Talk:Beaux-Arts architecture/Comments

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The Beaux Arts page, which is linked to many American architects, suffers in a number of ways from ignorance of recent architectural history. None of the relevant studies of Beaux Arts buildings figure in the article, and it refers to a "Beaux Arts style" that does not exist. If the article is to do justice to the French institution, it should feature a longer development of the history of the Ecole in Paris. References to American architects who studied at the school should be specific and should avoid labeling such architects as adherents to a "style," since architects in the U.S., whether Paris trained or not, used their training in a variety of ways, sometimes with no references to French classical architecture at all. For instance, McKim, Mead & White were far more fond of Italian Renaissance sources in their work. Carrere & Hastings, who were devoted Francophiles, would have been alarmed to have been pidgeonholed as merely "Beaux Arts architects." They were American classical architects who built many modern buildings in a large variety of idioms. I believe that all references in heading paragraphs (such as the one still in place for C&H) should remove the term "Beaux Arts" as a label for any architects, whether French, American or Swahili.--Hewittarch (talk) 01:41, 16 May 2008 (UTC)Hewittarch