Mark Byrnes brings us a fascinating, and regrettably short, clip of Frank Lloyd Wright discussing his opinions of the city, the skyscraper, and why "the best people" are leaving New York.
On last week's anniversary of Wright's birth (in 1867), Byrnes provides a portion of an interview with the master architect from an episode of the program Omnibus, from October 25, 1953.
Wright offers some compelling opinions on skyscrapers and New York City:
On skyscrapers in cities:
Skyscrapers in cities create congestion. They were devised originally to hold concentration where it is and they proved to be the death of the city-or will, eventually, if they keep building them in cities.
On New York City:
Does anyone approve of New York? ...isn't New York just a great, grown village, created by success? ...it was the only way a landlord could control concentration and rents. But in doing it, he has really overshot the mark and now, the whole city is in agony. This traffic problem is insoluble and in never can be solved. You see everything going out. Decentralization is inevitable, taking place everywhere. The gas station was the first evidence of it. Now the department stores will go out there, even in New York, they're all going out. Factories are going out...and aren't the best people going out?
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