Great Speeches in Architectural History: The Floo Floo Bird
President Obama's inaugural address yesterday sent me running for William Safire's splendid compendium of great speeches (he used to write speeches for President Nixon), Lend Me Your Ears. I set out to consult Jefferson's first inaugural address--notable for those wonderful lines: "But every difference of opinion is not a different of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists."--but found myself wandering around inside the book until I hit upon this doozie from Frank Lloyd Wright.
Given to the Association of Federal Architects in Washington DC in 1938, Wright's speech castigates the direction of American architecture by comparing it to a floo floo bird, "that peculiar and especial bird who always flew backward. To keep the wind out of its eyes? No. Just because it didn't give a darn where it was going, but just had to see where it had been." Wright's whimsical damnation of conservative architecture can be read either in Safire's book--well worth owning--or using a combination of Google Books and Amazon Reader. Here is page one of the speech and here is page two; neither source offers both.
Wright goes on to argue in favor of a stripped down, honest style, "a true architecture of glass, steel and the forms that gratify our new sense of space. We are going to have it. No Colonial Eden is able, long, to say us nay."
If you want even more Safire on the provenance of "floo floo bird" and its subsequent uses, you can again make use of Google Reader by checking out Safire's Political Dictionary--another book well worth its price for anyone interested in politics or how we talk about them--which has an entry on the term.
Obama may be one hell of an orator, but Wright had him beat in at least one category: orneriness. He closes the speech with two thunderous lines that every libertarian should have stuck to his fridge: "I know of nothing more silly than to expect 'government' to solve our advance problems for us. If we have no ideas, how can government have any?"
Products
-
Blunt Umbrella
It's much, much better than a poke in the eye. Blunt has taken the edge off of wielding an umbrella in the elements, softening the points at the canopy's edges and strengthening its resistance to…
-
Dodo Rocking Bird
Dodo is a rocking chair for children designed by Oiva Toikka. Best-known for his glass bird collection for Iittala, Toikka introduces now the same theme for children's rooms. Dodo carries the same…
-
Birds on a Wire
Pros Though these matte hatchlings slide onto a single metal beam, you can position them wherever you like: love birds in a row or individually spaced across the bar. Choose a glossy aluminum or…
Events
-
Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward
Fifty years after the realization of Frank Lloyd Wright’s renowned design, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum brings together sixty-four projects designed by one of the most influential…
-
Frank Lloyd Wright's Chicago Bus Tour
The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust presents Frank Lloyd Wright’s Chicago—a new bus tour featuring exterior interpretations and interior tours of the world-renowned…
-
Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture
Examining major projects including Unity Temple (Oak Park, Illinois, 1905), Fallingwater (Mill Run, Pennsylvania, 1936), Johnson Wax (Racine, Wisconsin, 1936, known today as the SC Johnson…
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Related Products
-
Blunt Umbrella
It's much, much better than a poke in the eye…
-
Dodo Rocking Bird
by Oiva ToikkaDodo is a rocking chair for children designed…
-
Birds on a Wire
by Barber OsgerbyPros
Though these matte…
Latest
-
05.23
Veliero Shelving by Cassina
In 1940, architect Franco Albini made a single model of his…
-
05.23
ICFF 2012: Picks from Javits Center
This week we're digging deep into our favorites objets de…
-
05.22
ICFF 2012 : Design Milk Presents
"Reinvention; Writing History in Aluminum" showcases a…
Follow
Dwell
Reloading tweets…
Be the first to comment.
RSS Feed
Add a Comment