“Architectural detail fell away initially as part of changing style preferences. Once Art Deco morphed into Art Moderne (progressively more streamlined and simpler detail), we moved into the hegemony of Modernism (Corbu, Mies, et al). Structure was king and detail was derided as old fashioned. So, as construction required less and less artisan skills for wood or stone detail carving/designing, those skills were passed on/learned less and less. To where we now have the situation that carved stone detailing is prohibitively expensive due to significant lack of skilled laborers.”

– from a discussion on Cyburbia

Buenos Aires – Robert, over at line of sight, has got everyone in town looking up at domes and submitting ideas for the best dome in the city. I have no plans to make a contest out of this, but as I was walking the other day towards my various cheese destinations, I suddenly found myself looking at those little thingies, many of them curly-cue sorts, that support balconies. An internet search reveals that these are known as either a console or a corbel. It’s been pointed out by several people in e-mails to me that they miss my little walks and looks at different neighborhoods, along with things like various architectural details, so here, without comment, are a bunch of consoles along the street Pringles (named after, presumably, Juan Pascual Pringles, a colonel in the military during the war of independence, and later the leader of the Argentine Unitarian Party, and not after the processed chip), other than the last one, which was, technically, around the corner after I hit the end of the street at the corner of Rivadavia and Treinta y Tres Orientales.