When Skyscrapers Looked Like Cathedrals
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- Опубліковано 17 тра 2024
- For centuries the tallest buildings in the world were Gothic cathedrals. At the dawn of the age of skyscrapers some architects looked back to these buildings for inspiration. Using the Gothic style they could express the soaring height of these towers, and create such iconic structures as the Woolworth building in New York, or Chicago's Tribune Tower.
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This and the art deco skyscrapers are the most beautiful ever built. It's a shame they don't built like that anymore. Not everything new is immediately better.
Not at all. Modernism is generally crap.
modernists are fking lame
Modern architecture makes me sad. It's so boring and repetitive. Also, there is no respect to local traditional architecture, they just look the same no matter where in the world you are.
modern "architects" be like "hurr durr me love 1500 story glass box"
@@abaddon2148 Modernist Architects are just useless. An engineer can draw a simplistic plan too. They shouldn’t be paid.
Historicism ironically is the only modern style that never gets old.
It's like continuing a millennial tradition of building and design will produce timeless designs. Wait until contemporary architects realize that instead of constantly trying to reinvent the wheel.
@@Nostalg1a Modern architecture is the equivalent of "a round wheel is a historicist and outdated design, let's try to make it a little more angular this time"
Not exactly. Historicism is on it's own a testimony to the memorial of architecture, it mostly serves as an "exotic" style that works as a calendar of architectural styles throughout history. Actually modernism (pre-international style) is the only true intertemporal style in architecture, serving as a defacto "default" style that has no chronicality or regionality in it.
@@Nostalg1a I think contemporary architects know that. The issue is that modern labor are so much higher than they used to be that modern architects simply don't have the budget for the level of ornamentation they would need. Almost all of the modern styles are essentially just attempts to make things that look good with as little ornamentation as possible.
@@ios2861 I know 'Historicism' is a bit of generous catch-all term. But I still think that it being "a calendar of architectural styles", to borrow your good phrase, is a big part of why it seems to age so well. Its regionality and nationality, for lack of better words, is a part of it as well. The cultural variability and adaptability makes it at least feel more recognizable and less invasive.
Nowadays we only have soulless glass rectangles....
The invention of tempered glass. In the 50s, when it was created it was revolutionary and still is. Natural light is assured (less money on electricity), costs are lower than most materials, lighter too which made skyscrapers get even taller, it insulates very well (less money for heating)
The problem is that it is aesthetically as boring as it gets since it isn’t as flexible in shape as bricks or concrete. This is more evident in office buildings from the 60s-70s
As you’ve read, there is a pattern in cutting costs with the usage of tempered glass. This went well with growing corporations and for them, height equals power, not the aesthetics or decorations like in the art deco period. Although now the form and details are making somewhat of a comeback.
@@FilYRU999 I agree with you, but floor to ceiling glass is not cheap, economically or environmentally, since they are very expensive and makes it harder to acclimatize an area, leading to increased costs in AC.
@@FilYRU999 as much as I appreciate these early skyscrapers with their neo gothic style, it all was just a skin of limestone. Behind it were a steel skeleton, not much different than glass curtain wall or alucobond.
To be fair, most neo gothic was “fake”.
Real gothic makes no separation between the structural, the surface form and the light emitted inside. The entire movement was derived from men seeking to gain more light inside by way of making structural innovations (pointed arch being most notable). That pointed arch wasn’t made because it looks cool. It was made to allow for wider spans, lighter columns and greater heights.
@@cl5619 without the steel skeleton, they wouldn’t reach so high. Also gothic is a clear example of form follows function
@@FilYRU999 Yes. Structural steel made the skyscraper possible.
The tallest skyscraper not made with a structural steel frame is the Monadnock Building in Chicago. It’s all of load bearing brick at 16 stores tall. It was kind of a one-off, a proto skyscraper. You can’t go much higher than 16 stories because wind sheer force gets too powerful. Steel frame skyscrapers can move a bit. Monadnock achieved its height by having a base that is 6ft thick. I’ve been to that building. You have these deep portal entries and windows. It’s a very unusual building, but great to see.
One thing I say about true gothic, as well as structural steel skyscrapers, is that both were movements driven by technical advancements in structure. That said, I think the stripped down glass skinned modernist buildings of Mies van der Rohe et al have more in common with the gothic architecture of the Middle Ages, than do the gothic styled skyscrapers. This is counterintuitive, but people don’t know better because a gothic style skyscraper is a modern building in drag.
It's so sad that many sublime skyscrapers in the Beaux-Arts style in the US, like the Singer Building, were demolished in order to build glass and steel monstrosities🧐
hey, nothing is wrong with one liberty plaza!
@@robroy6374 Speak for yourself!, Glass and steel rarely beautifies cities because its vision is reduced to the practicality of the style, not to the aesthetic solutions that the architect had envisioned.
Exactly!
@@joshuar.requena2262 people obviously have their tastes, like i said, nothing is wrong with one liberty plaza
You're alone on that one buddy. I think most people is sick and tired of having to survive in the dreams of mid century dead architects. Modernist buildings sucks. Every single one of them. At least those are built in cheap materials and won't last that long. Good riddance of bad garbage.
There were times, when architecture was considered to be an art..
Still is, but not for the better. Many modernist and post-modernist architects seem to believe themselves to be innovative sculptors, and design weird-angled, impractical, and butt-ugly "artworks" rather than functional buildings.
Sure, there were times when production didn’t need to serve 8bln ppl. Everyone wants to pass their genes, so why be so grumpy about consequences.
When I saw the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh North America it was one of the first high rise buildings that I thought "this City can be proud of this" it's not just imposing by its size but beautiful too. Neo Gothic just seems the natural style of high rise. Also they remind me of doomy cityscapes from Warhamer 40K.
lmao, there is something unsettling to them, but still far ahead of ugly modern architecture
The high lords of holy terra demands more gotic arcitecture and more gold fore oniments
First time i saw it i was eleven visiting my parents in Pittsburgh, i still remember it
I am living in a European city with mostly post-war architecture, and I have to endure the torture of returning to it after trips to the older cities that are close to it. The feeling of entering it again after you have seen some lovely classical european architecture remains the same every time.. Being surrounded by huge souless and depressing concrete and glass boxes makes you feel sad. This probably is not happening to the majority of the people, but in my case, architecture has a measurable impact on my mood..
Get help
This is true of most people. A city has the unique power to delight or oppress a person depending on its character. You probably feel this way as your home city lacks character and and sense of place. I feel the same in a glass human zoo with car noise howling in the air. I consider a city to be true human ecosystem. It just needs to be built with people in mind.
You're not alone. Ugly, bland, soulless concrete and glass buidlings also have a negative impact on my mood. Beautiful old architecture on the other hand is uplifting. I've recently moved to Rome, Italy and i must say that the beauty and the unmatched cultural richness of the city have had a very positive impact on me, despite it's negative aspects. It just feels so good to be in a city and a country with this much history, culture and beauty.
Oh, no, it is by design. Look up the philosophy behind Brutalist architecture. It was made with social engineering in mind.
Same. I either need a natural environment or pretty old architecture. Concrete neighborhoods that were built inbetween the 60s and 90s are depressing.
Fantastic video!
Thanks, I really enjoy your videos as well!
IT'S THE B1M! HELLO I ALSO WATCH YOUR VIDEOS THIS IS EPIC
You know your work is excellent when you receive praise from The B1M!
Very cool of you, B1M. Agreed, this was a seriously great video
you cant grasp how far ahead the 100 year old rejected designs for the tribune tower were, most of the rejected designs went on to become the base for most skyscraper designs to this day
You mean backwards. What we have now is backwards.
Form follows function, but before they forgot beauty IS a function.
so happy to see the Cathedral of Learning featured here. I can see it rising over Oakland from my deck. Beautiful structure.
Minimalistic designs may have a sleek and modern appeal, but they often lack the intricate and ornate details that are so prominent in Art Deco skyscrapers.
Beautiful! Amazing architecture. Why don't people build buildings like these anymore? You should do a whole series on the beauty of French chateaus and castles. Show their beautiful interiors and exteriors.
@@johnperic6860 Wow. Sad.
money
Btw i saw days ago the Lille cathedral, (finished in the 2000's) this beautiful gothic church was never finished cuz ppl were too lazy to finish it and it was, according to them a "ecletic" "monstruosity". they wanted to destroy it but instead replaced the initial gothic two towered facade with a very weird post modern one, its quite ugly but since they wanted to destroy it, i wont complain about the facade.
@@johnperic6860 wtf is this woo-woo you keep spouting. Pretty much the only reason we don't build like this anymore is because it's way cheaper and more efficient to just build glass boxes. After all, architects don't have free reign to make whatever they want, they are hired by people who have certain needs and the designs that architects make need to fit with these requests. If someone asks for a glass box, you can't just decide to make a gothic cathedral. It's not because of "objective forms of architecture" or whatever that means.
@@johnperic6860 if you were massive business owner who essentially cares only to minimize cost and maximize profits, would you build something like the Cathedral of learning that requires 10x more workers, more money and more time, or would you build a big box of just glass that costs barely anything, is extremely simple to put together and requires minimal maintenance (compared to the gothic skyscrapers, which are literally falling apart today). Of course you would choose the glass box.
In the modern day, if you want to keep up you need to be just as ruthless and soulless as all the other businessmen who instead of spending all that money on useless aesthetics, used the excess money to invest in other parts of their business.
this needs to be a thing again
As a contractor that's worked on high rises and large buildings in general, i d love to see us try. These were a different people I believe, they had a strong spirit and were closely connected and the bravery they must of had along with the creativity. Were missing all of what they were, also with the narrative that people were shorter in height as time goes back makes even less sense lol.
@Netten We need their teachings first, which must be forbidden by the powers that be.
5:32 The Tribune Tower is my favorite skyscraper in Chicago. Many years ago, I wasn't really into architecture, but I remember walking at night, and seeing this tower lit up. LOL, I'll admit it freaked me out a bit because I wasn't expecting a glowing gothic structure looking down on me. I would visit it often just to look at it, and even wrote a report on it for art class.
Ah, if only I could afford a condo/apartment there. I'm just glad the tower still looks the same after the Chicago Tribune left it.
The fact that you came back to it many times and it fascinated you so much that you also made a report on it, shows the unquestionable superiority of these buildings to the new ones. How many of the more modern skyscrapers can evict such passion? Betting it is not that many
How we went from this to flat concrete and stepping-stone giant mirrors baffles me.
Blame Bauhaus, they are the ones who filled everyone's head with utopian ideas that cheap concrete and glass boxes are solutions for everything, so no wonder craftsmen went out of business when modernist ideas took place. Soon anything with ornaments became "too expensive" and 60s modernisation mindset also did not help.
It’s because there’s uhhhh too many people or some shit. Yep, that’s why. It’s definitely not because of social engineering, cheapness/laziness, or anything
The Gothic style is truly the defining architectural style of Western civilization and Gothic cathedrals are our greatest cultural achievements. I think Gothic styled skyscrapers works best when they are cluttered amongst each other, turning the city into a forest set in stone.
I disagree, I think a variety of neoclassical styles are more impressive cultural achievements, like beaux-arts, second empire, etc, but gothic is still an amazing style
Thanks to Catholicism
@@barmybarmecide5390 Neo-classical is boring honestly.
It's like architects lost all inspiration and just went back to copy the scraps of antiquity.
@@remilenoir1271 you're clearly not looking at the right neoclassical then. Classicism is a language expressed in patterns, proportions and symmetry, the very foundations of beauty. With just one measurement from any part of a literate building's facade, you can figure out the scaling of the rest of the order through maths and proportional relationships. Add in the regional culture, principles and statements you can express through motifs and detailings and you have a building that is all at once mathematically poetry, a cultural statement and a distinct product of the unique mind that made it
@@barmybarmecide5390 You just exemplified why this style is boring to me, and you greatly overstate the regional and cultural specificities of it.
Yes, neo-classism is beautiful, no doubt about that, but its beauty is dull, tried and seen everywhere. This is what I'm arguing for, not the objective and proportional aesthetic of classisim.
When you've seen one you've seen them all, whereas gothic always has something new to offer and truly varies in time and space, even in the different parts of the buildings that were built in the span of its constant evolution. They are organic structures, always ready for expansion, never quite finished.
We should bring back neo-gothic and art deco architecture for skyscrapers. Pretentious architects and their non-euclidean, post-modernist eyesores should be shipped off to a farm.
Hey, what did the farms ever do to you!
I did not know about such beautiful skyscrapers! Usually when talking about Skyscrapers people only refer to the ugly Concrete-glass-steel boxes filling our cities. We should stop this trend and return to the beautiful architecture we once had
Well when YOU pony up the money for the construction using expensive materials, and actually work in these places, then knock yourself out.
Thank you for producing this type of content! Speaking for myself, I feel awe and gratitude seeing the visions, motivations, and hard work from those of the past. Not to mention hope for some sort of a return to these beautiful styles! This makes me want to do a road trip around the U.S. and see some of these and other buildings in your videos.
The Woolworth Building is always been my favorite neo-gothic architecture.
This is the look that Gotham City should have, and I'm glad they're finally doing it with the new vision of Matt Reeves! I love Gothic skyscrapers.
i'm getting sick of the glass sticks people keep building these days, gothic style is clearly superior and fits these buildings perfectly.
Thank you for including the Cathedral of Learning in this review. The building looms large in my memory, having grown up in its vicinity and eventually studying in and around it. One of the wonderful things that makes this building distinctive is its environment. Unlike most other skyscrapers, it isn’t placed in a downtown area, and isn’t surrounded by similarly tall buildings. This makes it feel so important and unique. Such an icon in a wonderful city
Magnificent; I'm so grateful we have such buildings remaining after the mid-century destruction of countless priceless historical works. I see some new buildings taking cues from much older gothic and Art Deco designs, with modern touches, and I'm pleased to see something of a return to ornamentation.
Warhammer 40K vibes
About time we build them like this again!
I almost agree, as I'm no fan of the generally bland, value engineered, modernist boxes that dominate the present. Love these Gothic architectural treasures.
I 'almost' agree, because I think we're mostly stuck with bland, corporatist, bean counter driven, efficient architecture for this moment in architectural history.
I do like the hyper futuristic curves architect Zaha Hadid was famous for in her work. Shanghai's Jin Mao tower is another contemporary beauty. So all is not lost.
My hope is that 3-d printing and perhaps A.I. may bring back more whimsical and artful buildings than developers are currently inclined towards.
Let´s put gothic Skyscrapers back to fashion!
I love the things part of kings and things
They should bring this and art deco back
We shuld return to building styles like this and art deco. Most modern buildings are eather a concreete block or a plain glass rectangel. Some modern building styles can look good, but most of them end up looking soolless. One can harp on gotic or art deco and simular styles as old fashiond and outdated. The thruth is that they are timeless and brimming from foundation to roof with soul
Lincoln cathedral is stunning
this is literally my ideal building the grey stone brick intricate designed 1800s victoria building we have so smaller ones like that here in new zealand not really gothic but beautiful
d1e4pidl3fu268.cloudfront.net/e77b2aed-c653-4121-9e91-b50d3877b827/teachingactivityvictorianbuildings.crop_866x650_29,0.preview.jpg
I just want to say, thank you for what you do! Your videos are so unique, peaceful, and cozy - like a warm cup of UA-cam tea on a rainy afternoon. Cheers!
These gothic and also the art deck skyscrapers ate my absolute favoruite styles. They look fantastic and its a shame they dont build them anymore
"Well nice you found out about that steel frame construction technique. But do you have to make it look so beautiful? Can't you just slap some glass and aluminum panels on it, so that it doesn't make my work look so lackluster and uninspired?"
Do Art Deco next!
Some gothic style skyscrapers were still build in other parts of the world. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs building (1953) in Moscow is based on English perpendicular gothic style.
Yay another video from you! I could listen to your voice for hours on end without getting bored. You have the best tonal timbre for voice overs! Great job!
I am sure I am not the first commenter to have said this, but here goes: you have one of the best presentation voices on UA-cam.
Calm, authoritative, clearly enunciated - a pleasure to listen to.
...and then there is the content itself. Fantastic stuff.
Thank you.
Gothic revival is one of my favorite styles, by far
What a lovely video. Adding a new layer of appreciation to gothic architecture
This channel is just so good! The thumbnails, the voice-over, the topics, all so amazing!
I had always found these fascinting.
I can't wrap my head around how they scaffolded and hoisted all those molded concrete pieces and where are the mega factories need to produce those like Lego blocks. Also were told that people were 4.5 to 5 feet tall on average. All lies imo. I desperately want to build like this but its laughable to think I could without a million skilled strong laborers that must've been 7 feet tall average to muster the strength that modern machines make up for. I love this stuff its so interesting to break down.
This video is really good. I love your style and narrative pacing. It’s a pleasure to listen too as I’m getting ready in the morning :)
I went to Pitt and it was always wild to just hop into one of the nationality classrooms with a small study group. It made studying actually feel somewhat exciting!
I never saw anybody admiring modern high buildings in the same way people admire the old buildings. Because the Das Haus architecture movement ignore thousands of fine arts and ornaments which always the humans used to make our constructions, not only useful, but also beautiful!
It was the time when Buildings were actually BEAUTIFUL!
Criticising a building for historicism is pure idiocy. Culture should always connect to the past.
Yeah, they say it like it's something bad. I can't even find ONE reason for this to be the case. Throughout our history we've been looking at the past to take inspiration for our creations. Some people think that they are so bright and special, that they can throw all of this out of the window and reinvent the wheel.
I love those kind of skyscrapers aside from the art deco.
I'm from UK, but live in nyc, everytime I see the woolworth building, or other mason styled skyscrapers here, i always think that these would be perfect for London, blending into the old british architecture, instead of glass skycrapers that dont go well with older architecture that exists in London. To my knowldge, i dont think there is even a single masonary skyscraper in London or UK.
100 years ago, buildings showed off achievement and timeless beauty. A sky chapel named in memory Walgreen.
And now we are surrounded by faceless corporate blob buildings. And Walgreens is merely a store that constantly gets smashed and robbed...
Great video
It just makes me a little sad to think that today’s skyscrapers are simply high glass towers :/
What prevents us to do things like that ?
It's called money. Those old places would cost far more to make today.
@@johnperic6860 That is really one of the most absurdly ignorant things I've heard someone float on the topic of architecture.
I'm utterly shocked that someone would be so absurd as to cite one of these overly ornate early 20th century towers and literally say "it was cheaper to build, maintain, and is better because it has "less technology", and that literally one other person thought that wasn't cringe.
As if engineering STOPPED c. 1954 and people just decided to blow money on energy inefficient and more expensive buildings on expensive land without realizing this YT level take on their own. I'm literally sitting here with a wall of architecture books I've picked up over 25 years, and completely floored that you posted that unironically.
@@xandercruz900 I refused to people there was more money in 1910 than today in 2023
@iMakz Same thing they said back when those buildings you know idolize were built.
@@johnperic6860
"Curtain facades are unconventional and extraordinarily expensive to build and maintain." If you ignore the fact that they've been the standard form of skyscraper construction since the 50s. And no, they're not particularly difficult to build (that's why there's so many of them). Extraordinarily expensive when compared to a normal house, sure. More expensive than shaped stonework? I think not. Just have a think, what do you think is more expensive: 10000 identical panes of glass, or a stone facade consisting of thousands of different shaped pieces that need to be designed, made, and constantly kept clean? Of course, you'd still have to pay for your 10000 panes of glass.
What do you think is more expensive, paying regular workers to clean or replace a pane of glass, or hiring craftsmen to clean or replace unique stone decorations? Just have a guess.
This was beautifully done, thank you .
something tells me this guy is also the admin for western traditionalist
I just happened to see his tweet, perfect timing. 😂
Wonderful video to distract me from my HW
Love your content!
Excellent video as always.
I love architecture and I’m so glad I found this channel
Officially adding the Cathedral of Learning to my bucket list. I love everything about it and what it stands for!
great vid man, keep going👍🏻
I always found the older styles more interesting than the 'modern' ones..
Wow! When skyscrapers were actually beautiful!
good video it was nice to get some insight on how these buildings came together
Great video as always. The only channel i have the bell activated for.😂
Thank you for this great video. It brings me hope to know that skyscrapers could also be beautiful.
I've never seen the giza plataue from that angle before. Amazing.
Modern architecture is such a devolution from what came before that an outlandish theory had to be created to explain it (Tartaria Theory).
My uncle was the vice president of Woolworth and used to work in the Woolworth building until he retired.
Ngl, I thought this was going to be about the many towers of medieval Italian cities. Back in the day some cities looked like Dallas in the 1970’s
Beautiful.
Fascinating
YOur videos are great! I always feel fascinated by what you present. On a side note your videos make me feel likeholding a glass of wine 😂
I am a simple guy. I see Kings and General upload, I click
one of my fav youtuber
Ah so when skyscrapers actually looked good for once?
it is a crime against humanity that we do not build like this anymore
Thank you, Amit...
Excellent video. I have seen all of these skyscrapers, but the only one that I've been in is the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh (even though I worked just down Broadway from the Woolworth Building in the early 80's).
Lincoln cathedrolio is magnificent
When I have someone visiting from out of town, The Cathedral of Learning is one of the first buildings I show them. As it truly is a masterpiece
This was interesting!
I think it's ironic that after more than a hundred years of skyscrapers, the ones that stand out the most are some of the originals. We've built higher, we've built faster, but all this seems to do is reinforce our love of where we came from. With so many skyscrapers covering the skylines of Chicago and New York, it's not the newest and tallest that captures our imagination, but the beautiful old structures that stood the test of time.
I feel like this video was made for me, its great!
beautiful video
Amazing video
I’ll take these over a boring glass rectangle any day.
I found fascinating and neo clasical this style of architecture. This gave me reminisence of the 30's or an midwest city like cleveland or chicago🧡
I wonder if we will ever get back to the beauty of the past or will be doomed forever with bananas to a wall.
'beauty is subjective'
@@Lenapolitainn This is the reason why our modern world is poluted with disgusting architecture and so called art.
Tank you for making this video.
And from it I will add to my thought experiment that my empire will have proper skyscrapers mandated by law.
Thank you for listing the music score.
Back when architects were actually architects.
What do you mean by that?
Modernists, always criticizing...
Wonderful
We should bring this kind of construction back. Somewhere in the 50's and 60's we made a huge miatake.
Forgive my ignorance on when the style of building changed. I'm not an expert on this and I'm not going to pretend as if I am.
They were built 1887 to 1927 in every major city. However in the United States they started tearing them down 1952 to 1982. We in Chicago lost many in the early 1960's and lost an entire block across from Marshall Fields( State St and Washington) in 79-81 that was a vacant empty lot for near 20yrs
I would really like to see the other designs, for example of the tribune tower, that were proposed but not built.
Also, does somebody know if there is a video that goes into maintenance for old skyscrapers?
Always look forwards to your vlogs as you are never sure exactly what you're going to get.
Wesley must be turning in his grave that the highest Wesleyan Chapel is based on Catholic Gothic design.
great music
I live in a commy block and my universities faculty I studdy in is a stpical comunist school. Why cant my city be made up of such beautiful buildings.
Lincoln cathedral in England was the tallest man made structure in the world for a long time -even higher than the Great Pyramid -until a big storm blew over the central spire!