Sticks and Stones · Question
How does Sticks and Stones develop the theme of The Classical Myth and Imperial Power?
Answer
Sticks and Stones by Lewis Mumford develops The Classical Myth and Imperial Power across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The adoption of classical architecture in America is linked to the rise of a landholding elite and merchant class, serving as a stage for republican heroes and later for the conspicuous wealth of industrial barons, masking social inequalities.
The Renaissance's turn to Roman and Greek forms is shown as both liberating (restoring humanism) and oppressive (stereotyping creativity and reinforcing class divisions between the literate elite and 'lower orders').
The chapter explores how classical architecture served as a stage for the heroic actions of revolutionary leaders and reinforced the myth of a classical republic.
The chapter examines how the classical myth in architecture was rooted in the social conditions of land-monopoly and slavery, and how the Revolutionary War fused classical culture with the activities of the community, turning it into a powerful myth that shaped the scale and style of early republican buildings.
Evidence in the book
- II
The Renaissance's turn to Roman and Greek forms is shown as both liberating (restoring humanism) and oppressive (stereotyping creativity and reinforcing class divisions between the literate elite and 'lower orders').
- The Classical Myth
The chapter explores how classical architecture served as a stage for the heroic actions of revolutionary leaders and reinforced the myth of a classical republic.
- I
The chapter examines how the classical myth in architecture was rooted in the social conditions of land-monopoly and slavery, and how the Revolutionary War fused classical culture with the activities of the community, turning it into a powerful myth that shaped the scale and style of early republican buildings.
- II
The pure classical myth created the mold of American architecture, but later buildings showed illiterate mimicry of classical forms.
- Industry and the Machine
The classical mode, embodied in L'Enfant's Washington and Jefferson's University, represented a fading ideal of order and dignity, ultimately incompatible with the utilitarian and commercial forces of the 19th century.
- I
The imperial mode of architecture recalled the Rome of the first and second centuries, reflecting the power of the new economic order.
