36
PARTISAN REVIEW
carried to the height of seven, eight, nine, twelve or thirteen stories.
At strategic locations and in the name of art, .little statues project
from the brickwork. In essence, Parkchester is a 129-acre field of
brick dotted with standard-size metal casements. And it is hideous.
But
to note this hideousness and to give the name naive mate·
rialism to the attitude which creates it is not our sole concern here.
How far back in American architectural history does this attitude
reach? The answer to that question will help us to determine the
seriousness of the malady which afflicts our architecture.
II.
If
we look back to the culture of Chicago in the Eighteen–
eighties we may see, here and there, some prophetic images of the
severely practical and unrelieved structures of today. From New
