Notre Dame is quite old: one will see it perhapsStill bury that Paris it saw at its birth;But in a few thousand years Time will cause to collapse(As wolves do to cattle) this carcass to earth,Twist its tendons of iron, then with a deaf toothChew its bones made of rock, which fills us with ruth.From . . . . Continue Reading »
Architecture can reflect the progress of a civilization, but Hudson Yards is not about civilization. Its buildings reflect the futility of a “progressive” design sensibility cut off from the past and wedded to novelty and formal dissonance as ends in themselves. The mixed-use development rises . . . . Continue Reading »
The recovery of meaningful church architecture hinges upon the retrieval of a realist metaphysic. Continue Reading »
Hadley Arkes, echoing themes he has developed for many years in his work, offers a forceful argument (“Backing into Relativism,” June/July) that the Supreme Court’s aspiration to contentless neutrality in its Speech and Religion Clause doctrine is a jurisprudential dead end—a “descent . . . . Continue Reading »
The decline in life expectancy in the United States is a symptom of a failing culture. It is driven by deaths of despair: Suicide rates are up, as are drug overdoses and alcohol-related diseases. Those are hard, cruel facts. There are other signs of failure, more auspicious ones. We read about young . . . . Continue Reading »
Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism by james stevens curl oxford, 592 pages, $60 In a recent debate in Prospect magazine on the question of whether modern architecture has ruined British towns and cities, Professor James Stevens Curl, . . . . Continue Reading »
Celebrations of Ruskin’s polymathic genius usually miss the role of Christianity in his outlook and writing. Continue Reading »
Featuring David Sheppe on the preservation of Saint Germain des Prés Church. Continue Reading »
Our throwaway culture has come to include entire buildings. Everywhere one looks, one senses the impermanence of place. Continue Reading »
The Diocese of Christchurch, New Zealand, should rebuild the destroyed Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in its former style—not give it a new design. Continue Reading »
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