“New Orleans has always been rather conservative in its selection of architecture for their homes. But if Mr. Pitt wants to donate just one style, and people are glad to live in it, then let’s continue. Maybe the Lower Ninth Ward will become the only neighborhood in America with an incredible collection of Modern homes.”

—John B. Blehar, in response to Clem Labine’s blog “Brad Pitt’s Houses: Good Intentions Gone Astray,” which characterizes the famous actor’s attempt to create new housing in New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward as well intentioned but architecturally misplaced

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“I certainly understand the need for contextual architecture. I practice it myself. But to stick blindly and stubbornly to the past is pathetic. If you carry that to its logical conclusion, we would all be living in caves, wattle and daub mud huts and teepees. The Ninth Ward, in the totality of its destruction, actually provides an opportunity for intelligent growth and new thinking.”

—Jon F. Edelbaum, architect, in answer to Clem Labine’s blog on the inappropriateness of new housing designs sponsored by the mega-celebrity actor Brad Pitt in the rebuilding of post-Katrina New Orleans

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“In the mid-20th century, Modernist architects were notorious for trying out social engineering theories on projects for low-income people. Many of these experiments were ended by dynamite.”

—Clem Labine, founder and editor emeritus of Traditional Building and Period Homes magazines, writing in his latest blog

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