Architecture of the 19th century UOB- Department of Architecture and Interior Design ARCG221- HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE II Dr. Abdurrahman Mohamed Architecture of the 19th century

Changes in society and the built environment The spread of factories as giant buildings blowing steam and smoke in the skies of towns and cities. These factories attracted increasing numbers of workers who left their agricultural professions in their villages in favor for higher wages and social life in cities. Crowding, poor housing and health hazards became evident features of these developments. Trains played a vital role in the movement of people and goods between these cities.

New generation of architects began to lead building industries with new visions separated from the religious ideals of the church and the monarchy. Industrial development paved the way for great inventions in building materials and construction systems supported by the scientific developments in mathematics, physics and chemistry. The first project to use iron as a structural material was the bridge over Severn River near Coalbrookdale in England, 1775-1779 which was constructed with five cast iron arches.

New developments The increasing power of science and scientists against the ignorance and errors of the church. The rise of a middle class faction against the power of the nobles and the monarchies. The spread of secular culture against the theological teachings of the church. The slogans of the French revolution and the birth of the united states in the new world. The invention of the machine and the steam trains.

Neoclassical architecture All the above developments provided the foundation for the birth of an architectural direction that began in the mid-18th century as a reaction against Rococo and Baroque styles. It is principally derived from the architecture of Classical Greece and the Palladian architecture. It emphasized the geometrical qualities of buildings Many early 19th-century neoclassical architects were influenced by the drawings and projects of Claude Nicolas Ledoux who concentrated on reflecting the function of the building to the viewer.

Leo von Klenze  1784 - 1864 A German architect, painter, and writer, designed streets, squares, and numerous monumental buildings that set the scale and tone of Munich, the Bavarian capital. He also had other European commissions from Athens, to Saint Petersburg in Russia.

Glyptothek Museum, Munich, 1816-1830 The building has no windows but rather it uses blind aedicules containing sculptures. The building is considered a good example of New Gothic with its details and decorations. It is one of the main components that gives Munich its very special image.

Glyptothek Museum plan

Propyläen, Munich, 1860 The building evokes the monumental entrance of the Propylaea for the Athenian Acropolis. The gate was created as a memorial for the accession to the throne of Otto of Greece, a son of the principal King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

Thomas Ustick Walter (1804-1887) American architect who designed several buildings including Founder’s Hall at Girard College, Philadelphia, 1833-1847. After this commission he designed the dome of the United State Capitol in Washington and later he became a founding member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). It is one of the finest examples of American Greek-Revival architecture. School founder Girard specified in his will the dimensions and plan of the building which was designed by Thomas Ustick Walter.

Founder’s Hall at Girard College, Philadelphia, 1833-1847,

Creative Eclecticism Thomas Ustick Walter 1st Presbyterian Church on Miner Street, 1832

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival or The Neo-Gothic is an architectural style began in the 1840s in England. It grew rapidly as a development of the neoclassical styles. The style became widespread for its intrinsic appeal in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. It spread rapidly to parts of Europe and beyond in Australia, South Africa and the Americas. As industrialization progressed, reaction against machine production and the appearance of factories and huge buildings increased where proponents as Thomas Carlyle and Augustus Pugin believed that pre-industrial medieval society was a golden age.

Sir George Gilbert Scott 1811-1878 English architect, one of the most successful and prolific exponents of the Gothic Revival style. St John's College Chapel, London,

Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin Palace of Westminster

Creative Eclecticism By mid 19th century, the architectural thought was developed further to see that referring to complete examples from certain previous classical architecture no longer was acceptable. The ability of societies to accept and interact with more progressive directions in design and architecture was increasingly improving, driven by the continuous innovation of architects and the free competition between the elite to acquire higher levels of these innovations. Therefore, architects began to develop a new movement by selecting certain elements from diverse styles for their designs. But it is important to notice that Eclecticism never formed a precise movement or style in itself like mannerism.

Jean Louis Charles Garnier (1825-1898) He learned at the École de Dessin, the atelier of Louis Hippolyte Lebas, and the École des Beaux-Arts in 1841. He also worked for Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc

Paris Opera

Paris Opera – The grand staircase

Paris Opera- The grand foyer

High Victorian Gothic 1865-1900 Perhaps the most famous example of High Victorian Gothic architecture is Victoria Tower at the royal Palace of Westminster in London, England. Victoria Tower was named after the reigning Queen Victoria who took delight in Gothic Revival architecture. Unlike the Early Gothic Revival, the High Victorian Gothic style was mainly inspired by Venetian Gothic architecture rather than English Medieval buildings.

Features High Victorian Gothic Masonry construction Patterned brick and multi-colored stone Stone carvings of leaves, birds, and gargoyles Strong vertical lines and a sense of great height Realistic re-creation of authentic medieval styles Polychrome decoration Varying texture Gothic details picturesque facades heavier detailing complex massing pointed arches, tracery, grouped colonettes Heavy stone and brick work Bold forms; towers, massive hip and gabled roofs Larger scale than Early Gothic buildings

St Pancras Railway Station and Midland Hotel, 1865, London, England by George Gilbert Scott

The exterior and interior are Venetian Gothic. Natural History Museum, Oxford, 1855-1860, by Irish architects Thomas Newenham Deane and Benjamin Woodward The exterior and interior are Venetian Gothic. Venetian Gothic arches are grouped together and tinged with colour. The roof is constructed from cast iron and glass with Gothic style.

New Haven City Hall and County Courthouse 1871-1873, New Haven, USA, by David R. Brown

Architecture of steel and glass: Mechanization and dehumanization of architecture Developments of 18th and 19th century politics, economy, technology and culture brought great changes to architecture. One of the most striking developments was the Industrial Revolution which started to revolutionize architecture since the mid 18th century. The technologies and industrial materials, especially iron, steel and glass, brought spanning changes to societies.  Architectural commissions no longer remained ecclesiastical, royal and noble patrons who were replaced by new public authorities and middle class industrials and merchants.

New types of buildings became important for the new social structure of the industrial societies: government offices, banks, hospitals, theaters, libraries, educational institutions, museums, railroad stations, factories, warehouses, commercial buildings and new types of housing. These types required innovative engineering and architectural solutions.  

The main concern shifted from religious and national manifestations to more functional requirements and economic feasibilities of the new buildings. Lighting, ventilation and environmental control in addition to the functional requirements of the new type of industrial, social and cultural activities became the main important factors directed the development of architecture.

Crystal Palace, London, 1851, by sir Joseph Paxton The Crystal Palace was ordered by Prince Albert, Husband of Queen Victoria in order to compete with the successful French Exhibition started in 1841 and ended in 1849. Sir Paxton was responsible for the gardens of the Duke of Devonshire and experimented several attempts to build large glass houses using the development in iron and glass industry. The cast iron and glass building was originally constructed in Hyde Park, London, England. final dimensions of the palace were 563 m long by 139 m wide and 41 m high with area of 92,000 m2 More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world participated to exhibit the latest innovation in Industrial Revolution. After the exhibition, the building was moved to a new park in London called Sydenham Hill. The Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire in 1936.

Main Reading Hall, National Library, Paris, 1862-1868 by Henry Labrouste It is one of the important examples of the architecture of steel and glass. The roof consists of a series of domes supported by cast iron arches and thin cast iron columns. Each dome has a wide oculus to bring enough light to the hall.

Arts & Crafts Movement With the development of machines and factory culture, the main drive of the economy was the “production”. Serious deviations from the old classical forms of art and design made the new products as bad incoherent mixtures of classical and medieval forms. Artists and architects started to seek freedom of the control and exploitation of the production machines.

William Morris (1834-1896) He was a poet, artist and writer inspired by the writing of John Ruskin and the return to gothic architecture. He “attempted to correct the dehumanizing effects of the Industrial Revolution by proposing a form of society in which people could enjoy craftsmanship and simplicity of expression.” He designed his own house (1859-1860) (the Red House) with the help of the architect Philip Web and designed every detail and the furniture of the house to reflect the strong relationship with nature and natural materials and to oppose any mechanization processes. He then established a design firm which laid the foundation for the Arts and Crafts movement. The designers of the Arts & Crafts period not only designed the interior spaces but they also created the furniture and accessories.

The Arts and Crafts style has two directions: The cottagey look begun by Morris and Webb and evolved by Voysey, and afterwards, the more simple , more modernist feel of Mackintosh and Lutyens. The inevitable use of ideas by small-scale builders making patterns of porches and doors migrating into the informally designed houses.

Red house floor plans

Red house floor plans

The Red house

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) Mackintosh reflected the relative styles at the end of the late 19thCentury/ early 20thCentury. His designs incorporated elements of both the Arts & Crafts movement as well as Art Nouveau. He completely avoided any historicism in his work. His work even hints toward early modernism with its strict geometries. Mackintosh is widely known for his furniture designs. He often used simple geometries and then exaggerated the features. Mackintosh was one of the founding members of the Glasgow School of Art .

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Hill House, 1902 -1903

Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, 1897-1909

The Art Nouveau movement Organic and curvilinear forms become prominent and exaggerated. The forms copy those of nature as well as abstract forms. Art Nouveau resulted in the combination of modern sculpture and architecture. It was the rejection of both the Gothic and Classicism, and the organic nature of the ornament creates the character of buildings and interior details.

Eugene Vallin 1856 - 1922 Masson House (1903 -1914)

Victor Horta (1861-1947) Horta House (1898 -1911)

Antonio Gaudi (1852 -1926) Casa Batllo (1904-1906)

Louis Sullivan (1856 -1924) Sullivan’s designs match those of the Art Nouveau as well as modernism. They are very organic and layered. The abstract natural forms heighten the level of scale within the space. The ornament was either produced in metal or in cast Terra Cotta. His buildings became framework from which he could display his ornament. Sullivan is known for the statement, “form follows function.” Sullivan was also the mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright.

Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, Guaranty Building (1894), Buffalo, New York