A Great Movie Not Yet Made

An architect dreams of eternity but tragedy strikes, his libertine son betrays him and the fashion moves on. His house becomes a mausoleum for memory, ambition, and unbearable loss.

He begins in soot and scaffolding, the son of a bricklayer in a city rebuilding itself from fire and plague. As a boy he draws domes in the dirt, copies cornices from crumbling buildings and teaches himself by candlelight. He manages to charm a patron, win a scholarship, and enter the academy.

The young architect rises with astonishing speed: He wins pr…