Is The Inky Bending Over Backwards For Symphony House?
When Inky architecture critic/Philebrity crush Inga Saffron eviscerated Symphony House, Broad Street’s shining new symbol of Philly’s ever-growing divide between the haves, have-nots, and haves-with-brains, we took notice and gave a hearty bravo. And so did lots of other people, and with good reason: By every trustable account, the building is a steaming piece of architectural poo, misguided right down to its color. But in the last week, the Inky has given major play to not one but two diatribes coming pretty much directly from the camp of Symphony House’s creators, developers Dranoff Properties and Bower Lewis Thrower Architects (BLT). On Halloween, the Inky ran a letter from Carl E. Dranoff himself — on the front page. And today, the paper gave a prime-time op-ed slot to the building’s architect, Michael R. Ytterberg. Both letters were filled with chest-pumping refutations of Saffron’s criticisms and homages to the credentials of the letter-writers themselves. And both elicited an equal “Who gives a flying fuck?” reaction from this office. But put ‘em both together, and you have to wonder: Why would the Inky bother to give such prime time to refuting its own critic’s opinions? Sour grapes are often the direct result of criticism in print. What makes Symphony House’s so damn special?
[Photo credit: PhillySkyline]
November 9th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
“Why would the Inky bother to give such prime time to refuting its own critic’s opinions? Sour grapes are often the direct result of criticism in print. What makes Symphony House’s so damn special?”
These are rhetorical questions, right?
November 9th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Dranoff’s letter was reasonable, I think, though stuffing his shirt at the end wasn’t really helping his credibility, just showing that he was insulted in same lame old-school “don’t you know who I am?” way.
Ytterberg’s column was just bizarre. You’d figure an architect defending his building would, you know, talk about his building. Instead he offers some sort of condescending smarter-than-thou bit alleging Saffron’s taking part in a tradition of cultural oppression that have kept “visionaries” like Ytterberg down to the detriment of the “people” like you and me. Methinks the benevolent emperor has no clothes here, just entitlement.
November 9th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
I urge everyone to read Mr. Ytterberg’s rebuttal against Inga’s diatribe on all that is pink on South Broad. In all honesty, it is the most unintentionally funny reading in quite some time.
Its ostentatious, aloof, excessive, gaudy, and over flowing with jargon.
Much like his buildings.
Big surprise.
November 9th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Driving north on Broad last Saturday, with the Symphony House on the left, the Missus turned to the Mister and remarked, “It IS ugly, isn’t it?”
November 9th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
The issue at hand is supposed to be the architectural design of the building and we are all falling for a media jedi mind trick. This is something about which we hereafter ought to be more careful. The inquirer is running a variation on the same story because it’s causing a stir. A better question than “Why would the Inky bother to give such prime time to refuting its own critic’s opinions?” might be: “Why is Philebrity bringing more attention to it?” Because the Inquirer, apart from making Inga even more beautiful and famous than she already is, via the hype wagon increasing their readership on a daily basis. A wagon which, I might add, Philebrity just hopped on. Sayin’.
Fuck. I just spilled chili on myself.
November 9th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
i just realized that this is likewise a good way to leverage readership for Philebrity. i mean, i don’t read the inquirer, but i just went and checked it out because i saw it here. in fact, if it weren’t for the fact that it wastes paper, i’d likely pick up a copy… i wonder how many Inky-readers in the world of architecture are getting turned on to Philebrity. a beautiful place where we don’t have to read the news because they do it for us. anyway, yeah, good on ya for getting on that wagon. it rides both ways.
November 10th, 2007 at 8:28 am
“What makes Symphony House’s so damn special?”
The buy a lot of ad space.