Probably because nobody values architecture as an art form anymore. With all of our technology, we still make ugly, inefficient buildings that have no taste or lasting beauty to them anymore. All the generations past, we praise their sound foundations, we ooh and aww over castles, the pyramids, stonehenge, the pantheon, etc, and yet we haven't gotten it through our thick skulls yet to make any buildings to rival those ancient wonders.

Just something I always snort at, personally.

You speak truth here. We're the inheritors of a plastic, disposable culture, and I'm not sure why. I just know that sometimes I look at things, old things in peoples collections, or, in museums, or whatever, and I just stare. I stare, wondering at the work, the fit and finish - even on simple every day things like pens, lamps and chairs let alone high-tech things like astrolabes and chronometers and on reflection I frown. I frown because it's not only taste and efficiency that are lost through the forward march of science and technology, but also knowledge. All these things, these thoughts and ideas so hard won though trial and error; we are the heirs of the sum total of human knowledge and endeavor, and we celebrate it by casting it aside.
We're not only content with wretched, slab-sided architectural monstrosities, but we're content with a wretched, slab-sided existence. We ignore the wealth of the past, the grand tradition of thought, of exploration, of advancement and experimentation that gave us the modern world and instead we shut ourselves off from our predecessors by refusing to do anything at all. Everything needful is done for us: food comes pre-packaged and pre-cooked; if something breaks we either have someone else in to fix it for us, or, throw out the old and buy anew; books are read to us, not by anyone real, but by a disembodied, digitally recorded celebrity voice; our thinking is done for us by political pundits and social commentators and even our cars shift their own gears. Meanwhile we work harder for less reward, content to return to our shabby little suburban homes/apartments/basements, where we ignore the pain of day and the reality of being in hock up to eye nostrils by dealing in things that don't actually exist, be it prime-time sit-coms, furry porn, or whatever else. We don't make things like they used to, simply because we've forgotten how, and what's worse, we don't care. As much as people like to imagine we live life in a bright and shining apex of human enlightenment, I submit to you, we are in as dark an age as ever the world has known. We're just too distracted to know otherwise.

So, as much as I'd like to see great architecture once more, I'd like to see people actually doing things that mattered, rather then sitting on their collective thumbs and (if you'll excuse the vulgerity) waiting for someone to come along and jerk them off.

Ah, so it is in Oxford, and thuse it would not look nearly so Familiar as I thought it did.

Looks fun though.

Fantastic composition with the tree placement! The lighting really establishes an enchanting mood, too - so beautiful!

Easily my favorite of the group. Very beautiful. I've always been fond of the nightfall.

Was in that general area earlier today.
I'm an Oxford lad :p
Never really understood why we get so much tourism over here.
But then I guess when you live there you take the scenery and architecture for granted.

Anyway, for the image itself, I'm supprised,
after living in the city for nearly my whole life, this is the first time
I've ever seen the the true beauty of it.
You can really feel the cold late-evening breeze when you look at it.
Thank you for posting this, after living in Oxford for so long it's the first time I've ever really looked at it.