, very decisively, influenced the architectural direction for America.
The École was a sweeping architectural movement in the United States in the latter part of the 19th century, continuing well into the mid-20th century. Architectural instruction at the École focused upon learning from Greece and Rome, as well as other periods of architectural history. Students were taught in classical studies, geometry, proportion, history of architecture, and other subjects, under the aegis of an atelier, or master, so one could indeed say that the Ecole’s mission was to graduate students who were masters in classical architecture and art, creating beautiful works.
I have always wholeheartedly agreed with British architect Quinlan Terry, as he proposes that the Classical Orders of Architecture are “divinely inspired” and that “the appearance of classical buildings does something to people.” Such has been my lifelong experience. The École’s influence very decisively made American cities, towns, and rural areas beautiful and enjoyable places to live, work, and play until the early-mid part of the 20th century.
But in the early 20th century, modernists such as Adolf Loos, Filippo Marinetti, and a host of others came on the scene with fiery determination to totally eradicate the École and all things classical/traditional from the face of the earth. They achieved this mission by the mid-20th century when the Modern School practically supplanted the Beaux-Arts School in academia and the profession of architecture. As now, the debate then was all about “individual artistic expression” versus learning from “authoritative/historic example,” or more plainly, free expression versus tradition. Much emphasis was given to the idea of free expression as the truly progressive move.
As a result of this paradigm shift, a number of academics and practitioners came to consider classical and traditional architecture as socially and culturally regressive. Consequently, architectural beauty significantly declined, resulting in an aesthetic vacuum, as academia and the profession of architecture have gone the way of mythic Proteus, ever changing shape.
By contrast, the formerly-tenured tradition of building endured for thousands of years, with many beautiful examples still remaining for us to see and know today.
Though true Beaux-Arts architecture has been in decline, one must resist the notion to conclude that everything built since the advent of Modernism is bad architecture. It would be very wrong and unfair to make such a claim, as there has been so much in the way of Modern design which is great architecture. One of the reasons for this is that many of the best Modern architects were autodidactic students of classicism and traditionalism and applied the lessons learned.
Encouragement to study classical and traditional architecture in any measure is frowned-upon today, however, with only a few exceptions depending on the university/degree program. Shockingly, the architectural licensing examination does not test a candidate on architectural history in a dedicated testing category, implying that architectural history is now unimportant. Obviously so, as many classical/traditional buildings are designed without understanding the vocabulary and language of the given style, or the appropriate materials for a lasting permanence.
So, what has happened to beautiful buildings since the Beaux-Arts school was forced into exile? Are our cities truly beautiful, places where artists set up their easels to capture a beautiful building or skyline with architecture so magnificent that it moves one?
Not necessarily, and that’s a tragedy, for beautiful buildings are places which awe, inspire, calm, and bring a sense of repose, a sense of poetry to our lives. We need that beauty now more than ever.
Why? Because as Winston Churchill notably said, “We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us.”
Therefore, if we want our souls to dwell on the good, the true, and the beautiful, then perhaps it’s time to again surround ourselves with buildings that inspire us with that which indeed fills the senses with the highest and best of the classical arts – the tradition of the École des Beaux-Arts.
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The republication of this article is made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal.
Image Credit: Picryl
