Charles Honeyman, and by my own tears.... I have strayed
again into sentiment. Back to the point--which is that the new houses
and streets in Mayfair mean nothing. Let me show you Mount Street. Let
me show you that airy stretch of sham antiquity, and defy you to say
that it symbolises, how remotely soever, the spirit of its time. Mount
Street is typical of the new Mayfair. And the new Mayfair is typical
of the new London. In the height of these new houses, in the width of
these new roads, future students will find, doubtless, something
characteristic of this pressing and bustling age. But from the style
of the houses he will learn nothing at all. The style might mean
anything; and means, therefore, nothing. Original architecture is a
lost art in England; and an art that is once lost is never found
again. The Edvardian Era cannot be commemorated in its architecture.
Erection of new buildings robs us of the past and gives us in exchange
nothing of the present. Consequently, the excuse put by me into the
gaping mouth of the average Londoner cannot be accepted. I had no idea
that my case was such a good one. Having now vindicated on grounds of
patriotic utility that which I took to be a mere sentimental
prejudice, I may be pardoned for dragging `beauty' into the question.
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