Art: Architects as Tailors

Herbert George Wells, who has ideas on almost every conceivable subject, expressed himself on the future of architecture last week. After walking with the officials of the Royal Institute of British Architects around an exhibition hall full of paper projects and little plaster models. he addressed the R. I. B. A.’s at dinner:

“I don’t believe that private buying is going to employ the masses of the people again. . . . The obvious thing is to consider the immense architectural possibilities. We must accept the responsibility of rehousing all mankind, rebuilding every city in the world and reclaiming roads and countryside. I think we can well look forward to the time when towns will rebuild themselves as we now go to the tailor for a new suit of clothes.”

In New York, able, bristle-haired Architect Raymond Hood (Chicago World’s Fair) approves the idea of cities consciously rebuilding themselves as a cure for unemployment, points out that the average life of a Manhattan skyscraper is only 20 years and likely to be reduced. He adds another thought:

“The fact that modern office buildings have so short a life has been the greatest thing in the world for modern architecture. It frees the architect. Gives him a chance to use his imagination. See here, take my necktie [speckled green & brown]. If I thought that this necktie would have to last me for the rest of my life, I’d pick out something pretty conventional, pretty safe and pretty dull. But since I will probably get another necktie in a month or two I can afford to take a chance.”