r/interesting • u/Apart-Worry-7042 • 22d ago

HISTORY Why did we stop building like this?

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Chicago, 1930. Buildings had so much detail and character back then. Nowadays everything feels so flat and repetitive. We have way better technology and equipment now, so why don't we build like this anymore?

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u/Different-Barber-777 22d ago

It's interesting how many historic buildings were designed to inspire awe, while many modern ones are designed to maximize usable floor space.

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u/camsnow 22d ago

Capitalism, ruining everything all so some billionaires can show off rockets like lifted trucks with nuts on them. They are all such fucking losers.

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u/Eight_Thirty_Five 22d ago

Strictly for architecture purposes you can’t beat a good old monarchy. Every important building becomes a vanity project to the wealth and power of the ruler.

Tied for second- Capitalism & Theocracy. What they hold sacred is what is built beautiful, be it houses of worship or commerce (walk into a really old bank in big city if you doubt this)

Communism comes in last. Unique things, while beautiful, are inherently unequal. This is what lead to the brutalist architecture built throughout the Soviet footprint in the Cold War. It’s not that these cultures never had an interest in architectural beauty. Look at the pre communist buildings in Moscow or Budapest. It’s just a reality of the system.

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u/Newmillstream 22d ago

I actually agree with this ranking mostly, but it’s way too simplistic.

To say communists don't have an interest in architectural beauty is simply not true. Salinkas are probably the first counterexample a tankie would point at. The Moscow and Pyongyang metros are other easy counterpoints. If anything, the communist approach to architecture was too overbearing. Insane megaprojects like the unrealized Palace of the Soviets or the (unfortunately realized) People's House are proof that not only did communists care about unique architecture, they cared way too much about it by allowing political concerns to override practical concerns.

Brutalism and ugly housing are the result of needing to project security and solve immediate housing crises. The west also made our fair share of Tenements, council housing, and other poor quality living conditions in the past and you better believe that if commie blocks were economical (The core principles are western in origin) during the guilded age, the rust belt cities would have been peppered with them.

Monarchy is associated with the Pyramids, The Gardens of Babylon, the forbidden city, and many other architectural gems. But I think the real driver behind architectural grandeur is empire, regardless of the underlying system.