PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — When an exposed concrete subway vault near the U.S. Capitol was painted white this spring, riders rejoiced at the brightened Washington Metro station. But some preservationists were unhappy, complaining that a “cardinal rule” of the Brutalist style was broken.
Brutalism, which got its name from a French word for raw concrete, has been sparking public battles ever since the architectural style flourished in the 1960s and 1970s, spawning buildings from Boston to Belgrade.
Now, the era’s aging structures are being declared eyesores and slated for demolition in cities around the world. Or, as in Washington’s Union Station, their austere features have been softened.
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DEATH TOLL
The public’s eagerness to get rid of Brutalist buildings has made their life expectancy short, compared with some older architectural styles. Structures headed for imminent demolition include an office building in York, England. A church in Atlanta was razed this spring, and the McKeldin Fountain near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor disappeared this year. Structural problems can also hasten their death. Earthquake concerns in the San Francisco Bay Area doomed architect Mario Ciampi’s landmark Berkeley Art Museum, which remains vacant and has been replaced with a new museum nearby.
Brutalism, which got its name from a French word for raw concrete, has been sparking public battles ever since the architectural style flourished in the 1960s and 1970s, spawning buildings from Boston to Belgrade.
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