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The Ardent Functionalist Maintains That THE ARDENT FUNCTIONALIST MAINTAINS THAT BEAUTY, OR AT LEAST A KIND OF FORMAL PERFECTION, RESULTS AUTOMATICALLY FROM THE MOST PERFECT MECHANICAL EFFICIENCY; PERFECTLY ENGINEERED CREATIONS ACHIEVE BEAUTY WITHOUT A CONSCIOUS SEARCH FOR IT ON THE PART OF THE DESIGNER. GAS REFINING EQUIPMENT AT THE KATY GAS CYCLING PLANT, TEXAS, OPERATED BY THE HUMBLE OIL AND REFINING COMPANY, IS A CONVINCING DEMONSTRATION OF THIS POINT OF VIEW. ORIGINS O F FUNCTIONALIST THEORY EDWARD ROBERT DE ZURKO * COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS * NEW YORK 1957 AI ft ~'£Du ■ 3 > i /9s 7 © COPYRIGHT 1957 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN, CANADA, INDIA, AND PAKISTAN BY THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, TORONTO, BOMBAY, AND KARACHI MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA to HATTIE LEHMAN DE ZURKO ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It has been an inspiration to observe how scholars everywhere have been willing to offer helpful advice when requested to do so. The list below does not by any means include all the men to whom I am indebted either for general suggestions or details of treatment, but with warm thanks I wish to acknowledge the encouragement and advice of the following: Dr. Walter W . S. Cook, former Director of the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University, where an earlier version of this manuscript was submitted as a doctoral dissertation, and Dr. Cook’s successor, Professor Craig Hugh Smyth; Dr. Richard Krautheimer and Dr. Guido Schoenberger of the Institute of Fine Arts; the late Talbot Faulkner Hamlin and Professor Emer­ son Howland Swift of Columbia University; Professor James Grote Van Derpool and Mr. Adolph Placzek of Avery Library, Co­ lumbia University; the late Dr. E, Baldwin Smith, formerly Chair­ man of the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton Uni­ versity; Dr. William S. Dix, Firestone Library, Princeton University; Dr. Robert Gold water, Queens College, New York; Dr. Dmitri Tselos, University of Minnesota; Mr. Lewis Mumford; and Professor Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Smith College. Houston, Texas E. R. D e Zurko December I, 1956 INTRODUCTION T he main purpose of this book is to study the idea of functionalism from a historical point of view. The research media are the literary sources of functionalism. Early functionalist trends in writings on architecture shall be analyzed and compared with each other and with modem interpretations of the concept. By means of this es­ sentially semantic study I hope to demonstrate (1) the antiquity of functionalist ideas, especially the tendency to connect ideas of use with ideas of beauty; (2) the variety of guises assumed by this type of theory; and (3) the recurrent ideas which have generally charac­ terized functionalist theory. The literature of functionalism consists largely of the writings of recognized functionalists (such as Horatio Greenough, Louis Sul­ livan, and Bruno T au t), the studies and reviews of their works, and the brief evaluations of the modem concept of functionalism which have appeared quite frequently in architectural periodicals; one of the best of the latter is Lewis Mumford’s article on “Function and Expression in Architecture,” in the Architectural Record. At one time Horace M . Kallen pursued research with the intent of writing a historical account of the relation of beauty to use, but he changed X NTRODUCT ION his emphasis to the problem of art as the expression of the indi­ vidual's struggle to live and find freedom for personal expression. Kallen describes this in his book entitled Art and Freedom. I have consulted this interesting work and have been influenced by certain details of its scholarly treatment. In France in 1952, after my manu­ script had taken its approximately final form, there appeared Le Fonctionnalisme dans Varchitecture contemporaine, by Charalambos A. Sfaellos. This is primarily an interpretation of functionalism in modern architecture, that is, it is based on a penetrating study of examples of contemporary building. This subjective approach is sup­ ported by numerous quotations from aesthetic treatises, poetry, and philosophical works, but the book is not primarily a study of con­ temporary and historical writings. Sfaellos's thesis is that modern functional architecture, like all great architecture, represents the resolution of the apparent contradiction between contemporary func­ tion and the expression of rational and spiritual values; in great architecture function is rationalized and spiritualized. My book is intended to fill a need hitherto unsatisfied. It is, to my knowledge, the only historical analysis of functionalist writings and functionalist trends in writings pertaining to architecture. It is not my purpose to attempt a definitive bibliography of func­ tionalism in writing since 1850. References will be made only to the principal treatises. Much has been written on the subject of function­ alism from Horatio Greenough and Viollet-le-Duc to Le Corbusier, hence in the following pages the period prior to 1850 will be given concentrated analysis, whereas introductory and supplementary refer­ ences will be made to writings of the modern period. The functional­ ist theories of modern architects are comparatively well known. In fact, functionalism is regarded as an essentially modern phenomenon extending back in time to the period of Horatio Greenough (1805- 52 ).1 This study will terminate with the period of Greenough. In the 1 See, for example, the introduction by Erie Loran in Form and Function, Remarks on Art by Horatio Greenough, ed. by Harold A. Small, p. xiii; NTRODUCTION x i eighteenth century and in the first half of the nineteenth century, many authors on architectural subjects stressed ideas of convenience, fitness, or utility. Some of them went so far as to make utility the primary value in architecture. By a study of those authors and of still earlier functionalist trends in writings pertaining to architecture, the deep roots of an important element in modem architectural theory should be exposed to view, and it should become clear to what extent Greenough was an original thinker and to what extent he stated ideas previously or coevally set down by other men. The scope of this study shall comprise an analysis of a large number of Western European and American writings on architecture, art, and philosophical works. The analysis of literary sources shall be com­ parative in the sense that each book or unpublished manuscript considered will be investigated, in so far as possible, according to the same pattern. This pattern will be made clear as our study progresses. The scope of this study shall include writings by architects but shall not be confined to architects. The written works of artists, philoso­ phers, and churchmen have also been investigated. I have been primarily concerned with functionalist trends and contributions to functionalism in written works; the degree to which specific buildings illustrate the principles of functionalism is not the direct concern of this study. It is not my intention to add to the hostility between advocates of functionalism and those persons who may be described as anti­ functionalists. It is not my purpose to attempt to prove or deny the validity of the idea of functionalism or its application; others have written with this end in view.2 It seems evident that any ob- Behrendt, Modern Building, Its Nature, Problems and Forms, pp. 114-17; Lewis Mumford, “Function and Expression in Architecture/' Architectural Record, C X , No. 5 (November, 1951), 108; and Paul Zucker, “The Paradox of Architectural Theories at the Beginning of the ‘Modern Movement/ “ Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, X, No. 3 (October, 1951), 8. “Critical evaluations of functionalism are to be found in the following: Robert Woods Kennedy, “Form Function and Expression/' Journal of the American Institute of Architects, XIV, No. 5 (November, 1950), 198-204;, jective attempt to shed light on a subject of controversy will in­ evitably contribute to men’s understanding of it and improve the quality of their evaluations. Some aspects of my personal philosophy will appear in the concluding chapter, but they are introduced in a subordinate, correlative position with respect to my summary. This study was begun and concluded in a spirit of humility; it was in­ spired by a disinterested passion for understanding and an enthusiasm for the creative works of mankind. Lethaby, Architecture, an Introduction to the History and Theory of the Art of Building, pp. 237-51; Lethaby, Form in Civilization, pp. 1-6; Mumford, “Function and Expression in Architecture”; Parker, T he Analysis of Art, pp. 128— 90; Scott, The Architecture of Humanism, passim.; Cynthia Ulrich, “Form ver­ sus Function,” Vassar Journal of Undergraduate Studies, XI {May, 1938), 50-61. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION XX X. SUMMARY OF A CENTURY OF FUNCTIONALISM 3 2 . CLASSICAL ORIGINS OF FUNCTIONALISM 1J 3. MEDIEVAL FOUNDATION AND SUBLIMATION 32 4. FORM AND FUNCTION FROM THE RENAISSANCE 45 5. BRITISH MORALISM, RATIONALISM, AND NATURALISM 75 6. THE FUNCTIONALISM OF RUSKIN AND HIS EARLY CONTEMPORARIES 125 7 - RATIONALIST FUNCTIONALISM IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE 149 x i v CONTENTS 8. EARLY NINETEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH ACADEMICIANS l6 8 9 . THE ITALOGERMAN AXIS OF FUNCTIONALISM, NEOCLASSIC AND ROMANTIC 1 7 7 10. EARLY AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LITERATURE OF FUNCTIONALISM 199 11 . RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT 2 3 1 BIBLIOGRAPHY 243 INDEX 257 ORIGINS OF FUNCTIONALIST THEORY SUMMARY OF A CENTURY OF FUNCTIONALISM 1 F unctionalism is a term which signifies a point of view toward architecture. There is no simple definition of the word upon which all agree. The basic premise that form should follow function be­ comes a guiding principle for the designer, but it is also a standard by which to measure architecture. Functionalism is therefore a value. The study of the backgrounds of functionalism in architecture in­ volves the larger problem of the value of use and specifically, the place of fitness in beauty. The meanings of the terms used—function, fitness, utility, and purpose— will vary somewhat with each writer.
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