Each month WWNO talks to Richard Campanella about his Cityscapes column in Nola.com | The Times-Picayune. In a chronology exploring how various architectural styles swept the city, Modernism started its chapter in the 1920s. The ideas behind it, however, had roots in the 1800s.Richard Campanella on his Cityscapes column for Nola.com | The Times-Picayune
Modernism encompasses a wide range of dates and styles, from the Modernist Greek Revival of the Tulane and Broad St. Criminal Courts building, to the Art Deco Lakefront Airport. But use of the style by Axis forces gave certain incarnations a bad connotation after WWII. Mid-Century Modernism brought about cleaner lines, more open spaces, and the glass-and-steel rectangles associated more closely with Modernism today.
In New Orleans, that influence still dominates the downtown skyline, with tall office towers built in the Modernist International style during the oil boom. It's also seen in civic buildings like the (now demolished) Rivergate Center, and City Hall. Churches also took a Modern look, inspired in the instance of Catholocism by the reforms of the Vatican II convention.
Modernism started falling from favor as the city's outlook about its future started to change, as the economy took a downturn. That turned New Orleans' gaze to the past, including a preference for historical styles.
Copyright 2016 WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio
