Module #12a: Victorian Environments

1. Module #12a: Victorian Environments HIST 12797 History of Architecture Module #12a: Victorian Environments

2. Learner 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

3. The 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 Module #12a: Victorian Environments

4. The 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

5. Two 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

6. The 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 CharlesBarry on the British Houses of Parliament (1835). Module #12a: Victorian Environments

7. Gothic 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

8. High 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

9. Effects 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

10. The 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

11. The 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

12. The 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

13. The 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

14. The 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

15. Public 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

16. Baron 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 Module #12a: Victorian Environments

17. Victorian 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

18. Washington: 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

19. Profession 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). Module #12a: Victorian Environments

20. 19th c. American Architectural 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 Module #12a: Victorian Environments

21. Mid 19th 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

22. The 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

23. 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” . Module #12a: Victorian Environments

24. 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

25. Frederick Law Olmstead (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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

26. American Contributions to the History 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” Module #12a: Victorian Environments

27. The 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

28. Henry Hobson Richardson (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 Field Wholesale, Chicago Trinity Church, Boston Module #12a: Victorian Environments

29. Chicago • 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

30. Other ChicagoArchitects • 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 Building Buffalo, 1891 The Rookery, Chicago, 1886 Module #12a: Victorian Environments

31. Company 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. Module #12a: Victorian Environments

32. 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