We Need Local Architecture Critics!

Bruce Murphy, who is arguably the best political writer in Wisconsin, in his most recent "Murphy's Law" column for Milwaukee Magazine laments the mediocre state of architecture criticism in the Milwakee Journal Sentinel since the retirement of the great Whitney Gould. Money quote:

Gould covered every major architectural development, pushing for more quality and educating not only the public, but her own editors, helping create a constituency for good urban design. Great cities depend on this kind of discussion: Good architecture attracts more good architecture, making cities sexy, attracting more development, and ultimately adding more property tax value that helps cities pay for services. There are many players in this complex process, but Gould’s role was important, and the editors’ support of her reporting made this one of the rare mid-sized cities with a full-time architecture critic.

Gould's architecture criticism graced the pages of the Journal Seninel for 12 years. Last year in her last column before retirement, she said:

In every project, this question should be foremost in the minds of all the major players: If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, is this the building you'd want to be remembered for? And if the answer is no, what are you going to do about it?

There's another question that needs asking: What messages are we sending when we build? When we put up cheap, throwaway buildings, we waste resources and degrade our surroundings. When we sanction pseudo-historical knockoffs, we're not honoring the past; we're cheapening it. By sending off echoes of echoes of echoes, we're also saying that we have no new ideas, no faith in the future.

Oshkosh and indeed all of the Fox cities badly need some architecture criticism. Perhaps that is something that contributors to Main St. Oshkosh could take on. Jim Kunstler's "Eyesore of the Month" feature is a good example of how to do this kind of criticism in a blog-friendly manner.