Category Archives: Beauty

Streets for People, or Streets for Profit?

by John Massengale Posted on June 5, 2019

My Op-Ed at City Limits (click to read) Excerpt: AVs will be programmed to stop immediately if a pedestrian steps in front of them to cross the street—and we all know that given the opportunity, New Yorkers will do that … Continue reading →

Posted in Beauty, Good Kind, New Urbanism, New York, Pedestrian, Slow Streets, Street Design, The Other Kind, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off

Architecture Is Frozen Music

by John Massengale Posted on June 1, 2019

Imagine the following scenario. There are some problems with it, but you’ll get the point. The Berlin Philharmonic has the only sheet music for Mozart’s Requiem. One day, a fire destroys the last 10 pages. Angela Merkel announces that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Craft, Culture, Current, divine, Global, Good Kind, Historic Preservation | Comments Off

Philip Johnson Quote of the Day

by John Massengale Posted on May 15, 2019

Philip [Johnson] was always a perfect gentleman of the old school. But once I saw his wit and grace take an almost grandfatherly form. It was at the end of a splendid fall day that I had spent with him … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Current, Joke, Quote of the Day, Veritas et Venustas | Comments Off

Seaside, Battery Park City, the State of Our Streets, and New Urbanism

by John Massengale Posted on March 10, 2019

I RECENTLY spent a week in Seaside, where I was once Town Architect. In honor of Seaside, I’m uploading two essays from Street Design, The Secret to Great Cities and Towns. The first is the opening of the chapter on … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Classical, Culture, Education, Good Kind, New Urbanism, New York, Pedestrian, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off

Seaside

by John Massengale Posted on March 10, 2019

I RECENTLY spent a week in Seaside, where I was once Town Architect. In honor of Seaside, I’m uploading two essays from Street Design, The Secret to Great Cities and Towns. The first is a general essay on Seaside and … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Craft, Culture, Good Kind, Local, Materials, New Urbanism, Pedestrian, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism | Comments Off

My New York Times Op-Ed: “There Are Better Ways to Get Around Town”

by John Massengale Posted on May 29, 2018

New York City Streets for People After the Congestion Zone May 15, 2018 (link) The debate continues over how to make New York City’s streets less crowded, safer and better for people as well as cars. Some, like Gov. Andrew … Continue reading →

Posted in -, Architecture, Beauty, Bicycle, Current, New York, News & Reviews, Pedestrian, Quote of the Day, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off

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 →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Current, Historic Preservation, New York, Urbanism | Comments Off

Traditional & Neo-Traditional

by John Massengale Posted on January 9, 2017

What’s the difference between traditional and neo-traditional design? Probably not what you think. More on traditional and neo-traditional design after the photos. Neo-Traditional: Traditional:

Posted in Beauty, Classical, Culture, Good Kind | Comments Off

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 →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Current, Global, New York, Urbanism | Comments Off

Streets for People

by John Massengale Posted on October 21, 2016

INFO http://bit.ly/peoplenyc RSVP http://bit.ly/RSVP-streets

Posted in Beauty, New Urbanism, New York, Pedestrian, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off

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 →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Classical, Craft, divine, Good Kind, Materials, New York | Comments Off

There once was a tree on Nantucket
(street design humor)

by John Massengale Posted on September 30, 2016

There once was a tree on Nantucket, With none of its roots in a bucket, “That can’t be,” Said the state DOT, But no car has ever yet struck it. After the jump, another Nantucket Elm

Posted in Beauty, Culture, Good Kind, Joke, New England, Street Design, Street of the Day, Urbanism | Comments Off

Occupy Broad Street

by John Massengale Posted on September 16, 2016

THE BROAD crossroads where Wall Street and Broad Street come together is a beautiful space, fully the equal of medieval European plazas. Today, post-911, it’s closed to almost all traffic, because the New York Stock Exchange sits at the southwest corner of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Beauty, Current, New York, Pedestrian, Slow Street of the Day, Slow Streets, Street Design, Street of the Day, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off

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 →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, divine, Good Kind, Local | Comments Off

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 →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Classical, Current, Good Kind, New York, Street of the Day | 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

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Current, New England, Pedestrian, Street Design, Urbanism | Comments Off

Quote of the Day: Good Design

by John Massengale Posted on July 19, 2016

“As I’ve gotten older I’ve become less and less interested in novelty or cleverness as a really important attribute of good design. It’s disconcerting when you do this sort of work to see what kinds of things have truly endured, … Continue reading →

Posted in Beauty, Good Kind, Quote of the Day | Comments Off

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