Architecture Styles Spotter's Guide
Ci .ASSICAL TEMPLES TO SOARING SKYSCRAPERS
Sarah Cunliffe Jean Loussier EDITORS
Sarah Cunliffe, Clare Haworth-Maden, Michael Kerrigan, Donna F. Shelmerdine, Stephen Small, M. Jane Taylor CONTRIBUTORS
~~\l/~~
THUNDER BAY P,R·E·S,S
San Diego, California CLASSICISM REVIVED
The Henaissance had found inspiration in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, its order and symme- suggesting what might be attainable by human rea• ;;on, ingenuity, and enterprise. Those same values \vere at the fore in the Enlightenment of the eigh• teenth century, but by this time they were taking on a distinctly political edge. In its mounting revolutionary ferment, France was looking back to the heroic exarn- of republican Rome-}acques-Louis David's Iconic painting The Oath of the Horatii was created in 776. At this very moment across the Atlantic, the \merican colonies were engaged in their own fIght £(Jr liberty; here too, fi-eedom was to find expression in Classical forms.
')PPOSITE: The Massachusetts State HOLlse (1798), in designed by Charles Bu1jlnch, with its }nagnif~ icent gilded dome, is considered one of the fInest build-• in the United States. Classicism F~evived Classicism Revived
PALLADIAN LEFT: Palladian detail showing the charactcristic arch No single architect did more to influence the rediscovery and reinvention of and fanlights ahODCthe door, Classical architecture: I
FRENCH NEOCLASSICAL these ideas so seriously that they designed "ideal" structures, which were never intended BACK TO BASICS The French Hevolution of 1789 was the violent culmination of a wholesale to take physical form. But Ange-Jacques Still more radical than the rationalism of the intellectnal overhaul that had occupied much of the eighteenth century. For Gabriel's (1698-1782) Petit Trianon, built in other philosophes artists and architects of the day, Horne represented not only republicanism, but the grounds of the royal palace at Versailles, was Jean-Jacques an age apparently free of childish superstition and meddling clergy. near Paris (1761-64), shows the beautiful Rousseau's claim that realities such architecture could achieve. civilization was corrupt• ing, society enslaving~ that "Man was born STYLE FILE The Primitive Pantheon free, but IS everywhere in chains." His idealiza• Notable Features: The Pantheon, in Paris, was built between tion of the "noble Basic vocabulary Corders 1757 and 1790 to a design by Jacques-Gabriel savage" has no immedi• of columns, arches, etc.) ately obvious bearing Classical, but an interest SouHlot. Its most obvious models may be the on architecture, yet it in attaining a three• ancient Pantheon and St. Peter's Cathedral, underlies the profoundly dimensional symmetry infiuential thought of and "natural" simplicity. both in Rome, but it also bears the imprint of the Abbe Marc-Antoine the theories of its time. If its austere, unfussy Laugier. His Essav on Major Influences: symmetries suggest the rationalism of Boullee Architecture suggested Enlightenment rational• that aesthetic beauty ism a reaction against and Ledoux, its overwhelming simplicity was rooted in the eter• all relics of monarchism evokes the values of Laugier (see feature, nally endowed propor• and clericalism; tions of created nature, Rousseauesque ideas of right). That said, the Pantheon is actually a and that all architecture "natural" proportions. good deal less simple than it looks: it is, in harked back to the fact, an example of two-in-one construction. same basic prototype, Where and When: the round hut of France; 18th century. Outside, massive walls bear up the bulk of the prehistoric humanity. building's weight-including, with the help of hidden flying buttresses, the shapely dome. Unbuildable Ideals The spacious interior aisles can thus be sup• BELOW: The Petit Trianon, Frcnch philosophes like Diderot and Voltaire ported with only slender columns. Versailles (1761-64). were a tllO'rn in the flesh of the Church and ABOVE AND BELOW: The monarchy, hut their seH~conscjous rational• Pantheon, Pads, soon after the ism fouud echocs even in establishment huilding opened. It appeaJ's architccture. If the Classical influence is clear equally when viewed in coustruetiolls of this time, so, too, is a con• from a distan(;e, as below. cern to capturc the perfect, "pure" shapes of solid gcomctry. 'The eube, the sphere, thc these were the forms to which architects sl]()uld no fimctional structure used by real people could possibly embody such per- fEcction hut thc closer the approximation, thc thc theorists thought. Architects like Etienne-Louis Bou]]ce (J728-99) and Claude Nico]as Ledoux ( took
141 Classicism Revived Classicism Revived
FEDERALIST/ADAM Fun Without Frivolity SWAGS Just as distinctively Adamesque, however, Carved swags of stone, So-callcd becausc it dates from the first decades of the Ullited States' exis• were the httle decorative touches he used to stucco, or \Nood were tence, "Federal" architecture was not altogether independent of British mod• counte11)()lnt the severities of Neoclassical a feature of Federalist els. The Scottish brothers H.obert (1728-92) and James Adam (1732--94) were buildings: these decora• design. Flat panels and pilasters broke up tive bouquets and fes• a big inHuence-though to some extent this was precisely because in their blank walls; decorative devices, from urns and toons adorned every• thing from ceilings and work they looked beyond the British hshions of the time. arabesques to stucco scrolls and sphinxes, paneled vvalls to furni• adorned interiors: the final effect combined ture. Generally compris• vigor and visual interest with sobriety. ing flovvers, fruit, sheafs STYLE FILE of grain, or other pro• duce. they lent an air' of Notable Features: The Ne'W Republic elegant Classicism and Simple, Classical lines comfort at the same and proportions, but As such it was the ideal style for thc newly time. Harking back to compar$tively elaborate independent United States-proud and self• the decorative art of decoration, both inside ancient Rome, as and confident, yet still recognizably puritanical in symbols of fertility and roofs its values. That the Adam style bore more plenty they also struck screened by stone resemblance to Roman models than English a real chord vvith what balustrades; vvas still an agricultural Shutt;ered vvindovvs. only enhanced it in American eyes. Not that society. U.S. architects were content simply to replicate Major Influences: Classical principles, the Adam style: over time, they would make it filtered through the very much their 0\'.11. Their innovations ranged BELOW: Adelphi '1(:rrace, of the Adam brothers'modem from the flagrantly patriotic (the use of the London (1768-74), built hI} the reinte'rpretations. eagle motif) through the practical (the addition h mthers Adam and named rifie'r of decorative window shutters) to the more adelphoi, Greek f'n- "brothers." Where and When: Adam style, Britain, midc subtle (tbe introduction of oval and elliptical Sadly, the terrace was demol• 18th century; Federal Antiquarian Adam shapes for windows and even rooms). ished in 1936. . United States, 1800. Hobert in'particular had made an enthusiastic study of ancient rnoTlurncnts, including tbe excavatcd ruins of Pompeii, His ancieut inspirations, however, were not just Homan, but Etruscan, and even Egyptian• and be noted interior design and decoration as well as external forms. Whcre his eountiy• men were contcnt to evoke thc symmetrical spirit of' Classical architecture, he worked Homan motifs directly (thougb always imagi- into his work. Commissioned to ABOVE: tbe south front of K8dleston Hall, a country house in the English Midlands, f(JI' sunAvingFedero!isl ,s'free{s in he used as its centerpiece a four• tile United Stoles. The his(()r;c story reproduction of the rnagnificent Arch of district aUracts IIWrlY iourrsts. Constantine in Home (see page 147 Classicism Revived Classicism Revived
GREEK REVIVAL
It wasn't just ]c!hnson's designs, but his commissions that made a difference to the development of American architecture. Increasingly, these, too, tended toward the Greek Revival style, with its columns and pediments.
A Transatlantic Athens STYLE FILE In 1803, as president, Jefferson appointed Notable Features: Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1766-1820) to style. on supervise construction of the U.S. Capitol Greek examples: more (see page 15). In his Bank of Pennsylvania, dehcate in design. less simply monumental. Philadelphia (1799), built very mnch along than Roman buildif)gs. the lines of an Athenian temple, Latrobe had already shown his enthusiasm for the archi• Major Influences: Continuing Classical craze tectural forms of ancient Greece. His own in Europe; work in this style found its nltimate expres• Britain's provincial cities had a degree of civic ABOVE: Oak Alley Plantation. In United States. Greek sion in the Homan Catholic Cathedral, pride and pretension that prompted tbem to OPPOSITE, JUCHT: Germany's Reviyal flowed naturally Reichstag. from stYI~ Baltimore (1805-18), but it was developed in identify with the achievements of ancient a well- works by William Strickland (1788-18.54) like Greece alld H.ome. The outstanding example OPPOSITE, LEFT: A church in established nation felt less need to identify the Second Bank of the U.S. in Philadelphia is, perhaps, that of Glasgow, Scotland, then Glasgow, Scotland, hy with specific.3lly (1819-24). In the Old World as in America, grown to be tbe second city of tbe British Alexander "Greek" Thompson. republican. models). the Greek Hevival was gathering momentum: Empire, whose leading citizens set out to Where and When: by mid-century, it seemed, the stylc held construct an appropriately grandiose archi• United States and sway. Enriched by the 1ndustrialHevolution, tectural heritage almost from scratch. It Europ,". c.. 1820-90. seem cd almost inevitable that the preferred medium lor this should be the Classical style l~wored by leading local architects like Alexander "Greek" Thomson (1817-7.5).
Back to the Future Neoclassicism had become the "nahlral" mediulll for any expression of pride in archi• tecture. 'When, in the 1870s, a newly unihed Germany first envisaged a national parliament building in Berlin, it was no surprise that a design ill tbis style was chosen. Paul Wallot (1841-1912) was its architect. When it was constructed in 1884-94, tbe Reichstag~) glass• and-steel cupola represcnted an engineering breakthrough, but its aesthetic principles had been laid down over 2,000 years before.
151 Victorian Styles Victorian Styles
GOTHIC REVIVAL ROMANTIC NATIONALISM Some historians consider the term "Gothic Revival" a misnomer because What Horace Walpole Gothic architecture persisted in Europe from medieval times through sueceed• did for the Gothic in England, Victor Hugo ing centuries without entirely fading from use. But the widespread readoption would repeat, even of Gothic decoration emerged in England, France, and Germany in the early surpass, inFrance with nineteenth ccntury; hy mid-century, it had swept across North America. the 1831 publication of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The action took The Rise of Romanticism place in the cathedral, In England, prominent architects-even some with its almost spooky medieval ambience. Notable Features: Neoclassicists-continued to apply Gothic fea• The French believed that "true" Gothic doors and \/'Jirldows; tures to ecclcsiastical buildings well before the pOint.ed arChe. 5 over design was French, Intenor STYLEvaulting;FILE rise of the Homantic movement that inspired while English and ISteeply pitched roofs; German scholars held Tall turrets; the Gothic Revival. One notable example is Sir their own nations to bE;! Pinnacles; Christopher Wren's 1681 "Tom Tower" at the thE;! rightful heirs to Crenelations; chapel of Christ Church, Uuiversity of Oxford. glorious tri3dition. Angular chimneys; Leaded glass. But the first celebration of Gothic decoration per se is attributed to Horace \Valpole, who Major Influences: Gothic architecture. rcLtshioned his country estate near London Crossing the Atlantic ABOVE: The Peace ])Jwer (1927) with fanciful decorative f(catures-exterior and The first American Gothic Revival building, on Parlianllmt Hill, Ottawa. Where and When: interior-including turrets, pointed arches, Western Europe and Glen Ellen in Baltimore, was designed in 1832 Canada's parlillTruent North America; 19th and crockets. This eighteenth-century confec• by Alexander Jackson Davis, who would (1857-66; s1lh,Sl"I',:entren.lOdeling century. tion gave rise to the label "Strawbeny Hill become the nation's most prolific Gothic after jire were all in Gothic," named for his famous estate. Rcvival architect. In 1837 he published a book the Gothic Revival of house plans that introduced the style to the RIGHT: The Iii masses. Its popularity was further advanced cSt l..Amege,c,({})wnagc, ar/, by two pattern books by Davis's colleague GIJthic /{cuioa! !alldmark Andrew Jackson Dowl1ing, who offered the In; I-Iell n; /{lltdlillsIJIl middle classes more affordable alternatives to IiIlIllwd; ill 183; the expensive stone Gothic-style mansions. Meanwbilc, the Gothic Revival also gained exposure in thc United States through the high-profile projects of architects like Richard Upjohn, an Englishman whose landmarks included New York City's Trinity Church Ol'l'OSITE: The (1846). Soon, the Gothic style was every• where: picturesque cottages flourished in the blj countryside with multiple gables, turrets, and in the seDen/een/h (century and wide porches, and elements of the style were considered a preel/J:wr /0 the adapted f()r use in city houses-like the (;otlLic }{tTivalllwv(-nneJli. Gothic door, "vindow, and cornice detailing. 56 \/ictonan Styles Victorian Styles
ROMANESQUE REVIVAL
The origins of this popular Victorian architectural style lie ill Germany, where the or "round-arch style," took off in the early nineteenth cen• tury, and in Classical and medieval construction and decoration.
The Economics of Fashion STYLE.FILE 'With features such as grand, rounded arches, Notable Features: Rounded arches; domes, and conical-topped towers, masonry Asymmetrical ground buildings and mansions in the Homanesque plans and facades; Hevival style were not cheap to build. But, in Heavy stone walls; Decorative belt courses; the late ninetcenth century, America, where Polychromatic masonry; the style flourished, was enjoying a rush of Medieval ornamentation, e.g., quatrefoil or wcalth and technology that lent itsclf to the roseatewindo\Ns and builcIing of lavishly impOSing public buildings decorative carvings; designed in a variety of revival styles. The Decorative, arched entryways. commanding Homanesqnc style naturally lent itself to the construction of major public Major Influences: ROlllanesque; buildings. Howcver, somc private homes Medieval styles. were also constructed in this style; those that European and Classical Roots remain today (which look much like small, The German Bundhogenstil was not an archi• . Where and When: medieval stone castles) can be found mostly tectural rcvival, though it was influenced by in citics that werc wealthy in the Victorian era Neoclassicists, and the rounded arches were mld-to-Iate 1800s. I Principally--~.~ North.. _--A.merica; in the northeastern United States. similar to those of Roman buildings. Thc new style was functional and less ornate than the RIGHT: The imposing entr-anr:e revivals. The Homanesque Hevival combined to thewm"th fencer at the elements of this \vith more Classical detailing. Smith SOIlilll I fllslduliol/.
OpposnE, ABO\'I<: Tilis view qf the S/nUhIOljial/" "emf;le" show.I lIulr/iewl rlell/iis. the deeomlire willdows flild fowerl·.
OpP()srf'l~:, BELOW: Tlte North•
El)an:~' C!w(eo!.l in A..'If,\;tin,
-ICe.VIS, IDOl' built ill tllIl 18701'.
In Ilse (~lruslic(Lted ston.e, it Ihe mc!wrdsollifln
})flges 174-75).
161 Victorian StylE'S Victorian Styles
RENAISSANCE REVIVAL
Opulent turn-oftlle-century Hcnaissance Hevival buildings mimic thc stylcs of the Italian and French Henaissance; they are both elegant and explicitly for• ma!. Because the elaborate style required highly skilled craftsmanship and materials, such as ashlar, it is mainly seen in large-scale public and commercial buildings and luxurious mansions for the wealthy.
Rebirth of the Classical The word "Henaissance" means "rebirth," and STYL~ Noti'lble Features: . refers to the period in Europe in the hfteenth Symmetrical facades; Smooth ashlar walls; and sixteenth centuries in which literature, Quoins; art, and architecture flourished, beginning in Architrave-framed windows (with ornate Italy. During this time, an educated cultural molding); elite, and the artists and craftsmen that it sponsored, studied and admired tbe intellec• tual and artistic accomplishmcnts of Classical antiquity. Renaissance Hevival architecture A Second Revival Horizontal stone banding THE BREAKERS dividing the ground story also looks back to Classical antiquity, but Some of the Henaissance Hevival architects from the upper stories; unlikc its Henaissance predecessors, it is often Location: Newport, were graduates of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Smaller" squ8re windows seen as derivative and lacking subtlety, with Rhode Island. on the top story; Date: 1892--95. Paris, though their buildings perhaps lacked many eclectic and lavish features combined in Low-pitched hipped or Architect: Richard the restraint more often associated with the marlsclrd roofs; a singlc building. Henaissallce llevival build• Morris Hunt. school. Opnlent homes were popularly built Roofline entablatures, Significance: Now a ings were, critics say, built for the wealthy to topped with balustrade. National Historic iu North America during "boom" periods, imprcss rather than embodying an artistic Landnlark, this seventy• and especially in the "gilded age" of the late Major lnfluences: room mansion, which vision. In the United Statcs, the style is most nineteenth century. The architect most asso• Europeoon Renaissance; sits upon a beautiful often seen in ostentatious lnausions, wilde in Classical buildings. estatE; overlooking the ciated with this period is the exuberant Europe, the style was especially popular [ill' Atlantic Ocean, resem• Where and When: Hiehard Morris Hunt, who conceived many public buildings in newly prosperons cities of bles a grand Italian EuropE=::, North Amc.;?rica; Renaissance palazzo. of the mansions of fashionable Newport, c.1840-·1920. the confldent, industrial Vidorian age. Conlmissioned by Hhode Island. Later Renaissance Hevival Cornelius Vanderbilt II as a summer home, homes are often larger and more elaborate, its featur-es include gilt and are characterized by; columns supporting HIGIIT: f{OI1/1fJ1to\ Pel!:\' Casllc, cornices, Corinthian entablatures, archcd, recessed openings, and bll ill J 87:J-b'3 li'/uler Viennese columns, a 45-foot-high great hall. rare marble, balconies; full entablatures between story lev• orcl,i/e(·t iVilhcl1ll f)or/erel; is elaborately painted els; and a ground-story facade of rusticated an Germanic ceiling5;'j,arcades, and stone. Usually, each story of these homes is l1elutissance revlect!. a central covered court• yard. The rooms were expressed differently (so that if the Doric designed and built in order is used on the first story, then the next OPPOSITE: 'I'll!' BreakelC" EuropEc, shipped to the United States, and then story will be of the Ionic or Corinthian orders, hy l1icluml Morris reassembled on site. and so on). Many of these features can be lhmt, VClI'port, Ftlwde island seen at the Breakers, featured hcre. Victorian Styles Victorian Styles
ITALIANATE Cast-iron Palaces The development of the cast• by tbe architecture of rural Italy, the Italianate style (also known as iron and pressed-metal indus• Tuscan, or Lombard style) was adopted by English architects in the tries in the mid-nineteenth late 18:30sas a romantic rebellion against the Classical styles that had prevailed century allowed for the cost• in architect! Ifal design f(lr the previous two centuries, and soon swept America. effective large-scale produc• tion of many of the Italianate decorative elements. These STYLE FILE included cornices and brack• Notable Features: ets, which were previously Square. rectangular, or made of carved stone. A num• L-shaped massing with aver-tical ernphasis; ber of U. S. cities have historic Squar"0': cupolas or- towers; neighborhoods featuring cast-iran-clad build• ABOVE: An 1853 Itillianate house Elaborate detailing; Overhanging eaves with ings that resemble grand Italian villas. In in the Hudson New York, decorative brackets; addition to new mansions and commercial where the style flourished. Tall, narro\lv windows, BELOW: A hancLome townhouse usually arched or curved buildings, colonial-stylc homes were often at the top; extensively remodelcd during the late nine• in Detmit, Michigan, displaying Side bav windows; teenth century to incorporate these highly the decorative elements typical \A/lndows along the facade aligned in threes ff\shionable Italianate features. of an Ita/ianate villa. above the doorvvay; Low-rJitched 01' flat roofs; Centered front-facing gables, or cross-hipped or crossed~gabJed (L-shaped plans); VI/ood ,frarning: Arcaded porche'3 with A Plastic Style balust'raded balconies. The Italianate style was made f~\shjonahle in Major Influences: America in part the designs of Calvert Purai-Italian buildings; I~enaissanc:e s'tylE:';s. Vaux and AlexallCler Jackson Davis, which were published in the pattern books of Where and When;. Andrew Jackson Downing. The stylc was Western Europe at-Kl the UnrtecJ States; widdy adopted because of its highly adaptable c. 1840-85. nature; it could be as romantie as the Gothic or as reserved as the Neoclassical, making it suitable for a range of tastes and budgets, These houses are com mon evelywhere except ABOVE: TIUs ft(fli!iIIllte !Jilll! is the Deep South (which was wracked witb the (It economic hardship ofthe Civil War during the ill the [flJitcr! Sillies. Its sq{lIlI'e period in which the popularity of the style was m[/s'sinI~) cerU('fll eilm/wsis, low- at its height). The decline of tbe ltalianatc in the United States is associated with tbe financial panic of 187:3.
165 Victorian Styles Victorian Styles
QUEEN ANNE allowed fc)r hwtoq-made, precut architec• tural details that were transported economi• Of all the Victorian housing styles popular in North America, the eclectic cally via the rapidly expanding railroad sys• Queen Anne was the most widespread, and some consider it to be the qmntes• tem. Suddenly, people all across the conti• sential Victorian style-the culmination of eveqthing that had come before it. nent, including those in rural areas, wanted the fancy houses that they saw in the popular pattern books that were being disseminated STYLE FILE at the time, which often featured circular cor• ner towers and other features commonly associated with Queen Anne architecture. Patterned shingles, spindles, and finials were sometimes added; the most elaborately orna• mented Queen Anne homes may be known as "Eastlake," "gingerbread," or the polychro• matic "painted ladies." In Queen Anne homes where masonq, rather than wood, was used plans; as the primary construction material, decora• Peltten,ed shingles and/or tive stone, brick, and terra-cotta patterns are panels; seen, wit] I little or no wooden ornamentation. Stained glass. Other Queen Anne homes arc half-timbered, Maj9.r Inf]\..Iences: with exposed wood framing. In these homes, Gothic Revival; English Tudor styles; the spaces between the timbers may be filled Charles I_ocke Eastlake. with plaster, stone, or even brick. Where and When: North America; What's in a Name? c. 900. This style had its origins in England, under the influence of architect Richard Norman Shaw (18.31-1912). The name "Qneen Anne" ABOVI': All 189(Js. SlllJlt rhan is perhaps misleading, since popular architec• Qlleen AII1Ie hOllse i1l ture during this qncen's reign (1702-14) was SllItl'. dominated by a more !cmrml, Renaissance• inspired style. In developing the prototypical English version of the Queen Anne brick honse, Shaw and others drew npon Tlldor architectural models, adding details like oriel OPPOSITE: the most windows and comer towers. j(n (ton) niLe Anne ImuII!u)use.s these Machine-Age Architecture 'painted llldic.\' " lire among Ihe The Qneen Anne style was propellcd to its )/10.\1 in ~enith in the United States and Carmda the Sa 11 Francisco advent of the industrial machine age, which
170 171 Victorian Styles Victorian Styles
EXOTIC REVIVAL
The Exotic Hevivals were inspired by, and expressed in, various Asian and Islamic styles, some of which werc popularized by French archeological work in Eg}1)t dl! Napolcon's campaigns. In Europe and the United States, these styles were adapted to the design of contemporary public buildings, as well as expensive private hornes, beginning in the early nineteenth century.
STYLE FILE Notable Features: Egyptian Revival: Battered walls; columns with lotus or palm capitals; concave corelices; Vvingi?d-diSk motifs, Oriental Revival: 5-curve (ogee) arche:;;; onion• :;;haped Turkishcstyle Eclectic Diversity AJ30VE: Mainstream Vietoriana domes; geometric masonry patterns. Exotic Revival architecture mirrored a meets Exotic Hevival in Glasgow, Moorish Revival: Moori:;;h Scotland, in this view towarcl arches; domes of romantic interest in history and archeology. vari.ous sizes and In the United States, it was not uncommon the Templeton Carpet Factory minaret-style (1888-92), by Willimn spires; and tile for Exotic~style details to be superimposed surface decorations. upon typical, cube-shaped ltalianate houses. Leiper Venice~\ ])oges' A number of synagogues were also built in Palace, with eclectic MeNOr Influences: Asian styles; Moorish styles, recalling M()orish~inf1uencecl details and colon'. Islamic styles, synagogues built in medieval times in Spain. BELOW: Olema, Nell; Yori, State, Where. <'IndWhen: Western Eurooe. North 930. An Unconventional Style Called "exotic," these Eastern and Mideastern architectural femns were something of a fad in \iI/estern European and American architec• ture, quite at odds with the styles in vogue in the 'Western world at the time. Therefcxe, to build one's house, palace, or hl11cifillfolly in these elaborate and expensive Exotic styles ABOVE: IJrick was both a show of wealth and a defiance of patterns (f/u! ogee arches convention. John l\iash's design for thc Royal lire IInlOn!!, the details Pavilion (1815-23, see page 1.53) in the {hat {his Moorish- English coastal town of Brighton was one such Florida nUliM'iofl as tin which combined elaborate Chinese Ex()U(' Bpuiv{IL and Islamic forms and motif's.
'IF; Victorian Styles Victorian Styles
BEAUX ARTS
This which is characterized by the extravagant use of Classical elements, is named fe)l" the legendary l~cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, where some of tbe bcst-known European ,md American architects studied at around the turn ofthc twcntieth century. The tenn heaux arts is French for "fine art."
Classical Meets Renaissance Also known as "Beaux Arts Classicism," or "Academic Classicism," this style combines Classical design aesthetics \vith Henaissance ideals. The Ecole des Beaux-Arts stressed the study of Greek and Roman structurcs, and the main principles of the Beaux Arts style arc order, symmctry, formality, grandiosity, and elaborate ornamcntation. The doctrines and teachings of this school dominated Public to Private French architecture from the sevcntcenth Many of the great exhibitions-including until thc early twentieth century. An abhor• thosc held in Philadelphia (1876), Chicago rcncc of undecorated surhlces (or horror (1893), and St. Louis (1904)-featured. Beaux STYLE FILE vacui) is one characteristic or its teachings-a Arts structures that rocketed this style to Notable Features: principle that also guidcd architects who cre• GrancJiosE~ c:or-npositions; immense popularity. In Europe and in North 5yrnrnetric:al facades; atcd works in the Second Ernpiw style. America, the earliest Beaux Arts designs were Projectir-)9 facaciE.:-::-s or generally reserved for grand and colossal pub• pavilions \Nith arche~:;; Colo:;saJ c()lurlln~" often lic structures like museums, railroad stations, pail-ed, at-lcl ~)jtasters; banks, libraries, memorials, courthouses, and.
d(,~coration government and municipal buildings.
<;-;\1\1,'=:195, c:ar~ Though Beaux Arts began as the preferred. aneJst,jtuary); Stonc.:::' style for grand. public structures, wealthy citi• Gr-c:~l(ld zens soo" adopted the lavish style for the dcsign oj their own private mansions. In the United States, there were entire neighbor• ABOVE: The landmark Union and hoods designed in the Beaux Arts style, with Station in Washington, D.C. massive, opulent houses, wide thoroughf~lres, (interior detail. inset and vast green spaces. The popularity of the OPPOSITE, TOP: Interior detail style to decrease in the 1920s; twenty• of the imposing, domed chapel Major influences: at Annapolis Military Academy Classical buildings. five years later, these buildings were consid• ered pretentious and showy. Later in the OPPOSITE, BELOW: Period view VVhere ancl When: twentieth ccntury, however, a new crop of of Central Station, Milan, Italy; hkJrt:h Arnerica; 18(35-1925. Post modern architects rediscovered an the Imilding was appreciation of the Beaux Arts principles. damaged World WaT II.
179 Victorian Styles Victorian Styles
CHATEAUESQUE
\Vith its epic scale and lavish stone construction, the Chateaucsque style was well suited fell' the opulent country mansions of the wealthy. These structures were usn ally built of marble or limestone, and, unlike many other Victorian the sheer size of these stately homes precluded cheaper reproductions.
LEFT: The Biltmore Estate. 11~1'~i1 Asheville, North Carolina, built
for George W Vanderbilt by hunch-cd, of workers between 1888 and 1895.
STYLE FILE
Notable Features: Steeply pitched hipped or gabled roofs with multiple ABOVE: Heckel' 1101lse, Detroit. Estate, which was designed for George W. vertical adornments; BELOW, RIGHT: Chateau Vanderbilt by Bichard Morris Hunt (see also Relief-sculptured gables; Multiple dormers; Frontenac ilLitel, Quebec. pages 154-55). Other notable American Belt courses; architects of similar mansions included Conical "candle-snuffer" Daniel Burnham and John vVellborn Root. roof towers; Tall, ornamented, cor- The popularity of the Chateauesque style beled chimneys: began to fade not long after Hunt's death in Numerous balconies; Corbeled brackets: 189,5. At around the turn of the century, Semicircular arches; inventions like the automobile, electricity, Gothic and Renaissance Influences Pilasters; and the telephone had rapidly begun to trans• Paired cross-windows, The recogni7;able Chateauesque style or arched windows; form the lives ofWcsterners. A more informal cornbincd Gothic clements with Henaissance Gothic tracery; lifestyle began to emerge, replacing the rigid Gothic finials. dctails fi!Und in sixteenth-century French formality embodied in Victorian tastes. chateaus pagc Though luxurious, the Major Influences: has a rustic, yct l()rbid• French Renaissance; Gothic. fact, most Chateauesque homes are Ifluncl in isolated, rural locations, Where and When: both in and in the United States. Europe, North AJl1erica; c. 1860-1910. Ostentatious Affluence afHuent patrons who commissioned lilT such mansions a desire or the lavish homes of their well-oFf neighbors. OFten cited as a ofthis is the hunous Biltmore Victorian Stvles Victorian Styles
SECOND EMPIRE
Houses and public buildings in the Second Empire style were modeled on the rich Baroque Revival that flourished during the rebuilding of Paris, France, supervised Baron Haussmann in the reign of Napoleon III (18,52-70, the Second Empirc).
Horror Vacui STYLE FILE: The Second Empire style is generally highly Notable Features: ornamented, which is why critics apply to it High mansard roofs \Nith rounded cornices; the term hOr1-or Dac1li, or the fear of empty Wrought-iron cresting; space or unadorned surfaces. The Louvre, DormE~rwindo\NS projecting remodeled 1852-57, is one of the bmous from the attic; Brackets belo\N eaves, Parisiau examples of this style, which rapidly balconies, and bays; became fashionable elsewhere in Europe and Cupolas; Patterned slate roofs; in North America. \tVhile many Second Classical pediments and Empire buildings are large-scale ornate pub• Haunted Houses columns; lic and residential structures built of stone, Imagine the haunted houses that loom upon Tallfirst-story \Nindo\Ns; Small entry porches. the style was also flexible enough to allow f()r lonely hilltops in a multitude of Hollywood srna]]er, more modest wooden cottages. horror movies, including Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, and you've got the classic Second Empire house. Because of its tall mansard Italian roof (which has a distinctive profile) and its elaborate wrought-iron cresting, a mansard ABOVE: Glen AlIhum Mansion Where and When: in Natchez, Missis.\·i/Jpi, has a Western Elirope and mansion is likely to appear forbidding and North ·America; spooky. However, this is not at all how these concave 1/ wnsard c. 1855-85. homes were viewed in their heyday, when they wen: considered quite styljsh, modern, and majestic. TheLtct that these homes could HICHT: Thl' I!JJ/llclil Plli/adelphil/. be built in a tall, narrow shape made them BELOW: A view of the Louvre, CUI/HI/II,lmi/r particularly attractive for city building on Paris, ,)'oon 18i'j-},(j()i. III,ore illfln SO{) slnall lots in the nineteenth century. its Second Empire
lal!, litis. 0111' II/llesl
IJwsonry sir'luIure,<; in lhclcorlrf Till' roof i\ ('mll;II{'(!l.cilh (I.)] ilirp(),<,.iiig;,<.;fall{(' Penn.
183 Victorian Styles Victorian Styles
TUDOR REVIVAL LEFT: A Tudor Revival-style house in Des Moines, Iowa, with
Tudor-style homes (see pages 84-8.5, also referred to as "Old English") enjoyed a typieal features half- Victorian-era revival in Britain's growing suburhs and, at the same time, found timbering and steep popularity in Continental Europe and the United States, where the style endured until the J 920s. The style is easily identified by ha1f~timbering and a rustic mix of stone or brick with stucco and wood, and (usually) steep roofs and gables. BELOW: An English C{)tswold• STYLE FILE Suburban Picturesque style cottage, with (l thatched More broadly, the revival of the old-fashioned roof that adds to its Notable Features: 'fudor cottage, with its rural connotations, {)ld-fashioned appearance. Half-timbering; . Steeply pitched roofs; may be tbought of as part of the romantically Prominent cross-gables; CotS\Nold Cottages Grouped, leaded windows nostalgic Victorian trend against urban living OPPOSITE: Pewabic Pottery, in with small panes; and the fast pace of industrialization, Though Detroit, Michigan, combines the In the United States, "Tudor Revival" also Tall chimneys, often evocative of the old Englisb country house, Tudor Revival with English refers to a regional English cottage style with decarative pats; Mix of stone or brick with the Tudor H.evival was a largely suburban Arts and Crafts features. known as the Cotswold Cottage, which imi• stucco and \Nood; phenomenon, Houses in this style span areas tates cottages built since medieval times in the Asymmetrical plan. of the suburban neighborhoods of the U,S. hilly Cotswold region of England. These were PEWABIC POTTERY Major Influences: Northeast and Midwest, as well as English originally built of honey-colored Cotswold eities, And, in pleasing contrast with many of Location: Detroit, limestone and had steeply pitched, thatched Michigan. Where and When: the other, more formal, Victorian revival Date: 1907. roofs, Their popularity in America peaked styles, the form and material of Tudor homes Architects: William B. around the 1920s; these charming homes Strattan and Frank D. often have a "mock-thatched" roof of slate or lend them a tendency to merge attractively Baldwin. c.NorthEnglish1880-Amenca,Tudor.19405, Eu~ope;1970-85. l with the natural landscape, Materials: Brick, stuccO', cedar, large chimneys, an uneven sloping and waod. roofline, small window panes, and short doors. Significance: Stratton and Baldwin designed Thc Tudor H.evival and Cotswold Cottage this English Tudor-style styles saw a brief comeback in the 1940s, Then, ~!:i pottery building as a ciafts center rather after another disappearance Ii'om the scene, than a factory. home-builders showed renewed interest in Elabarately constructed and decorated, the half• these rural-looking homes in the 1970s and '80s, timbered building has a steeply pitched roaf, a rustic-looking facade, and large chimneys, Pewabic Pottery has changed very little since 1907, and the original cabinets, tables, clay• workin~;J machine', and dumb vvaiter are still in use by ceramicists. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991 . Postwar Modern Architecture Postwar Modern Architecture
BRUTALISM
A pronounced, and much reviled, offshoot of the Modernist style (see pages 240-4 L) was Brutalisrn, whose buildings are similar in many respects to Modernist structun:s, but celebrate the rough qualities 0[' concrete.
The Joy of Concrete STYLE FILE The style's name is derivcd from the French Notable Features: term heton hrut ("rough concrete"), but Concrete surfaces; Simple lines; there is an elemeut of brutality as well in the Rectangular, regular, stolid and unrefined molded surhlces that are blocklike shapes; gencrally made of exposcd concrete. Thesc buildings explore the simplicity of concrete environments. in their crude, natural forms. Brick and glass Major Influences: wcre occasionally used, but again, the build• Modernisnl. ings conformed to the bloeklike figures of the basic, blank-looking shapes of Brutalism. Where and When: Industrialized countries arOund the world; 1950-85.
OPPOSITE: Till' Brulalists Ihe rise alJllrlllll'lI1 [{ICUT A'\IJ BI';I.OW: CUllcrete Gray Matter A HUMAN SCALE? a1111 .'()(ill heC!lll1l' stancillI'd Interestingly, Le eOl'busier is considered the II/aterials f(mnder of this style because of his experi• In the United Kingdom, architects like lors', /W/l.'j1ng (!lid mentation with concrete and his designs for Spence created new fJuilrlill;!.,s alike. enormous block housing, but it was John landmarks in concrete, Portman & Associates that popularized including large, public• sector housing blocks. Brutalisrn with such buildings as Atlanta, These soon became Georgia's, Marriott Marquis Hotel (1985) and associated with social problems, however, and Singapore's Marina Mandarin Singapore. came toseem too Tbese gigantic structures transform the space impersonal· in sC2'lte. around them, changing the massing of the area. Another influential architect working in this style was Paul Rudolph, who received tbe important and prestigious commission for the Hew Arl and Architecture Building at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (196.3).
243 Postwar Moclern Architecture Postwar Moclern Architecture
CONTEMPORARY The Glass Ceiling MODERNISM At the Louvre (see feature, left) Pei solved the problem of grafting a rnodern design onto Modernism at its most elegant is exemplified in the work of one of the last cen• an historic landmark with a glass pyramid, its lllost celebrated architects, I.M. (Ieoh Ming) Pei, in whose work can be proportions based on the ancient wonder at scen tbe spare aesthetics of the Bauhaus (see pages 228-29) and Modernist Giza. He surrounded this new main entrance pages 240-4!) lllovernents, but also culturally sensitive~even rmnantic~dcsign. (which is capable of admitting LS,OOO people an hour) with three small pyramids and three reflecting pools, placing it in the center of the Napoleon Court, with the V-shaped Louvre around it. The main pyramid is a cOlnplex, interlinked stcel structure sheathed in reflec• tive glass; its genius is in the sheer simplicity of its form. The translucent pyramid is of its time, hut refers to the ancient world; it defers to the larger presence of the surrounding building by literally reflecting it. It was what Pei claimed to be "a natural solution."
Immigrant to Icon STYLE FILE Born in China, Pei studied in the United Notable Features: States, fell" a time under vValter Gropius at Abstri:'lct, ~Jeornetric sr''lape's; Harvard. His buildings combine abstract l~o r--listnr-lc:al shapes with simple, elegant finishes, creating monnments of huge cultural importance. The Conlplex or- high-tech structural cl(~sigrl; East of the National GalIeJ)' of Art Plain c;spec:iallv 974-78), Washington, D.C., which homes ~~I'::':'J~;sand other the United States' modern and contemporary Feature sj",yli9ht~s. art collcetion, is noted for its exquisite siting
Major Influences: and breathtakingly expansive interior spaces. OPPOSlTI·: Detail view of the Bauhaus; Pei made beautihd accomrnodations fen' the Louvre Paris, France. International 5tvle; building and its visitors: there are wide pedes• iVlodel--ni<;-3rn. trian walkways to manage the trafflc patterns HIGHT: The 790-jiJOt Hancock Where and When: within the exhihition halls. In what has 7()tueJ~ Boston (1972-76), was Major CitiF'::5 \'vorld\Nicle; 1970<.:.; onwarri, hccO\nc his signature, there is an underground by I.M. Pei with his passageway with glazed, pyramidal ]JartJieJ~ Henry Cobb. 251 Postwar Modern Architecture Postwar Modern Architecture
CONTEMPORARY TRENDS MAll...OROER. HOUSES Modular housingand ConternpclfCUYarchitecture continues to push the boundaJies of materials and tech• prefabrication are nology, and, especially in the last three decades, geometry, while factors like the innovations that have been around in the environment and globalization are increasingly corning into play. Current trends are United States since moving our dynamic built landscape in divergent, but always fascinating, directions, the 18905. houses were sold out catalogs the cross- CIRCLES AND SPHERES
there is little usable living space-and then there are problems of placing plumbing, elec• mirroring tricity, and fittings. The dome has become of the earth, and moon--'-and popular in commercial applications, however. therefore often The famous Epcot Center (see photograph) incorporated in modern or the Eden Project, Cornwall, England, are buildings, The Arthur Erikson Architectural examples, as well as any number of sports and Corporation designed entertainment arenas and stadiums around two ·towers in the Housing-Shortage Solutions United Arab Emirates, the globe. Because domes are strong, and both topped by a large The search for inexpensive, quickly built grow stronger vvith size, they lend themselves sphere: the Etisalat houses as the population grows has led to more to commercial than domestic use. Tower 1 (1992) in Dubai and the Etisalat Tower many innovations in construction engineer• (1997) in Fujairah, Even ing. The Quonset Hut, created in response to more impressively, the ball atop The Westpoint military needs during World War II, with its (1999) in Hong Kong, floor and continuous halt~cylinder walls of by Ho 5< Partners corrugated metal, had a powerfi.ll impact on Architects Ltd., contqiQs a club. Below, domestic architecture after the war. a semicircul",rform gives the Westendturm, Domes and Modules Frankfurt. Germany. its distinctive profile. Hichard Buckminster Fuller, motivated by a desire to benefit humankind, set about exper• imenting with WilYS of "doing more with less." .Most famously, this took the form of the geo• dcslc dome that captured our romatic imagi• nation. He developed this based on his theo• ries of "energetic-synergctic geometry," and it was seen as another possible sohltion to tbe postwar world housing shortage. Fuller's Top: The arcs of Toronto City Top: The Jll1llhlel.ceec! Tiny clollie was the centerpiece of the American Hall (1965j, Ontario, Canada, [-follse Pavilion at Expo '67, the world's fair held in designed hy ViVo Revell energy- Canada. However, the dome never LEFT: The Epcot Center,
r.q]{!(x:s. on for domestic llse: due to its Orlando, Florida.