03.10.2011

1

ARCHITECTURE

IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Classical Revival

Eclecticism

Cast Iron Age

Industrial-Age Architecture

Week 3, 14.10.2011

Marx and Engels issue Communist Manifesto,

Gold discovered in California

Flaubert writes Madame Bovary

Mendel begins genetic experiments

First oil well drilled,

Darwin publishes Origin of Spaces

Steel developed

U.S. Civil War breaks out

Lincoln abolishes slavery

Suez Canal built

Prussians besiege Paris

Custer defeated at Little Big Horn,

Bell patents telephone

Edison invents electric light

Population of Paris hits 2,200,000

First motorcar built

Hitler born

1848 Smirke finished British Museum

1849 The Stone Broker, Courbet

1850 Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve (Neo- Renaissance)

1852 The Third Class Carriage by Daumier Houses of Parliment, London (Neo-Gothic)

1854 Crystal Palace, First cast-iron and glass structure

1855 Courbet’s Pavillion of Realism

1856-1857

1857

1859-60 Red House by Philip Webb (Arts &Crafts)

1860 Snapshot photography developed

1861 Corot Painted Orpheus Leading Eurydice

1862 Garnier built Paris Opera (Neo-Baraque)

1863 Manet painted Luncheon on the Grass

1869

1871

1873 First color photos appear

1874 Impressionists hold first group show

1876

1879

1880 VanGogh begins painting career

1881

1882 Manet painted A Bar at the Folies-Bergère

1883 Monet settles at Giverny

1885 First Chicago Skyscraper built

1886 Impressionists hold last group show

1888 Portable Kodak camera perfected

1889 Eiffel Tower built

1901

1902

1903

1905

WORLD HISTORY ART HISTORY ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY

RE

AL

ISM

IMP

RE

SS

ION

ISM

PO

ST

IMP

RE

SS

ION

ISM

03.10.2011

2

Architecture

in the nineteenth century:

Déjà vu all over again

Near the turn of century, architecture branched out into several directions:

• the Neo-Classical tradition continued to dominate public buildings like banks ,

libraries and city halls: Classical Revival (from Greek to Roman)

•At the same time, there was new materials, new technology and new needs. New

functions required new building forms, like factories railroad stations, department

stores. New Materials like cast and wrought iron, plate glass, steel and reinforced

concrete became available: Cast Iron Age

Eclecticism • However, instead of welcoming the possibilities of a new age, and devising forms

appropriate to the present, architects retreated to tradition. Only around

the end of century, in the upstart city of Chicago, where there was no tradition, did architects

produce innovative structures, without referring to the past.

• Classical Revival from Greek to Roman: civic buildings

• Gothic Revival : Church, university and domestic

architecture

• In this age, the major thrusts of historicism and eclecticism caused

the lack of any originality.

03.10.2011

3

England’s Neo-classic Revival (1800-1830): Rememberance of Things Past

British Museum, London, By Smirke, 1824-1847

“For although it is difficult for man to learn, it

is much more difficult for him to forget.”

This was a phrase from Viollet-le-Duc who despised

Classical affection. Apparently, it was equally difficult to

invent new forms, since from 1800 to 1830, the Classical

style reigned supreme in both Europe and America.

British Museum, London, By Smirke, 1824-1847

This Greek Revival building has two projecting wings flanking a central portico unified by a screen of Ionic columns.

English building is

flaunted familiar

elements:

*coloumns,

*rounded arches,

*temple fronts,

*domes, and

*flanking wings.

Yet, the

combinations often

were not purely

Greek or Roman,

but a generic

mishmash called:

Neoclassic

Revival.

Sir Robert Smirke

who designed

British Museum is a

leading Neoclassic

architect.

03.10.2011

4

The Reading room of British Museum, A dome, London, by Robert Smirke, 1824-1847

Taylorian Institution, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, by Cockerell, 1839-45

Taylorian Institution, Ashmolean Museum, 1839-45,

designed by Cockerell:

Cockerell made important archeological discoveries during his grand tour

of Greek ruins. He combined elements from classical prototypes of all

periods, like a survey course in Classical inspiration. Here, he joined

giant ionic columns from Greece, with a baroque broken entablature, and

roman arches. The statues atop columns recall Adamesque design, while

the Rusticated base suggests Mannerist palazzos of the Renaissance.

Neither greek nor roman, it seems to have been constructed by

commitee, with a dip of this and a dash of that.

Neoclassicism fizzled fast. By the end of the 1830s , English taste shifted

toward Gothic.

THE CONFUSING MIX OF

HISTORICISM AND ECLECTICISM...

03.10.2011

5

Entrance of Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, by Cockerell, 1839-45 Model of Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, by Cockerell, 1839-45

Aerial view of Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, by Cockerell, 1839-45

Houses of Parliament, London ,eclecticism (Neo Gothic), 1839-52, Charles Barry&Pugin

When Houses of Parliament was built along the Thames River, Pugin clothed the plan by Charles Barry in Gothic detail. Although

the facade along the river is symmetrical, the silhouttte is completely asymetrical. Pugin was aware of the contrast between

Barry’s clear layout and his veneer of medieval ornament. Nonetheless, the whole ensemble from stone carvings, wall paper,

umbrella stands, to inkwells and hat racks were designed by Pugin in Gothic style. The Gothic look of this building was so well

received that it legitimized the style, which spread throughout England during the first 50 years of Victoria’s reign (1837- 1887).

England’s Gothic Revival (1830-1850): Faith and Fashion

For A.W.N. Pugin and John Ruskin, Gothic architecture was equal to an ethical society. It was not a style but a principle, for Pugin. It had rational structural principles, which could be adopted to industrial age construction.

03.10.2011

6

House of Lords, interior, Houses of Pariament, London ,eclecticism (Neo Gothic),

1839-52, Charles Barry&Pugin

Pugin designed this interior modeled on

Perpendicular Gothic. Although roof

trusses are framed in new material of iron,

medieaval touches like murals, stained

glass, mosaics, gilded (gold) panels,

carved wood, and statuary lend a

medieval air.

Madeleine church, 1806-1842, eclecticism(Greek Revival)

The Madeleine Church or simply "La Madeleine" is an imponent Roman catholic

church that looks like a Roman temple. The Madeleine is built in the Neo-

Classical style and was inspired by the Maison Carrée at Nîmes, one of the best-

preserved of all Roman temples.

Maison Carrée at Nîmes

•Its fifty-two Corinthian columns, each 20 metres high, are carried around the entire

building.

•The pediment sculpture of the Last Judgement is by Lemaire, and

• The church's bronze doors bear reliefs representing the Ten Commandments.

Corinthian column

03.10.2011

7

Madeleine Church, Interior

The Opera Building of Paris, 1862, Neo-Baroque, Charles Garnier

The Grand Stairway, interior of Opera Building, Paris

The Beaux-Arts Opera House was the epitome of a

reactionary style modern architects rejected. With its

paired Corintihian coloumns, profusion of sculpture,

and ostentatious ornament, it was the biggest and

shoviest theater in the world.

The Palais Garnier, Opera, Paris, (1825-1898). This masterpiece of Beaux-

Arts or Second Empire style has a Baroque exterior: maximum effect

through sculpted mass, rythm of solids and voids, and diverse but unified

texture and forms.

The interiors are, for Garnier, a social stage for operagoers.

He enlarged lobbies, and corridors to accommodate crowds. “The

sparkling light, the resplendent clothes, the smiling, animated

faces, the encounters which occur, the greetings exchanged,” he

said were all part of the show. The main display case was the

soaring flights of stairs, where patrons could regally ascend

toward the auditorium→ Garnier’s greatest achievement is

creating this setting for social ceremony.

03.10.2011

8

Stair Hall and Grand Staircase

Vestibule

Grand Foyer

Entrance for those arriving on foot

Entrance for those arriving by carriage

Emperor’s entrance

Stage

Auditorium

Administrative offices

Backstage area

Plan, Opéra:

The Ecolé des Beaux-Arts, where

Garnier studied architecture,

stressed clear circulation

patterns, and the gradual

unfolding of aesthetic

experience of a building.

Garnier accomplished the latter

through a series of low-

ceilinged paths

approaching the grand

stairs, giving way to the vast

space of the stair hall, where the

social pageant was at its most

intense.

His ingenious plan, on a diamond

shaped lot, includes different

entrances for assorted

operagoers, whether arriving

on foot or by carriage, with facilities

for season-ticket holders and those

purchasing at the box office.

Lined with painted ceilings, colorful marble columns, gilded

statuary, and sumptuous chandeliers, the stairway drips with gilt

and relief carving. One critic described it as “looking like an

overloaded sideboard.” to Garnier, the stairway was the climax of

a total theatrical experience orchestrated by the building.

03.10.2011

9

Sainte Genevieve library, steel, 1838-50, Henri Labrouste

This library was the first high style public building to use iron in a visible and prominent fashion. Labrouste believed the century should

develop an architecture for contemporary needs and made of modern material.

03.10.2011

10

It was designed in Neo-Renaissance style by the architect Henri Labrouste, although its underlying metal structure relates it to cast iron

architecture (examples of which are the Eiffel Tower or The Crystal Palace); it was built between 1843 and 1850.

Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve, Paris, Reading Room, 1842-50

• Although trained at the famed Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Henri

Labrouste was an opponent of the dominant Neoclassic style. He

believed that the century should develop an architecture for

contemporary needs and made of contemporary materials.

• The radical novelty of Labrouste’s design combines a traditional,

arcuated, masonry exteriorwith an inteiror like none before it.

• The library’s plan is simple: a two story rectangle,

where the entire upper floor is reading room. 211 barrel

vaults are covering the reading room. In the center,

there is a row of slender cast-iron columns that divides

the room into two naves.

• Both functional arrangement and

circulation are clearly expressed in the

structure, using new materials without

Classical overlay.

03.10.2011

11

• The Renaissance-style facade contains another innovation: in place

of decorative stone columns, Labrouste had the names of 810 authors

carved in rows of letters, almost like the columns of newspaper.

“Facade follows

function” is not

exactly a relying cry

for modern architects,

but Labrouste

anticipated

Postmodernism by

adorning his

building with

text to

declare its

purpose.

Flat (or hipped) Roof

Symmetrical Massing

Parapet Wall

Pennsylvania Station, New York, by McKim, Mead & White,

1902-10

•Penn Station is the project in

which McKim, Mead and

White combined Neo

Classicism with 20th century.

•Three porticos, connected by

wings, were linked by

repetitive columns. The

waiting room roof can be

seen in the background.

•The building was functionally

superb, expressing its

purpose through modern

materials and clear forms.

•The exterior was pure Neo-

Classical, covering two city

blocks . Cornice

Attached

Collonade

Corner Plasters

Stone Body

Stone Banding

Stone Base

The Portico and Facade of an Elaborate Neo-Classical Building

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

(1720-1778/Italian)

Pen & ink

03.10.2011

12

Detail of Neoclassical Portico

Interior view from the concourse level

At the concourse level, modern

engineering reigned.

Glazed vaults of exposed steel

coloumns, steel arches, and glass

were purely utilitarian to cover the

tracks.

03.10.2011

13

To convey the dignity of a major portal to

New York City, its waiting room was

modeled on Roman baths, increased

20 percent in size.

03.10.2011

14

OLD AND NEW COLLIDE...

The two faces of New York’s Pennsylvania Station show

extremes of style as architecture approaced to a turning

point. The waiting room, an inspring public space, is

modeled on the Roman Baths, while the soaring

concourse reinterprets ancient arches and columns in

modern materials and engineering.

The Waiting Room

Concourse

03.10.2011

15

The Cast-Iron Age • The second direction that architecture branched out near the turn of century was due to

industrial structures. They were not considered as “architecture,” but they heralded a future era of metal frame, rather than masonry, support — the shape of things to come.

• Throughout the nineteenth century, the most progressive buildings were for transport and industry, created by enginerrs in a simple, functional style, out of iron and glass.

• If the challenge of the century was to develop a contemporary style: then London’s Crystal Palace showed the way.

This exposition hall was created to display the wonders of

Victorian technology.

It was an oversized greenhouse, devoid of historical

ornament. The building showed the aesthetic possibilities of a

cast-iron framework.

Its designer, Sir Joseph Paxton was not an architect, but a

builder of greenhouses. When Prince Albert decided to house

the first World’s Fair in London for show off, there was a limited

time for construction, and it was impossible to built one with

ordinary building techniques. Only a prefabricated shell could

be built in this short period and Paxton is the perfect figure for

the task.

Joseph Paxton, The London Crystal Palace, 1854

In six months, identical modular cast iron columns and beams

were manufactured.

They were shipped to Hyde Park, and mounted with

standardized panes.

03.10.2011

16

The iron and

glass structure

was designed

as a huge

conservatory,

covering 21

acres, and

enclosing all

the trees

already on site.

For the first

time, the

volume

enclosed

surpassed the

mass of the

building—

more a bubble,

than a box.

Interior space,

flooded with

light, seemed

infinite, the

structure itself

almost

weightless.

03.10.2011

17

Paris World Fair, 1825

Crystal-palace interior , 1854, Joseph Paxton

Revivalist architects harsly criticized Crystal Palace. For them

“such a building of untraditional materials, without historical

details or mass, was not a real building but a lattice sheathed in

glass, more like a railroad shed or bridge.

That is why, the revolutionary construction did not influence

orthodox buildings of the day.

But, it certainly is a forerunner for 20th century glass, curtain-wall

skyscrapers.

Eiffel Tower, 1887-1889, Eiffel

Industrial-Age Architecture The structure that proved what a steel skeleton

could accomplish was the Eiffel tower. The

tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel, a bridge

engineer.

Tower’s silhouette is a direct

expression of its structure.

Four wide footed piers are stabilized by two

platforms.

The only non-structural element is the grillwork

arches linking the bases, added by Eiffel, to

give the appearance of buttresses and

reassure visitors that the novel structure was

safe.

The tower is still considered

as a triumph of modern

engineering. The Eiffel tower

flaunted its iron-and-steel

skeleton, devoid of allusions

to past architectural styles.

03.10.2011

18

The Brooklyn Bridge (1883) introduced a heroic new scale to the urban world.

Triumph of engineering for that day.

The first wire suspension bridge, it was the longest bridge in the world when

completed.

The granite towers designed with pointed arches, like in Gothic style and the pure

structure of bridge together represented a unity of old and new.

Galerie des Machines, cast-iron(makine teshir salonu) 1889, François Dutert

An significant building constructed for the fair was

the Galerie des machines (1889), designed by

architect Ferdinand Dutert and engineer Victor

Contamin.

It was reused at the exposition of 1900 and then

destroyed in 1910.

At 111 meters, the Galerie (or "Machinery Hall")

spanned the longest interior space in the world at

the time, using a system of hinged arches (like a

series of bridge spans placed not end-to-end but

parallel) made of steel or iron.

The choice of construction material is controversial;

the building was designed to be built with steel but

was actually constructed in iron.

03.10.2011

19

Galerie des Machines, cast-iron(makine teshir salonu) 1889, François Dutert