module #12a: victorian environments 1 hist 12797 history of architecture

Module #12a: Victorian Environments1

Module #12a: Victorian Module #12a: Victorian Environments Environments

HIST 12797 History of Architecture


Learner OutcomesLearner Outcomes Become familiar with the context and the social

conditions which brought about a new view of architecture and the role of the architect.

To learn the names and see pictures of the work of some architects of the last half of the 19th century.

To have a glimpse of how architecture and the architectural profession developed in America.


The Iron Age/New TechnologyThe Iron Age/New Technology The increasing use of iron and

glass was shaking up traditional construction methods and animating feats of enclosed space.

The potential of iron was best exhibited in large enclosed spaces which required bright lighting.

First iron and glass dome built in 1813. Used for department stores soon after, and public buildings in 1838.

Tower Bridge, London

Au Printemps, Paris


The Gilded AgeThe Gilded Age

In the second half of the 19th c. we see the development of the hotel as a building type (as distinct from its predecessor, the Inn).

We also see the role of an architect moving towards that of “decorating construction”.

The two hotels shown in the text are very similar in organization, but quite different in skin or style.


Two Victorian HotelsTwo Victorian Hotels

London’s Midland Grand has been inspired by the “Gothic” while the Grand Hotel (Scarborough) is in the tradition of a Renaissance Palace.


The Gothic RevivalThe Gothic Revival

The English architect A.W. Pugin acquired a mastery of medieval architecture in his youth and went on to state that Gothic architecture was the only true Christian Architecture.

He was a consultant to the Sir Charles Barry on the British Houses of Parliament (1835).


Gothic v.s. Classical StylesGothic v.s. Classical Styles

While “gothicists” were determined to have their style used by all walks of life, Ecclesiologists felt that it was not appropriate that the Gothic be used for secular buildings such as commercial buildings, court-houses, police stations, etc.

They could accept its use for hospitals and schools because of the religious outlook of these institutions.

Westminister slipped through just before the height of this discussion.


High Victorian GothicHigh Victorian Gothic All Saints’ Church, Margaret

Street designed by William Butterfield in 1850 became the model church of the Ecclesiologists.

Distinguished by its strong colours.

The church demonstrates on one hand the blustering confidence of the English nation, and also confusion in its aesthetic aims.


Effects of IndustrializationEffects of Industrialization

Industry had drastically affected traditional building methods.

Prefabrication made buildings into shippable commodities.

Machines made possible the cheap production of ornament which had once indicated status.


The Arts and Crafts MovementThe Arts and Crafts Movement

This movement was spearheaded by William Morris (1834-96), who felt that art was “the way in which man may expresses joy in his work”. And machine manufacture, by taking that joy away, killed art.

His firm was dedicated to the revival of handicraft during an age when it was being taken over by machines.

Ultimately the care and cost of craftmanship worked against his egalitarian, socialist view of life.


The Crystal PalaceThe Crystal Palace Built in Hyde Park, London for the Great Exhibition

of that 1851 celebrating the achievement of modern industry.

Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, it was a “freak” creation for a very special moment. It could not be a starting point for the future because it was not related to the past.

He went on to design historicist chateaux.


The Second EmpireThe Second Empire The Second Empire refers to French role by

Napoleon III who proclaimed himself emperor in 1852 (Napoleon Bonaparte was the First Emperor).

The regime of Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie ushered in a period of opulent grandeur that tried to forget the realities of industrial society.

Two buildings reflected the cultural views of the age: the New Louvre and the Paris Opera.


The New LouvreThe New Louvre

Under Royalty the Louvre had been a downtown palace. Under Napoleon III it became the home of the national gallery.

It represented the joining of two existing palaces, and was developed in a style known as the neo-baroque because it has the the features of the style we saw developing in the 17th c.


The Paris OperaThe Paris Opera

Was designed by Charles Garnier (1825-98) and today is known as the “Opera Garnier”.

Provided a setting for the masses to have a chance to be seen.

The architectural program emphasized the ritual of opera attendance over the presentation.


Public WorksPublic Works Napoleon III appointed Baron Haussmann to

coordinate the rebuilding of Paris as Prefect.

Under Haussman we see the first comprehensive approach to town-planning.

Firstly he carved new main avenues through the medieval street patterns (Opera at the head of one of these “boulevards”)

Secondly he installed new water and sewer works throughout the city of close to 2 million inhabitants.


Baron Haussmann’s BoulevardsBaron Haussmann’s Boulevards 137 kilometers of new boulevards:

“The old Paris is no more; a city’s form changes faster than the human heart”

Charles Boudelaire


Victorian AmericaVictorian America

In the decade before the civil war American architecture moved in three different directions:

– Greek Revival was still the style used for federal building programs

– There was a basic Renaissance Revival style used for flat-roofed residential row-houses (eg. “Brownstones”)

– Domestic architecture in wood was following the “Stick Style” characterized by an asymmetrical plan, a lively outline, and the articulation of the thin wooden members of the frame.


Washington: a new capitalWashington: a new capital

The town-planner Enfant laid out a plan for Washington which incorporated the planning concepts of Baron Haussmann, but in a new setting.

Grand avenues bi- sected a gridiron establishing sites of great importance at their intersections.


Profession and EducationProfession and Education

The first attempt to organized the architectural profession was the founding of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1857.

The organizer was Richard Morris Hunt, the first American Architect to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

The first school of architecture was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1865).


1919thth c. American Architectural c. American Architectural Styles Styles

As was the case in England, American colleges and churches adopted the High Gothic style.

The federal government prop-agated an architecture

described by Kostof as “boastful”. The neo-baroque style was generally adopted.

All Saints Church, Boston

US Military Academy


Mid 19Mid 19thth c. Residential Building c. Residential Building

Balloon frame construction was invented in Chicago in the 1830’s and took off with the mass production of dimensioned lumber and machine-made nails.

Despite the 1845 war with Mexico and the depression of 1873, the country was experiencing an unprecedented boom.

Display of wealth was a proof of worth—The power of money was becoming a new idealism.


The Shingle StyleThe Shingle Style

Represented a shift in emphasis from the skeleton to the surface material.

The Shingle style house also favored an open plan.

Influenced by the wood architecture of Japan.


The ‘Summer Home’The ‘Summer Home’ With the decline of whaling

fleets and commercial lumbering, old port towns were finding new life as summering places for the affluent classes.

One example was Newport, Rhode Island where such families as the Vanderbilt’s “The Breakers” .


Wood frame construction was not unusual for these homes.

The spatial organization of Japanese homes rein-forced the idea of the open plan.

You entered these airy homes directly into a living hall with a fireplace and a wall of windows.


Frederick Law OlmsteadFrederick Law Olmstead (1822-1909) (1822-1909)

Designer of Central Park, NYC.

Tried to create an idealized rural landscape.

Olmstead’s planning concepts spread to campus design and the laying out of suburbs.


American Contributions to the American Contributions to the History of ArchitectureHistory of Architecture

Kostof feels that the three unique contributions of America to the history of architecture are:– The urban park (eg. Central Park)

– The detached suburban house

– The tall office building

– AND…I MIGHT ADD…

– The “Big city syndrome-the child of modern transportation”


The Rise of the High RiseThe Rise of the High Rise

The passenger elevator had been first demonstrated by Elisha Graves Otis in 1853.

The first building to use an elevator was the Equitable Life Insurance Company, NYC in 1868-70 which totalled 7 stories in height.

There had been many experiments in New York and Chicago to make tall buildings with masonry walls less ungainly…to give it a style.


Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-86)(1838-86)

One of the celebrated solutions was the Marshall Field Wholesale Store, Chicago (1885-87) by H.H. Richardson. (Demolished 1930).

He was the first major American architect to be recognized and imitated in Europe.

The manner which made him so successful became known as “Richardson Romanesque”

Marshall FieldWholesale, Chicago

Trinity Church, Boston


ChicagoChicago Chicago was a city which developed rapidly with

the opening of the west and the construction of the Erie Canal in 1825.

By 1860 it had a population of 100,000 which increased to 1 million by 1880. It was the largest railway juncture in North America as well as the hub of inland waterways.

In 1871 it experienced a major fire which emphasized an architecture of masonry and steel.


Other ChicagoOther ChicagoArchitectsArchitects Louis Sullivan (Sullivan &

Adler) designed a large number of tall masonry-clad tall buildings in Chicago and elsewhere.

Another firm, Burham & Root developed a reputation for their artistry in cast iron such as the interior court of the Rookery.

Guarantee BuildingBuffalo, 1891

The Rookery,Chicago, 1886


Company TownsCompany Towns During the late 19th c. many manufacturing

companies relocated to suburban sites, which provided large acreages for production lines.

Some provided miniature company towns which provided workers housing and the facilities to spend their wages on the premises.

Pullman (train cars) was one such com- munity near Chicago.


References and Sources of photo images:

A History of Architecture, Harold Kalman, Oxford University Press,1995 (Chapters 24, 25)

World Architecture, an antthology produced by Paul Hamyln, McGraw-Hill.

Cities of Destiny, edited by Arnold Toynbee, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Pride of Place, Building the American Dream, Robert A. M. Stern, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.

A History of Western Architecture, David Watkin, Thames and Hudson.

Paris au fils du temps, Joel Cuenot, editeur.

James Bailey, Photographs

module #12a: victorian environments 1 hist 12797 history of architecture

Documents

victorian environmentsmodule

victorian environmentshist

gothic architecture

use of iron

public buildings

commercial buildings

secular buildings

potential of iron