THE “SKYSCRAPER” RAISED

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2028, 13 March 1907, Page 1

THE “SKYSCRAPER” RAISED

So much uncomplimentary criticism has been lovclled a tho American “skyscraper,” that it is interesting to find experts who see beauty in it. A writer in tho New York Craftsman hails this eccentric typo of building as “the first absolutely genuine expression of an original American architecture.” Ho is glad that Americans liavo abandoned tho absurd custom of copying Many, stylo on earth from Ivnrnak fo Versailles,” and that tho nation is feeling its way independently towards buildings that suit its needs, its comfort, and its landscape. The maligned, wronged, and insulted “skyscraper” is tho finest architectural expression in American, because of tho completeness of its adaptation to need. It has changed tho outline of New York, and given the cit.v its first suggestion of beauty. But a “skyscraper” standing all by itself is not beautiful; its charm depends on its environment. “Rather than actually contributing beauty, it makes beauty possible. It needs the old Gothic church, with its tall, slonder spire, the hoary ohoicliyard, the colonial City Hall, the green park, tho wide harbor, Battery Park, and Madison Square to fold about it, to rest near it, and connect it with tho earth. Given these for environment, it has power to change the face of the greatest American city from crude ugliness to irregular loveliness, and with the varying settling of sunrise or sunset, storm or fog, New York grows into a city of enchantment, with a wondrous, fleeting, mysterious beauty.” To this comes the reply that the “skyscraper” was simply forced on New York because the business quarter, penned in between railways and river, became overcrowded. Architects protested but the pressure was too great. It is really “the embodiment of commercial greed, lawless individualism, contemptuous disregard for others.” It is further argued that where these lofty buildings aro massed together, the picturesque towering effect is lost, and the whole life of the streets wears a depressed look. But even if the skyscraper is not beautiful, it is effective. “I beliove,” remarked Sir Aston Webb, formerly president of the British Institute of Architects, the other day, “if an earthquake were to visit New York it would pass through it hotter than would any large city in the world. With these skyscrapers, which stands the test well, the danger would be reduced to a, minimum,”