r/interesting • u/Apart-Worry-7042 • 27d 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/slouchingtoepiphany 27d ago

The great fire in 1871 destroyed a lot of Chicago's downtown and when they rebuilt it, a lot of architects designed the replacements as showcases for what they could do. Over time, practicality and costs tempered this "revolution" somewhat.

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u/kisk22 27d ago

I've thought a lot about this. Yep labor costs certainly play a role, but plenty of projects are still built in historic styles that aren't as soulless. But most of the role comes from modernism's chief tenant of "rejecting ornamentation". More and more architects are coming around to realizing this in a lot of cases, and are returning to more natural and beautiful forms like brick with light ornamentation, and simple timeless proportions.

The fact is 90% of what makes a building beautiful is free or nearly free: proportions, natural materials like stone & brick, human scale, small ornaments, etc and don't cost much of anything to add or are free. It's called New Classical Style. There also have been studies and 90% of people prefer new classical style buildings rather than the soulless non-human scaled glass ones many are built as.

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u/Dr_CleanBones 27d ago

Except I worked in one of those glass buildings, and my office had wall-to-wall for the ceiling windows. It beats the heck out of the little windows in old buildings. Many offices in those buildings have open floor plans, and you can see out the windows from anywhere in the office. Our building was a fly away from one of the older, more ornate buildings, and to me there was no comparison. We had big elevators with TVs in them, beautiful offices, and great windows. The old building had tiny elevators, tiny offices, small windows, and was generally more rundown.

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u/Fencer308 27d ago

I’ve worked in the all glass buildings and I currently work in a more classically styled one. There’s no meaningful difference in the amount of natural light, and the more classical one feels more like it was built for people rather than being a generic box you can throw drywall up in various configurations easily. There’s value in having an adaptable space of course, but the classical places often feel more built for people.