Power and Style: A Critique of Twentieth-Century Architecture in the United States

In a trenchant, concise polemic, Twombly charges that American architecture in this century has been increasingly dominated by an elite coterie of architects working to please their powerful corporate or public clients. In his eyes, the modernist style pioneered by I.M. Pei, Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson and others is banal, repetitive and intentionally featureless, and sets corporate priorities over human needs. Enlivened by 72 photographs, his perceptive tour sweeps from turn-of-the-century neoclassical mansions to Ellis Island (``an architecture of contrast and exaggeration, designed to make a strong impact on arrivals'') to Chicago skyscrapers, ``paeans to... Modern, rationalized production.'' Professor of history at City College of New York, Twombly extols Wright's experiments in middle-class housing and his attempts to create an authentic vernacular. Scanning the eclectic contemporary scene, he dismisses postmodernism as a camouflage for corporate arrogance but praises the organic designs of Paolo Soleri, Bruce Goff and Fay Jones. (Jan.)