ARCHITECTURE 1870-1930

Arts & Crafts to Modernism.

A Very Brief Guide to the Arts & Crafts Movement

The Arts & Crafts movement began in mid-Victorian Britain in reaction to industrial and

commercial advancements, and celebrated craft production of decorative arts and

architecture.

The Arts & Crafts movement was motivated most of all by a desire to change the way

buildings were made. Industrial production had resulted in a split between the designer

deciding on the look of a building, and the contractor (building firm) deciding how and

with what it would be built. For many in the Arts & Crafts world, the ideal would be for the

architect and the builder to be one and the same.

Arts & Crafts architecture is characterized by a number of vernacular features, as Arts &.

Crafts architects consciously chose to highlight local traditions in their work - low,

pitched roofs, decorative brickwork, tall chimneys, irregular patterns of windows and

doors, and mixtures of different kinds of material, including wood, stone, brick, tile, lead,

iron and thatch. These were not only stylistic effects, but also the result of two key

principles that the designer should collaborate with the builder, relying on and

supporting the builder's knowledge of materials and craft techniques; and that the

resulting building should be comfortable and fit within its immediate landscape.

The most celebrated examples of Arts &. Crafts architecture are domestic homes, which

were organized around a communal core - the hearth and inglenook, a semi-enclosed

seating area around a fireplace. The interiors appear casual and comfortable, and the

building and furniture demonstrate the handcrafting of the materials used. Beginning in

Britain, the Arts &. Crafts movement had an international influence. German designers

were particularly interested in the domestic designs, but the most enthusiastic take-up

was in North America, where Arts &. Crafts principles fitted neatly with ideals of nature,

landscape and community.

BIOGRAPHIES:

WilLIAM MORRIS 1834--96 British socialist, designer and leading theorist of the Arts

& Crafts movement. Designer, craftsman, writer, he was born into a wealthy family

in Walthamstow, London and educated at Marlborough School and Exeter College,

Oxford. Morris became associated with the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood, particularly

the painter Edward Burne-Jones and the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In 1861 he

founded the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company, designing and making

wallpaper, textiles, stained glass, and furniture. In 1890 Morris set up a publishing

house, the Kelmscott Press, for which he designed typefaces and ornamental

borders.

" Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to

be beautiful "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Red_House_window_detail.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Red_House,_Bexleyheath,_London,_Kent,_England-6June2010.jpg

• The garden is also significant, being an early example of the idea of a garden as a series of

exterior "rooms". Morris wanted the garden to be like an integral part of the house. The "rooms"

consisted of a herb garden, a vegetable garden, and two rooms full of old-fashioned flowers—

jasmine, lavender, quinces, and an abundance of fruit trees—apple, pear and cherry.

• Morris lived with Jane in the house for only five years, during which time their two daughters,

Jenny and May, were born. Forced to sell the house for financial reasons in 1865, Morris vowed

never to return to it, saying that to see the house again would be more than he could bear.

• The house was lived in as a family home for nearly 150 years. From 1889 until 1903 it was owned

by Charles Holme, who later founded The Studio, an art magazine that also gave importance to

arts and crafts.[1] From 1903 the architect Sir Edward Maufe, famous for designing

Guildford Cathedral, lived in the house with his parents, Henry Maufe and his wife Maude. Henry

Maufe died in the house in 1910 and Maude remained there until her death in 1919. In 1952,

• Ted and Doris Hollamby moved into Red House; they, along with the members of two other

families, the Toms and the McDonalds, restored the house and reinstated many of the original arts

and crafts features.

The striking façade of the Willow tearooms on the south side of Sauchiehall Street was added by Charles Rennie

Mackintosh to an existing multi-storey commercial building in 1904. The highly original and stylish frontage has retained

its freshness a century later with a timeless modernity.

Both internally and externally, Mackintosh skillfully managed to combine the elements of architecture and interior

design to produce a stunning result.

The subtle effect of the bowed windows (below) creates a 3-dimensional shop front different from any other, either

modern or old, in Glasgow's premier shopping street.