Category Archives: Architecture

“John Massengale — the man who taught me everything I know about architecture” — Tom Wolfe

by John Massengale Posted on May 25, 2018

TOM WOLFE died last week. Here’s a story about a kind thing he did for me over 25 years ago. I was in the lobby at the Newington-Cropsey Foundation, where I had been invited to speak at an architecture conference. … Continue reading →

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“Take Your Amnesia Pills, John”

by John Massengale Posted on May 24, 2018

A LONG TIME AGO, I turned on “All Things Considered” just in time to hear someone talking about suburban sprawl. He spoke for about a minute, succinctly saying things I was thinking about but had not said as well or … Continue reading →

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NYC Needs You

by John Massengale Posted on March 23, 2018

New York City’s Historic Districts and Landmarks Are Under Siege Have you noticed how many ideas and movements from the 1960s are back in a big way? Feminism. The civil rights movement. Streets for People, which was the title of … Continue reading →

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Introduction to the 1st Annual Jane Jacobs Award at the Met Housing Council

by John Massengale Posted on December 19, 2016

Jane Jacobs wrote 12 wide-ranging, brilliant books. In them she wove together ideas about cities, city life, politics, economics, and social and cultural issues, so it’s hard to succinctly summarize her contributions to tonight’s topic of affordable housing in New … Continue reading →

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The Best Building At Columbia

by John Massengale Posted on October 10, 2016

THIS IS a difficult building to photograph, and a Northern Italian Renaissanc church with a loosely Byzantine interior wouldn’t normally be my favorite. But it is so well done. The perfect proportions, the details in the entrance in antis, the … Continue reading →

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Occupy Wall Street, Main Street, Broad Street

by John Massengale Posted on September 16, 2016

LIKE MOST NEW YORKERS, I was happy to see Occupy Wall Street arise.* We need more of that spirit in the neighborhood and preservation battles against the Lords of Real Estate that are welling up all across the city. When I … Continue reading →

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The Good Kind: Notre Dame du Haut (Ronchamp)

by John Massengale Posted on September 15, 2016

NOTRE DAME DU HAUT is a work of beauty and genius. To fully appreciate that you must visit the pilgrimage chapel in the northeast corner of France. Le Corbusier put aside his machine aesthetic and principles of mechanical standardization and embraced … Continue reading →

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Inexpressive Interiors – The Other Kind

by John Massengale Posted on September 15, 2016

MANY ARCHITECTURE SCHOOLS in the northeast have become more like art schools than architecture schools. They emphasize conceptual “autonomous” architecture and personal expression, and neglect materials, construction, composition, context, placemaking… the list goes on and on. When I was on … Continue reading →

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Monument of the Day

by John Massengale Posted on September 11, 2016

Firemen’s Memorial, Harold Van Buren Magonigle and Attilio Piccirilli, Riverside Drive at 100th Street, 1913. THE FIRST YEAR AFTER 9/11, New York firemen started an unofficial memorial service at the Firemen’s Memorial on Riverside Drive. Small at first, it has grown … Continue reading →

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Occupy Main Street

by John Massengale Posted on September 10, 2016

Great Barrington’s Main Street should be a place where people want to get out of their cars to shop, eat, and socialize—under a majestic canopy made with tall trees. That’s not what State DOTs build, however. This story originally ran … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Culture, Current, Historic Preservation, New England, Street Design, The Other Kind, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off

Occupy Main Street (from the Berkshire Record)

by John Massengale Posted on September 10, 2016

Download the PDF Occupy Main Street (@ blog.massengale.com) The MassDOT Chainsaw Massacre MassDOT Mistake: How Not To Rebuild Main Street Street Design in the Berkshire Record The Berkshire Record

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The Biggest Cornices in New York

by John Massengale Posted on July 17, 2016

Above & Below: Astor Court, 209 West 89th St, Charles Platt, 1915. Below: United States Rubber Building, 1790 Broadway, Carrère & Hastings, 1912. The Residential and Commercial Champions. Leave suggestions in the comments if you have alternative candidates.

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Urban Design: The Good Kind & the Other Kind

by John Massengale Posted on May 16, 2016

WE ALL UNDERSTAND why so many normal, rational New Yorkers can act like NIMBYs—because we’ve all seen alien, intrusive development in New York like Billionaire Row and Atlantic Yards. Recent developments at the American Museum of Natural History brought this … Continue reading →

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Leon Wieseltier on Modern Cliches

by John Massengale Posted on April 6, 2016

IF you apply for a grant today and want to be successful, you’d better use the words “innovate” and “innovative” in your proposal. In art and architecture, words like “challenging,” “transgressive,” and “disruptive” are among the most used. So I … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Craft, Culture, Current, Egotecture, Global, New York, Quote of the Day, The Other Kind, Urbanism | Tagged ui | Comments Off

Form Follows Fashion

by John Massengale Posted on April 4, 2016

WE ALL UNDERSTAND that in architecture Modernism has promoted the expression of industrial materials. For one hundred years, its proponents have declared that Modernism is not a style but a rational, modern way of building. Last week, I happened to … Continue reading →

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We Moved

by John Massengale Posted on March 22, 2016

To the Broadway Chambers @ 277 Broadway, on the corner of Chambers Street—Cass Gilbert’s first building in New York City. Here’s the view from my desk:

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The Best Smelling Lobby In New York

by John Massengale Posted on March 21, 2016

YOU CAN FIND some of the best bread and pastries in New York in this Tribeca office building lobby—and in the year 2016, that’s saying a lot. The story is that a New Yorker who’s roamed the world learning how … Continue reading →

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There are two types of architecture—good architecture, and the other kind