You can find people today arguing for a single absolute standard of beauty. Usually they mean "neoclassical architecture".
And indeed it's what the original author from that time was arguing against, the "bigotry" mentioned. So it was clearly an attitude held by some people at the time.
>And I'd call them imbeciles, why you think that "the people like that exist" is argument for anything ?
I agree, I don't understand these sorts of arguments. While I suppose deference to anecdotal evidence has always been around it seems more and more prolific as of late, and more often than is used as justification for a baseless argument simply because others argue baselessly.
They are not only arguing in favor of neoclassical architecture, I have met plenty of people who believe that Bauhaus is the only standard of beauty and that every space should look and feel like an Apple Store.
I'm not saying there were no dumb people in the past, I'm saying that being amazed that most people of the past could not see further than their nose is a very naive take.
They also sometimes argue for Art Deco any others. Basically anything that is the anathema of CAD-drawn monstrosity of rebar concrete sheetmetal and glass by an establishment celebrity architect with overblown ego.
And indeed it's what the original author from that time was arguing against, the "bigotry" mentioned. So it was clearly an attitude held by some people at the time.