Architecture Exhibit at the Greenville County Library
Last night I went to the downtown branch of the Greenville County Library, where I saw a wonderful exhibit. The exhibit displayed photographs of one hundred fifty of America’s best buildings, as selected by the American Institute of Architects. The photographs were very large and well displayed. You can see the photographs in an online exhibit.
I found the exhibit particularly fascinating—a ten-minute trip turned into an hour’s visit—because I’ve read recently about City Beautiful, an architectural and city-planning movement from 1893 to about 1911. Many of the buildings featured were created because of City Beautiful, especially the union stations and the city halls. I recognized Daniel Burnham, Cass Gilbert, and Charles McKim among the architects, and I learned that the main branch of the Boston Public Library was designed by McKim in 1895.
There was also a corresponding exhibit of the top ninety-nine building in Greenville County, and visitors could vote for the hundredth building. I was surprised that no buildings from BJU made the cut, since the university’s buildings are examples of a very distinct, if uncommon, architectural style. BJU is very conservative, but its buildings are modern—even modernist.
Posted 15 Apr. 2008 at 9:14 pm | Permalink
The rankings make me wonder if those polled about their favorites knew so little about architecture that it turned into “buildings we recognize.” For example, it’s hard to imagine the World Trade Center towers ranking in anybody’s top 20 favorite buildings. A lot of the buildings, such as the Bellagio and the Supreme Court, seem more like obligatory stops on tourist trips than anything of intrinsic architectural significance.
Posted 22 Apr. 2008 at 5:57 pm | Permalink
BJU’s architecture is distinctive, to be sure, but I have not often heard it argued that it is attractive. Modernist architecture, like 1980s fashion, is something some of us try to pretend didn’t happen.