Architecture and Democracy

by Claude Bragdon

Ornament in its primitive manifestations is geometrical rather than naturalistic. This is in a manner strange, that the abstract and metaphysical thing should precede the concrete and sensuous. -from "The World Order" One of the most respected philosophers of architecture in the early 20th century, Bragdon here makes a plea to his fellow architects and the public at large to choose organic designs for public structures, and to reject the abstract modern architecture coming into vogue in the post World War I period. Examining building design on either side of the great, modernizing divide of the war, he argues for a softer, more human aesthetic, and offers numerous "imaginary compositions," the products of his own fanciful yet logical creativity, to illustrate his points. First published in 1918, this highly readable volume has much to contribute to today's discourse on how to organize the public realm. Other works by Bragdon available from Cosimo More Lives Than One, The Beautiful Necessity, Episodes from An Unwritten History, and A Primer of Higher Space (The Fourth Dimension). American architect, stage designer, and writer CLAUDE FAYETTE BRAGDON (1866-1946) helped found the Rochester Architectural Club, in the city where he made his greatest mark as a building designer with structures including Rochester Central Station, Rochester Institute of Technology, and the First Universalist Church; he also designed Peterborough Bridge in Ontario. In later life, Bragdon worked on Broadway as scenic designer for 1930s productions of Cyrano de Bergerac and Hamlet, among others.

Genres: Architecture

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

Claude Fayette Bragdon was an American architect, writer, and stage designer based in Rochester, New York, up to World War I, then in New York City.

The designer of Rochester’s New York Central Railroad terminal (1909–13) and Chamber of Commerce (1915–17), as well as many other public buildings and private residences, Bragdon enjoyed a national reputation as an architect working in the progressive tradition associated with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. Along with members of the Prairie School and other regional movements, these architects developed new approaches to the planning, design, and ornamentation of buildings that embraced industrial techniques and building types while reaffirming democratic traditions threatened by the rise of urban mass society. In numerous essays and books, Bragdon argued that only an “organic architecture” based on nature could foster democratic community in industrial capitalist society.