Sticks and Stones · Chapter
VII: The Age of the Machine explained
This chapter examines the impact of the machine age on American architecture, contrasting the imperial ambitions of the early 20th century with the rise of mechanical efficiency and standardization.
What happens
This chapter examines the impact of the machine age on American architecture, contrasting the imperial ambitions of the early 20th century with the rise of mechanical efficiency and standardization. It critiques the dominance of engineering over humanistic design, the loss of individuality in mass-produced buildings, and the paradox of architectural excellence in limited domains versus the degradation of the broader built environment. The chapter highlights the work of figures like Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Bertram Goodhue, and discusses the tension between mechanical form and creative expression.
Themes in this chapter
Craftsmanship vs. Mechanization
The chapter contrasts the machine's standardization and rapid production with the loss of individual taste and personality in design, critiquing the dominance of mechanical efficiency over humanistic architecture.
The Myth of Progress and the Pioneer
Explores the paradox of technological 'improvements' that misapply human effort, robbing the machine of its promise to humanize existence.
Economic and Social Foundations of Art
Highlights how commercial imperatives, land taxes, and short-term amortization dictate building materials and methods, subordinating architectural quality to economic forces.
Human Scale and Organic Urban Planning
Criticizes the mechanical reorganization of the city and the loss of human scale, as seen in the smothering of older buildings by skyscrapers and the failure of community planning.
Characters to notice
- Louis Sullivan
Cited for his search for a 'rule so broad as to admit of no exceptions' and his bitter observation that imperialism stunted the development of a modern style.
- Frank Lloyd Wright
Mentioned for his pleasure pavilions and hotels that defy engineering norms with horizontal lines and color, respecting both the machine and its users.
- Bertram Goodhue
Noted for his application of Spanish baroque ornament and color at the Panama-Pacific Exposition and his State Capitol for Nebraska.
- Charles McKim
Recalled for his enthusiasm over Burnham's Illinois Trust and Savings Bank design, which was later doomed by commercial expansion.
- Daniel Burnham
Mentioned as the architect of the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank, a monument that fell to the pressures of real estate growth.
- Bassett Jones
Quoted on the machine's effect on building design, emphasizing rapid production and short-term amortization.
- John Wellborn Root
Referenced for the Monadnock Building in Chicago, which influenced German architects and did not use a steel skeleton.
- Henry Adams
Alluded to for his hint that the rate of change in the modern world has accelerated dramatically.
Key passages
“The modernist is correct in saying that the mass of building ought to speak the same language; it is well for him to attempt to follow Mr. Louis Sullivan, in his search for a 'rule so broad as to admit of no exceptions.'”
Modernists rightly argue that all buildings should share a coherent design language, as Louis Sullivan sought with a universal principle.
The author acknowledges the modernist goal of unity but critiques its execution.
“So far our mechanical architecture is a sort of structural Esperanto: it has a vocabulary without a literature, and when it steps beyond the elements of its grammar it can only translate badly into its own tongue the noble poems and epics that the Romans and Greeks and medieval builders left behind them.”
Current machine-based architecture is like a language with words but no great works; it poorly imitates the masterpieces of past civilizations.
The author laments the lack of creative expression in mechanical architecture.
“In one important characteristic, Mr. Wright's style has turned its back upon the whole world of engineering: whereas the steel cage lends itself to the vertical skyscraper, Mr. Wright's designs are the very products of the prairie, in their low-lying, horizontal lines, in their flat roofs, while at the same time they defy the neutral gray or black or red of the engineering structure by their colors and ornament.”
Frank Lloyd Wright's style rejects engineering norms by favoring horizontal, prairie-inspired forms and vibrant colors over the vertical steel cage.
Wright's work exemplifies architecture that respects both machine and human use.
“The machine has stamped us; and we have not reacted.”
The machine has left its mark on us, but we have failed to respond creatively.
A critique of passive acceptance of mechanical influence.
“By turning our environment over to the machine we have robbed the machine of the one promise it held out—that of enabling us to humanize more thoroughly the details of our existence.”
By surrendering our surroundings to the machine, we have lost its potential to enrich human life.
The author argues that the machine's promise of humanization has been betrayed.
