Older is Better

Last week, or the week before, I had to go to court in Palo Alto to pay a "fix-it" ticket. The building was functional, as public buildings are now days. It suffered an amazing lack of beauty. Anselm and Basil went with me.

Today Anselm, Basil, and I were in downtown San Jose. Anselm had to go to the bathroom. THe nearest bathroom was in the old county courthouse on the edge of St. James Park. THe buiding was beautiful. THirteen granite steps lead up to enormous bronze doors. In the foryer of the courthouse the deputies searched us, but I barely noticed them. My eyes were on the architectural details: Gold gilded moldings in the ceilings, monocrome frescoed plaster that seemed to deep to be real, rich woods (even in the elevator), and corinthian columns. We popped our heads into a court room and saw more architectural beauty. The benches were old and polished, the proportions of the room suggested the majesty of the law brought down to human scale, and were very close to the golen ratio. Even the bathrooms were gorgeous, with shining marble, porcelain, and wood. It is a fitting building for the judicial branch. And it was built in the late 1800s.
As we were exiting the old court house Anselm said, "I like this court more than the other one. It's better."

Then we went to the old main post office next door. It was built in the 1930s during the Great Depression. And oh what a palace! I don't even know how to describe its features. The doors are heavy bronze, the redwood ceiling (stained in a many-colored geometric design) is supported by huge columns covered with cream-colored tiles of exquisite craftmsanship. I have never seen the like. The P.O. boxes were of the old brass variety, the kind with the little windows. Long wooden tables, high windows, and a hundred fine details made me proud to be an American.


So, what happened? Why are the new courthouses and post offices so ugly? Certainly we have more money now than we did then. Certainly the ingenuity of our architechts and the skill of our craftsmen have not declined, have they? Have they? I just don't understand.

I see the same thing in church buildings. We know what makes a beautiful church building, but most church buildings built in America over the past 50 years are hideous. And it happened in skyscrappers, too. THink about the Chrysler Building in New York City. That is a beautiful tower. Now think about the glass and steel "International Style" office towers built in the last 30 years. See what I mean? We know what is beautiful but build ugly.

Is this an effect of sin?