The 1964 World's Fair opened on this day fifty years ago. Roadside America:
Optimistic, yes - but in retrospect it was the apex of the era's confidence. You could get away with a Disney pavilion that insisted there was a bright new beautiful tomorrow waiting around the corner; such sincerity and confidence would make eyes roll ten years later. Yeah, right.
The architecture of the '64 Fair isn't as good as '39. This is my opinion, yes. But I'm right. The '39 Fair had a remarkable consistency - streamlined, clean, white, cerebral. The most glorious collection of Moderne buildings in history. Perhaps it would have had the same effect on American cities as the 1893 Fair, which inspired the lowliest hamlet to add a touch of shining classicism to main street. But the war drove that architectural style out of public favor, somehow; by the time WW2 was done the style stood for a bygone era and discontinued ideas.
The '64 Fair architecture was a mixed bag, with some wonderful ideas - the Unisphere was a worthy descendant of the '39 Perisphere, and the New York pavilion looked like a docking bay for incoming shuttlecraft. But overall the architecture was fussy, or heavy, or spindly, or blunt and dull. I have a collection of cards released before the Fair was finished. Let's take a look at a few.
Gas, Incorporated:
This sums it up: flat. Buildings press down rather than soar up.
Example #2:
The mothership has landed, and we await news to learn if the aliens are friendly.
