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To The Victors Goes Victorian

So the mayor and council like Victorian style architecture and since they believe that having won election it’s their job to decide what the town looks like, I guess we’re going Victorian.

  I hate Victorian. To me it looks old and spooky. And phony. And too ornate. I feel that buildings built during certain times should look like the style of that time. Let’s move past the 1800’s and even past the Art Deco of the 1900’s and let our buildings reflect our times. Like, when Queen Victoria died did the world of architectural design simply stop, having reached perfection? And I wonder if there were people back then who said “I hate these modern buildings. Let’s build only Tudor style buildings.”  

I like the simple, clean lines of contemporary design. It is more interesting to look at because it demands real creativity. Anyone can design something that was already designed 150 years ago. I find contemporary refreshing and forward looking, whereas Victorian seems dreary and backward looking. 

If I were mayor, would I switch all our plans to contemporary? Of course not. If I were mayor there would be no plans. It’s not the job of the mayor to dictate what the town looks like. The town should be a “beautiful mosaic” of the artistic preferences of every individual property owner. To me, freedom is beautiful. And what about the properties the town owns? Sell them. It’s not a legitimate function of government to be in the commercial property business. (More on that in a future column.)

I would, however, gladly live in a Victorian style town if we could also have the limited, constitutional government and low taxes that Americans enjoyed during the Victorian era. Sadly that’s one oldie but goodie that our current designer-in-chief isn’t interested in.

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