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Journal of Architecture Urbanism and Heritage The use of decora ve elements in the interior design of the nineteenth-century spa buildings Alina Cătănescu1, Andrei Racolța2 Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania1,2 [email protected]; [email protected] ABSTRACT The paper presents a short history of the spa architecture, some elements that compose the spa pa- vilions constructed in the XIX century and reviews the architectural styles of the historical period. The aim of the study is to generate a possible concept for the restora on and interior design interven on in a historical building of the spa resort. Keywords: spa architecture, historicism, Heimats l, historic monument, bou que hotel, Bazar hotel Buziaș Volume II - Nr. 1/2019 Interior design I. INTRODUCTION and has become an important economic factor. More than 70 years a er the forced na on- In the second half of the 17th century, the habit aliza on imposed by the Communist regime, of consuming mineral waters became more im- the vast majority of the historical buildings of portant than the habit of bathing [1]. Romanian spa architecture are today in a less- er or greater degree of devalua on and degra- da on. According to the legisla on concerning the protec on of historical monuments, their owners are obliged to ensure the safeness and preserva on of these heritage buildings. The real chance of these buildings is, however, the return to the touris c touring circuit, which in- volves the restora on of the buildings and the interior refurbishment. Lately, we have seen a growing public interest in patrimony issues, increasing media campaigns on this topic, a concern for tourism develop- Fig. 1. Roman mosaic, Baiae, archaeological site ment by local authori es in spa resorts, a steady Gulf of Napoli growth of domes c tourism in Romania and an increasing interest in investment in tourism. The most important spa towns of the 18th cen- Therefore, in our country, there are the prem- tury are Bath in England and Aachen. Both ci es ises for the restora on in the following years of played a decisive role in the development of the some spa architecture historical buildings. spa architecture in the 19th and early 20th cen- turies. The Aachen Center has been recovering II. SPA ARCHITECTURE. SHORT HISTORY since the end of the 17th century from the con- The spa buildings are used for relaxa on, recov- sequences of the Thirty Years’ War. A decisive ery and medical treatment and are usually found infl uence was played by Dr. François Blondel, in resorts and large ci es. The architecture of re- who popularized Aachen in Europe with his mote coastal health centers is generally referred balneology books. Blondel’s most important to as spa architecture (Kurarchitektur germ.) achievements were the extension of the drink- although it is not a uniform architectural style, ing court and its par cipa on in designing new but a collec ve term for a type of spa building. bathroom facili es. Aachen has grown into the The name has expanded to other buildings with mainland’s spa des na on and has maintained tourist func ons in spa resorts. The spa archi- this posi on un l the French occupa on since tecture has been developed since the 17th cen- the end of the 18th century [1]. tury and the peak was the 19th century. Baths The spa architecture underwent a stronger spe- owe their origin to the medicinal eff ect of hot cializa on in the 19th century due to the devel- springs that have been seen since an quity. The opment of rail transport and the high infl ux of most important Roman resort was Baiae in the tourists. Apparently, the development of Eu- Gulf of Naples (Fig. 1). A er the fl owering peri- ropean rail transport was also posi vely infl u- od of an quity, the bathing culture disappeared enced by the development of spa resorts [2]. in the Middle Ages. The Crusaders brought the With the spread of the industrial revolu on in Islamic bathing culture from the Orient. With Europe, America and the World, society wit- the advent of the bourgeoisie in the 12th cen- nessed unprecedented changes, the Western tury ci es, public baths appeared, which did not world being completely transformed by the produce their own architectural language and middle of the nineteenth century in terms of could not be dis nguished from the rest of the the means of produc on, transport and lifestyle residen al buildings. In the 15th and 16th cen- [3]. Since 1800, the spa architecture has been turies, the culture of the baths has fl ourished dis nguished by a wide range of buildings ded- www.jauh.ro Journal of Architecture Urbanism and Heritage icated to social events, dedicated to educa on, A representa ve spa building is Kurhaus Baden- communica on and leisure for a large number Baden (Fig. 4), built between 1822 and 1824, of guests. Specifi c programs have been devel- according to Friedrich Weinbrenner’s plans. The oped, such as the spa house, the drinking room three-part system has a length of 140 meters. and the thermal baths. There were landscaped The building consists of a building with a large gardens, hotels and villas, theaters, museums, central lobby fl anked in the north and south of mountain railways and watchtowers. Spa build- the theater and restaurant pavilions, with gal- ings no longer combine all func ons, such as leries linking the three buildings [4]. public halls, bathrooms and accommoda on under the same roof, as happened during the Baroque period. The mineral water drinking room or pavilion (Fig. 2) was a well-known con- struc on type, usually spread through covered galleries called colonnades [1]. Fig. 4. Ground fl oor plan, Kurhaus Baden-Baden A er banning gambling in 1872, spas invested in the baths to con nue to be a rac ve to guests. Such a thermal bath is Raitzenbad in Budapest (Fig. 5) [1]. Fig. 2. Drinking water springs pavilion, Karlsbad/ Karlovy Vary The 19th-century spa building (Kurhaus germ.) is a building dedicated exclusively to social events. Bathrooms and accommoda on rooms are outsourced to dormitories and hotels spe- cially built for this purpose. In the center of the spa building, there is a large hall (Fig. 3). In addi- on, there are several auxiliary rooms for a va- riety of ac vi es such as gambling, reading and restaurant opera on [1]. Fig. 5. Moorish Hall, Raitzenbad, Budapest III. HISTORICISM STYLE IN SPA ARCHITECTURE In the 19th-century German architecture, the persistence of a plurality of historically deriva- ve styles of exterior design was matched only by the persistence of the desire for a newly norma ve style. In 1828 the architect Heinrich Hübsch published a trea se whose very tle posed the ques on that preoccupied architects for much of the century: In welchem Style sollen Fig. 3. The main hall, Kurhaus Băile Herculane wir bauen? (In what style should we build?). His Volume II - Nr. 1/2019 Interior design own answer was the Romanesque style [5]. and in the crown lands, this phenomenon was The result of the epoch was an eclec c archi- received with enthusiasm. For the nobility, the tectural style, empty of meaning, lacking vitality Tyrolean or Swiss farm became the symbol of and crea vity. Historicism (about 1830-1900) is a healthy, natural rural life, associated with the the 19th-century eclec c architectural style, so- noble pres ge. Heimats l is characterized by called in the German-speaking countries. Histor- the use of wood for the facade, carved beams icism is contemporary with the styles of Ludovic and rus c ornaments, taking models from local Phillip and Napoleon III of France, the Victorian folklore. Its decline inspired by the alpine archi- style in England or the Umber no style in Ita- tecture is called the Swiss-style (Fig. 6) [8]. ly. Unlike the neoclassical styles, Historicism did not focus on reinterpre ng ancient styles, but on crea ng his own eclec c style, with the peak of development around 1860, which postulated “the free use of all architectural history” (César Daly apud André Meyer) [6]. Almost all large public buildings were built in the 19th-century in this new composite man- ner. They were pompous construc ons that im- pressed by wealth, so they were cherished by the general public. We can meet on the same street various buildings, each belonging to an- other historicist trend, such as the buildings Fig. 6. Villa in Heimats l - Swiss style, Burgberg on the famous Ring Boulevard in Vienna - the Bavaria Gothic Revival town hall, the Italian Renaissance Revival University, the Parliament build in the At that me, for the wooden houses made in Hellenis c style, the French Renaissance Revival the Swiss style, they were sold even prefabri- style of the opera house, or even the architec- cated. Architect Friedrich Hitzig reports in 1850 tural elements from diff erent streams found in how he used the elements of the Swiss co age: the same building, as is the case with the Vien- “The client, trader and mber merchant bought na Art Museum. Throughout Europe, the dec- a rural property with a half- mbered wooden ora ve forms of diff erent historical styles are building with a tall roof that was used earlier as mixed. There are overlapping styles of diff erent an inn, he wanted the exterior of the building countries and periods with the main purpose of to have a picturesque look because the loca on engraving a wealth of shapes and genera ng a is roman c, so that wood is the least valuable decora ve eff ect [7].

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