ARCHITECTURE

EGOTISTICAL FOLLY: Los Angeles’ Cardinal Roger M. Mahony bitterly dumped an entire cathedral in the gutter when the Los Angeles Conservancy stumped his plan to turn the original site into a monument befitting the church’s glory. Now we have two problems: a dilapidated empty shell for sale along a neglected block on Main Street and an unbuilt splendor that will cost the church $50 million near the Hollywood Freeway. Have faith.

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A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL: Now Times Square is really square: With the opening of the Disney mega-store and the near completion of the company’s $34-million renovation of the landmark New Amsterdam Theater along 42nd Street, Disney has just about succeeded in transforming New York’s sleazy playground into a glitzy family-values package for consumption-minded tourists. Will the gritty cityscape really become a soul-less, mouse-eared artifice? Which is worse?

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HERCULEAN TASK: In August, MCA/Universal’s Edgar Bronfman Jr. hired avant-garde Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas to design a master plan that will add 6 million square feet to Universal City. Among the goals: Adding onto CityWalk and the connecting theme parks to make an authentic space with architectural integrity. Good luck.