by Mark Tebeau | August 31st, 2007
Link: HIS400 Local History Seminar.
Wednesday September 5:
Discussion of Hayden (link to discussion questions here)
Discussion of Lynch, Whyte, Brand (link to discussion questions here)
Friday, Sept. 7
Discussion of Lynch, Whyte, Brand
The opening arguement in Hayden caught my attention, about the dispute between saving a building for its looks versus saving it because it has a place in the community’s past that more people can relate to. I’ve always enjoyed photos of old mansions (espeically those in Jan Cigliano’s “Euclid Avenue” book), mainly because they are beautiful and there is an awe that some people used to or still do live in such luxurious homes. I never thought that there was another side that would argue that it is… I don’t know, maybe a shallow reason to like a building. I wonder how many people prefer aesthetically pleasing buildings to ugly warehouses and slum neighborhoods…
Likewise, I enjoyed reading the articles (Lynch, etc). I was amazed because it’s like, who thinks of this stuff, to so thoroughly analyze a building. It’s very interesting, although sometimes a little hard to understand. Reading pieces like those make me wish I could write as well as they did on topics as unique as theirs.