Veritus Et Venustas

By John Montague Massengale Veritus Et Venustas
Published on June 1, 2004

John Montague Massengale’s weblog will take you on a global tour
of traditional urban architecture and historic preservation, and
then let you rest in the shade under a giant oak tree to digest it
all. Visit Veritus Et Venustas (Truth and Beauty) and
check out the Big Apple at the turn of the last century, modern
Charleston, SC on a rainy day, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas’
awe-inspiring public library in Seattle, or small-town Waterford,
VA overcome by late afternoon shadows. Then follow his links abroad
for a stroll down the Ile de la Cit? in Paris, a
conference on architectural vision in Bologna this fall or a
Spaziergang in Dresden’s nearly reconstructed city
market.

Massengale works out of an office on the green in historic
Bedford Village, 35 miles north of claustrophobic New York City, so
he understands the importance of a landscape — whether urban or
rural — that lets you breathe. He co-authored a history of
architecture and urbanism in the Progessive Era called New York
1900, Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism 1890-1915
, along
with Robert A.M. Stern. Massengale also penned The
Anglo-American Suburb
, an introduction to the history of
suburbia before sprawl. He is a founding member of the Congress for
the New Urbanism and, this may surprise you, calls Santa Fe, NM,
‘the most beautiful city of the 20th century.’

But his blog posts aren’t limited to architecture. Anything that
makes you say ‘Wow’ could find its way here. Check out the new
Honda commercial in the U.K., featuring a simple domino-like chain
reaction started by a mere bolt that eventually sends a shiny new
car off the assembly line, its engine humming and its stereo
pumping out tunes. The film took 606 takes and cost $6 million,
though it didn’t utilize a single computer graphic or digital
trick.
Jacob Wheeler

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Veritus Et
Venustas

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