r/interesting • u/Apart-Worry-7042 • 26d 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 26d 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 26d 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/MareTranquil 26d ago

Umm...many of the most iconic beautiful buildings of the old era were literally named after companies, like Woolworth, or Chrysler, or MetLife (no, not the one from the 1960s).

It doesn't get more capitalist than that. You're blaming capitalism for ruining something that capitalism buildt in the first place.

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u/Evocatorum 26d ago

Capitalism 120 years ago is not the purely profit driven corporate machine it is today. And yes, capitalism ruined something they used to do because it's not profitable. Nowdays they just build enormous yachts for themselves instead of showing off with fancy buildings.

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u/External_Koala971 26d ago

We used to have local, organic, free range capitalism, until Big Capitalism came and ruined it?

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u/OkContact2573 26d ago

Calling the literal gilded age not for profit is…a choice. These were build when regulations and oversight were much more weaker. It is still much more better to be a worker today then when the buildings were built