Architecture Styles Spotter's Guide CLASSICAL 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 :::::s§~\I/~~ THUNDER BAY P'R'E'S'S San Diego, CalifC)rnia The Classical Heritage The Classical Heritage THE CLASSICAL STYLE LEVI: The U.S. Capitol Influences from in Washington. DC, Classical features Earlier Civilizations STYLE FILE Roman dome anel arches anel It is hard to believe that such inf1uence has Notable Features: grace}ill Corinthian columns. U been exerted hy a 2,500-year-old civilization Common elements in all was built in 1793 to a by of smal] that were scattered around the Classical styles include symmetry and William Thornton aud subse• the eastern Mediterranean. But when the visual order. as well as quently nwdified by Ncod(cIsicist Greeks the architectural traditions the use of columns that supported lintels, arch• Benjamin Henry Latrobe. of their ancI;stors in the region, as well as their es, and vaults. Persian and neighbors, they laid Where and When: down klll1ldations It)!· \'Vestcrn architecture Mediterranean region; that arc still intact. c. 6th century BC to 3rd century AD. Columns and Lintels In the sixth Be, the ancient Greeks the use of columns and lintels supports bearing the wcight of bor- to create structures of unpar• alleled and power. This Classical style is best symboli/.ed by the ele• gant Doric and Ionic temples of the flfth BELOW: Columns that Be:. T'he pmity and beauty of build• lh] teis were III II() ng ings sucb as the Parthenon and the I the basic components i Erec1ltlwioll on the Acropolis in Athens, olchiteetllre. 1I1is I Greece, had influence on later a Creek {elll'u/ein J-tr1ri,uerdo Oil i' ami eSDcciallv on the Homans. the isle ,out/w rn I: The GI'eek Influence I on Later Architecture Grand Ambitions tiieir across the The Romans also set about building a much I iVlediternll1ci\l1world ill the Hrst and second wider range of public structures. As well as I clmtmjps Be. he r:OlTlans IIsed Creck styles I, I temples and theaters, they married Classical II (and to build imposing, styles with engineering prowess to create I, Ililil brilliant aqueducts, bridge~, palaces, basilicas,. bath But tbe HomallS did not imitate. They houses, and sewers-many of whieh still materials stand In doing so, the Romans gave to and added curve.s-• posterity a rich architectural vocabulary that domc--!o thc ~traight we have returned to repeatedly whenever we arch ilecturc that have sought symmetry, order, and beauty in the Greeks. our built landscape. "1 ~3 The Classical Heritage The Classical Heritage THE CLASSICAL ORDERS THE DORIC ORDER The Classical orders of Doric, Ionic, and C0l1nthian are three styles of post The nrst, and simplest, order to develop was the Doric-appearing between and lintel that have been used and developed by architects from Classical about 1O00 and 600 BC. It was perfected inthe late sixth and early fifth cen• times to the present day. Togetber with the Roman dome and arch, they are turies BC. Its roots in earlier architectural styles are clear. Sonle elements are the basic vocabulary of most architecture in the \Vestern, Classical tradition. reminiscences of the structural necessities of wooden construction petrified in stone as ornamental features. What Is an Order? An order defines the style and structure of Simple Supports the columns, capitals, and entablature used in Tbe plain, fluted Doric columns a building. How the column is fluted; what emerge directly from the plinth style of decoration the capital has; the struc• (thcre is no column base). The flut• ture and ommnentation of the frieze and cor• infi may have evolved from tied bun• nice-all of this is set by rules. dles of reeds or sticks, placed into The principal sections of an order are the holes in the ground, that were used column (which has a capital on top and, for supports in earlier times. depcnding on the order, a base below) and The plain, circular echinus (an the entablature (which typically consists of an inverted bell-shaped capital) and flat, architrave, a fricze above that, and thcn a undecorated, square stone abacus layer of stone jutting out above the frieze, togcther form a simple capital that supports a whidi is called a cornice). plain architrave. Above that, the fricze altere nates between triglyphs and metopes as you BELOW: and column How Orders Were Used scan horizontally. Triglyphs (meaning "three BELOW: A column and capital at the detail (if II Neoclllssicol Some buildings, like the Parthenon, fol• slits") are possibly a stylized tbrowback to the Doric at Sounion, Greece. Iowa single order (i.e., Doric). But many ends of cross beams originally used to support Classical buildings combine orders, s\lch the roof. The metopes carried carved marble as the Propylaea on the Acropolis, which or terra-cotta panels depicting heroic narra• combines Doric and Ionic, and the tives or images of the gods. Temple of Apollo at Bassae, Greece, Occasionally, the Doric style has a slightly which has a Doric cxterior, an Ionic inte• heavy look due to the thickness of columns rior, and the first known example of a such as those at the temples at Paestum, but COt1nthian column inside. sHch criticism cannot be leveled at the The Homans often combined orders. Parthenon, Athens, which appears perfectly The exterior of the Coliseum, illr cxam• balanced despite its monumental size. pIe, stacks Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian floors on top of each other. Eventually, An Enduring Legacy new orders devcloped, using and modi• The Doric order is seen mostly on the Greek mainland and in the Dorian Greek colonies in fying features of the original models, such as the Tuscan, Roman Doric, and Italy. Modern use of this order can be seen in Composite, which mixed elements of many public buildings, including the Old the Corinthian and Ionic orders. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. 17 6 The Classical Heritage The Classical Heritage THE IONICORDER THE CORINTHIAN ORDER The Ionic order began about ,5,50Be. It has a lighter, more slender feel than The Corinthian was the last of the orders to be developed; it flourished during the Doric, yet is often richly carved and decorated, and includes elaborate, the Hellenistic period (fourth to first centuries BC), and its lavish carving and tiered bases for its columns (which are missing entirely from Doric columns), decoration became a hallmark of the Roman architecture that followed. Scrolls and Scallops The New Leaf STYLE FILE As with the other orders, the Ionic is The order's main distinguishing fea• Notable Features: quickly identified by its capital, ture is an eehinus (see page 17) that is Scrolled capitals; Scalloped fluting at top which curves into scrolls (or volutes) lavishly dccorated with serrated acan• and base of colurnns; at its edges to frame the top of thc thus leaves, palm leaves, and spirals. Slimrner architraves; Small volutes at each corner give the CarvE~dfriezes. column. The column fluting is scal• loped at the top and bottom, and the capital the same appearance from all Major Influences: architrave is slimmer than in the sides, making it better suited to cor• Ancient Greek buildings in the Doric order. Doric order. On the frieze, a band of ners than the Ionic capital. stone, often richly carved with fig- Where and \I\lhen; lues, replaces the Doric metopes Monumental Style Turkey ancl Greece; from 5th century Be. and triglyphs. c'== Early, and subtle, examples of the Corinthian capital can be seen on the Ionia and Beyond Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, The Ionic order originated, and is most com• completed in 334 Be. Initially this style was ABOVE AND BELOW: Corinthian monly found, in the Greek cities of Ionia used primarily for interior columns. The ear• columns, Classical and Neo• took islands and coast of Asia Minor, now western liest exam pIc of a Corinthian capital used as classical, with elaborate Turkey). Invented around ,550 BC, it was per• the sole exterior column order is probably the at the fected in the early fifth century BC and temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, com• En:chtheioll, Lehieh is ))([1'1 or adopted on the Greek mainland later in the pleted in the second century BC. Perhaps the STYLE FILE the ill Athells same century. Some of its flnest examples arc grandest building of the Corinthian order is Notable Features: BELOW: lrJllie colllilms IlIlhe in Athens, such as the Erechtheion, built in the TClnple of Bacchus at Baalbek, Lebanon, Lavishly ojAtllI;tlc Nike in Athens. marble between 421 and 406 BC. until thc Classical revivals began. echinus bell-shaped Carved leaves and as Volutes Major Influences: Previous orders of ancient Gree.k architecture. Where and When: Greece, Roman Empire; from c.350 Be. 19 Byzantine and Romanesque Architecture Byzantine and Romanesque Architecture BYZANTINE Unlike ancient Home, Constantinople was conceived as a Clllistian capital. lts greatest monnments were to be its churches. That bias can be overestimated• over time, religious sites would be spared, while secular buildings were cleared-but the pre-eminence of ecclesiastical architecture is still clear. Body and Soul STYLE FILE Byzantine builders matched their Roman Not",ble Fe",tures: predecessors in ambition and accomplish• Rounded arches; Domes; ment. taking teehniques like the arch and Interior' mosaics. dome to new levels of refinement. To the massive monurnentalisrn of their forebears. Mqjor Influences: Roman technologies; however, they added a new and paradoxical Christian spirituality. dimension, creating impressions of quite Whe"""",nd When: eerie ethereality.