Romantic Architecture2

Romantic Architecture
John Nash (1752-1835)
Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860)
Charles Garnier (1825-98)

Revival Architecture
Nash, Royal Pavilion, Brighton
Seaside resort for prince regent, later King George IV
Islamic domes, minarets and screens
Onion domes and finials
Underlying the exotic façade is a cast iron skeleton
Interior: palm-tree columns in cast iron

Royal Pavilion at Brighton, John Nash, 1815

Barry and Pugin, Houses of Parliament, London
Old Houses of Parliament burned to the ground in 1834
Competition held in 1835 to rebuild the Houses
Only styles allowed in the competition were Elizabethan Tudor and Gothic
97 entries, this was the winning entry
Ground plan is cruciform
Two main axes meet in an octagonal central lobby: House of Commons meets the House of Lords
Barry was a classicist, a regularity of the rhythms of the façade
Pugin was a medievalist: towers and decorative elements
Vast office complex: 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases, 2 miles of corridors, 8 acres
Harmonized with other medieval buildings nearby, like Westminster Abbey
Big Ben, the clock tower, is like a medieval village clock
Placement of a detached tower is Italian in inspiration

Garnier, The Opera, Paris
Exterior:
Rich polychrome façade of colored marbles
Domed auditorium
Huge fly space for stage behind that
Elaborate side entrance for the Emperor
Subscribers had a pendant entrance
General ticket holders entered front
Interior:
Iron used, but not in exposed places
Mirrors on columns flicker with gas light, allowing ladies to check their hair before entering the great staircase
Auditorium made for the staircase, rather than the staircase for the auditorium
Auditorium as anti-climax
Garnier said the staircase IS the opera
Lower steps swell gently outward
Porch of the caryatids frames the finest seats

Beginnings of Modern Architecture
Labrouste, Sainte-Genevieve Library, Paris
Combination of load bearing masonry and iron construction
Arches and columns support roof independent of masonry walls
Iron construction balanced by itself
Substitute a cast-iron shaft for a column of granite
Narrow, rectangular ground plan wedged onto a long constricted site
1838, first library in Paris to be opened at night, illuminated with gas lamps
Had to be constructed of fire-proof materials
Exterior:
Continuous range of arches on tall, narrow piers
Exterior can be thought of as a cover for a book
First consistently exposed iron skeleton in a monumental public building
Arches on interior reflect arches on exterior
Repetitive and mechanical decoration on surface
Façade composed of 810 names of authors in chronological order from Moses to Berzelous, 1848, a Swedish chemist

Labrouste, Sainte-Genevieve Library, Paris (continued)
Central name is Byzantine writer Psellus symbolizing the meeting of East and West
Façade as a monumental card catalogue, or Table of Contents
Main portal: two flat Tuscan columns, surmounted by lamps that symbolize opening at night for the convenience of students and workers
Lamps around door look like bookmarks
Interior:
Single spine of cast iron down center
Spatially open, evenly lit in daytime and well-ventilated
Interior and exterior compliment each other

Paxton, Crystal Palace, London
Competition to build a World’s Fair in London to be held in 1851
Buildings to be temporary, economical, simple, and capable of rapid construction
245 designs submitted, none suitable
Paxton formulated this design in eight days, fulfilling all requirements
Built in 39 weeks of prefabricated materials
1851 feet long, 18 acres
Free of internal walls
7,200 cast iron and wrought iron columns
900,000 square feet of sheet glass
Hollow cast iron columns act as drain pipes
Glass curtain walls
Portal bracing to counteract lateral forces of the wind
Paxton’s experience in greenhouses inspired the design
Burned in 1936

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Romantic Architecture2

by bassmanb on Mar 29, 2010

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