Modern architecture is, in its essence, the expression in form—the plastic expression—of a certain philosophy of life. It’s quite definite that if you feel afraid and unsure—if, in other words, you are psychically Victorian —then bibelots and decorations must supply the life of your rooms and your house. The modern is really only for those who can supply their own life and establish their own values. All the good periods have been that too—in the days when they weren’t periods, but realities. Georgian was concerned with the actualities of the eighteenth century ; modern architecture is concerned with the actualities of the present. Neither, whether meeting the needs of luxury or of economy, ever was or is concerned with bluff—unlike the Victorian and the other bad periods, which were never, at any time, realities
From a letter, quoted in The Master Builder, by William Lescaze, whose work is referred to in W. B. Curry’s article in this issue
