ALMOST A STUNT

Evening Star, Issue 22619, 10 April 1937, Page 22

ALMOST A STUNT

ARCHITECTURE TO-DAY Architectural * stunting ” was critw cised recently by Sir Reginald Blonw field, R. A., the architect. He wa* speaking at a dinner held in their hall by the Haberdashers’ Company (report* the 1 Daily Telegraph ’). “ The staple of architectural; praoj tice to-day,” he said, “ is the gigantia block of flats, too often superfluous an<| ugly, the picture palace, the garage* and all the new devices invented ta please a restless and unquiet general tion. ... , _ “At the beginning of this centur* one heard little about architecture. Bufj since the war architecture has been! brought out into the open, and, I regret to say, has become almost s? stunt.’ , . . “ A Cinderella has been brought oua of the back kitchen, but the worst ofj it is that now that she has been’ given! the magic shoes she does not seem ta know how to wear them. In fact, she is sometimes so awkward and ill-man* nered that some of us have an uncomfortable suspicion that she may hav«( not really be Cinderella at all,, but aal undesirable alien imported from the Continent —and the sooner sne is sent? back there the better. “ In any case, this person represent* not the best but the most fatuous developments of contemporary architect tU^ e As one of the elder brethren among architects I have sometimes felt it my| duty to say hard things about the more fantastic experiments of the younger, generation. They have done well to throw overboard a lot of useless lumber, but in their zeal they are going far to scuttle the ship, and this is what more experienced men are trying to prevent. “ The ship is still a very good ship* properly handled. I still have-the faithl that out of all this welter there will! emerge some day an architecture which! will be a true expression of the lifei and civilisation of the people of thu| country.”-