“I cannot identify a single example of a sustained success story in downtown revitalization where historic preservation wasn’t a key component. Not one. Conversely, the examples of very expensive failures in downtown revitalization have nearly all had the destruction of historic buildings as a major element. Downtown revitalization through historic preservation is one of the best examples in this country of sustainable economic development.”

—Donovan Rypkema, esteemed preservationist and principal, PlaceEconomics, in a recent talk to the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans

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“But the solution is simple: The Secretary of the Interior should support phasing out the Standards and replacing them with a Model Historic Building Code. . . .”

—Gary Cole, AIA, preservationist, attorney and architect, writing in the latest issue of Clem Labine’s Traditional Building magazine about the need to shelve the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation of historic buildings

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“I think the world is slowly coming around to the rather obvious fact that the Frank Gehrys and Daniel Libeskinds of the world are not geniuses at all. They are in fact little more than brand peddlers foisting the same trite forms (regardless of program, site or context) onto a public intimidated by the jargonistic pronouncements of a self-anointed artistic elite of questionable intellectual ability or integrity.”

—Andria L., responding to Clem Labine’s recent blog on the short-circuiting of architect Frank Gehry’s design of the Eisenhower Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

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“The Lincoln Memorial is a wonderful example of strength and theme. And this is what I want this memorial to be—an inspiration for who we are as a people, and what we accomplished during those years.”

—Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of the late president, in a quote from Clem Labine’s most recent blog about the slowing momentum for architect Frank Gehry’s design of the Eisenhower Memorial on the National Mall

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“It’s best to remember that every time we see something that has happened to a part of our built environment, we need to include the dimension of time in our understanding of what we observe. Without time on our side, we often miss what the structure is telling us altogether.”

—Rudy Christian, blogging about how a sensitive time traveler looks at an old building

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“The world is a richer place for diversity of values and diversity of architectural expressions. Architects can choose to design Modern or traditional buildings according to the fitness for the design project at hand, not because one is inherently intellectually superior.”

—Mark Gelernter, Ph.D., dean and professor of architecture, College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado Denver, writing about the wisdom of moving away from a solely Modernist perspective on contemporary architecture

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