Pre-Modern Architecture

Historicism in the 19th Century

  • Main architectural style of the 19th century.
  • Characterized by the "revival" of previous architectural styles and creative combinations, leading to eclecticism.
  • Two main approaches:
    • Revivalism
    • Eclecticism

Eclecticism

  • Architectural style of the 19th and 20th centuries.
  • Incorporates a mixture of elements from previous historical styles to create something new and original.
  • Example: Charles Garnier's Paris Opera (1875), which combines Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque styles.

Revivalism

  • Use of visual styles that consciously echo a previous architectural era.
  • Related to historicism.
  • Example: 19th-century Western architecture, including Victorian architecture.
  • Included revivals of:
    • Classical Greek and Roman styles
    • Italian Renaissance architecture
    • Ancient Egyptian architecture
    • Gothic architecture
    • Romanesque architecture
    • Baroque architecture
    • Rococo architecture
Notable Revival Styles:
  • Neoclassical architecture (revival of Classical architecture)
  • Gothic Revival (Neo-Gothic)
  • Exotic Revival (1830s-1930s): Inspired by Egyptian and Moorish architecture, commonly used for theaters, hotels, apartments, and gardens.
  • Example: The Gothic Revival was led by John Ruskin, who influenced William Morris.
  • Examples:
    • Houses of Parliament/Palace of Westminster (Neo-Gothic, England, Sir Charles Barry, A.W.N. Pugin, 1860)
    • Castle Neuschwanstein (Romanesque Revival, Germany, 1869-91)
    • Madeleine Church (Neoclassical style, France, 1806)
    • Strawberry Hill (Gothic Revival, England, 1749)
    • Royal Pavilion (Exotic Revival, England, 1815-22)

Victorian Era Architecture (1837-1901)

  • Period of Queen Victoria's reign in the United Kingdom.
  • A mixture of many styles.
  • Machines were used to produce cheap imitations of expensive Neoclassical designs.
  • Period of increasing wealth, an expanding middle class, and a boom in mass production facilitated by the Industrial Revolution.

Key words:

  • Painted ladies: Houses and buildings in 3 or more colors highlighting architectural details.
  • Victorian style homes: Narrow, tall, and asymmetrical.
  • Re-emerging importance of form and various ornaments.
  • Magnificent ornaments and decoration items in the interiors.
  • Lack of quality and continuity.
  • Use of new materials.
  • Eclectic style (mixing of different styles).
  • Sliding windows, bay windows.
  • Two-three-story houses.
  • Steep and broken roof.
  • Surrounding porch.
  • Use of vibrant colors.
  • Steeply pitched roofs.
  • Plain or colorfully painted brick.
  • Ornate gables.
  • Painted iron railings.
  • Churchlike rooftop finials.
  • Octagonal or round towers and turrets to draw the eye upward.
  • Small gardens.

Industrial Revolution and Architecture

  • Architects used new building techniques with iron and other materials.
  • Construction of great public buildings.
  • Fueled by steam power, the Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the mid-to-late 1700s.
  • Innovation led to goods being produced in large quantities due to machine manufacturing.
  • Spread to the rest of the world, including the United States, by the 1830s and 40s.
  • Modern historians refer to this period as the First Industrial Revolution.
  • Second period of industrialization: late 19th to early 20th centuries, rapid advances in the steel, electric, and automobile industries.

Architects and Building / Design Examples:

  • Joseph Paxton: Crystal Palace (built for the Great Exhibition of 1851, established an architectural standard for later international fairs and exhibitions housed in glass conservatories).
  • Henri Labrouste: Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris, 1850; Reading room in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, 1868.
  • Gustave Eiffel: The Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1889.
  • Other examples: St. Pancras railway station (London, 1868); Machines Gallery (France, 1889); Vittorio Emmanuel Passage (Italy, Milan, 1877); St. Stephen Church / Iron Church (Istanbul, 1898).

New Styles in the Second Half of the 19th Century

  • General dissatisfaction with revivalist architecture led to new styles.
  • Three main reactions against historicism:
    • Arts and Crafts Movement
    • Art Nouveau
    • Chicago School

Arts and Crafts

  • Began as a reaction against the negative effects of industrialization.
  • English movement of the second half of the 19th century.
Key Words:
  • Sensitivity to local materials.
  • Traditional building methods.
  • British vernacular architecture.
  • Concept of a 'total work of art'.
  • Use of the vernacular, local materials and craft traditions.
  • Failed to produce art for the masses: handmade products were expensive.
Architects and Building / Design Examples:
  • John Ruskin's ideas on preserving individual craftsmanship influenced William Morris, who founded a design firm to recreate manual craftsmanship.
  • Morris and his associates produced handcrafted metalwork, jewelry, wallpaper, textiles, furniture, and books.
  • The Red House, 1859, Morris's home, marked the start of the movement (designed by architect Philip Webb and William Morris).

Art Nouveau

  • Started in France as a response to industrialization.
  • Ornamental style of art that flourished between about 1890-1910.
  • Highlighting the value of hand-made craftsmanship.
  • Inspired by nature and references to flowers and trees, designers searched for asymmetry.
Different Names in Different Countries:
  • Jugendstil (Germany)
  • Secession Style/Sezessionstil (Austria)
  • Stile Floreale / Stile Liberty (Italy)
  • Modernismo / Modernista / Arte Joven (Spain)
  • Tarz-ı Cedid (Ottoman Empire).
Key Words:
  • Asymmetrical shapes.
  • Extensive use of arches and curved forms.
  • Curved glass.
  • Curving, plant-like embellishments.
  • Mosaics, stained glass.
  • Japanese motifs.
  • Undulating asymmetrical line.
  • Form of flower stalks and buds, insect wings.
Architects and Building / Design Examples:
  • Victor Horta (Horta produced the first major work of Art Nouveau with the revolutionary Hôtel Tassel, 1893- Brussels).
  • Hector Guimard (Paris Metro Entrances).
  • Charles Rennie Mackintosh (Glasgow School of Art).
  • Antoni Gaudi (Casa Mila, 1907; Casa Batlló; Park Güell; La Sagrada Familia-Barcelona).
  • Raimondo D’Aronco (Botter Apartment, 1901-İstanbul).

Chicago School

  • Group of architects and engineers who developed the skyscraper in the late 19th century.
  • Invented a metal skeleton frame, first used in Jenney's Home Insurance Building (1884), that enabled the construction of real skyscrapers.
Key Words:
  • Watertight foundation structure.
  • Terracotta and iron to reduce the risk of skyscraper fires.
  • Use of steel-frame buildings with masonry cladding (usually terra cotta), allowing large plate-glass window areas and limiting the amount of exterior ornamentation.
  • Facade contains the three parts of a classical column: the first floor functions as the base, the middle stories act as the shaft of the column, and the last floor represents the capital.
Architects and Building / Design Examples:
  • Louis Sullivan: ‘form follows function’,