You know I always wanted to pretend that I was an architect

Nice little piece on Slate today about the much-maligned brutalist style of architecture, and a possible comeback in the offing. A quick lesson (if you don't actually read the story): brutalist structures are more often than not made out of large quantities of concrete, and are marked by their squarish forms and, in this writer's myopic opinion, their monumental quality. A few examples, including Yale's Art and Architecture Building, are Northwestern University's library, the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, and Habitat 67 in Montreal.

The granddaddy of them all, though, is Boston City Hall. I don't say that because I'm a homer (even though I am a homer). I say that because travel website VirtualTourist.com compiled a top ten list of the world's ugliest buildings, and Boston City Hall was the undisputed champ. The understanding that city hall is wicked ugly is a shared heritage of all Bostonians, so much so that Mayor Tom Menino can suggest demolishing the building and moving the seat of government to the waterfront, and we all don't immediately and indignantly scoff "why the hell would we move city hall away from the middle of downtown, away from a location at or near every major subway line?" By way of comparison, just recall how quickly this endeavor got the kibosh put on it.

Anyway, I'm glad I got the opportunity to actually go on record as saying that I like Boston City Hall. What do people want? It's distinctive. If you saw it and didn't know what it was, you'd make sure you found out. It looks sturdy and strong. Isn't that what we want out of our government buildings? A sense of security and steadiness? There's nothing wrong with a piece of architecture being of a time. Tastes change, but that doesn't mean we should act as if old tastes never existed. Art deco isn't a particularly ascendant style any more, but we're not about to knock down the Chrysler Building. (Please don't. The Chrysler Building is the best.) So, in conclusion, leave city hall alone!