Architecture of my youth . .

Before we moved to Kansas City when I was 10 years old, I attended a brand new grammar school in the suburbs of Huntsville, Alabama. It was a sleek, modern, almost space-age looking building with dirt where grass should be and 5-gallon trees all over. I liked it.

A few weeks ago I went out of town to photograph a very similar school for a National Register of Historic Places nomination. I remember ten years ago people were grousing about 1950's houses now being considered "historic." Well folks, we're into the 60's now and I couldn't be happier about it!

In the 50's and 60's the approach was that new building materials and construction methods should lead to new architectural ideas and designs, (unlike today's "new = cheaper and faster" mantra). Schools were/are a source of civic pride, so it follows that form should meet function along an esthetically pleasing plane.

Yeah, I still like this style of architecture. I'll complain when 70's and 80's buildings becomes "historic!"