The new American Embassy in London is not, perhaps, the ugliest modern building in the world, but it would deserve honourable mention as a runner-up in any competition to find it, notwithstanding the thousands of potential entries form every continent. Its architect, evidently straining after originality, has designed something that is not to be found elsewhere, though at the same time is not unprecedented. Such straining after originality, in fact, is commonplace, that is to say profoundly unoriginal; personally, I would place any modern architect who strains after originality, that is to say the attempt at novelty for its own sake, under preventive detention, to forestall further uglification of the world. In this case, it would be hard to design a building that did more to undermine the prestige of the United States. Originality is no virtue in architecture, any more than is bravery in conduct (since it is perfectly …