Please join us for a talk with Professor Daniel M. Abramson about why the idea of architectural obsolescence was invented in early-twentieth-century America and how it has influenced design and urbanism up to the present age of sustainability. DANIEL M. ABRAMSON is professor of architectural history and director of architectural studies at Boston University. Abramson's research focuses upon matters of economics, society, and architecture from the eighteenth through twentieth centuries, with a specialization in British and American subjects. He is the author of three books: Obsolescence: An Architectural History (University of Chicago Press, 2016); Building the Bank of England: Money, Architecture, Society, 1694–1942 (Yale University Press, 2005); and Skyscraper Rivals: The AIG Building and the Architecture of Wall Street (Princeton Architectural Press, 2001); as well as being co-editor of Governing By Design: Architecture, Economy, and Politics in the Twentieth Century (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012) with the Aggregate Architectural History Collaborative, of which he is also a founding director. Current work includes projects on the American welfare state and on evidence and narrative in architectural history. Previously, Abramson taught at Tufts University and Connecticut College. Abramson's undergraduate degree in English and American literature is from Princeton; his PhD in the history of art and architecture from Harvard. This lecture is sponsored by the Joan Draper Architectural History Research Endowment, and it is part of the Spring 2018 Architecture Lecture Series. This event is open to the public! IMAGE: Days Hotel, 2009 | Photo by Brian Ulrich notifbutwhen.com