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Quote by Ada Louise Huxtable

“Really living without clutter takes an iron will ... This involves eternal watchfulness and that oldest and most relentless of the housewife's occupations, picking up. I have a feeling that picking up will go on long after ways have been found to circumvent death and taxes.”

Quote by Ada Louise Huxtable

Book:On Architecture: Collected Reflections on a Century of Change

Work

On Architecture: Collected Reflections on a Century of Change

This book is a compilation of essays that delve into the transformative changes in architecture throughout the last century, offering insights into the development of architectural styles, theories, and practices. more

Author

Ada Louise Huxtable

Ada Louise Huxtable was an influential American architectural critic, born on March 14, 1921, in New York. Her career began in the 1950s, and she was the first critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for her work. Huxtable was known for her sharp observations and profound analyses, which had a significant impact on the architecture and urban planning industries. more

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“There are two kinds of people in the world - those who have a horror of a vacuum and those with a horror of the things that fill it. Translated into domestic interiors, this means people who live with, and without, clutter.”

People World Kind Mean Two Horror Interiors Vacuums Clutter Housework Mean People

Book:On Architecture: Collected Reflections on a Century of Change

Source: On Architecture: Collected Reflections on a Century of Change

“Surrogate experience and surrogate environments have become the American way of life. Distinctions are no longer made, or deemed necessary, between the real and the false; the edge usually goes to the latter, as an improved version with defects corrected - accessible and user-friendly.”

Way Made Real Reality United States Environment Edges Versions Distinction Latter Friendly Users Defects Surrogates American Way Of Life User Friendly

Author:Ada Louise Huxtable

“The art of decoration requires the most sophisticated and self-indulgent skills. Its aim has always been to sate the senses as gloriously as possible. ... ornament is not only a source of sensuous pleasure; it supplies a necessary kind of magic to people and places that lack it. More than just a dread of empty spaces has led to the urge to decorate; it is the fear of empty selves.”

People Kind Art Self Space Pleasure Magic Source Skills Empty Aim Senses Urges Dread Sophisticated Supplies Ornaments Decoration Empty Space Sensuous Self Indulgent

Book:ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?

Source: ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?

“Embellishment is an irresistible and consuming impulse, going back to the beginnings of human history. ... Probably the strongest motivating force is the simplest: the inability of almost everyone to ever leave well enough alone.”

Humans Wells Enough Force Impulse Strongest Simplest Inability Human History Consuming Irresistible Embellishment

Book:ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?

Source: ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?

“New York, thy name is irreverence and hyperbole. And grandeur.”

Names New York Grandeur Hyperbole Irreverence

Book:Kicked a building lately?

Source: Kicked a building lately?

“In Paris style is everything. That is traditionally understood. Every street, every structure, every shopgirl has style. The style of Parisian architecture has been proved and refined by at least three centuries of academic dictates and highly developed taste. There are few violations of this taste, and there is exemplary architectural consistency. Paris has defined the aesthetics of a sophisticated urban culture.”

Has Beens Culture Three Streets Century Style Taste Understood Structure Architecture Defined Paris Academic Sophisticated Urban Consistency Aesthetics Violation Refined Exemplary

Book:ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?

Source: ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?

“If the British are a nation of shopkeepers, Americans are a nation of shoppers.”

Ifs Nations United States British Shopping Shoppers Shopkeepers

Author:Ada Louise Huxtable

“Some people wait constructively; they read or knit. I have watched some truly appalling pieces of needlework take form. Others - I am one of them - abandon all thought and purpose to an uneasy vegetative states.”

People States Form Purpose Waiting Pieces Abandon Uneasy Needlework

Book:ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?

Source: ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?

“Real serious waiting is done in waiting rooms, and what they all have in common is their purpose, or purposelessness, if you will; they are places for doing nothing and they have no life of their own. ... their one constant is what might be called a decorative rigor mortis.”

Ifs Real Done Might Purpose Waiting Rooms Common Serious Constant Doing Nothing Rigor Waiting Rooms Purposelessness Rigor Mortis

Book:ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?

Source: ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?

“Waiting is a large part of living. Great, passive, negative chunks of our time are consumed by waiting, from birth to death. Waiting is a special kind of activity - if activity is the right word for it - because we are held in enforced suspension between people and places, removed from the normal rhythms of our days and lives.”

People Ifs Kind Waiting Special Birth Activity Normal Negative Rhythm Our Time Passive Consumed Chunks Right Words Suspension

Book:ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?

Source: ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?