Beaux Art Complete

Beaux Arts delicious

In the third and last lecture on Beaux Arts by David Garrard Lowe at the Metropolitan, he unleashed his acrid criticism of Moorish interiors and the Nut family home while lavishing compliments on the lushish beauty of Beaux Arts. Lowe shifts his focus from the architects and the patrons that funded them and squarely showcased the buildings themselves. He leashed his sardonic wit on cities like Chicago noting it only became important with the important buildings added for the World's Fair in 1893. He bounced to Washington, D.C., praising planners for saving the mall space from intrusion by a rail station. He bounced around to other cities as well and it is notable that most every state capitol owes its existence to the Beaux Arts movement. But he soon returned to the beloved epicenter of the movement, New York. We got the whirlwind tour of some of our city's best landmarks - Grand Central Terminal, The Public Library, The New York Yacht Club, The Flatiron Building, The Met Life Building, and The Plaza Hotel on Central Park South. Some architectural tight-butts might dispute classifying all these building as Beaux Arts but I didn't mind listening to stories about all the grand buildings that surround me as I walk the streets of Manhattan. Lowe lamented the transition of many places switching to condominiums (Flatiron, Met Life, Plaza) but in my opinion, this at least saves them from being razed for some Trump Project XXVII. And reflecting back on the lecture, how different is "going condo" to wealthy patrons building and residing in hotels? They did so to shed the European class system of having an estate with servants in favor of having their cleaning done by hotel maids. A few commercial buildings will now be residential but I personally would love, love, love to live in on of the northern triangle apartments in the Flatiron overlooking Madison Square Park if I could afford it. I could walk to work and enjoy custard at the Shake Shack most every day. Lowe lobbied to keep The Oak Room and other historic public spaces saved which I find admirable. What I find more distressing is when glorious public spaces like Penn Station are torn down in favor of soulless buildings that such the life out of travelers. Overall I think Lowe is a bit overly nostalgic and credits the Beaux Arts architects with too much altruism when professing their dedication for designing public spaces like The Public Library. Most likely their dedication was in building things, any things, and wealthy patrons love building BIG as do governments. Personally I love the smaller buildings not mentioned in the lecture, like the Engine House No. 33 which I tripped across with a friend as we wandered the streets in the Lower Eastside.