3 ms·

I think the statement you quote is incorrect. Our society is quite capable of paying for artisans to restore the architectural splendors of earlier times, and

I think the statement you quote is incorrect. Our society is quite capable of paying for artisans to restore the architectural splendors of earlier times, and does so. At the same time, expenditure on architecture for its own sake seems to have increased in the last decade or so, at least in centers of wealth (which, in modern times, is where non-utilitarian architecture has its first home, even if it likes to have a weekend place in the country.) What has not happened is that, for the most part, the paymasters for the latter development have demonstrated little interest in adopting styles that demand highly skilled craftsmanship of the sort formerly valued (and still valued, apparently, so long as it dates to a previous era.) Today's vanity architecture reflects the values of those who commission it, rather than being a result of market prices for artisan work.

TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
The Victorians had a concept of civic pride and public service which is completely absent today. I owe a lot to this dude, because he made sure that when worker was housing was being built it would have a library on the periphery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Passmore_Edwards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Passmore_Edwards There was an explicit goal of providing education and opportunities to working people. (Well - working men. But this was over a century ago now.) Modern philanthropy has no equivalent. There is no interest in creating high quality useful public spaces for ordinary people. So there's no architectural tradition to support that goal.