The Neoliberalism of Robert A.M. Stern
Temporary powers never stay temporary.
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Culture
/ March 6, 2026
The Neoliberalism of Robert A.M. Stern
The passing of postmodern architecture’s last living holdout marks the end of an era—and reminds us that we’re in a new, worse one.
Kate Wagner
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Robert A.M. Stern gives a construction tour of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
(Robert Daemmrich / Getty)
The term “neoliberal architecture” has come to encompass a number of different developments over the last four decades, from the glittering, anonymous office towers of the financialized economy to the touristified “smooth” city of endless convenience and passive surveillance best viewed through a phone camera, or from the back of an Uber. But when I learned in November that the architect Robert A.M. Stern—one of postmodernism’s last living holdouts—had passed away at 86, I couldn’t help but redirect my gaze toward the original neoliberal architecture. It is impolite to speak ill of the dead, but the times in which the dead were living and working are fair game. The architecture of Stern’s generation, which reached its zenith in the 1980s and ’90s was, despite its fun colors and cartoonish irony, one whose clientele consisted largely of the elite and the institutions that fostered their rise to power. In this, Stern participated more happily than perhaps any of his peers.
More from Kate Wagner
Letters From the March 2026 Issue
February 10, 2026
The Line, a Saudi Megaproject, Is Dead
January 21, 2026
Your Dream House Might Be a Fantasy
November 6, 2025
Stern was conservative—one could even say a neoconservative. This was true both architecturally and politically, though he tended to launder his politics and keep them close to his chest. Born in 1939 to a middle-class family, and graduating with an MArch from Yale in 1965, he got his start designing Manhattan penthouses and summer houses for the well-heeled along the windswept coasts of New England. The coastal homes were often informed by the shingled vernacular of the late 19th and early 20th century so beloved of his peers like Robert Venturi and Charles Moore. (Stern would later spin off a house-building office from his firm RAMSA, devoted solely to the replication of actual historical houses.) This clientele, and the project of neo-historical architecture, would typify his work for the rest of his life. The apogee of this mode of working is one of his last but most famous buildings, 15 Central Park West, which towers over the eponymous park in imitation of the great prewar apartment buildings replete with stately masonry and patient doormen.
Stern’s early work in the 1970s fell neatly into the emergent style known as …
Temporary powers never stay temporary.
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The Neoliberalism of Robert A.M. Stern
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Current Issue
Culture
/ March 6, 2026
The Neoliberalism of Robert A.M. Stern
The passing of postmodern architecture’s last living holdout marks the end of an era—and reminds us that we’re in a new, worse one.
Kate Wagner
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
Robert A.M. Stern gives a construction tour of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
(Robert Daemmrich / Getty)
The term “neoliberal architecture” has come to encompass a number of different developments over the last four decades, from the glittering, anonymous office towers of the financialized economy to the touristified “smooth” city of endless convenience and passive surveillance best viewed through a phone camera, or from the back of an Uber. But when I learned in November that the architect Robert A.M. Stern—one of postmodernism’s last living holdouts—had passed away at 86, I couldn’t help but redirect my gaze toward the original neoliberal architecture. It is impolite to speak ill of the dead, but the times in which the dead were living and working are fair game. The architecture of Stern’s generation, which reached its zenith in the 1980s and ’90s was, despite its fun colors and cartoonish irony, one whose clientele consisted largely of the elite and the institutions that fostered their rise to power. In this, Stern participated more happily than perhaps any of his peers.
More from Kate Wagner
Letters From the March 2026 Issue
February 10, 2026
The Line, a Saudi Megaproject, Is Dead
January 21, 2026
Your Dream House Might Be a Fantasy
November 6, 2025
Stern was conservative—one could even say a neoconservative. This was true both architecturally and politically, though he tended to launder his politics and keep them close to his chest. Born in 1939 to a middle-class family, and graduating with an MArch from Yale in 1965, he got his start designing Manhattan penthouses and summer houses for the well-heeled along the windswept coasts of New England. The coastal homes were often informed by the shingled vernacular of the late 19th and early 20th century so beloved of his peers like Robert Venturi and Charles Moore. (Stern would later spin off a house-building office from his firm RAMSA, devoted solely to the replication of actual historical houses.) This clientele, and the project of neo-historical architecture, would typify his work for the rest of his life. The apogee of this mode of working is one of his last but most famous buildings, 15 Central Park West, which towers over the eponymous park in imitation of the great prewar apartment buildings replete with stately masonry and patient doormen.
Stern’s early work in the 1970s fell neatly into the emergent style known as …
The Neoliberalism of Robert A.M. Stern
Temporary powers never stay temporary.
Log In
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The Neoliberalism of Robert A.M. Stern
Magazine
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Subscribe
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Search
Subscribe
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Magazine
Latest
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Newsletters
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Politics
World
Economy
Culture
Books & the Arts
The Nation
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Current Issue
Culture
/ March 6, 2026
The Neoliberalism of Robert A.M. Stern
The passing of postmodern architecture’s last living holdout marks the end of an era—and reminds us that we’re in a new, worse one.
Kate Wagner
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
Robert A.M. Stern gives a construction tour of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
(Robert Daemmrich / Getty)
The term “neoliberal architecture” has come to encompass a number of different developments over the last four decades, from the glittering, anonymous office towers of the financialized economy to the touristified “smooth” city of endless convenience and passive surveillance best viewed through a phone camera, or from the back of an Uber. But when I learned in November that the architect Robert A.M. Stern—one of postmodernism’s last living holdouts—had passed away at 86, I couldn’t help but redirect my gaze toward the original neoliberal architecture. It is impolite to speak ill of the dead, but the times in which the dead were living and working are fair game. The architecture of Stern’s generation, which reached its zenith in the 1980s and ’90s was, despite its fun colors and cartoonish irony, one whose clientele consisted largely of the elite and the institutions that fostered their rise to power. In this, Stern participated more happily than perhaps any of his peers.
More from Kate Wagner
Letters From the March 2026 Issue
February 10, 2026
The Line, a Saudi Megaproject, Is Dead
January 21, 2026
Your Dream House Might Be a Fantasy
November 6, 2025
Stern was conservative—one could even say a neoconservative. This was true both architecturally and politically, though he tended to launder his politics and keep them close to his chest. Born in 1939 to a middle-class family, and graduating with an MArch from Yale in 1965, he got his start designing Manhattan penthouses and summer houses for the well-heeled along the windswept coasts of New England. The coastal homes were often informed by the shingled vernacular of the late 19th and early 20th century so beloved of his peers like Robert Venturi and Charles Moore. (Stern would later spin off a house-building office from his firm RAMSA, devoted solely to the replication of actual historical houses.) This clientele, and the project of neo-historical architecture, would typify his work for the rest of his life. The apogee of this mode of working is one of his last but most famous buildings, 15 Central Park West, which towers over the eponymous park in imitation of the great prewar apartment buildings replete with stately masonry and patient doormen.
Stern’s early work in the 1970s fell neatly into the emergent style known as …
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