Architect and engineer . irk-some task. Those who, heedless of the ubiquitous Thomas Cook, wander 48 THE ARCHITECT AND ENGINEEF. and loiter at the spirits call, discover that the immeasurable advantageof the European scene is a very human one. It is not so much that itsimportant liuildings are all conspicuously superior to our own, as thatarchitecturally the most insignificant hovel which meets the eye ishumanly significant. There are buildings which have become objects ofpilgrimage which would fare ill under the most casual of architecturalanalyses. The best-intentioned traveler, once this le
Architect and engineer . irk-some task. Those who, heedless of the ubiquitous Thomas Cook, wander 48 THE ARCHITECT AND ENGINEEF. and loiter at the spirits call, discover that the immeasurable advantageof the European scene is a very human one. It is not so much that itsimportant liuildings are all conspicuously superior to our own, as thatarchitecturally the most insignificant hovel which meets the eye ishumanly significant. There are buildings which have become objects ofpilgrimage which would fare ill under the most casual of architecturalanalyses. The best-intentioned traveler, once this lesson be learned, canstand unimpressed and unashamed before a masterpiece. Around thecorner he may warm to generous enthusiasm over an unimportant build-ing which critics might demonstrate is not architecture, but which iseloquent of the generations of human beings who have fashioned andoccupied it. A wall architecturally featureless may, through a subtletexture, deliver a quiet message from a nameless but not foi-gotten. ill)^^. Ut MK. HAKKY BKAINAKU, MONTECITO. (ALliGeoi-ye Washington Smith, Architect craftsman. A colored stain may question the significance of the long-succession of seasons. Not until man and his milieu and his handiworkhave thus interacted does architecture l)ecome a vital force. Aichitecture in America is, by and large, not such a vital force. Atits worst it is dismal beyond human comprehension. In its better mani-festations it is conspicuously respectable, accomplished, even since^ it is an adjunct to be employed or omitted arbitrarily it is aconscious imposition, not a necessity, and hence unvitalized by thehuman touch. It answers to no inner need of people who use it. It isinvoked professionally, as an index of commercial and social aspirationand status. All too rarely is a building conceived solely as a natural andfelicitous embodiment of its real reason for being. It is either shock- THE ARCHITECT AND ENGINEER 49 ingly neglected, suita
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