Neo-Classical architecture from the last 50 years

jetsetter · #1 Posted **Mar 6, 2007, 12:04 AM**

In this thread I am hoping that we can post examples of Neo-classical architecture from the last 50 years. I will start with two newer examples.

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center - Washington D.C. (1998)

Schermerhorn Symphony Center - Nashville, Tennessee (2006)

LMich · #2 Posted **Mar 6, 2007, 3:37 AM**

Michigan Hall of Justice (2002) - Lansing, Michigan - The headquarters for the Michigan Supreme Court, and other state courts.

Lecom · #3 Posted **Mar 6, 2007, 4:04 AM**

Wow, that's some great stuff. Good thing that not all architects/developers are obsessed with contemporaty styles.

MolsonExport · #4 Posted **Mar 6, 2007, 2:24 PM**

Neoclassical architecture always looks imposing and timeless.

johnnypd · #5 Posted **Mar 6, 2007, 3:33 PM**

quite a few examples in this thread on skyscrapercity:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=440816

this is in london for instance:

and of course Dresden:

Upward · #6 Posted **Mar 6, 2007, 3:34 PM**

The Nashville building is incredible! Nothing about it, at least in that picture, makes it obvious that it's new.

LostInTheZone · #7 Posted **Mar 6, 2007, 6:02 PM**

I wasn't sure if I wanted to be snide and post this, but someone else did Dresden...

East Front of the US Capitol, built 1958-1962:

Time article from 1958:

Quote:

The current phase of the struggle began in 1955, when the House passed a $5,000,000 appropriation act (increased in 1956 by $12 million) for the expansion of the Capitol, and tied into it provisions to move the east-front wall 32½ ft. forward, replace its sandstone façade with a marble copy. Supporters of the remodeling said that it would correct an "architectural defect" (the dome overhangs the east portico), repair and halt damages caused by time and weather, make room for 42 new offices, new restaurant facilities, one large hearing room and a tourist-free corridor connecting the Senate and House. Said Architect of the Capitol J. George Stewart (no architect but a former civil engineer): "The Capitol is not a museum. It is the live seat of a great government."

original sandstone columns from the old facade were set up in the National Arboretum:

jetsetter · #8 Posted **Mar 17, 2007, 7:43 PM**

United States Court House - White Plains, New York (1995)

kool maudit · #9 Posted **Mar 17, 2007, 9:08 PM**

this one is very awkward.

someone123 · #10 Posted **Mar 17, 2007, 9:58 PM**

That White Plains building is awful.

I'd rather have real contemporary styles than approximations of classical styles.

LMich · #11 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 12:08 AM**

Yeah, it's a really brutal clash of Neoclassicism and Beaux Arts. Those styles usually work together, well, but for some reason the architect totally hit and missed, here.

holladay · #12 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 5:49 AM**

Th White Plains building looks like it could topple off its base. The details and materials are just baaaaad. But that's what happens when you try to design a building to look like it has real brick and stone walls instead of just thin veneers.

biguc · #13 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 6:24 AM**

The White Plains building is disgusting.

What are those Dresden buildings, actually? Baroque? Not neo-classical, anyway.

The first three buildings in this thread aren't that great, either. The Reagan buildings is especially clumsy. The one in Nashville is ok.

But christ, I can't get over how bad that White Plains building is.

trueviking · #14 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 6:28 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lecom

Wow, that's some great stuff. Good thing that not all architects/developers are obsessed with contemporaty styles.

yes, some are obsessed with ancient rome.

kitsch.

holladay · #15 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 6:46 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueviking

yes, some are obsessed with ancient rome.

kitsch.

yep... pastiche is the new authenticity

tackledspoon · #16 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 4:49 PM**

The Dresden buildings are beautiful, but as BigUC asked, are they actually neoclassical? I'm not so learned in architecture, but I thought neoclassical threw back to roman monumental architecture.
Anyway, none of these other ones really do it for me. Capitol aside, the unfortunately named Reagan building is the most convincing and the least offensive. Nashville isn't offensive, but I could tell right off that it was a new construction. The Lansing and White Plains courthouses are both hideous.

jetsetter · #17 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 5:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tackledspoon

The Dresden buildings are beautiful, but as BigUC asked, are they actually neoclassical? I'm not so learned in architecture, but I thought neoclassical threw back to roman monumental architecture.
Anyway, none of these other ones really do it for me. Capitol aside, the unfortunately named Reagan building is the most convincing and the least offensive. Nashville isn't offensive, but I could tell right off that it was a new construction. The Lansing and White Plains courthouses are both hideous.

I have been liberal with my examples.

Exodus · #18 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 6:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueviking

yes, some are obsessed with ancient rome.

kitsch.

Good thing too, or we would see nothing but silly attempts at being creative and futuristic. Ancient Rome Rocks !

trueviking · #19 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 6:30 PM**

yes, because those are the only two options...

ancient rome does rock...in ancient rome....not in nashville.

ancient roman rocks....

hauntedheadnc · #20 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 7:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueviking

yes, because those are the only two options...

ancient rome does rock...in ancient rome....not in nashville.

ancient roman rocks....

And why not Nashville? Every architecture style started somewhere, but does that mean it should have stayed there and only there? Was art deco inappropriate for New York and Chicago because it started in Paris? Is the only architecture suitable for the modern American city those buildings that look like melted trailers?

"Ancient Rome" architecture just plain works, so why not use it? There's room for variety, and why not use something that has proven its worth?