Ah, to build, to build!
That is the noblest of all the arts.

Ah, to build, to build!
That is the noblest of all the arts.

Silently as a dream the fabric rose;
No sound of hammer or of saw was there.

Silently as a dream the fabric rose;
No sound of hammer or of saw was there.

All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons read more

All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space.

Houses are built to live in, not to look on; therefore, let use
be preferred before uniformity, except where read more

Houses are built to live in, not to look on; therefore, let use
be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had.

Architecture is frozen music.
[Ger., Die Backunst ist eine erstarrte Musik.]

Architecture is frozen music.
[Ger., Die Backunst ist eine erstarrte Musik.]

A man who could build a church, as one may say, by squinting at a
sheet of paper.

A man who could build a church, as one may say, by squinting at a
sheet of paper.

The architect
Built his great heart into these sculptured stones,
And with him toiled his children, and read more

The architect
Built his great heart into these sculptured stones,
And with him toiled his children, and their lives
Were builded, with his own, into the walls,
As offerings unto God.

Architecture is the art of how to waste space.

Architecture is the art of how to waste space.

When I lately stood with a friend before [the cathedral of]
Amiens, . . . he asked me how read more

When I lately stood with a friend before [the cathedral of]
Amiens, . . . he asked me how it happens that we can no longer
build such piles? I replied: "Dear Alphonse, men in those days
had convictions (Ueberzeugungen), we moderns have opinions
(Meinungen) and it requires something more than an opinion to
build a Gothic cathedral.