You are on page 1of 408

V-

History of Interior Design

John
The

Pile

first

decade.

major survey text on

acknowledges

the arts and crafts,

of personal

and public space. John

that interior design

unclear boundaries,

overlap.

design for over a

Histoiy of Intenor Design delivers the inside

story on 6,000 years


Pile

interior

a field with

is

which construction,

in

architecture,

technology, and product design

These topics are

woven together

in

all

a fascinating

from cave dwellings and temple


architecture, through Gothic cathedrals and Renaissance
narrative that runs

palaces onto the grand civic spaces of the nineteenth


century and the sleek interiors of

Embedded

in

modern

sky-scrapers.

a social and political context, detailed

discussions of famous buildings, from the Parthenon


with
to the Pompidou Center, are interspersed
investigations of the domestic vernacular - the

cottages, farmhouses, apartments,

and

city terraces

inhabited by ordinary people. Primary source quotations


are used to provide contemporary perspectives

wide

on a

variety of interior settings.

With 400

illustrations,

Tadao Ando Architect

200

&

in

color

Associates,

Kidosaki House, Tokyo, Japan,

Shinkenchiku-sha

The Japan

1982-6
Architect Co., Ltd, Japan

History of

NTERIOR DESIGN

lOHN

WTi FY
:

hnsbane

<:nN; tkh

Singapore

Toronto

in

2
6

Contents

Islamic Influence 52

Preface 8

Acknowledgments

The Mosque 52

Moorish Elements

in

Spanish

Romanesque 53

Prehistory to Early Civilizations


Prehistoric Interiors

The Later Middle Ages

Archeological Evidence 10
The

First

Shelters

Dolmens and Barrows

Evidence from Tribal Cultures


Pattern

The

and Design

First

Elements of Gothic Style 54


New Construction Techniques 56
Gothic Cathedrals and Churches 59
France 59

Permanent Settlements

Mesopotamia: Sumeria 16
Ancient Egypt

England 62
Elsew/here in Europe 63
Secular Gothic Buildings 64

Geometry and Proportion

54

Egyptian Temples and

Houses 18 Egyptian Furniture and Other

INSIGHTS; CONSTRUCTION WORK


MEDIEVAL BUILDINC^S

Interior

Furnishings 19

IN

Castles and Palaces 66

Classical Civilizations: Greece

and Rome

20

Minoan and Mycenaean Cultures 20

The Renaissance

Knossos 20

Mycenae and Tityns 20


Greece 22
The Temple 22
Secular Interiors 24
INSIGHTS:THE GROWTH OF ATHENS

2000 by
Calmann & King Ltd,
Copyright

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress

Cataloging-in-Publication

Data
Pile,

Rome

John

by John

25

p.cm.

(cloth

alk.

paper)

INSIGHTS;

Alberti

THE COST OF LIVING

79

The High Renaissance 79


Bramante 79
Palaces 82

IN

ANCIENT ROME 32

INSIGHTS; VASARI'S

Interior decoration-

Furniture

History. I.Title.

History 72

Michelozzo 78

Secular Buildings 31

ISBN 0-471-35666-2

in

Brunelleschi 75

27

Domes 27
Amphitheaters and Baths 28
Temples 30

Includes index.

Renaissance Interest

Elements of Renaissance Style 74


The Early Renaissance 75

Arches, Vaults, and

Pile,

in Italy 72

The Rise of Humanism 72

History of interior design/

Medieval Houses 68
Innovations in Domestic Comfort 70

and Other

Interior Furnishings

ACCOUNT OF THE

FARNESE PALACE 82

34

The Legacy of Rome: Technology 34

The Late Renaissance and Mannerism 84

NKI710.P55 2000
7472-dc21

Michelangelo 85

Romano 86
Printed in

Hong Kong

Early Christian, Byzantine,

Romanesque

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

<

was
designed and

INSIGHTS: THE

produced by
LTD,

London
www.calmann-king.co.uk

Designed by Thomas

Palladio 87

Vignola 89

36

Interior Furnishings 89

Early Christian Design 36


Byzantine Design 38

This book

CALMANN & KING

and

Manss & Company and


Richard Foenander
Picture research by

RAVENNA MOSA ICS 39

Baroque and Rococo


Northern Europe 92

Secular Buildings 41

Early Medieval: The "Dark Ages" 41


The Romanesque Style 41
Churches 42
Italy

Hong Kong

Frontispiece: Gentile

Mansueti, The Miraculous

Healing of the Daughter of

43 France 44 England 45

Ser Benvegnudo of San Polo,


c.

1502-5.

Bernmi 94 Borrommi 95

and Castles 46
Monasteries and Abbeys 48
Fortresses

INSIGHTS:

Venice 97
Longhena 97

THE ABBEY AT CLUNY 48

Houses 49
Furniture and Other

in Italy

Elements of Baroque Style 92


The Baroque in Italy 92
Rome 94

Scandinavia 46
Printed in

90

Ravenna 39
Hagia Sophia 40

Germany 42

Susan Bolsom

Furniture

Coverings 91

Turin 97
Cuarini

Interior Furnishings

50

Baroque

97 Juvarra 99
in

Northern Europe

00

and

Contents

100

Austria

Colonial and Federal America

103
Germany 103
Furniture and Other Interior Features

54

Switzerland

Colonial Styles in Latin America


Colonial Styles in North America

06

54
56

Houses 156
and Interior
Furnishings 157
Churches and Meeting Houses
58
American Georgian 59
American Georgian Houses
59
American Georgian and Queen Anne
Furniture 163
Late Colonial Public Buildings 163
Federal Styles 165
Jefferson
65
Bulfinch 166
Thornton and Latrobe
66
Furniture of the Federal Period
69
Other Furnishings of the Federal
Period 170
Early Colonial

I
I

Renaissance, Baroque, and


Rococo in France and Spain 108
France 108
108

Early Renaissance

High Renaissance
Baroque
1

Versailles

116

INSIGHTS: LOUIS XIV


Louvre

12

AND

VERSAILLES 116

117 Baroque Churches 120

Furnishings

Early Colonial Furniture

Furniture

and

121

Regency to Rococo
Pans Hotels 123 The

Petit

23
Trianon

124 Regency

and Rococo Furniture 125

This book

Rococo to Neoclassicism 125


The Empire Style 127

Published simultaneously
in

INSIGHTS THE EMPIRE STYLE 128

The Regency, Revivals, and

130

Provincial Style

Spain 131

Desornamentado

32

32
Furniture and Other Interior Features

Churrigueresco

32

No part of this publication


may be reproduced, stored

Regency 172

transmitted

Nash 172
Soane 174
Regency Furniture
Revivals 175
Creek Revival 175

74

othenvise, except as

permitted under Sections

107
States

176

38

141

Jacobean 142
Jones

142 Jacobean

Interior Furnishings

143

From Carolean to William and Mary


Wren 143 Carolean and William and Mary
Furnishings

THE PUBUC'S PERCEPTION OF


CRYSTAL PALACE 186
INSIGHTS:

Robert and James

and

Eiffel

INSIGHTSillOBERT

147

ADAM ANDSYON HOUSE

Georgian Town Houses 149 Other Building Types

Georgian Furniture and

Interior Furnishings

48
1

50

Clearance Center, 222

Rosewood

50

8400, fax(978)7504744. Requests to the


Publisher for permission

should be addressed to the

88

John Wiley & Sons.

Inc..

605

New

Third Avenue,

NY 10158-0012,

(212) 850-6011, fax (212)

90

850-6008,
1

E-Mail:

PERMREQ@WILEY,COM.

90

Britain 193

This publication

Mansions 193
Middle-class Houses and Public
Buildings 193
Shaw and the Queen Anne Revival
United States: Victorian Variations
Mansions 197
Vernacular House Styles
98

designed to provide accu-

Shingle Style

Drive. Danvers,

MA01923, (978)750-

York,

The Roots of Victorian Style

Adam 148

fee to the Copyright

Permissions Department.

France: Labrouste, Baltard,

The Victorian Era

Georgian 147

payment of

the appropnate per-copy

145

Furniture

Act, without either the

tion through

83

43

Interior

Queen Anne 146


Queen Anne

and Inventions 184


Industry and Interiors 184
Iron and Class 185
England: Paxton 186

140

Elizabethan Furniture

108 of the 1976

pnor written permission of

178 England 180

Early Industrialization

England 139
Tudor 140
Elizabethan

or

United States Copynght

The industrial Revolution

36
Buildings 136
1

or

electronic,

the Publisher, or authoriza-

Private Dwellings

any form

recording, scanning or
1

Gothic Revival 178


United states

Civic

in

mechanical, photocopying,

Low Countries

a retrieval system, or

by any means,

Germany 175 England 176 United

Renaissance to Georgian in The


Low Countries and England 36

Canada

industrial Revolution 172

in

131

Plateresco

printed on

IS

acidlree paper

199 Adirondack

Style

200

Shaker Design 200

rate

is

and authoritative

information

in

regard to

the subject matter covered.


1

94
1 95

It IS

sold with the under-

standing that the


publisher
in

is

not engaged

rendenng professional

services.

If

professional

advice or other expert


assistance

is

services of a

required, the

competent

professional person should

INSIGHTS:

THE SHAKER^PHILOSOPH'T^oT

be sought.

9
Contents

Early Skyscrapers

Public Buildings
Furness

202
205

Eclecticism 244
The Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris 244

205

United States 247


Key Architects and Designers 247

Furniture and Other Interior


Furnishings 206

Hunt 247 McKim, Mead, & White 249

l^

Public Buildings

The Aesthetic Movements


Britain: Arts

and Crafts

Early Skyscrapers

21 o

The Rise of the


2

American Decorators 256

210
Morris 210
Webb 213

Eclecticism in Professional Practice

Eclecticism for the

and the aesthetic

Houses and Apartments 259 Furniture and

Europe 261

Voysey 218 Mackmurdo 218 Mackintosh 219

Scandinavia 263

United States: The Craftsman

Britain

Movement

Lutyens

Stickley

and the Roycrofters 219

263
264

INSIGHTS: SIR

EDWIN LUTYENS AND THE VICEROYS

Bradley 220

HOUSE

Richardson 221

Ocean Liners 265


The Spread of Eclecticism 265

Greene & Green and Maybeck 223


Developments in Continental Europe 223
Germany: Muthesius 225
The Netherlands: Berlage 225

IN

NEW

DELHI 264

The Emergence of Modernism 266


Frank Lloyd Wright 266
The Early Commissions 268

Art Nouveau and the Vienna


Secession 226

INSIGHTS: THE PHILOSOPHY OF

FRANK L[0YD

WRIGHT 269

Roots and Characteristics of Art


Nouveau 226
Belgium 229
Horta 229
INSIGHTS: ViaOR HO RTA AND ART NOUVEAU 229
VandeVelde 230
France 230
The School of Nancy 230
Guimard 230
Other French Designers 232
Spain 232
Gaudi 232
Germany: Jugendstil 232
Endell 233
Riemerschmidt and Behrens 234
Scandinavia 234
Austria: The Vienna Secession 234
Olbrich 234
Wagner 235
INSIGHTS: OTTO WAGNER AND "MODERN

260 Movie Theaters 261

Accessories

Modernism 218

259
Masses 259

Stripped Classicism

HOUSE 215
Links to

256

Saarmen and Cranbrook Academy 257

Designers 214

insTghts: rossetti

255

De Wolfe 255 Wood 255 McMillen 255 Other

Crafts

British

Interior Decorator

Ruskin and the Roots of Arts and

Other

252
252

DeStijI 270

Mondrian and van Doesburg 270


271

Rietveld

Pioneers of the International Style 272


Gropius and the Bauhaus 272
Mies van der Rohe 274
Work

of the

920s and

INSIGHTS: MIES

930s 274

VAN DER ROHE: THE TUCENDHAT

HOUSE 221
Emigration to the United States

276

Later

Commissions 277

Le Corbusier

278

Pans: Developing the

Houses,

Villas,

INSIGHTS:

Machine Aesthetic 278

Early

and Apartments 279

THE PHILOSOPHY OF

LE

CORBUSI ER 282

Town Planning 283 Post-War Years 284


Late Commissions 285

Aalto 285
INSIGHTS:

THE VISION OF ALVAR AALTO 286

ARCHITECTURE" 236

Hoffmann 236
Loos 238
United States 238
Tiffany 238
Sullivan 240

Art Deco and Industrial Design 290

ArtDeco 290
France 290
Furniture Designers

290

Textile Design

293

Contents

Ocean

Liners

Urban Office Buildings 341


343

293

United States 295


Designers from Europe

Office Planning

295 Deco

Architecture

295

296

Britain

344

Interior Designers

Industrial Design 297

Furnishings 346

Loewy and Other Designers 298


Design Training 300
Residential Design 301
Kitchens and Bathrooms 301
Lighting 302
Textiles, Carpets, and Furniture 303

Textiles

The Spread of Early Modernism


Europe 304

Prophets of Future Design 348


Kahn 348

in

The Netherlands 306


Germany and Austria 306

Stirling

354
356

INSIGHTS JAMES STIRLING 356

Post-modernism 357
Venturi and Scott Brown 357
Craves 359

America 314

Architects and Designers 314

314

Wright: 1920s and 1930s


Schindler and Neutra

314

319

Johnson 361
Post-modernism in Europe 361
The Revival of Tradition 362
Creenberg 362
Stern 362
Late Modernism 364
Pel

364

Gwathmey and Meier 366

Lescaze 320

Goodwin and Stone 321


Cropius and Breuer 321
Mies van der Rohe 322
Johnson 323
Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill 323
Eero Saarinen 324
Interior Decoration: The Reaction to
Modernism 324
Furniture and other Interior
Furnishings 325
Knoll

ROGERS AND PIANO AND THE CENTRE


POMPIDOU 353

INSIGHTS;

Foster

307
Switzerland 308
France 308
Scandinavia 310
England 31

Cili

351

High-tech 351
Fuller 351

Rogers and Piano 353

Italy

in

346

Late Twentieth-Century Design 348

Pelli

Modernism

Individual Stylists 367


Starck 367

Putman 368
Deconstructivism 369
Eisenman 370
Gehry 371
Other Trends 373
East-West Crossovers 373
Preservation

375

Green Buildings 376

325

Herman

Miller Furniture

Company 326
Glossary 378
Bibliography 384

* The Ascendency of Modernism 328

Picture Credits 388

Index 390
Italy

346

Furniture and Other Interior

Scandinavia 296

Office Furniture

328

INSIGHTS^ CIO PO NTE: PIRELLI

Scandinavia 331
France 334
Germany 334
The Netherlands 335
Britain 336
United States 337

TOWER 330

Preface

modern world, human

In the

experience

life

We may

from

offers

it

much

that so

of

most of us

time,

We

room.

the times of their origins, but they exert their influ-

an

house, a

live inside a

that

and

air

love
sky,

spent inside. Most of the

sleep, eat, cook, bathe,

time "at home"


in

life is

or a

flat,

and spend

Work

inside.

is,

work space such


museum, school, or

hospital, concert hall,

college

involves

farmer

the

work

in the

machinery and
television,

being a

air,

other

go

to

and

as driving a

open

or

truck,

endless. Agriculture

is

still

modern

but even the

spend time inside the cab of a

likely to

is

tractor,

list

sleep.

piece

of

in the past

ence on the

agricultural

home to a house to eat, watch


Modern work activities such

of the crew of a submarine,

aircraft carrier, or spacecraft lead to a

work

life

takes place within a vehicle, a cockpit, or

that

some

other enclosure.

The study of

beings on earth, scien-

they house as

lives that

interior design,
is

development

its

a useful

way both

to

explore the past and to

make

sense of the spaces in

which modern

lived.

Professional interior

life

is

designers are expected to study design history, to

know
and

the practices of the past in terms of "styles,"

to

know

names and the nature of

the

contributions of those individuals

who

the

generated

the most interesting and influential approaches to


design.

Since the interiors that one might wish to


are scattered across the globe
access,

becomes

it

and often

necessary

visit

difficult to

turn

to

to

photographs, descriptions, and, increasingly, film,


television,

human

and

and change through history

bus or truck, piloting an airplane, or

member

activities

long as they continue in use.

free

takes place

office, a factory, a specialized

as a

political realities also influenced life

reflects the realit)'

life

but the very joy of being outside

economic, and

inside enclosure,

open

the out-of-doors for the sense of


for the escape

is

and these forces have had major impact


on built environments. Buildings and their interiors are planned to serve the purposes and styles of

largely played out in interior spaces.

and the internet

to gain

an insight into

detailed record of events

humanly constructed interior space.


The sheer number of books on the subject and the
variety of emphasis can make a coherent history of

call

interior design difficult to extract

There have been

now

tists

estimate, for about 1.7 million years.

The

and developments that we


"history" stretches back for only about 6000 or

7000

years. Before the

beginning of history we have

only myths, legends, and guesswork to

tell

us what

events occurred in what order. There have been

many

speculations about

when and where people

learned to use shelters and what the earliest

first

habitations

were

Early

like.

shelters

existed

to

provide the interior spaces that offered comfort to


their inhabitants.

Those

interior spaces influenced

the lives of their occupants in significant ways.


Interior design,

an aspect of

interiors of the

great

whether professional or not,

is

and understand.

The purpose of this book is to deliver in one


volume of reasonable size a basic survey of 6000
years of personal and public space. Development of
such a book is inevitably beset by a number of
complications. Interiors do not exist in isolation in
the way that a painting or a sculpture does, but
vsdthin some kind of shell
a hut, a building, even a
ship or airplane. They are also crammed with a
range of objects

lighting, textiles,

and

sometimes

artifacts:
art.

furniture,

This means that

impossible to escape. In

interior design

is

a field with unclear boundaries,

domain of one's own home, the


homes of friends and relatives, of

overlapping as

it

does the realms of construction,

life

addition to the

the history of

that

is

architecture, art, the crafts, the technologies of

offices, stores, restaurants, schools, hospitals, trans-

heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, water

port vehicles, and every other sort of place where

drainage

modern life is lived, make up the modern world as


we know it. It is obvious that people in bygone
times had

different

experience

life

in

large

equipment,

"product design,"

in

and what
the

is

now

and

called

forms of appliances,

plumbing fixtures, and other kinds of equipment.


The number of interiors that have been created

measure because they occupied interiors that were


different from those that are now commonplace.

over time, even the

To

thus faced with a vast range of choices about what

consider for a

serf living in a

monk in

moment

the

farm dwelling,

life

of a medieval

a knight in a castle, a

a monastery, the lord

and lady

in

an eigh-

teenth-century mansion, a Victorian family in a

row house brings to mind


on the spaces created in such
city

life

pattern based

past times. Social,

is

staggering.

number

currently in existence,

The author of one compact

history

is

No two writers in
same choices and the decisions made in writing this book are those of the
writer and are based on the following assumptions:
to include

and what

this field will

1.

make

to exclude.

the

Interiors are an integral part of the structures

Acknowledgments

them

that contain

means

in

most

that interior design

is

cases, biiiltiings. This

they have major impact

inextricably linked to

design.

and can only be studied within an

architecture

coverage

architectural context.

Owing to
human design

coverage

activity,

necessarily

is

the history of interior


this

limited to edited highlights.

is

from

Quotations

6.

the vast geographical spread of

2.

on

However, demands on space mean that


primary

sources

are

number of

included in "Insights" boxes within a

some sense of the contempowork of particular periods.

chapters. These offer

limited to a restricted part of the global totality.

rary view of the

The choice made here is to examine Western, that


is European and American, design practice and its

sion of periods, examples, personages, and related

prehistoric

origins.

This

not

is

because

non-

The reader

is

encouraged to seek further discus-

subjects to whatever extent curiosity

Western work is in any way inferior or less interesting than Western achievement, but rather

allow.

because the aim in writing history

innumerable aspects of interior design.

to discover

is

woven into an
book, we follow the

thread that runs through time from ancient Egypt,

Rome,

and

Greece,

and

medieval

through

Renaissance Europe, the eighteenth and nineteenth

and eventually culminates in the twentwenty-first centuries. Coverage of the

centuries,

and

tieth

and

nineteenth

emphasis

centuries

twentieth

and

Making

Best of

acceptance ot certain

The examples chosen

in

this

book

own

are

right

Some examples are so well-known that they require


inclusion (the Pantheon in Rome and the cathedral
of Chartres,

for

example); other examples are

chosen because they are unusually well preserved


or because they illustrate the
interesting

or

important

work of a

designer.

particularly

Along with

discussion of well-known "important" examples,


also attention to the "everyday," vernacular

are closer to

and

most

hand

will limit

readers, seeing examples that

will

out the limits of any book

fill

offer a richer experience of the realities of inte-

rior space.

Many

people have contributed to the development

and production of this book. The following list


names those who have had a particularly important
wish to extend my thanks for
role. To all of them
I

their efforts

Enclosed spaces such as ruins, ancient

sites,

and patience.

For acceptance of the manuscript and decision


to

publish:

Director at

Ripley

Lee

For their diligent and

&

King

Greenfield,

Ltd:

John Wiley

and

Manager;

Picture

Designer;

Sons, Inc.

Calmann
Thompson, Senior
Webb, Senior Editor;

Damian

Bolsom,

&

skillful efforts at

Developmental Editor; Nell


Foenander,

Editorial

Calmann & King Ltd and Amanda

Miller, Executive Editor at

Susan

design of historic periods.


4.

visits for

visiting the spaces that

is

While time and expense

Acknowledgments

or epitomize a certain time and place in history.

is

such

of course,

given

is

either aesthetically outstanding in their

there

all,

are of interest.

a selection of interiors for discussion

illustration requires the

criteria.

interest

to reflect the greater interest felt in the

developments of recent times.


3.

and

will serve as a

guide to books that offer extended coverage of

threads of connectedness that can be


intelligible narrative. In this

The bibliography provided

Kim

Richardson,

Richard

Copy-

Awdry, Production Manager.

and open courtyards are given due consideration


even though the sky may be their only ceiling and

editor;

they are therefore not strictly interiors.

Jan Graffius, and Sharon Goldstein. For advice and

5.

Related

lighting,

fields

such as furniture,

textiles,

and product design are discussed since

Felicity

For additional editorial work: Lydia Darbyshire,

commentary: Linda Keene


Institute of Chicago.

at

the Art School, Art

Prehistory to Early Civilizations

Living in the modern, technologically advanced

world,

we

take

of our time

is

for granted that a

it

major portion

here, does not signify simple, crude, or inferior, but

offices, shops,

or

refers

we study in schools and colleges, we eat in


restaurants, we stay in hotels, and we travel inside
automobiles, buses, trains, ships, and airplanes. To
most often

is

this

to

peoples,

or

cultures,

civilizations

untouched by the modern technological world

as

it

has developed during the few thousands of years


for

which we have detailed

history.

temporary situation

while traveling from one inside space to another.

Human

"primitive," as used

in

factories,

be outside

The term

exist.

We live

spent inside, or "indoors."

houses or apartments, we work in

the beginning of the recorded history of the regions

where they

Archeological Evidence

beings differ from other living creatures in

acceptance of inside space as the most usual

environment

The

for living.

It

First Shelters

reasonable to assume that the

is

were either found

Prehistoric Interiors

made

caves

shelters

first

example

for

or

were

with materials that were easy to work with

bare hands or with very simple tools. Although the

There have been

human

beings on earth for about

The detailed record of events and


developments that we call "history" stretches back
1.7 million years.

for only

about

six

or seven thousand years. Before

we have only myths,

the beginning of history

that ancient people


that

often used to describe early

made

is

certainly evidence

use of caves,

unlikely

it is

caves were the most widely used of early

human

Caves

living places.

number

only in certain

exist

particularly comfortable or attractive places to

live.

While the famous cave paintings

(fig.

first

learned to use shelters,

earliest shelters

Guesswork

were

like,

have been

is

aided in

some measure by

1.1),

and

their

infor-

from the weather.

the "primitive" peoples usually studied by anthropologists. Prehistoric materials are physical objects,

or structures, that date from times before

Chauvet

at

is

no

certainty that

they were dwelling places. Perhaps they were emer-

other hand, with the current or recent practices of

artifacts,

limited, nor are they

Lascaux, and Altamira clearly prove that early

gency

that

deal with,

1.1 "Lion Panel,"

is

peoples used these caves, there

comes from two lines of inquiry. These


on one hand, prehistoric remains of
various kinds known to archeologists and, on the
mation

0,000

is

and while there

when and where people

the subject of much speculation.

beings,

places

and what the

France,

human

and guesswork to tell us what events


occurred and in what order. Thus the questions of
legends,

Chauvet cave, Ardeche,

term "cave men"

shelters,

monies, or they
of art that

places

for special

we admire because

Constructed

shelters

The most

for the

works

they preserved them

from

survived only where they were


materials.

or cere-

rites

may have been used

available

prehistory

have

made from durable


and easy to work

5,000-

BX.E.

1.2 (opposite)

Evidence of human

Paintings of Anubis,

occupancy of caves

Tomb

comes from paintings

Thebes,

that were

only

fire

made

c.

500 bce.

with

light as illumi-

nation. The intention of

was probornament or

the paintings

ably not to

of Pa-schedu,

decorate the natural

Images of Anubis, the


jackal-headed god of
the dead, stand guard
on simulated doors on
either side of the
passage leading to the

spaces of the caves, but


inner

chamber where

rather to provide

images that might


grant mystical power
over hunted animals.
Jo the modern viewer,
the paintings have the
effect of

making the

natural caves into

spaces under some


degree of human

the sarcophagus stood.

The ceiling

inscriptions.

10

covered

While the

intentions are mystical,

the form

and

color

generate spaces with


richly decorative char-

acter typical of ancient

Egyptian
control.

is

with hieroglyphic

art.

>'/

*,

mm:>!H

'VMM, ^^^ri

,>,

35
.

'

'

't,

.'V ..^CifV''.

'.':

S ":^

t^i

'.V,

'''!'

.r,;.

'

/ ^':f^^f^

\|M'

v.y.

,W

*>i

.;.,ii'./

<','*
W'M^i

"'V

')

,',

U^;^:'-V''

>,..?'/:

:^f 5^

>\

."^^

>:^7?i>^/
^fr^<y

,^

'*::

A.

.<-

Vi^.-"^.
^^MS\
Mf
y?'v

^i?li;;*^

/> ;>

>^>i

.^/*^'

'<>

St^
.

'it

V:

:..:\

'i;

^e:':i
:i'V''.^

'.i*!i

t.v.s
'.*

>i;=in;!;'

)-

~\
51

I**..

:^^
,

'

/'

|j**s5j'.

Chapter One

materials

twigs and branches, leaves, rush and

similar plant materials,


as skins or hides

and animal materials such

are

all

short-lived, subject to

decay and disappearance within relatively brief


time spans. Inorganic materials such
cold climates)

snow have

as to

mud

or (in

is

so difficult to

have very limited possibilities for shelter

building. These realities

mean

that the materials

surviving from prehistoric times are largely small


objects of stone such as arrowheads

and spear

points, or large arrangements of stones set

up

in

patterns or assembled into structures.

if

only for their evocation of

unimaginably ancient
structures,

it

is

origins.

some of

In

these

possible to see carved or incised

patterns cut into the stones with patterns of beauty,

although their meanings are unknown.


Estimating dates for prehistoric

limited lasting qualities,

while stone, although very durable,

work

as

often impressive,

matter of guesswork until the

ment of

sites

fairly recent

was

develop-

the technique of radio-carbon dating in

which measurements of the radioactivity of organic


materials (such as bones or shells) gives a measure
of their age. Stonehenge (fig. 1.3) is now dated with

some confidence

at

about 2750-1500

such structures date from the era

b.c.e.

now

All

designated

as the stone age in reference to the fact that the

Dolmens and Barrows

most

The arrangements of stones (called Alignments)


and the Dolmens of Brittany and other European
locations

are

thoughtfully

designed

structures

in

rituals

Britain,

Stonehenge on

were used for cere-

connected with observation of

rites.

more

The arrangement of

often

is

called a

artificial

hill.

Where

the earth

has

still

in place,

Barrow

in

it

forms the kind of tomb

England.

It

is

possible to go

chambers of some of these


surviving tombs. They are dark, mysterious, and
into

interior

to create

spaces with a

strong aesthetic impact,

whether they were

origi-

nally open to the sky


(as

now) or roofed with

materials that have


since disappeared. The

purpose seems

to

have

been connected with


rituals relating to the

movements of the sun,


moon, and stars. The
circular form
teristic

human

12

is

charac-

of many ancient
constructions.

b.c.e.).

b.c.e.)

The famous cave paintings


stone structures

and

are pale-

known

to

us date from the neolithic period.


It

is

virtually certain that the lack of

houses

explained in part by the reality that such ancient

earth

stones were care-

1000

5000

makes up the many dolmens seems to have


chamber of a tomb that took the

form of an

placed

c.

c.

surviving from these times can be explained by the

eroded away, the stone dolmen remains. Where the

fully

effective of available materials.

divided into the paleolithic period

olithic; the prehistoric

a large

created the inner

Huge

is

stone placed on top of two or three upright stones


that

B.c.r.

and most

lasting,

The stone age

("old stone age," extending to

linked to burial

2750-1 500

times

the neolithic period ("new stone age," extending to

that the larger sites, such as

astronomical movements; dolmens are

c.

those

assume

monies or

1.3 Stonehenge,

of

technologies

dating from prehistoric times. Most speculations

Salisbury Plain

Salisbury, England,

advanced

involved the working of stone as the best, most

the

interior

use ot

less lasting materials,

human
least

life

but that can

in

turn be

patterns were generally migratory or at

unattached to fixed locations. Early

human

depended on water sources, hunting, and food


gathering for sustenance and therefore required
life

populations to

move

in pursuit

of game and other

food supply. Whatever shelter was used needed to

Prehistory to Early Civilizations

made

be easily portable and so

wood

Peoples in tribal Africa, in the islands of the

of light materials

and rush rather than stone.


Ease of working and mobility worked together to
favor shelter of modest scale, light materials, and

American

easy mobility.

that

sticks, leaves,

and

Pacific, in the Arctic,

continents

in the

before

North and South

had not changed

in

coming

the

Europeans are now or were recently

many generations.

Mongolian

American (American
and Australian aborigine

native

deserts,

Indian), Inuit (Eskimo),

The

oldest

found

at

known traces of built human shelter


Amata in southern France are

Terra

communities are

to be evidence of how

assumed

minimal remains suggest the form of these huts


made from tree branches. Although there are few

have developed.

ancient relics to support assumptions about the

Ages.,

earliest

built

structures,

human

modern

societies press in

many

peoples survive in

now

in

book

"primitive" group of people building a structure

upon them, "primitive"


inaccessible geographical

to

made up of

branches tied together

tree

and branches through the main

the kind that appears in

ways (often reinforced by

more

flexible twigs

Wigwam,

or

is

if

clearly

an early form of shelter of

many "primitive"

receive an e.xterior plastering with

mistrust of the concept of "progress" that domi-

Arctic, a similar structure

modern "developed"

societies.

As

result,

"primitive" ways can be regarded as exemplifying

more ancient ways ways that can be traced back to


the stone age. Most "primitive" societies depend on
hunting, fishing, and food gathering for sustenance.

They are therefore generally to some degree migratory and must build shelter that is readily portable.

of snow

in the

cultures

covered with skins, a tepee.

system of taboos that discourage change), and a

nates

at the top,

with enclosing surfaces being built up by weaving

characterized by a powerful conservatism, a devotraditional

in All

of

is

structure. This

to

Man

Tlie Habitations of

may

the French architectural theorist and historian

regions and many others were e.xtant as recently as


one or two centuries ago. "Primitive" societies are

tion

shelter

retreat as

shelter, the practices

"primitive" societies. Although

In his 1876

human

Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814-79) tried


show how shelter making began. In an illustration
titled "The First House" (fig. 1.4) he shows us a

there

evidence to be found by turning to the other source

of clues to early

"primitive" living systems that

all

provide examples of shelter types that can be

believed to be 400,000 years old, but only the most

nature of the

Villages

Sahara and

in tropical Africa, settlements in the

Evidence from Tribal Cultures

of

ways

living in

may

mud

It

might

or, in the

be built up of blocks

dome-like form we

call

an

igloo. In

other locations where trees and branches are scarce, a


similar

form may be

built of

mud

brick with a

1.4

(far left)

ViolleMe-Duc, "The

First

House" from The

topping

like

Many

a hat of straw or thatch.

Habitations of Man

such "primitive" shelters share certain

characteristics.

They

are generally quite small

are almost invariably round.

The small

and

size reflects

all

in

Ages, 1876,

The author has imagined a group of ancient

people building an
enclosure or hut from
the available materials

^4i&

in their forest habitat.

Such a structure might


have been covered with
leaves, skins, or

even a

plaster of mud-

1.5

(/eft)

William

Henry Jackson,
photograph of a

Bannock family camped


near Medice Lodge
Creek, Idaho, 1871.
The native American
tepee was a round,

portable structure with

a frame of wooden
poles

and a covering of
intenor was

skin. Its

simply the inside of its


structure without

added treatment

or

furniture.

13

Chapter One

1.6 An engraving of a

Mongolian

function

(living

The yurt was a portable

of mud, with roofs of thatch resting like hats on the

enclosing wall of lattice

supporting a roof

walls (fig. 1.7).

structure of poles. The

Other "primitive" house types are not round.

was covered
is

with skins or mats.


Inside,

room, or

between related hut-rooms. Walls are constructed

an

structure with

exterior

kitchen, store

example), with covered doorway links

stable, for

strips

space,

yurt.

boxes to hold

possessions, rugs,

probably the use of

strip materials,

wood

It

poles,

or branches that suggests straight-line walls and so

and
leads to

stools created spaces

and

more or less rectangular box forms


The A-frame form of the Dawi

(figs.

with considerable

1.8

aesthetic character

monial chiefs house and the dwellings of the

and the need to


round form can be

Yemen, Pueblo building in the American southwest, some wigwams (known to us from drawings
made by early European settlers), and many house
types built by South American natives have rectan-

rarely

effort,

while

the

that

realities

one another. The forms of nature are


straight-lined
and
square-cornered.

gular plans. In Apulia in southern

would suggest circular forms;


in the materials available the making of square
corners might be difficult and create weak points in

house type

insects,

a fragile structure.

that

figure

will

circle

enclose

is

also the geometric

most area with

least

perimeter, a concept that might not be understood


in theoretical
itively in the

terms but could

Cameroon,

Africa.

The circular form of the

mud or stone
creates

hut

a room, and

several similar structures are

grouped

together to

make a

house complex,
including work spaces
(kitchens)

and food

storage areas, that

would be occupied by
an extended family and
their

animals The walls

are built up to

head-height while a
hat-like roof of straw or

thatch completes the


enclosure The simple
interiors

and sleeping

pads on the

14

dirt floors.

determined
realities

allow

of

penetration

smoke outlet. The whole


down, pack, and transport

the migratory hunting users needed to follow

the herds that were their food supply.

Ger of the Buryar

The Yurt

peoples of Mongolia

uses a vertical wall frame of lattice strips that


collapse for transport but are

modern
Willow
felt

elevator gate)
strips

and

expanded

tied to

form

(like

a circle.

form a roof structure and layers of


form the wall and roof enclosure.

are applied to

The portable

yurt,

still

in

use,

is

example of a design developed to

an interesting
fit

a particular

way of life in a particular geographical location.


The round, portable structures built by migratory peoples generally stand alone; each house
single unit, usually enclosing a single space.

is

More

complex houses of several rooms appear in villages


in locations where climate, water, and food sources
were sufficiently consistent to make constant relocation unnecessary. In the

room

is

actually a

Cameroon

in Africa,

multiroom houses where each


separate round hut with a special

there are villages of

round dome

built

is

by laying rings of

is

in part

in the

by the powerful environmental

of topography, weather,

igloo

or

region.

circulation,

(fig. 1.6)

an ancient

houses have been built for thousands of years

a top flap that could be adjusted to

when

Italy,

built of dry field

Other types of "primitive" house forms are

tied together at the top. Its

act as a

is

stone can cover the topmost opening. Such Trulli

doorway and
and

in regular use

in

stone in gradually diminishing circles until a single

control

held storage

containers

topped by

materials,

air

still

houses

stones to form a roughly square room. This

outer walls were skins arranged to permit a flap

tepee was easy to take

the

be grasped intu-

of the American plains had

(fig. 1.5)

frame of long poles

daylight,

in

still

process of building.

The Tepee

Matakam homestead

Guinea, packed

Observation of trees and rocks, of the shelters built

by birds and

or tribal village

mud

people of

conserve

reinforce

1.7 Plan and sectional

New

cere-

the limited availability of materials

explained as a reflection of several

elevation of a

1.9).

and

well

known but

the

availability

of

The snow-built
underground houses of

particularly climate.

Prehistory to Early Civilizations

Matmata in the Sahara are less familiar. A


Matmata house is made up of a central court, a
deep open-topped pit dug into the desert which
gives access to surrounding rooms that are totally
the

underground.

requires

clear contrast to the hives

geometric pattern and more or

the interior space of such houses that

Such

their reason for existence.

interiors are not

"designed" with the sophistication of concept that

we

associate with

rior

is

modern

interior design; the inte-

simply a hollow space created by the tech-

nique of building the outside. Into the inside of

all

such houses must go the equipment used in daily


life

cooking and eating

clothing, blankets,

utensils,

weapons, stored

and whatever there may be

in

way of furniture. Tables and chairs are rarely


used. Most "primitive" peoples sit on the ground
the

and use the earth surface

as the only table. Sleeping

arrangements use portable materials

ground rather than on

Rudimentar)' furniture appears


tive"

house

t}'pes

laid

on the

constructed bedstead.

in the

in

some "primi-

shelf-like platforms or

benches

constructed as part of the built structure of

mud

underground dug chambers, and snow-built


igloos. Storage devices, bags, baskets, and, where
huts,

representa-

less

tional imagery.

The

Whether round or rectangular, on the surface


of the earth, raised up on posts, or dug into the
is

(as

a structural or other

is

it

functional necessity. Painted decorative elements

night.

is

where

in

appear as fired pottery comes into use, with both

no added material and provides insulation


and extreme cold at

it

spiders)

is

other

tunnel

entrance

against desert heat by day

ground,

made by

nests

where pattern only appears

creatures

webs of

and

underground scheme

sloping

long,

gives access to the court. This

toward the introduction of designed pattern

patterns

and images

blankets, baskets, pots,

of these shelters

riors

with more

modern

that enliven clothing,

and other objects of the inteallow them to be compared

interiors

where

rugs, wall treat-

ments, furniture, and other objects are the elements


that

make an

interior space a designed entity. In

"primitive" practice, pattern and imagery are rarely

ornamental, however they

strictly

modern

may

viewers. There are purposeful

color, pattern,

and design

appear to

meanings

in

that serve to designate

identity within a society, tribal loyalties, religious or

mythic

references,

or

designs of an African

magical

woven

The

significance.

cloth (fig. 1.10) or a

Navajo blanket, for example, follow customs that

make

the visible designs significant in reinforcing

tribal traditions

few

and taboos. Entering

expression of a particular

way of

occupant with reassurances that


a

if

the significance

aesthetic value can

visible

confronts the

life

comfort and

modern
unknown, the

To
is

house where

some

offers

kind of aesthetic experience.

viewer, even

objects each offers

utilitarian

the

remain powerful.

they have been developed, pottery bowls, pots, and


1.10 Kente

jugs are the

most ubiquitous of artifacts.

West

This African

Pattern and Design

has

appeared

in

locations,

making

and rugs (and, of course,

clothing) of a manufactured
native to animal skins.

an ancient invention

is

many

possible baskets, blankets,

membrane

as

an

alter-

The weaving of fibers that


from natural sources or

are of varied colors either

through dying leads to the discovery that patterns


too can be woven. Such simple patterns as stripes

and checks lead

cloth,
c.

1975,

weaving

uses bright colors in

The technique of weaving


that

Africa,

to the invention of

geometric patterns that appear

and woven blankets and

more complex

in basketry, pottery,

rugs.

The human urge

contrasting bands. The

weaving
narrow

is

done

in

strips that are

sewn together

to

make

wider areas for use


robes, blankets, or

hangings.


Chapter One

The

First

Permanent Settlements

East between the Tigris

and Euphrates

rivers called

Mesopotamia.

The key inventions or


lization

on which

discoveries

civi-

invention of language, and the development of

Of these

agriculture.

base agriculture as

three

it is

agriculture

is

it

often called

fixed-

that has

most
As

directly influenced the design of built shelter.

long as food supply was dependent on hunting and


gathering of growing plant products, the

human

(fig.

buildings and

by the

Human

population, like the

of food and so remained, by

availability

modern

standards, very small.

The

discovery that

it

was possible to plant crops and harvest a larger and


more reliable food supply was the basis for a chain
of developments. Once

crops are planted,

necessary to remain close by

When

staying in

one

place,

it

is

ment

lasting

The oldest known

map show

city

the positions

of important buildings

such as temples,

specialized with systems of barter


to

make

and trade

possible for a farmer, a shep-

it

make exchanges with

b.c.e., larger

towns

even

cities

began to appear, and, with the resulting complexities,

systems for recording numbers and language


the invention of writing that

were invented.

It

underlies

the

emergence of

history" as

it is

events, names,

is

called

the

and dates

set

that

history,

"recorded

of records of specific

make

it

possible to

rivers

and canals, and walls


and gates. Although no
records of the interiors

of buildings exist the

say what

happened

in past times

able degree of certainty.

adequately

assured,

with a consider-

With food and

human

energies

shelter

over

and

sophistication of the

above the needs of subsistence make possible the

map

development of increasingly complex inventions

suggests that this

was a highly developed


civilization with

comparable
design

and the

arts.

level

activity.

of

All of these

developments occurred

and
The two areas where

rates in dift'erent places

years.

tion

first

developed to high

the Nile valley of Egypt

16

brick the
cities

and many major buildings were built in mud brick,


the poor lasting quality of this material has left only
ruins as survivals. Excavations by archeologists in

region find layer after layer of remains of

this

quent
It

cities built

has,

on

top.

however, been possible to reconstruct

part plans of houses, temples,

in

and palaces from

Sumerian

of Nippur, Sumeria,
B.C.E.

Mud

primary material of construction. While large

these ruins. Excavations at the site of the ancient

Around 4000

500

the available building materials

were limited, with sun-baked

were destroyed or allowed to crumble with subse-

more

weaver, a potter, or a builder to the benefit of both.

traces of

no longer necessary

it is

food supply also makes the growth of

herd, or a fisherman to

c.

design,

and

Unfortunately for the study of

With more people and with techniques for


building more lasting structures, villages and towns
become more permanent settlements. The making
of necessities (clothing, utensils, weapons) becomes
emerging

map

interior

the

population possible.

more

with an inscribed

1.11), various other artifacts,


cities.

in

successive cities built in sequence, as older cities

house types can be developed. Further improvein

societies

pottery, clay tablets

to harvest the results.

to use only portable housing so that

clay tablet

and other subsequent


Mesopotamian region include
this

food was available and remain within those limited


populations of other animal species, was controlled

The beginnings of a settled Sumerian civilization


based on agriculture and making use of irrigation
can be dated around 3500 b.c.e. when a system of
picture writing came into use. Surviving traces of

population was forced to travel to locations where

geographical regions.

1.11

Mesopotamia: Sumeria

built are the controlled use of fire, the

is

all

at different

took thousands of

early western civiliza-

levels

of complexity are

and the region

in the

Near

city

of Ur have uncovered traces of 4000-

year-old closely packed neighborhoods of houses,

each having several rectangular rooms around an

open

central court. This

house type has continued

many warm-climate regions up to the


present time. Arched or Vaulted roofs of mud or
clay brick may have been used. Mud-brick houses
to be

used

in

Prehistory to Early Civilizations

with

Domed

trulli

described earlier) are

roofs (similar to those of the Italian

Iraq

and

also

be of very ancient origin.

use in regions of

in

still

Syria, suggesting that this

house form may

deity,

builders as a

its

tended to be an enlarged and elab-

The White

orated version of the local house type.

Temple

at

Uruk, so-called because of the traces that

indicate that

its

walls were whitewashed,

before 3000 b.c.e.

It

was

built

a rectangular block with a

is

number of rooms surrounding

a central space that

Deep

ma\' have been covered or an open court.

have thickened

walls

bands to aid

vertical

strengthening the inherently weak


earlier construction at

Uruk

mud brick.

in

Even

includes fragments of

an elaborately patterned stud-

walls surfaced with

the building of

Moreover,

it

tomb along with

The ancient temple, viewed by


house of a

embalmment and the concern for


tombs of maximal lasting qualities.
was believed that objects placed in a

of techniques of

fied

the carefully protected

body could be taken

too large to be placed in a


boat,

for

example

On

model.

could

the walls of

1.2), texts spelled

combined with

mummi-

into the afterlife. Objects

tomb

house or

be represented by a

tombs and temples

(fig.

out in hieroglyphic writing were

and painted

visual images, incised

Taken together, the


stone buildings, the objects found in tombs, and
the surviving written and illustrated texts have
in plaster or directly in stone.

made

possible for archeologists to develop a clear

it

picture of ancient Egyptian ways

knowledge

in

and

to place this

an accurate chronological history.

ding of small cones of clay painted in black, white,

and

red; the mosaic-like designs suggest the zig-zag

and diamond forms of woven

Much

later,

Assyrian

included vast and

that can be studied as

rooms

they survive in excavated remains. Large

1.12

The

textile patterns.

cities

complex palaces with plans

Geometry and Proportion

in

and best-known of ancient Egyptian


structures, the pyramids (fig. 1.12) are among the
oldest surviving works (the oldest dating from c.
largest

2800

B.C.E.)

but their small interior passages and

Cross-section of

the Great Pyramid at


Ciza, Egypt,

2570-2500

B.C.E.

Although the internal


spaces are tiny

the palace of Sargon at Khorsabad


are thought to have

made

as a surface material,

in rich colors

tile

chambers are of less


tions

interest than their

demonstra-

of Egyptian conceptual thinking. Ancient

Egypt developed great knowledge of and

in

skill

some

basis

imagined reconstructions.

huge mass of the


pyramid, their forms
relationships are

geometric planning. The pyramids at Giza are posi-

complex and

tioned with a north-south axial orientation of

cant.

great

precision

(particularly

impressive

as

the

in

comparison with the

and

and enough exam-

ples of these decorations survive to give


for

b.c.e.)

had vaulted roofs and possibly

use of half domes. Glazed

was used

700

(c.

to

signifi-

A passage

leads

a false tomb

chamber, while the

form of the earth with its north and south


poles was unknown). It might seem that the slope
of the pyramid sides (51 degrees 50 minutes 35
spherical

Ancient Egypt

entrances to the

passages leading
fully

The

civilization of ancient

Egypt has

complete evidence for study so


complete interiors survive

left far

although no

that,

intact,

is

it

more

possible to

gain a clear idea of what those spaces must have

been

have

circumstances

Several

like.

worked

seconds) was an arbitrary choice until


that this

is

it

is

noted

the base angle of a triangle having a base

and hypotenuse that are respectively the short and


long sides of a "golden" rectangle, a figure in which
the ratio of the short side to the long side

is

the

concealed

was

available in the Nile valley,

the EgN'ptians learned to use

it

and

for important build-

ings although the everyday architecture of houses

and even palaces continued

Many

to

on

mud

Pyramids,

brick.

but some, like the famous


good condition. The pyramids
tombs and they call attention to the

to a degree,

in quite

built as

religious

beliefs

were

that

central

to

ancient

Egyptian society.
Egyptian religion,
included belief in a

life

like

many

after death,

ordinary emphasis on

the

bodies of dead persons. The

long as the body survived

other religions,

but

it

put extra-

preservation
afterlife

would

facing stone

7 Grand gallery

Relieving blocks

8 Tunnel

3 Shaft

of the
last as

hence the development

5 So-called queen's

chamber

False

9 Entrance

hope

break into the actual

tomb of Khufu
(Cheops), the pharaoh
for whom the pyramid
was built.

tomb chamber

Silhouette with original

4 King's chamber

Eg\'ptian structures of stone have survived,

some ruined
were

to rely

in

of defeating any efforts

together to preserve Egyptian design. Stone of good


lasting quality

to the

actual tomb were care-

Chapter One

same

sum

as the ratio of the long side to the

two; that

is,

caUing the short side

of the

and the long

The plans of Egyptian temples

side B:

"

an

A+B

relationship are the ratios of 0.6180:1,

which

is

equal to the ratio 1:1.6180. This relationship, often

Golden mean,

called the

has been discovered and

certain.

Without mathematical

techniques a golden ratio can be constructed with

triangle

and

compass by laying out a right


with an altitude equal to one half the base
a

DE

equal

to

(fig. 1.13).

one

Das a
center and DE as a
holfCE. With

an arc

radius,

is

the baseline CE. The

now

golden

B as
as

Its

divided in
A:B. With

ratio,

Its

and A

length

Another arc transfers the long

make

side to

it

the

hypotenuse of the triangle that represents a half

width, a golden

rectangle can be drawn.

1.14 Derivation

elevation view of the

pyramid

of

golden rectangle.

Using a golden
rectangle, the long side
is

swung

to

make

contact with the opposite

long

side.

The

resulting tnangle has

as

Its

base and

hypotenuse;

it

as

its

can be

called a golden tnangle

Egyptian art and design


subtle

1.15 (f;g/)f) Temple of


Amon, Karnak, Egypt,
c.

1530b,c,e,
is

vast space almost

filled

by the columns that


supported a stone

roof.

Incised hieroglyphics

covered the columns.

geometric concepts in architecture, in

(still

visible),

light

in bright

partially

which would

have glowed

in the

dim

admitted by roof

level clerestories.

18

art,

and

in

the design of everyday objects. This leads to the

many

Egyptian

works

"harmonic" controls

derives

from

such

so-called because of their

relationship to the parallel mathematical bases of

musical harmony. The musical chords that offer a


pleasant ("harmonious")

Onginally, the surfaces

were painted

make regular use of this


many other simpler

and

relationship

conviction that the striking aesthetic success of so


a

The hypostyle hall

colors

at the

was derived from the

vanished

stone.
its

The design of the


suggestion of a

base and below the Capital,

mud

columns strengthened

with bundled reeds of houses and palaces. The

inward slope (called Batter) of walls that had

mud construction
common character-

been used to improve

stability in

was retained in stone

and

is

of ancient Egyptian building. Flat stones used

sound are made of tones

with vibration frequencies in simple ratios such as


2:3,

3:4,

and

3:5.

Irregular ratios such as

17:19

produce harsh, discordant sounds. The proportions used in Egyptian design are

the

same sense

as the

enough to make it possible for stones to span from


one column to the next. Such spanning stones are
called Lintels; building that is based on columns
and lintels is called Post and lintel or

Trabeated

(fig. 1.14).

pyramid angle from

now

and so compel plans that stick to small rooms and


narrow passages, or, when a larger space was
required, fill the space with columns spaced closely

CD

C as a center, an arc is
swung from point X to
IS

god-^

as a roofing material can only span short distances

marking point X. With

base

binding of cord

istic

swung

hypotenuse

to the

and polished

stone column, with

a right triangle

IS

with

seems

straight-edges

golden rectangle,

CDE

it

the

and reached

temples) was translated into construction using

typical

and used

of

building (probably retained in early,

carefully cut

it

home

and courtyards. The mud-brick material of house

rediscovered at various times in history as a unique

knew of

chamber

layers of walled spaces

only through a succession of outer walls, gateways,

proportion believed to have both aesthetic and


mystic significance. That the Egyptians

construction of a

innermost

surrounded by

In numerical terms, the only values that satisfy this

1.13 Geometric

expanded and

are

elaborated versions of Egyptian house plans, with

A _
B

Egyptian Temples and Houses

"harmonic"

in

harmonious musical chords.

construction.

Prehistory to Early Civilizations

large space filled with

many columns

is

1.16 A ceremonial

called

throne from the tomb

Hypostyle hall. The enormous (170 x 338 feet)


Temple of Amon at Karnak
(begun c. 1530 b.c.e.) contains 134 columns with
surfaces covered with incised and painted hieroglyphic inscriptions (fig. 1.15). The columns are
built up of stone drums topped with capitals carved
in papyrus bud or flower forms. The center portion
a

of Tutankhamen,

hypostyle hall of the

c 1340

B.C.E.,

The basic structure of

ebony wood can only


be glimpsed

in the legs

of the chair, which

is

encrusted with inlays of

gold and ivory with


panels of painted,

of the hall

higher than the sides so that high,

is

unglazed Clerestory windows could admit


Access to the hall

is

symbolic imagery. The

light.

seating function
clearly

through two gateways centered

is

subordinated

between huge masonry elements called Pylons

grandeur,

with a large open courtyard between. Beyond the

conveyed by the

rich-

ness of matenal

and

more

hypostyle hall three

gates

to

the display of wealth,

between pylons

and power

sublime craftsmanship

complex of smaller chambers and


passages, now partly in ruins, which led to the most
sacred interior space, the chamber of the god.
protect the vast

with which they have

been assembled.

Temple plans can be analyzed to demonstrate


complex systems of geometry that set
the relationships and proportions of spaces, walls,
and columns in a way that must have had mystic,

chairs, tables,

symbolic significance as well as aesthetic impact.

decorated for use and display

symmetry is an almost invariable


Only traces of mud-built
palaces remain, but restoration drawings give some
idea of what their interiors might have been like.

wealthy and powerful. The typical preserved chair

There are surviving traces of whole towns of houses

Simple folding stools of an X-form of great elegance

their use of

Simple

bilateral

concept.

controlling

has a simple

the pharaoh

basis for suggested reconstructions of


at

one end of an enclosed garden used

some

for food production as well as amenity. In

tombs, wooden models of houses, shops, and other


facilities

of everyday

tional information

life

have survived, giving addi-

about the pleasant and colorful

character of these aspects of ancient Egyptian

Pigments

and

in clear primaries (red, yellow,

blue) as well as green were used, along with white

and

black, the latter generally only for linear forms

that

edged and defined areas of strong color. In

interiors, ceilings

were often painted

in a strong

blue, representative of the night sky. Floors

sometimes green, possibly symbolic of the

them richly
homes of the

ot

in the

with a low seat webbed

clawed animal foot forms.

of Egyptian design

(fig. 1.16).

Many smaller objects,

and glassware have also survived.


Small wooden boxes, sometimes inlaid with ivory,
were fitted out to contain cosmetics and tools for
pieces of pottery,

personal

adornment.

Such

objects

are

often

designed with attention to systems of geometric

life.

Egyptian use of color was both strong and effective.

many

The elaborate objects from the tomb of


Tutankhamen (c. 1340 b.c.e.) are wellknown examples of the colorful and ornate phases
also survive.

houses built

wood frame

their base with carved,

"suburbs" to house workers employed on

formed

cabinets,

with bands of rush or leather. Legs usually end at

vast royal building projects. Surviving traces have

built as

and

were

Nile.

proportions,

woven

golden

the

including

Surviving bits of

section.

textiles suggest that the

Egyptians were also highly skilled weavers and


colorists

of woven cloths.

Ancient Egyptian civilization survived,

in grad-

Roman

times.
up
development
is a
European
Its influence on later
other
peoples
around
Certainly,
matter for debate.
ually diminishing strength,

until

the Mediterranean visited Egypt, but the extent to

Egyptian Furniture and Other Interior

which the design of ancient Greece may have been


influenced by knowledge of Egypt can only be

Furnishings

Knowledge of Egyptian furniture comes from two


life

in

royal

is

a direct path of

or other aristocratic

Egypt was clearly demonstrative of the power of


strong conceptual thinking in the generation of a

houses, and actual examples

tombs and

Whether or not there

progressive development, the design of ancient

sources: images in wall paintings that

of everyday

guessed.

scenes

that

that have survived.

show

were placed

The

latter

in

include

powerful aesthetic expression.

and

Classical Civilizations: Greece

Rome
on the

Several clusters of habitation developed

northern edge of the Mediterranean, generating the


bases

on which

The term

European

"prehistoric"

since they have


first

later

left

is

civilization grew.

applied to these cultures

no detailed written

history.

The

of these in chronological sequence overlaps the

middle portion of ancient Egyptian history.

these palaces

is

that at Knossos, thought to have

been the palace of King Minos and

1450-1370

B.C.E.

Its

confusing as a result of

his successors in

complex

and

ruins

are

many

rebuildings. Recent

have created portions that

efforts at restoration

some idea of what the building may have been


when it was inhabited. The plan is a loose

give
like

agglomeration around a large central open area.

On

Minoan and Mycenaean Cultures

one

bers

side there

is

lower

level

of narrow cham-

perhaps the basis for the legendary labyrinth

where the fearsome Minotaur was supposed to

Minoan and Mycenaean cominunities developed


on small islands in the Aegean Sea, on the larger
island of Crete, and on the mainland of Greece
beginning around 2200 b.c.e. The term Minoan,
derived from the name of the legendary king
Minos,
have

is

used to refer to the society, presumed to

come from

Minor (now Turkey), that


scattering of settlements on Crete
some
Asia

up a
twenty towns or small
built

cities,

each with

its

own

palace and a population estimated at about 80,000

supported by agriculture and

fishing.

Some

with the contemporary society of Egypt

is

contact

assumed,

room at the palace at

although there

is

no

clear evidence of

its

influence.

1450-1370

B.c.E^

Knossos

H\\^ <vt

The elaborate wall


painting, with

Excavation

has

plants, contrasts with

Minoan

the simplicity of the

built, leaving

stone

and

the high-backed

throne of carved stone.

2.2 {opposite)

Interior

Rome

of the Pantheon,

as painted by C,
Pannini,

c.

all the

P-

1750.

Roman

The

temple

to

gods, built

18-28

C.E., IS

domed

structure containing a

spectacular in tenor The

diameter of 142 feet

and

the matching

height give the interior

a geometric

order, while

daylight pouring in

from the oculus (round

opening) at the top of

dome

illuminates

the space The niches


(originally altars to the

various gods), the

tall

Corinthian columns,

and

the wall surfaces

are colored with

marbles and gilded

bronze

20

cities,

benches,

floor,

1w ^^^

palace.

to

level

of

be the ceremonial

Many of the rooms are narrow

rooms with traces of


in a way that
they supported the wooden beams of

or small, but there are larger


free-standing
suggests that

columns

a roof structure.

On

spaced

the other side of the court

complex of smaUer rooms, including a


three-level grouping that seems to have been the
royal residence. There are stairs and light courts
there

is

leading to
ings.

The

(fig.

2.1)

rooms

that contain traces of wall paint-

restored stair halls


give

some

idea

and "throne room"


of the

surprisingly

Mycenae and Tiryns

its

images of animals and

the

rooms of the

an upper

Stairs lead to

chambers thought

informal and colorful character of these spaces.

Knossos, Crete,

larger

(below) Throne

2.1

c.

have been kept.

tures but

uncovered layer

after

layer

of

each destroyed as the next level was


only traces of the mud-brick struc-

more

extensive remains of

some of

the

where stone was the primary building


material. The best known and most complete of

palaces

The term Mycenaean is used to identify the ruined


palaces at Mycenae and Tiryns on the Greek mainland which date to the Late Bronze Age period
(1400-1250 B.C.E. ). These were placed on high
ground and planned with fortification walls for

Chapter Two

2.3 Reconstruction

defense. Giant rough-cut stones are laid

drawing of the

mortar to form complex

megaron of the palace


at

Mycenae, Greece,

second millennium
B.C.E.

The megaron was a


large rectangular or

square room, with a


central hearth

below a

raised roof with

an

exhibit the

same complex and labyrinthine plan-

ning encountered in the Cretan palaces. At Tiryns a

gateway leads to a courtyard with a columned

surround on three sides and, on the fourth

opening through which


the

smoke could

Megaron

called a

was from a porch with


two columns, which,

and Portico.
hearth,

the intenor

columns, tapered from

a larger capital

to

artist's

impression shows that


it

may have been

deco-

rated with complex,


abstract, painted

patterns.

was

round

and

a raised

throne placed

tiles

and surviving

wood

roof

at the center

destroyed around
earthquake.

1400

Mycenaean

b.c.e.,

probably by an

civilization

lasted

until

sometime between 1200 and 1000 b.c.e., when it


was displaced by the migration of Dorian invaders
from northern Greece.

Greece

traces suggest walls with

The migrating and invading Dorians and lonians


brought into Greece their
building, but also
the earlier

seem

own

systems of

wood

to have absorbed aspects of

Aegean architecture and even to display


The development of the

The
symmetrical plan and placement of the megaron in

traces of Egyptian design.

relation to the forecourt suggest the beginnings of a

around 900 b.c.e. made it possible for the Homeric


stories and others to be preserved, along with an
increasingly complete historical record.

colorful

painted

decorative

patterning.

formal and monumental approach to planning.


Excavation of town

sites

has revealed compact

clusters of houses, usually of four or five

grouped along narrow

streets or alleys

about without formal plan. Painted

tiles,

Greek alphabet and the related system of writing

rooms,

winding

The Temple

pottery,

and wall paintings give some idea of the design


vocabulary of the Aegean cultures, but there are no

22

more complete sense of the interior


The cities on Crete were all

central

of one side wall. The floor was paved with decorated

the style of roof IS

Internally, there

to suggest a

vernacular of houses.

room

with an outer vestibule

four columns supporting a

structure,

smaller base. Although

unknown, the

(fig. 2.3)

intact pieces of everyday furniture or other artifacts

side, the

facade of the major hall of the palace, a large

escape. The entrance

like

up without

and chambers,
topped in places with stones tilted inward which
meet to form a stone roofing. Enough stonework
survives for plans to be reconstructed which
galleries

The Greek temple developed from


megaron, the main room of the palace

the Aegean

it

was thus

3
1

Classical Civilizations: Greece

2.4 Creek orders of

the palace-house of a god, the only palace this

democratic

increasingly

wooden temples have

survived, but their nature

can be deduced from

stone temples. The

later

columns support short stone


with a Gabled roof above. The band of
closely spaced

forms an Entablature carved with


suggest the ends of

architecture.

No

required.

society

wooden

lintels

Entablature

Cornice

Frieze

Architrave

Capital

Base

lintels

Styiobate

details that

Stereobate

Abacus

and

rafters

and Rome

that even

10 Echinus

include the simulated ends of pegs of the sort that

Volute

12 Tnglyph

must have been used

wood

the joinery of

in

construction.

The

(strictly

ceremonial

construction simple, and

were

temple

Greek

of the

functions

minimal

Metope

The Doric order

symbolic),

or

which

narrow range of variations on

formula. The

Athens,

is

simple,

its

austere

and

columns

having no base and a


simple capital. The

enclosed space of the temple, the Cella, was

column

one or two rooms dedicated to a god


or goddess as a symbolic home. The striking visible
form of the building comes from the surrounding

worked out

Peristyle of columns, usually

theories of proportion so significant in Egyptian

usually only

(left),

the style used

at the Parthenon,

its

design limited to a

its

is

as multiples or submultiples of the

governing module.

typical of the

Ionic order (right)

is

characterized by a

Greek architecture

shows knowledge of the

also

capital with two spiral


volutes.

gabled front and

or eight

at

the

with additional rows of

rear

columns along each

making up

side,

of rhythmic

surround

six

simple

This

repetition.

total

formula was made effective by a combination of

some

devices,

discovery for

subtle

so

as

to

have

escaped

many centuries.

organizing elements according to a carefully inte(fig. 2.4).

The

that

rises

Sylobate)

and most admired


column with no base

oldest

order, called Doric, uses a

from a three-stepped platform (the


made up of a round

to a simple capital

Echinus with
The column is

the golden section proportion, for

The Parthenon at Athens (fig. 2.5),


usually considered the most perfect of Greek
temples (c. 440 b.c.e.), is planned with its two inte-

example.

rior spaces

each of the golden 1:1.6180

front elevation

The best-known and most obvious characteristic is the use of an Order, a systematic means of
grated plan

architecture

a square block or

Abacus

above.

golden

fits

proportion,

ratio. Its

same
column spacing

into a rectangle of the

whUe

the

makes it possible to discover a series of related


harmonious relationships. The Parthenon also
displays many of the more subtle departures from
strict regularity, called Refinements, that are characteristic of the most successful Greek temples.

2.5 Plan of the


Parthenon, Athens,
Greece,

447-435

Naos

Pronaos

3 Opisthodomos

Corner columns are spaced closer to

their neigh-

on

the

governing module. In addition, the horizontal

lines

bors

than

the

regular

spacing

based

4 Treasury
5 Base of Athena's statue

6 Peristyle columns

from bottom to top


curvature or Entasis. The entab-

slightly tapered

with a very slight

of the stylobate base platform are found to be bent

upward

columns lean

Solid wall

8 Steps (stereobate and


styiobate)

band above is made up of three parts: a plain


Architrave; a Frieze made up of alternating
panels
the Triglyphs that recall wood rafter
ends, and the blank or sculptured Metopes
between; and above, a projecting Cornice or

curved. These slight shifts from total regularity

columns at each

serve to correct the optical or perspective distor-

penstyle surround.

crowning element.

verticals to lean.

lature

dimensions that

All

relate

of these parts are given

through a

Module

or unit

based on the diameter of the column. In the early


(c.

550

B.c.E.)

Doric temples, such as

Greek colony on the


height
eter.

is

at

Paestum, a

Italian peninsula, the

only about four and a half times

column

its

diam-

This proportion tended to be gradually altered

in later

work

at different sites,

with the height of

in a slight curvature,

slightly

inward, and the lines of the entablature are also

tions that can

make

straight lines

They

seem

to curve or

Eight columns at front

and back

front

column reaching

eight times the

The spacing of columns, the bands of the


and even the smallest elements are

entablature,

form, with the

side,

and back an

At
addi-

row of SIX
columns stands in front
of the doorways which
lead to the naos or
mam chamber at one
tional

also introduce

an aesthetic

end and the smaller


chamber, or treasury, at
the other end. Within
the naos, columns

support an upper

balcony where additional

the Parthenon

diameter.

b.c.e.

columns support

the roof The statue of


the goddess Athena

dominates the naos.

23


Chapter Two

2.7 Creek ornamental

quality that might be called

detail.

shifting of
The patterns called a
Creek key

and

the

more

complex vanant, known


as a Greek

executed

and

fret,

were

mosaic

in

in

its

delicate

mechanical

strictly

precision.

many Greek temples contain only the


room of the megaron house, but some

Internally,

simple single

tiles

larger

are a frequent

"humane"

forms away from

temples

have

supporting a

interiors.

range

Mezzanine

feature of Greek

of columns

rows of columns

internal

or balcony with an upper

supporting

the

roof above.

the most ornate of the three orders, using both

It is

small volutes at the corners of the

and carved forms of acanthus


lower part of the

capital.

Roman

column

The Corinthian order was

Although no complete interior of any Greek temple

widely used in

has survived, the ruins of the temple of Poseidon

of later users of classical architectural

Paestum

(fig. 2.6), for

aesthetic success of this arrangement.

ruins mislead

modern

at

The white

times and has been a favorite

Even the smallest

example, give an idea of the

become elements

capital

leaves ringing the

details

detail.

of Greek design have

our understanding of the

in

viewers; the original build-

concept of classicism. The moldings that are part of

we know from traces


Polychromy (use of

the orders and the ornamental details that were

ings used strong color, as

discovered in the stones. Such

must have made these buildings quite


different from the pristine image so often imagined.
color)

Following the Doric order, two other orders

including moldings given names such as


Bead and reel or Egg and dart, bands of carved
Dentils or Greek key ornament (fig. 2.7)

used

continue to be used in

classical design.

Erectheum and the Temple of Athena Nike on the

The influence that the design of Greek temples


has had on western architecture and design is
remarkable considering their small number,
modest size, and specialized purpose. Ancient
Roman design borrowed heavily from the admired
work of the Greeks. Roman architecture was redis-

acropolis in Athens both used the Ionic order,

covered in the Renaissance, bringing back the

which

romanized version of Greek design

came

into use in

Greek architecture. The Ionic

order uses a column

taller

and thinner

tion than the Doric, adds a base detail,


clearly identified

form

Volutes.

also

by

its

The

capital with

small

its

temple

in

and

proporis

most

twin scrollcalled

the

appears in the interior of the Doric

Temple of Apollo at Bassae. The Ionic order is


usually viewed as more gentle, perhaps more "feminine" than the austerity of the Doric. The third
order, called Corinthian, came into use much later.

classical beauty. In the latter part

when

century,

travel

Greece became

to

knowledge of actual Greek


illustrations

as the ideal of

of the eighteenth

sites

easier,

through printed

and detailed drawings became the


on Greek prece-

basis for a revival of design based


2.6 The Temple of
Italy, c.

460

ings,

b.c.e.

of
This view

had a roof

looks

down

naos (principal

room). The lower

tier

design.

In

more

times, interest in the conceptual aspects of

design

has

overshadowed

recent

of columns would

literal

Greek

imitation.

Le

Corbusier, the influential French modernist, in his

of

columns supported a
balcony, where another
series

nineteenth-century

of the Doric

temple, which originally

into the

Greek orders, of temple buildand of Greek ornament was a frequent theme

dents. Imitation of

Poseidon, Paestum,

manifesto Towards a
aesthetic
details

logic

New Architecture,

praised the

of Greek design and illustrated

of Greek temples in direct comparison to

have supported the

wooden roof

images of automobiles and


as

aircraft that

he viewed

having parallel merit.

Secular Interiors
Aside from temples, the major building types of
ancient Greece do not emphasize enclosed, interior
spaces.

The Greek

nature with

theater

its tiers

was open

to the sky

about the circular orchestra that served as

Towns included
which was both

24

its

stage.

open square, the Agora,


market and a general public

a central
a

and

of seats arranged in a semicircle

Classical Civilizations: Greece

and Rome

2.8 Reconstruction
drawing of a typical
Greek house at Priene,
Asia Minor, fourth

The Growth of Athens

century

A
Thucydides chronicled the long Peloponnesian War

open

between 433 and 404 b.c.e. He comments on


how the situation caused an unplanned and
haphazard expansion of the city of Athens:

writing

for

them

one

megaron

pleased at having to

move with

far

front

bedrooms

from

their entire

interior

rooms
and

trs

floor; a

second courtyard
is

is

room)

rare.

had

A room

IS

blank, apart

from an unobtrusive
entrance door All the
living quarters face into

the interior court.

not unusual. Only

detail

is

limited;

floors of Tamped

No

evidence suggests that

were generally plain with white-painted walls

earth

or, .sometimes, ot

furniture survives, but

other ceramics, give an idea of

tile.

images in Greek

painting, particularly the paintings


its

on vases and

design.

recur-

shows a chair of great elegance probably of a kind only possessed by the wealthy (fig.
2.9). It has a slightly curved back supported by
ring image

'

Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War,

(large

excavated foundations survive so that knowledge ot

had to settle down in those parts of the city that


had not been built over, and in the temples and
shrines of the heroes-except in the Acropolis.
.

second

forming the area primarily used by

children. Larger houses occasionally

with a bathtub of terracotta

It

honoured from their patriotic past, that they


prepared to change their whole way of life, leaving
behind what each man regarded as his own city.
When they arrived in Athens, a few had houses
of their own to go to, and a few were able to find
shelter with friends or relations; but most of them

all

women and

was sadly and reluctantly that they


now abandoned their homes and the temples time
households.

rooms

at the end. The street

move was a difficult experience


them had always been used
were

side, various

on the opposite side,


and by a columned

since most of

to living in the country .... So they

to the sky, is

flanked by a portico on

The Athenians took the advice he [Pericles] gave


them and brought in from the country their wives
and children and all their household goods, taking
down even the woodwork on the houses
themselves. But the

b.c.e.

central courtyard,

Rex Warner (Penguin,

1972), pp. 133-5

2.9 The
Hegisto

meeting place. The Stoa at the edges of the agora


provided shelter for commerce within long colonnades with small rooms at the back serving as
shops, for storage, or as work spaces. The stoa of
150

Attalos

(fig.

2.10) in the Athenian agora

B.c.E.)

has

been extensively restored, giving

(c.

convincing impression of what such places must

have been.

An

outer row of Doric and an inner row

of Ionic columns support the roof of wood and

Greek houses were

tile.

typically simple groupings of

rooms around an open court

(fig. 2.8). In cities

the

stele of
c,

410 bce.

The bas-relief shows an


elegantly dressed lady

seated

in

a chair of the

unique Greek type


called a klismos. The

outward curving

legs of

wood support a square


frame, which has a

surface of leather
straps.

The rear legs

continue up to a backrest panel. There is

small footrest

in front

of the chair.

houses were packed together along streets with

blank exteriors except for the entrance

largely

doorway. Material was sun-baked brick

or,

some-

times, rough stone with surfaces plastered or stuc-

coed and whitewashed. Plans vary

in

response to

the preferences of individual families, but there


rarely

The Andron,

ties.

kind of vestibuled parlor

suggesting the form of the earlier megaron,


usually close to the entrance

men

court
living

is

any concern for symmetry or other formali-

and

is

is

for the use of

owner and his friends. Beyond, the open


surrounded by the Oecus, an all-purpose
and work space, a kitchen and, beyond that, by
the

is

25

Chapter Two

2.10 The

interior of

thestoa of Attalos

in

the agora of Athens,


Greece,

c.

The agora

50

b.c.e.

(civic center

or marl<et place) in

now restored,

Athens,

was partly surrounded


by a covered colonnade, called a stoa.
line

of Done columns

on the left and a row of


Ionic columns at the
center supported a

wooden

roof.

The doors

at the right led to

rooms that were used


for dining

and storage

by the merchants,
whose wares were
displayed in the open
portico.

2.11 The theater


at Epidaurus, Greece,
c.

350

B.CE.

The Creek theater was

open

to the sky, with

semicircular

tiers

seating facing

of

down

toward the circular


floor or orchestra,

where

a chorus might dance


or sing. Actors played

on a temporary raised
platform or stage

behind the orchestra.


The theater was usually
sited in a spectacular

landscape that formed

a natural backdrop.

26

Classical Civilizations: Greece

corner uprights that continue the rear


seat

is

The

legs.

an open square of round wooden members

webbed with some material, probably leather. Both


front and back legs take a strong outward curve,
the characteristic of the Klismos chair type. The
form suggests curved animal parts that may have
been used

in early versions

of the klismos.

form and
about how such chairs were made
a structurally logical

The

strength.

legs

straight strips

It is

not

questions

raises

to have adequate

could have been bent from

the technique of steam-bending

if

from about 150

to control all of Italy until,

400

C.E., its

and Rome

b.c.e. to

empire controlled most of the known

western civilized world. In design, the

Romans

were content to borrow the aesthetic concepts of


the

expanding,

Greeks,

menting
quality.
nical.

Roman

It is

bridges,

elaborating,

and orna-

as they chose, usually to the detriment of


skills

were organizational and tech-

in the great

engineering works

and Aqueducts

vast

interior spaces that

most

striking.

and

roads,

in the creation

Roman

achievement

of
is

had been discovered, or they may have been made

from

branches selected for providing the

tree

desired curve.

Modern

efforts to

Greek chairs and other furniture types have met


with uncertain success.

From about 300


Hellenistic

monuments became

onward, during the

b.c.e.

Greek

age,

temples,

theaters,

larger,

In

and

more

and

richer,

complex, with elaborate ornamental details


2.11).

(fig.

the second century b.c.e. the loosely

connected Greek

came under

city states

Domes

Arches, Vaults, and

reproduce ancient

the

domi-

nation of Rome.

The use of arches in spanning over wide openings


with permanent materials was known to the
Egyptians and to the Greeks, but arched construction

was used

by these

in limited, generally utilitarian

civilizations.

It

remained

apply

its

Rome

ings that

on the

Roman
Italian

to

major buildings. An arch

is

an

arrangement of wedge-shaped stones put together

its

neighbors on

stones can thus be made to

The

and

potentialities in the creation of interior

spaces within

between

precedents.

ways

Romans

to explore the full possibilities of the arch

so that each stone, or Voussoir,

Ancient

for the

design drew
links

extensively

were the Etruscan

on Greek

civilization

peninsula that had in turn been

influenced by the Greek colonies in


direct contact that occurred as the

Greece, finally making

it

Italy,

and the

no one stone

most often made

in

Many

could span. Arches are


familiar

curved form

(although they can be slightly curved or


semicircular form

is

small

reach across wide open-

lintel

the

held trapped

is

either side.

often called a

flat); its

Roman arch

(fig. 2.12).

Romans invaded

part of the

Roman

empire. Etruscan houses and temples from before

2.12 Atypical Roman


arch and an arch under
construction with

300

only

B.C.E. are

known from

surviving traces

and from the verbal desciptions provided by the


Roman writings of Vitruvius. Houses followed the
Greek megaron type with mud brick and wood as
primary materials. In temple building, a columned
front portico with gabled

pediment above suggests

Greek temple architecture.

An

Springing

2 Voussoir
3

Keystone

4 Centering

Ancient
tects

Roman

and

archi-

made

builders

extehsive use of various

order based on

Greek practice was used, having a simplified Doric

column with

centering.

a base similar to that of the Ionic

forms ofarcfi

in the

construction of doors,

windows, and interior


spaces. The typical arch

As taken over and executed in stone later by


Romans, this became known as the Tuscan

order.

the

ORDER, the

of the

first

five

orders identified as

limited

idea

semicircular,

and

construction

required the use of a

temporary wooden

Roman. Pottery and wall paintings from Etruscan


tombs often show details of everyday life, and give
a

was
its

support structure

known as

centering.

of furniture and other artifacts

Roman times.
Rome was founded,

predating

753

B.C.E.

By 300

b.c.e.

according to tradition, in

Rome expanded

its

power
27

Chapter Two

Arches pose two technical problems. The


all

of an arch must be in place before

will stand.

means

that

it

first

of the stones

involves technique of construction:

This

Centering must be

built to

support the stones as they are put in place until the


arch

Romans understood how

complete. The

is

to

support centering from projecting stones near the


base of an arch, which avoided the need to build

wooden

the

from the ground up, and

structure

it

outward thrust

exerts

in

two

In addition to their skilled exploitation of these

Romans

constructional techniques, the

oped the dome,

also devel-

kind of round vault having the

form of a half or smaller segment of a sphere. A


can only cover a circular space and requires
support around its perimeter. In addition to arch,

dome
vault,

and dome building

in neatly cut stone called

Ashlar, the Romans added the use of a strong and

an Arcade, removing the centering from under a

lasting

it

could support the next one

under construction.

The second problem of arch construction


results

from the

fact that the

wedging action of the

voussoirs transmits pressure sideways through the


arch, generating an

Card, Nimes, France,

corners as

directions at those points.

they reused centering for the successive arches of

complete arch so that

2.13 The Pontdu

at its four

temporary scaffolding structure,

usually of wood, called

Such a Groin vault requires support only

vaults.

outward force or Thrust that

fired

modern
Romans

or mortar (the

Romans used

unlike their

The
mix of cement

flat

squares.

a volcanic ash called

pozzolana) with stones or gravel and water to


a

make

substance that would flow into place in any

desired form
artificial stone.

boring arches on either

easily

bridge or aque-

bricks,

also developed concrete, a

must be resisted in some way. In a series of arches


making up an arcade, the thrust of each arch is
absorbed by the balancing thrust of the neighside. In a

Roman

brick.

equivalent, were thin,

and subsequently harden into an


Stone was the material most used
and

for visible exterior

interior surfaces, but the

structure behind the surface often

made

use of the

handled (and ine.xpensive) brick or concrete

late first century b.c.e.

duct
This

(fig. 2.13),

the

last

arches of the series press

Roman aqueduct

bridge uses three

tiers

against a hillside or a massive

of arches to support a

enough

large water channel (at

tion, thick

to

the top), carrying water

from sources high


the mountains

of the

in

down

to

the coastal city of

Nimes

In bridge

aqueduct

and

structures,

each arch transfers


thrust to

Its

its

neighbors

while the end arches


thrust against the

adjacent

hills.

hill

abutment heavy

in

whatever combination was most practical and

efficient.

absorb the thrust. In building construc-

and heavy

walls take over the function

Amphitheaters and Baths

or abutment. Arches can span wide

openings, but masonry roofing of an interior space

Roman

engineering was put to use in the building

requires the extension of an arch to

of huge stadium amphitheaters such as the famous

The simple extended arch vault,


VAULT (or sometimes a tunnel vault) must rest on
massive walls on either side to absorb its thrust. A
more complex vault results from the form generated by the right-angle intersection of two barrel

Colosseum

form a vault.
called a Barrel

Rome

in

(72-80

c.e.)

and theaters with

similar tiers of seating in a semicircle facing an

elaborate stage structure. Since they were

open to

the sky, the only enclosed spaces of theaters

amphitheaters

were

complex

the

systems

and
of

passages and stairs that gave access to the seating.

Arches and barrel vaults were ideal structural


devices for these elements.

The

great amphitheaters

were provided with temporary roofing through

awnings or
certain

a tent-like covering, although

whether

Cantilevers

was

this

from

perimeter

the

cables spanning the space in the

it

is

not

through

arranged

through

or

manner of modern

tension structures.

The

great public baths

another public
Romans

building type developed by the

service

called for

vast clusters of enclosed spaces in varied sizes

and

and dome
construction. Furnace heat was passed through
under-floor spaces (Hypocausts) and through
shapes,

making

flues in walls

full

use

of vault

which, along with the generous flow

of water, produced steam and heated


varied

28

temperatures

that

the

air at the

Roman

bathing

Classical Civilizations: Greece

and Rome

2.14 Reconstruction
drawing of the Baths
of Caracalla,

Rome,

211-17C.E,

Enormous Corinthian
columns supported the
overhead vaulting,
while openings
clerestory
in

and

windows high

the walls flooded the

interior with light.


floors, walls,

The

and

vaulting were covered

with richly colored

marble as an expression of the greatness of

the
Its

Roman empire and

emperor

29

Chapter Two

2.16 Plan and

section

of the Pantheon, Rome,


c.
1

118-128c,E,

2 Niche

the sky. Areas were provided for gymnastic exer-

3 Portico

4 Oculus

cises

circle

dome

is

half sphere, while the


walls below form

cylinder with a height

just half its diameter

The

circle

drawn on the

section thus

fits

intenor of the

and touches
Its

sports, for social relaxation,

and even

for

Arched openings permitted daylight

to

enter the halls of the bath; the tepidaria of the great

also controls the

The

and

a library.

that forms

the basis of the plan

section.

(warm), Caldarium (hot), and Laconicum (very


hot) led to the Frigidarium, a large pool open to

Rotunda

The

system required. The sequence of Tepidarium

the

Roman

baths are the

fully lighted

by

first

daylight.

large interior spaces to be

Although the enclosing

roof structures are in ruins, the surviving portions


of the Baths of Caracalla (211-17

and of Diocletian (298-306

c.e.)

c.e.; fig.

make

it

2.14)

possible

to study their elaborate, totaOy symmetrical plans

dome

the floor at

and have encouraged


spaces for

center

of

New

modern

efforts to recreate the interior

functions.

The main concourse

York's old Pennsylvania Railroad Station

(demolished 1963), for example, was designed to


recreate the vast, Corinthian

columned and vaulted

so-called

Maison Carre

Roman

France, but a

Nimes

at

colony

in

now in
when

(fig. 2.15;

20

c.

b.c.e.

the temple was built), have survived in excellent

condition thanks to their sturdy construction with

tepiciarium of the Baths of Caracalla.

a barrel-vaulted roof enclosing the cella.

such smaller

rior of

Temples

Roman

The

inte-

temples was a simple,

smooth-walled room with a Coffered vault above

The

practical

and secular Romans were

less inter-

ested in temples than in amphitheaters, baths,

and

and

Larger

aqueducts, but they did build temples to their gods.

Nimes, France,
century

Carre,
first

b.c.e.

and half columns


surround the enclosed
cello

of this

temple.

It is

now

in

show

ruins,

walls or attached ("engaged") Pilasters were the

Pantheon

norm. Some smaller

Roman

temples, such as the

of Venus and

Rome

Rome

in

(135

c.e.),

for

example, had two interior chambers facing toward

two ends of the building, each with side walls


covered by a columned order with niches between
the

columns and at the back-to-back ends of the


rooms. Apses with half-dome tops obviously the

locations of the obligatory statues.

The
well

best

known

preserved,
in

Rome

the gods (figs. 2.2

round room 142

dome.

of

Roman

the

is
(c.

and

18-28

and

C.E.), a

impressive

temple to

2.16). Its interior

feet in

On

temples, fortunately

huge

is

diameter topped by a half-

the plaza there

is

an entrance

portico with eight Corinthian columns. Across

width

is

a triangular

all

a single

Pediment.

Two

its

additional

rows of four columns each make the portico

a simple

space leading to the great bronze entrance doors

barrel-

vaulted roof of stone


construction has

kept the building

in

nearly anginal condition. It

temples,

Roman

chamber with a
Its fine

Roman

evidence of more elaborate interiors. The Temple

spherical

Corinthian columns

the temple was

only contents.

The Roman temple used the Greek concept of a


single room (cella) housing a statue of the god with
a columned portico in front using a Roman version
of one of the Greek orders. The Roman preference
was for their own versions of the more elaborate
Ionic and Corinthian orders and the hybrid
Ionic
and
Composite order
(combining
Corinthian elements) rather than the more austere
Doric. Along the sides and rear of temples, freestanding columns were not used either plain

2.15 Maison

its

whom

god to

a statue of the

dedicated as

has been the

inspiration for

many

works-such as the
American eighteenthlater

century Virginia State

deep

(still in place and working on their original hinges).


The main body of the buOding has walls 14 feet
thick hoUowed out with spaced columned recesses
each dedicated to a particular god. The total height
of the space matches its diameter, making the lower

half a cylinder matching the height of the

above.

The

walls

below the dome are

dome
in

the

House by Thomas

Corinthian order with a simulated Attic, or upper

Jefferson.

story, above.

30

The dome

is

coffered with five tiers of


Classical Civilizations: Greece

smooth

coffers of decreasing size; a

below the open Oculus ("eye")


of internal lighting. The
thick at the top

dome

is

the only source

is

of concrete, 4

and becoming thicker

levels to carry the increasing load

aid in resisting

ring at the top

outward

thrust.

feet

lower

at its

and add weight

The

to

wails are of

concrete and brick with stone facing inside and


out.

The

vast size of the

Rotunda

interior,

its

rich

ments surprisingly similar to their modern counterparts. Knowledge of the settings and character of
everyday residential
vastly

aided

life in

Roman

times has been

through the extraordinary way

in

which whole towns were preserved when the eruption of

Mount Vesuvius

in

79

2.17 Reconstruction
drawing of the
of Maxentius,

307-312

buried the

cities

basilica

Rome,

C.E.

Only three bays survive


of this massive public

assembly
c.e.

and Rome

hall,

but they

reveal the scale

and

of Pompeii and Herculaneum in lava and ash.

nchness of this exercise

These were resort towns where the well-to-do had

in

surface ornamentation, the dramatic effect of the

houses of considerable luxury, but they can be

beams of sunlight which stream in through the


oculus to be reflected from the polished marble
floor, and the special acoustical quality generated
in a round room make the Pantheon interior one
of the most remarkable spaces surviving from

taken to be quite typical examples of the

approach

to

Roman

domestic architecture. Excavations

at

concrete vaulted

construction High

windows

clerestory

admitted light

to illumi-

nate the nch decoration.

ancient times.

With the spread of the Roman empire over


major part of the European and Near Eastern
lized world, variations

developed with

more

and

Roman themes

the basic

tendency toward more complex

elaborate

Roman

design.

on

civi-

over-elaborate

often

temple structures such as those

at

Pergamum, Turkey, had


ornamented interiors. The

Baalbek, Lebanon, and at

complex and richly


Temple of Venus at Baalbek,
a

for example, included

kind of small temple within the large temple

cella.

Secular Buildings
The Roman Basilica

(fig.

huge impact on

later building.

hall built for use as a

The

major

to have a

basilica, a large

courtroom, had a central

Nave through

space (called a

was

2.17)

was destined

secular building type that

its

supposed simi-

an inverted ship hull) to accommodate a

larity to

public involved in the litigation or

trials;

the judge

2.18 The
of Trajan,

marl<ets

Rome,

100-1 12 CE.

large, enclosed,

vaulted hall

sat

on

a raised level in

building.
aisles

On

an apse

at the

either side, separated

end of the

by an arcade,

provided space for circulation adjacent to the

had open-

ings on both sides

giving access to the


various shops,

and an

upper gallery giving

nave proper. The nave was


aisles so that

nave

in the

made

higher than the

windows could be introduced high up


walls,

forming a

clerestory. Walls of

access to additional
shops. This hall

vi/as

part of a complex of

commercial buildings

masonry supported a wooden roof This arrangement of nave and aisles with a focal apse turned out
to be highly suitable to conversion into a Christian

built

urban renewal
It

church

after

Roman

religion

Christianity

around (306-37

became an accepted

under the emperor Constantine

project.

included a basilica,

forums,

and

other

public buildings.

c.e.).

Other secular

Roman

building types included

markets with vaulted covered


suggestive of the

houses to service
Ostia,

under the Emperor

Trajan as part of an

halls

(fig.

2.18)

modern shopping maU, warecommerce at port cities such as

and multi-storied apartment houses or tene31

'

Two

Chapter

2.19 Plan of the


Houseof the Vettii,
Pompeii,

63-79
1

'

the sites of the disaster have uncovered streets,

houses, shops, even people caught in the eruption.

Italy,

An

C.E.

Entrance

astonishing variety of small objects, paintings,

and Mosaics make

2 Atrium

Roman

ancient

3 Kitchen

possible

it

to

understand

design in great detail. Although

and
and to the needs and means of its
owner, the Pompeiian house follows patterns that
had become norms in Roman Mediterranean

4 Dining room

quite varied in plan in response to the size

5 Parlor

shape of

6 Main room
The House of the

was

Vettii

typical of the

its lot

comfortable houses

regions.

inhabited by the

The house was usually a one- or two-story


building fronting on a street with a blank wall or,
often, with shops on the street and an unobtrusive

resi-

dents of Pompeii. The

rooms were arranged

around the atrium,


while the exterior front

entrance through a passage leading to a courtyard

of the house was simply

a blank wall with an


unobtrusive entrance
door. Other
built

near

houses were

layouts of which
lock with the

the

open Atrium
would be a pool (Impluvium) with
surrounding columns supporting a wood and tile
open

by, the

to the sky. In the center of this

there
inter-

House of

The Cost of Living

in

Ancient

Rome

roof that covered the colonnaded passage that gave

Vettii.

Many
life

Rome

describe

live.

made

Rome

whereas
... yet

who

lived in

Rome

for thirty

expensive to satisfy one's hunger,

Spain one can

live well

on a small income
Rome can obtain

the landowner living outside

everything he needs without paying for

made

Juvenal's Satires
Living in

Rome

same

the

forces

one to expensive

parlor

Tablinum with an

or

Roman

adjacent

preference for eating in a semi-

Windows were

reclining posture.

point:

axis

Triclinium or dining room furnished with three


couches on three sides of an open square. Here a
table could be placed, the whole arrangement
suiting the

it.

On

with the entrance, there was usually a sort of

light

displays, such as

most of the rooms of the house.

access to

formal

the following observation:

it is

In

Roman

as a ruinously expensive place to

Martial, a Spaniard

years
In

of the contemporary commentators on

rare since the

admitted by the door openings facing the

social

atrium were considered ample. Smaller special

wearing one's toga every single

purpose rooms such

day.

were

And moreover,

fitted

in

as a kitchen, baker)',

where they served

their

and baths
purposes

most conveniently.
The cost of housing is so expensive that the annual
rent of a dark and dingy abode in Rome would buy
the freehold of a fine house and garden in a nearby
town
[0]ne has to spend heavily in order to
manage to live in vile lodgings with enough food for
'
the slaves and only a modest dinner for oneself
In

were expected to pay

for municipal

baths at Bononia, built by the emperor Augustus and

emperor Caligula, bear the

Ut ex

perpetuum

from

Larger houses often

wealthy families.
courtyards,

in size

an atrium

in

few

mansions occupied by
had two

front surrounded

by

rooms making up

a formal outer zone linked by a

room

to a larger court or peristyle


set of rooms forming a
The House of the Vettii (figs.

surrounded by another

amenities as part of their duties as citizens. The public


restored by the

off an atrium to large

transitional

addition to these heavy costs of living, public-

spirited citizens

Pompeiian houses varied

rooms

inscription,

private living realm.

2.19-2.22) at Pompeii has a very large peristyle

number of rooms, although there


service zone with its own small
The very large House of Pansa is

court but a small


reditu in

viri

et impuberes

utriusque sexsus gratis laventur

is

''

a kitchen

open
which, translated, records thatT. Avasius Servandus

had paid 400,000

cestercii to restore

the free use of both sexes

in

court.

arranged around two courtyards arid has a large

the baths for

perpetuity as part of his

civic duty.

garden

at the rear.

houses

is

that the
1,

Martial.

Quoted

in

Epigram 12,3^;

2.

Juvenal, Sot/re i, 171, 3.

/fori,

Duncan Jones, The Economy of the Roman Empire

(Cambridge, 1974),

p.

230

223;

4.

The planning of such Roman

developed from the interior outward, so

outermost perimeter

is

often surrounded

by smaller houses and shops fronting on the public


streets.

no

32

and

Thus the house can be described

visible exterior unless there

is

as having

garden with a

Classical Civilizations: Greece

2.20 The

and Rome

atrium,

House of the

Vettii.

The luxurious house

was partially preserved


by being buried by the
eruption of

Mount

Vesuvius. The atrium

has a central pool,

open

to the sky,

and

is

2.21 Wall paintings

surrounded by a
symmetrical arrange-

ment of rooms. Beyond,


there

is

a garden

surrounded by a
style

the House of the

The walls of the rooms


of the houses

peri-

of columns

In

Vettii,

in

Pompeii often included


paintings of simulated

supporting a roof

architectural detail. The

Pieces of the original

painting was of consid-

mosaic wall decoration

erable artistic merit,

survived

and

are

now

preserved under glass.

and other paintings


with architectural
themes, such as those
in the corner

room,

of this

may give

clues to

the design of local

buildings no longer

extant


Chapter Two

2.22 Wall paintings in


Houseof the Vettii.

the

wall painting in

another room of the

house of the
includes a

amusing

from the House of the

Loggia facing toward it. Plans are quite varied


according to the size and shape of the lot: often
there was an upper story with rooms having
secondary functions, perhaps rooms for children,

work

servants, or storage.

what the varied and

scene of cupids
to be a

at

work

Vettii illustrates a fanciful


(fig.

pharmacy, which

tables, stools,

is

2.22) in

what appears

shown furnished with

and cabinets

that give

an idea of

Vettii

band of

cupids, which

may illustrate a story


no longer known. The
cupids appear to be at
work in a pharmacy,

rich furniture of

Rome must

have been.
Furniture

and Other

Interior Furnishings

The hot volcanic lava and ash that buried Pompeii


and Herculaneum destroyed the wooden structural
parts of houses and objects of wood, but elements

The Legacy of Rome: Technology

of cabinets and caul-

that were not of inflammable materials survived

in

drons provide informa-

stone couches and tables, iron and bronze artifacts,

water supply systems, using aqueducts and tanks to

mixing up potions
great

tion

vats.

in

The details

about the design

of the furniture and

eguipment that might


have been found in

Roman

houses of the

oil

lamps and charcoal braziers, and decorative

fresco paintings and mosaics. Taken together, the


ruins,

the surviving objects, and the images in

Technological

skills

feed

efficient

painted

Roman, design

burners, as the

red generally

Pompeiian

orange-

known as

in

considerable detail. Walls of

rooms, uncluttered by windows, were generally

sanitary

sewage

central heating

that

provided

by

portable

charcoal

Romans pushed northward

faced colder weather.

As

far

they

north as the great wall

red.

painted

simulated

with

moldings and

pilasters

architectural

detail

of

forming a plain Wainscot

below; the Panels above might be painted in solid

built

of

by Hadrian across the British

Roman

built

Isles at

the limit

colonization, houses (or Villas) were

where surviving ruins make

it

possible to

painting of exterior

inspect a radiant heating system. This involved a

scenes or imagery from mythology or scenes of

stone floor supported a short distance above the

Perspective was partially understood and

ground on brick or stone posts. The hollow space


below the floor was connected with a furnace on
one side of the building and a chimney on the
opposite side. When a fire was built in the furnace,
combustion gases were drawn through the under-

color

daily

or with

life.

naturalistic

used to heighten

realistic,

Trompe

L'oeil effects

framed paintings seemingly hung on

walls, false

decorative details, and, in mosaic, objects that

appear to

and

lie

on

floors. Favorite colors

a vermilion red that has

"Pompeiian."

Roman

come

furniture

were black

to be called

was developed

floor

chamber, the same technique used to heat the

great baths in

Rome. The warmed

floor surface

from Greek prototypes with a tendency toward


greater elaboration of ornamental detail and the

reached a mild but comfortable temperature. This

woods and inlays of ivory or metal.


Folding stools and certain types of chairs developed

modern times when

use of fine

a role as

symbols of rank or status rather than

devices solely for seating comfort.

34

their

and even a

Mediterranean climate hardly required any heating

above and below are


in the

traced

system of considerable sophistication. While the

beyond

The wall surfaces

plumbing,

disposal arrangements,

paintings and mosaics have made it possible to


reconstruct Pompeiian, and therefore ancient

time.

Romans can be

of the

the surviving evidence of their well-planned

as

wall painting

approach

to heating

was not rediscovered


it

until

appeared with the name

"radiant heating."

Knowledge of Roman design

is

considerably

aided by the oldest extant text on architecture,

De


and Rome

Classical Civilizations: Greece

.^

^^
V^

2.23 Roman

Entablature

B Column

architecture.

C Cornice
D Frieze

From

left to

orders of

right Ionic

Architrave

(similar to the earlier

Capital

Greek Ionic); Corinthian

C Shaft
H Base
I

(the

most elaborate of

Roman

Plinth

orders, hardly

diffenng from the Greek


Corinthian): Tuscan (a

Abacus

Volute

simplified Done);

ornate capital);

Tuscan

Corinthian

B.c.E.

by the Roman

Vitruvius PoUio,
Vitruvius.

sometime between 90 and 20


and engineer Marcus

architect

now

Ten books

generally

known simply as
many technical

dealt with

matters, fortification building, the

making of bricks
and water supply

and concrete, machinery, clocks,


systems, and the education of the architect. It also
included chapters on the design of temples, public

useful basis
that

all

for

Roman

firmitas,

and

vemistas.

by Sir Henry Wotton in 1624 as


"commodity, firmness, and delight," and often
rendered today as function, structure, and

Translated

aesthetics, Vitruvius's analysis

is

still

viewed

as a

and

forms-the

last of the

Ionic

developments).

text. It

is

valued as the oldest surviving written work to

present a thorough study of architectural practice.

From

modern point of

view,

Roman

design

tatious, overly decorative,

utilitas,

combine

to

Corinthian

remains was supported by

study of significant portions of Vitruvius's

issues,

phases

attempt

understanding the complexities

buildings,

and houses, discussion of aesthetic


and a full account of the Roman Doric,
Ionic, and Corinthian orders (fig. 2.23). It sets
forth the analysis of design goals as made up of the

(a

design involves. In the Renaissance, study

of surviving

still

and

Roman

Composite

Roman

Composite

Doric

seems technically advanced, orderly, systematic,


and aesthetically impressive, although often osten-

three

it

has a base and more

4 Fascia

Architectural written

Done

(unlike Greek Done,

3 Dentils

Influence of

Roman

and lacking

in subtlety.

design can be traced through

subsequent periods, recessive in the Middle Ages,


but reemergent in the Renaissance as the dominant

theme of European architecture and design. The


Roman civilization and its eventual collapse form the background for the complex

gradual decline of

developments that followed.

35

and

Early Christian, Byzantine,

Romanesque
By

400

Roman

C.E.,

declined significantly.

world

had

domination

The empire

split into

sepa-

and western empires, each with its own


and emperor. The western empire was

Christianity such as baptism and, in particular, the

celebration of the mass called for

rate eastern

types. Earlier temples

capital

accommodate

church was primarily an auditorium where a


congregation could assemble to watch and partici-

invaders

Vandals.

From

several

competing

dominant

eastward

to

Romans

the

role,

with

called

religions,
its

center

(now

Constantinople

pate in religious

was the

trends begins with the growth of the European

Romans

in

the

eastern

empire

Byzantine, and the emergence of the


style that

came

to

called

Romanesque

dominate the design of medieval

Europe. These aspects of design history overlap,


interrelate,

and

as a

Maria

either side

and an apse

end has

at the

convened

Christianity

to serve as

religion
C.E.,

been
a

Christian church. The

ancient

When

on

aisles

Roman

it

by the

secret meetings

and the gath-

ering of a congregation. At one end, in an apse,

and other arrangements


conducting a mass or other service.
the altar

was

for the clergy

On

either side

aisles,

was made an

officially

possible for Christians to

provided space for the public and for

various shrines and secondary functions.

than

the

was

aisles,

lighted

The nave,
by high

windows. Walls were constructed of

masonry, the roofs spanned by large wooden


members. The upper walls of the nave were
accepted

Roman emperor Constantine

became

used by the

Early Christian basilican church had a high

The

central nave suited to processions

clerestory

basilica-a long

hall

twin

100 can seem disordered and confusing.

Early Christian Design

nave with

meeting

courtroom.

of Rome, usually dated at 410, until

"fall"

1000 or

The basic scheme of the

Roman

the

building

of the naves. Aisles, in larger churches sometimes

Cosmedln, Rome,

772-95.

Roman

closest to serving their needs; this

basilica, a public

higher
S.

serve this need,

to a degree conflict so that the years

from the
1

came

type that

Istanbul). In design history, a time of conflicting

work centering

To

rites.

Christians turned to the earlier

direction usually called Early Christian design, the

(below)

to

a public gathering, but a Christian

whom

European

moving

In

building

destined to collapse under the pressure of northern

Christianity took a

3.1

new

had not been intended

in

313

abandon

and catacomb burial places

in favor

of a public and visible presence. The rituals of

supported by rows of closely spaced columns

The change

carrying lintels or arches.


the

made

of columns

line

between nave and

was the

in height

and

separation

clear

This simple configuration

aisles.

on which most subsequent church

basis

columns have been

building developed. In the Early Christian era,

reused to support a

elaboration developed in several ways.

wall with a high

were generally based on one of the Roman orders,


sometimes Ionic, most often Corinthiarft Their
material was stone, frequently marble of rich color.

clerestory.

wood.

The roof is of

choir has been

built that extends into

the nave. The largely

red

and green

walls

above the columns were often painted,

floor

mosaic adds color

3.2 [opposite]

S.

Marco, Venice,

Italy,

c 1063-73 and
Five

The

the half

dome

mosaic

illustrating religious themes.

over the apse painted or lined with

often paved with colored stones

after.

domes on penden-

tives-three for the


nave, one for each

and strong
patterns
complete columns with
taken from earlier
ings,

Roman

this

famous

The

church The mosaics


that cover the surface

of every wall and

dome

introduce spectacular
color into

dim

an otherwise

interior

The

large

most

Roman

geometric

temples and other build-

Roman

direct

design into basil-

manner.

basilican churches of

Outside the Walls (386

c.e.)

and

S.

S.

of

S.

by

later elaboration.

Maria

in

Cosmedin

Paul

Maria Maggiore

(432) are examples of the type although


altered

even

were often

their capitals,

thereby transferring

ican churches in a

Floors were
in

Materials,

colors.

transept-create the

space of

Columns

much

The smaller churches


(fig.

3.1)

in

Rome

building represents a
link

between the

work

and

in

other Asian loca-

tions

and

esque

the

Romanwas

style that

developing

36

earlier

Constantinople

in Europe.

(772-95) or of

S.

Apollinare in Classe

(c.

500) in

Ravenna are less modified by later reconstruction.


S. Maria in Cosmedin, there is a partially

At

enclosed area at the front of the nave, almost a


building

within

the

building,

that

provided a

y*"

,>(

c:

y^?

Chapter Three

3.3
c.

S.

Costanza, Rome,

350,

Built as a
for the

mausoleum

forward extension of the apse to make a

later

converted to a Christian

while also serving as a teaching tool through the

An

alternative type of religious building used a

round or octagonal plan

domed space

(fig. 3.3;

or ambulatory with a

vault overhead.

windows

light the central space,

for

and

the

both

many

model with

c.e.)

and

Stefano

S.

east

end to

of events of religious historical

signifi-

illiterate public.

Costanza

Rotondo (468-83

Christian churches, but the basilican


its

Bilateral symmetry and

its

strong

establish

an eastward-facing direction

symbolic significance (facing toward the

for

varied color

Holy Land), tended

its

illustration

cance to a generally

Byzantine Design

in

mosaic introduce

38

S.

a centrally

orientation toward an altar, usually placed at the

while marble wall


surfaces

on

Rome, are of this type. Such central


planning with its Radial symmetry has been used
C.E.),

mosaic-covered barrel

Clerestory

350

is

aisle

to focus

placed baptismal font, altar or tomb.

church. The central

surrounded by an

both designs, painted and mosaic decora-

important part of church buildings.

Emperor Constantine,

was

type. In

tion in rich color contributed to internal richness

daughter of the

the building

Chancel

or Choir, an element that gradually became an

to

become

the favored plan

With the relocation of the Roman capital to


Byzantium (330 c.e.), renamed Constantinople by
the emperor Constantine, and with the eventual
break into separate eastern and western Roman
empires, a new center of development was created.
The influence of Byzantine architecture and design
developed

in

the east,

flowed back to

Italy

to

The Ravenna Mosaics


saw light in river form with tide
effulgent fire between two margins teeming
Which wondrously with flowers of spring were dyed
Out of that current, living sparks were teeming

And

And

flashing from the flowers with hues intense

Like very rubies from gold patinas gleaming.'

The great
lines

Italian

poet Dante Alighieri wrote these

from the Divine

inspired by the glowing mosaics which

created

in

mingle with the Early Christian work evolving


there at the same time. At Ravenna, the western

Comedy m Ravenna. He was


had been

a senes of churches and chapels there

the sixth century to reflect the glory of

Cod and

styles

the

can be seen developing side by

Byzantine work,

lines of another,

unknown, poet were

transcribed into the mosaics

in

the

classical

the Archiepiscopal

of such basics as the column and


engineering

(Either

skills

of ancient

retained and developed with

of

detail

architecture faded in favor of limited

Chapel:

Aut lux nata est, aut capta hie libera regnat


light was born or imprisoned here, it reigns

Vitale,

S.

Italy,

outpost of Constantine's eastern empire, the two

in

Byzantine court.

The

3.4 (above

and

its

side.

In

Roman
freer use

The

capital.

Rome

were, however,

skillful

use of vaulting

c 532-48.

church built to an

octagonal central plan


with a short apse

extending to the east

The

domed

space

an

IS

central

surrounded by

aisle with

an upper

gallery. Light enters

from clerestory windows

and domed construction.

'

left)

Ravenna,

high above, while the

supreme)

column capitals are of

The Emperor Justinian and


their

own

portraits set into

Vitale, next to

Theodora had

his wife

mosaic

in

the church of

S.

the simplified carved

Ravenna

block type, typical of

Byzantine design.

Archbishop Maximian, the founder of

(mentioned

Colorful marbles

of basilican type and uses extraordinary

mosaics and the

At Ravenna,

the church. The forceful portrait of the latter

S.

ApoUinare

prompted the following comment by Andreas


Agnellus, a sixth-century chronicler of the work at the

above)

mosaic

art that serves

church:

didactic

illustration

tall in stature,

headed but

slender

for a

character ....

In

execution there
All

the figures

in

few

in

body, lean

hairs,

bald

grey eyed and saintly

architecture

is

in face,

and

in

nothing similar to

church of
in

technical
it

in Italy.

the mosaics wear Byzantine

is

'

official

court robes, presenting images so powerful and

impressive that even at the height of the Renaissance,

S.

in Classe

both as decoration and as

of religious

Vitale (figs. 3.4

and

The

subjects.
3.5;

c.

532-48)

reduced the weight of the structure. There is a


chancel extending from one face of the octagon

making the building ambiguously both


symmetry.

radial

and

can be regarded both as

the early fifteenth-century humanist Antonio

Traversan remarked:

an example of Early Christian work relating to

vi/all

we gazed upon a

decoration.

finer or

more elegant

"

Dante Alighien, The Dwine Comedy, trs, Melville Anderson; 2.


in Cuiseppe Bovini, Ravenna Mosa/cs (London, 1957), p.

3. Ibid. p.

474;

4. Ibid p.

6,

its

churches in Rome, and


stylistic

Quoted

complexity of the plan

generate an extraordi-

nary internal space


within a simple, almost

barren exterior.

made use of an octagonal central plan with a


domed roof built from hoUow pottery units that

bilateral in

never have

and

It

as Byzantine.

The

3.5 (above right)


Section and plan of
S,

Vitale,

The circular central


area

outer
tory,

latter

attribution can be supported by the richly

is

niches

surrounded by

and then by an

aisle,

or

ambula-

which converts the

extenor of the building


to

an octagon. The

decorated interior, with wall surfaces covered in


colored marbles in complex patterns together with

entrance narthex

mosaic images representing figures from religious


texts. The central space is surrounded by an

faces of the octagon.

(vestibule)

relate to

is

angled

to

two adjacent

39

Chapter Three

Ambulatory

passage with

above,

gallery

its

columned niches forming links between the central


space and its surround. The columns suggest

Roman

precedent, but the capitals are

now

carved

forms closer to Near Eastern origins.

in abstract

entering

Daylight,

windows, aided

from

in creating

the

high,

clerestory

an atmosphere sugges-

of mystical religious belief

tive

Hagia Sophia
By

most important of Byzantine works

far the

is

the

great church of Hagia Sophia (S. Sophia; 532-7) in

Constantinople

(figs.

3.6

and

on

its

domed

is

vast,

dependent

The problem

daringly engineered structure.

of placing a

The

3.7).

striking interior space of this building

roof on a space of any shape

other than round had been studied by the

Romans

but never fully solved. The Pendentive, a curving


triangular

wedge shaped

two adjacent arches

to

fill

the space between

built at right angles to

another and curved so as to become a quarter


at

its

top,

builders

and used

central, 107 foot

on

device developed by Byzantine

is

one

circle

at

Hagia Sophia

to

support the

diameter brick dome. The arches

either side of the central space are filled in; the

and gallery levels by


columned arcades. Those at front and back are
open to half domes that open in turn to smaller
domed Exedrae (niches). The geometry of the
great central dome on pendentives can be understood as being a half-spherical dome from which
four segments have been cut away to convert it to a

walls are penetrated at floor

3.6 Hagia Sophia,


Istanbul, Turkey,

532-7.
The largest and most

square needing support only

spectacular of

The corners are Buttressed at Hagia Sophia by


the half domes at front and rear and by external
solid masonry masses at either side. lust above the
pendentives, there is a ring of forty small windows
that light the interior and lend the dome a sense of

Byzantine churches,

Hagia Sophia has a


vast central space that
is

surmounted by a

dome on pendentives
with a circle of

windows at its base.


The windows appear

weightlessness.
to

make the dome float


Some of the anginal

lOOm

mosaics covenng the


wall

open

to aisles

galleries

3.7 Plan of Hagia

The central

Sophia,

space

domed

typically

support arches that

and

above the

IS

extended by

2 Narthex

half domes at the front


and back to give the

3 Nave

exterior

4 Apse

ways

Atrium

a strong length-

axis,

later

(tenth

to

eleventh

century)

The much
church

of

Marco in Venice (fig. 3.2), built with five domes


on pendentives that cover the four arms of a Greek
S.

CROSS plan and

its

central crossing, has retained

its

which

aisles.

40

accordance with the Islamic prohibi-

in

ft

tion of realistic representation in art.

been preservedByzantine capitals

The mosaic images that lined Hagia Sophia


were obliterated when the building became a
mosque,

300

and dome have

Columns with

four corners.

at its

5 Baptistry

extends from the

elaborately carved choir screen, chancel fittings,

6 Minaret

entrance narthex

and

toward the apse facing


the southeast

most complete and best example of Byzantine


church interior treatment.
the

rich interior lining of mosaics.

It

is

probably


Early Christian, Byzantine,

Secular Buildings

decisive

advantage

building of a sturdy wall

contemporary with the Early

building

Secular

Christian and

Byzantine churches survives in such

limited fragments

and ruins that study of the

inte-

a castle, or

around

any attacker. The


around a house, making it

over

town or city made the occuThe feudal lord occupying a

pants relatively secure.


castle

could offer protection to a walled town,

and Romanesque

3.8 Odo von Metz,


Palatine chapel,

Aachen
(Aix-la-Chapelle),

Germany, 798.

space built as a

chapel for the palace of

riors

difficult.

is

by the eastern

Roman

establishing a

Roman empire

following earlier

between the often brutal leader and the exploited

only remaining part of

remains

population that lived under his protection. The

the proposed building.

early monasteries

nothing

almost

but

practice,

intact. Residential building

and the buildings of

have also largely disappeared or

development of
Ages (before

Some houses

design, art,

Venice date from the era of Byzantine influence.

the stylistic

have been extensively reconstructed.


in

They

are typically several stories in height; each

floor

is

opening from both


be traced

also

Greece,

this pattern in the early

1000)

Italy,

established the context

and architecture usually


designation Romanesque.

for

identified

by

in

and

sides.

in the

domed

of medieval

churches of Russia.

Early Medieval:

the

interior,

Vitale,

Ravenna, has an
eight-sided vault roof;
galleries

surround

the space, with a

Mosaic decoration was

The Romanesque

used

Style

level,

Charlemagne (771-814) established a new center of authority and power that the
"darkness" of the Dark Ages began to give way to
It

was not

until

new

strain of

enlightenment

in the

surrounding

passages at ground

in

and

colorful

marbles cover the


surfaces of the central
space. Semicircular

arches use voussoirs of


light

and dark stone

The "Dark Ages"

In Europe, after the collapse of

Rome by

is

The octagonal

based on S

two

Byzantine influence can

architecture

the

Charlemagne

clerestory above.

the appearance of a

the sack of

Middle

out with a broad central hall space

laid

from front and back with smaller rooms

lighted

relationship of mutual advantage

Great baths and palaces were built

Roman

authority

the Visigoths in 410 c.e.

convenient date to mark

its

ending

is

a period ot

confusion followed, often referred to as the "Dark


Ages." Historians dislike this term, feeling that
suggests

it

time totaUy lacking civilized culture.

from about 400 to about 1200


from the absence of any centralized govern-

Certainly the period


suffered

ment or authority and from the disappearance of the


systems of Roman law, roads, and

organized

economy. In

this

anarchic period, what order there

was came from the authority exercised by


strong

local

men who were themselves a threat to order as

they fought one another for territory and exploited


the general population in any

way

they chose.

in which
power was established by force and apportioned,
along with control of land, by a hierarchical,

feudal system gradually

emerged

authoritarian system. Control passed

from

downward

a royal or imperial top level to layers of titled

aristocrats to, at the

who farmed

bottom, the

serfs or

peasants

land and paid taxes to support the

feudal structure. In this situation, with chaos only

restrained to a degree by the exercise of


force, military authority

With

offensive

armed

became dominant.

warfare

constantly

waged

between feudal strong men, conduct of normal

lite

became dependent on defensive techniques. The


weapons of the strong were only swords, spears,
and bows and arrows. A man dressed in armor had
41

3
6
5

Chapter Three

3.9 Plan of the


monastery of
Switzerland,

S.

the arts to parallel developments in other aspects of


Call,

life.

820.

c.

the

Church

Cloister

Infirmary

Chapel

Novitiate

Orchard/Cemetery

Carrien

Charles)

is

used to describe the work of

which can be viewed as an early phase of


Romanesque architecture and art. The term
Romanesque derives from the continued use of

aspects of

Barn

Workshops

Roman

Stables

12 Animal pens
Hostel

14 Guesthouse
School

Abbot's house

17 Scriptorium and

great

palace,

Aachen

at

22 Hospice for the poor


23 Baths and latrines

The early medieval

floor level

is

the epitome of

Only the chapel survives (fig.


planned octagon topped by an

style.

3.8), a centrally

eight-sided

(Aix-la-

with regard for

built

concepts of order and symmetry,

Romanesque

Middle Ages.

surrounding passages

vault v^th

and

at the

two

at

levels of galleries above.

was

vaulting systems

with semicircular form.


Barrel vaults

were often used

in placing a stone

roof over a long church nave, a problem that was


of ways

in

in the early

vault

developed and groin vaulting appeared, but always

era. In general,

and forgotten

Romanesque

more complex

form. Eventually

Romanesque

At Charlemagne's capital

21 Cellars

early

approached

Chapelle)

20 Kitchens

The

a simple barrel vault, invariably semicircular in

interiors. It

library

18 Dormitory
19 Refeaory

justified their use.

particular,

largely lost

design, the semicircular arch in

and versions of the detail of Roman


is somewhat misleading in its implication of a strong connection with Rome. The
Roman empire, its culture, and its art had been

10 Brewery and bakery

name

from

derives

this era,

11

The term Carolingian (which

provision of

during

the

continuity of space was

vndows

and so

difficult

led to a dark

Other solutions tended to break the nave

interior.

its

variety

by a continuous barrel vault which made

best served

up into

topped with

a series of separate units, each

own

vault, or regressed to the acceptance of a

wooden roof with


Tournus

limited

in France, the

lasting

At

qualities.

abbey church of S. Philibert

(960-1120) has a nave higher than the adjacent


groin-vaulted

aisles.

The roof is

a series of transverse

by

barrel vaults, each thus buttressed

neighbor

its

Benedictine monastery,

now

replaced by a

building,

is

later

known only

from a plan that shows


Its

techniques of ancient Rome. The building

embedded

in later construction,

is

now

but the interior

wall

clerestory

the

leaving

windows. The interior

for

large

many

vaults

available

of the

effect

breaks up the unity of the nave in a

way that

left this

extensive elements.

self-sustaining
nity,

commu-

able to provide for

of its residents'

needs. The church's

and
of Germany

other churches

and adjacent

primary device of

remembered

or,

Roman

archi-

perhaps, rediscovered for

Wood was

for everyday structures

was the most

regions in

the ninth century.

clearly a

use in stone building.

be the ideal scheme for


cathedrals

tecture

has an apse at each


to

approach an experiment not repeated. There

as built.

The visual element most readUy identified with


Romanesque design is the semicircular arch. It was
the most advanced structural technique remaining
in use

double-ended design-it

end-was intended

much

survives

Such a monastery was


conceived as a closed,

all

Semicircular arches and barrel vaults recall the

the usual material

at S. Philibert a

Narthex

or vestibule on two

approaching the concept of the German

The

below).

(see

surrounded by

a curving aisle or

radiating small chapels


istic

end

chancel

was

also

levels,

West work
an

with

apse

ambulatory with

become

to

is

a character-

element of later French church building.

no longer survivingand

common

material for floor and roof

Churches

construction of stone buildings. Vaults eventually

came

into use

where the desire

for

permanence

Germany
At Corvey-on-the-Weser

Germany, the abbey

in

church of S. Michael (873-85)


with an aisled nave.

To

its

is

a basilican church

eastward-facing main

body, a massive unit, almost a complete building in


itself,

was added

at

the west (front)

end. This

became a frequent
part of German Carohngian and early Romanesque
churches. The development of major spaces at the
west end of churches can be observed in the
element, called a "westwork,"

surviving plan drawing of the monastery of


(fig. 3.9;

c.

layout for

820).

all

It

shows an orderly but

S.

Gall

intricate

the parts of this vast institution, with

the large church laid out with an apse at each end

making the building almost symmetrical lengthwise as well as transversely. This double-ended

UDDD
42

church plan survived in varying forms in Germany,


in the building of westworks and in the plans
of

later

German

churches.

At

S.

Michael

at

Early Christian, Byzantine,

BH^^^^^V

3.10 (above

left]S.

Michael's, Hildesheim,

Germany, 1010-33
(reconstructed after

n n

fi

n/*"*^,

World War

iQOQOOOQDQQ

II).

The Romanesque
rior is

mnii

inte-

of basilican type

and

with a center nave


aisles

on

either side

connected

nave

to the

by arcades. There are


small windows high up
on the nave walls
forming a

clerestory.

The roof is of wood and

a square tower

at

rises

each end of the nave


supported by arches.

3.11

Plan of

(/eft)

S.

Michael's,

At each end of the


church, transepts on

topped

either side were

by towers. The

aisles

either side of the

Hildesheim (figs. 3.10 and 3.11; 1010-33) Transepts


and tower are placed symmetrically at each end of

The

cathedrals of Speyer

Mainz

(after

II 70) indicate the

eastward from

(fig. 3.12;

and

1009),

begun

Worms

c.

(begun

vaulted chancel

extending to the west

spread of Romanesque concepts

Germany into

that part of Europe.

3.13
al

(ngftf) S.

1018-62.

The nave

1018-62)

is

S.

wood

Miniato

in Florence (fig. 3.13;

roofed but

its

interior

is

elabo-

and white marble in


geometric pattern. The chancel is raised to open up
a view into a lower Crypt level below the chancel.
rately decorated with black

Ambrogio, Milan (1080-1128), has a plan based


on the Early Christian basilica with an open atrium
in front. The nave is in four Bays (units), three
S.

Miniato

Monte, Florence,

Italy,

Italy

The church of

its

small apse on

the east was later


outmatched by a large,

the basilican nave with aisles.

1024),

are almost double


width.

on

nave

is

divided into

three sections,

which

IS

each of

roofed in wood.

At each end

is

a crypt

that opens to the

Above, a choir

above

eye-level.

trasting black

nave

rises

Con-

and

marble covers the

white

walls.

The windows are of thin,


translucent marble

and Romanesque

Chapter Three

3.14 Church

of S.Foy,

Conques, France,

roofed with a square groin vault, having the diagonal lines of the groins emphasized as stone

1050-1120.

The fourth bay

is

the chancel,

ribs.

now topped by an

The pilgrimage church


IS

octagonal stubby tower or Lantern. The two-level

a cruciform

built to

plan, with

narrow

toll,

An

proportions-

aisles are

topped by square groin

vaults.

octag-

onal tower tops the

France

crossing The

light to the

Conques in France (fig.


on one of the great
pilgrimage routes of the Middle Ages. The relic of
the martyred saint, housed in a gilded and jeweled
statue, attracted hordes of worshipers on the traditional route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Its nave, high and narrow in relation to width, is
topped by a barrel vault with aisles two levels in
height on either side. The upper aisles are covered

choir.

with half barrel vaults rising to the top of the nave

barrel-vaulted nave has

arches defining each

and

bay,

aisles

and galleries above


permit only limited

nave

light to reach the

from small windows

At

the outer walls.

in

the

east end, in contrast,


larger

windows admit
ambulatory
The church was

originally richly deco-

S.

1050-1120)

3.14;

the arched

openings into

The church of

walls

side

Foy

is

at

a station

so that there

is

no clerestory

level.

rated with carvings,


paintings,

but

tries,

and

all

Windows

tapes-

have been

removed. The reliquary

an idea of

the nature of the anginal

ornamental

aisles

so that they are brighter than the nave; the octagonal,

statue of the saint (see

50) gives

here are large enough to light the

domed tower above

the

crossing

where

for

and nave meet is also windowed. Except


carved column capitals, the interior is simple

and

austere, although the "treasure" that attracted

transepts

richness.

the pilgrims' attention


in the

3.15 Abbey Church

of

La Madeleine, Vezelay,

France.
This

is

1104-32.

a high, light

church, with

an

uninter-

rupted view from the

narthex to the apse

stone roof of groin


vaulting

is

defined at

each of the three bays

by arches that use voussoirs

of contrasting

light

and dark

stone, as

do the arches of the


nave arcades that open
into the aisles. The wall

above the nave arcades


has clerestory windows.
The column capitals
retain their elaborate

and

fanciful carving.

The distant choir


later,

44

is

Gothic addition.

would have been displayed

chancel in mountings of gold and jewels.

Early Christian, Byzantine,

Madeleine

In the

French

another
vaulting

at

Vezelay

(fig.

3.15;

church,

pilgrimage

the

has become more complex. The arches

separate

from the

nave

the

roof

Mont. There are chapels from the tenth


century with unornamented stone arches and

that

vaults,

104-32),

defme bays

aisles

marked by an arch that spans the nave and supports


a groin vault. The voussoirs of the arches are ot
alternating light and dark stone. The chancel end at
Vezelay is of later date and Gothic in design.

A number of structural systems

for the building

that top the

and

groin-vaulted

with

crypt

stubby

and Romanesque

3.16
Mont

(/eft)

Abbey

of

Michel, France,

S,

from 1017,
The vast Salle des

columns centered in the space to support the vaults.


The only decoration is simple, abstract carving of
the column capitals. The nave of the church is also

Chevaliers (Knights'

Romanesque, with semicircular arches at


the aisle and triforium levels and for the clerestory
windows above. The roof is constructed of wood.

named

typically

and houses of the town

of large churches developed in parallel during the

The

Romanesque era. S. Front at Perigueux (twelfth


century) is made up of five domed units arranged
in a Greek cross similar to the design of S. Marco in

edges of the

walls

Mont

built

on the lower

contribute to the remarkable

Hall)

one of the

IS

rooms

in the

complex.

that

it

It

abbey

may

be

from the fact

housed the
who defended

knights

the abbey or from the


military order of St

Michael, established by
Louis XI The stone

historic cross-section of
ture, built

and

rebuilt

French medieval architec-

from Carolingian times

to the

fifteenth century, all available for study in this single

vaulting marks the

beginning of the

transi-

tion from the use of

semicircular arches,

complex.

which form the diagonal of each bay, into

England

pointed arches, which

The Romanesque way of building was brought


England by the
term

work
in

Norman
that

conquest of 1066. The

used in England to denote the

would be

Many

Europe.

Norman

Norman
is

form the four sides of

into

buildings

called

Romanesque elsewhere

English

some,

cathedrals

began

reconstructed

as

each bay The openness


of the space results

from the way

in

which

the vault arches are

supported on

relatively

slim piers-

or

JO

altered in the Gothic era, retain only fragments of

Norman

parts;

construction.

Venice, but the interior effect

is

strikingly different

because the simplicity of bare stone has replaced


the richness of Venetian mosaic. In
step toward the cathedral type

building of the

1060-81

),

buih

Normandy,

was taken with the

Abbaye-aux-Hommes

The plan

Caen by William the Conqueror

at

is

Etienne,

(S.

to celebrate his successful conquest of

1066.

Cruciform (having

Latin cross), with

England

and

in

the shape of

a long, groin-vaulted nave,

and a deep chancel. There are aisles, an


above the aisles called a Triforium,
clerestory level above at the level of the main
level

vaulting.

The

vaults are square, but each

is

divided

at its center to

Gothic cathedrals that were to follow.

With an

island location off the

the monastic grouping of Mont

eleventh century)

includes a

S.

The naves of Durham

of

(fig.

Norman
3.17)

and
3.17 Durham
Cathedral, County

Durham, England,
1110-33.
The semicircular arches
of the nave arcades
indicate the

Norman

this fine cathedral.

The

groin vaulting above,

with

its

slightly

pointed

transverse arches points


to the Gothic develop-

ments that

follow.

The

grey stone was probably originally painted


bright colors, while

the carved patterning

of the round

piers,

which alternate with


the

compound piers,

introduces a striking

element of visual
activity.

The cathedra!,

unusually,

still

has

its

anginal clerestory

Normandy coast,
Michel

largely

in

match the spacing of


the supporting columns, two bays to each main
vault. With its two diagonal groin ribs, such a vault
is divided into six triangular panels and is therefore
called Sexpartite. This scheme comes very close
to the design that would become typical for the

by a cross arch

are

(Romanesque) date of

transepts,

upper

others

(fig.

number of

windows.

3.16;

spaces

Romanesque era, long before the


church and other Gothic structures

dating from the


building of the

45

Chapter Three

3.18

Andrew's

St.

of Gloucester with their massive arcade columns

great vertical timbers that suggest the masts of

date from the end of the eleventh century. At

ships.

Durham,

aisle

Church, Borgund,

Sogne
c.

Fjord,

Norway,

50.

In the construction

of

the Norwegian build-

known as

ings

stave

churches, the stone

columns are of simple

alternate

drical form, but carry carved abstract,

patterning.

1118)

'is

Almost

Norman,

is all

but the chancel of

Ely.

ceilings hide the trusses of the

vocabulary of

Richly painted

Romanesque building

wooden roof structure.

is

geometric

of Peterborough (begun

all

as

wood

cylin-

structural but exist to

a simulation of

offer

the stone-built monas-

tenes of France. This

church
high,

IS

nearly

and

tiny

50

feet

windows

high up provide the


only

light.

Many stave

church type.

seems probable that both the

It

many

general concept and

details

were brought to

monks who came north

Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, in


a number of wooden churches and
other buildings have survived from around the
years 1000 to 1200. The most striking of these are
wood churches, called Stave
the
Finnish
In

descriptions of the monastic churches of the south.

The semicircular arches of stone arcades are reproduced in wood, and details carved in wood suggest
memory of comparable work in stone. Hundreds

poles

manuscripts.

wooden
Romanesque

resulting building can be read as a small

version of the typical nave and aisle

particular,

and

illu-

mination of medieval

a lower

make Christian converts of the Norse Vikings


and who taught church building with verbal

CHURCHES with

reminiscent of the

is

to

Scandinavia

churches house wall


ceiling painting,

the central space there

Scandinavia by missionary

translated into wood.

The arch forms are not

Around

with an outside wall of wide boards. The

their

virtually

main

tall

whole

tree

trunks

The typical
about 30 x 50 feet

structure.

small, usually

but

reference to the great

often as

much

body of these churches

a tall

that

form

stave church
in

ground

is

plan,

The central
space formed by the

as 100 feet high.


is

wooden

of such churches were standing in the nineteenth

century but there are

now

only about twenty-four.

Borgund church (fig. 3.18;


example. The church at Torpo
able for

1150)

c.

(c.

is

190)

is

fine

remark-

colorful interior paintings that line an

its

arched partial

ceiling,

which suggests an intention

to simulate a stone barrel vault.

The painted

figures

acting out events of religious legends suggest the

of medieval manuscript illumination.

style

Fortresses

and Castles
on a raised
some other place easy

Early castles were simply houses built

mound,

a natural hill, or in

to defend

and

to

surround with

a wall

at first

merely a fence or palisade of wood. Before long,

wood was

resistant material.

castle

might stand

up

against

castle

more lasting and


The house or Keep of the

replaced by stone as a

more

it

free wdthin the wall, or

keep was usually of several

compact mass easy


and roof

Some

be built

sharing part of its stone structure.

to defend

early castles, called

stories,

from

its

The

forming

upper

levels

Tower houses,

were

simply towers with rooms stacked up vertically


inside,

often

with

corner

projections

to

make

defense of the walls easier. GraduaUy, as military


castles

were

improved with defensive towers along the

walls,

techniques

for

attack

improved,

The
accommodaThe rooms of a

elaborate gates, and multiple systems of walls.


castle garrison

tions
castle

had

to

grew

become more

were generally

an ordinary house.
hall,

larger

and

elaborate.

as bare

An

and simple

all-purpose

served as living and dining

his family,

and

for

as those of

main room, the

room

for the ovraer,

whatever servants and garrison

the castle might house. Private


service spaces,

living

rooms

for the family,

and other conveniences were added

Early Christian, Byzantine,

very slowly as medieval


settled

and orderly

v^rith

life

became

increasingly

and chimney were

Since castles were usually stone built (although

number of

guests

would

up on

trestles

wood)

us an idea of what interiors were

would often hold

like.

innovations. At one end, a

made

feudal lord

several castles, each intended to

a separate

space for the table where the family and honored

examples survive or have been restored which give

with most floors and roofs of

late

raised portion of floor, the dais,

the passage of time.

In the

body of the

all it

hall,

boards

set

served as tables and serving stands.

on benches or

Seating was
chair at

sit.

stools

was an honorary

if

there was a

seat for the lord at

enforce his authority over a particular area. Exercise

the head table. Eventually hangings appeared as a

of that authority meant appearing periodically

way
and

each castle in sequence to conduct audiences,

at

settle

legal disputes, and simply be visible in a context


where there was no organized system of communication. The casde family and garrison were, accord-

ingly, transient, setting

ture

up housekeeping

for a time

casde before moving on. Most

in a particular

that they could

move with

The rooms of
stone

a castle usually

had walls of bare

(sometimes whitewashed), floors of bare

stone or bare
ceiling,

and

wood

tiny, slit

boards, a structural

windows

wooden

for protection

and

because there was no glass available to keep out the


weather.
its

The

hall

might have

a hearth for a fire at

center with a smoke-hole in the roof.

fireplace

and make them

less

cold

forbidding. Tapestries developed as an art


that provided portable wall covering along

with

decoration.

The main

and

fire

burning

torches placed on stands or in wall brackets were


the light sources at night.
In England there are a
intact halls dating
hall

the family.

to cover bare walls

form

flirni-

and other possessions of value were portable so

and Romanesque

Hedingham

of

Essex

is

two

overlooking

number of

from around
Castle

(fig. 3.19;

stories high with doors,

balconies

topped

(Romanesque semicircular)

arches.

stone arch across the center of the


the ends of the

head.

An

is

c.

an

with

The

1140) in

windows, and

with

Norman

There

is

room

wooden beams of

arched fireplace

castles

100 or 1200.

a great

to support

the roof over-

indication

of

unusual luxury.
3.19 Hedingham
Castle, Essex, England,

c 1140.
The hall of this English
castle

has a great

central stone arch to

support the wooden


timbers that carry the

smaller

beams of the

roof construction. The


semicircular arches
identify the construction as

Norman

(Romanesque), while

ornament

is

limited to

simple moldings at the


spring of the arches

An

arched fireplace
connects to a flue
within the wall leading
to

a chimney. The

ture

and small

furni-

objects

here are not original,

but most are of a sort


that might have been

present during the

Middle Ages.

47

'

Chapter Three

Monasteries and Abbeys


While the

provided protection to make a

castle

whose lives were


Middle Ages devel-

settled life possible for knights

oriented toward warfare, the

oped another

institution

to provide a different

means of protection to those inclined toward religion, learning, and the arts. This was the institution
of monasticism,

development of

the

renowned

for his ascetic

and

austerity of his rule, as his

The protection came

soon became evident that his strict notions of


monastic discipline did not suit them, for all that
rock-hewn cells; and in order to get rid
went so far as to mingle poison in his
wine. When, as was his wont, he made the sign of
they lived

in

of him they

of poverty that meant the

the cross over the jug,

it

stone had fallen upon

it.

from the respect granted

to those

ways and the


community of monks

hermit-like

first

It

absence of treasure that might tempt attack, and

location,

rule of

atVicovaro witnessed:

not from defensive structure, but from remote


the vows

The great Abbey at Cluny was modeled on the


St. Benedict. The saint, who died in 547, was

religious

communities whose members gave up the life of


the secular world in exchange for the protected
isolation of the monastery.

The Abbey at Cluny

who devoted

broke

pieces as

in

if

"Cod forgive you,

brothers," the abbot said without anger, "Why have


you plotted this wicked thing against me? Did not
tell you that my customs would not accord with
yours? Go and find an abbot to your taste."
I

themselves to good works and religious pursuits.

The

monastic

Cluniac,

and

built

Benedictine,
gathered member

orders

and others

monks

monasteries that included a church,

housing, and

all

the services needed to

closed, self-sustaining
in France, the
(fig.

Cistercian,

community.

monastery of

3.22; 1007-26)

is still

S.

make

In the Pyrenees

Martin du Canigou

today a small cluster of

Benedictine communities

became renowned

for their

Abbey
was the most famous example in terms of
architecture and music. The security and beauty of life
simple

life,

devotion to prayer, and music. The

at Cluny

there attracted

reforming

St.

many

rich

benefactors, prompting the

Bernard to thunder

and grandeur found

richness

in

1115 against the

in

the abbey, which,

buildings built in a virtually inaccessible location

high in the mountains. The church


structure with nave

and

is

a basilican

the soul's devotion. However,

side aisles roofed in stone

with simple barrel vaults. The outward thrust of


the nave vault
aisles

whose

is

while they attract the eye of the worshipper, hinder

restrained

by the

vaults of the

vaults are in turn buttressed

by thick

suppose

it is

done, as

Cod. But as a monk,

we

let

that pass;

we

are told, for the glory of

say, Tell me,

ye professor of

what does gold do in a holy place ... by


the sight of wonderful and costly vanities, men are
prompted to give rather than to pray
poverty,

3.20 Monastery

of

S.

Martin du Canigou,
France,

1007-26.

Discourses of St Gregory, quoted


1

quoted

Abbeys and

The monastery's church


p,

in

Olive Cook, English

Lives

in Butler,

Herbert Thurston SJ (London,

956),

p.

552;

2. St.

of the Saints, ed.


Bernard, Apologia,

Priories (London,

960),

67

has a barrel-vaulted
interior,

resting

with the vault

on walls that

are, in turn,

supported

by a simple arcade of
arches resting on

Only

walls.

leading

to

tiny
a

windows penetrate

the thick walls

dark interior. The columns that

simple columns, the

support arches opening between nave and

capitals of which are

simple drums with capitals that carry a slight

only a faint
their

shadow of

suggestion of the

l^oman prototypes.

Roman

aisles are

Corinthian type. The

Tiny

adjacent Cloister with arcaded passages around

distant apse

an open central court, an important element of the

windows at the
end and in
side walls admit limited
light,
is

and

that of the natural

stone.

monastery plan, led to the dormitory, refectory

the only color

(dining hall), and other

rooms serving the various

functions of the community.

The

Cistercian

3.21), Senanque,

France around
with

aisles

abbeys of Le Thoronet

and Silvacane,

built in

(fig.

southern

130, have austere vaulted churches

and projecting transepts generating a

cross-shaped plan with obvious symbolic significance.

48

A barrel vault covers the nave and half barrel

Early Christian, Byzantine,

no

glass for

windows,

interiors

were generally dark

some masonry material used for


and cooking. The house was often a barn

with a fireplace of

both heat

as well as a residence, with people

sharing a

common

Where

tion.

walls

field

and animals

space or with minimal separa-

stone was readily available, house

were often of stone with roofing of wood

poles carrying thatch (bundled straw). Such houses


survive,
in

some

in use, in

still

remote rural locations

Europe.

As

towns

developed,

farm

families

often

up a house on the land in


exchange for one in town where a town wall and
gates offered protection and where a church and
preferred

give

to

market square provided centers for communal

vaults the side aisles.

nave vault

is

resisted

which

aisles

thrust

is

act

as

The outward

thrust of the

by the half barrel vaults of the


continuous buttresses; their

absorbed by massive masonry side

walls.

Only tiny windows were possible, except in the end


wall where larger vWndows could be placed. There
was

originally

no furniture

in the

church except for

rial,

upper

floors of houses often projected out over

two on

required by the

monastic plan. The church had

typical Cistercian

only a small door at one side of the front, indicating


access

its

closure to the outside world: primary

was from the adjacent cloister and by a stair


from the dormitory to be used by

that led directly

the

monks coming

Surviving examples are those built with stone walls;

wooden

floor

and roof structure has generally

A number

30,

in

room in
which each window

barrel-vaulted

corresponded

to the

area allotted to one

monk, whose bed

would have been


surrounded by a screen
of wood and

cloth.

floor tiles are

banded

define each

metal

cell.

The
to

The

tie-rods are

modern attempt

to

brace the ancient stone


structure.

3.22 Farmhouse,
preserved

twelfth century are

good examples

(fig. 3.23).

houses are built with shared side walls

houses) and

fill

in the

their lots completely.

The

(Row
small

courtyard near the rear gives some light and ventilation to the back

room. The ground-floor front

in

the

Norsk Folkmuseum.
7776 kitchen was the
most important room of
the farmhouse The

natural

of houses in the French city of Cluny built

room can be opened

in to nightly services.

Stone vaulting was used to roof the other prin-

c.

The dormitory was

now

Simple house types emerged within the towns.

been replaced with periodic rebuilding.

five

of Le Thoronet,

France,

Fmland, Middle Ages;

center apse and in the secondary apses

making up the

Dormitory,

Abbey

life.

the street to gain extra interior space.

the

side,

3.21

The house in town might consist of several levels of


rooms wdth wooden floors and stairs of stone or
wood. Such houses were crowded together along
narrow streets since space within the town wall was
at a premium. When wood was the building mate-

stone benches at the sides and stone altars in the

each

and Romanesque

the

wood used for


and

floor, walls,

roof establishes a color


tonality interrupted

only by the white


plaster of the fireplace

and

the black iron of

wood stove. A
bench and the hanging
the

was usually a

cradle are the only

shop, a workshop, or a storage space rather than a

pieces of furniture.

to the street;

it

rooms and the passages surrounding the


The carefully cut and fitted stonework is
of great beauty although there is almost no decoracipal

cloisters.

tion.

In the

communal dormitory,

would have had

each

monk

a curtained area for his bed, but

the design of such elements can only be studied in

painted illustrations that appear in

some

illumi-

nated manuscripts of the time.

Houses
Serfs

working the land

box-like houses of one


roof.

Few examples

countries where

lived in a simple,

room topped with

wooden
a gable

survive. In the Scandinavian

wood was

often tarred according

to the practice of shipbuilders, there are

examples

of simple farm buildings of the sort that must have

been

common

in the

Middle Ages

(fig. 3.22).

With
49

Chapter Three

3.23

Viollet-le-Duc,

rrf^frrrtferrfrri^^.

wooden tub

engraving from The

with

Habitations of Man in
all

modern

Ages, 1875,

a house

sense was

it

filled

unknown.

In castles there were

in the thickness of walls

with the waste simply discharging through

latrines,

would have

openings or chutes into the moat or adjacent

was
the home and shop of a
bourgeois merchant or
looked c 1200.

might be

or projecting out from the walls that served as

in

the French city of Cluny

shown as

a half barrel

water for washing. Plumbing in the

sometimes small chambers

reconstruction of the

exterior of

simply

warm

It

stream or gutter.

craftsman who lived


with his family above

Furniture

and Other

Interior

the place of business.

Furnishings
Our evidence

for early medieval interiors

comes

mainly from illuminated manuscripts and books.

With few possessions to store, storage furniture


was slow to develop. The chest, generally a simple
lift-top box, was a place to hold folded articles of
clothing. In churches, chests held precious relics
living space.

upper

level

narrow

stair at

one

side leads to

with one large, all-purpose living room.

Behind the courtyard, smaller spaces served

kitchen and bedroom.

third level above

used by children, servants, or

attic

or

and

for storage.

loft

an

as

was an

workmen
was the

well in the courtyard

source of water.
Inside, the

house

town was no

in

different

from

when wood was used


heavy wood frame with

the farm cottage except that,


for multistoried building, a

diagonal bracing was visible inside as well

The

outside.

look

familiar

and stored ritual accouterments that were often of


gold and jeweled. Carved surface ornamentation
was added to these objects and, at their most elaborate, surface treatment with gold and jewels might

make

the chest as valuable as the materials

dard feature of every church as a

as

Half-timber

of

wood
wood members

construction results from a frame of heavy

members with

infilling

between the

of plaster and rubble. The luxury of a wood-lined


or

plastered

interior

unknown

was

in

early

medieval times. Water came from dug wells or

Waste water and


making town sanitation
dangerously inadequate. Life expectancy was short
fountains

used communally.

sewage ran

in

(averaging as

open

gutters,

as

little

twenty-nine years), with

epidemics and plagues commonplace.


Bathing, where
a

communal bath

as

it

house, a luxury that disappeared

Roman customs were

3.24 The
statue,

occurred, might take place in

forgotten, but that was

Foy,

reliquary

Church of

S.

Conques, France,

983-1013.
Jhe carved wooden
statue of the saint

reintroduced

into

Europe

at

time

the

of the

Crusades when word of Islamic bath methods was

brought back by returning crusaders. Bath houses

were often places for

social gathering

and tended

to

be viewed dimly by church authorities because of

and possible (often


sexual freedom. Private bathing was occa-

their association with nudity

actual)

sionally introduced into aristocratic

50

homes where

it

The richly ornamental Reliquary at


S. Foy in Conques (fig. 3.24) is a well-preserved
example of this type. A simple box chest was a stancontained.

seated

in

a chair

is

encrusted with gold

and jewels.

It is a
symbol of the venera-

tion felt

by those who

visited this church,

which was sited on the


pilgrimage route to

Santiago de Compostela.

(See also p. 44.)

money

collection

Early Christian, Byzantine,

u:iv.vfft'n

For the powerful feudal family that

container.

moved from one


as

and Romanesque

castle to another, the chest served

baggage as well as storage equipment. The devel-

opment of

and corner reinforce-

hinges,

locks,

ments of iron gradually advanced

making

chests secure in a time

as

when

means of
no

there were

banks with vaults to hold coin and other valuables.


Chests might be placed beside or

bed or up against

at the foot

of a

wall and, possibly with

cushion on top, they became useful for seating as


an alternative to the stool or bench. Chests were

room

sometimes lined up along the walls of

form an all-purpose storage and seating

facility.

Early chair designs were often

modification of chest construction.

made

a size that

to

the result of

A box

chest of

one person could be

a seat for

modified by the addition of a upward extension to

form

a back,

and possible other extensions

form

to

arms, to create a rather massive chair of the sort


that could serve as a throne.

chair was primarily a

symbolic object, a throne used by royalty, bishops,

and perhaps by the lord of


existed as status

Even

a castle.

emblems denoting

3.25 (above)

stools

Wnothesley

the importance

manuscript,

of the user.

manuscript

illustration

showing the

meeting of the English Parliament under Edward

shows the king seated on the only


rate

throne

(fig.

His

3.25).

King Edward

is

seated

on a throne between

of

rulers

1250,

Windsor Castle)

chair, his elabo-

vassals,

c.

(Royal Collection,

the kings of Scotland

Scotland and Wales, are seated on a bench which

covered with an embroidered

textile.

is

and

Judges are

It

woolsacks

can be assumed that the walls of

bright

colors

many

pictures of interiors, they appear in


covers, in wall hangings,

Windows were

most important scene


of power.

3.26

and

of undyed

bench or table

and stone

while,

textiles,

walls,

the colors of unpainted

and the

wood

earth, stones, or tiles of

to Isabel of

Bavaria,

c,

1300,

and

of neutrals, relieved by the occasional bright dyed


colors of clothing. Artificial lighting was generally

provide some limited space division, and probably

confined to the candles used in churches and in the

were simply panels of

dwellings of the rich. Candles were usually of

with

some

drapery,

cloth with cloth loops or metal rings to permit

tallow;

hanging from rods in the manner of the modern

luxury.

shower curtain. Even these limited luxuries were

in a

those

Lamps were simply wicks of cord

bowl of

common

make do with bare waUs, peg-legged

whatever

benches, boards on trestles as tables, slabs of bread

and earthenware mugs or crocks for


drinking and storing liquids. The greys and browns

made from beeswax were

a great

hair arrangements

of the ladies seem


appropriate
with

Its

fish

or vegetable

oil.

floating

In the houses of

people, light was generally daylight or

light might come from an open fire.


Water came from a jug, pitcher, or bucket filled at a
well and poured into a basin for washing or into a
cook pot as needed.

to the

room

embroidered

wall hangings, the rich

red of the bed


coverings,

Common

probably only available to aristocrats.

for plates,

poems

The elaborate costume

but

people had to

of Pisan presenting her

bare floors established the most usual color range

treated

to control drafts. Curtains

Manuscript

in curtains (fig. 3.26).

privacy to beds, to

not

curtains were used to give

(left)

illustration of Christine

in

apparel

for

is

typical of even this

dyes developed. Clear,

were used

in the center.

The minimal furniture

chamber were of bare stone; the floor, however,


is shown as paved with diamond-shaped slabs or
tiles of alternate white and bright green.
Color came most often from textiles as the
produce

others form

judges are seated on

the

ability to

and

a parliament, while

on sacks of wool, four to a large sack, while


bishops and barons sit on long bare benches
seated

without backs.

Wales. Churchmen,

barons,

colorfully

and

and seat
the

painted

ceiling structure over-

head.

chair can be

seen between the bed

and

the open shutters

of the window.

A woven

rug with abstract


pattern covers the

floor.

51

Chapter Three

3.27 Great Mosque,


Cordoba, Spam,

Europe,

Islamic Influence

survived

it

Spain,

in

with

coexisting

Christian and Jewish culture until the time of the

785-987.

and finally leading


from Spain of both Muslims and

Inquisition, established in 1233,


In the extensive hall

While the Crusades (1095-1144) brought some


awareness of Near Eastern culture into central

to the expulsion

Europe, another connection developed as a result

Spanish work exhibits a parallel coexistence of two

column capitals are

of the earlier spread of Islamic religion and related

traditions: the

decorated with carvings

customs across northern Africa and eventually,

from

through military invasion, along the north edge of

"Moorish" work coming from the

regularly spaced

columns support arches


with contrasting white

and

red voussoirs. The

of abstract forms, and


these

and

the pattern

of the repeating striped

the Mediterranean into

arches, with their

Cordoba

suggestion of infinite
distance, are the only

decorative elements.

in

Italy,

France, and Spain.

Romanesque

southern

direction emanating

and

France

Islamic

the

or

east via northern

Africa.

Spain grew to become the largest

medieval city with a population of some 600,000.

Although

Jews in 1492. In architecture and design, medieval

this Islamic influence

and eventually

largely

The Mosque

was driven back

obliterated

in

most of

The

by the Islamic

special building type developed

religion

is,

A mosque

of course, the Mosque.

synagogues that serve other religions.


for

communal

is

from the temples, churches, and

quite different

a place

It is

prayer, not the "house of God," not

an auditorium where

are

rituals

watched by a

churches

Byzantine

congregation.

were

often

converted to mosques as the Islamic faith came to

dominate previously Christian


Middle

territory

the

in

East.

Hagia Sophia,

open space without a

as a vast

strong orientation to an

served quite well as a

altar,

mosque, although monumental open space was


not a usual characteristic of a mosque. Instead, a
large space

was most often developed by arranging

rows of columns placed close together to support a

Columned

roof structure.

around or adjacent

to

were arranged

halls

open courts where

tain or pool

provided for

the kind of

mosque

a foun-

This

ritual cleansing.

that

was

is

built in Spain at

Cordoba (beginning in 785 with additions from


848 to 987). Here a large prayer hall makes use of
long rows of columns (a total of 860) supporting
arches of a characteristic horseshoe shape (a semi-

downward

circular arch with a


sides); these

support an upper

turn support the

flat

roof of

tier

extension at

its

of arches that in

wood

(fig. 3.27).

The

arches are striped with alternate voussoirs of red


brick

and grey-white

stone,

making

their

forms

appear very striking in seemingly endless receding


repetition.

Domes

from

built

a lattice of inter-

Maksura (a special
leader) and Mihrab (a

secting arches cover the square

area for the prayers of a

niche facing toward Mecca).


In Islamic design, arches are often built in a

form

that continues the curve of the arch

and beyond the


as

semicircle, continuing to as

60 or 65 percent of a

buildings that are

52

now

full circle.

Many

churches such as

S.

below

much

Spanish

Maria

la

Early Christian, Byzantine,

Moorish Elements

3.28 Court

Spanish

in

and Romanesque

Lions,

Romanesque

of the

Alhambra,

Granada, Spain,

1354-91,
The palace courtyard

Romanesque work
building in

in Spain closely parallels similar

France.

The monasteries of Santas

Creus ( 1157) and Poblet

(fig. 3.29;

twelfth century)

follow the typical Cistercian practices of southern

France in planning and in

At Poblet the

detail.

barrel vaults of the refectory

and the arches

that

span the dormitory to support a wooden roof

in

which the arches are

almost

lost in the elabo-

rate filigree of abstract


can/lng. The Court of

the Lions

is

named

after the basin at the


center,

and

of

the

thirteenth

century)

are

slightly

pointed, raising a question as to whether this might


reflect

simply
tice
S.

an awareness of Moorish practice or


a hint

of the

move toward

of the later Middle Ages. In the church of

Isidoro at Leon, although concept

generally typical of French


is

is

the Gothic prac-

and

Romanesque

detail are

design,

and
and
sound and

this,

other fountains

pools create

(both

is

surrounded by arcades

movement Plaster ornament and colorful tiles


(visible

right

at the lower

and

left

of the

illustration) carry

onward

the sense of

complex fantasy.

it

possible to note aisle arcade arches that create

horseshoe forms and, where the barrel-vaulted


transepts join the barrel-vaulted nave, arches that

have cusped, scalloped edging

Moorish
strong

practice. In such details

abstractly

patterned

strong hint of

and

in its use of

ornament,

Spanish

design reflects this special influence extending even


into the

Blanca in Toledo (built

have

synagogue)

ARCHES.

An

in the twelfth

arcades

of

such

century as a

Moorish

aspect of Islamic belief that has had a

strong impact on design

of the second

is

the strict interpretation

commandment

of Moses which

is

taken to forbid any representation of natural plant,


animal, or

human

form. With these sources of

imagery forbidden. Islamic designers were led to


develop abstract, geometric pattern and to make
use of the calligraphy of Arabic writing as a basis

much

later

work of the Gothic

era.

3.29 Poblet
monastery, near

Tarragona, Catalonia,
Spain, twelfth century.

The dormitory of this


Cistercian monastery

(founded
slightly

in

157) has

pointed arches

supporting a wooden
roof Screens of

wood

would have separated


the areas occupied by
the beds of each monk.

for decorative design. Patterns developed in carved

stone, in plaster,
tile

and through the use of decorative


and rich, with

are often extremely elaborate

and white extensively used

blue, green, gold,

way

that offsets

late

date

in a

any sense of austerity. Although

makes

it

contemporary with the

its

later

medieval Gothic architecture of Europe, the palace


of the Alhambra
a rich display of

development
courtyards,

surfaces
slightly

many

with fountains and pools that

decorated and colorful wall


and arches of horseshoe, Moorish, and

the

reflect

in

Granada (fig. 3.28; 1354-91) is


Moorish design at the end of its
Spain. Arcades surround open

at

richly

pointed shapes.

53

The Later Middle Ages

From

c.

1250 onward, as feudalism became more

and

established

all

aspects of

woodwork, metalwork, and

of building,

crafts

weaving produced

improved, the

life

greater variety of objects.

Knowledge of design, of interior spaces in particular, was greatly enhanced by the increasing use of
pictorial

produced by
(fig.

in

illustration
artist

manuscript

monks and

court illustrators

These books provide an

4.1).

books

important

source of visual data for the historian.

came

who were supposed

Within the

stone

and

gates,

wood

stalls,

castles,

drals

knights in armor on horseback, great cathe-

with

gargoyles

their

all

stained

these

glass,

make up our

buttresses,

and

picture of Europe

on

grilles

was

sculpture applied to
closely

the

stone

by the wood

paralleled

and the

stalls

in

The carved ornamental and

provided for the

seats

Candelabra, liturgical paraphernalia, and

altars

made

Gothic

metal

and pulpits were developed

thrones,

representational

and elaborately defended

fittings,

carved stone screens, altars and tombs,

the later Middle Ages.

clergy.

of the

structure

church, increasingly complex

vestments of embroidered
cities, large

like

to be

generations.

carving of choir

Great walled

lacking in the taste and elegance of succeeding

structure

Elements of Gothic Style

and barbaric

to be regarded as crude

that of the Visigoths

and

lecterns

which were used

church richly elaborate and

Gothic

the

textiles

were movable elements that

colorful. Paintings that illustrated religious subject

matter were often placed

at the

back of

altars

in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, the era char-

both the High altar

4.1 [below] Limbourg

acterized as "Gothic" in recognition of the impor-

altars in side

brothers, a plate from

tance of the kind of architecture that has been

arranged in the form of a Triptych with a center

name. The term "Gothic" was

panel painting and two painted hinged wing panels

Les Tres Riches Heures

du Due de Berry,
1413-16. Musee

came into use in postmedieval times when the work of the Middle Ages
of

In this illustration

month of January,

the duke

is seated at a
banquet with his back
to a great fireplace. The

table

IS

stylistic

originally pejorative:

Conde, Chantilly.

the

given that

of boards, set

on moveable supports.

it

and other
chapels. Altar paintings were often
in the chancel

shaped to fit over the center panel when


The outside of these door-like panels might

closed.
also be

painted or carved, usually in quiet colors so that

when opened

the triptych would,

service, present a brilliant display

was often

at the

also present in painted pattern

and on the under surfaces of

time of a

of color. Color

on walls

vaulting. Surviving

The colorful decoration

examples of such interior treatment have often

on the chimney breast

been restored and reworked

and

ceiling

suggest a

space of great

in

more

recent times,

or covered over or removed to leave the stone in

its

luxury.

natural color.
4.2 {opposite) Abbey
of

France,

35-44

This photograph, taken


in the

ambulatory at

the left of the choir,

looks across to the far


side

toward the pointed

Gothic arches of the

lower arcade, the

The most important elements of color came


stained glass. The term is somewhat
misleading since glass was not made clear and then
from

Denis, Pans,

S.

stained, but

made with

integral color

through the

addition of various colorants melted into the glass


as

it

was made. Glass was blown or cast in small


no techniques for making large sheets

pieces since

were

available.

trifo-

To make

larger

windows, small

were joined with lead

of H-

rium above, and the

pieces of glass

clerestory with

shaped cross section. This way of making up large

its

great

windows of stained
glass Nine chapels
radiate from the

ambu-

latory to form the

windows

end) of

nantly,

along

cathedral plan. The

what

light

greens

were

colors

with

and images.

and blues predomiamber yellows and some


reds

assembled

images of saints and

the French Gothic

emphasis on

clear

chevet end (apsidal


liturgical east

invited the use of patterns

Strong,

strips

to

make up

pictorial

biblical figures illustrating reli-

gious legends and stories. These served the church

is

chiefly distin-

as

an important teaching device, a kind of "visual

when

making up churchly

guishes Gothic from

aid" at a time

Romanesque

congregations lacked the ability to read and had no

54

building.

the public

i.'

WrR

Chapter Four

4.3

(right)

fragment

from a destroyed choir


screen, Chartres

Cathedral, France,
c.

220.

Realistic

images of

animals, birds,

even a giant

and

snail,

together with scenes of

everyday events are


displayed within the
decorative rondels that

act as framing

stated

elements. These carv-

the

ings faced inward to


the cathedral choir

where they would be


seen only by the monks

and

clergy.

4.4 {top nght)


Development of

rial.

To lay out an arch with

Wand

drawn as
shown. A and B are
connected and a
height

are

perpendicular from the


mid-point

drawn
base

ofAB

is

to reach the

line

at

as a center,

Coming

of brilliantly colored stained glass


experience.

The Gothic

moving
it must

era developed

its

can be
to

Gothic pointed arch.

{right}\Ne\\s

Cathedral, Somerset,

England,

1175-1240.
"strainer

arches" pointing down-

own vocabulary of

England that point downward toward


Whatever the expressive impact of Gothic

(fig. 4.5) in

form may be to modern viewers, its development


seems actually to have been the result of efforts to

dentils,

Greek key, egg and

dart,

and similar forms

with newer motifs that often drew on nature as a


basis (fig. 4.3). Leaf

ward were added at the

forms such

cluster)

cluster

of

and
four

as the

the

Trefoil

Quatrefoil

(a

with

joined

leaves)

(a

Crockets (projecting leaf-shaped ornaments) to


form a new style. Sculptural elements illustrating
religious themes with images of saints and martyrs
together with Grotesques and Gargoyles that
might amuse or frighten served both a decorative
and

a didactic role. Stained glass

was subdivided

with flowing bands of stone to form Tracery.

crossing to aid bracing

Such elements were introduced with increasing

and

freedom unrelated to any systematic

the distribution of

rules such as

load below the crossing

those attached to classical ornament.

New

Construction Techniques

The arch and


era,

the

related vault remained, in the Gothic

most

advanced

technical

building lasting structures. Ancient

devices

for

Roman and

medieval Romanesque work depended on arches

and

vaults

for

lasting

Romanesque work,

construction

and,

in

the semicircular arch was occa-

sionally modified to have a slightly pointed shape,

but the pointed arch only came into

ment and wide use


56

even the astonishing example of the great Gothic

"strainer" arches at the crossing of Wells Cathedral

of the classical orders and the ornamental detail of

forms the profile of a

tower

is

the floor.

similar

1330s

is still

the medieval church-goer

its symbolism
its
upward pointing that may lead the eyes and so the
thoughts upward to the heavenly concerns of religion. However, pointed arches (fig. 4.4) came into
use in many ways that have no religious implications. They appear in such mundane structures as
castles, town gates, and fortifications, in town halls
and other secular buildings, and in the details of
furniture and decorative objects of every sort. There

decorative detail, replacing the abstract vocabulary

three-leafed

c.

To

have been deeply impressive and persuasive.

draw a curve passing


through A and B. This

In the

mate-

that the significance of

With C

C.

AC

used as radius R

4.5

pictorial

into a dark church interior with walls

and

the desired width


height, width

books or other

access to illustrated

pointed arch.

and widely thought

pointed arch related to

its

fuU develop-

after the year 1150.

It is

often

solve a technical

problem

in the structural design of

churches, particularly the great cathedrals.


In

Romanesque
made

barrel vaults

practice,
it

the use of simple

difficult

or impossible to

The

introduce windows large enough to light the inte-

Groin vaults made possible

rior space satisfactorily.

square was desired to match the bays of

problem became worse,

vaulted bays open on four sides, so that the front

and back, those of the

and back openings

nals of the

to adjacent bays created the

The solution

lengthwise space of a church nave while the openings to the side could be used for the high

of a clerestory. This
aisles at either side

either be

one problem: the vaulted

left

below the clerestory

must

level

topped with square vaults matching those

of the nave, making the


difficult

windows

and

aisles

too wide (and as

costly to construct as the nave

itself),

bay were

all

aisles,

the

and those of the diago-

sides,

of different heights.

to the

problem was

to build the

diagonals as semicircular arches and to invent

would be of
same height. A strictly geometric
problem would have used half

arches for front, back, and sides that


span, but the

less

solution to this

arches for the four surrounding spans, but

elliptical

ellipses are geometrically

complex forms, not parts


drawn with a

of a

match aisle vaults half the width of those of the


nave. The latter approach was taken in a number of

compass. The medieval architect and medieval

Ambrogio in Milan or the


cathedrals of Mainz and Worms in Germany.
Another problem arises from the fact that a square

the forms of elliptical arches.

groin

vault,

front, back,

S.

if built with semicircular arches

and

diagonals

that

surrounding arches. The

seem

flattened

stone

was

so that they cannot be

mason were not prepared to lay out and cut


The Gothic solution

to turn to an arch that could be of

any height

any width which could also be

in relation to

laid

out with a compass.

or will have

elliptical,

than

higher

rise

circle,

have diagonals

sides, will either

that are not semicircular but

at

Ages

as the arches of the front

or each bay must be split in two at the sides to

buildings such as

Later Middle

four

the

makes the groins


while the second makes each vault a
first

case

kind of dome-like unit that breaks the nave of a

church into separate compartments that work


against

its

unified spatial sense.

The problem became more acute when

the tech-

nique of building vaults with ribs developed. Earlier


vaults

had been

built

on wood centering that filled


As vaults grew
above higher spaces, it became

the space that they were to cover.

and were built


desirable to minimize the need
larger

wood support

for these

structures. This

bounded

building the arches that

temporary

was done by
the vault

first

and the

diagonals at the groin lines with centering, and then

using these "rib" arches


limited
infilling

wood

scaffold

between the

needed

support for the

to

support

the

The diagonal ribs became


out and construct as half

ribs.

either difficult to lay


ellipses,

(fig. 4.6) as

or they rose higher than the surrounding

arches. If a vault that

was rectangular rather than

The

resulting arch will be pointed

mise that approaches the


to lay out

Ribs

to construct.

Once

desired shape of bay

ribs ore

semicircular The arches

and back are


semicircular and do

at front
also

comprois

easier

square,

sides,

this

approach

all

four

height,

permitting a high ridge to run the length of a


in a straight,

uninterrupted line that

unifies the resulting space in a visually effective

way. The diagonal groin lines can also be

pointed arches. The pointed arch

Derivation of a Gothic

is

rectangular, or even

and both diagonals can be of the same

church nave

4.7, 4.8 and 4.9

vault

trapezoidal (figs. 4.7-4.9). All of the arches,

itself

made

has

its

usefiil

base and semicircular


arches. The diagonal

arches

rise

higher than

the arches on the four


sides. In order to

use

the height determined

by the diagonal arches


for the arches on the

into

four sides, pointed

arches are laid out with

rapidly replaced semicircular arches, not only for

might be

The first diagram shows


a vault with a square

own

and symbolic appeal: pointed arches

vaulting, but wherever arches


The diagonal

but that

adopted, a vault can be designed to cover any

aesthetic
4.6 Construction of
nbbed vault.

and

ellipse,

for

door and window openings, for example, and even


in decorative details where no structural issues

required height

and

depth. This forms

Gothic vault, as shown


in the

second diagram.

To construct a vault
with a rectangular
base, as

shown

in the

third diagram, pointed

arches for the four sides

the center of the vault

were involved.
The remaining issue involved the provision of

The arches at each side

buttressing to counter the outward thrust gener-

any required width and

ated by vault construction. !n the lengthwise direc-

with heights equal to

not

rise to

the height of

are pointed

and

so

permit a narrower span


to

fit

the rectangular

plan of the bay.

tion of a church building, the thrust of each vault

was countered by

its

can be laid out with

the height of the diag-

onal arches

neighboring vault, but the

57

Chapter Four

4.10 Cathedral

of

S^

Etienne, Bourges,

France,

1195-1275.

sideways, outward thrust required a structure that

would

rise

above side

aisles

and not block the

light

reaching the clerestory windows. Solid masonry

The Gothic groin


vaulting has external,

buttresses were possible, but their mass, resting

or flying, buttresses,

down on

which make
to

it

possible

have the large


windows

clerestory

in

the upper walls. The

nave arcade
high,

is

Flying buttress, such a striking element of the

very

bnnging openness

into a system of double


aisles.

the arches of aisle vaults, was not desir-

The use of open half-arch buttresses in one or


more tiers solved the problem and generated the

able.

of the medieval cathedral. Inside,

exterior

clerestory

any weight or thrust,

windows

We

the

no longer carrying
could be opened up for

and the lower

walls,

to be filled with stained glass.

have

little

information about the architects

of the Middle Ages because they lived and worked


in a era

person

when
had

the role of the individual creative

not

come

be

to

recognized

and

recorded. Major medieval buildings were carefully

planned and their construction and decoration was


directed by experts who would now be called
skilled

when

professionals. This was

still,

however, a time

and specifications were not


used, and when written communication was quite
minimal. There were no manuals or handbooks
documenting design and engineering techniques.
The medieval architect worked on the basis of trial
and error, aided by accumulated experience, ruleof-thumb practice, and intuition.
detailed drawings

Medieval guilds provided training to the master

masons who might become expert


art of stereotomy, the

in the esoteric

technique of developing the

geometry that governs stone cutting so that many


individual stones could

fit

together to form the

complex shapes of ribs and vaults. Some interesting


studies have recently been undertaken, using
modern techniques of structural analysis, in which
cross-sectional

cathedrals

models of several of the best-known

have been subjected to

stresses

that

simulate those of gravity and wind forces of the sort

It

can be shovm that one Gothic building after

makes

another

of

use

theoretical

geometric

concepts in a way that parallels ancient Egyptian


practice. Superimposed circles, squares,
and octagons underlie the layout of many floor

and Greek

plans. Similarly, geometric figures can be devel-

oped to

fit

cross-sections

that aesthetic controls

and elevations, suggesting


were established through

sophisticated knowledge of theoretical systems of

proportion. The west front of Notre

can be

fitted to a grid

high, with

proportion
laid

the

on the

falling

(fig.

of squares,

Dame

six

in Paris

wide by nine

main subdivisions of its design


grid lines. The golden section
4.11) shows up time after time,

out with the aid of a simple geometric exercise

that could easily be developed with cord

and pegs

as the only instruments required.

The simple 3-4-5

right triangle

was used to

to

and as a basis for


geometric modular planning. The south tower of
Chartres has been shown to fit a 1:6 ratio of width

the ground through vaults, columns, and buttresses

to height, a ratio that corresponds to the vibration

that

would be applied

to the buildings in violent

storms. Findings suggest that the engineering was in


general surprisingly good, carrying loads

that

were

logically

and techniques

Some

down

sound and, within the materials

available, quite economical.

example, was not as masterful in


design as Bourges

(fig. 4.10;

establish

rates

true right angle

of the notes of the harmonious musical

interval

cathedrals were, however, better engi-

neered than others. Chartres (begun

of a

sixth.

4.11 Construction of a
golden section.

c.

its

1145), for
structural

1195-1275) where,

with only vestigial transepts, double

aisles

are

wrapped around the whole building with a double


system of light buttresses that do their work with
minimal material and great visual clarity.

58

Analysis of built structures demonstrates that

design was not a casual or improvisational matter.

A golden

ratio

is

derived

by laying out a square,


drawing a line from the
center of the base to

an

upper angle, and


swinging an arc with
that line as radius. AB:

AC IS

a golden

ratio.

The Later Middle Ages

Gothic Cathedrals and Churches

stone ribs with the space between


glass, so that the interior

the brilliant light

Although

it is

actually great variety. Albi in

is

France (1202-1390), for example,


aisles,

contained

and color of the windows.

possible to describe a "typical" Gothic

cathedral, there

has no

with stained

filled

seems entirely bounded by

the

high

outer

walls

of the

building. Gothic churches of less than cathedral


scale also vary widely.

France

built of brick,

wide nave, and buttressing

a very

inside

is

The church of the Jacobins

at

The Gothic

cathedrals of France are both most fully

and most dramatically


The Gothic way of building
gradual process of change. The

representative of the type


successful in design.

went through

Toulouse (1260-1304) has a simple single space

terms used to describe the development of French

topped by two

lines of vaults supported by a row of


columns on the center line of the building,
which generates a most surprising and dramatic

Gothic work

tall

interior.

The famous small church,

actually built as

a royal chapel, of S. Chapelle (fig. 4.12; 1242-8) has


a low, ground-level

The supporting

nave with a

tall

church above.

structure has been reduced to thin

Early and

are:

High Gothic: These terms

refer to the

development of the building technique using


pointed arches and vaults that took place from
about

1150 to

1250. Cathedrals built over a

period of several centuries, such as Chartres,


often

include both

elements and High

early

4.12
Pans,

S.
1

Chapelle,

242-8.

The small royal chapel

was

built to

revered

house a
There

relic.

is

lower chapel as well as


the upper chapel,

shown

here.

The walls

were reduced

to the

thinnest possible piers

so that the spaces

between could be

filled

with stained glass. The


result is an interior that
seems made of light

and

color.

The surfaces

of the vaulting above


are painted in blue

and

gold.

59

Chapter Four

4.13

(ng^f) Cathedral

of Notre

Dame,

Amiens, France,

c 1220-88.
The

completed

tallest

French cathedral, this


in

many ways

the

is

most

perfect example of its


type.

The grey stone of

the structure

relieved

is

by patterns of marble
flooring and by the
color of the stained

The great height

glass.

of the nave

(140
to

and

choir

feet) contributes

a sense of over-

whelming

4.14

intensity.

(far right)

Church of

S.

Maclou,

Rouen, France,
c.

1436-1520.

The church

is

late

Gothic example of the


style

known as

Flamboyant The
flame-like forms of the
tracery,
style's

from which the

name

are visible

in

is

is

Many

French cathedrals

the

windows at the
of the

Gothic elements.

derived,

far

choir. This

Chartres, Bourges,

end

church

istically

not as large as the

great cathedrals, but

it

most elaborate of Flamboyant


displays the

detail, especially in the

west porch.

of the most admired of

Amiens

4.13),

(fig.

and Beauvais

Laon,

are character-

High Gothic examples.

French
S.

are

cathedrals

Chapelle in Paris

is

Rayonnant.

typically

the best-known

Literally

meaning

of tracery and elaborate, sometimes

excessive,

decorative

Ouen and

Rouen, are

detail

are

characteristic.

Maclou (fig. 4.14), both


Flamboyant examples.
S.

in

The abbey of S. Denis (fig. 4.2), just north of


had been founded in the fifth century. Its
church was rebuilt several times in Carolingian and
Romanesque times, but it was the rebuilding
undertaken by Abbot Suger c. 1130 and continued
in the thirteenth century by Abbot Eudes Clement
Paris,

that

transformed the building into the

earliest

example of the prototypical Gothic cathedral. Like

most

cathedrals,

it

is

of cruciform plan, with the

entrance front facing west, the chancel

at the east

end, and the transepts to the north and south.

nave

60

is

made up of

The

seven rectangular bays, with

is

topped with pointed


height

consistent

choir, generating a

The

unified space.

nave,

for

open, and

tall,

slim structural supports

entirely of stained glass

make

it

windows.

Cathedrals that followed


in Paris, with

Chartres

phase of French Gothic design. Complex

ambula-

possible for the walls to appear to be built almost

detail of the

term describes the decorative

Around

a double-aisle passage or

to

and

transepts,

length

late

is

and a choir (chancel) of three

in a semicircular apse.

entire building

built

"flame-like,"

this

S.

The

vaults

Dame

Flamboyant:

patterns

the choir there

Rayonnant

building.

either side

more bays ending


tory.

Rayonnant: This term refers to the elaboration


of decoration in work from about 1230 to 1325
when radiating lines of tracery became an important element. The great rose windows of many

on

aisles

are

variations

(figs.

on

centuries apart),

this

stained glass.

up of

two unmatched towers (built


Romanesque early portions, its

arched

its

extraordinary

The entrance from the west

a triple

whole
norm.

Gothic

its

its

Gothic completion, and

later

Sens, Laon, Notre

aisles for its

4.15-4.19), however, departs from

the formula, with

is

made

grouping of doorways, each in an

portal

opening

panels (called Tympani).

makes reference

On

double

with

The

richly
triple

sculptured

arrangement

to the Trinity of Christian belief.

entering, the vast interior seems to be a tunnel

or cave, as one's eyes adjust slowly to the

The nave

stretches

dim

light.

ahead with an arcade on each

opening into the aisles. Above the arcade the


narrow band of the triforium is windowless. Above
the triforium, the walls rise upward to form the

side

clerestory,

which

is

filled

with stained

glass.

Each

bay holds tracery, dividing the window into two


tall,

pointed panels with a round element above.

4.15

West

(/eft)

front,

Cathedral of Notre

Dame, Chartres,
c, 1130-1290.

France,

The lower portion of the

west front of Chartres

Cathedral

is

Romanesque

in

char

but above, the

octet,

Gothic pointed arches

and
unmatched

assert themselves,

the two

towers represent the

advancing

styles.

one on the

right,

The
the

south tower, begun in


145,

IS

Gothic
the

left,

tower,
1

in the early

style; the

one on

the north

was begun

in

32 but displays

the

increasingly ornate

vocabulary of later
Gothic

styles.

4.16 and 4.17

4.18 (above) Nave,

(left

and below) Plan and


diagrammatic

Cathedral of Notre

perspective of the

The nave and choir are

Cathedral of Notre

quite dim, largely

Dame,

because of the

Dame,

Chartres.

wonderful stained

The plan of the cathedral represents

an ideal

Gothic scheme, with

its

glass,

which

offers bril-

liant color while admit-

cruciform layout nave

ting only limited

and

amounts of light The

transepts with

aisles,

and a

choir with

external flying

make

double ambulatory

buttresses

aisles Five projecting

possible the large

chapel apses form a


chevet extending to the

windows, which begin


below the springing of
the vault arches.

east Massive piers on

40 m

Chartres.

either side carry the

150

ft

loads of the structure,

which are transferred

4.19
to

the ground by flying


buttresses.

North transept,

Cathedral of Notre

Dame,

Chartres.

Spaces

between the buttresses


allow for the windows
of the clerestory.

The giant round rose

window
transept

in the
is

north

more than

42 feet in diameter
Mary appears in the
center of the rose and

is

surrounded by saints

and prophets.
five

Below,

lancet (pointed)

windows show images


of David, St Anne,

Aaron, and other


saints.

61

Chapter Four

4.20

{right) Salisbufy

Cathedral, Wiltshire,

England, 1220-66.

The cathedral

Is

supreme example of
consistent Early English

Gothic architecture
built from

design

in

a single
a compara-

tively short period.

The

almost black Purbeck


marble, seen in the

nave and

choir,

contrasts strongly with

the lighter grey stone.

4.21

{far right) Exeter

Cathedral, Devon,

England, 1328-48,

The cathedral was built


in the style

known

in

England as Decorated
Gothic. The nave is
dominated by the fan

many

vaulting, with

its

radiating

The

ribs.

massive screen separating the nave


choir,

most

and

once present

in

cathedrals, has

survived here

a support

and forms

for the large,

Ahead, the transepts open out to right and


while the choir extends toward the

east.

The

left

choir

height, but suffered a disaster in

1573

when

its

central spire collapsed, giving notice that the limits

later organ.
is

surrounded on three

sides

by

double ambula-

tory with, at the far end, five radiating chapels.

The

columns separating the inner and outer ambulatories and the windows that penetrate the walls and
light the

chapels form a complex and mystical

space in the

The

dim

light,

glass of the

been reached.

Its

skills in tall

building had

nave was never completed, so that

only the choir and transepts survive.

England

suggestive of infinite values.

windows includes

illustrative

The medieval

cathedrals of England are closely

panels of apostles, saints, prophets, and martyrs.

related

One window

communication between the architects and


builders on both sides of the English Channel. It is
possible that itinerant architects worked on
projects in both France and England. English work
is never quite so adventurous and dramatic as its

of the ambulatory

aisle illustrates

the

legend of Charlemagne in twenty-two panels with


abstract, decorative areas

rating the iUustrations.

too high to
effects

make

of their

surrounding and sepa-

The

clerestory

windows

are

the details easy to see, but the

color

and richness are over-

whelming. Turning back to the western entrance


front, the
filled

end wall above the entrance doors

is

Romanesque arch-topped
huge, round Rose window above.

with three large,

windows with a
The end walls of

the

transepts

each have an

entrance door with exterior porch and five narrow

windows above, with

a rose

Reims (begun 1211)

more formally

is

window high up.


more consistent and

more dramatic, with


of

its

time,

the amazingly

high nave. Beauvais, begun

at

tall

is

proportions

about the same

was to be even more spectacular

in size

those

to

and

of

parallels in France,

France,

but

makes each building


expression. Salisbury

it

is

suggesting

varied in a

strongly

(fig. 4.20;

way

close

that

individualistic

1220-66), built in a

short time with a consistent design,

might be

regarded as the prototypical English cathedral.

Wells (1175-1338)

and

original,

may appear more

with

inverted

disturbing
so

"perfect" as an example of the

Gothic cathedral type; Amiens (begun 1220)

62

of medieval technological

its

interesting

and vaguely
arches under the

strange

bracing

crossing tower. In English Gothic vaulting with


e.xtra ribs

was sometimes used, dividing surfaces

with radiating bands called Fan vaulting, in


recognition

of the supposed suggestion of the

appearance of a palm

fan.

nave of Exeter Cathedral

The fourteenth-century

(fig.

4.21)

is

a spectacular

The Later Middle Ages

4.22

(far /eft)

William

Vertue, Henry VII

Chapel, Westminster

Abbey, London,

1503-19.
The most elaborate

example of English
Perpendicular Gothic

was

originally built for

the private use of the


king.

The stone vaulting

of the chantry chapel


carnes the concept of
the multi-ribbed vault
further with the devel-

opment of pendants of
stone,

which are

covered with such rich


tracery that

it

seems

to

deny the stone


structure.

4.23

{left)

King's

College Chapel,

Cambridge, England,

1446-1515.

simple rectangular

space with walls of


Perpendicular tracery

holding richly colored

display of the striking patterns of fan vaulting.

Most
or

cathedrals were originally parts of abbeys

monasteries.

The

fan-vaulted

cloisters

Gloucester and the octagonal chapter houses


Salisbury, Lincoln, York,

groupings

original

Westminster Abbey

and Wells are

This

is

The Gothic

survive along with

cloister

parts

often

Norman

abbey, while the Henry VII Chapel dates from the


late

Gothic period when the richly decorated

called

Perpendicular was

at its height.

is

known of the building of English cathedrals to


make it possible to identify some architects by
name: William Joy at Wells, Hugh Herland and
William Wynford at Winchester, and Henry Yevele
at

Westminster. Identification of such architects

makes clear that, although craftsmen certainly had


freedom to contribute to the totality of Gothic
building, they worked under the direction of highly
skilled professionals whose control of both concept
and detailed realization was in some ways similar
to

modern
Since

practice.

many

style

Enough

the previous chapter.

Middle Ages discussed

Norman works

in

and chapter house

of the early

early

between 1066 and about 1200.

thought of as the most French of English cathedrals.

work of the

at

buildings.

4.22; 1045-1519)

is

English term for Romanesque.

the

at

parts of the

monastic

of
(fig.

Norman:

falls

tacular fan vaulting

dates from the last

phase of building,
1508-15. Most of the
interior

is

devoted

to

Early English: This term refers to the Gothic


work of the thirteenth century. Major parts of
Lincoln and Wells cathedrals are Early English;
Salisbury is a clear and complete example.
Pointed arches and vaults are used with relatively

students of the college

simple decorative

the public.

detail.

Decorated: Fourteenth-century work

is

usually

intended to hold

The screen divides

As at

organ mounted on the


post-medieval.

is

Exeter

(see p. 62), the large

Lincoln are examples. Carved decoration based

of foliage

this

small space reserved for

screen (1530s)

lines

all the

large choir from the

of this period. Exeter Cathedral and the nave of

on curving

was

the choir, which

is

primary character-

istic.

Perpendicular: This

is

the term referring to the

Gothic of the fifteenth century, the

last

phase of

English Gothic work. Parallel vertical division of

windows and
of

this

at

King's

College

Chapel

at

and the upper parts of the


Lincoln and at York are examples.

Cambridge
towers

the use of fan vaulting are aspects

period.

Elsewhere

(fig.

in

4.23)

Europe

cathedrals were built over a long

period, different parts of one building often belong

The Gothic way of building spread from France

in

directions so that Gothic design can be found in

to successive periods; different stylistic terms there-

all

fore often apply to different parts of a particular

almost every part of Europe. In Germany, Cologne

structure.

stained glass. The spec-

The usual

classification

is:

Cathedral (begun 1270) parallels French Gothic

63

Chapter Four

4.24 Siena
Italy,

Cathedral,

architecture so closely that

it

can almost be classed

1245-1380.
as a

Italian

French example.

medieval cathe-

type called a

drals tended to be

Stephen

Hall church,

and semi-

circular arches were

usually preferred to the

that there

Gothic

is

no triforium or

churches

in

Belgium and Holland), such

compensate

Tournai or

for this

simplicity, spectacular

surface decoration

was

incorporated into the


buildings. In Siena

it

took the form of black

and white stnped


walls,

both

and out, a
of caned busts
inside

frieze

(portraits of the popes),

and

that

Vienna
is

is

of a

an interior

colorful vaulting.

clerestory.

Low

the

pointed forms. To

marble

in

space with nave and aisles of the same height so

conservative in
construction,

S.

There are

Countries

(now

as the cathedral at

decorative metal

from

grills

The

choir.

or Rejas that separate nave

of

cathedral

vast

Seville

(1402-1519), wdth dimensions estabUshed by the

mosque

had previously stood on the

that

wide double

site,

has

almost as high as the flat-roofed

aisles,

nave and almost

wide, creating an interior

as

similar to that of a hall church

there

are flying

Bavo at Haarlem, the subject of a


fine painting that shows its white-painted nave.
In Spain, Leon (begun 1252) suggests aware-

buttresses above the aisle roofs that have only a

ness of the design of Amiens, while Toledo (begun

from the influences of ancient Rome.

1227) and Barcelona with

seldom

S.

its

1298) seem closer to Notre

great cloister (begun

Dame

in

Paris.

In

Spanish cathedrals, a vast and elaborately carved

Reredos behind

the

main

altar is often a

domi-

nating element in the interior along with the richly

slight slope.

Gothic design in

Italy

exploited

fully

never completely escaped

the

Gothic pointed arch, stepping,

Romanesque almost

Italian

from

seems,

it

directly into the post-Gothic

Renaissance. Milan Cathedral (begun 1390)


largest
It

work

of the

possibilities

and most consistently Gothic work

is

the

in Italy.

has a cruciform plan, high central nave, and

double side

aisles,

groin vaulted, and a rich

all

overlay of decorative detail both inside and out.

The very

richness of the decoration has the effect of

overwhelming

the

of

qualities

time, disappointing. Siena


stays close to

(fig. 4.24;

Romanesque

space,

interior

making Milan both impressive and,

same

at the

1245-1380)

structural techniques,

although the use of alternating

light

and dark stone

in stripes gives the interior a special quality.

The

west front shows a plethora of Gothic decoration

with some of the same florid excess that characterMilan.

izes

Florence

cathedral

(S.

Maria

del

Fiore,

1296-1462) has a Gothic nave leading to an octagonal crossing with three radiating half octagons
that

form the transepts and chancel and suggest an

intended central plan building that the long nave


converts to cruciform.

The

inability of the

Gothic

builders to solve the problem of completing the


left

the building incomplete until

a Renaissance design

completed the building with

crossing octagon

the

great

dome

that

will

be discussed

in

the

following chapter.

Secular Gothic Buildings


Medieval building in the Gothic era involved a
wide variety of buildings other than cathedrals.
Smaller churches were built in great numbers,

sometimes using stone vaulting, but often with


wooden roofs of the same sort that were used for a
variety of secular buildings.

Town

the guilds of various crafts

and

houses and other

64

official structures

halls, halls for

trades,

were

customs

all

built in

'

The

the Gothic style. In

London, Westminster Hall

(fig.

Ages

Later Middle

4.25

Hugh

{left)

Herland, Westminster

1397-9), a surviving part of the Palace of

4.25;

roofed in

wood

with a series of

Trusses of the form

called

Hammer

Westminster,
great

Here

the

is

Gothic

supported

appears

arch

beam.

on

making it possible to span a greater width


than would be possible with a simple, triangular
brackets,

In the latter part of the

Middle Ages, with

conditions,

settled

developing

the

complexity of society led to needs for a variety of


special

purpose buildings. The hospital developed


monastic institution devoted to the

as a part of a

London, 1397-9.

secular building, this

great hall

care of the sick

and infirm. At Beaune

in

France the

is

the only

surviving part of the old

palace of Westminster
Its

barn-like design

made

is

spectacular by

the great

truss structure.

increasingly

Hall,

wooden roof

of the type called

hammer beam,

for

its

projecting, bracket-like

elements.

It

was prob-

ably designed

and

built

by Hugh Herland, the


king's carpenter.

The

windows between the

made up of

and at the
end wall are rich with

group of two-story buildings on three sides of

Perpendicular tracery.

hospital (Hotel de Dieu,

1443)

c.

is

roof trusses

courtyard that housed various hospital functions


and, on the fourth side, a large Gothic hall that was

France, from 1443.

enclosures for the individual beds of patients

monastery at Beaune

4.26).

These do not back up against the

instead there
staff

is

(fig.

walls;

could

patients

walk about

in

the

The Close

Rolls of

instructions

246

in a

Medieval Building

behind the scenes

to various officials of the court

III

of England

demanding building

chaotic circulation

roof of the ward

is

staff

in

could

move about

own work space an


many ways than the often

in their

arrangement better

records a series of

and pleas from King Henry

and

served as a hospital

curtained enclosures on

each side contained


beds. The

wooden

barrel-vaulted roof uses

central space (where religious services also took


place), while doctors

The great hall of the

ward. Booth-like

a passage for the use of the hospital

behind the patients' enclosures. Visitors and

ambulatory

Work

Hotel de Dieu,

Beaune, Burgundy,

main ward of the institution. The ward is a


large open central space surrounded with curtained

the

Construction

4.26

mix in modern hospitals. The


of wood; the ceiling is curved in

tie

beams and

vertical

king posts to contain

outward and downward thrusting forces


the

The painting of the

wood and
the

the glass of

windows add

color.

work at the old Palace of Westminster to be finished


satisfactorily, whatever the expense:
Since the Privy

Chamber

in

our ward-robe [dressing

room] at London ... is situated in an undue and


improper place, wherefore it smells badly, We
command you on the faith and love by which you

bounden unto Us, that you in no wise omit to


cause another privy chamber to be made in the
same wardrobe in such more fitting and proper
are

place as you may select, this same to be done with


despatch and care, even though it should cost a

hundred pounds.

note of threatening despair

later that year, as

he

is

struck by the King

demands the completion

of

overdue and over-budget work at Clarendon House:


the Sheriff of Wiltshire

is

ordered as he loveth his

and chattels to take diligent care that the


Queen's new chamber at Clarendon be finished
before Whitsuntide whencesoever monies for the
life

completion of
1

p,

Quoted
32;

2.

in

it

may be

procured.

N. Lloyd, History of the English

House (London,

931),

Ibid

65

Chapter Four

sheltered market place, sur\'ives in

European towns and

space of the market hall at

good example

many

old

The handsome interior


Cremeaux in France is a

cities.

4.27).

(fig.

Castles and Palaces


The building of

castles

continued throughout the

Middle Ages. Some of the

largest castles date

from

when the invention of


gunpowder had begun to make the castle an obsolescent building type. The castles of the Gothic
period had more elaborate and more comfortable
living quarters than earlier examples, and many of
these interiors are well preser\'ed. Some large and
impressive castles such as Caernarvon and Conway
the very end of the period

(both begun 1283) in Wales are in ruins internally,


4.27 Market
Cremieux,

hall,

Isere, France,

the form of a barrel vault with

and

member

a vertical

wooden

beams

tie

forms part of the roof

that

many

but

others have intact spaces such as the

great hall at Stokesay in Shropshire (1285-1305)

300.

structure

truss
Although the wooden
roofing has been recon-

continued

since

It

was

built

it

retains a form

originally

typical of the covered

market halls of many

European

cities.

Three

and

Colleges

strvcted several times

visible

overhead.

in its original use

up

The building

until 1948.

its

arches,

grew during

universities

with

this

and the libraries of colleges became large


enough to require their own rooms or buildings.
The large librar\' of Durham Cathedral and the
smaller library of St. John's College at Oxford
period,

in

stone walls, windows topped by Gothic

and

its

trussed

wooden roof Bodiam

Castle

Sussex (13869) has an orderly square plan,

symmetrical about both


each corner and

with towers placed at

a.xes,

at the centers

that suggests the

more

of each side in a way

regular planning of later

times.

parallel aisles, the

central one higher than

(1555) are examples of the timber-roofed halls

the ones at each side,

equipped with shelves and tables to serve their

provide space for

special functions.

and tradesmen

farmers

up shop on
market days and shelter
from the sun and rain.
to set

Italy,

d'Oro, Venice,

from c 1420

the

had no

when they

structural signif

icance. In the central

window

tracery

becomes the pnmary


visual feature of the

space.

66

trussed roof

Buildings vsith uses relating to trade activities

were slow to appear. The shop of the craftsman or

room on

dealer in goods tended to remain a

the

lower floor of a house where the proprietor and his


Larger

the highly ornamental

hammer-beam wood

family (and often

over the Grand Canal,

large

function was the

more modern one of a town

At the Ca d'Oro in Venice

(fig. 4.28;

cacy of Italian Gothic design.

nobile (pnncipal floor)

house, which looks out

ornamental forms of

at

room of the piano


of this aristocratic town

made up

actually often

Cambridge 1446-1515), and the


dining hall where all students assembled for an
evening meal. The dining hall was an enlarged
version of the great hall that was the main living
space of a castle. The dining hall of St. John's
College at Oxford (1555) has Gothic arched
windows and doors, oak paneled wainscot, and a

used pointed arch


details even

chapel,

(1298-1314) have the qualities of an

early medieval fortress or casde, although their

church such as the elaborately fan vaulted King's

In Italy Gothic design

forms as decorative

and most important

largest

spaces in the complex of buildings that


college were

College Chapel

4.28 Ca

The

In Italy, buildings such as the Palazzo Vecchio


in Florence

spaces

some of

eventually

his

employees)

appeared

purposes. At Valencia in Spain, the

(Lonja de

la

for

silk

lived.

special

exchange

Seda, 1483-98) occupies a large Gothic

vaults. The ribs are


columns as carved moldings
twisting around the columns in a spiral. A wooden
roofed hall, with open arches on all sides providing
hall

topped by ribbed groin

carried

down

the

With

the

more

tracer)'

c.

hall.

1420), the

demonstrate the

deli-

of the

later

settled conditions

Middle Ages, the wealthy and powerful began to


give up castle living in favor of large houses, sometimes with

moat and drawbridge but

vs'ithout the

elaborate defenses of walls and towers. In England

many

such

manor houses

(so called because they


The Later Middle Ages

housed the lord of a feudal land grant or manor)

good condition. The

survive with interiors in

remains the main all-purpose room, as


castle.

At one end there

vestibule area, called the

partitioned

by

off

is

Screens because

supported a balcony above

screen.

the

hall

the

kind of

usually a

wood

in

it

This

was
also

minstrels' gallery

where musicians or entertainers might perform


and connected with the kitchens and pantries. At
the other

end of the

platform or dais

hall, a raised

and important

isolated the table for family

guests,

while others were seated in the main space of the


hall at

temporarily placed tables and benches.

fireplace against

one wall was the source of

were grouped about

Smaller rooms for special purposes

bedrooms, chapels

sitting

heat.

rooms,

a court,

often in a seemingly unplanned cluster that might

be highly picturesque. Haddon Hall

in

Derbyshire

and handsome example of the


English manor house type dating from the four(fig.

4.29)

teenth

a large

is

century (although with

portions

rebuilt

end of the Middle Ages). Penshurst Place


Kent (1341-8) has a particularly fine and well-

after the
in

preserved great
Little

manor houses such

Smaller

hall.

Moreton Hall

in

as

Cheshire (sixteenth century)

wood frame

visible externally

in typical half-timber fashion. Its

quaint jumble of

is

built with a

heavy

rooms and chimneys,

its

moat and drawbridge

medieval in concept in spite of its

Castles in France such as at Langeais

or La Brede
tion,

(c.

1490)

1290) have interiors in good condi-

(c.

although

later

changes have modified their

one of the
was so totally
the nineteenth century under the

might provide. Most furniture was movable and

4.29 Haddon

medieval char-

temporary although more elaborate beds, often

Derbyshire, England,

The Swiss
century) and Chillon

with canopies and curtains to favor both warmth

medieval aspect. Pierrefonds

most impressive of French


"restored" in

are

late date.

(c.

1390),

castles,

direction of Viollet-le-Duc that

its

Hall,

fifteenth century.

acter has
castles

been almost completely

of Aigle (thirteenth

lost.

(ninth to thirteenth centuries), however, are largely


as they

were

furniture

Middle Ages, although original

in the

and smaller

Many rooms

at

details

have disappeared.

the lower levels of castle buildings

and within towers are stone vaulted

in

Gothic

fashion. Larger rooms are usually wooden roofed.


Major rooms usually have a large fireplace, generally a hood projecting outward from the wall over a

hearth rather than a recess

Windows

made

are generally small

panes and internal

wood

privacy, appear in the

tant occupants of castles.

mation about

chambers of the impor-

The most

detailed infor-

aristocratic interiors of the

Ages comes from the paintings that

Middle

illustrated

This

banqueting

with

Its

wooden gable roof with


tie-beams, and pointedarch windows, was the
gathering space for the

manuscripts and books. Such books were often

lord of the

given by the wealthy and powerful as tokens of

his dependants-

honor or
medieval

Although knowledge of correct

love.

perspective

drawing was

artist,

not

available

spaces are often

shown

to

the

in quite

with leaded glass

shutters. Stone bench

and whatever heat the sun

realistic

ways, including details in color of furni-

and small objects.


The paintings that have most to tell about the
medieval interior fall into two classes those that
ture, textiles,

illustrate

which

biblical

or other religious subjects, in

figures are placed in settings familiar to the

hall,

stone walls,

manor and
The

wooden paneling on
the lower walls extends

across one

room

to

"screens,

into the wall.

window seats, arranged below and at the sides of


windows within the thickness of walls, provided
seating close to the light

and

end of the

form the
"

a service area

leading to the kitchens.


It

supports a gallery,

traditionally the place

of entertainers The

window niche seating,


table, and chest are
typical pieces of

medieval

furniture.

67

Chapter Four

4.30

{above) Loyset

The

Liedet,

Birth

of the

artist in his

own

or her

festivals,

similar events of the time.

Bibliotheque Royale de

(d.

Belgique.

sons of

The

has set

artist

scene

this

a late medieval

in

interior with furniture

typical of

an affluent

household of the

1478), for
St.

The

Mary

bedroom where

as taking place in

there

is

huge open

medieval

fireplace, a

colorful textiles that


Master of Flemalle

character.

banquet taking place


floor;

The

(fig. 4.30).

is

sit

at a

An

and tankards. The few

a footrest

is

along the side


fire.

and

away

to the banqueters,
as guests

The floor

of exposed wood

corbels.

marriage

with an elegantly

tiled

at the

head

while

table,

The

now

artist

plates are passed

who appear

by servants

to take food in

hand

resting

on stone

various

Robert

religious

Campin (1375-1444)

subjects

set

rooms. In the center panel of


Auiiunciatioiu there

is

in

late

painted

medieval

filled

with parchment
Shutters could be

screen in front

(fig. 4.31).

wooden bench with


from front

to

light

and temperature

a triptych

of the

Nearby there

back

rail

ToNGUE-AND-GROOVE

with

is

narrow

back so that the user, seated on

or facing away toward a table.

The

fire

table itself has a

with a single white candle and a

blue and white pitcher holding flowers. Light pours


in

68

joiuts,

or with panels

make up
from narrow boards while coun-

inserted into surrounding frames so as to


larger surfaces

warp and shrinkage

tering the

wood

characteristic of

planks. Panels were often carved in Gothic

arched motifs or with bands that suggest a folded


textile

the

so-called

the

Linenfold paneling. Color

natural

grey

of stone walls,

is

the

browns and tans of natural wood, and the clear,


bright reds, greens, and blues of the dyed textiles
that cover cushions and beds.

Medieval Houses

arranged to swing

cushions, has a choice effacing into the

silver candlestick

Middle Ages, an actual cut-

in the late

The scenes

that appear in artists' paintings are

adjusted to control

plump

wood

a large fireplace with a fire

The windows

contain frames

of

barrel later being adapted to support a seat

generally

take appetizers at a reception.

the ceiling

construction, with

beams

developed

made up

together with hoops. Such chairs

and provide arms and back. The artist's work place


is made up of boards of solid wood put together

painted

artist

long side table, each covered with fine

that has a swinging

from the

has a round back

it

in

are

elaborate Gothic sideboard holds plates

Mary sits on a bench

seated

seem amazingly modern

sits

linens.

is tiled,

bound

shown as

guests

is

down

in a hall

of the late Middle Ages.

office.

a chair that displays the technique of barrel

1427.

taking place in a room

back. There

She

in

of

and blankets

musicians are playing trumpets on a balcony.

The wedding party


The event

oddly suggestive of the modern

artist is at

all

The same

(probably Robert

c,

work on a
work station

Gothic arm chair alongside, and

(above right)

Annunciation,

small painting in a kind of L-shaped

of the fifteenth century, an

making

rocking crib for the newborn infants

Campm), The

cords that run on overhead pulleys. In a miniature

staves

an elegant Gothic

and swung open by pulling

are hinged at the top

canopied Gothic bed occupied by the mother, a

bedclothes, pillows, sheets,

is

painter Loyset Liedet

example, shows the birth of the two

period.

4.31

illustrations of

banquets, marriages, coronations, and

Two Sons of St. Mary,


mid-fifteenth century.

and

time;

through windows equipped with shutters that

often based

powerful.

people

most

on the environment of the wealthy and


The living places of the common

the peasants or

serfs

continued

to reflect

the simplicity, austerity, even poverty of the earlier

Middle Ages. The

typical

house had only one, or

at


The

Ages

Later Middle

4.32 House

of

Jacques Coeur,
Bourges, France
(c,

1443),

In this

house of a

wealthy merchant,

almost a small palace,


the hall or principal

room of the mam living


floor IS ornamented
with an elaborately

caned

fireplace

over-mantel. Each of

the doors of

ii

D~

OS

paneling

is

wood
an

set in

elaborately carved

frame while a highly


decorative cornice

molding tops the


The ceiling

is

wall.

a simple

structure of exposed

wood beams. Royal


S^i.t^'^UJt^t^.^tiK'^

Pi^

coats of arms appear in


the small

windows

between.

1
most two rooms,

a dirt or

plank

floor,

bare walls of

stone or wood, and minimal furniture of benches,


table,

and

perhaps

cupboard. Beds were

chest

or

wall-attached

sitting up.

The floor plan of the


irreg-

ular grouping typical of

medieval planning

slept partly

Stairs are

hearth or fireplace serves both for

cooking and heating. Candles became

of Jacques

house shows the

colder regions, box-like constructions of wood,

must have

Plan of the

House
Coeur,

sometimes, particularly in

often so short that occupants

4.33

winding and

utilitarian rather

common-

than

ornamental.

place in the later Middle Ages, so that a variety of

candlestick types ranging

from the most simple

to

quite elaborate, portable, table-standing, or wall-

attached developed.

The later Middle Ages also saw the development of a variety of trades and crafts so that
workshops and retail shops
shops both

appeared

in

towns. Artists have provided

many

images of workshops for carpentry, weaving, and


various crafts, as well as bakeries, butcher shops,

and other

stores.

toward the

A shop was typically open-fronted

street,

with a table or counter for wares

and work and storage space


strictly utilitarian character,

In

the

late

to the rear.

It

was of

having no decoration.

Middle Ages,

few merchants

became wealthy enough

to

own and occupy houses

that could be fairly large, comfortable,

and even

Such houses were generally in a town or


city; living in open country was neither safe enough
nor convenient in a time when transport was virtu-

elaborate.

ally

non-existent.

horses,

more

Only the

and the poor

practical in

any

state

case. Late

affluent burghers survive in

own
made walking

nobility could

of roads

medieval houses of

many European towns


69

Chapter Four

and

cities.

Medium-sized examples were similar to

More

the houses at Cluny (see p. 50).

elaborate

houses approached the scale of a miniature palace.

The

house

fourteenth-century

of

the

banker

Jacques Coeur in the cathedral town of Bourges in


France, for example,
(figs.

4.32 and 4.33).

sections built

arcaded

around

galleries,

a virtual chateau in the city

is

It

a cluster of multistory

is

a courtyard with stair towers,

and Dormers

gable roofs,

picturesque confusion. Interiors are

doorways and

rately carved

of elabo-

full

fireplace mantels,

wooden

painted

colorfully

would have added warmth,


the main rooms.

and

Tapestries

ceilings.

color,

in

and richness

to

Elaboration of panel surfaces and moldings with

carved detail became a favorite device for showing

and

off the wealth

geometric, or

it

in

might draw on the vocabulary of

Gothic stone architecture with

its

theme of pointed

arch forms and carving of details based on leaves

and

Wood

flowers.

carving became a highly devel-

and art in some regions in Germany,


Switzerland, and in England. Interiors in the

oped

craft

Perpendicular style might include wainscoting or


whole wall surfaces covered with panels carved in
the linenfold design with

its

parallel, vertical lines.

Important locations might use Bas-relief (lowrelief) carving,

Innovations

of the owners of Gothic

taste

houses. Ornamental detail might be simple and

flowers,

Domestic Comfort

often taking themes fi-om animals,

and heraldic

shields.

Utilitarian parts of medieval buildings, such as

Toward

the

aristocratic

end of the Middle Ages, both feudal


families who occupied castles and

manor houses and


Lining rooms with

improve

wood

where extensive

readily available material.

interior

comfort.

paneling to cover cold

surfaces of stone or plaster

regions

merchant families

affluent

looked for ways to

became common

in

made wood

forests

Wood

was the usual

material of floors and ceilings almost everywhere

and

were

stables,

generally designed in strictly functional ways but

often have lost their original character through

modernizations.

successive

Kitchen

Hampton Court

at

the reign of Henry VIII

room, 100

enormous
high.

feet

The

New

King's

Palace was built during


1520).

(fig. 4.34;

long and 40

It is

fireplaces each 18 feet

huge

with three

feet high,

wide and 7

There are bake ovens and various

feet

fittings to

since

hold pots for roasting and boiling. The floor

stone and the walls are bare, but the windows, high

it was the only alternative to stone vaulting as


means of spanning open spaces. Paneling walls

created

interiors

wood, usually

that

left in its

were entirely lined with

brown

natural

color except

for occasional decorative detail (coats of arms, for

example) painted in bright colors. In the Tyrol,


southern Germany, there are

many

in

small castles,

houses of prosperous burghers, and inns with

wood-paneled rooms, often with


cabinets,

and washstands, so

built-in benches,

rooms

that the

almost completely furnished without

are

need for

movable furniture other than a bed, a table, and


perhaps a few stools. The development of stoves in

Germany as

a source of heat led to the introduction

of elaborately ornamented

tile

stoves, almost small

buildings in themselves, standing near a corner of

almost every major room.


Since the width of

wood boards

is

the size of tree trunks, paneling of

limited by
whole wall

must inevitably make use of many boards


placed side by side like the planks of a wooden
surfaces

floor.

floor

must be smooth

for practical reasons,

but wall paneling can use strips of molding to cover


the joints of boards, or can be
separate
that

70

the cellars, kitchens, pantries,

wood

made up

of

many

pieces fitted together with moldings

form frames around the individual panels.

is

up in the walls, are topped with pointed arches. In


more modest houses, cooking was done in a fireplace which was also the main source of heat for
the house, making the kitchen the most important
often the only
room.
The arches, vaulting, and ornamentation that
differentiate Romanesque, Gothic, and subsequent
architectural work were not present in simple town
houses and farm cottages, so that there is little

change over many centuries. In

fact,

houses

like

those of the Middle Ages continued to be built


until

modern

times.

gradual increase in the size

and number of windows can be noted as glass


became more available and less costly, although
windows were not always welcomed in cold
climates where they might be a source of drafts, or,

where too much sun was equally


and to some extent in
Holland, there seems to have been an understanding that, if facing south, windows would let in
in

the south,

undesirable. In England,

sunlight

and heat

winter cold.

windows

at

that

would more than

Wooden

shutters

served

night and

on dark

days.

to

offset

cover

The wood

framing of half-timber buildings formed a grid that

The Later Middle Ages

4.34 Hampton Court


Palace, London, from

c.

1520.
The kitchen of Henry
Vlll's

palace was a

highly functional space


with high windows for
light

and

ventilation.

The huge fireplaces


served for cooking

baking

all the

and

food for

the large population of


the palace. The floor
stone,

and

is

the walls are

whitewashed. The huge,


roughly built
table

IS

surface,

the

wood

mam

and

work

utensils

such as those that

would have been

in

daily use can be seen.

had

be

to

filled

in

with some material

stone, plaster, or rubble

Windows were

form

to

a practical alternative

brick,

solid wall.

where

light

years after newer ideas

had surfaced,
to be based

and newer forms

interest in the

on

the realization that this

was needed. Leading was required to make up

era in western history that

windows from many small

modern times

largest that

pieces of glass,

the

medieval technology could produce.

in a

conserve land use within wall-enclosed areas

tions of classical antiquity

floors

material,

were often cantilevered out over

increase the space within buildings.

anci,

upper

streets to

The

habit of

projecting upper stories was also carried over into

building in villages and in open country.

The

diag-

onal bracing of the framing of half-timber buildings

often exposed inside

is

along

with

wooden

other

ceiling

becomes

some rooms where,

structural

frame

beams, and leaded

characteristic

glass

members,
windows, it

medieval

remained extant

in

ideas

last

from

is

signifi-

position between the civiliza-

its

and the modern world.


and Rome, literature, philosprobing curiousity about nature and

In ancient Greece

ophy, and a

human nature were current, even if in a form that


now seems truly ancient. Gods and goddesses
presided over a world of highly organized human
institutions.

In the

traditions gave
faith

and

way

Middle Ages, these

to another

mysticism

world view

struggled,

with

classical

in

which

gradually

increasing success, against the forces of anarchy

of medieval

and chaos. After the latter part of the fourteenth


century, a new world view began to surface in
which human thought and human effort came to

and medieval design


for several hundred

be seen as worthy means to improvement in the

element

interiors.

Although

was the

truly different

fimdamental way. The word

cant in defining

the structural

was

"middle" in the designation of the period

Multistory houses continued to be built in towns to

when wood was

in design

Middle Ages continues

Europe

human

condition.

71

The Renaissance

in Italy

The modern western world can be thought of as


having its beginnings in the Renaissance. The term

ties

describes a cluster of developments that gradually

with the teachings of the church.

pushed medieval ways of thinking aside and made

notice

way

for changes in

human

experience as great as

came with

the founding of the first


around 5000 b.c.e. Exactly
why these changes occurred when and where they

those that

historic civilizations

did

is

What

unclear.

particularly

is

quite certain

thinking began to give

about changes

and

way

medieval

1400,

to ideas that

brought

in art, architecture, interior design,

other

every

about

Florence,

in

that in Italy,

is

human

of

aspect

In

life.

Renaissance Europe there was a succession of styles


that
(below) Francesco

5.1

to

dominate the

settings of

and wealthy and the

church and

drawing,

di Giorgio,

came

powerful

life

for the

state that they controlled.

For a major

sixteenth century.

part of the population that was not wealthy

The Renaissance

powerful,

humanist and architect

stylistic

changes were

of

institutions

and

human

of

how

belief in the possibili-

endeavors in a balanced relationship

rarely individual

It is

interesting to

names can be

associ-

ated with medieval works of art and architecture.

The

and built by human


names known and scant
name with a work. The

cathedrals were designed

beings, but there are few

records that associate a

of Renaissance

history

distinct

by contrast,

art,

many

sequence of names,

a
as

they were the subjects of

personalities;

and

Michelangelo,

Brunelleschi,

is

known

of them

biographies and were celebrities in their

own

times.

Leonardo

da

and Columbus, are


Renaissance men whose names and achievements
are widely, almost universally known. The ability to
Vinci, like Galileo, Copernicus,

write,

documentation of individual achievement

in

written texts, and the development of printing that

made

important

less

medieval ways survived with some small changes

augmented them with

rather

in

written texts widely available were

making the individual

all

factors

significant.

Francesco di Giorgio

(1439-1502) placed

human

the

that

were more cosmetic than

Medieval thinking did not

basic.

within a grid of

events in the medieval view, and

squares, which he then

developed as a plan

an

for

The Rise of Humanism

nave, transepts, choir,


chapels.

By 1400, the city of Florence had established a


form of government, great wealth through
and the developing business of

success in trade

banking (based on the decline of the medieval

far

prohibition against the "sin" of usury), and a kind

fallen

524.

of

communal

sense of optimism and power.

The

progress and expand led to curiosity

In the library's small,

desire to

square vestibule half

about the physical world and about the pre-

columns pressed back

medieval civilization that had

into recesses, false

windows in unique
pedimented frames,

visible in Italy.

Roman

left

so

many

traces

These traces were both the ancient

and Roman manu-

ruins and the Greek

the great staircase

Itself assert

scripts preserved in the libraries of monasteries.

the

Mannerist movement

From

toward a newly expres-

and

Florence, Renaissance confidence, optimism,

curiosity spread out to Milan, to

Rome, and

to

sive vocabulary for

other Italian

classicism.

cities,

and then, over

centuries, to

every part of Europe.

The term Humanism

ques-

of

faith.

from land often never returned

human

potentialities to learn, discover,

It

and achieve. The

and imagination

it

taught that heavenly

rewards outweighed anything possible on earth.


Saints

were

I'-Hf

rarely

learned

humanism

did

with

identified

martyrdom while even


*

to

not

edge.

they

had

The growth of humanism

fostered the idea that the obvious could be questioned,

mysterious could become

the

that

less

mysterious through probing and discovery. Even


the

human body

could be studied

in

order to learn

anatomy and functioning (fig.


5.1). The idea of the experiment that could demonstrate a cause and effect relationship and define it
with precision is the basis on which modern
the secrets of

science

is

its

built.

It is

a Renaissance concept, devel-

oped and made known

in written materials

newly

miracles

and

feudal knights and kings

read

or

reject

write.

religious

Renaissance Interest

in

History

being had

medieval world view did not encourage individual


curiosity

off the

describes the Renaissance

developed the idea that each

72

human
lack

available through printing.

thinking that gave importance to the individual.

staircase,

Laurentian Library,

and

suggested

knowledge of the most basic actualities


was often missing. The earth was flat because
anyone could see that it was so; ships that sailed too

Michelangelo, vestibule

in

visions, but

5.2 [opposite]

Florence, from

believe

Miracles could occur, truth might be revealed in

stable

and

of reasons

tioning

ideal church, with

and

really

causal relationships. Supernatural powers willed

figure

Renaissance
values,

but

Along with

scientific curiosity, aiding

its

develop-

ment and being aided by it, came a new curiosity


about history. The historical enthusiasms of the
Renaissance are probably its most familiar aspect,
the

aspect

itself

that

literally

forgotten

justifies

"rebirth,"

wisdom and

ancient Greece and

the
a

skills

Rome

name Renaissance

rebirth

of the long

of ancient times. In

there had been strong

Chapter Five

of humanism,

currents

who

left

and

important personalities

wTitten texts telling of their achie\ements

setting forth points of

view in drama,

poetr\',

chamber and an outer


conversation.

closet-like space adjacent

philosophy, and mathematics. The Greeks had

equivalent of the

more

brought from a fountain or

scientific

medieval

knowledge than the most learned of


Plato,
Archimedes, and

alchemists.

Euclid were redisco\'ered in the Renaissance, while


Vitruvius

became an

explain the

Roman

structures

later

authorit)'

ruins

that

who

could help to

and fragments

were so

\'isible

built into
in

Italy.

level

above the piano nobile was often similar in

and bedroom spaces


On an upper level,

plan, pro\'iding similar living

ment could be augmented by

ceiling heights

from

became lower

still

were more open: here were

may seem paradoxical that the movement


opened up the way to modem thinking should

It

that

have turned back into

but

histor\' for stimulus,

was the

well. Many houses


were built with a well below, connecting to a shaft
rising through the building where water could be
brought up in a bucket or other container. The

but with lower ceiling height.

learning

for

modern bathroom; water was

Learning through individual thought and experi-

history.

room

private "studio," a

use as a study, office, workroom, or for private

accommodations
winding

for serx'ants. Stairways, usually

spiral or in

Middle Ages,

and the spaces


and sleeping

li%'ing

narrow

slot-like spaces in the

now became major

elements

\isible

Renaissance interest in histor)' did not aim toward

with wide, straight

mo%ing backward. It was rather another expression


of the new curiosit)' that sought to learn what the
ancients had known. The goal was to move forward
on the basis of the best human achievements of the

tion at a broad landing. Secondary stairs, straight

past,

while

pushing ahead

future. In the arts,

it is

into

which ancient elements came


but

an advancing

easy to observe the ways in


to be

admired and

mistake to suppose that


was merely an attempt to
recreate the work of the Romans. Renaissance work
used,

it

Renaissance

is

is

never narrowly imitative in the way that

later

and Eclectic work was. There is no


Renaissance building that is a copy of an ancient
precedent, no painting or sculpture that looks

Roman

or

Greek.

Details

might be

imitated,

concepts rediscovered, but the Renaissance always


generated

new

syntheses from the knowledge that

came from studv of the

classicism of ancient times.

turning to reverse direc-

or winding, were often placed in obscure locations.

The

more spread-out

countr)' \Tlla could afford a

plan and so was often only two or three levels in


height,

but

prevailed

same

the

only

ser\dces

rooms on the

level

assignment

The

of

Symmetry

above, and ser\'ants'

main

accommo-

attic.

new devotion
is

levels

level,

of the Renaissance interior

style

influenced by the
dents.

ground

at

dation in an upper floor or

design

rexivalist

flights

is

strongly

to classical prece-

dominant concern and the

details

of moldings and trim draw on ancient

Roman

examples. In general, walls are smooth and

simple, often neutral in color or painted in patterns


suggestive of wallpaper. In elaborate interiors walls
are

often

covered v^th

mural fresco painting.

Ceilings were often

beamed

interiors, coffered.

Ceiling

or, in richly detailed

beams or

coffers are

frequently painted in rich colors. Floors of brick,


tUe, or

Elements of Renaissance Style

or

marble

may be

patterned in checkerboard

more complex geometric

patterns. Fireplaces,

the only source of heat, were

The homes of powerful and

affluent citizens

no

mantels,

longer needed to be fortified

castles. Instead, the

Draper)'

palace (Palazzo) in towns and the

\'illa

in the

countr)' developed as residences offering consider-

able comfort

and

beaut)'.

The

typical palazzo in a

town came to be three or four (or more) stories in


height. The ground floor was devoted to entrance
spaces, services, stables, and storage. The le\'el
above the Piano nobile pro\ided the large and

decorated salons for formal

richly

where space permitted, bedrooms were


level,

also

Often,

on

this

arranged in suites for members of the owner

family.

74

life.

private suite usuaU\' included both bed

some of
and other

color, as can

great

ornamented with

sculptural

elaboration.

accessories might be rich in

be seen in contemporary paintings.

Furniture

was

more

widely

used

in

the

was stUl
quite limited by modern standards. Cushions were
used on chairs and benches and offered another
Renaissance than in the Middle Ages, but

it

opportunit)' for the introduction of strong color.

Beds could be massive structures, up on

and with

car\'ed

a platform

headboard, footboard, and comer

posts supporting canopies

and

curtains. Carving,

Inlays, and Intarsia were present according to


the wealth and tastes of owners.

The Renaissance

in Italy

Renaissance church interiors using stone for


wails

and vaulted

were of restrained color,

ceilings

but often richly elaborated with architectural detail

Roman

derived from ancient


for

windows gave way

models. Stained glass

to simple glass of limited

was widely used

color. Painting

in altarpieccs, trip-

and easel paintings illustrating religious


themes. Such art work was usually given by wealthy
donors who sometimes appear as figures in the
tychs,

paintings they sponsored. Renaissance interiors,

both residential and religious, tended to

from
as

relative simplicity

move

toward greater elaboration

wealth increased and knowledge of classical

antiquity

became more widespread.

In an attempt to find order in the complexity of

Renaissance development, historians have identiof

fied three

view

its

pattern,

main

phases

these

Many

phases.
as

made up of

forming
a

older histories

symmetrical

hesitant

beginning,

triumphantly successful "high" period, followed by


a period of decline and decadence.

A more modern

view recognizes the three phases, but considers

them

as differing in character of

through

more or

less

equal

from adventurous experiment

merit: a progress

period

achievement into a

of developed
late

and balanced

phase of great freedom and

tapestry-like patterned painting of walls

rooted

elaboration.

in

building

medieval practice. As
is

museum)

the

now

rooms

still

seem

furnished (the

are simple, quite

bare, and, through their sparse but sturdy furni-

The Early Renaissance

ture, suggest

an established aesthetic of dignity that

holds luxury and austerity in a fine balance. In such

The Davanzati Palace


latter part

in Florence (fig. 5.3)

of the fourteenth century

is

of the

a beautifully

a building

way

giving

possible to sense the

it

is

to

something new.

Middle Ages

moved

new

when medieval ways

The building stands on a


narrow, irregular, and somewhat cramped site
typical of the medieval town. On the ground floor
there is an entrance loggia opening on the street
that would have served as a store or shop. A central
court gives access to stairs that lead up to the three
floors of living spaces above
spacious and quite
luxurious, but irregular and jumbled in plan in the
manner of a medieval castle. Externally, the
building is symmetrical and orderly and many of
the rooms are handsomely detailed with patterned
tiled floors, ornamentally treated wood beamed
ceilings, and fireplaces with richly carved mantels.
Evidence of a new awareness of classical antiquity
into a

can be found

in

small details, such as the moldings

and the brackets

that support the ceiling beams,

but the leaded glass of the windows and the

The bedroom of the


palazzo has been finely
preserved. The floor
tiled,

and

which

wood

is

is

the ceiling,

of exposed

construction,

is

painted with a decorature

is

The

furni-

minimal-a

a cradle, two

bed,

chests,

Bruneileschi

and two chairs-but the


room is richly decorated

The

by the

era.

Florence, 1390s.

tive pattern.

preserved example of the kind of town house that


existed at the transition point

5.3 Palazzo Davanzati,

Italy

and
first

first

or "early" phase of the Renaissance in

becomes
fits,

clearly recognizable

around 1400
The

roughly, into the fifteenth century.

important personage whose name

known was

is

well

Filippo Bruneileschi (1377-1446), a

who eventuaUy

became a sculptor, geometrician, architect, and


what would now be called an engineer, making him
an example and prototype of the versatile
"Renaissance man." He made a five-year visit to
Rome and was able to study at first hand the
surviving buildings and ruins of ancient architectural

works.

drawn

repeating patterns on
the lower surfaces, at
the level of a fneze,
in the

Florentine trained as a goldsmith

On

fresco painting

of wall surfaces, with

and

arcaded pattern

above Strong reds give


an overall effect of
warmth.

shuttered

window and
fireplace

the corner

complete the

functional equipment

of the room.

returning to Florence, he was

into discussions about

ways to complete the

Gothic cathedral which had only a makeshift roof


over

its

huge octagonal crossing.

It

is

hard to

75

Chapter Five

5.4 [below

right)

how

imagine

medieval

Fllippo Brunelleschi,

Cathedral, Florence,

building with no idea of

height of the

way of proceeding was not uncommon

sational

dome was

external buttressing

and was on

extraordi-

nary achievement.

5.5 (below

left)

dome

to be built without buttresses

and

need for constructing wood centering

would have required costly scaffolding


would have been a huge engineering
work). Although he was secretive about the techniques he planned to use, Brunelleschi was finally

Bruneileschi's

dome.

The ingenious system of


it

for a vast

vsfithout the

(the latter

drawing of

made

in

that in itself

Sectional axonometric

put in charge of the project and proceeded to build,

beginning

in 1420, the great

dome

that remains a

possible to

construct the

dome

without centering. The


chains that act as

dramatic landmark on the Florence skyline


5.4

and

Bruneileschi's

can be located at

and

at two

(figs.

5.5).

tension rings are not

shown, but their posithe base

medieval practice. Brunelleschi proposed a design

achieved without

tions

plan

most important

its

element would be completed, but such an improvi-

1420-36.
The great size and

ribs

could

builders

how

dome

is

not

Roman

in

shape

its

pointed form, well suited to the Gothic cathedral,

but

suggests medieval vaulting

the construction

without external buttresses involved a number of

upper levels

ingenious technological devices. At each of the


5.6 (top

right) Fllippo

Brunelleschi, the nave,


S.

Lorenzo, Florence,

angles of the octagon there are stone ribs, plus additional

ribs,

two

in

each panel of the dome,

all

concealed between the outer roof surface and the

and wood

great chains of stone, iron,

wrap

that

1421-8.

inner
The church had a

basil-

ican plan, with a tall

nave and vaulted


aisles.

Connthian

surface

between

was

visible

used

inside.

as

The hollow space

working

space

during

construction. Within this hidden zone, there are

around the dome, tying the

ribs

rings" that resist the thrust that

would tend

the structure outward. At the top of the


is

block,

a tiny

bit of classical entablature

on which the semi-

circular

completed

building

small

virtually

in

above provides

follows his design

and

is

Although the great dome

from windows, and the

cathedral

wooden roof construction IS hidden by a

Bruneileschi's

coffered ceiling There

demonstrate

are minimal transepts

completely.

create a nominally

cruciform plan.

Lorenzo

most
the

(fig. 5.6;

(begun

1435),

Duomo)

of

to

interiors

Florentine

churches

begun

in.

(that has given the


is

work, other projects

visible

approach

his

In

it

dome

both outside and

name

informal

its

not

but

the only part of the

that has overtly classical details

light

(not visible here), which

there

was

itself,

until after Bruneileschi's death,

(Roman) arches

rest The clerestory

to burst

dome

an oculus that opens into a lantern. The lantern,

columns are topped by

an impost

with "tension

1420) and

c.

S.

more
of

undertook

Brunelleschi

S.

Spirito

the

reworking of the typical Gothic cruciform plan


with transepts, choir, and

aisles

into

the

new

Renaissance vocabulary of classicism. Each church


has a plan worked out on a strictly geometric grid

of squares that establish a module for the complete


design. In each there

nave arcade of

is

Roman

arches, with vaults over the aisles supported

Corinthian columns. The

ancient

Romans

on

did not

support arches on individual columns, considering

them, we assume, too weak either structurally or


visually. In

both Greek and

Roman

work, columns

always support a continuous band of entablature,


the

basic

character

of

Bruneileschi's designs, the

76

classic

order.

In

columns are topped by

The Renaissance

5.8

fragment of entablature, a square block sometimes

in Italy

Filippo

Brunelleschi, the Pazzi

an impost block or Dosseret. This

called

arrangement

was

that

not

unusual

Christian and Byzantine work, but

Renaissance

Roman

its

is

an

Chapel,

Early

in

use in the

practice

was

work

at S.

may appear

Old

Sacristy to distinguish

Sacristy

from the

later

It is

and

color there

the

warmer tone of

the plastered wall

and

surfaces. The blue

pendentives, with a smaller connecting

white bas-relief rondels

chancel area (called a Scarsella), also a square

are

interior of

by Luca

della

Robbia

dome on pendentives (fig. 5.7).


the room is lined with a classic

space topped by a

The

What

comes from the

greenish-grey marble

now usually called


square room topped by a

by Michelangelo,

the Medici Chapel).

dome on

it

it

(note the

the right of the chancel


area).

(known

IS

New

is

seemingly tmy door at

Lorenzo was

the design of a small chapel-like Sacristy


as the

domed chapel

The

understood.

fully

Brunelleschi's earliest

1429-61,

actually larger than

typical of the early phase before

is

Croce,

S.

Florence,

Corinthian order using pilasters and an entablature.

The problem of

with pilasters

is

treating an interior corner

dealt with

by the curious Early

Renaissance means of simply trimming and folding


a

pilaster

to

fit

the

corner.

Eight

rondels are

arranged around the base of the dome, four on the


wall surfaces

unlike

and four

anything Roman,

in the pendentives.
this space,

with

its

While

organization of square and circular elements, has a


strongly classical feeling unlike

Gothic design.

The small

orderly

anything in earlier

church of
has

Pazzi Chapel in the courtyard of the

Croce

S.

although there
his role in

Old

attributed

Sacristy at

S.

1429-61)

Brunelleschi

to

uncertainty about the extent of

is

design.

its

death but

after his

in Florence (fig. 5.8;

been

usually

its

was not completed

It

design

Lorenzo.

is

until

closely related to the

It is

often thought of as

the archetypal Early Renaissance work, with

symmetry,

use of classical

its

Roman

its

elements,

along with a certain delicacy and tentative quality.

A dome on

pendentives

space which

is

is

placed over a square

extended to either side with barrel-

vaulted wings that convert the square plan into a

rectangle.

balances a

square scarsella with

domed

its

own dome

portion of the entrance loggia.

This chapel was built as the chapter house of

monastery and so has


its

its

continuous bench around

internal perimeter as seating for the assembled

monks of

the chapter.

The

walls are treated with a

and there are

rondels high up on the walls with medallion


della

pilasters

here

and

reliefs

Robbia (1400-82). The use of folded


slivers

repeats

at interior

corners

characteristically

Early

of pilasters

that

Renaissance interior

detail.

The

tentative quality of

the design can also be traced in the curious scale of

seems to be quite small while it is


actually quite large. Such ambiguity in scale may
the space

Brunelleschi, the old


sacristy, S. Lorenzo,

Florence, c

1421-5.

The square,

domed

chapel has a small


"scarsella" altar alcove.
Originally, the color

would have been


limited to grey
white,

but

and

in the

1430s

modifications were

introduced by
Donatella, the designer

of the doors and their


colorful surrounding,

including the blue

and

white bas-relief panels.

pilastered order in grey-green stone,

by Luca

5.7 Filippo

it

The doors are accurate


reproductions of

ancient

Roman

doors,

such as those of the

Pantheon The central


altar table

is

placed

over the tomb of

Giovanni di Bicci de'


Medici

which

and
IS

his wife,

recessed in

the floor.

derive from a somewhat uncertain exploration of


the vocabulary of classical design.

77

Chapter Five

Michelozzo
The Florentine Medici-Riccardi Palace {fig. 5.9;
begun 1444) by Michelozzo di Bartolommeo
(1396-1472) suggests medieval massing with

Rusticated

heavily

windows, but
into a

its

columned

Roman

The

its

small

symmetrical plan which opens


central courtyard

detail identify

building.

and

stonework

as

it

and

use of

its

an Early Renaissance

central entrance passage leads to a

square interior courtyard with a central exit on axis


to a rear garden court.

Twelve Corinthian columns

support arches forming a surrounding loggia. The


arches meet at the tops of the

awkward

a particularly

column

capitals with

collision at each corner,

indicating the designer's tentative understanding of

Roman way
Room interiors

the classical

5.9 (above)
Michelozzo

di

Bartolommeo, Palazzo
Medici-Riccardi,
Florence, from

444.

The formal inner court-

yard of the palazzo

of relating columns to

and largely
unornamented except for elaborately coffered
wood ceilings and classically detailed door frames
and fireplace mantels. Rich and illustrative tapestries probably hung on the walls of major rooms.
The chapel is lined with fresco painting by Benozzo
Gozzoli (1420-97) showing the Procession of the
Magi as an ornately costumed procession
arcades.

proceeding through a

The

style

and

are simple

hilly

landscape

(fig. 5.10).

detail suggest tapestry translated into

is

an example of early

painted form.

later

(1680) enlargement of the

Renaissance classicism
in its

use of semicir-

cular arches, which rest


directly

on the slim

5.10 Benozzo

Gozzoli,

Procession of the Magi,

Connthian columns

Medici Chapel, Palazzo

that surround the

Medici-Riccardi,

strictly

symmetncal

Florence, 1459.

space The tentative

The simple interior form

exploration of classical

of early Renaissance

precedent can be noted


in the relation

to

of arches

columns, particularly

at the corners.

rooms was often


enriched by fresco
painting, which

frequently covered the


walls.
is

The subject here

the Procession of the

Magi but

the figures

are portraits of

members of the Medici


family and their
retinue. Gozzoli

has

included a self-portrait
as a kind of signature.

78

The Renaissance

building

symmetry

maintained

externally,

although the original symmetry of the plan


survives only in

its

now

left-hand portion.

Alberti
Leon

Battista

musician,

Re

Alberti

(1404-72) was a scholar,

artist, theorist,

and

writer. His

book De

Aediftcatoria ('About Buildings') published in

1485 was the fnst major writing since Vitruvius to

attempt a theoretical approach to architectural


design.

It

was

powerful influence

fifteenth century

moving

in

the

forward from the tentative Early

Renaissance into the

more

strongly conceptual

direction of the next phase. His text sets forth a

5.11

Elevation of the

facade of

S,

Andrea.

The facade elevation of


this

church

fits

into a

square. The square

then divided

is

in four,

both horizontally and


vertically,

creating

sixteen squares.

Elements are

in propor-

tion of 1:1, 2:1, 3:1,


6:1,

and

5:6.

in Italy

Chapter Five

5.13 Donato
Bramante,

Satiro,

S.

Milan, reconstruction

begun 1475.
The

effort to

generate a

cruciform plan was

frus-

trated here because a


street lay across the

end of the church


where a choir would
normally have been
positioned. Bramante's

unusual solution was


create
effect,

to

a trompe I'oeil
by adding a

false choir,

which

is,

in

fact, virtually flat

The

apparent space

actu-

ally

is

a perspective

image

in bas-relief and

paint

converted to a Greek cross by four columns that


support the lantern above. It serves as a chapel to
the larger church which has a

domed

crossing at

the intersection of barrel-vaulted transepts and


nave. There
street

is,

outside

Bramante

surprisingly,

limited

no chancel because

the

dealt with this issue

knowledge of the

plan

to

T-shape.

by making use of his

rules of optical perspective, a

newly developed Renaissance artistic discovery.


The end wall of the church is made into an illusiondeep space by

istic

viewed from

a painted bas-relief that,

when

the nave, appears as a barrel-vaulted

a circular space

Bramante

that

surrounded by

columns matching the order

a ring

of

wraps the round


columns
sixteen

that

with a portico of
supporting an entablature. The enclosed center of
chapel

the building

is

drum

that rises above the portico

a hemispherical

dome. In

eleva-

to be

topped by

tion,

the portico has a proportion of height to

width of 3 to

5,

the

same proportion

above the portico;


(including the

total

dome)

is

width to

3 to 4.

as the
total

drum
height

The enclosed drum

has a ratio of width to height of 2 to

3;

with the

the width of the

chancel which seemingly completes a cruciform

addition of the dome, 2 to

plan.

colonnade matches the height of the drum. Other


1499 Bramante moved

Rome. Here he
In
and became
career,
of
his
began the second phase
Renaissance
of
High
exponents
one of the first
to

in Italy. At the monastery of

work
Montorio

S.

Pietro in

Rome, Bramante was given the task of


reconstructing the existing cloister to make it the
site

in

of a small chapel. Only the chapel,

now known

as the Tempietto (figs 5.14-5.16; 1502), was built.

80

planned

show

drawings

surviving

but

choices of lines for

4;

measurement show up

relation-

ships that correspond to the golden section ratio of


1

to

1.618.

The

interior

uses

eight

pilasters

window panels and


larger niches, while the drum above has eight
windows below the domed ceiling. There is also a
arranged in pairs separating

round subterranean chapel reached by twin stairs


leading to a door at the rear. Although it is not

The Renaissance

5.14

(/e/t)

in Italy

Donate

Bramante, Tempietto,
S.

Pietro in Montorio,

Rome,

502.

Tempietto repre-

7776

sented a highly
successful effort to

adapt the vocabulary


of Roman classicism to

domed struc-

circular,

ture.

The building domi-

nates the small

monastic courtyard

in

which

it

5.15

[nght] Engraving

stands.

of the Tempietto from

Paul Letarouilly's
Edifices

de

Rome

Moderne (1825-60).
This cross-section

the

domed

shows

circular

space of the chapel and


the subterranean space

beneath, with

its

centrally located

reli-

quary, the ostensible

reason for the chapel's


existence

5.16

(//g/jt)

Elevation

of the Tempietto.

The elevation of the


building

is

made up

of

two overlapping golden


rectangles,
zontal,

one

one

entire elevation

an equilateral

Roman

based on any one ancient

building, there

is

and coherence about the


makes it seem truly classical in

a quality of organization

Tempietto that

In spite of

spirit.

its

small

size,

the richness

and

complexity of the design give the Tempietto a

power

visual

that explains

its

influence

on subse-

hori-

vertical.
fits

The
into

triangle.

5.17

(/eft) Donate
Bramante and others,

plans for

Rome,

The evolution of the


cathedral can be seen

new

to prepare plans for the


Peter's Cathedral for

St.

Rome (fig. 5.17). His complex central plan called


for a domed crossing, four identical radiating arms
forming a Greek cross, and smaller domed chapels
into

fitted

began

in

the

Construction

corners.

resulting

1506 on the basis of this plan and, despite

the modifications

designs of

Bramante, 1506 (top

Bramante was asked


construction of a

St. Peter's,

506-64

plan for the great

in the

quent development.

made by

sequence of succes-

left):

Bramante and

Baldassare Peruzzi,
before

1513

(top

da
1539 (below

right); Ciuliano

Sangallo,

and Michelangelo,
1546-64 (below right).

left):

Further design modifications,

made by

Maderno

Carlo

in the seven-

teenth century were

sors, St. Peter's

still

incorporates the basic concepts

of Bramante's plan. The change in plan concept to

scheme seems

a Latin cross (cruciform)

been dictated by a feeling


central

plan

carried

in the

incorporated in the
building as compjeted.

to have

Vatican that a

suggestion

of

Roman
81

t0

&
Vasarfsi

iisJaeofI
HHiwdi ng Brft
"^

MS^^ ao'fce waly art egxs-r

of

re 3-r!E iiM*t

151 3-89

-,

^^-

82

.i.-^

.^. ijai or.

The coun
the dassic

The Renaissance

in Italy

5.19 Annibale
Carracci, ceiling frescos,

Palazzo Farnese, Rome.

1597-1600.

salon of the piano

nob\\e of the palace,

which was usually used

had

as a dining room,
florid decorative

elements on the walls,

but the simple, vaulted


ceiling

was

reserved for

the frescos painted by

Carracci The panels

illustrate

variety of

mythological subjects
while the apparently

three-dimensional architectural detail

and

sculptural elements are,


in reality,

trompe

foeil

paintings on the

smooth plaster
surfaces

continuous entablature. This


ancient
sense

the system of the

is

Roman Colosseum, which

of

solidit)'

and,

gives the court a

solves

incidentally,

the

the court, gi\ing access to ranges of

various

sizes.

Salle des

The

Gardes,

room of

largest

is

rooms of

the palace, the

of double height,

its

two

levels

problem of corner treatment since arches bear on


comer-angled piers and two columns stand on the

of windows continuing the e.xternal pattern of

adjacent surfaces without interference. At ground

design gives no clue to what

level the

order

is

a correct

Roman

second-floor level the order

is

fenestration without change so that the exterior

Ionic, \sith pedi-

ways, a coffered ceiling, and a decorative tiled floor.

treatment that omits arches and substitutes over-

fresco

pilasters

framing

topped with cur\ed pediments. The

on

podium

each window.

windows

windows

pilasters rest

is

simple and austere except

way up the
hung high above. Other rooms

walls

tapestries

var%-

severe simplicitv' to elaboration with tapestries


paintings.

The room

Gallen.' (fig. 5.19) at the center rear

floor level

is

treated in a

common

way

that

of the main

became

Some
a

service

mezzanine

tucked

levels for part

stair leads to the

Renaissance

room. In such an

increas-

This

practice.
all

of the

interior, the pres-

ence of furniture becomes no more than an incidental practical necessity. Here the barrel-vaulted

of the building perimeter.

A monumental

surfaces of a

in

and

called the Carracci

involved the fresco painting of most or

of these turn out to be small

and
from

for small relief rondels half

ingly

between the second and third floor

floor

room

base with rectangular panels under

lighting

an

elaborate fireplace mantel, classically framed door-

Othen\ise, the

Corinthian

is

Doric; at the

mented windows fitted within each arch. The third


level was planned as Corinthian but, before it was
built, Sangallo had been replaced by Michelangelo
as architect in charge, leading to a more complex
lapping

within. There

is

main (second)

where a passage runs around three

sides of

ceiling

is

entirely covered

(1560-1609)

by Annibale Carracci's

mythological

scenes

framed

in

83

Chapter Five

wings that make up

its

plan with plain, smooth

walls entirely covered with fresco painting by

Andrea

del Sarto (1486-1531)

and

simulated architecture, columns,


ture,

and moldings are


is

Here

painted in illusionistic

the Ducal Palace at Urbino

false perspective. In

there

all

others.

pilasters, entabla-

room (the studiolo, c. 1470), lined


wood intarsia that simulates projecting

a small

with inlaid

shelves, cabinets with

open doors, and

a scattering

of books, musical instruments, and other objects


all

in trompe-l'oeil

(fig.

5.20).

The

on

ability

create such effects

walls that are actually

of Renaissance

stemmed from

their

flat

artists

to

new knowl-

edge of perspective.
In 1532, Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1536) began

5.20 (above)

work on two smaller palazzi for two brothers, the


Massami, in Rome. The houses, built on a
constricted and irregular site, are ingeniously interlocked with entrances on both a front and a rear
street. The larger of the two has a simple facade
curved to match the curve of the main street it
fronts on. The wall is simple, but the entrance is
through a columned loggia that justifies the name
Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne. The classically
symmetrical facade masks a complex plan. There is
a small but elegantly detailed courtyard and an
elaborate salon on the piano nobile, as shown in

Studiolo,

Ducal Palace, Urbino,


C.1470.

The studiolo of Federico

da Montefeltro is ornamented with wooden


paneling

in

beautifiil detail in the

which

Rome Moderne,

intarsia in colored

objects-

de

Roman

buildings of the High

mentation of the

and
and

Renaissance published from 1825 to 1860 in three

The floor

massive volumes

is

a pattern

tiled with

in Edifices

series

woods created a

of illusory cabinets
niches, benches,

engraved plates

Paul Letarouilly's influential docu-

(fig. 5.21).

in

earth tones. Paintings

high on the walls

The Late Renaissance and


Mannerism

include portraits of

famous men, including


the duke himself

painted, simulated architectural details.


5.21

{right)

The

walls

intermix niches and pilasters in three-dimensional

The term Mannerism

Palazzo Massimo alle

plaster work, off-white with gilded details, with

historical literature to describe painting that devel-

Colonne, Rome,

additional panels of fresco painting.

oped

While framed (easel) paintings hung on walls


were seldom used, the treatment of a complete
interior with painting covering all surfaces had

Renaissance tradition. The term

Baldassare Peruzzi,

1532-6.
The salon interior by
Peruzzi

IS

shown

engraving

in

an

in

Letarouilly's Edifices

Rome Moderne.

de

Ionic

pilasters support

an
and

entablature band,

above

this,

frieze

decorative panels

of

is

inserted below the


cornice.

The ceiling

deeply coffered

and

richly decorated.

84

is

come

into

use as

early

as

1305

when Giotto

(1266-1336) painted the interior of the Arena

Chapel
rows.

at

Padua with

Gozzoli's

religious paintings

frescos

in

the

banked

in

Medici-Riccardi

first

came

into use in art

freedom of personal expression within the


is

equaUy useful

in

identifying the parallel developments in design.

The design of

the Renaissance had, by the middle

of the sixteenth century, settled into a well-established system of classically based elements.

Roman

orders and

Roman ways

The

of using them had

been codified and made the subject of

illustrated

Palace in Florence have already been mentioned.

books; these showed "correct" ways of producing

The

interiors that

Villa

Medici

at

Poggio a Cajano, reconstructed

were serene and generally simple. As

when a style has arrived at a wellnorm, some artists and some designers

in the 1480s

tends to occur

established

by Giuliano Sangallo (1443-1516), has


central drawing room linking the front and rear

The Renaissance

came

to

unduly

feel

constrained

by

the

in Italy

set

formulae. In painting, the style called mannerist

introduced figures that seem in motion, gestures


that

appear theatrical, and compositions that are

active

and complex. In design, mannerism refers to


away from the
that are sometimes eccentric, even humorous

the use of detail in ways that break


rules,

in

and distortion of Renaissance

shifting

their

serenity. Personal decisions

of the earlier

began to take the place

rules.

Michelangelo
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), one of the
greatest as well as
artists,

imposed

sicism in a

way

mannerism.

most

versatile of Renaissance

his personal modifications

on

clas-

that serves to define the concept of

At

the

High

solidly

Renaissance

Farnese Palace he was responsible for inserting into


its

sedate facade the small but forceful balcony

centered over the main entrance, and for adding


the third level in the courtyard that introduces an

adventurous variation on the


lower

At

Roman

detail of the

rhythmic pattern by dark

levels.

Lorenzo

S.

Sacristy discussed

in Florence, Brunelleschi's

above

(p.

New

symmetrically placed

Old

77) was balanced by a

by

Sacristy designed

Michelangelo beginning in 1519. The plan is the


same simple square with a smaller square scarsella
and a dome on pendentives above, as in
Brunelleschi's project, but the treatment of the
interior

and personal

as active, aggressive,

is

was serene and

Brunelleschi's

and moldings

in

the white walls.

classical.

and

Pilasters

powerful

whole

attic story

active

pilasters,

more
They are

it its

(fig. 5.22).

sculptural

works,

adding

its

strongly

subtle.

In

dramatic

contrast, access to the reading

space

that

room

striking

is

The

is

from an

example of

vestibule (fig. 5.2)

a 34 foot square

level

and

its

room, with

ceiling

48

feet

its

floor at

above.

ground

The space

is

entered by small doors near the corners so that a

almost

fills

on axis. If the
and aggressive, the room that they
even more overwhelming in its powerful and

the space from one side rather than


stairs are active
fill is

unusual use of
space

that

classical

elements

crammed

into a

the setting for the

famous Media tombs,


sculpture. The solemnity

of the setting-the dark


grey,

almost black

detail

and black and

grey floor tiles-is

keeping with

in

its

a preexisting lower floor. The exterior,


embedded amid the older structure, is scarcely
visible. The library reading room within is a long
narrow room with side walls given a strongly

rises

above

the complex treatment


walls.

Michelangelo's highly

personal use of classical elements justifies

the use of the term

mannerism
his

work

to describe

here.

columns divide each of the four


up to

the level of the stair top with great curving brackets

one

A dome on

walls into three panels. Their bases are raised

below each column, while the columns themselves


do not stand out from the wall, but are rather

library at

function.

pendentives

seems hardly able to contain their

side

posed on

1519-34.
The "new sacristy" was

of the

visitor confronts the vast stairway that

of the monastic cloister, a second story superim-

new

S.

Lorenzo, Florence,

marble architectural

energy. Paired

Lorenzo, Michelangelo was given the

task in 1524 of designing a

Medici Chapel,

mousoleum-like

of arches,

elements that gives the space

at S.

frames, floor and ceiling

and

is

mannerist character.
Also

window

delicate

is

between the

intensity to the highly individualistic use of classical

ornaments

Michelangelo's mannerism.

of Medici Chapel

and

detail, pilasters,

blind (false)

stand at either side of the space, giving

name

corresponding geometric rhythm. All of the

Complex door and


in

5.22 Michelangelo,

with their elaborate

in a

entrance

and windows has been inserted below the level of


the dome. Michelangelo's famous Medici tombs
usual

windows on either side of a wide aisle. The coffered


ceiling is ornamented with a grid that matches the
spacing of the windows, and the floor is patterned

dark grey stone stand out against

window elements seem crowded


pilasters,

as

pilasters that separate the

windows, upper and lower, arranged in the fifteen


bays. Wooden reading desks are banked under the

pushed back into recesses cut into the waUs. The


order used seems

Tuscan,

at first

glance to be Doric or

but a closer look at the capitals reveals

85

Chapter Five

5.23 {right) Giulio


Romano, Palazzo del
Te, Mantua, 1525-35.

5.24

The loggia opens on

The walls and ceiling of

to

the extensive garden of


this

or

suburban palazzo

villa,

and

{below) Sala del

Ciganti, Palazzo del Te,

Mantua.

the remarkable Sala del

Giganti

(Room of the

Giants) are covered

Ciulio

Romano's intention was

with frescos based on

clearly to recall ancient

the

Roman

the Titans. The images

villas,

such as

myth of the

fall

of

Nero's Golden House.

of giants hurling down

The soft apncot<olored

the building around

paint on the walls sets


off the off-white floor

them amazed and


fied the Gonzogo

marble, columns,

family (whose palace

pilaster,

and

other

this

architectural detail. The

inserts in the

ornamen-

was) and their

tors Giulio

was

paintings that are

horri-

visi-

Romano

offering his

patrons an ambiguous

tation of the vaulted

statement of virtuosity

ceiling tell the biblical

and anger Only

story of David

and

are

the work of several


artists

associated with

floor

the

stands apart from

the painting, but, with


Its

swiding circular

the workshop of

pattern,

Caravaggio.

dizzying.

it is

itself

them

an original variation on the

as

Each panel of wall holds a blank,

classic

false

model.

window with

pedimented frame of unusual form. Actual


are placed high up in an attic or clerestory
that
repeats the pattern of columns with
level

windows
pilasters

and

real

v^ndows above

the blank

window

frames below. All of the architectural detail

is

executed in a somber dark grey stone that seems to

overwhelm the white


impact

total

is

plaster wall

highly dramatic

background. The

even

tragic in

tone.

Romano
If

mannerism of Michelangelo can be

the

lean toward a tragic sense, the mannerist

Giulio

Romano

Mantua

1499-1546) can be seen as

(c.

closer to theatrical
(fig. 5.23;

comedy. The Palazzo del Te^t


begun 1525) is his most impor-

reaUy a suburban

tant work.

It is

building

planned

said to

work of

as

villa, a

large

single-story

hollow

square

surrounding a center court. The four facades facing


into the court are each studies in Renaissance
classic design,
ties,

but each embodies odd irregulari-

departures from symmetry, shifts in rhythm or

amuse
somepushed up or

deliberate "errors" that surprise, puzzle, or

the viewer. Pediments float above windows,

times with keystone blocks that are

seem

to have slipped

down out of

line.

Stones of

the entablature that carry carved triglyphs are, here

and

86

there, deliberately placed in a slipped

down

The Renaissance

position that suggests an almost mischievous disrespect for the rules of classic design.

Many

of the

rooms of the palace are lined with fresco paintings,


some with curious or strange subjects. A large
room is lined with painted, simulated architectural
detail with, high up on the walls, horses painted in
full

standing in incongruous positions

size

life

Renaissance

throughout Europe, particularly in England (where


an English translation appeared

Palladio was the designer of a

houses

in

Vicenza and of villas

Duke Federigo Gonzaga, for his famous stable). A


smaller, windowless room known as the Sala dei
Giganti (Room of the Giants) is lined, four walls
and ceiling, with Romano's fresco paintings of

begun

down

process, tearing

gods

the

against

and,

the stones of

the

in

some

great

building, possibly this palace itself (fig. 5.24).


desire to shift, modify,
sical

and

The

distort accepted clas-

formulae along with a strongly dramatic

tendency are the qualities that

justify the designa-

Andrea Palladio (1303-80), one of the most


ential figures of

influ-

Renaissance architecture, placed

his personal stamp on Renaissance classicism but


can hardly be viewed as a mannerist. Palladio was a

northern Italian

who worked

Vicenza as well as

in his

home

city

of

Venice and the surrounding

in

country of the Veneto. In 1549 he provided bracing


medieval town

hall in

surrounding

Maser

tions serving the surrounding estate.

(fig. 5.25;

planning of the main house

is

The

interior

typically Palladian,

with a Greek cross plan using a central space with


smaller

rooms

fitted into

each corner. The interiors

are architecturally simple, but the fresco paintings,

by Paolo Veronese (1528-88), simulate

largely

and

include

illusionistic

5.25 Andrea

Palladio,

painting of such elements as open doors, balconies,

Villa Barbaro,

Maser,

architectural

detail

servants leaning

from

human

a balcony, a

page

with this building,

known

on three

it

appearance with

Vicenza,

Villa

Capra (or Rotonda),

outside

not really a residence but a kind of plea-

is

sure pavilion

a hill overlooking the town.

on

domed central rotunda, it is


known of Renaissance buildings.

square structure with a

one of the
Each of

best

its

columned

four

sides

has a pedimented, six-

Ionic temple portico reached by a broad

Palladio's plan, symmetrical

way of dealing

main

axes,

as the Basilica,

just

c 1550.

room paintings
by Veronese cover the
walls and ceiling,
making the actual

three-dimensional

elements of moldings

stair.

is

a study in

modular

around the two


layout.

grid of

and

architectural

details
illusory

merge into the


imagery of

landscapes, sculptural
figures in niches,

and

doorway pediment. The


stem of a vine in the
panel on the left rises
up and reappears

in

the panel above.

was to

and converted the extecolumned arcades on

classic

Arches are placed between


the

The

Italy,

In this

sides with a two-story loggia

that provided buttressing

levels.

rail.

Vicenza that was

threatened with collapse. Palladio's

Doric on

at

between extended wings with farm-related func-

balcony

two

Barbaro

looking out an open door, a parrot perched on a

Palladio

rior

Villa

1550) has a temple-like central block

c.

figures

surround

The

number of town

in the

views into the out of doors, and even

tion mannerist.

for a late

1676) and even-

in

America.

tually in

countryside.

rebelling

Italy

became one of the most popular of


known and used
publications,

treatise

(apparently a reference to the passion of the owner,

giants

lower

level,

Ionic

pilasters,

above,

which

support entablatures. Within each bay, the arch


rests

on small columns spaced away from the

pilasters

so

as

leave

to

larger

rectangular opening

between. The arrangement of an arched opening


with a rectangular opening on either side has

become known
this

was not

motif (although

as a "Palladian

appearance), an arrangement

its first

that has caught the interest of subsequent designers

and remained

in

Palladio's influence

use

was

up

until

greatly

modern

times.

enhanced by

his /

Quattro Libri deU'Architettiira (The Four Books of


Architecture) published in 1570.
text

on

classical

It is

thorough

design including translations from

Vitruvius and illustrative

examples and of his

woodcut

own

plates of ancient

Renaissance work. This

87

Chapter Five

5.26 and 5.27

Plans

of the Villa Foscari (or

Malcontenta), MIra,
Italy,

c,

Vn

'

558,

The plan uses a


rectangle of

1:16

proportion.

It Is

subdivided

in

tions of 4, 4,

front to

then

propor-

3 from

back and

4, 2,

4 from side

side

On

4, 2,

to

this grid,

rooms are laid out

in

proportions of 6:4, 4:4,


3:4,

and

ratios

2:3.

These

correspond to

harmonic musical
vals

inter-

of unison, octave,

third, fourth,

and

fifth.

squares can be overlaid on the plan, shovving off

of the nave open into connected chapels

the mathematically systematic proportions of the

Redentore, and into

rooms which

are full transepts repeating the vaulted

are

all

related to the proportions of

the building as a whole.

rotunda and there


tion.

is

elaborate plaster ornamenta-

The domed rotunda


a

invites

balcony overlooks the

at the

center of the plan

view outward through four passages

leading to the four porches vth their orientation


to the north, south, east,

toward

out

stretch

the

and west, where views


infinite

The

distance.

concept suggests the humanistic view of man

at the

center of an unlimited natural universe.


5.28 Andrea
S.

Venice, from

566.

on

classical detail in the

columns and entablaa

can be

fitted

on

at

the crossing. The color

scheme

is

grey

and

such as 2:3 or 3:5

way

in

Palladio's

tion about

space beyond, which

was the monks' choir.


organ above the

An

illustration

church

and

for

the

at

both

mam

accessibility of

in

Renaissance England, where such

buildings as Colin Campbell's

(1723)

for

informa-

them through his writing and related


made his work a source of inspiration

and guidance

divldmg screen
the choir

villa

The combination of admiration

works and the

limited view Into the

provided music

The

5.26 and 5.27).

has called attention to the

which the plan of the modern

as its basis.

tones of the

Is

The plan

Garches (1927) by Le Corbusier uses the same grid

marble floor Beyond


the altar there

either side.

(figs.

Rowe

British critic Colin

white, except for the

warm

on

each space "harmonic" proportions vth simple


ratios

dome

the

called

(often

1558) at Mira, near Venice,

a typically Palladian grid that gives

barrel-vaulted cruciform

space, with a

c.

a high base with stairs

Roman

monastery has

Foscari

Villa

Malcontenta, begun

has a pedimented portico only on the front, raised

This Benedictine

ture within

The

Palladio,

Giorgio Maggiore,

or Lord

Burlington's

Mereworth Castle
villa

at

Chiswick

(1725) are clearly based on Palladian precedents.

Even

Thomas

Jefferson's

Charlottesville, Virginia

Monticello,

near

(begun 1770), draws

its

concepts from Palladio.


Palladio's great churches in Venice, S. Giorgio

Maggiore

5.28;

(fig.

1565)

and

II

Redentore

(1576-7), each apply classical vocabulary, with a


barrel-vaulted

nave with high v^ndows and a

windowed dome

at

the crossing. Arches at the sides

nave. At

on

II

aisles at S.

at

II

Giorgio where there

form of the

Redentore, the transepts are really apses

either side of the crossing. In both churches

decorative detail

is

strictly limited to

Roman

order

architectural elements executed in a darker stone


that contrasts with the near white of the vaults

The total effect


and restrained.

other plaster surfaces.

church

is

open, bright,

In the Teatro

Olimpico

at

Vicenza

in

and
each

(fig. 5.29;

The Renaissance

5.29

Interior Furnishings

in Italy

Andrea

(left)

Palladio, Teatro

Olimpico, VIcenza, from

1580.

Although the
the

interiors of Renaissance churches

more formal

survive

much

spaces of other large buildings

as they

were when new, everyday

have rarely remained unchanged.

spaces

living

and

Furniture, textiles, and smaller artifacts that are

easy to

remove or replace generally survive only

museum

exhibits

or

as

Fortunately,

collectors.

antiques

treasured

Renaissance

as

by

painting

Semicircular

columned wall with


statues above. The
ceiling

and,

with

realistic

development of

the

perspective, artists were able to

representation
skill

show

in

linear

artists'

own

appear in

shown

set in locations

of the

times, so that the kinds of scenes that

medieval works

form appear

in

in

conventionalized

Renaissance works in ways that are

almost documentary. Carpaccio (1486-1525), for

dream

1580) Palladio attempted to recreate an ancient

example, shows

as

an event

Roman

taking place in a handsomely furnished

bedroom

The

theater in a smaller, fully enclosed version.

tiers

of seats banked in a semicircle

colonnade

at the rear, all

The stage has


ground (there

a
is

richly

rise to a

beneath a painted sky.

ornamented

no provision

fixed back-

St.

Ursula's

of the sort that might have been found in a

Venetian or Florentine palace


sleeps in a neatly

made bed

set

(fig. 5.30).

on a

painted with

and

ive

of the open nature

of the

clouds suggest-

Roman

The stage

is

theater

backed by

an elaborate

architec-

backdrop with

three openings that

up

streets-

5.30 (Mow)

Vittore

offer views

interiors in

ways that seem almost photographic. Religious


subjects are usually

is

sky

tural

turned toward increasingly

of

tiers

seats rise up to a

The

saint

raised platform

Carpaccio, The Legend

of St Ursula,
In this

490-98.

scene the saint

sleeps in

an elegant

late fifteenth-century

Venetian bedroom, on a

bed elevated on a

plat-

form, with a high

canopy supported by
Open
windows have leaded

posts at the foot

glass above

and

wicker

screens below, as well

as shutters.

changeable

for

scenery) that simulates the openings, windows, and


statuary of a

Roman

Three large openings

stage.

each permit a view of a street scene executed


false perspective so that

in

they seem to extend into

the distance although they are actually quite short.

Design as a major element

in theatrical presenta-

tion surfaces here, introducing concepts

theater into architectural

and

from the

interior design.

Vjgnola
Along with

Palladio's

work and

writing, the influ-

ence of Giacomo Vignola (1507-73) was important


in

concepts.

spreading Renaissance design

His

best-known building, the Church of the Gesii

in

Rome

(begun 1568), became a prototype for Jesuit


churches in the seventeenth century. It can be
regarded as an early Baroque church, and so
discussed below (see p. 94). Vignola's
delli

is

book Regale

Cinque Ordini (Rules of the Five Orders,

1562), a systematic detailing of the classic orders,

became a standard reference and a model of later


manuals (that came to be called "Vignolas"). These
were the basis for the acceptance of
cism as a primary prototype for

all

Roman

design in

classi-

much

of the work of the succeeding centuries.

89

Chapter Five

5.33); the average interior

been

remained much as

had

it

in earlier times.

Several different furniture types appeared in


affluent Italian residences:

Cassone: This was a lift-lid chest, usually of solid


walnut (the wood most used for Renaissance
quite

furniture),

large

and often elaborately

carved with architecturally related

details,

with

sculptural relief carvings of mythological or allegorical

or with painted panels.

subjects,

The

cassone was a traditional bridal or dowry chest

and

as

such was treated as an important symbol

of the wealth and power of the families being


united. Small cassoni ser\'ed as jewel or treasure
chests.

5.31 Carpaccio,
Augustine
c.

base with painted ornamentation, with an elabo-

St.

in his study,

rate

headboard and

1502,

canopy. There
A

tall

spacious studio

where the saint

is

seen

pulled

up

seated at his desk on a


platform raised a step

edge

above bare
back wall

floor The

is

painted

green and there

is

reddish marble or are

and

wall-hung

holder

candle

erable

elegance.

favorite

and

subject

St.

and

is

often

the curious

desk support seem to

is

nails, the

artist

and on

For the wealthy and powerful, craftsmen developed

floor represent the clut-

tered possessions of a

artifacts

of increasing variety and elegance

accommodate new

niche lined in red

expression. Important people had books, papers,

appears

to create

tastes for

luxury and

artistic

documents, maps, jewelry, changes of clothing,

and

table wares,

even such special-

with suitable

fittings.

table coverings,

The ceiling

of wood;

ized objects as musical instruments, timepieces,

it is flat

is

but painted

a geometnc pattern.

in

and works of

scales, globes,

art. All

called for places for storage

appeared

in

benches and

seat

slab

might be

sgabello

from the Strozzi Palace

and

of these things
display. Chairs

Savonarola chair: This folding arm chair


made up from many curved strips of wood

at

the center of the seat

was

was named

a widely used

famous

piece of furniture.

It

preacher who,

thought, favored this design.

it is

Dante chair: A
this

had

more

way but with

after the

similar chair to the savonarola,

same
and stretched

solid frame, pivoted in the

a cushioned seat

cloth back.

Tables were solid planks placed on

trestles,

pedestals, or carved stone bases. Small paintings

As they were gradually intro-

were often elaborately framed with many frames,

stools.

basically simple living spaces of the

all

ment toward

of these things began the movethe

increasingly

furnished" interiors of the


fashions, of course,

cluttered

"fully

modern world. The new

were largely

restricted to the

homes of the wealthy and powerful


90

The

small,

wooden

increasing variety as alternatives to

duced into the


Renaissance,

details.

pivoted

to

scholar. The central

small private chapel

with a

survives as a fine example of the type.

Furniture
the

really a stool

often was three-legged.

It

carved

on and near

the desk,

octagonal and elegant versions might have richly

(fig. 5.31).

but the

many objects on
shelves,

Sgabello: This might be a stool or


back.

be fanciful inventions
of the

nailheads acting as a form of decorative

simple chair

with books, reading stands, and furniture that

often medieval in character

linens.

Sedia: This was a somewhat massive chair with

trim.

surrounded with trappings of learning, shelves


filled

the

table. It

four square legs supporting arms. Seat and back

detail of consid-

artists,

cabinet,

taller

were bands of leather attached to the frame with

Augustine in his study, a

of Renaissance

a somewhat

also provided storage for silver, glassware, dishes,

must have been


details, and

suggests that lighting using candles

reading stand at the


left

reading.

Credenza:

credenza served as a sideboard or serving

indications of the increasing knowl-

moldings show Early Renaissance

doorframes are of a

strange chair

book cabinet and a stool


and a book stand holds an

minimal. The door frame, window

green wainscot The

painted wood.

storage.

a small

to a table,

open book
of

is

posts supporting a high

Cassapanca: A variation on the cassone


resulting from the addition of a back and arms,
this unit was usable for seating as well as for

(figs.

5.32 and

their architectural detail suggesting a tiny

facade. Mirrors, a

temple

development of Venetian

glass

production, remained small but were also often


elaborately framed. Lighting

placed in

many varieties

floor standing holders.

came from candles

mounted, or
Burning torches were also
of

table, wall

The Renaissance

used for

light

out of doors and in large interior

spaces, giving the

made

The

is

name Torchere

to the stands

them; torchere also held candles. The

to hold

candelabra

in Italy

hold

a stand that can

Italian

many candles.

enthusiasm for music led to the

production of fine musical instruments including

keyboard instruments large enough to be

articles

of

The small harpsichord called a spinetto


was often semi-portable and small enough to be
placed on a table. The larger harpsichords,
although built with a thin and light wood shell,
furniture.

required an enclosing case with legs or a stand,

making them somewhat similar in form to the


modern grand piano. The cases of instruments
were often decorated with carving, inlays, and
paintings.

Coverings
were the favorite

Silks

textiles

of the Renaissance;

they display large-scale patterns

woven

in strong

and damasks were dominant in the


Early Renaissance, with brocades and brocatelles

colors. Velvets

into wider use in the sixteenth century.


Loose cushions or pillows with fabric covering in
bright colors were sometimes used on benches or

coming

chair seats.

Floors were usually tiled in major

spaces, or of stone

on ground-floor

levels.

5.32 [above) Sala

Tiling

Bevilacqua, Fondazione

could be a simple pattern of squares or, according


to the intended grandeur of the space, might be
elaborately

Marble

patterned.

and

Bagatti Valsecchi,
Milan,

Terrazzo

This richly decorated

room has

marble chips embedded in cement and


ground smooth) were used for floors of monumental spaces, also often in complex geometric
(small

patterns.

Rugs were

1500.

c,

silk-covered

and ornamental
door frames and
walls

mantelpiece. The

contemporary furniture

rarely used, although oriental

includes a Savonarola

rugs were valued and had

occasional use as table

chair at the

coverings as well as on floors.

left,

cassone, a cassapanca,

and sgabello seat


It

is

possible

to

follow

the

development

of

5.33 Gentile

Renaissance design along either of two different


paths. Geographically, the design of Italy tended to

Mansueti, The

Miraculous Healing of
the Daughter ofSer

work in other regions, with a time lag of


one hundred years. To the north and west,

influence
fifty

to

Benvegnudo of San
Polo.

the Renaissance can be found as a developing

concept in France, the

Low

England, and Spain. In

Italy itself, in the sixteenth

nor-

style called

Baroque

a final

that

it is

had

viewed

phase of the Renaissance or as a totally

direction,

exciting

the

work of

development

the

of

Baroque era

design

history.

is

The

flat

ceiling with

century, the design of the Renaissance ultimately

shaded into the

1502-6,

superb Venetian

Countries, Germany,

beginnings in Mannerism. Whether

c.

The painting depicts a


inte-

wooden
its

painted

pattern, the green


walls, the overmantel,

its

the artworks, furniture,

as

new
an

The

following chapter deals with the Baroque era in


Italy and with its spread northward into the regions
closest to Italy's northern border.

and

classical architec-

tural details present


vision

of idealized

Renaissance space.

91

Baroque and Rococo


Northern Europe
The word Baroque

designates a development, not a

may be

time period, and


sion because of

its

some confu-

a source of

use in everyday speech to

full

movement and

of

The terms Quadratura

activity.

for architectural

space painted in illusionistic perspective;

images enclosed by

Quadro

RiPORTATO,

mentation. While ornamentation

framing; and Di sotto in su, for painting showing

much Baroque

of

even

or

only,

is

certainly char-

design,

it

Baroque work. Further confusion can

more

Rococo

delicate extension of

historians

seem

is

not the

most important, aspect of

the

the use of the term

arise

with

Rococo

for

illusionistic

illusionistic

view upward into a seeming dome,

sky, or heaven,

have come into use to describe typi-

an

cally

Baroque techniques of decoration.

to describe a later,

Stage techniques developed in the Baroque.

Some

proscenium arch was used to frame the opening

to

compartment

in

Baroque

style.

to treat the terms as interchange-

able, others see the

as a kind of sub-species

a stage so that

it

was

a separate

front of the audience seating area. Stage design,

on

of Baroque, while in general use the terms have

creating illusions of space through painting

become

scenic drops in order to introduce elements of

flat

synonymous with the meaning


"highly ornamental." The word "baroque" is

visual excitement into

thought to derive from a Portuguese word, barocco,

ence on Baroque and Rococo interior design. Stage

that referred to pearls that were distorted or irreg-

design was in turn influenced by Baroque

The word "rococo" derives from


French and Spanish words meaning "shell like."
As used here, Baroque refers to design as it

the use of perspective and related spatial effects and

virtually

ular in shape.

developed
tion

in Italy following the

mannerist transi-

from the High Renaissance of the sixteenth

century.

It

flourished in Italy, Austria, parts of

south Germany, in adjacent regions of Europe, and


in Spain

Related

and Portugal in the seventeenth century.


work in France, England, and northern

Europe may be described

drama, had

a strong influ-

skills in

of light as an active element.

in the use

Baroque architecture and

interiors served the

aims of the Catholic Counter-Reformation.

It

provided exciting imagery that contrasted with the


iconoclastic

("image-smashing")

inclinations

of

the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther


in

northern Europe and offered

new

ulus to a peasant population that had

visual stim-

little

access to

south Germany, and Austria. Rococo development

and beautifial settings in everyday life. Entering


a Baroque church where visual space, music, and
ceremony combined was a powerful device for
securing the loyalty of congregations. Along with
decorative techniques. Baroque design turned to
more complex geometry in spatial forms. Oval and

overlaps the severely restrained design referred to

elliptical

as Baroque, although the

work in
makes the use of the term questionThe term Rococo is used to describe work of

rather different character of contemporary

these regions
able.

the eighteenth century as

as

it

developed in France,

Neoclassic. In general. Baroque design appears

in religious building while

Rococo work

is

more

often secular, but there are certainly areas of crossover.

It

is,

for example, possible to speak

Baroque building with Rococo


II

space peopled by figures

describe elaborate, or even over-elaborate, orna-

acteristic

6.1 Vignola,

and

in Italy

of a

rich

gular,

shapes were preferred to square, rectan-

and

circular.

sense of

movement and of

in

planning offered a

mystery.

The aims of

design changed from simplicity and clarity toward

complexity,

interior detail.

Curving and complex stairway

arrangements and intricacy

readily

augmented by

illusionistic

painting and sculpture.

Gesu,

Rome, 1565-73.

Elements of Baroque Style

The prototypical

Baroque church, the

The Baroque

home church of the


Jesuit order, is shown
here in a

Baroque architecture and

1670

interior design

new emphasis on

came

in Italy

to

ornamentation of the

shapes of walls and ceilings were modified, even

The mannerist tendencies in the work of Giulio


Romano and in Michelangelo's work at the Farnese
Palace and the Laurentian Library suggest growing
impatience with the classical code of High
Renaissance design. The very perfection of that

building. Effects of

eclipsed, with three-dimensional sculptural deco-

code,

include a

painting by Andrea

forms.

Sacchi and Jan Miel


with richly colored decoration superimposed

on

scrolls

sculptural

Shapes from nature, leaves,

and painted
shells, and

provided a vocabulary to enrich the

form of

earlier

Renaissance

design.

classical

The

basic

the normally elaborate

color

and

light

this interior

make

ration, figures,

and

floral elements.

These

in turn

treatise,

presentation in the examples in Palladio's

and the

"rules" for the use of the orders set

space

and merged into

excitmg and highly

were painted

dramatic.

painted settings that offered illusionistic views of

92

its

in

varied colors

forth

by Vignola invited rebellion

creativity.

At

St.

Peter's

in

at limitations

Rome

(fig.

on

6.2),

'"-^

^^
"'T

"lliB

Chapter

Six

6.2

6.3 (below)

{left)

St, Peter's,

Michelangelo took hold of the unfinished project

Cianiorenzo Bernini,

Michelangelo,

Rome

baldacchino,

St. Peter's,

624-33.

1546-64.

Rome,

The majestic exterior of

The cathedral intenor

the cathedral seen from

given Baroque

the southwest The

by the enormous

dome's structure

baldacchino (canopy).

is

drama

made of

braced by mternal

The canopy

chams, which makes

marble and bronze

buttressing unneces-

(said to have been

sary.

The

dome was

completed

by Ciacomo

1588-93

della Porta.

is

is

Coliseum) with gilded

At

the east

of the choir

is

end

the cere-

monial chair of St
Peter;

above

it

gigantic order of

a spec-

tacular gilded sunburst

pilasters

final

from the crossing

barrel vaults that radiate

in a

The
arm of the Greek cross modified the
biaxial symmetry. The vast dome is built
provision of a clear entrance front

central plan.

for the west

resulting

triple

chains and

holding stones of the

details.

it its

supporting the huge

with a

taken from the pins

form with a

begun by Bramante and gave

shell

reinforced with both hidden

external buttressing that takes the

form

of paired columns placed around the lower portion


of the structure. The dome was completed, with

some

modifications, in 1590 after Michelangelo's

Giacomo

death by

The

della Porta (1541-1604).

plan was altered by the addition of two additional

bays to the west to create a clearly cruciform plan

Maderno

with a huge and dramatic facade by Carlo

(1556-1629). This gave the building,


tion in 1626, a strongly
totality,

St.

Peter's

Baroque character. In

embodies a

from

development

comple-

at its

full

High

through

Early

its

sequence of

Renaissance, with hint of mannerist modifications,


into a

Baroque completion.

Rome
Vignola, although one of the rule makers whose
efforts

tended to rigidize Renaissance design, was a


the development of the Baroque. His

factor in

design for the church of

became
the

Gesu

II

a prototype for the

order

lesuit

built

Counter- Reformation

design were intended to

Gesu

as

the

and

make

the

Roman church
The

interior

completed by Vignola was

the grandeur that

Roman

when combined with

(fig. 6.1)

during

rebuilt

dramatic, exciting, and attractive.


the

Rome

Art, architecture,

or

era.

in

Baroque churches that

of

a study in

classicism could offer

simplicity in giant scale.

High

windows penetrate the nave barrel vault, and a ring


of windows in the drum of the dome create effects
of daylight streaming in beams that penetrate the
otherwise dim space in a way that approaches stage
lighting. Later [c. 1670) painting and ornamentaby della
complex detail
Baroque in impact.

tion of the Gesii (along with a 1577 facade

Porta) added the color and richly


that

make

it

now seem

entirely

Bernini

Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) began his career


as a sculptor

and continued

to

work on

sculptural

projects while turning his attention to architecture.

Thus he brought
the

94

a sculptor's

way of thinking

development of the Baroque. In

1629

into

he

Baroque and Rococo

also appears in the interest in passages

and

in Italy

stair-

and Northern Europe

6.4

ways, often tapered or curved to imply motion.

The

Scala Regia (1663-6) adjacent to St. Peter's,

leading into the Vatican, was designed by Bernini

with lines of columns on either side supporting a


sloping barrel vault.

The

Cianlorenzo

(left)

Bernini,

Andrea

S.

1658-61.
is based on
an oval plan with radi-

The church

ating chapels

entire passage tapers in

and height as it moves upward, while


windows light landings half way up and at the top
of the stairs. The forced perspective of the tapered
form and the contrast of light and dark spaces
width

al

Rome,

Quirinale,

dome

and a

above. Sculptured

figures cling to the

dome's surface. The


classicism of the
pilaster
ture

is

and

entabla-

given Baroque

treatment by the

generates dramatic effect.

complex plan and

massed sculptures.

Borromini
Francesco Borromini (1599-1667) worked both for

Maderno and

for Bernini before undertaking inde-

pendent projects

in

Rome. The small monastery

and monastic church of


Fontane

(figs. 6.5-6.8;

S.

Carlo

1634-43)

is

alle

Quattro

often thought

of as the archetypal Baroque achievement. The


building stands at the intersection of two streets

with fountains

became

the architect

Peter's,

designing

dome

This introduced a Baroque

which dominates the space and moves

its

internal character into the

It

is

made up of

that support a roof or

story building.

if

of a ten-

are at least nominally

by some

have

been

making them

active

but

Corinthian,

giant,

they

is

One

tower that stands

fountain

at the side

facade giving this church


presence.

its

is

at the

base of the

of the undulating

powerful external

The small monastic courtyard

is

a simple

rectangle with corners modified by convex, cut-off

6.5 (above) Francesco


Borromini,

S,

Carlo alle

Quattro Fontane,

The exterior of this

and mobile rather than static supporting elements.


Above the canopy top, S-curved half arches
support a gilded cross on an orb. The whole structure

each street corner (giving the

at

name).

Rome, 1634-43.

Roman and
twisted, as

at the height

The columns

its

in effect, a

four huge bronze columns

canopy

church

Baroque vocabulary.

both a work of sculpture and,

building

St.

under

in the central position

(fig. 6.3).

focal point

at

Baldacchino of

huge

the

1624-33 that stands


the

charge of work

in

monastic church with


undulating facade

Its

and angled corner gives


some hint of the
complex

interior within.

encrusted with sculptured vines, cherubs,

and figures, making the surfaces alive with activity.


Behind the altar at the apse end of the church there
is
another Bernini composition. The supposed
chair of

St.

surmounted by

Peter,

a giant gold

6.6

(left)

and 6.7

(below) Plans of

S.

Carlo alle Quattro

Fontane.
1

Via Quattro Fontane

2 Via del Quirinale

sunburst surrounding
visible

from the

yellow glass center,

is

3 Church entrance
4 High Altar

al

entire length of the building.

5 Sacristy

Bernini's

Quirinale

room of

smaU Roman church of

(fig. 6.4;

1658-61)

Andrea

single

domed

oval shape surrounded by small niches

serving as chapels

dome viewed

and chancel. The

in section exactly

oval of the plan.

windows

central oculus.

at

profile of the

matches half of the

to be

the base of the

The dynamic

Cloister

7 Monastery entrance

The plan

is

based on

two equilateral

Corinthian order lines the space,

and sculptured figures seem


the

is

S.

perched around

dome and

the

drive of the Baroque

gles sharing

circle is

trian-

a base

placed

line.

in

each triangle and arcs


are

swung from

the

meeting

vertices

of the

tnangles

V with

radius

to

become tangent

with the circles atT.

95

Chapter

Six

a tall space of

complex form

in plan, essentiaUy oval with paired

columns that

corners.

The church

is

press inward and an apse that bulges outward.

diagrammatic

on

analysis

shows the plan

common

a pair of equilateral triangles with a

base

line; a circle inscribed in

to be based

each forms the basis

dominates the plan (fig. 6.7).


emphasized by the floor pattern and

for the oval that

The

oval

is

by the rim of the dome above, with its coffered


pattern of octagons, hexagons, and cross shapes
that diminish in size as they rise to the oval lantern

comes from high windows


dome and from windows

Light

at the top.

lower edge of the


lantern.

The seemingly rubbery

the altar and side apses, together with

the complexities of the


effect

this

activity
S.

6.9 (below) Francesco

Francesco Borromini,

S.

Borromini,

S.

Ivo della

Carlo alle Quattro

Sapienza, Rome,

Fontane, Rome,

1642-62.

1634-43.

Lookmg up

space extraordinary

the dramatic
all

in

add up

to

sense

of

its

and tension.

Ivo della Sapienza

(fig. 6.9;

1642-62)

is

the

chapel built by Borromini in the courtyard of della


Porta's

building

Although
into the

dome and

of the controlled daylighting,

make

6.8 {above)

flexing of walls, the

and the "rolled over" half

curved pediments,

domes over

at the

in the

the

for

may appear

it

planned space,

closer

of Rome.

University

domed,

to be a

examination

centrally

reveals

the

The interior of the

dome

monastic church

demonstrates the

complexity typical of Baroque design. The plan

embodies complex

complex geometry on

actually based

which the plan was

of being abutted base to base as

spatial relationships

that have

made

it

of

this

church

based. Six circles

drawn

on

is

equilateral triangles but, instead


at S. Carlo, the

form a six-pointed

star

Vertical support piers (each with

two

known as an

on a six-pointed star

triangles are overlapped to

outstandmg example of

create alternating

(fig. 6.10).

Baroque design.

convex and concave

applied pilasters) are placed at the inner angles of

curves

It is

possible to

trace the forms of triangles,

hexagons, overlap-

ping

circles

and stars.

the star to form a circle.

points of the

star,

Of the outward extending

the three that relate to

one of the

overlapping triangles define the positions of the


altar

apse and two apsidal niches on either side of

the entrance, while the three that are the apexes of


the other triangle locate the recesses of the entrance

and those on

either side of the chancel niche. This

alternation of

two

differing treatments for the six

points of the star sets


is

up

complex rhythm which

dome above.
gold-starred dome is

continued up into the

The

white,

6.10

not simply

Plan of Sant' Ivo

della Sapienza.

The plan is based on


two overlapping equilateral triangles that

create a

hexagon and

twelve smaller triangles.

circle

contains the

hexagon.

96

Baroque and Rococo

in Italy

and Northern Europe

6.11

Sala del Senate,

Doge's Palace, Venice,


after

1574,

Venetian senators were

provided with

this spec-

tacularly ornate setting


for their meetings.

Wooden paneling

runs

around the base of the


walls where there

is

seating in stalls for the

200

or

more

senators.

Above, the painted


panels are surrounded

by gilded frames so
heavy that they almost
overwhelm the paintings within,

some of

which are by Tintoretto

and his

round, but

hollowed out to carry the forms of the

is

six alternating

upward

walls

concave and convex panels of the


the oculus with

to

the lantern

Externally,

lantern.

its

windowed

topped by

is

sculptural element of spiral or helical form.

symbolic significance
but

is

ambiguous and uncertain,

visible wild gesture

its

a
Its

is

highly characteristic of

Venetian

interiors,

such as some of those in the

medieval Doge's palace

(fig. 6.

1 1

that

were recon-

structed after a fire in 1574, display an amazingly


rich surface frosting of paintings

work. In the Sala del Senate

and ornate

up above

of wainscoting while the ceiling presses

ornate

gilt.

its

plaster

a giant wall

shares space with paintings lined

the viewer with

the Baroque.

pupils.

clock

band

down on

panels of painting framed in

Veronese was the

artist

who

provided

the paintings in 1585 for the similarly elaborate

Venice

Sala del

Gran Consiglio where Baroque

architec-

ture appears in quadratura illusionistic perspective

Longhena
Venice

is

lished

as a setting for the figures acting out

not a city where Baroque design estab-

major presence. The one exceptional


is the church of S. Maria

Baroque building there

Turin

(begun 1631) by Baldassare Longhena

della Salute

(1598-1662).
aisle

The Triumph

of Venice above the Doge's chair.

an octagonal building with an

It is

or atrium surrounding a

central space.

The

tall,

round,

domed

eight sides of the octagon offer

six radiating chapels,

an entrance portal, and, on

Guarini

Baroque work was carried north by Guarino


monk who had

Guarini (1624-83), a Theatine

and

the eighth side, an arch opening into the chancel.

worked

The

chancel, almost a separate adjacent building

with

its

settling in Turin, where his major work is located.


Guarini was also a philosopher and mathematician;

own

smaller

dome,

is

visible

from the body

of the church through the arch. The church


brightly

lit

dome and
floor

chancel

has a

is

into the

Turin (1679-92),

nally

relatively

dim, while there

Coro, or monks'

establishes a sequence of
typical of

Carignano

Baroque

choir,

is

beyond. This

varied light levels that

spatial richness.

is

in

around

a center

Paris before

helped to spread his

major secular work

built

large

in

influence. His

an opening

si.xteen

Portugal, Spain,

his Architettiira Civile (1737)

windows of the
geometrically complex patterned
yellow and black marbles. The

by the

bright

in

is

in

court which

is

the Palazzo

a massive block
is

reflected exter-

by a central part of the facade that bulges

forward in an undulating curve. The entrance leads


into an oval, columned atrium that opens on the
court.

On

either side small vestibules lead to twin

97

Chapter Six

6.12 Cuarino
S.

Cuarlnl,

Lorenzo, Turin,

1656-80.
The almost octagonal

dome

ofS. Lorenzo

displays Guanni's
interest in geometric

complexity

formed

It is

from the pattern of


eight intersecting

arches with eight

windows at the base of


the dome,

and sixteen

windows above as the


construction rises to a
tall

lit

is

but the

church below

and

dome

cupolo. The

bnghtly

is

dim

rich in heavily

colored

and gilded,

complexly curved architectural elements.

6.13 Cuarino CuannI,

Stairways that curve as they

Capella della SS.

at the access

Sindone, Turin, begun

1667-9a

This

room

open
the chapel of the Holy

Shroud are topped by a

dome
and

its

base

with nngs of many

arches, each arch


resting

on the center of

Hidden
windows illuminate
the arch below.

dome and the


dome at its top in

both the
small

a way that emphasizes


the mystery

and

enhances the dramatic

impact

at the

top

dome which

is

center to permit a view of a second

ceiling high above, lighted

Guarini's church of

S.

by hidden windows.
Lorenzo

embedded

6.12; 1666-80)

is

Royal Palace.

Its

with a ring of six

windows at

meeting

topped by a ceiling

is

at its

The black and grey


stones used to create

rise,

point to the huge oval main salon.

in

Turin

(fig.

in the buildings of the

square external block, with a

projecting smaller block to house the chancel,

is

hollowed out in a complex pattern of bulging and


receding forms that can be viewed in plan as Greek
cross, octagon, circle, or a

nameless shape created

by overlapping curved forms that extend into the


space from
oval. All

of

its

this

edges.
is

The chancel

is

an adjacent

treated with an overlay of rich

Baroque architectural and sculptural decoration.

The dome
lattice

is

not a simple half sphere but rather a

of eight intersecting arches that leave an

octagonal opening at the center, opening into a

windowed lantern above. There are eight small


windows at the base of the dome, eight large oval
and eight small pentagonal windows fitted between
the arches, eight windows in the lantern, and a
98

Baroque and Rococo

small eight-windowed

dome

at

in Italy

and Northern Europe

the top of this

The geometric complexity


and bright light from the many windows of the S.
Lorenzo dome are thought to make reference to the
concept of infinity. The contrast with the dim lower

astonishing structure.

space of the church

intensely theatrical.

itself is

work on

In 1667 Guarini began

a chapel for

Turin Cathedral that was being prepared to house

known

the religious relic

the

as

believed to be the cloth that held the

The

after the crucifixion.

Sindone

6.13)

(fig.

is

Holy Shroud,
body of Christ

resulting chapel of SS.

dark and somber space

with black and dark grey marbles.

lined

approached by twin

It

of dark, curved

flights

is

stairs

up from the cathedral. The entrances


stairs and from a doorway centered at

that lead

from the two

the rear (leading to the adjacent palace) establish

three points of an equilateral triangle. Three arches


rise to

support the

circle that

windowed drum. Above


up from

six rings

it

is

the base of a six-

a conical

dome

is

built

of flat arches, each arch resting on

the centers of the arches below, each ring growing

way

smaller in a

exaggerated

that creates a perspective effect of

Hidden windows

height.

light

the

space from behind the arches and, at the top, a


small

dome,

the top arch ring.

sunburst

the center of the highest dome.

and complex forms and the

strange
effects

at

t^ai-k

by hidden windows, caps


golden dove hangs from a

also lighted

make

of light and dark

The

theatrical

the chapel

6.14 (above

seem

Fillipo

Juvara. Stupinigi

hunting lodge, Turin,

dramatic, mysterious, and disturbing.

1729-33

Juvarra

The great hall of the

hunting lodge incorpo-

Filippo Juvarra (1678-1736) was the designer of

rates galleries for musi-

the Superga (1717-31), a church

and monastery

cians

complex outside of Turin on

overlooking the

well as frescoes

a hill

and singers as
and

stucco decorations. This


city. It is

made up

of a

domed church

tali

attached

is,

to ranges of lower monastic buildings arranged

symmetrically

around a

cloister

court.

in fact, really

a royal

palace, rather than a

simple lodge, although

Juvara

the lavish decoration of

seems, in this building, to draw back from the

the hall

complexities of Guarini and to suggest a Baroque

contrast to the low

closer to the late phases of the

High Renaissance.

This church-monastery complex with

dome and

flanking towers

appears in south

To what

is

Germany

its

great

about the same time.

ating

at

work north

uncertain.

At the huge Stupinigi Palace built for Vittorio

Amedeo

II

of Savoy

(figs.

into the surrounding park

large,

extent Juvarra influenced the

work remains

tie

close to a pattern that

of the Alps and to what extent he was influenced by


that

onal 30-60 degree relationships that spread out to

6.14 and 6.15; 1729-33),

outside Turin, Juvarra designed a complex of low


buildings in a symmetrical pattern based

on hexag-

and landscape.

in stark

and service

blocks that enclose the

mam courtyard.

double-height central salon connects to radi-

rooms and passages that create intricate


The surface decoration is a
overlay of painted and gilded plaster work that

spatial relationships.

rich

stable

is

6.15

(teft)

Ground

plan of Stupinigi

hunting lodge,

suggests awareness of the contemporary French

Juvara's

design in which basic forms tend toward simplifi-

focused on the central

cation
ingly

whOe
rich.

ornament becomes increasterm Rococo may be more

surface

The

appropriate here than Baroque.

hall,

ground plan

is

from which rooms

radiate at angles to

form a rough hexagon


around a central court.

99

Chapter Six

6.16 Jakob
Prandtauer and

Antonio Carlone,

Monastery of St
Florian, Linz, Austria,

1718-24.
The Marble

which

Hall,

was the work of


Prandtauer after
Carlone's death,

contains columns of

faux marble with gilded


capitals

and ornate
and these

stucco work,

form the base

for

an

elaborate painted
ceiling
artist

by the

Italian

Martina

Altomonte. The
painting, in faux
perspective, glorifies

Austna's then recent


victory over the Turks.

6.17 Jakob
Prandtauer,

Abbey

of

Baroque

Northern Europe

in

Melk, Austria,

1702-38,

Europe north of

The Benedictine foun-

In the regions of

dation of Melk included

design was taken up with

collegiate church,

Italy,

Baroque

especially in the

zest,

monasteries

and

complex

spatial

of Austrian Baroque

churches.

The simpler spaces

The curving side

with their overlay of elaborate surface decoration,

which

a fine example

is

walls,

red-brown marble
pilasters,

and upper

concepts

draw on French Rococo

of

in secular buildings,

influences.

balconies frosted with

stucco decoration
contribute to the

Austria

almost overpowering

and Austrian Baroque can

impression. The high

The

windows illuminate the

be traced through the work of Carlo Antonio

lavishly decorated

transverse arches. The


altar

is

backed by an

ornate reredos. Only the


floor,

with

Its

simple

link

between

Italian

Carlone (1686-1708), a

who

family of artists

member

relocated in

of an

Italian

Austria. Carlone

was the designer of the Monastery of S. Florian


(fig. 6.16; 1718-24) near Linz where the ceiling of

diagonal squares of
marble,

is

a refuge from

the ornamentation.

After a

fire in

damaged

738

the church

is

series

(sometimes called

name of

sail

of slightly

domed vaults
German

vaults or given the

platzlgewolbe). Their surfaces of

smooth

the church,

parts of It were rebuilt

plaster covered with paintings, they give illusions

by Josef Munggenast

of high

100

domed

spaces with architectural detail

Baroque and Rococo

in Italy

and Northern Europe

6.18 Jakob
Prandtauer,

library,

Abbey of Melk,
1702-38,

Austria,

The bookshelves

line

and above

the walls,

them ornamental
brackets support the
balconies, which

contain additional
shelving. The floor

simply

is

tiled in marble,

and only

the ceiling

free for the

is

exuberant

painting of figures
floating in a blue sky

above a fnnge of simulated architectural


detail.

The effect

is

close to rococo

simplicity of form but

with elaborate decorative overlay.

developed
ings

in false perspective.

were

completed

by

The monastic

an

Austrian,

build-

Jakob

Prandtauer (1660-1726), and include the ceremonial Marble Hall with decorative stucco work and
faux marbling by F. J. Holzinger, an Austrian, and a
painted ceiling by Altomonte and Sconzani, both

The nearby abbey of Melk (figs. 6.17 and


6.18; 1702-38), a vast complex of connected buildings on a high bluff overlooking the Danube, is
entirely the design of Prandtauer. The church interior with stucco architectural detail and illusionistic ceiling painting draws on Italian precedents.
Italians.

The

secular spaces such as the library with

its

cantilevered balcony, both functional and orna-

mental, and the Marble Hall (or Kaisersaal) lean

6.19 Johann Bernhard


Fischer

von

Erlach,

Karlskirche, Vienna,

Austria,

1716-37.

The oval,
rior

domed

inte-

of Karlskirche (the

Church of St Charles
Borromaeusj is
surrounded by chapels.
The deep chancel

is illu-

mined by side windows


that focus light on the

sunburst design above


the altar,

and columns

Rococo ornamentation typical of


Austrian, German, and French palace design.
In Vienna, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach

screened view into the

(1656-1723) was the designer of the Karlskirche


(Church of St. Charles, 1716-37; fig. 6.19). The

admit limited light into


the generally dim inte-

toward

the

topped by an oval dome; there are


two large and four small radiating chapels, and a
great arch that opens into a deep chancel backed
central space

is

below permit a
monk's choir beyond.
The high windows

rior,

which

IS

crammed

with nch marble architectural detail

and

ornamentation.

101

Chapter

6.20

Six

Kaspar

(right)

Moosbrugger, Abbey
Church of Emsiedein,
near Zurich,
Switzerland,

1691-1735.
Moosbrugger showed a
mastery of complex
spatial relationships in

the

abbey church,

where successive bays

move toward

the

distant altar while an

overwhelming overlay
of stucco ornament and

painted detail make the

space dissolve into


florid richness.

6.21 (top nght) Peter


Thumb, Monastery and
Pilgrimage Church of
Neu-Birnau, Germany,

1745-51.
This

IS

a simple rectan-

gular room with a


projecting sguare
chancel, but the
simplicity of the underlying plan

IS

lost in the

lavish overlay of stucco

and painted ornament.

\
6.22 (right)
Domenikus
Zimmermann, Die

Wies,

Fussen, Bavana,

Germany, 1744-54.
The interior of the

Pilgnmage Church of
Christ Scourged,

as Die Wies,

is

colored white

and

known

largely

and gold,

the intricate

plaster ornamentation

seems

to dissolve

forms

into a kind of mist The


ceiling

is

bordered by a

ring of architectural
detail, partly real

in three

and

dimensions,

partly trompe

I'oeil.

Baroque and Rococo

with

screen of columns that allows a glimpse of a

monks' choir beyond. The wall surface

detail uses a

Corinthian pilaster order with generally restrained


decorative detail so that attention

is

windows) above

great sunburst (lighted by hidden

the

main

focused on the

Saints, 1742-72), stands alone

6.23).
(

It is

work of Johann

the

1687-1753),

to

his

patron, the Prince-Bishop of

Vienna and Paris before returning to

somewhat forbidding twin-towered

Switzerland
The abbey of

begun 1703)
near Zurich, another huge church and monastery
complex, was designed by Kaspar Moosbrugger

domed

large

Einsiedeln

(1656-1723).

(fig.

6.20;

small chapel stands within the

octagonal area at the entrance to the

move toward the chancel


The overlay of sculp-

church; receding bays

and

(fig.

Neumann
engineer who had

Franconia to devote his efforts to architecture. The

altar.

altar in a progression.

and Northern Europe

Balthasar

initially a military

been sent by

Wurzburg,

on high ground

in Italy

exterior of the

6.23 Johann
Balthasar Neumann,
Pilgrimage Church of
Vierzehnheiligen, near

Bamberg, Germany,
1742-72.

building hardly prepares the visitor for the Baroque

The great pilgrimage

complexity of the interior and

church was built with a

mentation. The plan

is

its

Rococo orna-

based on a Latin cross, but

central shrine to house

the venerated object,

the arrangement of aisles and the related ovals of


the low

domes of the

the plan form.


to fourteen

ceiling elaborate

pilgrimage shrine-altar dedicated

dome which

overlaps,

in

the nave

and

is

over-

lapped by, adjacent ovals and circles in a way that

is

based on interlocking
ovals at

and

martyred saints stands

beneath an oval

and obscure

but the ground plan

floor,

balcony,

ceiling levels

of

such complexity that


the interior

is

almost

incomprehensibly

rich

in spatial terms. This

tured form and illusionistic ceiling painting generates the

complexity of space and the theatricality

typical of the

Baroque. At

monastery was

rebuilt in

architect Peter

Thumb

S.

Gallen, the ancient

1748-70 by the German

(1681-1766). The church

has a long narrow-aisled nave with, at


a

round,

domed

its

midpoint,

interruption.

makes the whole interior full of implied motion.


The windows are large and the glass is white so that
light pours into the space; white, gold, and pink are
the dominant colors. A frosting of Rococo plaster
sculpture and painting contributes to the theatrical
sense of light and movement.
Neumann was also the designer of the Residenz
at Wurzburg (fig. 6.24; begun 1735), a huge palace

Baroque concept has


been overlaid with

Rococo ornament
white, gold,

and

in

and pinks,

the painted ceiling

merges into lavish


plaster ornamentation.

Only the

floor

of diag-

onal squares of marbles


IS

simple.

Germany
Thumb

was the architect of the smaller German

pilgrimage church

at

Birnau (often identified as

Neu-Birnau) of 1745-51

(fig. 6.21).

cantilevered

balcony that runs around the walls of the

relatively

simple rectangular church and projecting chancel

adds to the spatial interest that

is

further amplified

by sculpture and

illusionistic ceiling painting.

clock

decorative banding that divides

is

fitted into

the ceiling painting into panels.

The pilgrimage church known as Die Wies


6.22; 1744-54) by Domenikus Zimmermann
(1685-1766) and the monastic church complexes
(fig.

at

Ottobeuren

(begun

1737)

and

Zwiefalten

(1739-65) by lohann Michael Fischer (1692-1766)


each are unique variations on the Baroque themes

of complex space, rich decorative sculpture, and

an agricultural region with


and with a population having no experience of travel nor exposure to art in any other
illusionistic painting. In

few

cities,

forms, entering one of these churches, flooded with

and filled with an overwhelming richness of


color and ornament, must have been an exciting
light

and inspiring experience.


In Franconia near the

German

city

of Bamberg

one of the best known of Baroque churches, the


pilgrimage church of Vierzehnheiligen (Fourteen

103

Chapter Six

6.24 Johann
Balthasar Neumann.
Residenz, Wurzburg,

Germany, 1735.
The Baroque fascination with

movement,

including vertical move-

ment,

mode

ways a

and

lavish stair-

favorite subject

in his

treatment of

the staircase hall in the

secular context of a

Neumann

palace,

planned a setting
ceremonial

for

movement

Most of the surfaces are


white, embellished with

nch decorative detail

and sculptures in the


Rococo manner The
colorful celling fresco

(1751-3), with

upward
realm,

is

its

view

into a celestial

by

Tiepolo.

with a spectacular Rococo chapel, a ceremonial

grand

stair,

ceilings

Tiepolo

and

a Kaisersaal with fresco painted

by the Venetian
(1696-1770).

artist

Stucco

merges into painting with

The

decorative

lined with

detail

illustrations of endless
spill

out of the

flights,

leading to the salon that

stands at the center of a long

Giovanni Battista

space and foreground details that

stair hall is a

row of formal rooms.

simple square in shape, but

ornamental

lanterns

cupid figures stand

supported

at the

hangs from the center of the

architect

Lukas von Hildebrandt

at the

Wurzburg

Residenz. His reputation had been

established with his


in

Neumann

work on

the Piaristen

Church

Vienna (1715-21) and on the palace known

the

Upper Belvedere

( 1

700-23

also in Vienna.

as

The

palace stands at the upper end of a large formal

garden and looks


the

lower edge.

flight

of

Rococo

is

ornament

entrance

plaster

stairs

at

Here

the center divides at a

and

fresco

ballroom was created in the Schaezler Palace

central

lantern

Each of the

The design of a palace often included individual


rooms decorated in the newly current style. At
Augsburg in Germany, for example, a Festsaal or
6.25; 1765-70). Its walls

stair hall.

more

ceiling.

painting.

palace at

projecting

sculptured

treated with a different lining of

architectural

down toward another

element gives access to a grand


lower

formal rooms

railings,

by

while one

of the baluster

The Viennese

is

upper and lower corners

form the color

palette.

it

Rococo sculptural ornamentation. Huge

painting over the plasterwork. Pink, blue, and gold

(1663-1745) worked as a consultant to

104

landing into twin

work and wood

(fig.

were covered with Rococo

carving, elaborately framed

mirrors, wall bracket candle holders, candle chandeliers,

and

fresco painting

on

the ceiling

and

in

Baroque and Rococo

6.25

(/eft)

Adam

in Italy

and Northern Europe

6.26

(below) Francois

Liebert van

Cuvillies,

Llebenhofen (architect,

Nymphenburg

room designer

Munich, Germany,

unknown), Ballroom of

Amalienburg,
Palace,

1734-9.

the Schnaezler Palace,

Augsburg, Germany,

Silver

and azure

blue

plaster ornamentation

1765-70.

the usual architectural

byJohann Baptist
Zimmermann frame the
windows and mirror

elements of pilasters

panels. All of the

In this

Rococo

interior

and entablature have

Rococo ornamentation

been replaced by mirror

is

panels between the

little

windows and

angles of the mirrors as

florid

plastenvork, which

in stucco,

and

there

they progress around

covers every available

the

surface Candle

repeating reflection in

brackets at the sides of


the mirrors

and

the

many hanging chandeliers

provided for a

is

pointing. The

room

create

kaleidoscopic
complexity. The light of
the candles of the great

chandelier would have

spectacular level of

been endlessly repeated

night-time illumination.

in the mirrors.

105

Chapter Six

wall panels. All of this grandeur

was intended

to

bulbous, jug-like shapes. Carving of plant forms,

and coats of arms were

symbolize and emphasize the importance of the

figures, allegorical images,

owner of the palace, a banker and silver merchant


who had been elevated to the nobility in recognition of his financial help to the Empress Maria

favorite

Theresa of Austria.

wood

The influence of French Rococo interior design


was a strong factor in shaping German palace interiors and also in small, less formal palace buildings,

used together with inlays of other decorative and

were sometimes used, and techniques for simu-

often almost pavilions placed in gardens. Francjois

lating materials

Cuvillies

(1695-1768) spent four years

Paris

in

working with the French designer Jacques-Francois


Blondel (1705-74) and returned to

produce the kind of restrained

Germany

had become fashionable in the salons of Paris.


best-known work is the Amalienburg
(1734-9), a small garden palace, planned as a
shooting box for pheasant hunting in the grounds

moldings,

tectural

exotic materials.

possible to create

it

surfaces in varied colors

and

patterns, often

and

Ivory, tortoise-shell,

silver

by marbling, graining, painting,


and gilding were valued not as economy measures,
but as demonstrations of skilled technique.

Baroque furniture tends


nated by

to be large

and domi-

and bulging forms, while Rococo


contrast, strives for delicacy and

fat

that

design,

His

elegance. Legs are slim

Nymphenburg Palace in Munich (fig. 6.26).


central room placed between adjacent rooms

and columns. The

pilasters,

development of veneer made

to

yet florid interior

forms of ornamentation, along with archi-

in

and gently curved,

patterns are small in scale

Applied ornamentation

and often very

is

inlay

elaborate.

often of pewter, silver,

may be

of colorful

of the

bronze, or gilded. Cabinet tops

Its

marble. There was increasing use of upholstered

decorated in

silver

and lemon yellow

is

of simple

windows open to the gardens.


Mirrored panels on the waUs have the effect of
transforming the simple form of the room into
circular shape; three

seeming complexity

kind of kaleidoscope

effect

elements in seating furniture;

wood frames of
may be

curving form support cushioning that

edged with gimp, braid, cord, or with closely


spaced nails with ornamental heads. Mirrors and
pictures

had carved and gilded frames which some-

and elaborates the silvery stucco decoration of the walls and ceiling and the glitter of the

times overwhelmed what they surrounded. Shell,

great central chandelier.

decorative forms.

that repeats

Cuvillies
rial

was the designer of many other impe-

interiors,

Rococo
at

including the gloriously elaborate

interior of the court theater in the Residenz

Munich (1751-3).

a miniature prototype for

It is

the Baroque-Rococo opera house interior, with

horseshoe

tiers

of boxes and a huge central royal

Milan

box. Such opera houses as La Scala in

(1776-8,

scroll,

by Giuseppe Piermarini)

are

similar

or volute shapes were favorite S-curved

Since candles were stUl the usual source of artificial light, candlesticks,

wall brackets,

and chande-

and

ideal vehicles

liers were functionally important

for

Rococo ornamentalism. The harpsichord, the


Baroque music, was

basic keyboard instrument of

often decorated with paintings both outside

the under surface of the

lid.

Its

legs

and on

or stand

followed the Baroque and Rococo fashions in table


base design or, occasionally, became ornamental

spaces on a grander scale.

The organ in the back gallery of the


Baroque church was a massive construction,

sculpture.
typical

Furniture

and Other

Interior

Features
Furniture of the Baroque era does not differ in
basic character

from

that of the Renaissance, but

since Baroque design served only the wealthy

even

gradually

came

greater accuracy

to be

and

made

with

in smaller size

at lesser cost,

although

it

was

palaces.

basic forms of cabinet furniture were modified

orated with large decorated cases or with sculptured

elaboration

typical of objects

made

for the

ostentation

rooms of

to introduce curving or bulging shapes for

drawer

fronts. Legs

are

door or

were often turned on foot or on

water-powered lathes to create

106

and

symbol to be put on display in the


rooms of luxurious houses. Clock forms were elab-

powerful,

The

and ornamented in a way that rivaled


and altar. The clock, an
important mechanical development of medieval
technology, at first a large and costly device to be
put to work in the tower of a church or towm hall,
usually carved

the treatment of pulpit

round

ball

or

still

a status

bases.

The color

palette of the Renaissance with

its

basis in grey stone, marble, white (or off-white)

Baroque and Rococo

plaster,

Italian

began

and natural walnut wood survived

in the

Renaissance, and

Baroque, although bright, chromatic color

older traditions.

to

appear in

textiles, rugs,

paintings. Gradually,

and, of course, in

more daring use of

color,

such as marble in varied yellows, reds, and greens

and

gilding, contributed to the shift

toward more

theatrical visual effects in interiors. In

and Austria

pastel tones of

pink and

Germany

light greens

limited in variety
is

possible

where both wood and

plaster are typically painted

building continued to follow

Furniture in these houses was

and generally simple, although it


some movement toward

trace

painted.

The

with carved or stucco detail picked

richly

complex aspects of Baroque and Rococo


many years labeled by historians as

design were for

decadent and declining phase of Renaissance

work. Older books often provide no coverage of

out with gold or some delicate pastel shade. The

Baroque design or deal with

covering of walls with textiles in rich colors also

sentences of negative

came

tion for

into use in

residential

interiors.

Curtains

it

in

only a few

comment. A new appreciaBaroque and Rococo design has emerged,

were most often part of the appointments of the

however, with an understanding that the Baroque

canopied bed where they were useful

emphasis on

drafts

and

in

in controlling

maintaining the privacy that the plan

most luxurious houses generally


ignored. Panels of textile were used occasionally for
screens or at doors, but window curtains and decolayout of even the

rative

drapery

at

windows

did not appear until well

into the eighteenth century. Floors

polished
in

wood

patterns),

were usually of

Parquetry (small blocks arranged

of marble or

tile,

also usually in

patterns of several colors that relate to the shape of


the

room and

the geometry of

its

other design

elements. Carpets or rugs were rare luxuries.

Outside of major churches, abbeys, and the

spatial

complexity relates to modern

concepts of design. In his book Space, Time and


Architecture (1943), for example, Sigfried

began

his

Gideon

study of modern trends with a discussion


Renaissance and the

of the links between the

enriched spatial concerns of the Baroque. Far from

being

decadent and declining aspect of the

Renaissance, the Baroque era

now

is

seen as the

most significant link between the classicism of


what went before and a new and adventurous spirit
that can be traced to the best of recent design work.

Before

discussing

Rococo design

the

role

in other parts

of Baroque and

of Europe,

it is

neces-

Baroque

sary to go back to an examination of the ways in

and Rococo design had limited impact. Most


people continued to live in houses that dated from

which Renaissance thinking moved into France,


Spain, the Low Countries, and England. This is the

medieval times or from the earlier years ot the

material of the following chapters.

elaborate palaces

and houses of the

rich.

and Northern Europe

Baroque forms in "folk" or "provincial" furniture


where curving forms appear along with surface
decoration, sometimes carved and sometimes

and blues were favored along with gilding and


white stucco. The use of more color but in more
delicate hues is a characteristic of Rococo design,
in soft colors

to

new

in Italy

.(^P

^K^y
y of 0^^

107

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

in

France and Spain


It is

often said that the art and design concepts of

the Renaissance spread outward from Italy into


France, central Europe, and Spain.

word "spread"

The use of

suggests that this was a natural

inevitable process.

New

ideas do,

may

spread, but that process

it is

the

and

true, tend to

be resisted or blocked

and suspect, or welcomed and encouraged, depending on events and attitudes in a


as "foreign"

particular place at a particular time. French military

involvements in

from 1494

Italy

1525

to

brought an awareness of Italian ideas to the French


aristocracy. Primaticcio, Sangallo, Serlio,

da Vinci, and Bernini were


enabled Italian

all

style.

France interlace with the Baroque

Early

may seen

ques-

style

extending

In Spain, a similar pattern can be traced, with

even, in

some

from

it

into the existing,

Italy

and

indi-

Spanish architects traveled and

cases,

worked

in Italy; they

style

somewhat

brought

and incorporated

restrained, approach.

is

based on French examples, but developed

with a unique regional character. The role of Spain

Hotel deVillette,

more

his principal residence. Louis XII

who

windows,

Ionic

conquests,

mirror,

is

tive,

that

IS

dark natural

wood parquet,
the celling

is

while

was provided by
in wall

and from

brackets

name

to the chateau of Blois that

(Louis XII wing)

medieval

moldings and column

in concept,

capitals

the craftsmen executing the

is

but

conservadetails of

demonstrate that

work were aware of the

latest Italian practices.

Baroque and Rococo ideas into

Early Renaissance

France

(r.

at the

1515-47) had a four-day

visit

with the

Vatican in 1515 where he must have

seen the High Renaissance

Rome. At

work then current

In

France

at

the

end

of

the

Middle

Ages

moved

Francis's suggestion,

in

Leonardo da Vinci

and lived near Amboise


The Francis I wing at Blois

to France in 1516

Renaissance ideas encountered both conservative

until his death in 1519.

resistance

and some degree of encouragement. At


end of the thirteenth century feudal ways were
deeply entrenched and their expression in Gothic

(1515-19) with

the

stories

of

architecture

had reached a

unmatched elsewhere

in

political centralization

level

of perfection

Europe. At the same time,

with government centered

its

famous exterior stair has three


and moldings appar-

classical pilasters,

ently based

on the

interior courtyard treatment of

The prominent roof above, with


of chimneys and dormers, remains both

Florentine palaces.
its

clutter

French and medieval in

effect.

candlesticks

placed on the furniture

(now removed).

108

is,

an oval

framed painting. Light


candles

his

grey with

gilded detailing. The


floor

by

in Italian

both Milan and

New World.

and

restrained ornamental

warm

The wing added

called

taking

successfully

the

panels. The color


soft,

1462-1515),

{r.

succeeded Charles, was also involved

Francis

tlie

French

became involved in military efforts to expand


their power and dominance. In 14945 Charles
VIII (r. 1470-98) launched a campaign against the
kingdom of Naples. In the course of this adventure,
he and his followers had an opportunity to become
acquainted with the art and architecture of
Renaissance Italy. Twenty-two Italian craftsmen
were brought back to France and put to work on
various royal projects, including work at the
chateau of Amboise where the king had established

opening up the American continents helped to

transfer Spanish

the

and

country

the

palace,

Alongside these changes in society,

Pope

evident in

power
and

practical

kings

The reserved classicism

is

The

more

acter could change.

of Louis Regence design

pilasters

amply

already

a need for visible expression of

felt

comfortable.

is

ornamented interiors that


strongly Baroque in spirit. The Rococo charinto richly

acter of Spanish design of the eighteenth century

Pans, 1712.

was

equivalent to the castle, but

Naples.

in

important as compared to

France

ments, while the powerful aristocracy centered on


the king

movement

clearly

less

building.

supplied with churches and monastic establish-

Spanish love for rich ornamentation aided the

are

7.1

secular

The use of the

into the eighteenth century.

back the High Renaissance

tended to become

tance and, without the need for defense, their char-

tentative

work toward the end of the


restrained and conservative
in character than the developments in Italy and
south Germany. The subtleties of Rococo work in

rectly ft'om France.

abandonment of medieval ways.

As the power of the church was checked by an


increasingly powerful monarchy, religious building

into

more

ideas flowing both directly

the

be translated

Italy,

tionable since French

Renaissance was

(made obsolete

castles

chateau, and the city residence increased in impor-

French work

later

and

and

Renaissance shaded into a high

term Baroque for

cities

by the development of firearms) led gradually to

active in France

thinking to

French practice. As in

Leonardo

of fortification of

on a powerful king, the growth of cities, the development of trade, and the decline in the importance

The
chateau

most
is

spectacular

Early

Renaissance

the huge royal palace-hunting lodge at

Chapter Seven

7.2 Domenico da
Cortona

(?)

and

Jacques and Denis


Sourdeau, Chateau de

Chambord, Loire,
France, begun c. 1519.
The upper floor

now

level,

missing (or

possibly never built)

makes

it

possible to

view the double spiral


stair that rises at the

center of the

main

block of the chateau.

It

connects the principal


floor levels

and gives

access to the roof The

supporting pillars are

topped with Ionic capitals,

and the ceiling is


and coffered.

vaulted

The staircase
to

is

thought

have been based on

a design by Leonard da
Vinci.

no

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

while additional rooms,

and passages

stairs,

are

in

France and Spain

7.3 Ground plan of


the Chateau de

fitted into the

corner towers and wings, making the

building a complex labyrinth of spaces. The interiors

have been stripped of their furnishings which,

even when the building was new, would have been

moved

to and from Paris along with the royal


The stone details of fireplaces, doorways,
coffered ceilings, and the central stair are full of

court.

Chambord,
The ground plan of the
vast chateau reveals

that the house

is

made

up of a square central
block with wings that
stretch out to

round

towers on either side.

Low wings complete a


references to Italian practice.
It

square. The central

thought that Domenico da Cortona

is

pupU of Giuliano da

Chambord
picturesque

{figs. 7.2

and

7.3;

begun 1519).

It is

mix of moated medieval round towers

and high roofs, with Renaissance concepts of


symmetry and orderly planning and in the small
details

roof,

of arches,

pilasters,

and moldings.

the

France in 1495 (Sangallo returned to

full

reference

Renaissance

Italian

to

although the way

in

of details that

make

classicism,

which they are applied haphaz-

typical of the Early Renaissance in France.

ardly

is

The

interiors

Chambord

of

the

main,

are organized

central

at

by an open circulation

space, a kind of lobby in the plan of a

double

block

Greek

spiral staircase at the center

cross.

dominates

Leonardo da Vinci was living at


nearby Amboise, there has been speculation that he
might have inspired the stair on the basis of
the space. Since

sketches

that

appear

in

his

notebooks.

Living

spaces are fitted into the four corners of the square.

how much

he was architect and

Italy

in

while

simply a builder

working under the direction of others

The smaller Loire


Rideau

moat and

It

is

space, which

is

focused

on the central stairway.


The symmetrical layout
IS

evidence of the early

Renaissance discovery
of classical planning
ideals.

uncertain.

is

the

work of unidenti-

an L-shaped building with

lake surround, creating a visual

tion of great charm.

each corner leaving a

valley chateau of Azay-le-

1518-27)

(fig. 7.4;

fied designers.

is

block holds rooms in

cross-shaped circulation

also

Domenico remained in France). The French master


mason Pierre Nepvau also had a role, but how much

an amazing collection of chimneys, towers,

domes, and dormers are

On

who was

Sangallo,

(d.

He was

1549) was the maker of the basic plan.

Its

composi-

corner turrets and moat

suggest castle architecture, but

rear elevation

its

moat is symmetrical, and the detail of


and moldings clearly belong to the Early

facing the
pilasters

Renaissance.

grand

stair is

placed

the center of

at

main wing. A fanciful entrance bay marks its


location on the front of the building, but the
the

projecting

L-wing places that entrance near

corner of the

L,

Azay-le-Rideau

making the facade asymmetrical.


is

fortunate in having

its

interiors

7.4 Chateau de
Azay-le-Rideau, Loire,
France,

1518-27.

typical

room of the

chateau, which could

be used by the inhabitants for

any purpose

they wished. Here, a

curtained bed has been


set

up but a table and


a

chairs (including

folding Savonarola
chair) are also avail-

able for the serving of a

modest meal. The walls


are covered with yellow

The huge fireplace


and overmantel, carved

silk.

in

stone

in the Italian

Renaissance
to the

style,

point

emergence of

French Renaissance
design thinking.

Chapter Seven

7.5 Giovanni Battista

well preserved

Rosso and Francesco


Primaticcio, Palace of

before

533.

The Caller/ of Francis

was a simple

made

elaborate by the
the walls

with the ornately

framed painting and


stucco above, which

was

largely the

work of

the Italian artist

and

sculptor Giovanni
Battista Rosso,

known

main

the

to

privacy.

wooden

and

mantel

so that each

is

room

functions

large

and

richly

set in the thick

or to

provide

carved fireplace

stone walls open into a

privacy to the alcove. Since

rooms had

fixed functions, furniture could be placed in

room
it

some

to serve

any

whatever function was chosen for

canopied bed in one room, a dining table and


example,

in another. Color, other

the natural tones of the

wood and

green

in

one room, yellow

in

High Renaissance

the access

space in the wall thickness which can be curtained

chairs, for

112

room

from wall coverings

another, establishing a tonality for each room.

rooms

probably the work of an Italian sculptor.

Windows

no

simple

surprising to note that

Each of the major rooms has a beamed


ceiling, stone walls covered by stretched

cloth,

to give

is

stair,

differentiate

beamed ceiling carnes


some decorative detail.
The floor

it is

passage to the next. There was no particular effort

as Rosso Fiorentino. The

wood parquet.

furni-

are simply lined up in sequence on either side of

passage-like space

panelmg on

and luxury,

size

Fontamebleau, near
Paris,

and restored with appropriate

ture and decorative details. In a building of such

stone,

than

comes

The turn from

the tentative experiments of the

French Early Renaissance to the more assured High


or developed phase of the era

came about with

aid of several expatriate Italians

who modified

the

their

to create work that is specifically


Under Francis I, Francesco Primaticcio (c.
Rosso
Giovanni
Battista
1504-70)
and
(1494-1540), a Bolognese and a Florentine respectively, were put to work on the decoration of the
Italian

ways

French.

Fontainebleau

Gallery of Francis

before 1533).

a long,

It

is

at

(fig.

7.5;

narrow room with

beamed ceiling. The wood panels between the


beams are geometrically carved, and there is a
wood-paneled wainscot. Above the paneling, the


Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

nm
ht

7.6 Sebastiano

Serlio,

Francois Mansart (1598-1667) was responsible


for a series of projects that define the character of

Burgundy, France,

m m 9^^

c,1546.

French Renaissance work

character

during the

1610-43)

and Louis XIV

symmetrical square
all

spaces

arranged around a

a^

symmetrical block with a

ence on the design of

flanked by lower wings.

French chateau.

this

quoins
surfaces

on

less

mythological and allegorical subjects framed with

solid

and

figures

Strapwork

florid

decorative

the use of bands of relief that

suggest straps of leather rolled out into patterns

appears here for the

The

first

time.

(1475-1555) was known for

taller

{c.

1626)

is

section

central

A high and prominent tiled

lighter for

window surrounds and

darker for the intervening

creates a visual character that

classical detail

and void. The

depends

than on basic proportions of

interiors also

have a degree of

ornamenwork and paintings that cover the


wall surfaces. The Grand Salon that overlooks the
gardens has a bare wooden floor of simple planks
reserve

and dignity

in spite of their rich

tation of plaster

arranged in panels, contrasting with the elaborate

his published

books

fniix

hollow square, symmetrical on

four sides both

all

marble painting of wall surfaces surrounding

the paintings.

Mansart's
the steep

tile

has

come

and so was

ma.ximizing interior space

rise

level.
is

At each

three stories

only two

stories.

be associated with

Renaissance buildings. Attic space was e.xempt from

and moldings are used with textbook precision,


corner a projecting tower block

to

or slate roofs that so often top French

real estate taxation

with an entablature at each floor

America

in

the

at

Victorian

in recognition

a desirable

way of

limited expense. In

era

became popular, they came

Mansard

7.7 Francois Mansart,

Chateau de Maisons,
near Pans, 1642-51.
The plan of

name

outside and in the inner court. Classical pilasters

between

(r.

Serlio

on architecture before his arrival in France in 1540.


He was the designer of the chateau of Ancy-leFranc (fig. 7.6; begun 1546) in Burgundy. It is a

high, while the walls

XIII

1643-1715). The

Sebastiano

architect

Italian

(r.

Baroque

French silhouette. The use of contrasting

at the corners,

ft

walls are covered with a sequence of paintings of

sculptural

of Louis

roof with chimneys and dormers gives the building


color masonry

100

developed

it

Normandy

cates the Italian influ-

a typically
20

as

reigns

chateau of Balleroy in

central courtyard mdi-

^ f* M <

details.

France and Spain

Ancy-le-Franc,

plan with

stucco

in

when such roofs


be known as

to

of their supposed origi-

this

symmetrically perfect
chateau, which

is

also

known as Maisons
Laffitte,

forms a

U-shape, with the

rooms laid out

in

connecting sequence

Each room opens from


Its

neighbors,

and

there

are no independent

corndors for circulation.

The entrance element

at the center

of each side

not strongly accented and the low


architectural

makes the

detail

walls

relief

is

of the

almost

flat

nator.

Such

a rooftops Mansart's

Maisons (or Maisons


Paris (figs. 7.7

and

Laffitte,

7.8).

famous chateau of
1642-51)

outside

U-shaped block, one

There

is

a formal grand

stair (to the right

entrance

hall),

of the

but

all

other stairs are tiny

emphasizing

thus

planes,

the

four-square

simplicity of the basic plan concept. Arcades

and

niches elaborate the wall of the central court.

high

tiled

its

high roofs, chimneys, and dormers,

white stone exterior

is

detailed with

classical

service elements tucked


in

unobtrusive corners.

many dormers and chimneys

roof with

gives the building

room deep with

an especially French character,

which remained the norm of French Renaissance

work

for

takes

more than
step

a century. Internal

planning

forward with the introduction of

passages that parallel the rows of rooms, permitting

and from the four corner stairways


and around parts of the square without passing
circulation to

through some of the rooms.


Pierre Lescot

(c.

1515-78) took a further step

in

establishing the vocabulary of French Renaissance


style

with his work for Francis

1547-59)

at

and Henri

II

(r.

the Louvre in Paris. His design for one

side of the square court


stories

and an

attic

was

(begun 1546) with two

a florid version

of

classi-

cism that became highly influential.

113

Chapter Seven

7.8 Francois Mansart,


Grande Salle, Chateau
de Maisons, 1642-51.
Elegantly correct classi-

cism defines the formal


entrance hall of this
chateau. The

Roman
and
show a

Doric columns
related detail

degree of restraint
relieved

mental

by the ornaceiling

and

sculptured bird above

The color

is

white

throughout

7.9 Salon, Pans


lie

hotel.

St Louis, Pans,

eighteenth century.

An

elegant interior with

subdued rococo ornamentation and color.


The harpsichord at the
right has

mented

an orna-

leg base

and

painted imagery on
side

and on

of the lid

114

its

the interior

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

architectural trim,

ments.

grand

moldings, and pedi-

pilasters,

stair,

white, richly carved

in

all

entrance from the street

marble, leads up to a sequence of rooms, each

that

opening into the next, each an elaborate but

service quarters, with the

display piece.

While such

seem overbearing

in

(mostly

houses

chilly

aristocratic interiors

eighteenth-century)

may

smaller

richness, the

their

by

built

powerful and wealthy families, the so-called hotels of


Paris

and

few other French

cities,

with their

house

on

either side

and
main house facade facing

(fig. 7.9;

on the lie S. Louis, the Hotel


begun 1640) was an early but

major work of Louis Le Vau


in

France and Spain

stables, carriage house, kitchens,

the court. Nearby,

Lambert

on

a gateway opening

is

forecourt between twin buildings

in

7.10 (below
(

1612-70), a key figure

the development of French architecture

decoration.

It

and

has a grand stair in the space behind

left)

Louis Le Vau,

Vaux-le-Vicomte, Melun;

by Charles

interiors

Leburn, 1656.

Rococo

interiors, follow parallel stylistic trends

more modest

on

Royal favor was the source of power and wealth

and those who had access

to

it

wanted

to live in

circumstances that recalled royal living

and

interior decoration

Carnevalet in Paris
also

furniture.

1655,

now

by Francois Mansart,

Although

is

in

style

The Hotel de
Museum),
good example.

the City
a

have been

interiors

its

subjected

to

various renovations and redecorations, they highlight the

riors

way

was

in

which the grandiosity of royal

adapted

to

the

life

styles

of

inte-

the

Antoine
II

in Paris

or Jean

main facade

of a square court.

at the rear

formal rooms

From

rectangular,

Sully

(c.

1630-40) on the Rue

S.

was probably designed by lacques

du Cerceau. Using

a favorite plan, the

This

bedroom was

intended for the king

octagonal, oval, and,

should he make a

and narrow gallery. Each room


opens into the next except where small stairs and

The canopied bed

in

one

case, a long

provide

passages

some

for

around bedrooms and

private

for the use

circulation

of servants.

Some

of the rooms have survived unchanged, their rich


gilded plaster decoration surrounding paintings by

various

artists.

names given

The paintings provide

to the

the fanciful

rooms: Cabinet de I'Amour or

Cabinet des Muses. The painter Charles Lebrun


(1619-90) worked with Le

aristocracy.

The Hotel de

its

the top of the stair there extends a sequence of

scale.

men

collaborated

Vau

important

later

the

room by a

railing,

thereby establishing
privacy. The elaborate

detail of the

opening

and
and

frame, the painted

sculpted

ceiling,

ornate chandeliers
expressed the symbolic
status of the king.

7.11

(fce/ow)

Ground

plan of Vaux-le-

projects

The

an alcove

in

area fenced off from

and the two

here,

several

in

stands

visit

Vicomte, Melun, 1656.

spectacular chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, at


The ground plan of the

the south edge of Paris (figs. 7.10

was designed by Le Vau

for Louis

Finance, Nicolas Fouquet.

It is

and

7.11; 1656),

XIV's Minister of
gardens

set in vast

chateau shows the oval


salon that bulges from
the garden front of the

building

and forms a

planned with geometric order by Andre Le Notre

focus for the various

(1613-1700), whose work established the French

rooms of the

approach to landscape design. The chateau has

Elegant ceremonial

interior.

bedrooms open

in

bulging oval central bay that houses a salon, the

sequence, but there

windows

of

no provision

mirrored

doors

which

overlook

opposite

are

the

garden.

Its

and

set

arched

circulation. Stairs

connecting

bqtween

Corinthian

Above a classic
ceiling dome, an upper

pilasters.

entablature and below the

is

for private

levels are in

unobtrusive secondary
locations.

+^
Cfratui tiaUon

^1

i
GjjU di

m^,

.i 9'<^

Ir

"..."">

ifl

f f

o.lu

par

Cour

If

I'V.^ '.'

^7,

I,,:lr ,l Olxn,

115

"

Chapter Seven

of windows

level

is

and

figures

plaster

surrounded by sculptured
ornamental

The

garlands.

sequence of rooms includes an overwhelmingly

bedroom intended

rich

choose to

and

visit,

dressing and bathing

game

for the king, should

purpose rooms for

special

even

a billiard

had become popular

that

as

room

for the

an aristocratic

pastime. Vaux-le-Vicomte's interiors have survived

with

little

change

even the kitchens are

intact

On

time of Louis XIV.

Louis'

chateau, he was impressed with

obvious

cost. Investigations that

removal of

owner

its

its

first visit

to the

beauty and

and the

transfer

where they were put to work

trans-

forming the royal palace. The oval exterior form

and the

vast extent of gardens with long vistas,

and

waterways,

established the

fountains

Baroque

Vaux-le-Vicomte

at

qualities of

Louis XIV

French land-

scape planning.

work

Louis xiv

in the

designated as Baroque. In

moved

style

fact,

comes from the


is

often

French design never

to the extremes of complexity

tion that characterize the

it

and elabora-

Baroque work of

Italy,

south Germany, and Austria. Even at

its most rich


and heavily decorated, there is a certain reserve, an
emphasis on logic and order, that makes it possible

till

his death, as

His

own apartments, and those

might never

made

projects as the palace

is

certain that such vast

and gardens

at Versailles,

'

and

dull, close, stinking

finish

same

the reign of Louis

observation:

The Queen has only two rooms ... a bedchamber


and a drawing room-in the first she sleeps, dresses,
prays, chats, sees her Sister or any other person
who is admitted to privacy. She has no room for
even a Closet to put her Close Stoole
[chamber pot] in which always stands by her

solitude, nor

bedside.

Another Versailles
similar lines

in

courtier,

Mme

Roland wrote along

the 1770s:

Legrand, one of the Dauphin's ladies

slates]

roadways

ating

focusing

on

town with

the

palace

radiitself,

demonstrate a Baroque love of grandeur used as

those of the Archbishop of

Paris,

lent

and so close to

that the prelate had to be careful lest

his

we should

hear his talking, and the same applied to us. There


were two rooms, meanly furnished
.with an
approach rendered horrible by the darkness of the
passage and the smell of the latrines. ^

a
1

tool for the glorification of the king.

was under the tiles [roof


opening out on to the same corridor as
It

the related replanning of the whole

distinguished

of the Queen, are

visitor to Versailles in

the

Mme

it

us her apartment.

used,

the

upon the monstrous


defects of a palace so immense and so immensely
I

and Baroque phases of the Renaissance and moved


directly from the High Renaissance into the Rococo
and Neoclassic phases that foUowed. Whatever
is

mien

the King Bee

inconvenient to the last degree,

to argue that France simply skipped the mannerist

terminology

for a brilliant Court. In

his figure, his courage, his

Towards women his politeness was without parallel.


Never did he pass the humblest petticoat without
raising his hat; even to chambermaids that he knew
to be such
He treated his valets well, above all
those of the household. It was amongst them that
^
he felt most at ease

XVI,

of the Renaissance in France,

men

grace, his beauty, his grand

Mrs Thrale, a

Baroque
latter part

was made

midst of other

dear.

Since

it.

its

of the designers, Le Vau, Lebrun, and Le Notre to


Versailles,

was the wonder of all who saw


The
Due de Saint Simon, a courtier, recorded amusingly
and pithily in his memoirs what life was like there:

him

followed led to the

(to prison),

Louis XIV, the Sun King of France, created a palace at


Versailles that

to

provide a particularly fine display of interior design


in the

Louis XIV and Versailles

he

Memoires of the Due de St Simon,

1902),

p,

216;

2. Ibid,

p 229;

trs,

Bayle St John (London,

3. Ibid, p.

212:

4,

Quoted

m Ml.

Kekewich, Princes and People 1620-1714: Anthology of Primary


Sources (Manchester,

Versailles

994),

p.

73;

5.

Quoted

the Deluge: Parisian Society in the Reign of Louis

At Versailles

(fig.

Sun King commissetting that would justify

7.12), the

sioned the creation of a

his self-ordained status as the leader of victorious

armies, the world's most powerful figure. Interiors


were of staggering opulence. Marble walls and
floors, stucco decoration, painted walls,

and

silver

116

paneling

and furniture of gilded bronze or


were designed by Le Vau and Lebrun. In

ceilings,

pp.

25-6

in

Evelyn Farr, Before

XVI (London,

994),

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

in

France and

Spam

7.12 Engraving of
Versailles,

showing the

chateau and the

gardens beyond.
The famous palace,
seen

m this

seventeenth-century
engraving, was the
result of

many years of

expansion and reconstruction.

It

turns

its

front face to the boule-

vards that radiated

through the town and


Its

other face to the

vast gardens planned

by Andre Le Notre.

1668, shortly after Le Van's death, a second phase

level

of elaboration was undertaken by Jules Hardouin-

of a balcony. There

is

a clerestory at the level

of

room

that

and windows at
each level that flood the space with light. With the
largely white and gold color, the space is remarkably

overlooks the gardens, the Galerie des Glaces

(fig.

bright.

Mansart (1619-90), a nephew of Fran(;ois Mansart.

He was

responsible for the great gallery

where mirrors on the inner wall face the


windows that overlook the garden. The painted
7.14)

ceiling (by

Lebrun) and the

trim

tectural

generate

gilt

and marble

room of

archi-

spectacular

somewhat unimaginative,
even monotonous concept and detail. The adjacent
anterooms, the Salon de la Guerre and the
grandeur

in spite

of

its

symmetrically matching Salon de


a

la

Paix, each

huge oval decorative panel above

place

and mantel. The rooms are

have

a lavish fire-

rich with

gilt,

marble, paintings, mirrors, and chandeliers. They


are, like the

ot

the

other seemingly endless formal rooms

palace,

showcases

for

the

the

more

of

XIV produced.

splendor that the style of Louis

Among

extremes

interesting spaces in the vast

the painted, vaulted ceiling above,

the chapel
level

and

known

as the

central space of

surrounded by an arcade at the lower


colonnade of Corinthian columns at the

is

reminder that the music of such

and Couperin was

performances here,

first

theater

Lully,

in the

as well as

which was not completed

reign of Louis

until 1770

iti

the

XV.

Louvre
At the Louvre in Paris

(fig. 7.15),

to achieve a city palace

Louis

XIV aimed

comparable to Versailles

through extensions and renovation of the existing

somewhat

diverse

Rooms such

conglomeration of pavilions.

as Lebrun's Galerie

1662), a long, barrel-vaulted

and painted decoration

d'Apollon (begun

room with

(a

sculptured

forerunner

to

the

Galerie des Glaces at Versailles), brought the inte-

from

tall

given

riors

"Entertainments Room." The

is

Rameau,

as

begun 1689) and

the theater or small opera house

gilded organ case at the gallery level

altar

composers

wings added to the palace by Hardouin-Mansart


are the Royal Chapel (fig. 7.13;

The

above the

up

to royal standards. Bernini

Italy to

was summoned

prepare designs for a renovation that

would convert the

exterior to a suitably

structure. His three successive attempts

found "too

Rome

Italian"

and so

too much

Baroque

were each

like the palaces

failed to please the king. In

of

1665

117

Chapter Seven

7.13

Jules

Hardoum-

Mansart and Robert de


Cotte, chapel,
Versailles,

1589-1710

The royal chapel,

in the

north wing of the


palace, has

an arcaded

lower level and an


upper,

columned

for the king

and

level

his

royal retinue There are

windows at both

and

levels

in the clerestory

above

to provide

daylight Gilding

ample
is

used with restraint

for

the railing balusters, for


the altar

and organ
and in the

case above,

detail of the vaulted


ceiling

and painted

half-dome. The floor

is

of colored marbles laid


in

geometnc

patterns.

The ceiling fresco

is

the

work of Antoine Coypel

(1661-1722), and the


marble altar
to

is

believed

have been by Van

Cleve.

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

in

France and Spain

7.14

Vau and

Louis Le

Jules Hardouin-

Mansart, Galerie des

Chateau of

Glaces,

from 1579.

Versailles,

Charles Lebrun was the

prime designer of the


interior detail

of the

Galerie des Claces (Hall

of Mirrors). The simple


basic design of this

huge gallery was given


its

elaborate character

by the many mirrors


along one wall, which
of the

reflect the views

garden through the

windows opposite and,


at night, the light of

innumerable candles.
Richly colored marbles

and gilded plasterwork


detail

ennch the walls

while the barrel-vaulted


ceiling

was painted by

Lebrun

in

flame-colored

and amber

tones with

elaborate allegoncal
scenes celebrating the
early years of the reign

of Louis XIV. The floor

is

of patterned wood

parquet

7.15

Louis Le

Vau and

Charles Lebrun, Galerie


d'Apollon, Palace of
Paris, after

the Louvre,

1661-2.
The long

here,

of

gallery,

which one end

is

shown

has a barref

vaulted ceiling covered

and

with sculptural

painted decoration

cele-

brating legends of the

sun-god Apollo-the
reference to Louis as

"sun-king"

is

obvious.

Lebrun recruited a

number of artists
work under
to

to

his direction

produce the

many

images required. The

room was
ished

left unfin-

when

doned

the

Louis aban-

development

of the Louvre
Versailles.

in

favor of

The walls

were decorated

in

related style, following

by
Eugene Delacroix with
Lebrun's designs,

many paintings and


much gilt

119

Chapter Seven

7.16 Jacques
Lemercier and Francois

Mansart, Church of
Val-de-Crace, Pans.

1645-1667.
Baroque

In this French

church, the chapel of a

great hospital, a spectacular baldacchino

above the altar

chal-

lenges the magnifi-

cence of that
Peter's,

m St

Rome. Bernini

provided the design

dunng his stay in Paris,


and the six twisted
Corinthian columns

were the work

(c.

1658) of the sculptor


Gabriel Le

Due

Bernini returned to

leaving

Italy,

it

to

Claude

and amateur architect, to provide the design which was finally built in
1667-70 as the east facade of the Louvre, often

Baroque Churches

Perrault (1613-88), a doctor

called the

"New

Louvre."

It

has a simple base with a

XIV produced churches


tural style

which Roman architecFrench terms. Among


the Sorbonne 1 635-42 in

was recreated

in

in

long colonnade of paired Corinthian free-standing

them

are the church for

columns above. This forms

Paris

by Jacques Lemercier (1585-1684). This has a

either side of a
pilastered,

a kind of loggia

on

pedimented entrance element with


projecting end wings. The

slightly

general effect

is

more

strictly classical

than the

plan symmetrical about tvvo axes to emphasize two

major entrances, one from the

from within the

college.

street

The

and the other

similarly

domed

work of Louis XIV's era and indicates a turn


away from Baroque ostentation to the increasingly

church of the hospital of Val-de-Grace

reserved Neoclassicism that was to follow.

Jacques Lemercier. During his stay in Paris, Bernini

earlier

120

Aside from royal building projects, the age of Louis

in Paris

(fig.

7.16)

(begun 1645) was by Franc^ois Mansart and

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

in

France and

7.17

Spam

Jules Hardouin-

Mansart and Liberal


Bruant, Church of Les
Invalides, Paris,

1677-1706.
The church that forms
the central element of
Les Invalides

has a

tall

central space topped

with a great dome, the

work of Hardouin-

Mansart The

interior

is

of grey stone, except for

painted panels with

and the
and gilt of the

gilded edging

painting

dome

interior.

The

windows high up in the


drum below the dome
light the

dramatic

space with
effects

of light

and shadow.

^X5 t^^>
1^

prepared the design for the baldachino

at

Val-de-

not unlike the huge baldacchino at St.


Peter's in Rome, but has six twisted Corinthian
columns (two more than Rome), each topped with

Grace.

It is

of an angel. The most spectacular


and best known of these Parisian domed churches
a gilded figure

is

S.

Louis des Invalides

(fig.

7.17;

1677-1706)

now the tomb of Napoleon, attached to


hospital and home for disabled veterans by

the church,

the vast

Hardouin-Mansart. The central space,


than

it is

shell that

wide,
is

is

open

topped by
at

dome

far

higher

with an inner

the top, permitting a view

up

to

painted upper shell that receives light from

windows

that cannot be seen

from the main floor

below, and creating a dramatic effect of space and

can be called truly Baroque. The some-

light that

what overbearin grandeur of the space has made it


an ideal setting for Napoleon's monumental tomb,
which
well.

is

now

The

classicism

placed below the floor in a central

design of these churches leads French

toward the

later S.

Furniture

and Furnishings

Furniture

made

Genevieve (see

p. 129).

to suit the interiors of Louis

XIV

and town houses shared the giant scale,


heaviness of structure, and rich ornamentation that
palaces

121

Chapter Seven

Complex candle

stands were of various types

gueridons, candelabra, and Torchiers. Mirrors

were made

in various sizes, with carved

and gilded

frames similar to the richly ornamental frames


used for paintings. Small mirrors were often placed
in decorative

side

frames with candle brackets on either

forming an illuminated looking

glass called a

Girandole. Clocks, valued more for ornament


and the status they implied than for time-keeping
(fig. 7.19), were favorite elaborate centerpieces on
mantels, along with statuary (often busts on
and ornamental vases. The harpsichord
was developed to a peak of technical excellence by
makers such as Blanchet, Stehlin, and Pascal Taskin
pedestals)

(1723-93). Their exteriors reflected the furniture


styles

of the time, and they often had fine paintings

on the underside of the

lid.

Colors tended to be strong and bright reds,


greens,
great

and

violets,

profusion

as

along with gilded trim in as

could

be

afforded.

importing of Chinese wallpapers began


7.18 {above) iean
Demoulin, commode,
France, mid-eighteenth
century.

Chinese lacquer
cates

indi-

Ctiinese imports that

became

of the period.

Oak and walnut were

the usual

woods, but inlays and applied decorative trim used


exotic woods such as tulip and zebrawood,

Marquetry,

interest in

tlie

characterized the architecture and interior design

gilding,

and

Chairs tended to

silver.

be square and massive, with arms,

and backs

seat,

current in eigh-

teenth-century France.

upholstered. Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732)

The gilded metal

was a

Rococo decoration and


florid

shape set off the

simplicity of the marble


top.

The owner was

maker to Louis xiv. He


the design and making of Armoires

favorite cabinet

specialized in

(large door-front cabinets that served the functions

Commodes

of closets) and

once the Due de

units

with

Chateau de

inlaid

ornament

Chanteloup.

shell, brass,

Choiseul at the

7.19 Musical
France,

7776 clock

invariably

drawers,

decorated

pewter, and

silver; fig. 7.18);

known

became a

ornamental

element

in

interiors

of the eigh-

anstocratic

for the use of

Ormolu,

a technique for

gilding bronze ornament that was then attached to


the corners and edges of furniture. Mercury was

heated to plate the

gilt

onto the

cast

bronze trim

teenth century. This

a process that generated poisonous

example

disastrous results to the workers using

is

in gilded

elaborately

sculptured

in

that

it

was

costly in

human

probably added to

its

its

The

fact

role as an element of status

display. BouUe's

face to suggest

four sons and the term

its

basic

Boulle has come

his

to be

clock-

identified with his style of work.

maker Michel
Stollewerke provided
the

it.

lives as well as materials

workshops were continued by

simple white enameled

The

fumes with

Rococo

taste with only

function.

tops were

clock,

favorite

bronze

with

in marquetry often using ivory,

often of richly colorful marble. Boulle also became

755.

(table height storage

mechanism

within,

Along with

this

heavy and elaborate furniture,

smaller objects followed parallel

stylistic directions.

similar to a musicbox,

that marked the hours

by playing

122

tunes.

came from chandeliers using metal,


carved wood, and crystal in various combinations.
Lighting

at this

The
time

and gradually became a favorite element for rooms,


giving them an oriental, exotic flavor. Tapestries,
especially those from the Gobelins workshops,
were favorite wall hangings, while Aubusson and

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

in

France and Spain

Savonnerie carpets of woven wool sometimes


covered floors that were otherwise bare parquetry,
or marble, usually in simple, geometric

stone,

much

patterns. Since
this era

of the movable furnishings of

has been dispersed, replaced by later reno-

vation or

removed (even destroyed)

time of

at the

on the
comes

the French Revolution, the best information

character of fomplete interiors of the day

from
taking

The

illustrations.

artists'

Abraham

engravings

of

Bosse, for example, depict various events

place

the

in

furnished

richly

rooms of

upper-class homes.

Regency to Rococo
Between the death of Louis XIV

in

1715 and the

XV when

beginning of the reign of Louis

he came

of age in 1723, there intervened a regency which

name Regence

gave the
are

that

transitional

defined periods of Louis


the

to the decorative styles

between the more

work of the Regence

XIV and XV.


is

clearly

In general,

heavy, clumsy, and

less

overbearing than that of the earlier period. Curving

forms became more commonplace; for example,


the gently S-curved leg shape called

came

The

into use.

Cabriole

Juste-Aurele

artist-designer

Meissonier (1695-1750) published more than 100


engravings showing wall panel decorations, candlesticks,

and furniture designs

that

make

7.20

Paris Hotels

use of

Cross-sectional

engraving of the

flowing curves, asymmetric ornament, and details

Military losses in wars with England led to financial

based on the natural forms of shells and

constraints

interior of the

Chateau

de Petlt-Bourg, France,

foliage.

on

With such
Versailles and the

royal building projects.

His work was a key influence on the design of the

vast projects as the palaces at

Regence and the periods that followed.

Louvre and the domed churches such

The

of Louis xv

style

identified with the

1723-74)

(r.

is

usually

term Rococo, which describes

the decorative style that characterized the later

phases

French

of

Regence

classicism.

design

developed most strongly in the

wealthy

flowing curves.

It

and

light,

florid,

design of interiors and the associated elements of

and

of the Louis

related decorative arts. Architecture

XV

era

moved from Baroque

exuber-

ance toward a more restrained classicism, finally,


deserving

the

stylistic

designation

Neoclassical,,

rooms within can better be described ^s


Rotoco^ French Rococo design was quickly
imported and imitated in Austria and Germany

while

and had considerable influence

in

England

as well.

Francois Cuvillies was a key figure in carrying the


style eastward.

and renovation of

Rococo

delicate,

furniture

Hardouin-Mansart complete, the time of Louis

His work in Munich such as the

Amalienburg Palace Pavilion


French Rococo in spite of its

is

a masterpiece of

German

location.

of

XV

was more concerned with modest design of town


houses, smaller royal projects, and the completion

with

became more

as those

style.

interiors in the

In Paris,

and

many

powerful

more

delicate

large houses built

families

under

by

royal

patronage are interestingly varied in plan and


generally richly decorated in

Rococo

style.

Comfort

became a major issue in the discreet private


accommodation of the elite (fig. 7.20).
Gabriel-Germaine

Boffrand

living

(I667-I754),

Paris as a forecourt of oval shape with services

and side and with the


curved facade of the house proper at the rear.
around

it

at the front

Rooms of unusual shape such as a pentagonal


room and stair hall are neatly fitted into the

The salon on the


floor

first

of this luxurious

house has

rich

Rococo

detailing, including

paintings,

fine

and even a

mantel,

small fountain to the


right of the
breast.
floor,

On

chimney

the second

the level of prin-

cipal bedrooms, the

paneled detail

is

simple

except for can/ing

above the door On the


third level, inside the

pupil of Mansart, planned the Hotel d'Amelot in

fitted

eighteenth century.

mansard roof, bare


rooms and shelves for
storage indicate the
territory

of children and

sen/ants. The

basement

chambers are stone


vaulted.

anteinge-

nious plan that provides for convenience and


privacy. In 1735 Boffrand designed an oval salon

123

Chapter Seven

was inserted into the eadier Hotel de Soubise


(fig. 7.21). Windows, doors, mirrors, and paintings
are surrounded by gilded Rococo ornament
applied to white paneled walls and a pale blue
that

ceiling.

the

The

disporting
a

basic shape of the

filigree

on

of

sculptured

floral

huge central

and

shell

room
and

simple, but

is

gilded

cupids

ornament, along with

crystal chandelier,

all

repeated in

different facades relate to the

and

reflect its plan.

four

Corinthian

composed with

golden section. Within,

examples of the Rococo


hall

stone. Florid detail

the iron stair

To

the north side of the gardens of Versailles, the

built in

(fig.

7.22) was

1762-8 to the designs of Ange- Jacques

Gabriel (1698-1782).

It

was intended

as a

modest

house where members of the royal family could


escape

from

the

pomp and

ostentation

Versailles. Externally, the four similar

7.21 Gabriel-

Cermaine Boffrand and


Salon de

la

Princesse,

Hotel de Soubise, Pans,

1735.
The oval room, known
as the Salon de

la

Pnncesse (Princess's
Hall), contains elabo-

rate

Rococo

mirrors,

details,

and paintings

by Natoire (1700-77).

An ornamental

clock

is

placed on a marble

mantel White plaster


cupids cling to the
gilded ornamental
detail at the edges of

the ceiling,
crystal

and a

ornamented

chandelier hangs in the


center of the room. The
ceiling

is

blue but the

walls are paneled in


white.

124

rails,

is

''^'f|*'*^f

of

but subtly

are

are

superb

The

restricted to the

stair

metalwork of

monogram

inserts

hanging candle lantern-chandelier.

soft, pastel

tation

spaces

the

style at its best.

with gilded

living spaces are each

small palace called the Petit Trianon

pilasters),

simple square lined with cream-white

is

astonishing display of Rococo virtuosity.


Petit Trianon

(or

system of geometric proportions based on the

and

Charles-Joseph Natoire,

columns

elegant simplicity controlled by a

kaleidoscopic fashion by the mirrors, makes this an

The

surrounding gardens

Three of the facades, each with

paneled in

wood

colors with restrained surface

The

painted in

ornamen-

white and gold. Simple mantels with

in

mirrors above are flanked by wall bracket candle


holders.

Two

dining rooms, one larger and one

smaller, each have circular elements centered in the

parquet

floors

that

were

originally

elevators

arranged to lower the dining table into service areas

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

In

France and Spain

7.22 Ange-Jacques
Gabriel, bedchamber of

Mane

Antoinette, Petit

Trianon, Versailles,

1762-8.
The low-ceilinged room
fitted into

level

a mezzanine

of the Petit

Tnanon, which became

a favorite retreat

for the

queen. Simple paneling

painted

a pastel tone

in

sets off the

7.23

Lit

France,

casement

c.

la

turque,

1765-70.

windows, which gave a

Flowing curves

view over the gardens.

elaborate carving char-

The

acterize French

furniture, with its

relatively simple

eighteenth-century

neoclassical forms,

is

furniture design,

typical of the era of

Louis

XVI

(r

and

and

the Rococo taste for the

774-92).

exotic generated furniture that


to

was designed

suggest one or

another faraway form

of luxury. Couches that


invited reclining

became
for the

favorite objects

rooms of the

homes of the wealthy


and aristocratic.

below, where servants could clear the table and

out

set

next course without intruding on the privacy

of the royal party by entering the dining rooms.

The bedroom
Antoinette
is

is

that

a small

was

by

occupied

room on

mezzanine

Mariefloor.

It

an elegant example of the Rococo, both simple

and

rich; its

paneled walls are painted in pale grey

with white and gold carved detail, while the marble

surround

fireplace

with

above

mirror

curtained bed, chairs, and drapery are

golden yellow colors.

Much

the Petit Trianon

the

(1728-94)

is

who became

all

and

in related

of the interior detail

in

work of Richard Mique


a royal favorite after the

death of Louis XV. The Petit Trianon

may

be

regarded as the peak expression of French Rococo


design,

while

also

beginning

to

turn

toward

extended
developed

Neoclassicism.

seat for lounging:


in

mality and comfort

Regency and Rococo Furniture


The

furniture of the Louis

XV

(fig.

furniture was also developed, along with various

period follows the

patterns developed during the Regence. Along with


the introduction of curving forms, a

both furniture types

new concern for infor7.23). More varied storage

response to a

new interest

in

and desks. The Drop-leaf


and RoLLTOP (Bureau a cylindre) desk were
types of writing tables

developed in response to functional needs.

comfort developed in such types as the Fauteuil,


an arm chair with upholstered seat and back and

Rococo to Neoclassicism

open padded arms. The Bergere was a somewhat


larger arm chair with enclosed and upholstered
arms and, usually, a loose seat cushion. The

Under Louis xvi

Canape was a small upholstered sofa, and the


Chaise longue was an upholstered chair with an

survived

toward

in

(r.

1774-92), Rococo design

combination with

the

Neoclassicism.

more

academic

Gabriel's

work

further
reserve
at

move
of

Versailles

125

Chapter Seven

7.24

Francois-Joseph

Belanger, Hotel

Baudard de
Samt-James, Place

Vendome, Paris,
c. 1775-80.
The grand salon of a
palatial Paris house

has been decorated

and
and

with white paint


gilding, mirrors,

paintings

in the ceiling.

The rondels over the


doors,

an ornamental

and

fireplace mantel,

candle chandeliers

complete the image of


fashionable luxury. The

parquet floor includes a


central sunburst motif

Furniture

is

absent but

would, no doubt, have

been

in the

Rococo

neoclassical style to

match the other


of the room.
rate

An

detail

elabo-

mantel clock

is

small but suitable focal


point.

(including the theater-opera house) and the well-

known

twin facades facing the Place de Louis

XV in

or Reeding, while a

new awareness of

ancient

typical.

design developed as knowledge of the work discov-

Speculative real estate developments such as Jules

ered in excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum

Paris

(now

the Place de

la

Concorde) are

its

(beginning in 1748) spread. Even ancient Greek

buildings around a great central square, provided

design began to be known, so that Greek orna-

elegant living apartments for the affluent. Behind

mental

Hardouin-Mansart's

such elegantly

1690

Place

Vendome,

classical fronts, various buildings are

placed with no special regard for the formal facade.

details

connection
draperies,

were introduced to further the

with

ancient

previously

rare,

classicism.

became

richly decorated

and

common;

redecorated according to changing fashion

(fig.

yellow, often with trimmings of fringe

Inside,

rooms were often

Rococo rooms of simple shape with paneling


in quiet, pastel colors and surface ornamentation
of carved curvilinear ornament were typical. The
furniture of the Louis XVI era takes on a more
rectilinear and geometric quality than its predecessors.
Mahogany became increasingly popular.
Carved and gilded detail is typical, but the carving
7.24).

126

tends toward parallel bands of molding, Fluting,

colors included crimson red

Window

increasingly

and golden

and tassels.
The Revolution of 1789 put an end to period styles
based on royal patronage and encouragement,
although a number of politically agile architects
and designers managed to survive and resume their
careers in the post-revolutionary climate.

The
(

named

DiRECTOinc
form of governmentthatinl794^

post- revolutionary style called

for the

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

followed the Reign of Terror^ was developed under


the influence of Georges Jacob (1730-1814)

more

XVI

straight

and

lines

Egyptian

details

make

Roman

stiff

ancient

Roman

designs

and suggested

military power.

The Empire

Style

are

details

Napoleon's campaigns in Egypt often appeared.^

The Directoire and Consulate styles precede the


Empire stylb, which took its name from the selfproclaimed elevation of Napoleon I to emperoi
status in 1804. The partnership of Charles Percien
(1764-1838) and Pierre-Francois- Leonard Fontaine*
(1762-1853), who had met as architectural
students in Paris and Rome, led architecture and
interior design under the emperor's patronage.

Window

They

intended to

French
are

reference to the Revolution: the

tricolor, clasped

common

motifs.

hands, swords, and spears

When Napoleon

came

to

power

in 1799,

larity,

creating a sub-period sometimes identified

as

the

such references increased

Consulate

surfaces

draper)'

came

in popti^

style. Egyptian motifs and*

military elements that could be

and

draper)'

Spam

forms and

based on Greek and

Ornamental

precedents.

imitate

period, but attempt a

austere classicism, with rather

France and

and brocades arranged with valances and trimmings to suggest spears and lances. Tables with
metal tripod bases and marble tops were made to

who

had been a cabinet maker with commissions from


the court of Louis XVI. His designs follow the
general style of the Louis

in

identified

covering

with

wall

into increasing use, with striped silks

are often thought of as the

interior designers as that

first

professional

term has come to be used.


7.25

Salon deJeux,

Chateau of Compiegne,
near

1785.

Paris,

This room, associated

with
IS

Mane Antoinette,

of simple, neoclas-

sical Louis

XVI

style

but

has been furnished


later in the
style.

Empire

The black and

gold of the cabinets,


the simple stools

and

card tables, and the


eagle-topped mirror

suggest the end of the


eighteenth century

and

the trends of the early

nineteenth century.

127

'

Chapter Seven

7.26
and

Charles Percier

vv'ere generated by architects,


and craftsmen whose work came together
through cooperation rather than under unified

Previous interiors

Pierre-Francois-

artists,

Leonard Fontaine,
design for a room

in

the Chateau de

direction. Percier

Malmaison, Pans, 1801


(room completed

manner of modern

1812)
In

rior

famous

inte-

inte-

control in the

interior designers. Publication

illustrations of their designs

their

designers Percier

and Fontaine show a


room suggestive of an

tries,

elaborate tented interior

full

made
work widely known not only in France but in
Germany and England and other European counof albums of

a publication of their

works, the

and Fontaine conceived of

rior spaces developed under their

the

with various

and furthered the popularity and imitation of


Fascination with Pompeian
style.

Empire

themes, the introduction of military and imperial

war-like trophies as

references,

decoration in the

Empire style

to

honor

the achievements of

bedroom at Malmaison
was completed by the

and

to blend luxury with a

rigor are the typical qualities

of their work. At the palace of Fontainebleau, suites

Napoleon. The Empress


Josephine's tent

and an intention

sense of sternness

of rooms were redesigned by Percier and Fontaine

Charles Percier and Pierre-FranpoisLeonard Fontaine: The Empire Style

Napoleonic fashion. Pompeian red

in the

walls,

and black and gold furniture

gilded trim, mirrors,

designers in 1812.

The redecoration of the house of banker M. Recamier


by French architects Charles Percier and PierreFrancois-Leonard Fontaine gave birth to a

new

style in

France entirely suited to the warlilce nature of the

times and the taste of Napoleon

I.

At the chateau of

room

called the Cabinet de I'Abdication.

with a semicircular end and walls of green

and gold

silk

held by vertical golden rods,

workroom

Chamber

wife, Josephine, that


...

role, status,

the form of a tent

supported by pikes, fasces and standards, between


which hang trophies of weapons, recalling those

used by the most famous warlike people

in

the

concern for keeping

sort

effects displayed the


strict control

over

the structure and decoration are closely connected;

they cease to appear to be so there


[F]urniture is too
defect in the whole
if

is

much

part of interior design for the architect to remain


'

indifferent to

The Empire

not find favor with everyone,

Mme

de Cenlis, an acid commentator on all things


modern, criticized the craze for chaises longues that

had been

initiated by

Mme

Recamier:

ladies should cover their feet

Decency demands
that, the smallest

and even the


[foot-cover]

it

Napoleon might have occupied on

that

like

feet

Besides a pretty couvre pleds

a very decorative ornament-people

do without them these days, but nothing looks so


sloppy.

The

tent

theme

led to frequent use of

loosely draped fabric along walls

The Lit en bateau,

a large

virtual tent of fabric,

was

and around beds.

bed surrounded by

a favored furniture type.

based on the classical orders is rare in


Empire design, although the library at Malmaison
has Doric columns of polished light mahogany
Detail

to support the flat

ceiling. Dignified furniture

domes of

was often finished

the
in

black with gilded details such as carved eagles and

Fasces, the bundled sticks that were the symbol of


power of the Roinan emperors. A gold N initial

appears everywhere as a reminder of the emperor's

reclining.

movement may uncover the

legs.

is

when

because, stretched out

occupancy of Napoleon's

and character apparent in every detail


A bedroom at Malmaison was

which appear

it.

style did

(fig. 7.26),

would make her husband's

all

aspects of interior design and furnishings:

and

was

designed to suggest a luxurious tent interior of the

battlefield.

architects'

it

himself.

of every room.

world.

The precision of the decorative

emperor

At the chateau of Malmaison near Paris


create a setting for the

at

Malmaison:

seems suitable to adopt

for the

they undertook a redesign of interiors in order to

blanche. Fontaine described the military-style

It

A room

designed as a

Malmaison, Napoleon gave the architects carte


decoration designed for the Council

outfit the

identity.

was

The

rich red considered to be

a favorite color, along with black

lacquard's invention in

pattern-weaving loom

Pompeian
and gold.

1801 of the mechanical

made

possible the quantity

production of damasks and velvets with motifs

such as wreaths, rosettes, or the bee, a symbol


1

Percier

quoted

in

and Fontaine, Recueil des decorations


Joanna Banham

(Chicago, 1997),

p.

942;

ed,,

interieurs,

1812,

English Interior Design, vol, 2

2. Ibid; 3.

Mme

de Cenlis, Memoires, 1818

chosen by Napoleon

as his

own. Background colors

were deep brown, green, and dark

red; the small

pattern elements were in bright colors. The inven-

128

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

church

of

S.

Genevieve

Paris

in

7.27;

(fig.

in

France and

7.27 Jacques-Germain
Church of

Soufflot,

1756-89), designed by Jacques-Germain Soufflot

(1713-80) and built as a royal project, became,

Pantheon, a secular

after the Revolution, the

hall

honoring great men. The pedimented facade and

dome and

high
rior

became

for subsequent Neoclassical

Pans, 1756-89,
Originally built as

Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806) worked

monument was converted to


a pantheon, honoring

ancient

British classicism in

mind as precedents

highly personal type of Neoclassicism that guided


his designs for thirty-seven toll

of

and use of wallpapers,

usually with patterns similar to those used for


textiles.

Scenic wallpapers

sometimes with groups of

also

figures

came into use,


and architectural

or landscape views that resembled fresco painting.


Printed paper borders were also used in

much

in successive period

which are

names, there

is

Paris

Only

(1785-9).

houses for the gates

four

(including the circular Barriere de


his influence,

have

survived

la Villette)

but

extended by the 1804 publication of

his designs, has

remained and has attracted strong

interest in recent years.

His approach to interior

design can be studied in the detailed engravings


that

show

the magnificently Neoclassical interiors

for the theater at Besani;:on (1775-84).

A
reflected

a strong styl-

striking

example

Empire architecture
(fig. 7.28;

is

of

1804-49) in Paris,

twin facades by Gabriel. The church, a work of

(fig.

7.25).

The

great

The

cross,

with ambulatones

around. There

is

all

a high

dome at the crossing


and lower saucer
domes over each arm of
the plan. The marble

patterned

floor,

paint-

ings in the pendentives

domed center,
and statuary groups
of the

function.

point at the

a focal

domed

periods

a Greek

the church of the Madeleine

through work of the Louis XVI, Directoire, and

continuity in the Neoclassical theme that flows

Empire

IS

for

interior

mental current

post-revolutionary

end of the Rue Royal, the grand avenue that begins


at the Place de la Concorde and passes between the

istic

plan

domed

support the monu-

the

manner of architectural trim moldings.


In spite of political changes

Roman and

Revolution, and became an exponent of a

the

increase in the production

had

history. Soufflot

under royal patronage, avoided execution during


the

of cylinder printing techniques led to an

church, after the revolu-

the great of French

building.

tion

S.

Genevieve (Pantheon),

tion this massive

the cold magnificence of the inte-

model

Spam

7.28 Alexandre-Pierre
Vignon, Madeleine,
Pans, 1804-49.

Designed

to

the

fit

imperial ambitions of

Napoleon and the


nation that he

led,

the

Church of St Mary

Magdalene was

origi-

nally going to be called

the Temple de la Cloire;

1813 it has been


known as the

since

Madeleine The three

domes of the
admit

light

interior

through

oculae at the center of

each The intention was


clearly to

ancient

suggest an

Roman

basilica

monumental
building, and huge
or other

Corinthian columns

support arches, while


smaller Ionic columns
carry galleries

mented

and pedi-

side chapels.

129

Chapter Seven

Alexandre-Pierre Vignon (1762-1828), was designed with the intention of reproducing a

Corinthian

peripteral

temple.

Roman

interior

Its

Corinthian hall topped by three

is

domes on

flat

pendentives with oculus windows. Although no

Roman

such ancient

has survived, the

interior

neo-Roman

space has the rather chilling effect of


imperial grandeur

no doubt

to

Napoleon's

taste.

Provincial Style
While

styles

developed

of French Renaissance interior design


of the powerful and

service

the

in

wealthy, citizens of modest

means had

make do

to

with rooms and with furniture that continued the

Middle Ages.

functional craft traditions of the

When

bourgeois middle

of merchants,

class

craftsmen, and professionals began to emerge in


the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there were

an increasing number of householders

who wanted

and who could afford

comfort and

luxury.

It

is

a rising level of

not surprising that awareness of the

elegance that was enjoyed in chateaux and palaces

began to create

a taste for

something

even

similar,

if

more modest scale. As the makers of furniture,


textiles, and all sorts of household goods became
aware of this demand, they began to develop prodon

ucts designed to satisfy

which the high


larger public

styles
is

history of taste

it.

"filter-down" effect in

of the aristocracy influence the

a well-recognized pattern in the

present. In France

a pattern that continues in the


it

was the impetus

for the devel-

opment of the style now called French Provincial.


The term "provincial" imphes a rural country style,
but Provincial furniture became the norm of both
country and town dwellings of those who felt able
7.29
in

the

to take a small step

(fop) Provencal

7.30 {bottom)

now
Musee

displayed

Provencal bed-sitting

Fragonard,

room;

kitchen;

the

Crasse, France.

rich

now displayed in
Musee Fragonard,

typical

is

of those that would

Rooms

have existed

would have been found

in

the

similar to this

country houses

south of France

in

between the sixteenth

south of France

and nineteenth
centuries.

The

in

the

the

eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. The

tiled

stove offers improved

carved fireplace

means of cooking, but

surround and mantel

the open fireplace on

introduce a degree of

the right survives in

its

elegance, while

elements from the high

and

simplifies

florid

and

(apple,

a hand-

cherry,

was

an

wallpaper covers the

keyholes,

walls.

usually small

the

smoke hood.

130

simple striped

or pear,

important

alcove.

detail

XIV

or

XV

tends to be
is

usually

for

example).

large

storage cabinet with double doors, the armoire,

than the moldings

is

always takes

from veneered) wood, most


often oak, walnut, or one of the woods of fruit trees

along the lower edge of

There

them. Carved

it

of Louis

curvilinear, but the material

no ornamentation other

role.

styles

solid (as distinguished

some bed fits into the


arched and curtained

traditional

7.29 and 7.30).


somewhat from one

(figs.

Provincial furniture varies

region of France to another, but

Crasse, France.
This kitchen

toward the grandeur that the

and powerful enjoyed

display

suggested Rococo design in

its

piece

carved

that

usually

details.

Metal

hardware, such as hinges and escutcheons around

added decorative

detail.

Chairs were

and simple: ladder backs, rush

seats,

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

who

developed a

and tied-on cushions were commonplace. Chairs


with some upholstery in seat and back followed the

plateros

vocabulary of florid ornamentation.

From about

form of high style examples but with simplification


of detail. As clock mechanisms became affordable,
tall clocks with wood cases in carved, Rococo form

1475 until 1550, ornamental

from

became important display and

made

Furniture

smiths

France and Spain

7.31

Diego de

Siloe,

choir with high altar,

details

Italian

work intermingled with Moorish details to form a


distinctive mixture. Granada Cathedral (fig. 7.31;
Gothic structure, was detailed in
a
1529),

Granada Cathedral,
1529.

double aisled nave

leads to an east-end
choir in the form of a

rotunda. Classical

1495-1563)

forms are used with rich

Germany

with classical moldings and column capitals and

decorative detail typical

Empire

the huge iron screen or reja that guards the royal

popular Biedermeier

in the

nineteenth-century

early

in

style

status posessions.

silver (or gold)

in

Plateresque style by Diego de Siloe

(c.

of the Plateresco

combined

the Neoclassical direction of

German peasant
name from a German

design with forms borrowed from


furniture.

The

style

cartoon series that

German bourgeois
set

by French

Empire

took

made

a joke of the habits

trends

for

It is

a fine

characteristic of Spanish

example of the metalwork


church

interiors.

of the

elegance, consisting of simple

the

particularly

middle-class

was

furniture

Biedermeier

chapel there.

that tended to follow fashions

stylistic

Made

style.

its

style.

considerable

of

and

public,

practical

forms

which carried restrained ornamentation. Various


used, often of lighter colors (maple,

woods were

elm)

or

birch,

chests

and

painted

black

with

Marquetry ornamentation

is

details.

used in some larger

was generally

cabinets. Seating furniture

upholstered, usually with cover fabric of velvet,


often striped. Matching upholstery and draper)'
fabrics

were popular. From

its

German

south

the Biedermeier style spread northward,

base,

and into

Austria and Switzerland.

Spain
The Renaissance

in Spain developed

importing of ideas from

Italy

and,

through the

much

later,

through influences from France. In Spain, these


stylistic directions came into contact with the
Spanish

preexisting

that

traditions

mingled

European Gothic architecture and the architecture


and design of Islamic (Moorish) culture. The term

MuDEjAR

is

used to describe work of the

late

Middle Ages and early Renaissance (from about


1200 to 1700) in which Moorish and Christian
traditions are intermixed. The geometric ornament
that appears in

wood,

plaster work,

and

tile,

and

the use of bright colors (reds, greens, and particularly blues

and white)

are

Mudejar

characteristics

that influenced subsequent Spanish design.

Plateresco
The term Plateresco
the

early

thought,

Spanish
of

its

is

used to identify work of

Renaissance

relationship

to

because,
the

it

is

work of
131

Chapter Seven

Desornamentado

hung with

Around

known
never

a new and more reserved style


Desornamentado appeared in the

1500,
as

completed

Alhambra

palace

in Toledo.

circular central court

and were sometimes


was a minimum

usually of stone or plaster,

of Charles

The plan

is

at

the

cloth or leather. There

of furniture, which was of generally Italianate character with

little

ornamentation, and which served

practical functions with

concern for comfort.

little

a square with a

surrounded by two

levels

of

Churrigueresco

colonnades of slim columns, Doric below and

The somewhat academic classicism of


belongs to the High Renaissance, a

The following and tmal phase of the Spanish

Spain in only one

Churrigueresco, extends from about 1650 to


1780 and parallels Baroque and Rococo styles elsewhere. The term is derived from the name of Jose
Churriguera (1665-1725) who was a major expo-

Ionic above.
this building
style

most

clearly

developed

in

and

vast building, the Escorial (figs. 7.32

Commissioned by

Philip

Juan Bautista de Toleda


7.32 Juan Bautista de
Toleda and Juan de
Herrera, monastery

and

in

Rome

II, it

was begun

(d. 1567),

7.34).

in

1563 by

who had

studied

with Michelangelo, and completed in

1584 by Juan de Herrera

(c.

1530-97).

around

It is

huge

known by

Renaissance,

nent of the

style. It

the

against

the

term

stylistic

can be understood as

austerity

of

a reaction

Desornamentado,

of

an

extreme reaction which led to surface ornamenta-

palace of San Lorenzo

rectangle that holds, arranged

de

courtyards, a monastery, a college, a multilevel

tion of the

church, and, projecting from the rear, a royal

most

palace.

The plan is said to be intended to suggest


on which St. Lawrence is supposed to
have been martyred. The exterior is a symmetrical,

as that of the Sacristy of La Cartuja at

the gridiron

7.33;

Arevalo and Fray Manuel Vazquez, where the walls

sternly simple block of grey granite with towers at

are covered with

each corner. Within, the innumerable rooms are

decoration that overwhelms the basically classical

The austerity of the

arranged around courts to serve varied functions.

forms of columns and entablature. In the Gothic

Spanish Renaissance/

The

library of the

cathedral at Toledo, Narciso

and

Italianate

El

Esconal, near

Madrid, Spam,

1563-84.
The engraving reveals
the extent of the vast

complex,

known as

the

Esconal, which includes

fifteen inner

most exuberant and colorful


examples are

striking

1713-47),

in

,a

Granada

designed

possibly

The

sort.

church interiors such


(fig.

by Luis de

frosting of plaster sculptural

a palace, a monastery,
a

college,

and a church

monastery

is

ornate, colorful,

Baroque can be seen


here in
form,

its

and

most extreme
the plan

is

said to have been

based on the gridiron


on which St. Lawrence
was martyred. The grey
granite used imposes

in

style,

while the great

domed

church, simple and dark except for an elaborate


reredos behind and above the

altar,

an ominous quality that seems to

mous Spanish

communicates

relate to the infa-

on the solemn aspect of

same period. This


one building dominates the Desornamentado and
served as a model for the austere, simple, and stern

the building.

interiors of lesser buildings of the time. Walls

its

own somber quality

Inquisition of the

were

insert

(completed

Tome

1732)

in

designed an

known

Transparente, which was placed so as to

sacrament displayed there

window

(the source of the

tory where
itself is

the
the

through a small

name) from the ambulaThe window

passes behind the altar.

it

almost

lost

Churrigueresco

surrounds

visible

as

make

and

it,

in

the vast complication of

ornament
that
upward into the vaulting

sculptural
is

piled

where a kind of dormer, itself surrounded with


sculptured and painted ornament, admits light that

beams down on the Transparente itself in a highly


theatrical fashion. Such extremes of Spanish
Baroque design found their way to Latin America
along with the Spanish conquerors and became the
basis for the religious architecture and design of
those regions.

Furniture

and Other

Interior

Features
Furniture of the Spanish Renaissance

i_iiS3^ti^IHHtIlfl

simple, often almost crude, with

its

is

Italian Early Renaissance. Chairs, tables,

^1^^
132

and chests

common.
made with

of walnut, oak, pine, and cedar were

Massive arm chairs were sometimes

generally

basis in the

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

in

France and Spain

7.33

Luis

de Arevalo

and Frey Manuel


Vasquez, sacristy of La
Cartuja, Granada,

Spam, 1713-47.
The overwhelming decorative plasterwork of

the Spanish Baroque

an example of the
ngueresque

is

chur-

style at

its

most extreme. The


underlying forms of
classical architecture

are totally lost in the

not of surface ornamentation.


IS

hard

Such an intenor
to classify as

related to Baroque.

Rococo, or Mannerist
directions. It

seems

exist outside

any such

to

orderly classification.

133

Chapter Seven

7.34 Juan

Bautista de

Toleda and Juan de


Herrera, the church of

the Esconal, near

Madrid, Spam,

1574-82.
The

domed church

at

the center of the

Esconal complex, with


Its

high altar and nchly

painted reredos and


vaulted

ceiling,

stands

within a space of grey

granite of a most

solemn, even ominous


quality- Philip

II,

the

king whose project this

had a palace area

was,

extending behind the

church and arranged


for

hidden windows

be built into

to

his

bedroom so that he
could have a view of
the altar from a location

high up on the

right.

134

Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo

in

France and Spain

7.35 Spanish

and back hinged so that the chair


could be folded flat for moving about. The
Vargueno (fig. 7.35), a special development of
stretchers at front

vargueno, seventeenth
century.

This cabinet with a

Spanish furniture makers,

is

writing cabinet that stands

on

a drop-fronted case or
a separable base.

drop-front could be

The

used as a writing desk.


The body of the cabinet

front drops to provide a writing surface (supported

is

by pull-outs

in the base)

divided to provide

and exposes an

many

storage

interior

filled

with drawers

and compartments

compartments

for

the storage of docu-

ments and valuables.

and drawers. The closed exterior may be plain or

and locking the


makes the

Closing

decorated, but the interior

is

invariable richly orna-

mented with carved and often gilded detail, so


the door exposes an extremely

opening

internal display. Probably because of

its

front

contents secure.

that
rich

practical

documents and valuables


and jewels which had become

use as a container for

such

as

common

coins

possessions of the wealthy (with no bank

vargueno was often


and France where it can be seen

vaults for safekeeping), the

imported into
in the

Italy

rooms of chateaux and

Silk

brightly

weaving
colored

as

palaces.

developed

and

patterns

in

rich

Spain

used

embroidery,

often with threads of silver or gold. Textiles were


often imported from Italy, but Spanish manufacture of damask,

under

Low

brocade, and velvet developed

Communication with the


made Flemish tapestries available.

Italian influence.

Countries

Chair seats and wall hangings were often of velvet.


Leather was widely used as an alternative to

and Spanish leather

textiles,

charcoal as a portable source of heat to augment


open fireplace heating.
Under Charles V of Spain, Holland came under

Spanish

rule. In the

Low

Countries, Spanish influ-

centered at Cordoba

ences interlaced with ideas that flowed from France

and
became a
highly regarded Spanish export. Metalwork of high
quality provided elaborately ornamented candlesticks and wall brackets while candles remained the
only source of artificial light. The brazier, a metal
container on a metal stand served to hold burning

and from northern Germany where the Protestant

specialized

in

embossing

leather.

crafts

finishing,

coloring,

Cordovan

tooling,

leather

Reformation developed

Roman

as

an alternative to the

church. With England close across the

English Channel and with trade between these


areas active,
into

it

was inevitable that

England would take

will deal

place.

a transfer of ideas

The next chapter

with the resulting developments in design.

135

Renaissance to Georgian in
the Low Countries and England
The northward movement of Renaissance ideas
continued into Holland and Flanders (now the
Netherlands and Belgium) and to the British Isles.
The movement of ideas, unlike the movement of

expressed through the growth of Calvinism, with

goods or peoples, does not need to flow in a


continuous stream, but can make leaps in both

churches

space and time.

sentative of Catholic traditions)

moved

that

Ideas

into these regions

originated

in

Italy

by way of Spain, France,

and Germany, but they were also conveyed directly


by individual travelers and by printed materials.
Increasing trade, both overland and by ship, meant
that an increasing portion of the population were
able to see

home

bring

its

opposition

doctrinal

thought

too

be

to

The

Catholicism.

to

imagery

religious

with

identified

closely

Revolt

Iconoclastic

in

which

were stripped of Gothic sculpture,


and other decoration (regarded as repre-

painting,

interiors plain,

left

white painted, and flooded with light from the

windows

clear glass

stained glass

of conflict,

work

that

that replaced the destroyed

During and

(fig. 8.1).

the

artists in

Low

after this period

Countries produced

documents the everyday

new

things in faraway places and to

in great detail.

ideas

from abroad.

often

show

life

of the times

BruegeFs paintings of peasant

scenes in taverns or farm interiors.

life

The

works of Jan Steen, Jan Vermeer, and many other


Dutch painters are full of wonderftilly detailed

Low Countries

images of the interiors of comfortable houses of the

middle

The Netherlands,

parts of Belgium,

and what was

formerly called Flanders developed a Renaissance


design vocabulary that

is

distinct

class

and wealthy burghers who

lived with

an interesting mixture of simplicity and luxury in


the

town houses of Dutch

cities.

from those of

neighboring regions. The complex political history

Civic Buildings

of the region, and certain distinctive traditions and

were factors that help to explain

Architects such as Cornelis Floris (1514-75) intro-

the special character of Dutch and Flemish design.

duced the use of classical orders into buildings that


were otherwise medieval in spirit, such as the spectacular Antwerp town hall (1561) or the Leiden

social conditions
{below) Frans

8.1

Hagenberg, engraving

showing Protestant
Iconoclasts in Antwerp,

August 20, 1566.


Protestants, in their

rage against
Catholicism, went on

The

political

religious paintings,

from the conflict between the power of the


Hapsburg Empire under Charles V (born at Ghent
in 1500), who was also king of Spain, and the influence of the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic
Philip

and stained
Churches and

in Spain, particularly
II,

religious teachings of Luther

damage.

In

House,

Hertfordshire, England,

from

508,
is

Jacobean English

was an

recall the hall

of

castles,

this "great

in

the form of the Inquisition, was

of ornamentation, making use of

fretting, strap-

work, and grotesque ornamentation in a style

illus-

trated in the books of Vredeman de Vries such as


his Architectura of 1577-81. Strapwork became

popular as interior ornamentation developed

wood
ings

carving and in plaster. Strapwork plaster

found

their

way

to England through the

work

of Dutch and Flemish craftsmen and gradually

exemplify

to

Early

Renaissance

design

The Mauritshuis
Jacob van

Campen

(c.

1633) at

who had

traveled

with

acquainted
but

(fig. 8.3;

The Hague by

to

the

1633-5), an architect

Italy

designs

where he became
of Palladio and

in

house" the

Scamozzi,

is

square block using a full-height

theme has been transformed by richly carved


woodwork and an

order of Ionic pilasters and a central pediment.

ornate painted plaster

interiors

ceiling.

The woodwork,

hanging tapestnes, and

Palladian in character except for

were destroyed

Classical pilasters

the simple tiled

rooms. There

is

It is

high roof The

in a fire in 1704,

but some

from the

set

of

done in 1652 by Pieter Post.


and molding appear in the major
an unusual windowed cupola

thirty-nine drawings

furniture contrast with


floor.

its

idea of their design can be gained

elaborately carved

136

in

ceil-

rich-

underlying intention to

medieval

especially

hall (1597)

there.

inte-

of exceptional

ness. There

1566, Protestant anger against repression,

by Lieven de Key (c. 1560-1627),


a native of Antwerp. The Leiden building mixes
classical pilasters and pediments with a local style

town

came

The Marble Hall

rior

and Calvin. Oppoemergence of the

Dutch nation, which eventually won independence


from Spain by the Treaty of Munster in 1648.

8.2 {opposite) Great


Hall, Hatfield

conflict with the

sition to Spanish rule led to the

monasteries suffered
irreparable

during the reign of

was brought into direct

sculpture,
glass.

century

resulted

regime

rampage destroying

turmoil of the sixteenth

^,*H

f
'ii>'i

i;\

%ciUfKV?

:?

fj(f?

:'<,^^

fc.--^^^'

^^

"

4^1

^y

Chapter Eight

above the coved ceiling of the banqueting

hall (fig.

on the upper story. This room also appears in


an engraving showing King Charles II of England
being entertained there as a guest in 1660. There
was close communication between the Low
8.4)

Countries and England; the designs of many seventeenth-century houses in England resemble the

Mauritshuis in their four-square simplicity and


classicism.

Private Dwellings
The unique
riors

character of Dutch Renaissance inte-

reflects

and

of the wars with Spain


a

powerful

Palaces
types,

circumstances

several

special to this time

place.
left

The

that

were

political troubles

the Netherlands without

and dominating

aristocratic

class.

and chateaux were not important building

and Protestant churches aimed for simplicity


The dominant social class

rather than elaboration.

was made up of merchants,


sionals.

officials, and profesThey were prosperous, even wealthy, but

they lived in houses that did not strive for extrava-

gance and display. Awareness of Renaissance ideas

came from artists and musicians who went to Italy


to study and work, but there was no effort to
imitate or equal the great buildings of Italy and
France. Trade, carried on by the Dutch merchant
fleet, brought both knowledge and actual objects

8.3

(top)

Jacob van

Campen, Mauritshuis,

8.4

[center)

Philippe

P.

(after Toorenvl

let),

The Hague,

banquet at the

Netherlands, 1633-5.

Mauritshuis

This

house

is

a Dutch

version of the classicism

of the Italian

Charles

in

honor of

of England,

The Hague,
This

c.

1560.

engraved copy of

8.5 [right] Cornells de


Man, The Gold Weigher,
c. 1670-75.

Dutch merchant

is

shown conducting his


business in a room of
his comfortable

home.

plan. Ionic pilasters

based on a Palladian
on

shows a generally
simple Dutch interior

Wooden beams form


the ceiling, and the
floor is tiled in grey and

four sides of the square

with a few touches of

brown stone squares.

Renaissance,

and

II

is

Toorenvliet's painting

Renaissance decoration

The wall at the rear and

the center of the front,

on the walls and

the mantel shelf are of

and

block,

a pediment at

swags

in the

central upper gallery.

carefully crafted wood,

complete the neatly

Most of the ornamental

and painted

organized composition.

detail

decorative

IS

temporary

tiles

edge

the fireplace. The table

decoration for the

legs display the bulbous

festivity in progress.

forms of the Dutch

Baroque. The curtained


arch gives access
alcove bed.

138

to the

Renaissance to Georgian

by Dutch

merchant shipping, appear

covers, but only rarely

on

floors.

important part of Renaissance


Countries

the

fine

the

in

Low Countries and England

table

as

Music was an
in

life

the

Low

harpsichords and virginals

made by the Ruckers family in Antwerp appear in


many Vermeer paintings (fig. 8.6). They were
usually made, like violins or lutes, of thin, soft

wood and were

then painted or decorated with

patterned, printed papers. Chairs were similar to

and Spanish examples of the same period.


During the seventeenth century, massive

Italian

storage cabinets with rich Baroque detailing

came

into use. Since closets were not provided as part of

became

the fixed structure of houses, such pieces

important as wealth made possible the acquisition


of

much

clothing and objects of every sort. Panels,

carvings, rare

woods, and

classically derived details

8.6 Jan Vermeer,


Young Woman
Standing at a
Delft,
c.

Virginal,

Netherlands,

1670. National

Gallery, London.

The subject has been


playing the small

keyboard instrument, a
box-like case with

simple exterior but rich


painting within. The

room
IS

in

which

it

stands

of elegant simplicity,

with a black
tiled floor,

and white

a wall base

tiles, and a
window of leaded glass.

of painted

Only the

fine paintings

suggest the higher


status that the house
represents.

such as moldings and columns appeared in furniture.

Bulbous

Baroque

feet

details.

and

table

growing

were favorite

legs

interest in scientific

concerns, in exploration and discovery,

from remote locations. Oriental carpets and other

and

textiles,

Dutch

into

oriental porcelains,

were introduced

Chinese lacquer came into

interiors;

use as a furniture finish.

The

typical medieval

the Renaissance era.

Dutch house survived


w^as a

It

top

floor

between generally had large

tiles.

Wood came

trim

(fig. 8.5).

and

lary: plates

and

platters

display items, while


walls.

Tiles

were

tiles

some paneling or
made at Delft were

tiles

Dutch decorative vocabuwere treated as decorative


with painted images edged

usually

tile

white,

with

painted

and flowers most often

figures, scenes, ships,

blue. Usually each

glass,

to be used for

Pottery and

an

many

tiles

came

in

placed

without

spacious backgrounds, in a

always

objects

are

against

plain

interiors,

crowding,

way

that

and

communicates

comfort along with simplicity.

The Low Countries lacked both

quarries to

provide stone suitable for building and forests as

wood supply. As a result, Mek^t


some details, became the *
material. 'Wood was used only

sources of plentiful
wtt+i

stone restricted to

HMJor building
where it was indispensable,

as in roofs

and upper

floor structures.

in

of scenic wallpapers. Dutch

to be widely

knowTi and were often

exported to England and, eventually, to America.


Classical

Dutch

present

England

were also produced, providing

effect similar to that

tiles

charts.

carried a single image, often

with a decorative border, but large scenes painted


to cover

maps
Framed works of art are displayed
alongside handsome pottery, glassware, and silver
and

ence that stems from the rich variety of possessions

a floor of marble squares or

a distinctive part of the

globes,

various musical and scientific instruments,

or pewter containers. In spite of the sense of afflu-

advantage of the increasing availability of


plain white walls,

reflected

into

The living floors


windows that took

warehouse.

is

celestial

narrow, multistory

building where the ground floor was often a shop,


the

by the presence of world and

elements,

and columns

moldings,

The

familiar pattern of Renaissance

through

early,

development

middle, and late phases can be

traced in England, although stylistic terminology

breaks up each phase into subdivisions

named

after

appear as ornament on the exteriors of buildings,

successive royal reigns. English design was not as

but only to a very limited extent in interiors.

dominated by royal patronage as in the parallel


periods in France, and styles often overlap. The

Furniture was often large in scale and handsomely


detailed.
like

Beds were often enclosed

Dutch bed

spaces or,

in built-in,

when

box-

free-standing,

were canopied and draped. Oriental rugs, imported

usual period terminology


theless, since

it

is

is

retained here, never-

widely used even

if

occasionally

confusing.

139

Chapter Eight

command

British

of the seas and opened up possieconomic development that came froni

bilities for

international trade and, eventually, colonialism. As

power and wealth flowed into England, interesrtn


the arts expanded: not only the poetry and drama
of Shakespeare, and the music of William Byrd, but
also the developing arts of Italy, France, and Ae
Low Countries^ The transition from Tudor to
Elizabethan design is gradual with increasifl|;
emphasis on symmetry and classical concepts flf

more frequent introduction


detail. "Some well-preserved
house in Conway called Plas Mawr

planning, along with

of Italianate classical

rooms

in the

(fig. 8.8;

1577) seem medieval in their irregular

c.

shapes, low ceilings, stone or planked floors, and

leaded glass windows, but details of cornices and


stone carved trim around fireplaces have a classical
basis.

8.7 Long

Haddon

Hall,

Derbyshire, England,
c.

The

530.

The Renaissance
rior

inte-

includes detailed

paneling incorporating
motifs borrowed from
Italian

Renaissance

practice.

Such design

elements, along with

first

evidence of awareness of Renaissance

developments appears toward the

Middle Ages

Henry

Ceilings

of strapwork plaster reflect

tjjf

continuing contact with Holland and-Flandars.

Tudor

Gallery,

VII,

Henry

Edward

VIll,

Tudor is

Mary. The term

end

of the

time of the Tudor monarciis,

in the

and Queen-

VI,

often associated with the

appearance of half-timber

wood

building whicli

remained the usual Vernacular

style until

weiL

The recent reconstruction of the Globe Theater,


where Shakespeare's plays were first performed,
gives a good idea of what such a building was like.
It

was

circular (or octagonal) with a central area

(the "pit")
galleries

open

to the sky, while

surrounding

who

could pay for

provided seats for those

a better location.

stage in front

was

partially

covered by a shed roof. The construction was

the plaster strapwork of

the seventeenth century, but

the ceiling, reached

iivto

England by way of the

period

Low

in ornamentation, in trim

Countries. The

when

it

Italianate detail first

also defines the

began to appe^f

around doors and

fire-

medieval timber framing, and architectural orna-

mentation was minimal.

The

first fully

Elizabethan "great house" (as the

sparse pieces of furni-

places, in paneling,

ture present are of

typical

Haddon

Jacobean

character.

and in details of furniture.. At

Hall in Derbyshire, the typically medieval

agglomeration of building that

made up

this large

manor house was brought up to date by the introduction of a Tudor long gallery (fig. 8.7) which
approaches symmetry

windows along
8.8

(r/g/jt)

room, Plas Mawr,

craftsmen from the

of

many

Low

Countries),

and-weed

paneling where pilasters and arches can be seen in

This modest,

room has

been carefully presen/ed

was once
used by Queen
Elizabeth when she

arrangements suggesting Palladianism. Tihe room


dates

from about 1530, although some of the orna-

it

visited Wales.

made up

mented with strapwork ^(no doubt the work of

Conway, Wales,
c, 1577.

because

south side

introduces lage

small panes of glass, has a plaster ceiling orna-

Sitting

low-ceilinged

its

in its plan,

The

mental

detail

may be later. The


wood of the

oak, the primary

the dominant color tone.

paneling of

natu^

period, esUblishes

leaded glass windows,


stone fireplace, elaborate plasten/i/ork,

and

simple furniture are

Elizabethan

all

typical of the

Elizabethan intenor.

The Elizabethan
recognized as

era

defeat of the Spanish

140

(1558-1603)

is

generally

time of English greatness. The

Armada

in 1588-tebtibed

mansions, comparable to the French chateaux, are


called

in

Europe)

is

Longleat (begun

virtual palace designed,

it

is

1568),

thought, by Robert

Smythson (1536-1640) and built for Sir John


Thynne to be ready for a visit by the queen in 574.
The house is a near-square rectangle, symmetrical
1

Renaissance to Georgian

the Low Countries and England

in

8.9 Robert Smythson,


tong Gallery, Hardwick
Hall, Derbyshire,

England, 1591-7.

on the

The gallery

is

uppermost

floor

of one

of the most magnificent

of English Elizabethan
"great houses" Huge
windows in bays on the
right flood the

with

space

The walls are

light.

covered with tapestries,

and

the fireplaces

and

chimney breasts above


are of ornately carved

stonework

in

an

Italianate style. The

and most of

paintings

the furniture

is

of a

but the

later date,

plaster strapwork
ceiling

on

sides,

all

rior

with two inner courtyards. The exte-

divided into three stories by entablature

is

bands and projecting window bays are trimmed

Windows

with classical pilasters.

are

many and

large. The rooms are arranged in a complex plan,


Tudor in its irregular spirit, but fitted into the
order established by the exterior. Most of the inte-

riors

have been changed and redecorated over the

years so that a better idea of interior spaces can be

rior wall

is

largely

is

original.

window; other walls are covered

with tapestry, and the ceiling has restrained strap-

work

detail.

Other rooms at Hardwick are fine

examples of the Elizabethan balance of almost

modern

simplicity along with luxury

and grandeur.

Elizabethan Furniture
Elizabethan
earlier

furniture

differs

from Tudor and

medieval practice in the introduction of

smaller great house, probably also designed by

more carved, ornamental detail, and in the development of some new types of furniture. One such

Smythson.

was the caufiLjcujabaarti

had

six

Hardwick Hall (1591-7),

at

Its

symmetrical block

a rectangle with

projecting bays that rise one extra story above

roof level. The exterior


for

is

a considerably

moldings

at

without ornament except

is

each story level marking off the low

ground level, the middle height second level occupied by rooms for everyday living, and the highest
third level where the major ceremonial rooms are
located.

The towers extend above, ending

in

picturesque topping of strapwork ornament.


a double height

room with

entrance hall

is

which

medieval practice, but

four

recalls

Doric

detailed

correctly

is

The

a gallen'

supported by

columns.

Wood

paneling with tapestries above covers the walls;


fireplace detail

above

is

is

classical,

but the chimney breast

covered with plaster strapwork.

stairs lead to

the upper

level

where

Wide

a long gallery

runs the length of the building along one side


8.9).

This

room

is

(fig.

entirely symmetrical with twin

stone fireplaces and twin

window

bays.

The

exte-

actually an ap.a> shelf

unit with three tiers intended for the display of*

ornamental and serving pieces. The supports


and edges of the shelves were car\cd with a richness
intended to equal the silver on view. In large
houses, extremely large beds were made with a
silver

roof-like

wooden canopy supported by headboard

and foot posts

that often stood free of the

bed

In addition to simple square chairs with


less carving, chairs

itself.

more

were often made up of

or

many

main turned uprights


making a chair with a triangular seat. The ease with
which a turner can make Sw>ol an knob, forms
lathe turnings, often three

led to designs of curious complexity.

folding chair

known

as a

massive

Glastonbury chair

also

appeared, often with a carved back suggesting a

two-arch arcade.

Oak remained

the usual wood,

although ash, yew, chestnut, and other woods were

sometimes used. Upholstery was limited to an

141

Chapter Eight

Occasional cushion or

a covering of cloth,

Vlinies embroidered with Turkey-work.

carving, classically

strapwork show off the Jacobean mix of Italian and

were usually the natural tones of wood, stone, and


plaster,

8.10

Inigo Ione?(l 573-1 652) was responsible for

Jacobean
Its

acceptance of

Italian practice,

England

came

in the

work

of Inigo Jones. His


were put aside and only

House

built. Its galleried,

symmetrical

Me had

Renaissance into England.

The JacobeaA period (1603-49)

takes

its

name

from lames I, but also includes the reign of<#inii)6s


^l^iatfield House (from 1608) is an irregular

plans for a vast palace


the Banqueting

although symmetrical block, U-shape in plan.


really

itra

ducing the more consistent classicism of the Higl^

The high Renaissance,

two houses (intended

tion for the king

as guest

It is

accommoda-

and queen) hnked by a connecting

!taly#

\'isited

studied ancient buildings, and brought back some>

of Palladio's drawings to England. His

work

first

was as a stage designer for the royal entertainments,


called masques. His appointment as royal surveyor
(really official architect to the

government)

in 1615

major works. The Queen's House

led to his

at

interior,

with Ionic half-columns

below and Corinthian


pilasters above, demon-

block containing a "hall" in the style of a castle


8.2), a

long gallery, and

the exterior

strates his expert

handling of Italianinspired Palladion


detail.

<,,-

and dark greens.

1619-22

was

influences.,

plaster

Inigo Jones,

Banqueting House,

to

Dutch

and

fireplaces,

with details sometimes painted in rich reds

Whitehall, londo>i,

with

columned

someColors

The elaborate

windows.

Lyming

(c.

is

(fig.

many other rooms. Most of

quite plain red brick with large

central facade, the

1560-1628),

Italianate style with

is

work of Robert

of Italian marble in an

an arcade,

symmet-

a simple, totally

square block (originally an H-shape, later

with

in)

filled

white

plain

well-spaced

walls,

windows of moderate size, and a loggia with six


Ionic columns on the south side upper level. 5ones'

and, for

classicism included a continuing interest in forms

fantastic

related to the geometric perfection of the

in style,

frames paint-

the entrance element, classical columns.

ings by

Rubens

clock tower tops

off.

rical

is

pilasters,

ceiling, also Italianate

it

Greenwich (1616-35)

Within, elaborate paneling.

its

multiples.

The

cube and*

brackets supporting the balcony,

the elaborate ceiling with paintings in nine panels,


the geometrically patterned marble tiling of thf

and the

floor,

details^

ojL

.id.Qor_trames

M ,^^

Italianate?

Jones was the designer of a vast

new Whitehall

1638) that would,

have been the

Palace

(c.

if built,

more

equal of the Louvre or Versailles although

Only a small
the Banqueting House (fig.

rigorously classical than either.

frag-

ment was

8.10;

built,

room of double

1619-22), a single

with a strictly Palladian exterior.'

cube interior with

on

a balcon\"

story height

has a double

It

brackets, an ie w i c

order below, a Corinthian order abo\'e, and a


'

ceiling

with

paintings

surrounded by

Rubens

by

florid plaster

Queen's Chapel for

St.

in

panels

ornamentation. The

James's Palace (1623-7)

is

another Jones double-cube room with a coffered,


elliptical ceiling
altar. It is

that

so

and

a Palladian

window above

an early example of the

many

English

(and,

later,

churches were to take. Externally,


plain block except for

its

classical

it

the

form

American)
appears as a

temple-like pedimented

gable.

A larger London church by Jones, St. Paul's,


Covent Garden (begun 1630), is also in pedimented temple form.

It

has a

facing into the garden that

columned portico
was the center of a

full

planned group of row houses that has not survived.

The church seems

to have

been based on Vitruvius'

account of an Etruscan temple. Internally,

142

it

is

Renaissance to Georgian

plain rectangular

the

chamber

4i|pK and lohn

Webb

two formal

1648-50)

wing of

Crimson

silk velvet_

cushions

and gold

rooms

state

their geometric shapes, the single

cube rooms

'

painted

and

The

richly

ture, wliich

portraits

ornamented

the time of James

1603-25).

ornamentation,

It IS

(r

of basi

'^small-scale carved

and simulated drapery

series

of

design.

hang amid doorways and the


fireplace. CeiKngs are coved

Jjdiister ornamentation.

Cove

The

surfaces framed

richness of these

toward the Carolean and

rooms

bame
than

its

lighter

to be

more

for
use,

and'

legs

loose

or

Oak remained

silks,

the most popular

An

also used.

increase in

embroidered turkey-work,

velvet,

tapestries contributed to a sense of

and luxury

8.12).

(fig.

comfort

and

Elizabethan predecessors.

Ornamental cannng tended

used
into

wood, but walnut was

and

somewhat

often

came

used decorativeh^.

later periods.

lacobean furniture, although generally massive and

SBil)er in scale

~--

attached, often edged with ornamental nail heads

Interior Furnishings

aWltgfir-Hnefi,

were

Cushions

patterns

twist

detail.

athe turnings with spool forms or spiral

stretchers.

textiles,

Jacobean

furni-

ttiis

dates from

cally simple form with

with painted panels and

*^ints

called, for

cube and double

framing areas where paintings are hung.

Van Dyke

fringes enricli

walls are white with

carved

gilded

egarlands, bunches of fruit,


,

in

engraving.

in Wiltshire that contauis

and elaborate
(fig. 8.11).

England: shown

li^

(1611<-72) were respon-

the design ot a reconstructed


(

8.12 Jacobean
furniture, Knole, Kent,

English Gothic churches.

Wilton House

the Low Countries and England

a striking contrast to

many surviving

sible for

in

From Carolean to William and Mary

elegant in.

Cromwell's

Oliver

Puritan

Commonwealth government

rebellion

and

that followed

it

the

from
8.11 John Webb,

1649 to 1660 interrupted the royal succession and

return of Charles

II

in

double-cube room,

With the
1660, the Restoration
on

the stylistic terminology based

PERion (1660-1 702)' begins.

It

is

Wilton House,

it.

Wiltshire, England,

1648-50,

often subdivided

yvebb had been an

Carolean (or Caroline) period from 1660


168') and a William and Mary period from

into a
to

1689 to

17012.

assistant to Inigo Jones,


Tv/io

was the anginal

architect of the house,

which was damaged by


a

Wren

1647 The term

fire in

"double cube" refers to

The

famous

most

Christopher

of

simple form

met

portraits,

took
but

him

he

to

(where

Paris

he

lously decorated,

was cl^rly aware of

Italiart

small city churches that had been destroyed and foV


the old Gothic cathedral of

appointed

St.

Paul's. In 1669' he
gi\iiig
him
London and for

surveyor-general,

responsibility for city planning in

many important

architectural assignments.

coved

ceiling,

with lush paint-

ings by

Edward

Pierce

(c 1635-95). The

central oval provides a

view into a fantastic

dome. The gilded and

ornamented furniture
by William Kent (c.
1685-1748) suggests

an awareness of French
Rococo themes.

Wren's

work
combined with
his interest in French and Italian Baroque work td
produce a specially English vocabulary. While
and mathematical

is filled

and gold
Van Dyck
and a fabu-

with white
paneling.

chosen to design replacements both for the rmmy'

scientific

space The basically

a mathematiand astronomer, truly a

Baroque work when he moved toward architecture


as his major life work.' This happened after the
Great Fire of London in 1666; after which he was

was

the geometry of the

Sir

"Renaissance man." His only travel to the

continent
Bernini),

architects,

Wren (1632-1723) was

cian, physicist, inventor,


versatile

British

interests gave his

.^^//

a theoretical or logical quality; this

143

Chapter Eight

8.13 Christopher

often described as Baroque, Wren's design was

Wren, St Stephen,

always restrained by a sense ot order and discipliiK

WaUEirook, Lofidon,

that

1672-9.

London

In this small

Wren developed
a scheme based on a
church,

makes

Catholic

it

very different from the Baroque of

northern

south

Italy,

Germany, ^ob

Austria.

The many London

city

churches that

Wren

geometric progression

from rectangle

designed can be viewed as a set of textbook exer-

to

square, to Greek cross,


to

octagon

to circle,

dome

with a

cises in architectural

are based

on

geometry. Their varied plans-

and other combi-

squares, rectangles,

divided

into sixteen, eight

again sixteen

and

coffers.

The resultant space has


been called one of the

most beautiful

interiors

nations of forms, including polygons and ovals.

Each church steeple was given


a

study

in

S9*np are so

in existence.

arrangement

vertical

elements. Miwiy af H i t

hemmed

make their exteriors

unique term, each


ot"

on constricted sites as to
The church of St.

in

insignifican*.

Stephen Walbrook (1672-9), for example,


so that there
street.

is

classical

di ui tthes are very small, an^

is

placed

only a blank back wall visible on one

narrow entrance passage and tower

placed on another

street.

The

interior

one of Wren's great achievements


simple, rectangular space

is,

are

however,

(fig. 8.13). It is a

made complex by

the

introduction of sixteen columns arranged so as to


define a Greek cross, a square, and then, above, an
8.14 (below

left)

Section of

Paul's

St.

octagon.

^Cathedral, London,

1675-1710

Peter's,

was

to rival St.

Rome. The great

dome, ringed with

windows at the lower


drum,

IS

made

layers: the

of three

lower

dome

covering the interior

space of the crossing,


the structural cone

above,

and

the wood-

supported upper dome,

which forms the


exterior,

visible

a lasting

London landmark.

8.15

(far right)

Christopher Wren,

St.

Paul's Cathedral,

London, 1675-1710.

The

interior

of the

cathedral, with

dome

its

great

at the crossing

and saucer domes


covering the bays of the
nave, transepts,
choir, is

and

a spectacular

display of Baroque

grandeur. The vaulting


is

buttressed above the

by

aisles

half-arches,

which are
inside

nally

144

invisible

and hidden

by screen

is

itself

exter-

walls.

defined by eight

dome

coffered in

and sixteen panels before reaching


the small round opening into the lantern above.
This remarkable exercise in geometry produces an
sixteen, eight,

This vast cathedral

designed

The octagon

arches that support a round

Renaissance to Georgian

8.16 Planof

in

the

Low Countries and England

Belton

House, Lincolnshire,

^gland, 1685-8,
Hall

2 Dining room
3 Chapel

The plan

surprising in

is

that access to each

room

IS

only possible by

passing through an
adjoining room.

exceptionally beautiful interior lighted by oval and

arched windows.
'

Other London churches by Wren such

James's Piccadilly

and

as St.

St. Bride's, Fleet Street,

with

(wood and plaster) nave ceilings and


supported on classical columns, estab-

barrel-vaulted
galleries

the

lished

Renaissance

English

typical

many

design on which

later English

church

and American

examples are based. Wren's churches are usually


enriched
pulpits,

by elaborately carved altar reredos,


and organ cases, the work of artist-

craftsmen such as Grinling Gibbons (1648-1720).

facades, a tiled roof with dormers,

and

many chimneys,

a small central cupola. Stables, kitchens,

and

8.17 William Wmde,


Belton House,
Lincolnshire, England,

St.

Cathedral

Paul's

1675-1710)

8.15;

monumental and

the most

is

and

8.14

(figs.

best

other services are in outbuildings at one side. Eront

and rear doorways open

directly into the

two main

1585-8.
The "saloon" or dining

an English Baroque

formal rooms of the house, a marble-floored "hall"

room

is

Rome, with its saucer-dome


vaulted nave, choir, and transepts forming a cruciform plan with a giant dome at the crossing and a

and the formal dining room or "saloon" behind it


(fig. 8.17). Rich wooden paneling lines these rooms

cipal

rooms of this

with carving said to be by Grinling Gibbons. The

Wren but more prob-

twin-towered facade reminiscent of the Italian

saloon has a decorative plaster ceiling. These rooms

ably designed by

Baroque. The vaulting

convey

known of Wren's

works.

It is

rival to St. Peter's in

is

buttressed according to

a sense

of comfort and luxury that has been

Gothic practice, but high screen walls hide the

and present

dome

The

appearance.

arrangements. There
height

wood

William

lower inner

ingenious

dome

set at a

its

top.

is

provides no corridors or vestibules, so that each

room opens

into

its

With kitchens

neighbors.

in a

of the

internal

space

building.

oculus at the center of the inner

In

up

into the cone

(lit

dome

by hidden

windows) and into the lantern. Hidden buttresses


and an iron chain absorb the thrust of the stone

ments,

in

which formality outweighed conve-

nience, remained

commonplace

there are records of

two story levels,


the center of the front and rear

windows arranged

in

Edmund
is

typical

of the aristocratic

inte-

of the seventeenth

century.

Furnishings

carving was not unusual, sometimes lacquered or

the cone above.

to

Carpenter The ornate

Carolean and William and Mary Interior

symmetrical H-shaped block of sedate grey stone

at

Gibbons, although

eighteenth century.

There is no house that can be proved to be by


Wren, although tradition suggests that he may have
been the architect of Belton House (fig. 8.16;
1685-8), a handsome mansion near Lincoln. It is a

pediments

renowned wood

riors

until well into the

During the Carolean era, walnut came to be the


most used wood, often with inlays of ebony and
other woods. Cuived forms appeared in chair
backs and in the legs of chairs and cabinets.* The
cabriole leg with its gentle S-curve form began to
appear. Round tables came into use. Very elaborate

dome and

with simple

the

carver, Grinling

plaster ceiling

allows a glimpse

inner

have been the work of

outside door. Such seemingly impractical arrange-

silhouette

the

(d.

wood paneling may

with a lead top surface, achieves the

much

to

hidden

An

It

house

payments

relate

from view, a cone of brick


supports the wood dome and the stone lantern at
between,

imitated in later work.

interesting to notice that the plan of the

Wmde

722). The earned

higher dome, actually

skyline

striking

is

hides

also

much admired and

to

have been designed by

remote building, servants would have had to bring


food into the dining room directly through a main

planned to

below. Externally, a
built of

a strictly classical external

prin-

house said by some

buttresses

one of the

gilded.

and

An

increasing emphasis

practical

on luxury, comfort,

convenience can be traced

in the use

145

Chapter Eight

8.18 Engraving

of

work, previously only available as an import, was

furniture from several

developed

English great houses,

1660-1702, as shown
in

book

illustration of

in

England

an altsrnative form of

as

(fig. 8.18).

Highboy,

on

a drawer cabinet raised

legs,

1907.

popular, along with such inventions as


Left:

a silk-upholstered

chair from

leg

Hampton

The
btcame
the Gate-

surface decoration for furniture

table.

French weaving techniques were intro-

Court Palace; center: a

duced into England, and printed chintz began

chair from Hardwick

used for

Ml);

Hall (seep.

window and bed

to be

curtains.

right:

a silk-upholstered chair

Queen Anne

from Knole, a great

house at Sevenoaks,
Kent. The designs

span

periods from William

1689-1702)
Queen Anne
(r

(r

The

to Late Baroq\ie design

and the development of ^awer cbests)


previously almost unknown. Pottery imported

ticality,

from the Near

Wren's

desks,

from the Far East and


East

came

oriental rugs

into use in Restoration era houses as the

increasing sea

trade

of British merchant ships

brought such exotic materials into England.

From 1689
rate
John

Vanbrugh, the saloon,


Blenheim Palace,

now the
tiire,

retreat

from the elabo-

extremes of the Carolean period. Walnut was


preferred

wood

for paneling

and

matched

1705-24,
room, the stone

for furni-

veneer began t9 be used as a means of creating

decorative surface treatments with

Oxford, England,

In this

(1702-14) corresponds

in

contrasting

various

colored

patterns

wood.

with

wood

grain

edging

of

Decorative' lacquer

in

English architecture.

Furniture and interiors display a

new sense of prac-

modesty, and comfort. Architecture, in

contrast, continued to reflect

Baroque gvdadevttf

John Vanbrugh
and Nicholas Hawksmoor (16761734). Vanbrugh's Blenheim Palace (1705-24) was
successors

were

Sir

(1664-1726)

to 1702, during the reign of William

and Mary, there was some

left)

Queen Anne

more upholstery and the appearance of such


types as the Wing-back chaAi, various types of
of

1702-14).

8.19 [below

reign of

III

to

vast

and monumental gift to the Duke of


to honor his victory over France at

Marlborough

the Battle of Blenheim.

rooms,

its

Its

endless lines of state

huge three-story-high

gallery

(now

the

complex layout of kitchen and


stable courts make it a rival to Versailles. The classical vocabulary is pushed into original variations
library),

that

and

its

generate an active skyline and justify the

Baroque designation

broken pediments, roof top

detail of doorways

merges into the simulated architecture of

wall painting that


filled

is

with columns,

views of an
imagined outdoors, and

pilasters,

sculptural figures. The

elegant furniture seems

overwhelmed by the
space and

its

decora-

tion.

8.20

(far right)

Nicholas Hawksmoor,
Christ Church,
Spitalfields,

London,

1714-2a
The daring spatial
composition includes

columns supporting an
arcade, which opens to
side aisles

At

the

chancel end, columns

support a high bar of


entablature, intro-

ducing a sense of

Baroque complexity
into the otherwise

simple, flat-ceilinged

space.

146

^vWA^S

Q:^^^^c:'^vma(fci^

^*^^ (a^^^e^ /^Wi^LV ^^:*2^n>A

'

Renaissance to Georgian

the Low Countries and England

in

Room

8.21

from

Kirtlmgton Park, near


Oxford, England, 1748.
This room, referred to in

contemporary terms as

an "eating room, "

now

is

installed in the

Museum

Metropolitan

of Art,
offers

New

York.

It

a view of a more

restrained, yet rich

spacious

interior,

and

with

Rococo plastenwork
detailing by

Thomas

Roberts (171 1-71), a


local Oxford craftsman.

The painting,
oriental rug,

furniture,

and chan-

delier are suitable to

the period, although

they suggest a study or


library of the era.

obelisks,

and

interiors such as that of the "saloon"

(formal dining room;

fig.

8.19) of overwhelming

scale with illusionistic architectural wall

painting that

is

and

ceiling

highly theatrical.

Spitalfields, for

example (1714-29), has

huge and astonishing tower,

its

arched elements

stacked up with strange and disturbing overlaps

below a
flat

Inside, there

tall spire.

ceiling (fig. 8.20).

is

came

into wide use. Elaborate carving

and painted decoration still appeared in


more costly examples made for the houses of the
inlaid

wealthy.

Hawksmoor's designs for London churches are


ingenious, original, and forceful, with surprising
interior spaces and exteriors of great power. Christ
Church,

stretchers

and

a high

The columns on

nave with a
either side

open to aisles, originally with


now removed. At the chancel end, two

Georgian
In the design of residential interiors

George

(1714-27) and George

Georgian

carry arches that

the

galleries,

ending around 1750.

columns support

a bar-like entablature that spans

across the nave, complicating the space


a surprising
critic

and

theatrical sense.

and adding

contemporary

described this interior as "Solemn

& Awfull."

and

related

Queen Anne period merges with the


beginnings of the Georgian era, the dominant
style of eighteenth-century England. The reigns of
furniture, the

early

from

period

period,

II

(1727-60) cover

usually

defined

A handsome room
house,

lesser

as

of this

Kirtlington

Park

(1748), near Oxford, has been preserved in the

Museum

Metropolitan
walls

and

'

ceiling

are

in

New York

(fig. 8.21).-il8

covered with decorative

and
add color and

plaster -work painted white. Mirrors, paintings,

Queen Anne
Queen

Anne

Furniture
furniture

smaller, lighter,

pedecS8*s.

cushioned

a great gilded candle chandelier


is

generally

and more comfortable than

Curving shapes,

seats,

somewhat

wing-back

the

chairs,

cabriole

hiiid

k^

by a bent houp, a
;hat

were

(\'ith its

ust?.

back of slim turnings

wood saddle carved

usually

leg,

and practicd

secretary desk-book case pieces were in general

The WfNnsoR chair

it

turnings

with

seal,

and

turned

glitter.

drawing of the room by

Sanderson,

shows the

is

also part of the

ceiling design

its

designer, John

museum

collection.

It

surrounded by the four

wall elevations rotated into their relative positions.

The building of great houses

in

which the

influ-

ence of Italian Palladian practice often mingled


with references to ancient

mental

detail

Roman Pompeian

orna-

continued on the estates of the.

147

'

Chapter Eight

.William Kent (1685-1748), whose Rirni-

was used

ture

in the

Double Cube room

at

Wilton,

mentioned above, became a professional assistant


to his patron. Lord Burlington 1694-1753), in the
design of the great house of Chiswick (1725) at the

Adam and Syon House

Robert

domed

edge of London. This

is

clearly Palladian,

central rotunda

and facade

a free interpretation

of the Villa

portico based

on

its

a square,

building,

at Vicenza. The interiors use ornamental


work and painted details based on
Pompeian precedents.

Rotonda
plaster

Robert and James Adanfr

brothers.

work of the Adam


Robert Adam < 1728-92) was the design

^Wei" of

the partnership, while his brother, lames

Adam

by the

fine

was more concerned with the

(17.^0-94),

practical aspects of carrying out their projects.- The

Adams were Scotsmen who


London

tion in

construction,

came

Bedroom

of the 3rd Earl

of Bute

3 Main staircase
4 Secondary stans

room

5 Powder

6 Water

closet

blown

Adam
in

made

partly

engrav-

of Robert and

in

America

as

764 about

is

MaflVlftdaiifrprojects were reHOV9flOIft'6f pre^

Some weie

never completed,

some involved interiors only, but taken together


their work can be understood as a miittki/^^itgmttt
final phase of Georgian design. The house called
Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire (fig. 8.22; begun 1767)

much

are accessed

has been so

best be studied

altered that the

the plan

in

his

best calculated for the convenience

With subtle discernment, he noted one of the


principal differences between the French and the
English:

To understand thoroughly the art of living, it is


necessary, perhaps, to have passed some time
amongst the French, and to have studied the
customs of that social and conversible people. In
one particular however, our manners prevent us
from imitating them. Their eating rooms seldom or
never constitute a piece

but

lie

out of suit6, and

attention

is

in their

great apartments,

in fitting

them

up,

little

paid to the beauty of decoration. The

reason of this is obvious; the French meet there


only at meals, where they trust to the display of the
table for show and magnificence, not to the
decoration of the apartment, and as soon as the
is

over, they retire

company

...

It is

immediately to

not so with us.

Accustomed by habit or induced by the nature of


our climate we indulge more largely in the
The eating rooms are
enjoyment of the bottle
soon
considered as apartments of conversations
after dinner the ladies retire ... left alone [the
.

well.

corridor,
Earl's

Adam

men] resume their seats, evidently more at ease,


and the conversation takes a different turn-less
reserved and either graver or more licentious.
Despite Adam's undoubted

houses

the Classical

in

Montagu, a poet and

skill in

style,

creating beautiful

Lady Mary Wortley

essayist, trenchantly

doubted

their suitability:

design can

and elevation

that

Vistas are laid open over barren heaths, and

apartments contrived
Italy,

screened by

is

is

their style well

England and, eventually,

from a

bedroom

style

work

also

in the beautiful

in Architecture

(1773-1822)

in

The hall both in our houses


and elegance of life
and those in France is a spacious apartment intended
as a room of access where servants in livery attend. It
is here a room of great dimensions, finished with

entertainment

Rooms

although the

the French style

the rooms of

existing buildings.

Corridor

decorative

French Rococo work, moves

The Works

great detail

in

well as their decoration:

of examples of their work

James

but

character,

in

like

rooms as

toward the restraint of Neoclassicisnfw Publication


ings of

England, 1767.

and

to be greatly admired.. Their

Rococo and,

Moo, Bedfordshire,

building

architecture,

design,

but with a unique personal

Palladian

partly

8.22 James and


Robert Adam, Luton

with

interior

details efficiently

that

established a reputa-

for their abilit\' to organize large

dealing

projects

wrote

stucco, as halls always are.

Late Georgian-Architecture and interior design are

characterized

Adam

Robert

work remodeling Syon House for the Duke of


Northumberland. He discussed the function of various

but

killing in

for a coolness

agreeable

the north of Britain.

in

adjacent rooms.

Secondary stairs

connect

p,

to the base-

Quoted
145;

Wortley Montagu, Diaries,


Decor,

floor.

The powder

room IS to provide for


the powdering of the
wigs worn by
gentlemen at the time
within a

All of this

IS

classically

symmetncal

overall conception.

r-H
H

'

148

Peter Thornton, Authentic Decor, (London,

p.

983),

Robert and James Adam, Works in Architecture of Robert

and Jomes Adam {London. 1778),

ment kitchens and


servants quarters on an

upper

in

2.

88

vol.

I,

753, quoted

pp. 10-11,
in

3,

Lady Mary

Peter Thornton, Authentic

Renaissance to Georgian

in

the Low Countries and England

appear in engravings. The plan shows off the

Adams' concern for practical matters rooms do


not open directly one into another; instead a

rooms
The dining room has an adjacent
pantry with stairs to the kitchens below. The Earl's
bedroom can only be entered from adjacent rooms,
corridor runs the length of the building with

opening from

it.

but has a door leading into the huge library where,

one assumes, the Earl could choose a book for late


reading. Off the corridor, service stairs lead to
other floors and small compartments contain water
early

closets,

of

versions

Externally, a central portico

the

inside

toilet.

dominates the design

with screen walls on either side hiding the light


courts that gave light and air to

minor rooms.

At Syon House (1762-9), outside London, a


magnificent entrance hall

white with apsidal niches

grey and

(fig. 8.23), all

at

each end, leads into an

astonishing square anteroom where twelve green

marble
statue.

Ionic

columns each support

colorful marble floor pattern

in the beige

and gold of the

Etruscan style
ration

golden
repeated

plaster ceiling. At

Osterley Park (1762-9) nearby, there

sequence of rooms including

a
is

is

another

small parlor in

(fig. 8.24), that is,

with wall deco-

derived from Greek vase painting (then

Kenwood House
the

(1767-70), London,

most famous of Adam rooms.

is

probably

has a semicir-

It

Park, Middlesex,

cular apse at each end, screened off from the center

of

room

the

two

by

Corinthian

columns

supporting an entablature bar. The plaster vaulted


ceiling

and walls

8.24 James and


Robert Adam, Osterley

are a soft grey-green, with details

1762-9.
The ornamentation of

room

the Etruscan

Is

colored with earthy


yellow, umber, crimson,

thought to be Etruscan) and a wonderfully colorful


library

with

Pompeian

detail.

The

library

at

of Pompeian derivation picked out

in white, pink,

and gold.

Adam

designs for

London town houses, such

as

Derby on Grosvenor Square or


Portman Square (1770s), fitted a
complex layout of rooms into narrow sites with
great ingenuity. The dining room from Lansdowne
the house for Lord
the house at 20

House,

now

Metropolitan

marble

and black

tones. The

painting was done on

demolished,

is

preserved

in

the

Museum in New York, where Roman

statues

look

out

from

simple

niches

beneath delicate Pompeian plaster detailing. Like

Adams

many modern

designers, the

wide variety of

projects, including a small

coffee house, a

London

theater in

small country church, and a large

dealt with a

paper by Angelica
Kauffmann (1741-

and

1807),
artists

some

other

completed doors,

and
some

wall areas,

the ceiling with


very shallow
size

relief, ffle.

of the room

and

the scale of the orna-

ment

create a sense of

intimacy that contrasts


with the grander intethe house.

riors in

London

Drury Lane,

8.23
a

and complex

building for the University of Edinburgh that

is

masterpiece of intelligent and orderly planning.

Robert

(left)

James and

Adam, Syon

House, Middlesex,

1762-9,
The anteroom

is

a scene

of colorful grandeur
Twelve green marble

Georgian Town Houses

columns brought from

In contrast to such large

and spectacular houses,

more modest town houses were btiilt in thoughtfully designed groupings, often around handsomes
lanwtscaped squarea The Covent Garden development by Inigo Jones established a model for such
work in London, where land owned in large estates
by titled gentiy was laid out to form what would

Rome support gilded


statues.

Joseph Rose Jr.

(1745-99), an English
plaster worker,

was

responsible for the wall

and

ceiling decoration.

The colors of the marble


floor pattern mirror the

design of the

ceiling.

149

Chapter Eight

noA\'

be called speculative real estate subdivision^.

Houses weie planned


built

in well-coordinated

rows and

by developers to standard designs for

sale (r

lease) to individual buyers.

with various iron accessories until the development


of iron kitchen ranges at the end of the eighteenth

in

neighborhoods that had deterio-

rated into slum#. In the late seventeenth


speculative building

centuries,

replace such neighborhoods

lamps, although

occupied the floor above. At the top of the house,

rooms were provided

for live-in servants.

end of

Other Building Types

The Georgian

lesser streets,

rows of smaller houses were

and tradesmen.

On

artisans,

built for the families of

workmen,

and

along

with

stables,

coach houses, and servants' quarters, to

service

the

large

houses on major streets and

squares. In the Georgian era,

all

of these houses,

were of generally simple

largest to smallest,

and functional design, fronted in red brick with


painted wood window and door trim. The richness
of trim and detail was varied to match the class of
the occupants, but was invariably handsome,
and

orderly.

Such

Georgian

housing

remains an example of good neighborhood design


rarely equalled in

rather

modern

primitive

produced examples of a

included

clubs

where

converse, or doze in
Retail

settings.

gentlemen

They

could

handsome and comfortable

shops in towns and

floor of their proprietors'

were

cities

generally small establishments, often the

large, often

meet,

ground

homes. Shop fronts with

bowed windows of many

glass

and pleasantly designed signs gave access

panes

to inte-

were geperaUy lined with shelves and

cases displaying

and containing the wares on

sale.

theater developed into an enclosed

auditorium with balconies on three sides facing

stage with a decorative proscenium.

"back streets" and

lesser

still

mews, small houses were

era also

variety of other functional building types.

The Georgian

not

in ancient times, did

the century.

spaces.

logical,

known

into wide use in England until the very

riors that

built for sale to middle-class owners, professionals,

level

Georgian Furniture and Interior Furnishings


Within Georgian houses, according to the wealth

and

status of the owner, the basically plain

dignified
ceilings,

rooms were given

"^'^'^'Vfntal

and

plffiari

decorated fireplace mantels, and furnittw*

and as ostentatious as the occupant?


Paintings and mirrors, elegantly
framed, might hang on the walls, while windows

as comfortable

might

prefer.

received increasingly elaborate draper)' treatments.

The

taste

for exotic

from the Far

imports, particularly th(*se

designee
and cabinets might

East, influenced furniture

that actual imports, teak tables,

mingle with Chinoiserie carving of chair backs

times.

of

convenience

remained the norm, however. Water came from

hand pump, or from the collection of rain


water. It was carried to pitcher and basin in bed or
dressing rooms. Hot water had to be heated in the
kitchen and similarly carried. A bath tub, a luxury
present only in some larger houses, was a small,
portable affair set up in a dressing room and filled
with water carried by servants
it was probably

well,

150

come

Back stairs made it possible for servants to move


through the house without intruding on the formal

from

that

began to

and create new group-

row houses were built, usually four or


five stories high. The basements were occupied by
kitchens, laundries, and service facilities. The
ground floor was used for formal reception rooms
and, sometimes, a dining room. The floor above
held the largest formal entertaining rooms of the
house. Above that, large bedrooms occupied the
third floor; smaller rooms for children or guests

servants,

candles

Facing on the squares and major

society.

On

on

depended

required constant trimming and replacement. Oil

streets, large

small

Lighting

century.

and eigh-

ings of houses planned to serve a socially stratified,


class

burned wood or, as it became available, coal.


Cooking was done in a fireplace, possibly improved
that

to

medieval times,
teenth

had

from streams

older houses,* often dating back fo

Less wealthy classes of English society

make do with

closets" (toilets), supplied with water

or springs, appeared. Heat came from fireplaces

and

table legs. Vyallpaper

from China, displayed

nature and scenic landscape themes

Imported porcelain

(called,

(fig.

8.25).

of course, "china") was

fashionable for dishes but also for ornamental

bowls and

vases.

Handsome Georgian

candlesticks, boxes,

and other

silver

bowls,

accessories, often of

very simple design, were also favorite objects for


display, along with the useful

ware

for table service.

and decorative

silver-

In addition to imported

number of

made

only rarely used. In a very few eighteenth-century

ceramics,

houses, basins with running water and even "water

porcelains in florid ornamental designs, but simple

English

factories

Renaissance to Georgian

in

the Low Countries and England

8.25 Thomas
Sheraton, an engraved
plate illustrating the
'

w^Tw.Wt^A^\^\^ylV,<^^;A^\^\^^._\A^fA''A^Tf ?vyA^^^j^ v^ ^^^^^


'

?iis

south end of the Prince


of Wales's Chinese

drawing room, 1793.


Chinoisene, a fondness
for decorative detail

derived from imports

from China, was a

phase

in eighteenth-

century English mtenor


design. In this plate

from The Cabinet-

Maker and
Upholsterer's

Drawing-Book

(1793-4) only a few


details-the wall panels

at right

and

left

and

the wainscot detail

below them, and the


ornamental candlesticks

and figure-do

not seem

to

have any

strong relationship to

actual Chinese design,

but they serve

to inject

novelty into an other-

wise typically symmet-

ncal eighteenth-

designs also appeared.

made

the

in

(1730-95)

is

The

plain Queen's ware

of

factory

Wedgwood

Josiah

model of classic simplicity and pracproduced and still appropriate for

ticality,

still

modern

users.

English clock makers took great pride in the

by

gravity

pendulum motion
to deal with

weights

so that

and

regulated

means had

to be

by

found

the hanging weights and swinging

had veneer banding, and often satinwood


veneer in the keyboard area. Wheruj|ig>iOS^ began to
retained. Beethoven owned

same case design was


a Broadwood piano. A

smaller version of the harpsichord was called a


spinet.

It

was made

in a

compact triangular case

and was a popular instrument in smaller houses.


Although pipe organs were most usual in churches,

chamber or cabinet organs

small versions called

was housed

in a large vertical case with

open. Tlwtafr t^grandfather" ) clock was an alter-.


native arrangement in which the weights and

opened up

to expose

pendulum could be enclosed. The cases of such


clocks were large and followed the fashions of other

surround. Even the smallest of such organs were

furniture styles.

small temple building, complete with pediment

Smaller clocks were

and columns.
spring drive mechanisms and

made with

cases ranging

from

restrained to ornate, intended as both functional

and decorative elements

to suit the style

of partic-

were often present

inevitably massive

major

and were often designed to be a


room, with exterior deco-

rative treatment to relate to the general style of

their surroundings.

Georgian

can

furniture

be

belonging to the three sub-periods,

and

late.

The

Queen

The major keyboard musical instrument' of the


Georgian era was the harpsichord. The main
London makers were Jacob Kirkman and the firm
of Schudi and Broadwood. Handel owned a fine

continued

in use,

mahogany,

classified
early,

as

middle,

early phase (1714-50) begins with a

of

makers'

doors that

keyboard and pipes. Other

visual element in a

carry-over

latter

A cabinet organ

in large houses.

designs displayed pipes in a decoratively carved

ular rooms.

double keyboard example of the

interior.

case

pendulum. Clocks were often made with a small


wooden case that could be mounted on a high shelf
or bracket, with the weights hanging below in the

clock case often resembled a

century

The mahogany

design of other Georgian furniture.

replace harpsichords, the

accuracy and quality of their products. Clocks were


driven

work. English harpsichords followed the restrained

first

but

Anne

after

practice.

Walnut

1735 the importation of

from Spain and then from Central


wood with its fine grain and

America, made that

reddish color increasingly popular. Cabriole

Ball and claw feet, carved

lions'

legs.

heads, and

151

Chapter Eight

8.26 Thoma&

other

general use.

Chairs," 1754.

decorative

fanciful

Chippendale, "Chinese

The

traced in the freer and

The plate fiom The

Some new

tion.

Cabinet-Maker's

double chairs (small

shows
design for an

more

of decora-

florid use

furniture types appeared, such as

Gentleman and
Director (1754)

came into
Rococo can be

elements

influence of French

appear to be two

settees that

chairs joined together)

and reading chairs with

eighteenth-century

book stand and candle

holders.

chair with details

chest with

a typical

intended

to

suggest

Chinese influences.
Illustrations
this

such as

sen/ed as a kind of

catalog from which a


client

might select

their

preferred designs for


legs, backs, stretchers,

and

arms.

many

The high

drawers was usually

chest or

made

in

two

parts to permit easy moving.

The middle Georgian period (1750-70) is


work of the famous
cabinet maker I'lMWIIUJ 01ii(.ipiiiulMle (1718-79),
whose influence came not only from his own fine
design and craftsmanship, but also from the impact
of his book of engravings and instruction. The
Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director, published
in editions of 1754, 1755, and 1762 (fig. 8.26). A
kind of catalog or style book showing typical
particularly associated with the

Chippendale designs,
design

known

to

it

many

England (and eventually


their

designs

Chippendale

on

style

also served to

make

his

other cabinet makers in


in

America)

Chippendale's

might be called

who

based

work.

The
form

a restrained

Fine books were


collected by wealthy
aristocrats,

had

and

they

be stored and

to

displayed

in suitable

bookcases. This large


unit

is

made up

of a

pedimented
element, which might
central,

be ordered alone

or,

should the client have


space, with the right

and

left

wings making

up an imposing unit
The urns (and the
broken pediment) on
top were optional
elements, available to
suit the buyer's taste.

152

and decorative. Simple square

cabriole legs, perforated back

Chinese or even Gothic

and carved arms' are

all

splats

style, ball

legs,

with carving in

and claw

feet,

used for chairs. Settees,

glass-fronted bookcases, and massive desks were

ences, particularly Chinese elements taken both

made

from Chinese furniture and from forms known

breakfront units were often topped with pediments

from Chinese landscapes as they appeared in wallpaper pagoda forms, carved dragons, and lacquer
work. Chippendale furniture has an underlying

suggestive of Baroque architecture. Broken pedi-

simplicity,

Hepplewhite, a library

also florid

of Rococo combined with various exotic influ-

8.27 George

is

is

well

made, sturdy, and

practical,

but

it

in

related

designs.

Massive bookcases or

ments (with an open space


central urn or other

at the center)

fmial are illustrated,

and a

along with

candelabra, stove grates, candle lanterns, cases for

Renaissance to Georgian

in

the Low Countries and England

8.28 Thomas
Sheraton, a library
table,

An

1793.

illustration

from

Sheraton's The

Cabinet-Maker and
Upholsterer's

Drawing-Book

(1793-4) shows an
oval table with inlaid
veneer surfaces. Slides

can be pulled out from


each end

to

open up

easel stands to support


the large

and heavy

books of illustrations
that

vi/ere

favored by

wealthy book

collectors.

The doors that open


from the knee-hole to
give access to spaces in
the base pedestals are

and even a few designs for chamber organs.


Chippendale was also a supplier of drapery window
clocks,

and framed mirrors

treatments, canopied beds,

related rich, even fantastic, decorative styles.

modest

was

furniture

who

craftsmen,

made by many
and

simplified

Chippendale vocabulary to

suit a

in

satinwood establish a

gadgetry and illustrates

other

such as dressing tables with pull-out compartments

the

and swinging mirrors, tables with lift-up storage


compartments, and a library table that opens into a

adapted
wider and

less

ladder

twin

Hepplewhite

and

1786)

(d.

Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806). Each of these men


developed a personal

book of illustrations

and each published

The

Guide (1788-94)

Upholsterer's

Maker and

Cabinet

illustrates

chairs

with perforated backs in shield or oval shapes along

with breakfront bookcases, and upholstered seating

and usually

pieces. Legs are square, often tapered,

carved

with

parallel

lines

of reeding.

Round

(fig. 8.28).

He

He

many complex

designs,

beds.

appears to be the inventor of

also

tastes. The writing table usually


House desk is a Sheraton develop-

according to his
called a Carlton

ment.

The Georgian

era of English design has

one of the most admired of all


a period in

and

logic in

become

historic periods.

It is

which consistency of character, order


concepts, and elegance and restraint in

became widely accepted by architects,


and craftsmen, so that a sense of unity
extends from the largest works to the simplicity of
modest terrace houses. In studying the beginnings
detail

builders,

Modernism

tapered legs with a carved ring detail are also

of

shown. Small tables and framed mirrors, pedestals

frequently suggested that a return to the consis-

draped beds, wash

tency of style (but not the specifics of detail) of the

topped with

vases, elaborately

stands and "night tables" (incorporating a space for


a

covered

chamber pot)

Hepplewhite

were

made

in

Cabinet Maker and

Drawing Book (1790-4)

illustrates

rectilinear style, with small scale

Upholsterer's
a

somewhat

and

delicate

in

eighteenth century

is

the twentieth

it

is

the logical starting point.

at the

beginning of the nineteenth century to

an era of technical innovation that upset Georgian


traditions

and presented challenges

that designers

struggled to resist or accept. Arkwright's invention

764 and Watt's successful

elements. Chairs have square backs and straight

of the spinning jenny in

cabinet pieces are veneered and often have

steam engine of 1769

laid

legs,

century,

Eighteenth-century order and consistency gave

way

style (fig. 8.27).

Sheraton's

more

also

detail.

illustrates
richly draped
windows, alcoves, and whole rooms decorated

that served to promulgate that

Hepplewhite's

style.

style,

an amusing

and colorful character.

More

The late Georgian period (1770-1810) includes


later work of Chippendale, but was dominated by
the work of the two other famous Georgian cabinet
George

light

use of the light yellow

Sheraton was an ingenious inventor of furniture

affluent public.

makers,

much

colored details, and

the foundations for

curved parts, creating bulging fronts, curved ends,

developments that were to make the nineteenth

and whole pieces such as desks of oval form. Inlays


of contrasting color, sometimes with painted and

century a time of sweeping change in every aspect


of life in western civilization.

153

Colonial and Federal America

The discovery of
the fifteenth and

the Americas by the explorers of

of possibiUties

variety

opened up a

sixteenth centuries
to

Europeans ready to

in

the

cathedral

Mexico City (1563-1667) follows

in

Spanish Renaissance and Baroque traditions

nave and

aisles are

its

of equal height, there are side

"New World."

chapels along both sides and twin towers flanking

Motivations varied from the hope of financial gain

an ornate Baroque facade. Polychrome sculpture

and

uproot

relocate

to the desire to escape religious persecution; there

was also the simple desire

for

new

experiences and

Beginning

the

in

seventeenth

American continents were

settled

the

century,

by colonists from

European countries. The new

had

themes

religious

rendered

is

Claudio

realism.

de

sympathy

settlers

gener-

Church of
at

of

Morelia
S.

with

Arciniega,

Spaniard, was the principal architect.

adventure.

several

illustrating

powerful

The Mexican

the Sanctuary of the Virgin

Guadalupe

similarly ornate.

The church

(fig. 9.1) is

Jose at Teptzotlan

1750)

(c.

an extreme

is

for the native

example of the use of Baroque Churrigueresque

populations they encountered, and either ignored

ornamentation, more florid and more dense that

or pushed aside (as in North America), or devas-

anything in Spain

ally

little

interest in or

tated in the search for plunder (as in Central

South America).
as

an

This view of the

that

had been

behind.

left

New World as an empty space best

with duplication of the old world

strange in view of the desire of

many

may seem

colonists to

Some

itself

sixteenth-century

churches in Peru also derive from Spanish practice.

colony was invariably regarded

effort to reproduce, insofar as possible, the

European environment
filled

and

In Brazil native craft skills were less developed,

forcing the Portuguese colonials to

more

heavily

on importation

depend even

not only of design

but of actual components. Stone carvings were

brought by sea

from sources

Francisco de Assis at

Ouro

Portugal.

in

S.

Minas Gerais

Preto,

escape from poverty or repression in their old

(1772-94), and the nearby church of S. Francisco at

homes. Desire for new freedoms or new wealth

Sao Joao del Rei are fine examples of the Brazilian

new design.
new houses and

Central America built churches in the Plateresque,

Baroque style, their twin towers and white walls


trimmed with a fantastic display of ornamental
carving and sculpture, repeated internally with the
addition of color and gilding. These churches are,
usually attributed to a sculptor-architect, Antonio

Baroque, and Churrigueresque

Francisco

rarely

found expression

Typically, the

new towns

in genuinely

aim was

to recall the

Spanish and

to build

European

Portuguese

settlers

Thus

past.

the

South and

in

styles

that

were

(1738-1814),

Louisiana followed the styles of

development

settlements

in

contemporary

memories of

their

realities
rials

Paris.

Swedish, Dutch, and

each developed a colonial

settlers

style

German

based on

their countries of origin.

The

of climate, the availability of certain mate-

and the

lack of others,

and the simple

necessit)^

of managing survival in remote locations did,

however, force colonists to make some modifications,

often grudgingly, to the old

ways of doing

and familiar

things.

known as
who was certainly a

Lisboa,

current in Renaissance Spain and Portugal. French

of

Aleijadinho

key figure

eighteenth-century

in the

Brazilian

church design. In contrast to the elaboration of


religious architecture, secular building

colonials in South, Central,

was

generally

plain

European vernacular

and

by Hispanic

and North America

functional,

following

traditions.

'The Palace of the Governors at Santa Fe, New


Mexico (1610-14 but much restored), is a simple,
unornamented adobe structure with a long porch
facing on the town square according to Spanish
traditions. Catholic missionaries, as they built their

convents or monasteries, adopted the native adobe

Colonial Styles

in

Latin

America

traditions as at

S.

Estevan,

Acoma, New Mexico

(1629-42), where an unornamented, twin towered


{opposite) Church

9.1

of the Sanctuary of the


Virgin Guadalupe,

Buildings of Hispanic settlers involved a mixture of

church stands adjacent to

European Baroque design

yard with surrounding pueblo-like structures. By

for

the

focal

points

Morella, Mexico,

(entrances and altars) of churches, with the vernac-

1708-16.

ular

The nave of this

Mexico these were Mayan and Aztec, based on the


use of sun-baked Adobe brick with wood pole roof

Mexican church has a

traditions

of native

(Indian)

building.

In

square monastic court-

1700, internal elaboration began, turned toward

the Spanish Baroque as in the church of

Laguna,

New

Mexico, of

c.

1700

S.

Jose at

(fig. 9.2).

The

sophisticated design of the church of San Xavier del

vaulted, Gothic form

and

IS

covered with

elaborate decoration.

154

support for simple forms suggestive of the ancient

Bac near Tuscon, Arizona (1775-93), with cruci-

Pueblos

form plan,

in the

North American southwest. The

domed

crossing with Spanish Baroque

Chapter Nine

some way

"regional" or in

"colonial," used without

universally

understood

word

special, while the

any modifiers,
as

meaning

is

almost

work

the

derived from English design from about 1610 to


1800.

Houses

Early Colonial
The

earliest settlements established

England were

Jamestown

at

Mayflower landing,
structures

built

wigwams,"

built

Plymouth

at

were

by

arrivals

from

in 1607 and, with the


in 1620.

temporary

The

first

"English

(sticks), mud, and


name, they were not based on

of wattle

thatch. In spite of the

native

American (Indian)

a sort

sometimes

None

has survived. Such huts were soon replaced

built

by wooden houses

practice, but

were huts of

by English peasant farmers.

built

according to medieval

English custom. These were half-timber houses,

Wood was
most available of materials, since clearing forest
land produced timber in quantity as a by-product.
with sturdy framing of massive timbers.
the

Sawing was, however,

a laborious process so that

the production of the neatly cut

times was not yet possible.

lumber of

Whole

logs

were

later

cut,

roughly squared up with such tools as the ax and

Adze, and then assembled into house frames with


9.2 Mission, San Jose,

Laguna Pueblo, New


Mexico,

c,

This interior

is

a simple,

made

rich

through elaborate decorative

ornamentation

and painting around


the altar and chancel
area.

the Spanish architect, Ignacio Gaona.

700.

rectangular room with


a wooden beamed
ceiling

facade detail, and altar reredos can be credited to

The Spanish missions in Cahfornia such as S.


Borromeo at Carmel (1793) suggest the
work of Plateresque Spain as modified by their
Carlos

development

Mexico.

in

Residential

interiors

follow the vernacular Mediterranean traditions of

wood beamed

white plastered walls,


tiled floors

motif

ceiling,

and

with a simple fireplace as the usual focal

living space

opening on

a patio in the

Palace of the Governor at San Antonio, Texas


(1749),
for a

is

a typical

example that might be mistaken

comparable space

wood

joints such as Mortise and tenon or


Pegged lap joints that could be produced with
simple hand tools. In England, such frames are
exposed on the exteriors of buildings (generating
the familiar half-timber appearance), but on the

American continent the plaster and brick infill


used in England was not at hand. The climate also
discouraged exposed framing because the variation

from cold

to hot

break frame and


leaks.

and from damp to dry tended to


infill apart, causing cracks and

With wood so

readily available, the natural

solution was to cover the frame with a skin of wood


that served as exterior wall. Planks could be nailed

in Spain.

to the framing

and then covered with an outer

surface of overlapping

Colonial Styles

in

North

made by

Internally, such

America

The
them

the styles that

were to become dominant along the eastern coast


of North America, and it is the design of these
settlers

that

Colonial. French
Spanish

156

stj'les

Shingles or Clapboards

logs

rather than

by sawing.

houses exhibit their structure as a

major element of their character.

English settlers brought with

English

splitting

are

has

colonial,

come

to

Dutch

generally

be

called

colonial,

thought

of

typical early colonial

American house was

simply an English medieval house with a

wood

often had overhanging upper stories

exterior.

It

typical of

medieval towns, and small windows with

leaded

glass.

Gabled roofs were invariably shingled,

or

while a chimney marked the location of the interior

as

fireplaces. Brick, at first

brought from England as

..

Colonial and Federal America

ballast in ships,

chimney

usual

but then

made in

material.

local kilns,

Foundation

on rough stones or even

rested

Many

ground.

early houses

purpose room with an

sills

was the

generally

directly

on the

had only one main

attic

all-

above, so that fireplace

and chimney were placed at one end


improved plan soon developed, with

wall.
a

An

center

chimney separating two main rooms, each with a


fireplace. A steep, winding stair in front of the
chimney
further

led to the upstairs spaces. This plan

improved by the addition of

was

a "lean-to"

Early Colonial Furniture

and

9.3 (above

Interior

Hoxie

left)

House, East Sandwich,

across the rear that

one with
have a

its

full

own

made

space for smaller rooms,

fireplace.

Such a house might

Furnishings

Massachusetts,

also

c.

second floor with rooms on either side of


Internally, early colonial houses

With

on the north, bringing the roof


down close to the ground helped to protect against
winter wind and storms and generated the typical
Salt-box shape. The much admired and imitated

functional.

Cape Cod cottage was

the floor planks above. Wall surfaces might be of

a house of this type, often

buUt by ships' carpenters entirely without foundations so that

it

"floated"

on

the sand dunes of the

The carefully preserved and


House (figs. 9.3 and 9.4; c. 1637) at

cape.

Massachusetts,

is

of this type.

It is

wood

The

frame

members

exposed, their diagonal braces often


floors

wood,

or,

wood

Split lath, that

is.

Lath made by

New

living space. Ftrmiture, usually of pine

England house on Cape Cod and inland has

windows on each side. It


may be one or two stories in height and usually has
a simple gable roof although roofs of more
center front door with two

complex form with gables facing to front or back


were not unusual. The Whipple House at Ipswich,
is

of

this type;

it

has an overhanging upper story which gives


clearly

medieval character.

also

as kitchen

sitmaily of cherr)', oak, hickory, or

native

and
iiigs

wood, might include

and with woven rush


wide hoards

together

with

seats. Solid

for tables

hand-cut

and

joints.

because there were only


a few, tiny windows.
This view

space

wood, often

for

a simple rope

bed. The spinning


'

wheel

in the

corner of

the space below

turn-

chests, ^vas

shows a half

attic loft, providing

benches,

made of wood

American

house was very dark

some other

a trestle table,

ladder-back chair or two

in ver\'

but occa-

Interior of

The interior of the


typical early

and all-purpose

room, which was used

of brick.

Hoxie House.

through

East Sandwich,

is

9.4 (above)

partly splitting

the splits to form "keys" holding the plaster in


place. A large brick fireplace dominated the main

Only the

chimney

between the frame members, plaster on

restored Ho.xie

earliest

hidden by the shingled


exterior

framing and underside of

of American colonial buildings. The more typical

Massachusetts (before 1669),

The

thin boards so that plaster can be forced

one of the

the braced frame are

were wide wooden planks; the ceiling was

simply the exposed

American

The massive timbers of

were

visible.

early

house on Cape Cod.

were rigorously

the chimney, sometimes with additional fireplaces.


the lean-to

1637.

An

"

the loft reflect the

put

iniN'Ts, dn\Ttails, or

was

dealt

Box -(singer)

textiles.

mortise and tenons. Storage

with by hooks and pegs for hanging

home

production of woolen

Corn and other

provisions are
it

and

the two wool-winders in

for

hung up

drying

157

Chapter Nine

9.5 Bedroom, Stanley-

combine some drawers below with a lift-lid blanket


compartment above. I^ost early colonial furniture

Whitman House,
Farmmgton,
Connecticut, from

is

1664

imornainented, but gradually, in actual imparts

troni

The heavy timber corner


post and timber ceilmg

and Restoration

are evidence of the

legs,

braced frame structure.


Plastered walls

spaces between

fill

the

is

round,

in

made

locally

and the

ornament appeared. TurneS


"bun" feet, and surfece

st)'le

ball-like

caFving served to

wood

members. The bed

England but more often

versions of English designs, simplified lacobean

show

off the

skill

of householders

tastes

of woodworkers

who

could afford

wooden frame with a

such Iuxuri5s. Highboy drawer chests and desks in

laced rope support for

William and Mary

the mattress.

bed (on

trundle

rollers) is

homes of the

stored beneath the bed,

and

it

style

were made

in

America by

1700 for use in the most spacious and comfortable


time.

can be pulled

out at night

to provide

extra sleeping

Churches and Meeting Houses

space

The cradle accommodates the newest baby.

Aside from houses, barns, and sheds, the only

There ore woven coverlets

common

on each bed. The

shuttered.

objects, a

few shelves, a box for

salt,

and possibly

cupboard. Various kinds of candlesticks,

small

and

holders,

augment the

lanterns
fireplace.

bed would have


hold a straw,

would supply
In bedrooms (fig.

wooden frame

leaf,

to

light

9.5), the

laced with rope to

corn-husk, or feather mattress.

Posts to hold a canopy were an occasional luxury.

sizes.
lid

There might also be

and possibly

wheel since

religious

of early American

expresses the austere

Puritan

settlers.

of the

Puritan

inhabitants,

found the display of wealth and

status

through ornamentation contraiy to the need for


simplicity, modesty,

and

a focus

on virtuous

living.

As time went on and the colonists became

and more prosperous, various


improvements were gradually introduced. Double
hung window sash gradually took the place of

better established

Casement windows
ventilation

and

(offering better control

or

with improved weather protection >,

larger panes of better glass

improved

light

and

view. Specialized trades developed so that there

were carpenters, weavers, chair makers, smiths,

and pevrter) to make


improved design and function. Windsor
chairs of the sort made in England came into use,

and

tinkers (workers in tin

objects of

some with arms; some


in inns

drink.

158

(called tavern chairs) for use

have a special wide arm to hold food or

Drawer chesU appeared, and


.

is

wooden

simple square

at

Hingham,

a rare exception (fig. 9.6).


hall

with windows

It is

at

two

main floor and


The exposed framing of the
be the work of ships' carpenters,

story levels corresponding to the

balcony on three
roof,

said to

sides.

resembled the interior of an inverted ship's hull

wood framing

reli-

gious buildings

philosophy of the

attitudes

beliefs

Massachusetts,

white walls and

austerity of such interiors accorded well with the

whose

Old Ship meeting house of 1681

all textiles

braided or "rag" rug would be

on the floor, and homemade quilts on


beds were a source of color. The functional

The dignified simplicity

and

churches

name). The framing supported a


on the Hipped roof. Inside, the

a luxury

Massachusetts, 1681.

were

belfry centered

a blanket chest with a

a spinning

were homemade.

House, Hingham,

types

lift

Cradles and trundle beds served children of various

9.6 Old Ship Meeting

building

meeting houses. Few early examples survive; the

windows are small and

chests that

(the source of

ornament.

its

central pulpit

arch-topped windows.

is

are entirely without

backed by

a pair of

Colonial and Federal America

American Georgian Houses

American Georgian
In the eighteenth century, colonial simplicity
to give

way

to

both brought

more

elegant

and luxurious

began
styles

from England by craftsmen and

The American Georgian house might be built of


either brick or wood, but it generally followed
Renaissance-based European models

symmetrical

planning

pediments,

and

in its

ornamental

and

use of
detail,

often

inspired by books that illustrated the architecture

including

and furniture of the Queen Anne and Georgian


eras. Ship owners, merchants, some tradesmen and

Palladian window. In a typical plan, a center hall

craftsmen, and affluent land owners

became

suffi-

ciently wealthy to be able to afford a style of

comparable

to that

life

of the "gentlemen" of England.

pilasters,

was entered from the front door, and often ran


through to a rear door. In the

would

hall a

handsome

lead to a matching second-floor

either side of the entrance halls,

hall.

stair

On

one or two rooms

and the Carolinas, vast plantations were established


(often by younger sons of titled English families)
that, with the help of slave labor, made their owners

would be placed as parlors, dining room and,


upstairs, bedrooms. Chimneys to serve fireplaces
were placed at the end walls and a hipped roof
(sometimes with dormers) became more common

owners began to

than the gable roof. Kitchens and service quarters

approach the "great houses" of England, although


none ever reached the extremes of their prototypes.

south, in outbuildings arranged in a formal plan.

In the southern colonies, particularly in Virginia

rich.

Houses

to

please

those

might be placed

in

wings

or, particularly in the

9.7

Room from

the

Powel House,
Philadelphia, 1765-6,

As wealth increased in
colonial America, more
luxurious houses with
interiors rich in

Georgian detail became

more common.

In this

room, which

now

is

installed in the

Metropolitan

of Art,
is

fine

New

Museum

York, there

wood paneling,

an ornamental plaster
ceiling, and, on one
wall,

imported Chinese

wallpaper The

tall

clock, Chippendale-style

furniture,

and

oriental

rug are indicative of the

comfortable status of
the owner.

159

Chapter Nine

Interiors

in

Georgian house became more

the

formal, with plastered waUs or

wood

and

wainscot,

inspired details

around

and windows and

have

and

classically

Cambridge, Massachusetts,

fireplace mantels, doors,

as cornice trim moldings.

Philadelphia

Metropolitan

been

and Boston, brick

1761-2.
In the central hall of

the upper floor of this

handsome house the


carved wooden detail
based on

prototypes

and

includes

a Palladian window,

pediments over door-

and Ionic
and capitals.
The woodwork is

ways,

pilasters

painted

in

a soft

grey-blue to contrast

with the white plaster

160

is

classical

beautifully

preserved

symmetrical plan

a parlor

It

miniature

has a simple

on one

room and

side of the

on

Museum of Art, one


Museum in New York; fig.

in

the

other side, with bedrooms symmetrically arranged

9.7)

and

above. Services were placed in small twin outbuild-

good

idea of

how

such rooms

A Chinese
room in New York

the eighteenth century.

(fig. 9.8), a

ings in front

on

dining

either side.

plastered over with corner

elaborate
Palladian

pedimented

window

preserved with fine

material

is

Quoins. There

entrance

above.

wood

The

stair

The

door

the

brick
is

an

with

interiors are well

paneling, pediments over

rug on the floor are appropriate

every doorway, and, in one upstairs room, twin-

reminders that imports from Europe, the Middle

arch top-doored cupboards with broken pediments

the

Park, Philadelphia,

is

version of the English great house.

center hall

was added by the museum, but such wallpaper and

Mansion, Fairmount

(1761-2)

the

hand-painted wallpaper in the

9.8 Mount Pleasant

in

good example of
the Georgian type, with its pediment and twostory-high pUaster order, all executed in wood.
Outside of Philadelphia (now within the city's
Fairmount Park) the house called Mount Pleasant
is

in

tive details, giving a


in

(later

of 1759

(one

reconstructed

furnished with appropriate furniture and decora-

appeared

England, the lohn Vassall House

occupied by the poet Longfellow)

row houses were built with Georgian detail in


much the manner of English city houses. The
Powel House in Philadelphia (1765-6) is a good
example of the type. Rooms removed from the
house

New

paneling,

moldings

In cities such as Philadelphia

In

wood

oriental

East,

and the Far East became

as

merchant shipping increased

its

available in

America

in importance.

above on either side of

No

marble-edged

fireplace.

architect or designer has been identified.

The

Colonial and Federal America

9.9 David Minitree,


Carter's Grove, near

Williamsburg, Virginia,

1751.
The spacious Georgian

mansion

reminiscent

is

of Its English precedents. The entrance hall

opens through an

archway

into a

broad

stairway. Walls are

paneled

natural

in

wood and

are nch in

classical detail, with

Ionic pilasters

and a

finely dentiled cornice.

The candle chandelier,

and rugs are


ofAmencan

furniture,

typical

eighteenth-century
practice.

9.10 Mount Vernon,


near Alexandria,
Virginia,
li/lount

from

c.

740.

Vernon was the

Washington family
plantation house. The
Palladian

window

is

in

the ballroom (or State

Banqueting Room as

was

it

originally called),

which was an addition


to the older

house

developed at George
Washington's request
the

780s.

for the

in

He asked

green wallpaper

and buff paint

for the

woodwork. The detail

is

not as classically
perfect as

some other

examples, but the


overall effect
fied

is

digni-

and pleasantly

decorative.

guest

mentioned window
curtains of "white

chintz" with "festoons

of green satin."

161

Chapter Nine

seem

details

to be derived

from English pattern

books, but they are used with extraordinary


Farther south, great houses were sited
tations. Stratford Hall
at

skill.

on plan-

1725-30), the Lee mansion

Westmorland, Virginia,

is

designed with an H-

rise up to
chimney clusters are linked by a central waist. The
plan seems to be based on Italian villas illustrated
in Palladio's Four Books. The low-ceilinged lower
floor houses a number of bedrooms, while the
main floor above is a sequence of more formal
rooms with rich classically based detail. Most of the

plan in which two square blocks that

furniture

is

English, imported to suit the taste of

the wealthy owners. Other houses, such as Carter's

Grove (fig. 9.9) in Virginia, are great brick


mansions suggesting awareness of Wren and his
followers in both plan concept

Mount Vernon,
Washington

family,

and

interior detail.

the plantation house of the


is

^inusual in having an eight-

columned portico running the length of the rear,


which faces the Potomac River. The house began as
a smaller farmhouse in 1732, but was expanded
over the years until
1799.

It is

treated

built of

with

9.1

kitchen from

Millbach. Pennsylvania,
c.

1752. (Preserved at

the Philadelphia

Museum

of Art.)

The spacious kitchen of

an American farm
estate has a

floor,

and tnm of
natural-colored wood
ceiling,

The walls are white


plaster.

The cabinets,

tables, chair,

and

child's rocking-chair are


all

of traditional

vernacular character,

although the large


storage pieces

show

evidence of a sophisti-

cated knowledge of the

ornamental detailing of
European prototypes.
The various containers

and

utensils are typical

of the period.

162

reached

its

present size in

wood block painted to


The window arrangement survives

nailed-on

simulate stone.

from the

it

wood, with the entrance facade

original

house and

is

oddly non-symmet-

of the pediment and cupola above.

rical in spite

added

ballroom

George Washington's

in

last

is a double-height room
window dominating the end
wall (fig. 9.10). The many rooms of the house
follow Georgian formula treatments with wood
paneling in some, ornamental plaster work in
others. The smaller rooms have fireplaces placed

expansion of the house


with

a large Palladian

diagonally on a cut-off corner, each with orna-

mental mantel and most with rich over-mantel


detail.

In the

deep south,

many-columned

and Mississippi,

in Louisiana

and porticos that


provided shade and outdoor living spaces were
typical

exterior

porches

of

features

plantation

house

mansions. French doors and windows opened up

surrounding

interior spaces to connect with the

verandas. Other regional differences derive from


the points of origin of the settlers.

New York
preferred
creates

House

built

the

more
in

houses

in

Gambrel

Dutch

wood

(two-slope)

usable attic space.

New York

(c.

settlers in

or stone but

roof that

The Dyckman

1783), built in stone, has a

gambrel roof that projects


width of the house

to

form

in front

the

full

An

idea of the interiors of

porch across

and

at the rear.

Dutch colonial houses


can be gained from the interiors of the Schenck

Colonial and Federal America

9.12 Ashley House,

House (1675-1730) now reconstructed within the


Brooklyn Museum. Heavy wooden frame members
with prominent corner braces,

wood plank

walls, a

and

floor,

Deerfield,

Massachusetts,

white plastered

a large

hooded

fire-

The

tiles

In Pennsylvania,

German

settlers

by

legs

(misleadingly

Cloister at Ephrata

is

around 1742 known

and

and white

their total simplicity.

Pennsylvania

German

residential

kitchen of 1752 from Millbach

preserved

in

A more

reflectors

would

have provided modest


nighttime

lighting.

typical

interior

(fig. 9.11),

Museum

is

now

of Art.

and simple wood furniture suggest

with designs using birds, flowers,

been only used

Newport

American Georgian and Queen

was

designs

(fig.

used in

Boston were also

Queen

9.12) with simple splat backs,

American

The

fully

upholstered wing-back chair

also popular in America,

made

probably
era,

much

is

Chair design followed English patterns

Anne

elaborate.

Furniture
Georgian

America,

New York and

and versions of Chippendale and Hepplewhite with


Rococo and Chinese-inspired detail. Windsor
chairs were made in many types from simple to

Europe.

In the latter part of the

in

furniture.

centers of fine furniture production.

and decorative

in the vocabulary of the peasant art of

Anne

the oriental rugs

metal

wooden
natural wood

furniture was often painted in bright colors

scrolls

backs.

candle holders with

as the

considerable level of unpretentious comfort.

Wood

and simple

overhead, a giant fireplace, white

plastered walls,
a

Philadelphia

the

Wood beams

Queen

have an impressive dignity that

plaster,

from

derives

all

corner

which are of

were imported. The

of severely plain

construction, but the interiors,

in the far

chairs,

The walls are paneled,

Dutch) built simple wooden

a religious sect

a tall
can be

the style called

houses and great barns. The group of buildings


built

"

chest,

Anne, have cabriole

Dutch elements of the second, more private room.


called Pennsylvania

"highboy,

seen

of the fireplace are characteristically

at the sides

1730.

drawer

dominate each of the two rooms. Two


enclosed box beds, a massive Baroque Kas or
place

wardrobe, and bands of blue and white Dutch

c.

its

where cold winters

enclosing

form

particularly

welcome.

craftsmen and cabinet makers became increasingly


skillful

and expert

able in England.

in

working

the styles fashion-

designs were both

much

used, sometimes even

The term Philadelphia Chippendale is


used to describe the work of cabinet makers

intermixed.
often

in that city,

1770s),

Late Colonial Public Buildings

Queen Anne and Chippendale

such as John Folwell (active in the

who was sometimes

called "the

American

As the American colonies prospered, the need for


more public buildings emerged. Churches were
built in

almost every town, and

number of

cities

often had a

churches. As the stringent beliefs of

Puritanism gave way to more varied religious prac-

churches tended to take on the character of

Chippendale," and William Savery (1721-88), best

tices,

known

The Carolean and


Wren and James
Gibbs became models for many American
in
1727)
Church (begun
churches. -Christ

for fine highboys.

Highboys and

tall

secre-

had plain tops, but pediments,


broken pediments with S-curved scroll

tary desks often

particularly

on the most elaborate versions.


Rhode Island, a unique version of
the Queen Anne style developed in the workshop of
Goddard and Townsend, makers of greatly admired
tall secretary desks and low desks of the type called
Blockfront. a fluted semicircular form suggestive

shapes, were used

In Newport,

of a scaUop

shell, a

carved motif that seems to have

English

religious

buildings.

Georgian churches of Christopher

Philadelphia, variously credited to Robert Smith

and to an amateur architect, John Kearsley, is a fine


example of the Wren-Gibbs t|pe. It is built in
brick, with the upper part of the spire in wood;
inside,

white-painted

wooden

Roman

Doric

columns topped with square entablature blocks


163

Chapter Nine

9.13

Peter Harrison,

King's Chapel, Boston,

1749-58.
The Georgian church
interior

suggests that

Harrison

was aware of

English prototypes.

Paired Corinthian

columns support
sections of entablature

with a partly coved


ceiling above. There

Palladian

above the
fine

is

window
altar and a

metal candle chan-

delier.

Placing the

seating in enclosed

"box" pews was an

attempt

to

winter cold

minimize

and

drafts.

Other colonial public buildings tend to follow

support galleries and a graceful arrangement of

arches.

above the

Palladian
altar.

window forms

a focal point

Peter Harrison (1723-1805) was

the architect of King's Chapel in Boston

(fig.

9.13;

Wren

lished

by

London

red

and Georgian tradition estab-

at

1749-58) where paired Corinthian columns with

symmetry, and ornamental

doorways and, where there

forms of the plaster

New York

ceiling. St. Paul's

(1764-6) by the
is

Chapel

New York

in

architect

of similar design, but

is

of

special interest because recent restoration efforts

have discovered the original paint colors

not

the

Chelsea

the

Hospital

detail

in

woodwork,

brick with white-painted

entablature blocks carry the galleries and the coved

Thomas McBean

concentrated

at

one, in a spire.

building for the College of William and

in

Williamsburg, Virginia (begun 1716),

Mary
known

as

the

Wren

is

is

Building because of a tradition that the

design was actually provided in drawings by Wren.


Certainly the design

is

a fine

example of the Wren

both outside and in the great

conservative white, grey, or beige usually thought

style,

to be typical of the colonial church, but strong

modeled on the wood-paneled dining halls of


English university buildings. The Williamsburg
Capitol (1701-5) and Governor's Palace (1706-20)

shades of blue and pink that set off the whitepainted

wood

detail.

Waterford

imported from Ireland add

Many American

crystal chandeliers

to the sense of richness.

churches and meeting houses

are also

handsome examples of

the

hall v\athin,

Wren

with beautifully detailed interiors, but

it

style,

must be

follow similar patterns in brick or in wood, with

noted that these buildings were drastically recon-

the level of elaboration adjusted to the religious

structed in 1928-34

beliefs

164

the simple Carolean

and the wealth of their congregations.

on the
documents and remains.

basis of very limited

Colonial and Federal America

Federal Styles

of the greater difficulty of

explained,

Jefferson

carving Corinthian capitals


the

skills

beyond, one assumes,

of American stone cutters of the time.

the
signing
of
the
With
Declaration
of
Independence in 1776, the term colonial ceases to

Such

design for a totally unrelated

modern purpose can

be appropriate. Design produced from about 1780

be thought of as a

toward the develop-

1830

until

usually described as belonging to the

is

Federal period.

ment of

first

step

the stylistic revivals that were to follow

In stylistic terms, the tendency of

was

move toward an

to

increas-

on sophistipublished works of

ingly strict version of classicism based

awareness

of

the

At Monticello and

at the

University of Virginia

(1817-26), both near Charlottesville, Jefferson's


use of Palladian and

Roman

concepts

is

more

Serlio,
ings.

and domed octagon,

such

authorities,

Palladio

as

and

and on knowledge of actual classical buildBooks of detailed measured drawings made at

archeological

such

sites,

Antiquities of Athens

Revett

precedents

and

that

as

multivolume

the

by James Stuart and Nicholas

was

creative

is

sometimes said to have

been based on Palladio's

Villa

Greek rather than

Roman

rather the roof of a curious

Europe

also developing in

at

does not top an internal rotunda, but

upstairs

room. Although

it

and hard

story of

bedrooms

(fig.

reach

full

upper

and an extensive
extend outward in long

9.14)

lower floor of services that


wings.

to

is

appears to be a one-

story building, Monticello* actually had a

Jefferson

is,

was

full

It

of invention

and ingenious and


unusual arrangements.
His bed can be seen in
an alcove between the

study and the bedroom,

which

dome

this time.

It

house at Monticello.

other side of the bed.

toward

the

Rotonda.

(1743-1 826)
was the architect for his

Jefferson

however, very different and very original. The

movement

aided

(1762),

Neoclassicism

near Charlottesville,

1768-81 and
1796-1809,

early in the nineteenth century.

and imaginative. Monticello, his own


house (1796-1809), with its columned porticos

Renaissance

9.14 Thomas
Jefferson, Monticello,

Virginia,

the Federal period

cated

direct appropriation of an ancient building's

balcony overlooking the entrance

hall

IS

on the

visible

The colors and details


are simple The book in
the foreground

and

the

microscope on a stand
are reminders of
Jefferson's wide-ranging

intellectual

and

scien-

tific interests.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), although best


known for his role as a statesman in the creation of
the independent United States
ident,

was a strongly

and

as

its

third pres-

influential figure in the devel-

opment of American

architecture and design. In

the tradition of the Georgian English gentleman,

was

Jefferson

versatile

with wide-

intellectual

ranging interests in political theory, science, agriculture, music,

was

Jefferson

and the
in

arts.

France

From 1784

serving

as

to 1789,

American

ambassador. Direct contact with the classicism of

French

Renaissance

architecture

and with the

Neoclassicism developing there at the time was

augmented by

a visit to Nimes,

where the

best

preserved of ancient temples, the Maison Carre

(which Jefferson would already have


Palladio's engravings),

While

still

design for a

be built
fairly

at

strict

in

made

known from

a deep impression.

France, Jefferson developed a

new Capitol for the State of Virginia to


Richmond (1785-8). The design is a
version of the temple form of the

Maison Carrte, with

sbc-columned portico and

pediment facade, but with windows introduced

two story

levels to serve the practical

spaces within.

The columns have been changed

from the Corinthian order of the


an

Ionic

at

needs of the

order.

Roman

The four-sided

temple to

capitals

were

promoted by the Italian Renaissance architect and


author Vincenzo Scamozzi (1552-1616) because,
165

Chapter Nine

9.15 Harrison Gray

connects rooms on the upper

Otis House, Boston,

Massachusetts,

795.

The dining room shows

Adam

influences of the

known from

style

complex

while

floor,

stairs are

The main Uving floor has a


Many rooms are fitted with closets,

in alcoves.

plan.

and alcove beds including, in Jefferson's


alcove bed accessible from either his

fireplaces,

own room, an

England, possibly
derived from the

hidden away

Adam

study on one side or the dressing

room on

the

brothers' published

other.

There are many ingenious and curious

works. The delicate

details

such as the pair of double doors connected

paper and moldmg at


the top of wall surfaces,
the

and

window

drapery,

the fireplace

mantel design are characteristic.


is

The furniture

based on

Sheraton/Adam
dents.

prece-

Note that the

floor covering is

by an under-floor mechanism that makes both


doors open when either one is swung. White
woodwork, finely detailed fireplace mantels and
door frames, and a full entablature cornice in the
main hall are set off against generally plain wall
surfaces

pattern.

Wedgwood

a bright
in

blue in the

hall,

some other rooms.

At the -Wliwrsity of

wall-to-wall carpeting

with a strong repeating

simple wallpapers

Virginia-, a central mall

surrounded by small

buildings

college

is

(called

columned covered walkat one


end. In this case the rotunda is modeled on the
Roman Pantheon.^cduced in size by half, raised on
a base and with six rather than eight portico
"lodges") connected by

ways on either

columns. Jnternally
is

no

domed

Kiri;c

library

is

and a domed rotunda

side

it is

a surprise to find that there

space; instead,

its

function as a

served by smaller rooms, three of oval

designed by

on three floors into


The total concept is

at

shape, fitted

the larger circle of

owner, Morris Dyckmaii a

its

Palladio's villa schemes, expertly adapted here to a

some years in
became devoted

different purpose.

house has

the plan.

clearly based

on

grand central

much

Bulfinch

Adam

brothers' work. The


columned portico, a
with Palladian window, and

to the

double-level,
stair

delicate plaster

ornamental

Oval rooms appeared


Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844) was the architect of
the

Massachusetts

1795-7)

in

House

State

(State

Capitol,

Boston. Bulfinch had visited England

and become acquainted with the work of the

who were

brothers,

major influence
House,

rior design of the State

design

of

the

large

Representatives Hall.
this building

was the

architectural

symbolic

marker

as well as in the

galleried

and

The golden dome

first

element
for

Adam

in the exte-

domed
that tops

example of the use of thrft

as

virtually

the

capitol

loyalist

American Revolution, who spent


voluntary exile in England where he

the time of the

in

house of William Hamilton

some

detail.

houses, as

in the

in Philadelphia called

The Woodlands (1788-9), or in the central rooms


of Gore Place, a large Adams-like mansion at
Waltham, Massachusetts (1797), by an unidentified architect. Sweeping curved stairs became an
important feature of many houses and public
Such stairs appear in Bulfinch's 1807
town house for Harrison Gray Otis in Boston, for
example (fig. 9.15).
buildings.

obligatory

buildings

ot

Thornton and Latrobe

various states, as well as for the national Capitol.

The Adam

style,

with

its

Palladianism and awaqs-*

mess of French Neoclassicism, can be traced

many

Federal period buildings, especially in their

delicate

ornamental

The most

(1805), Garrison,

o^^fttBlf

Adam

style design,

internally, appears at

New York.

construction

The tangled history of the national Capitol in


Washington begins with a 1792 competition in
which none of the ten designs submitted was
entirely satisfactory. In 1793 an

detatl.

dutiful effort at

both externally and

166

in'

It is

built

Boscobe^

a spacious

and

huu^

presumably

a Dr.

amateur

architect,

William Thornton (1759-1828), submitted

design that, with favorable


lefferson

comments from both

and Washington, was accepted by the

Commissioners

for

Federal

Buildings

to

the

L
Colonial and Federal America

annoyance of Etienne Hallet whose competition


design had already been approved. Thornton's
Capitol was burned in the

War

of 1812 so that

extensive reconstruction was required, particularly


internally.

The

English-trained Benjamin Latrobe

(1764-1820) was largely responsible for the


of the two large legislative chambers
for the

many

smaller spaces that

detail

9.16) and

(fig.

make up

the intri-

cate internal plan of the building. His invention of

American variations on the Greek orders column


capitals using tobacco leaves and corn husks in
place of acanthus leaves

members of Congress.

was

much admired by

After 1819, the project was

taken over by Charles Bulfinch

who was

rotunda with

sible for the original

its

respon-

low dome.

The present dome and House and Senate wings


of

much

are

Thornton also designed the unusually shaped


Octagon House (1799-1800) in Washington and
the large house called
district

Tudor

Place (1816) in the

of Washington. Both houses

exhibit a reserved classicism based


dents,

triangular site of

Octagon House

and both use

on

Adam

prece-

single projecting curved

The

axis.

gives rise to an

interesting plan with a circular entrance hall (fig.

9.17)

and round bedrooms above acting

between the two wings that angle

as a pivot

to follow the

adjacent streets. Recent restoration has repaired

and recovered much of the furniture


that were originally in the
house. The round entrance hall has a grey and
white marble floor, with walls of light yellow and
interior detail

and

objects

related

grey woodwork.

The same

colors extend into the

adjacent stair hall, where the floor and stair


natural, dark

wood, the balusters and

stair

rail

are

trim a

dark grey-green. The walls of the drawing room are


a

warm

grey with darker trim; dining

room

walls

are green with a lighter green trim.

Although Thornton was

later date.

Georgetown

element to accent the center, entrance

a self-trained

amateur

architect and Benjamin Latrobe a London-trained


professional, the work of the two men is closely
parallel

in defining the Federal style at its best.

Latrobe had

many more commissions

for a variety

of building types. His Bank of Pennsylvania in


Philadelphia (1798-1800,

now

destroyed)

is

the

9.16 Benjamin
Latrobe, Old Senate

Chamber, The Capitol,


Washington, DC,
1

803-1

The semicircular room,

topped by a lialfdome
ceilmg, uses accurate
classical detail for the

Ionic columns, related

moldings,

and

the

coffered ceiling. Latrobe

was anticipating the


Creek revival when he
wrote:

"I

Creek

in

tion of

am a bigoted
my condemna-

Roman

architec-

ture

"

and

dignity of the

The simplicity

architecture

is

rather

overwhelmed by the
canopy with its nch red
and gold ornamentation, which IS draped
elaborately over the
chair

and desk of the

presiding officer

167

Chapter Nine

9.17 William
Thornton, Octagon

House, Washington,
D.C.,

1799-1800

circular entrance hall

opens through double


doors topped by a
lunette

window into a

central hall where

stair leads to the floor

above.

first

American building

order in

its

to

make

use of a Greek

six-columned front and rear Ionic

The banking room was a round chamber


a flat dome. The simple exterior
suggested the Neoclassicism of Ledoux in France or
porticos.

topped with
John Soane

in England.

Latrobe's

works

(c.

design

for

the

Philadelphia

1801), a square block with a

dome ornamented

with

restrained

Greek

included the design of the boilers and

machinery

168

inside.

It

was

water-

drum and
detail,

pumping

a focal point in the city's

Centre Square until

domed

it

was replaced

1827.

in

Baltimore Cathedral (181418)

is

The

monu-

mental Neoclassical church with a broad and open


interior

space quite

unlike

the

typical

galleried

Georgian churches of the eighteenth century.

It

combines John Soane's London Neoclassicism with


a hint of the Baroque grandeur of Wren at St. Paul's.
for Stephen
Decatur on
Washington (1817-19) is a
well-preserved example of a Federal town house. It
is an austerely simple square block of brick with a

Latrobe's

house

Lafayette Square in

Colonial and Federal America

low ground floor for services and two

floors of

ornament
windows and

living spaces above. Externally, the only


is at

the entrance

where there are side


window above the

\vide door.

a delicate fan-light

house has been changed many times

Internally, the

over the years, but recent restoration has been

based on available documentation. Latrobe's drawings for the entrance hall have survived,

domed

showing

and
and subtle ornamental detail throughout.
The original colors were a soft grey for the wall and
an ocher yellow for the woodwork. Ceilings are
treatment of the

his careful

ceiling

niches,

The

late

Federal period favored heavier,

more

massive forms with carved ornament, inlays, and

Claw and lion's paw feet,


lyre and Curule (Xform) chair backs, and chair and couch forms
suggestive of the images on Greek vases came into
use in accordance with Empire and Regency tastes.
The best-known cabinet makers of the period
were Samuel Mclntire (1757-1811) and the even
more famous Duncan Phyfe (1768-1854), whose
brass trim elements.

scroll-carved chair arms,

name

often attached to the sub-style credited to

is

him. Mclntire was an architect based in Salem,

who began

entirely white.

Massachusetts,

Church (1815), across Lafayette


Square from the Decatur House, was also a Latrobe
project. Originally with a Greek cross plan, its
lengthened nave, front portico, and spire are of

figureheads for ships. Houses that he designed for

John's

St.

later date. Like

many

of the educated professionals

of the time, Latrobe had wide-ranging interests.


served as the

first

organist

and choirmaster

He

at St.

John's, for example. His involvement in the engi-

career

his

wealthy sea-captains and merchants were generally


of simple form, ornamented by his carving outside

and

He

in.

often carved ornamental details for

other cabinet makers, making

it

uncertain whether

he ever designed complete pieces of furniture. His

name

attached to Hepplewhite- and Sheraton-

is

inspired furniture with details carved in his partic-

or flowers was a

neering of various waterworks, utilitarian struc-

ular style.

tures for the navy, canal building projects, even the

favorite Mclntire decorative motif.

introduction of a steamboat on the Ohio River are


evidences

of his technical

versatility.

Although

Thornton and Latrobe can be regarded as equal


leaders in the development of the Federal style, and
although the U.S. Capitol resulted from their
combined efforts, the two men became involved in
bitter disputes. Thornton's verbal attacks became
so excessive that Latrobe undertook a libel suit
against

him

in 1808. In

won

1813 Latrobe

and was awarded damages of one

his suit

cent!

carving

carved basket of

Duncan Phyfe was born

fruit

in Scotland, served

apprenticeship as a cabinet maker in Albany,

York, and then

moved

lish his successful

Although

to

New

York City

an

New

to estab-

furniture business around 1792.

his design incorporates the

Hepplewhite

and Sheraton influences that dominate Federal


style furniture, his work took on a unique character
that

made

his

name

known

widely

as a leading

American designer-craftsman. His career lasted


until he retired in 1847 and so spanned a time of
stylistic

readily

changes changes to which he adapted


and which he sometimes led. His early

work, close to Sheraton's models, included produc-

Furniture of the Federal Period

tion of tables with a three-legged pedestal base,

Furniture of the Federal period


fied as "early"

dominated by

sometimes

classi-

often with a folding top arranged so that the table

the late Georgian

could stand against a wall or be opened to make a

is

of Hepplewhite and Sheraton

styles

or

"late,"

showing the influence of French Empire fashions


interpreted

Regency
toward

by

English

cabinet

makers

as

and

design. Design of the early phase tended

the

delicate,

straight-lined

forms

of

Sheraton. Veneered surfaces often have decorative


inlays

and small carved details using shell, leaf,


and basket motifs. Legs are usually tall and
straight or turned. Mahogany remained the

free-standing dining table. Ornamentation varied

from simple reeding to elaborate carving, ranging


from spiral reeding to carved eagles. Swags,
pedestals, and pineapple Finials. Applied brass
ornament was common; legs of larger pieces were
often equipped with casters. Mahogany was the

wood most

used, often in the

flower,

matched

slim,

contrasting colored woods.

favored

wood,

with

banding

and

inlays

in

woods such as maple or satinwood.


Tambour doors are often used for desk or sidecontrasting

board storage compartments.

veneers,

form of figured and

sometimes

Duncan Phyfe turned

to

with

inlays

imitation

of

of the

French Directoire and related English Regency


styles
style,

and then,
as

these

after 1815, to the

French Empire

became known

successively

in

169

Chapter Nine

America. Adoption of the Pillar

and scroll

style

known

as a

banjo clock. The bottom element was

using carved versions of classical columns and S-

usually glass-fronted

and C-shaped

scrolls

swinging pendulum within.

about

in

1830)

moved

period

was

a late

development

(after

provide a view of the

to

his

production. As the Federal

Makers of musical instruments who had begun

into

the nineteenth century, the

building harpsichords and spinets changed over to

development of

supplanted

Georgian influences, leading the

sequence of historical revivals

most often

the building of pianos

ments

in a flat, rectangular case

adaptable and commercially ambitious Phyfe into

along

the

production of designs suited to the interiors of

"square pianos"

late

revivalist architecture.

These

stylistic

developments

are dealt with in the following chapter.

Other

grew to support

cities

who

chair makers

local cabinet

and

established high standards for

John and Thomas Seymour were

experts in inlay work, while John Cogswell and

Badlam

Stephen

made

skillful

use

of sliding

tambour doors in cabinet pieces. Thomas Affleck,


Benjamin Randolph, John Aitken, and Joseph Bany
became well known in Philadelphia. Barry also
maintained a shop in Baltimore where John and
Hugh Findlay worked with marquetry decoration.
A highly individual style of chair design was
developed by Lambert Hitchcock (1795-1852) who
established
a
factory
at
Barhamstead (now
Riverton), Connecticut, to produce what he called
"fancy chairs" based on Federal or Regency styles.
They had turned wood front legs, a rush seat, and
simple ladder back, but were characterized by their
finish

black

paint with brightly colored, painted

(usually stenciled) decoration. These chairs

became

extremely popular in simple farmhouse interiors

where they introduced


otherwise

into

tors

a note of decorative fantasy

vernacular

plain,

Hitchcock chairs are

still

and are often made

interiors.

popular with some collecin

Such instruments,

side.
(fig.

some appearance

modern reproduction

unfortunately, of limited

but,

success.
later

They may be regarded

as ancestors of the

upright piano. Organs built for churches were

housed

simple cases with a frontal display of

in

main decoration. Tiny organs, often


harmoniums or melodeons, using reeds (like

pipes as their
called

those of the accordion) instead of pipes for sound

production, were built for use in small churches

and homes.
Framed mirrors,

sometimes

with

attached

candle brackets, were popular ornamental and


functional objects.

condensed

gives a

The convex, round mirror that


became a popular decora-

iriiage

with

usually

accessory,

tive

elaborate,

gilded

and often topped by the ever-popular


carved American eagle.
frames,

American

textile

fabrics, at first

solid

colors,

production included printed

hand-blocked but,

cylinder-printed.

Woven

narrow

woven
Jacquard loom.
patterns

textiles

the

were made

and

stripes,

with

after 1770, also

in

recently

in

complex
developed

Favorite colors were strong blues

and greens, golden yellows, and deeper shades of


red.

Woven

cover

horsehair

material:

was excellent

its

became
glossy
it

as long as

primary motive power

Other Furnishings of the Federal

form of a

secretary desk were also attempted, with limited

wearing qualities made

form.

called

were usually of hand-

9.18),

quality musically. Tall pianos built in the

both the design and the quality of their craftsmanship. In Boston,

long

small instru-

with the keyboard

popular upholstery

surface

and tough-

and availability
the horse remained the

practical,

for

farm work and trans-

port.

Period

Wood

paneling tended to be used for only one

wall of formal

During the Federal period,


were

locally

wide variety of objects

produced that had most often been

imported during the colonial


were clocks of

era.

Among

these

fine quality in various models, tall

and shelf size, with weight or spring drive. Eli Terry


and Seth Thomas became well known for the
development of a shelf or mantel clock with detail
based on Sheraton furniture. Simon Willard devel-

oped

a wall clock with a

vertical

170

round

face at the top of a

element and box-like bottom that became

chimney

wood

rooms

(the fireplace wall) or for the

breast alone. Other walls might display a

wainscot and cornice, or might be painted,

wallpapered, or covered with a

woven

textile

above

the wainscot. Direct trade with the Far East by

American

ships

brought

'OiiknBdk

wallpapers,

and small decorative objects to America.


These became popular accessories in affluent
households. Chinese dinnerware was often made
specially for the American trade, using pattern
porcelain,

motitis

such as stars and

eaglc^i tliat

made lefaeuce

Colonial and Federal America

9.18 Cardner-Pingree
House, Salem,
Massachusetts,

1804-05.

view from the dining

room

into

a parlor

stiowing wallpaper

and

decorative trim with

Adam style

influence.

The furniture

is

of

Hepplewhite character
(note the shield back
chairs) while

(the

woodwork

work of Samuel

Mclntirejis of related

design. There

is

square piano at the


front wall of the parlor

with a round framed


mirror above with

an

eagle crest a favorite


decorative ornament of
the federal period

Elaborate drapery at

each window
contributes to a sense

of opulence.

to

the

I>utch
?ilver

newly founded republic. Oriental


tiles,

and

and glassware

fully

made

imports were also

detail

used by Thornton and

Phyfe, always ready to adapt to

as well as taste. Fine

changes

in taste,

developed designs suggested by

many

eastern

American

the

furniture

usually given as an end-date

depicted

in

fNHMilii^iiaaiiaaHK

pw i wttng. In the 1820s and 1830s American architecture

is

and

Duncan

cities.

Although 1820

the Greek orders

Latrobe.

popular

equal to the quality of any


in

archeological correctness can already be detected in

imports

remained

glass

implying wealth and status


silver

rugs,

French scenic wallpapers, and English

to

and

interior design

found

G*eek modek, generating the

new devotion

first

of several

for the Federal period, the transition into subse-

nineteenth-century revivals of the historic past that

quent developments was gradual. Emphasis on

are dealt with in the following chapter.

171

The Regency,

Revivals,

and

Industria

Revolution
The nineteenth century encompasses some of the
most sweeping changes in human affairs since the

of fancifully ornamented rooms. Fantastically elab-

beginning of history. Life experience as

light

it

devel-

wallpaper and

combined with gradual change. Scientific development and the coming of industrialization in the

brass inlays

made modern

totally different from anything that preceded it.


The enormous growth of world population along
with the vastly improved nature of transportation
and communication that characterize the twentieth
century had their roots in the nineteenth century.
The world of design had enormous difficulty in
dealing with changes of such depth and magnitude.
The nineteenth century is, therefore, a study in
contradictions
in change and in the efforts to
life

(top right) John

Nash, Royal Pavilion,

restrain change.

Brighton, England,

1815-21.
In the

music room of

the Royal Pavilion the

wall coverings

and

Regency

the

gilded mirror surround

above the

make

In 1811, George

fireplace

reference to

Chinese decorative
elements- The hanging
lights

add

to the festive

quality of the room,

which should be

1820,

all filled

with gilded ornament

father, he became George


The design of this period,
between the end of the Georgian era

and

nineteenth-century

followed,
its

is

10.2 {bottom

The

that

style

has

origins in the Neoclassicism of the late eigh-

teenth century

right)

developments

given the term Regency.

is

character

of England was succeeded by

on the death of his

and looking more


French than Chinese

III

served in his place as Prince Regent. In

IV, reigning until 1830.


transitional

visual-

ized with piano, harp,

and seating,

who

his son

and draws

its

form from Greek and

Roman

precedents with a mixture of elements

drawn

from

more

exotic

sources

Egyptian,

London, 1812-1813.

The impact of the colonial


holdings of England, France, and Belgium, and the
newly extended knowledge of remote and varied
civilizations made awareness of and fascination
with the exotic an available theme. The most

The small breakfast

curious aspect of Regency design

Exterior of the Royal


Pavilion.

10.3

[opposite) iohn

Soane, Soane House,

room

in his

own

house,

offered

Soane the

chance

to experiment

Chinese, and Moorish.

seemingly

is its

inconsistent vacillation between the restraint of


classicism

and the exuberance of fantasy.

with architectural form.

flattened

dome

is

supported by slim

Nash

columns around the


edges, but the walls of

the

room are

in

square larger than the

dome. The space

The most
period

and

is

spectacular building of the

Regency

the Royal Pavilion at Brighton (figs. 10.1

10.2; 1815-21), a residence

and pleasure palace

between the dome and

designed to please the whims of the Regent.

the walls allows hidden

designed by lohn Nash (1752-1835) in a mixture

windows to add light


appear over the

of oriental

mantel and

dominating the exterior and giving

it

Moorish

aspect. Internally the Royal Pavilion

is 3*

sequence

Mirrors

in rondels

at the dome's edges.

172

styles

It

was

with great onion-shaped domes

new
bamboo

introduce a

oped through the Renaissance and into the eighteenth century had a continuity of quahties

nineteenth century, however, has

10.1

orate chandeliers using the newly developed gas

in reds

greens,

and

level

of brilliance. Chinese

furniture, elaborate drapery

golds, gilded

and carved furniture with


in exotic pinks and

and trim, carpets

and strongly chromatic wall colors make

the Brighton Pavilion representative of the playful,


fantastic,

and decorative aspect of Regency design.


restrained and classical aspect is repre-

A more

sented by the work of the same architect

they are called in


plain white walls,

when he

terraced houses
England with simple forms,

designed groups of row houses

and

details often

as

based on Greek

precedents. Houses arranged in a sweeping curve

J ft

)
....


Chapter Ten

or crescent such as Park Crescent (1812) at the

are intricate in

entrance to Regent's Park or the grand arches and

rooms within

Ionic

columns of Cumberland Terrace (1827), both

London,

in

with

white-painted

stucco

detail

form but simple

where paired Caryatids stood in the high center


drum the Old Colonial (or Five Per Cent) Office,

covering simple brick, are typical of Nash in his

the Consols Office

most monumental phase. Ornamental iron railings,


bow windows, and small hood roofs over porches

rotunda were large public

or projecting bays

were

set off against

typical of the

Regency

white stucco walls

style

groups built

London and many other English


formal groupings were speculative

cities.

in

These

real estate devel-

(fig. 10.4),

and the great

halls, dignified,

central

spacious,

and remarkably imaginative.

own house

Soane's

at 13 Lincoln's

London (1812-32) served

Inn Fields

in

kind of laboratory

as a

for architectural experiments

and

house

works and architec-

his vast collection of art

opments made up of individual houses owned or


leased by occupants who treated the rooms within
however they chose most often in some version of

tural fragments.

the rich but reserved Georgian manner.

boundary

in detail. The
Old Dividend Office

called the

remarkable

The house

interiors.

room

the breakfast

flat

as a gallery to

is now a museum with


dome over the center of

(fig. 10.3) is

bordered by higher

with clerestory windows that

spaces,

admit daylight from hidden sources so that the

dome seems

Soane

be a

to

floating

canopy.

Round

mirrors inserted into ornamental details here and


Sir

John Soane (1753-1837)

esting designer of the


individualistic

work is
way

times austere in a

in other

parency,

at

is

once Neoclassical, some-

that

seems to point toward

fantastic

and

personal

Soane's

highly

complex. His interiors for the London headquarof the Bank of England (1788-1823), arranged

prison interiors of Piranesi's engravings, and from

ters

and

sometimes

decorative

around columned courtyards, now mostly altered


or demolished and so only known through drawings

and photographs, used arch forms, windowed

drum
10.4 John Soane,

of objects.

collection

way of putting together concepts drawn


from ancient Greece and Rome, from the fantastic

modernism,

Consols Office, Bank of

rooms produce surprising effects of translight, and illusion. The gallery space is a
three-story-high
chamber crammed with a

a particularly inter-

Regency era whose highly

clerestories,

and domes

to create spaces that

the Neoclassicism of Claude-Nicolas

Ledoux and

make him a key


movement toward the Romanticism

Etienne-Louis BouUee in France


figure in the

of the later nineteenth century.

Regency Furniture

England, London,

Furniture of the English Regency era was strongly

1798-9.

by

French

The various working

influenced

spaces of the bank

design, borrowing, as

(now demolished) used


monumental architec-

and Roman

tural elements to lend

an

air

of grandeur

to

utilitarian functions.

dome on pendentives
with a ring of

rises

statues below the

Directoire

it

did,

Empire

and even from Egyptian, Indian,

styles,

and medieval Gothic models. Mahogany and rosewood were favorite materials, usually in the form
of veneers, and often with decorative inlays and

ornamental

details

in

gilded details were also

brass.

Black finishes and

common. Table and

skylight windows.

Reserved classical

and

from ancient Greek

legs often carried carving in fanciful,

chair

even bizarre,

detail edges the

motifs such as a leg in the form of a lion or winged

elements of the wall

griffon with a

and

ceiling surfaces

head and body tapering to a single


Monopodia). Round and octagonal
dining tables with pedestal bases became commonplace. Thomas Hope (1770-1831), a banker by
foot (called a

profession,

was

also

an

enthusiastic

furniture

book Household Furniture and


Decoration illustrated his designs for what

designer. His 1807


Interior

was then generally


ture (fig. 10.5).

174

called "English

Empire" furni-

The Regency,

Revivals,

and

Industrial Revolution

10.5 Thomas Hope,


from

illustration

Household Furniture

and

Interior Decoration,

1807.

Hope was a banker


whose friendship with
the French designer

Charles Percier (see

p.

127) led him to an


interest in design His

book promoted what

was sometimes

called

the "English Empire

a Regency era
development drawing

style, "

on

French

Percier's

grand
room Hope suggests
work. In this

built-in

couches with

winged sphinx
armchairs,

motifs,

and a

table

with other decoration

of supposed Egyptian
origin.

The basic form

of the room

is

simple,

with framed pictures

and ceiling
ornament

Revivals

Greek peninsula, the

to the

availability

surface

of books of

and
and the exhibition of

beautifully engraved drawings, such as Stuart


Revett's Antiquities of Athens,

The Romantic
past

desire

sometimes

very time

modern

much

life

always

developed

the

in

when

the

It

to a

peak

peak

from

beginnings of the

technological world were displacing so

of

Sir

Walter

Scott,

the

poetry

of

Wordsworth, the music of Schubert, Beethoven,


Schumann, and Brahms, the art of Gericault,
Delacroix, Constable, and Turner all moved away
from the logic and restraint of classicism toward

more

emotionally

expressive

directions.

an increasing interest

Romanticism

in design led to

in recreating

or "reviving" the styles of the past.

From

the earliest Renaissance beginnings, there

had been an

interest in learning

from the past and

in borrowing elements to be used in a

new

context,

but the idea of reproducing past design quite literally for

modern

uses

is

museums

in

of what had gone before. The Romantic

novels

artifacts in public

of

rich

came

Greek vases and other

and private collections encouraged enthusiasm for


the idea that Greek art and design represented a

in every aspect

eighteenth century.

art in the late

the

but

frightening,

emotional content

at

experience

to

seen as wonderful, beautiful, perhaps

a past

a nineteenth-century idea.

human

in

aesthetic achievement.

with

Neoclassicism,

Renaissance

respect

for

its

ancient

Greek revival with

its

Greek precedents

Romantic

fitted

The

step

in

the

roots

Rome,

awareness

the

to

of ancient

ideals of perfec-

tionism very well.

Germany
The Greek Revival in Germany is usually associated
with the work of Karl Friedrich Schinkel
1781-1841). Schinkel worked in a variety of styles
ranging from Neoclassicism to Gothic, often
(

providing designs for a particular building


several styles to permit a client a choice. His

in

most

successful works were adaptations of ancient classi-

cism, using an order, entablature, and often a pedi-

ment, but

his use

imaginative.

He

of this material was quite free and

never attempted a

literal

reproduc-

any Greek building. Schinkel's best-known


work is the museum in Berlin now known as Das
Altes Museum (Old Museum, 1824-30). The
tion of

Creek Revival
The design of ancient Greece was the material

for

of a series of revivals. Visits by travelers to

the

first

the

Greek ruins

at

Paestum

in Italy, as well as visits

facade

is

columns

simple

portico

of eighteen

Ionic

that stretch across the entire width of the

building, supporting an entablature band.

A simple
175

Chapter Ten

10.6

Karl Fnedrich

Schinkel,

Upper

Gallery, Altes
Berlin,

station in 1846-9, also

It

included a

up to
columns a glorious space, but
spirit. The difficulty of devising
appropriate to Greek exterior

vast "great hall" (fig. 10.7) with stairs leading

1824-30.

a screen of Ionic

The engraving shows

scarcely

how

Greek

the Greek revival in

Greek

architecture

Schinkel's skilful

may have been

Greek Revival

adaptation of Greek

in

interiors

Germany was advanced


by

by Hardwick.

Stair

Museum,

to

a factor in bringing the

an early end

in England.

architectural elements
to this

monumental

United States

building. In this

In

engraving, based on
Schinkel's

the

many

own

drawing,

Ionic

columns

to declare itself a

building externally can

block

attic

above

rises

of the building.

at the center

four-columned entrance
opening. The stair
ings, floor,

In this building, Schinkel faced a basic

problem of

rail-

and ceiling

designs are Schinkel's


effort to extrapolate

Creek practice into the

the

Greek

Greek temples,

Revival: the interiors of

only ancient Greek interior spaces of any

the

importance, were relatively small and dark spaces

forms of a nineteenth-

not suited to any modern use. The Greek Revivalist

century building.

had to invent a Greek approach to interior design


and was thus driven to originality. This was at the
time often criticized as unauthentic, but
appears

10.7

Philip

Hardwick

stair

Hardwick, Great Hall,

In

interesting.

it

the

now
Altes

behind the facade portico, an outdoor

hall

domed

Philip Charles

and

creative

Museum
and

loggia gives access

dome

rotunda, the

the attic story and so

is

to

a great central

of which

is

fitted into

invisible externally. Stairs

Euston Station, London,

lead to an upper-level gallery (fig. 10.6) in the

1846-9-

A new building

rotunda where exhibition

galleries are placed in a

type,

rectangle with

the railroad station,

brought forth

many

monumental

projects.

are

two inner

of rich

full

detail,

light courts.

The

interiors

paintings, sculpture,

and

motifs

arranged with

end, where stairs rise to

In England, the Neoclassicism of

Regency design

give access to the doors

slipped easily into the

This dignified hall

(now

demolished), which
lit

is

Neoclassical
great

architectural

skill.

by high windows,

makes use of the Greek

England

Ionic order at the far

and surrounding
balcony.

of a revival.
Sir

more specifically neo-Greek


The British Museum, begun in 1823 by

Robert Smirke (1780-1867), has a pedimented,

eight-columned portico using the Ionic order of


the Erechtheum in Athens, which continues as a

colonnade wrapped around the two side wings that


project forward to form an entrance court
are forty-four

columns

in

all.

there

The Greek Doric

order was also put to use in England in ways that

now seem

surprising. The London terminal of the


London and Birmingham Railway, Euston Station

(1835-7), was approached through a pedimented

Doric

pavilion

(1792-1870).
screen

designed

The

station

by

Philip

Hardwick

behind the entrance

was an arrangement of outdoor sheds,

destined to be replaced by a

176

United

States,

Greek

independent nation was the

that surround the

be seen through the

the

Revivalism

was

supported by an element of ideology. The newly

more monumental

just as ancient

Greek names
Ithaca

democracy

first

modern country

(actually a republic),

Greece had been. Towns were given

Syracuse,

in a flurry of

literature, architecture,

Utica, Schenectady,

enthusiasm for Greek

and
art,

and governmental system.

The aim was to recreate the glory of the Periclean


age on the North American continent. In architecture and design, the Federal style, already inclined
toward the use of Greek detail, moved into a
Revival phase in which the aim was to create whole
buildings that would appear to be Greek.

The Regency,

including the Old Patent Office

(now

Revivals,

and

the National

Industrial Revolution

10.8 Town and Davis


with John Frazee, U.S.

Portrait Gallery) with

Doric portico, and the

its

Treasury Building (1836-42) with

The Patent

endless Ionic colonnade.

many

Office has

simple and dignified stairways and vaulted

Greek

spaces, with only restrained efforts at

William Strickland worked


creative version of the

bank

seemingly

its

in a freer

Greek idiom

detail.

temple

building (1832-4) uses the Corinthian order for a


semicircular portico that

topped by

is

Lysicrates in Athens.

The Second Bank


(1818-24)

Philadelphia

(1788-1854)

is

the

in

by William Strickland
American building to be

first

designed in the form of

United States

the

ot

Greek temple;

it

has an

eight-columned pedimented portico on the model


of the Parthenon

at front

introduced along

all

and

Windows were
make the interior

rear.

four walls to

spaces functional. In the interest of

fire safety as

well as monumentality, the building

is

and

entirely of

building

masterpiece,

block

with

It

is

be

to

Tennessee

the

Nashville (1845-59).

of

similar tower motif tops the

considered

usually

tower

Monument

imitative of the ancient Choragic

State

Strickland's

Capitol

at

without pediments

at the center

monument-topped tower makes

of each

government encouraged Greek

number of

buildings in the increasingly popular

Davis

official

New

style. In

(Ithiel

Town,

1784-1844, and Alexander lackson Davis, 1803-92)

produced another Parthenon-like temple to be the

Customs House (1833-42; now

Federal Hall).

It is

also

called

the

an all-stone building with

Doric porticos front and back and windows along

The interiors
work of John Frazee (d. 1852), who
was the designer of the main public room, a
rotunda with a circle of Corinthian columns and
the sides alternating with pilasters.

were

largely the

pilasters

the

supporting a coffered

main gable roof

(fig.

Greek interior space

is

dome

fitted

10.8). This totally

all

for

residential

with

building,

under
non-

another reflection of the

The Lee Mansion

at

original owner, G.

its

Custis, in simple Federal style,

as

dignified

design for the


architect for a

and impressive.

known for his 1836


Washington Monument, was the
number of government buildings

Robert Mills (1781-1855), best

columns, the effect

is

Creek.

that

W.

P.

was transformed by

the addition of a massive Doric portico

and pedi-

ment by George Hadfield (c. 1764-1826). The


wood paneling, fireplace, and window and door
trim are typical of Federal

style,

although there are

and a triple-arch separation


between parlor and dining room that give these
rooms a special character. The Greek portico gives
the building the form that became known as a
Temple house. Hundreds of such houses were
built,
often with designs developed by local
arched

openings

who found their Greek details


One such was the Modern Builder's

carpenter-builders
in

books.

Guide,

by

Minard

Lafever

(1798-1854),

vocabulary.

Greek temples.

Greek Revival buildings that made freer adaptations of Greek precedents were often functionally
well

by Creek Corinthian

Arlington, Virginia (1802-26),

largely the design of

what appear externally

as

skylight.

a favored

results

successful professional practitioner in the

successful

an oculus

Although surrounded

use Greek details in ways that are

and handsome.
The Greek Revival quickly became

continuing problem of dealing with interiors of


to be

round domed hall with

into the mid-west as far as the Mississippi River.

the simple barrel-vaulted ceiling.

U.S.

approached the
problem by inserting a

The

side.

spread from the northeast states into the south, and

Town and

ancient

one of the few


American state capitol buildings without a dome.
Internally, lobbies and stairs and the legislative

along each side supporting an entablature below

York, the firm of

in

Greece. Frazee

this

style

Revivalism by commissioning a

something not

developed

pedimented Ionic
and six-columned porticos

restrained

federal

rior,

eight-columned

porticos at each end

chambers

The new

was

simple, rectangular

manner unknown to ancient Greece. The main


banking room that occupies the center of the
building is a handsome chamber with six columns

interior

all

large public hall

more Roman than

spaces are vaulted in a

stone,

1833-42.

revival, temple-like exte-

Exchange

in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, his

New

Federal Hall),
York,

required within a Creek

and more

after his

Customs House (now

Small

entirely of wood,
detail of

material

houses were

and the

skill

generally

Greek
built

with which the stone

Greek temples was reproduced in that


is
remarkable. Temple houses often

exhibit strange

compromises

in the elTort to

fit

complete with
windows and chimneys where needed into Greek
reasonable

dwelling

plans

177


Chapter Ten

Merchant's House Museum),

remarkable for

is

having quite well preserved interiors

From about 1820


was

design

building.

(fig. 10.9).

Greek Revival

until the 1850s,

almost

every

kind

Greek churches were

built

in

applied

to

of

great

numbers. Some, such

as St. Paul's in Richmond,


add a quite un-Greek tower to a

Virginia (1845),

temple plan
13th

Corinthian columns

writh, in this case,

in a semicircle

behind the

Others, like the

Church

Presbyterian

Street

altar.

in

New York

(1847), are simple brick meeting houses

Greek by the addition of

made

Doric portico, weU

executed here in wood. There are Greek college


buildings (Amherst, Washington, and Lee), Greek

insane asylums (Raleigh, North Carolina), Greek


courthouses, and Greek hotels.
In the south,

Greek porticos turned out

to be

genuinely functional for the great mansions built

on plantations where
comfortably

riors

Nashville

their

shade helped keep inte-

The

cool.

Hermitage

near

Oak Alley (also called Bon


Madewood, an Ionic temple house

1835);

(c.

Sejour, 1839);

both near New Orleans in Louisiana


and D'Evereux (1840) near Natchez, Mississippi,
of 1848

are

examples of the

all

houses

tion

many surviving great planta-

of simple

symmetrical

plan

with

porticos rich in Greek detail.

Gothic Revival
United States
10.9 Row house, New
York, 1832.

The typical

city

house
is

Merchant's House

Museum. The dining


room and front parlor
are separated by an
opening with sliding

columns flank the

and plaster

detail uses Greek-

inspired elements. The

Duncan

Phyfe,

and

patterned carpet

is

by

the

is

typical of the period.

The elaborate window


drapery would be usual
in the

houses

in the large cities

home of wealthy

people. The hanging

were

doorway porticos such as


handsome row along
Washington Square North in New York. Within
such houses, major rooms were made Greek with
woodwork and plaster details, egg and dart or
Greek key moldings, and even pilasters or columns
using one of the orders
Ionic was a special
favorite. There is a fine rendering of such a room,
thought to be designed by Town and Davis for a
New York City tovm house, showing two pairs of
Ionic columns separating front and back parlors in
surviving

on

the

city

house.

Greek-inspired furniture, klismos

Impatience with the

less practical aspects

of Greek

Revivalism, criticism of departures from archeological

accuracy,

with the

and probably simple boredom

monotony of such wide

use of a limited

design vocabulary eventually began to undermine


the Greek Revival. Also, the taste for Romanticism

turned toward more varied and more flexible


sources. After

all,

although ancient Greece could be

seen in a Romantic light by a Lord Byron viewing


ruins by moonlight, Greek art

were

at

Romantic novels longed


Sir

and architecture

base classical and disciplined. Readers of

Walter

Raphaelite

Scott's

painters

for settings evocative of

Ivanhoe.

with

The English

their

Pre-

rediscovery

of

and a sofa with upholstery embroidered in


Greek motifs are set beneath Greek cornice moldings and a plaster ceiling rosette. Even the wall-to-

another connection to the Gothic

wall carpeting of the floor uses a vaguely Greek

only through verbal description and the engravings

chairs,

gaslight fixtures are of

a somewhat later date

pattern.

than the house.

for

178

could

doors. Greek Ionic

furniture seen here

Row

into temple houses, but they

often fitted with small

those

called the

opening,

made

not be

in Creel< revival style

now

temple forms.

The modest row house

Joseph

Brewster

in

1832

built in

New

(now

called

York
the

medieval art as a precedent for their work offered

Medieval Gothic design,

in

era.

known

in

America

European books, was inherently exotic and

appealed to a public satiated with ancient Greece.

The Regency,

Revivals,

and

Industrial Revolution

10.10

Richard

Upjohn, Trinity Church,

New

York, 1846.

The Gothic revival

produced

this carefully

detailed version of an

English parish church

of medieval date.

Upjohn had wanted

to

design a church with a

simple timber

but

roof,

his client's building

committee wanted
vaulting, here executed
in plaster in imitation

of stone. With

its

colorful stained glass,

the intenor gives

an

impressive illusion of
the Gothic of the

Middle Ages, despite

its

nineteenth-century
origin.

Richard Upjohn (1802-78) was born and trained as


a cabinet
(fig.

maker

in England. His Trinity

10.10; 1846) at the

York

is

end of Wall

Street in

New

a convincing version of an English Gothic

parish church;

it

stands only a short distance from

the Greek temple Federal Hall by

completed only four years


stained glass,
a first

Church

and

earlier.

recreation

of English

Renwick's most important

was

St.

Patrick's

would

restrain the thrust of

may

phase of architecture and interior design, including

Jr.

Gothic

(1818-95),

York (1843-6), a
and accurate

church building.
in

New

York

have a certain appropriateness in the

to

many
design.

Gothic revival work

Cathedral

flying buttresses that

stone vaulting are absent. While Gothic forms

design of churches, the style quickly spread to every

in its sensitive

Gothic

papier-mache, with the result that the external

nave,

specialists in

New

glass.

actually

Americans

competition with a Gothic design for Grace


in

is

The vaulted

lames Renwick,

Church on Broadway
rival to Trinity Church

be stone

seem

already being revived in England.

won

to

Davis

rich Gothic detail gave

Almost immediately, other

The vaulting which appears

Town and

view of medieval design of the sort that was

design emerged,

ambulatory, clerestory, and stained

aisles,

of public buildings and residential

sorts

Renwick's design for the original Main

Building

of

the

Smithsonian

Washington (1844-6)
although in this case
in inspiration,

is

it is

also

Institution

medieval in

in

style,

Romanesque or Norman

with picturesque towers externally

and Gothic detail internally.


Town and Davis, alert to the shift in popular
taste, abandoned their Greek enthusiasm and,
particularly in the contribution

(completed 1878). This was modeled on French

became Gothic

Gothic examples, complete with cruciform plan,

looking the

Revivalists.

Hudson

of A.

J.

Davis,

The mansion

River near Tarrytown,

over-

New
179

Chapter Ten

10.1

Town and

Davis, Lyndhurst, near

Tarrytown,

New

York,

1838-65.
The

interiors

of this

mansion, which
Cothic revival

in

is

style,

have some Cothic

match the

detail to

building's ornate exterior.

Pointed arches,

paneling, tracery,

and

crockets executed in

wood

relate to the

leaded glass of the

windows. Statues stand


in

niches to the right

and

left

of the window

bay. The furniture

attempts

to offer

related style with

carved

wood

detail.

York, called Lyndhurst (1838-65)

by

essay

Davis

in

the

remarkable

application

of Gothic

is

elements, including a grand tower, to the design of


a country house.
built

The plan of the house

was symmetrical, but when

1864 (by Davis) for a


converted

it

as originally

was enlarged

new owner,

in

the changes

one of picturesque
Asymmetry. Most of the rooms are filled with
Gothic

plan

the

detail

to

ceilings with plaster ribs suggestive

of Gothic vaulting, pointed windows with tracery

and stained
mental

glass inserts,

and much carved orna-

detail (fig. 10.11).

The

billiard

room-art

gallery has a

wooden roof

baronial

Davis designed furniture in what was

hall.

supposed to be

Gothic

structure suggesting a

mode

for the house: chairs

books

Cottage

Residences

(1842)

and

The

Architecture of Country Houses (1850), with their

many engravings showing plans and perspectives


houses

in a

influential.
styles,

of

became popular and


Designs were shown in a variety of
range of

sizes,

including a simplified version of Gothic

intended for

wood construction. The kind of


Carpenter Gothic, produced by
cutting pointed-arch forms in wood

building called
local builders

with the aid of the widely used Scroll saw,

became

many

a staple of

American house building

years. Exterior walls given vertical

for

emphasis

with board and batten siding and pointed-arch

windows, often with leaded

glass,

were favorite

elements for houses and small village churches.

with carved backs (called Wheelback), suggesting

Gothic rose window tracery, an octagonal dining


table with

Gothic carving, and beds with massive

Gothic pointed-arch head- and foot-board

details.

Davis was friendly with the landscape gardener

Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-52). Downing's


180

England

The Gothic

Revival in America was at least in part

stimulated by a comparable revival in England.

Even

in

the late eighteenth centurv' there were

English forays into the Romantic implications of


The Regency,

medievalism, with the building of country houses

such as Strawberry

Hill,

near London, a modest

1750 by Horace Walpole

cottage remodeled in

(1717-97) with interiors that are

and
mode. It is a
was among the

lacy, delicate,

playful interpretations of the Gothic

surprise to learn that Robert

Adam

professionals that Walpole employed, working here


in his

notion of a Gothic vocabulary. Beginning in

1796,

wealthy

English

William

eccentric,

and Gothic approaches

classical

design problems

always

seem

much

foolish or absurd.

of his arguments

set off

battle of the styles" in

Revivalists aired

what

is

mansion on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, designed


by James Wyatt (1746-1813) and given the name
Fonthill Abbey (fig. 10.12). It was an astonishing

work

in either style as their clients

battlements,

and

pinnacles,

tower above an octagonal vaulted chamber


conceived as a kind of stage

set

on which

all

the

many of the
intensity of

often called "the

opposing views with considerable

Many

of

in

The

which Greek and Gothic

heat.

towers with vast Gothic halls and a 276 foot high

to similar

Pugin's attack on classicism and the moralistic tone

Beckford, commissioned the building of a huge

agglomeration

architects

and designers were happy to


might request.

Pugin not only propagandized

in favor

of the

Gothic mode, he also urged a true or pure Gothic

would

that

the

first

above the decorative

rise

Gothic Revivalists.

When

trivialities

of

came

to

the time

build the Houses of Parliament (the

New

Palace of

Westminster) in London, the architect chosen was


Charles Barry (1795-1860), whose previous

dramas of medieval life could be replayed. Fonthill


Abbey is known only from paintings and engravings; built largely in wood and stucco, the tower
collapsed in a wind storm, turning the entire struc-

work had been in a sedate


logical and orderly plans for

ture into a suitably romantic ruin.

brought (probably generated by Victoria herself)

The emotional and

aesthetic leanings

toward

Gothic medievalism were soon backed up by a

body of
gave

criticism

way

and philosophy. As the Regency


movement toward

to the Victorian era, a

a sternly moralistic religiosity developed.

Queen

Sir

building were

Neoclassical style. His


this large

but

received,

well

and complex
was

pressure

an English Gothic treatment, outside and

for

in.

Barry turned to Pugin for direction, and the two

men

together produced the famous building that

became
its

symbol of

British strength

and power

at

Victorian peak.

spirit

Houses of Parliament display


symmetry and formal organization of a classical
building, except for the variations introduced by
towers and the presence of the genuinely medieval
Westminster Hall. The surface detail, however, is
Gothic, representing Pugin's knowledge and skill
marred only by a certain mechanical repetitiousness, more modern than medieval. Iron joists,

urge

products of the Industrial Revolution, were used,

Gothicism as the only virtuous and acceptable

hidden behind the seeming Gothic detail. Pugin


was the leading designer of the interiors, which

model of

Victoria, herself a

became

piety

symbolic leader for

desire for a Christian

mode

and

rectitude,

toward

this turn

of design, in contrast to

and Rome which were,


after all, pagan civilizations. The era in which
Christianity dominated Europe was, of course, the
Middle Ages, and its Gothic design had an obvious
the classicism of Greece

connection with the church. The romantic

and

moralistic

style.

theories

Several writers

joined

thus

to

became polemicists

for this

Externally, the

the

some of the finest work of the Gothic


The Peers' Lobby, the Victoria Lobby, St.
Stephen's Hall, the Central Octagon, and St.
Stephen's Porch added at the end of the genuinely

Ruskin

include

(1819-1900), in his Seven Lamps of Architecture


(1849), sets forth a highly moralistic theory of

Revival.

philosophical

architecture in

line

of

criticism.

lohn

which "good" design is not merely


a matter of moral virtue as

an aesthetic matter, but


well.

According

to

Ruskin,

return

"Christian" style was the only proper and


able direction for art

Ruskin was

and design

to

the

accept-

not himself a designer, but his

themes were advanced with

parallel

force by a

highly professional architect, Axisus tus

Pugin (1812-52), the author

oif

medieval Westminster Hall

Gothic Revivalism

House of Lords

Welby

Contrasts (1836),

True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture


(1841), and a number of other works in which

all

(fig.

10.13)

demonstrate Pugin's

The chamber

at its best.

is

for the

probably the most

rooms the chamber for the


House of Commons went through several alter-

spectacular of these

to take.

Industrial Revolution

to the disadvan-

which was made

tage of the classical


plates to

and

used to make direct comparisons

illustrations are

between

Revivals,

ations that

left it

Barry or Pugin

not to the satisfaction of either

(or, for that matter,

of the

Members

who met there).


Pugin designed

many

churches in the Gothic

idiom, but their very correctness in imitation of

181

Chapter Ten

10.12 James Wyatt,


south end of

St.

Michael's Gallery,
Fonthill

Abbey,

Wiltshire, England,

from 1795.
This extraordinary

shown in a
1823 engraving, was
built for an eccentric
house,

English

client,

Beckford,
early in

William

who was

demanding the
was to domi-

style that

nate the Gothic revival


Despite

Its

name,

it

was

not an abbey, but the


stained glass, tracery,

and fan

vaulting, simu-

lated in plaster,
typical of the

was

many

grand spaces with


subtle coloring. Red
carpet, curtains,

and

chair cushions set off

the more delicate pink

and grey of painted


surfaces. In 1825 the
building was destroyed

when a wind storm


blew over

its

276

foot

high wooden tower.

10.13 Charles

Barry

and Augustus Welby

New

Pugin,

N.

Palace of

Westminster (Houses of
Parliament),
Lords,

House of

London,

1836-52.
Barry's orderly

plan for

the extensive cluster of

was clothed
a Gothic ornamental
treatment, which was
urged by Pugin who
buildings
in

had primary

responsi-

bility for the interiors.

This great chamber,

with

its

traceried

stained glass, Gothic


arches,

and paneled

ceiling,

could easily be

mistaken for a medieval


interior,

was

although

it

built during the

early Victorian era.

182

The Regency,

their

Revivals,

and

Industrial Revolution

medieval protor)T?es makes them seem some-

dull. The small country church of St. Mary's


West Tofts, Norfolk (1845-50), is one of the
most successful. Although many examples have
beautifully detailed furnishings and ornament, the
vitality that came from slow building with contributions of carving and ornament from generations

what
at

of craftsmen,

is

missing in these works that were

produced from drawings made by (or at the direction oO one architect working in a modern professional way.

Pugin had few opportunities to apply


to

ries

residential

projects.

He was

his theo-

and

active

successful as a designer of furniture, textiles, wall-

paper, decorative

and published

tile,

stained glass,

illustrated

and metalwork,

books of designs

in these

exerted strong influence in the develop-

fields that

ment of design

in the Victorian era for

many

years

after his death.

The work of William

Butterfield (1814-1900)

is

not as archeologically correct as the Gothic of


Pugin, but
that

make

interesting even

All

ugliness.

(1849-59)

cramped

has qualities of originality and strength

it

it

is

site

Saints,

when

Margaret

its

may border on
London

in

squeezed on to a

a brick building

along with

it

Street,

vicarage

school together with a massive tower.

and a church

The red

brick

and patterned with bands of darker


simple Gothic forms are covered with

walls are striped


brick. Inside,

glazed brick,

tiles,

and marbles

in various colors

forming strong geometric patterns


Butterfield's intention in his use of

not romantic or even aesthetic;


the conviction that

it

it

(fig.

Gothic

10.14).

style

was

grew rather from

was the only structurally

valid

system of building. His ornament was an original

tion of the processes of industry in the eighteenth

sound structure
a foretaste of the emphasis on "honesty" and structural
expression that would develop in the

century.

modernism of the twentieth

of other trades. Virtually

approach to expressive

The

detail for

century.

Industrial Revolution

The term Industrial Revolution is used to describe


the complex of developments that transformed
Britain, then other western European nations and
the United States, into
It is

modern

nology was available


French

in

encyclopedist

produced

in his

Denis

by four horses walking

wood even

to consider

Diderot

(1713-84)

many-volume work documenta-

show

the techniques of glass

work is hand work


not, of course, without tools and equipment, but
the tools are simple and the equipment is hand
made. There is no assembly line, no machinery.
The most advanced machinery shown by
Diderot is the wooden gearing of a mill grinding
hops for the making of beer. The power is supplied
of the mill.

10.14 William
Butterfield, All Saints,

Margaret

blowing, shipbuilding, cabinet making, and dozens

change

what techthe eighteenth century. The

two centuries,

with wonderfully

articles, illustrated

detailed engraving,

industrial nations.

helpful, in trying to grasp the extent of

in the last

The

windmill

all

in a circle in the
is

shown, entirely

to the wheels

sources of power are

basement

and

human,

gears.

horse,

Street,

London, 1849-59.

Although

Butterfield's

work can be viewed as


belonging to the Gothic
revival, it

and

has an energy

originality that

goes beyond historic


imitation.

arches

The great

and

buttress

half-arches have

almost harsh
ness,

which

is

accented

by the generous use of

built of

The only
water, and

floor

and

which are

wall

tiles,

in the

strongly contrasting
colors typical of

wind,

all

Through

of the
all

of

last

three only used in limited ways.

human

history

an

forceful-

much

Victorian work.

from the stone age


had been

until the late eighteenth century, these

183

T/l

Chapter Ten

used to build more factories, making their owners

quick survey of the possessions of any modern

wealthy and, eventually, making the countries that

the only ways in which things could be made.

family will reveal few,

The plumbing

if

any,

hand-made

objects.

lamps, the stove, and

fixtures, the

refrigerator; the telephone, radio, television,

computer;
clothing

the

not

to speak of the car, the

even the children's toys:

most would be

pumped

the

lawn mower,

made, and

are factory

useless without the ready supply of

water, electric current, gasoline, and spare

which are

parts

all

and

bedding,

the

fiarniture,

turn products of industrial

in

and

Early Industrialization

Inventions
wave of

first

industrialization

was based on a

few key inventions. The steam engine, the


great "prime

mover"

first

to be turned to use as a source

of power for pumping water and running the

machinery of

mills,

textile

was developed by

of inventors culminating with James Watt

series

(1736-1819) of Glasgow. His stationary engines of


1769 to 1788 offered the
to

first

practical alternative

hand, horse, wind, and water as a source of

power. Steam engines and the boiler that fed them


required metals for their working parts. Iron had

been known and


special

purposes

blades)

since

needed

for

steel

made

steel

and

knife

engines

mines and

required

and

steel

mills.

blast

Transport of

from mines, of iron from foundries, and of


from mills to the shops where engines could

muddy

pulled along

roads.

Making a road of metal


no longer pulled by

a "rail road" with cars

horses or oxen but by the special mobile version of


the steam engine, the locomotive
to build

for

more

factories

more steam
railroads,

and take

engines, to

and

to bring

made

it

easier

make more

rails

raw materials

their products to markets.

to

The

States, and, eventually, other

countries rose in wealth and status as the process of


industrialization progressed.

While

happening, the world of design paid

all

of this was

little

attention

except to offer a few complaints about the noise

and

dirt associated

revivalists,

with the

new

Greek or Gothic, took

inventions.

little

The

notice of the

Nash used iron columns in the Brighton Pavilion,


Huston Station had a Greek entrance gate, Latrobe
designed a steam-powered water pumping station
with Greek detail. Steam engines often incorporated structural parts of cast iron in the form of
classical columns. Locomotives sometimes had
domes shaped like Roman temples or curiously
squat versions of Greek columns. Wealthy clients
were less often titled aristocrats and more
frequently self-made industrialists or the managers
and professionals who served industry. The
segments of populations who would have been
"peasants" working in agriculture and living in
farm houses became the "mill-hands" who worked
in factories and lived in cities, most often in grim
slums made up of squalid tenements.

Industry and Interiors


The impact of the early phases of the Industrial
Revolution on interior design was more technical
than
aesthetic.
First
toward modern
steps
plumbing, lighting, and heating appeared, making
some important elements of earlier interiors obsolescent. Cast iron became an inexpensive and practical material for the making of stoves. Stoves
heated with wood, and then coal, had major advantages in terms of efficiency and convenience over
the open fireplace (fig. 10.15). Ready availability of
coal resulted from improved mining and rail transport. For cooking, the special form of stove called a

building of iron ships powered by steam engines

kitchen range, also of cast iron,

introduced similar improvements in sea travel and

places obsolete. Kitchen ranges were developed,

inter-continental transport of goods. The


power loom of Joseph Cartwright (1785) and the

with water reservoirs kept

steam engine together made possible a

water

the

textile mill

capable of producing cheap cloth in quantity.

The
required

products

of

engine-powered

factories

hand labor and so could be inexpenearned by mills and factories could be

less

sive. Profits

184

Germany, the United

ancient times, but the quantities

be made called for something better than ox carts

rails,

in small quantities for

weapons,

(armor,

furnaces, foundries
coal

rich and powerful.


dominant world power. France,

industrialization

England became

great changes taking place in their world. John

processes.

The

turned to

systems

began

to

pumps

kitchen

warm by the

provide hot water as needed. In

provided by steam

made

cities,

stove

fire-

fire to

central piped

appear,

the

that could

lift

pressure

water to a

high reservoir or water tower so that gravity would

make water

bathrooms on the upper


Running water, flush toilets.

available to

floors of buildings.

The Regency,

Revivals,

and

10.15

and the drain trap that blocks the escape of sewer


gases were all introduced into general use in the

were placed

in cellars to heat

Revolution brought
workers into parts of
cities

and

pipes

called

grilles

"registers."

The

warm

workers

and

their fami-

often were crowded

lies

larger

warm

living

expensive. Factory

into tiny quarters, such

spaces of churches, theaters, schools, hospitals, and


public buildings could also be heated by

where

space was scarce and

through

living spaces

1892,

c,

The Industrial

of central heating gradually replaced stoves. Coal-

which was circulated to

flat,

building,

Glasgow,

and showers were luxuries at first


but eventually became standard in city houses and
at least sometimes in rural houses as well. Systems
fired furnaces

Restored

tenement

1800s. Bath tubs

air

Industrial Revolution

as

this

room, where

cooking stove, alcove

air

systems. Furnaces were also arranged to heat water


so that piped hot water could be available in bath-

bed,

and

lines

share the

clothes drying

same

small space The


restoration has prob-

rooms.
Artificial lighting,

ably

confined to candles until the

less

end of the eighteenth century, was improved


through a

series

burned

fuel

colza

(made from

oil

this

room

would have been

it

in its

original state. The

of inventions. Oil lamps that

called

made

squalid than

wall clock

neat

and small

objects introduce

an

vegetable seed) were developed with wick holders

improbable touch of

and feed mechanism. That could be factory made

elegance. The radio

in

quantity and provided better light than candles

with
oil

less

inconvenience. Whale

as

"mineral

is,

of course, modern.

replaced colza

oil

and was eventually replaced by

fuel

oil," that

is,

petroleum and

its

derivative,

kerosene. Various improved burners such as those

Iron

and Class

using a mantle, a curtain of ash that produced a


bright incandescent glow, gave better light than a

The development of oil lamps with


functional advantages and varied appearance

direct flame.
their

The

Industrial Revolution brought

as

many

produced

applications.

The invention of illuminating

made

possible the gradual

introduction of piped gas for lighting supplied by

The same

centralized city systems.

gas

was

also

new

needs and

displaced candlesticks, sconces, and chandeliers in

gas, originally coal gas,

new ways of
new

building that resulted from the interaction of

technology.

new

The

availability

of iron

of great strength and low cost,

material

and railroad

rails,

introduced

wood and masonry

as building

for engines

alternative to

At the same time the need for great

materials.

bridges to carry railroads and great train sheds for

new

usable for cooking ranges and for various heating

stations

devices such as the gas grate which could be placed

Engineering emerged as a technological profession

make an open

in fireplaces to

The

visible

fire

teenth century.

in a utilitarian

or colorful

in the early nine-

The bathroom emerged

kind of space, but


place in house

which had

unnecessary.

evidences of these technological

developments remained minor

it

as a

new

was usually given a minor

and other building plans and treated


way, perhaps with some marble trim

tiles

in

luxury examples.

Kitchens,

by default since

they were not given any particular aesthetic attention. In living spaces, the role

of the fireplace and

mantel diminished, giving way to a small coal


grate, a "parlor stove,"

register inserted

have been.

and

where the

problems.

connection with the gentlemanly

had been the bases of earlier

architectural practice.

Although early engineering

first had little impact on the designers


and
Gothic Revival buildings, they
of Greek
demonstrated new techniques that were destined to

structures at

bring about basic changes in design comparable to


those developing in every other aspect of life.

The
span

first

the

iron bridge was built in England to

Severn

River

Shropshire, in 1779,
the

foundry

of

its

at

Coalbrookdale,

arches cast in sections in

Abraham Darby

III.

Thomas

Telford (1757-1834) was the designer of a major

air

aqueduct, Pont-Cysylltau in Wales, built in 1805 to

opening would

carry a canal across the River Dee. Great stone piers

finally to a

fireplace

little

engineering

aesthetic concerns that

viewed as the workplaces of servants, were often


early exercises in functional design

presented

hot

support nineteen arches

made up

of cast-iron

185

'

Chapter Ten

segments bolted together. Telford designed

a great

suspension bridge to carry a carriage road from the

mainland of Wales to the island of Anglesey across

Menai

the

of 579

Strait.

This opened in 1826:

level to

pass underneath.

span

for

suitable

elaborate, too expensive, or otherwise impratical.

the

that

The bridge

is still

are not

chain could hang in the


all

such bridges.

in regular use carrying

Kingdom Brunei

of 1851 designed by Isambard

(1806-59), was powered by two sets of steam


engines,

one driving paddle wheels and the other

turning a screw propeller.

Its

luxurious passenger

accommodations were decorated

The Public's Perception of Crystal Palace

modern

giant ship built of iron, the Great Eastern

in the prevailing

The

radical nature of

Joseph Paxton's design

for

London drew sharp condemnation


from many quarters, adding to criticism of the very
Crystal Palace in

notion of a "Great Exhibition." The writer and art

John Ruskin dismissed

it

While the building of engines,

and bridges may seem to have

railroads, ships,

little

connection

critic

as a "cucumber frame

between two chimneys," adding,


In

the year 1851,

when

all

that glittering roof

built in order to exhibit all the petty arts of

taste.

was

own

our

fashionable luxury-carved bedsteads of Vienna,

glued toys of Switzerland and gay jewellery from


France-in that very year, say, the greatest
I

with interior design,


use

it

was the techniques

for the

of industrial materials developed in these

projects that

made new ways of constructing build-

ings possible. Railroad terminals

protect trains, passengers,

a scale

would reach across many tracks. Wood and


masonry were not ideal materials for the purpose
and engineers designing railways found it logical to
apply their knowledge and build in iron. Glass,
that

now

factory

made

in quantity in large sheets,

was

and transparent material for filling in


iron frames to make train sheds. The two side by

an ideal

light

side that covered King's Cross Station in


(fig.

pictures of Venetian masters were rotting at Venice


In

the rain for want of a roof to cover them.

Politicians followed suit:

needed sheds to

and baggage on

10.16; 1850-2) were designed

London

by Lewis Cubitt

(1799-1883); here the masonry facade reveals the

Are the elms [of Hyde Park] to be sacrificed for one


of the greatest frauds, greatest humbugs, greatest
absurdities every known
[T]hey are going to
expend 26,000 on this building when the Irish
poor are starving. '
However, when Paxton's design was completed, and
the exhibition opened,
following entry

in

Queen

Victoria

made

simple clock tower. There


other

historically

no Gothic, Greek, or

is

inspired

detail.

Paddington Station (1852-4) has


train sheds

glass

The glimpse of that transept through the Iron


gates, the waving palms, flowers, statues, myriads
of people filling the galleries and seats around,
with the flourish of trumpets as we entered, gave us
a sensation which can never forget, and felt
much moved .... The sight as we came to the
I

greatest

and iron

touchlng-a day to

In

vast, so glorious, so

live forever.

Even The Times, an early

critic,

conceded:

There was yesterday witnessed a sight the like of


which has never before and which In the nature of

nineteenth-century glass and iron

building was built in

was maglcal-so

front

England: Paxton

The

middle, with the beautiful crystal fountain just

London's

by Brunei.

the

her journal:

iron sheds within in two great arches separated by a

London

in 1851.

It

had been

decided to hold a "Great Exhibition," what would

who were

so

knew what most

to

things can never be repeated. They


fortunate as to see

It

hardly

admire or In what form to clothe the sense of


wonder. .the edifice, the treasures of art collected
.

now

be called a World's

brate

the

greatness

Fair, in

London

to cele-

of Victorian England. The

nations of the world were invited to send exhibits

of their finest products in art and industry to be


in

Hyde Park

in a

huge exhibition

Victoria's consort. Prince Albert,

hall.

was put

in

charge of organizing the project, and turned his

186

Above them

therein ....

more

lofty

cathedrals.

rose a glittering arch far

than the vaults of our noblest


''

John Ruskin, The Opening of the Crystal Palace. 1 854, p.


2
Hansard Parliamentary Report, June 8, 1 850; 3. Patrick Beaver, The
Crystal Palace (London, 1970) 4. The Tmes. editorial. May 2, 1851
1

shown
Queen

It

was reported that a chief gardener (really an estate


manager) for the great estate of Chatsworth, loseph

permit large sailing ships to

The suspension elements

graceful catenary curve typical of

ornate

proposals

finding

to

but chains made of great iron bars bolted

together so

traffic.

had

and the roadway was held high enough

feet,

above water
cables,

it

attention

building. Various architects presented schemes too

1 ;

The Regency,

Revivals,

and

Industrial Revolution

10.16

Lewis Cubitt,

train shed, King's Cross

Station, London,

1850-2.
The two parallel train
sheds (one of which

shown

is

here) that Cubitt

designed are typical of


the engineenng

achievements devel-

oped

to

meet the

demands of the
Industrial Revolution.

The semicircular arches


supporting glass
skylights were onginally

constructed in lami-

nated wood and


replaced with

later

iron.

Victorian ornamen-

way

talism here gives


to

a functional

emphasis that points


toward the modern

era.

10.17 Joseph Paxton,


Crystal Palace, London,

1851.
The famous building,
seen

in

a contemporary

lithograph,

housed the

Creat Exhibition, a

showcase of Victorian
prosperity

and

taste

It

occupied one of the


first

buildings of truly

modern concept Its


iron frame and the
glass walls and roof,
with their functional
simplicity, contrast

strangely with the


display of flond,

overdecorated goods

and sentimental
uary.

The great

stat-

trees in

predated

this intenor

the building

and

remained after

its

removal.

187

Chapter Ten

10.19

(ng^t) Pierre-

Paxton (1803-65), had constructed

Francois-Henri

Labrouste, Bibliotheque

Nationale, Pans,

for tropical plants

glass.

meeting was

1859-67,

proposed

square reading room

similar construction

is

topped by nine

domes, each with an


iron

frame supporting

panels of tile Light

comes from the oculae


in the

domes. The

extreme thinness of the


columns, permitted by
the strength of the iron,

makes

for

on open and

a conservatory

all of iron and


where Paxton

arranged

greenhouse of

to Prince Albert a vast

for

the exhibition.

Despite

and protests, Paxton's proposal was


finally accepted and constructed with the aid of the
engineering firm of Fox and Henderson.
uncertainties

The

known

building, soon

as the Crystal Palace

was made up of iron frames, columns,


and girders produced in quantity at a foundry,
bolted together on site, and glazed with sheets of
(fig.

10.17),

factory-made

beautiful space.

greenhouse

glass.

It

was unlike anything ever


(it was 1851 feet

built before: a vast internal space

10.18

Pierre-Franfois-

Henri Labrouste,

Bibliotheque

Genevieve,

feet)

almost negligible, glass walls and roof.

mam space of the


has one of the
structural

systems to be put to
architectural use. The

outer walls are stone,

but the support

struc-

with the

ture

IS iron,

slim

row of columns

down

the center of the

space supporting the


iron arches

of the

roof.

The detail of the arches


IS

giant

elm

on the site was left undisturbed within the


building. The beautifully simple and airy interior
was greatly admired by the crowds that attended
the exhibition so that, when the time came to
remove the building, it was decided to dismande it
and reassemble it at Sydenham, then on the edge of
London. It stood there until 1936 when it was
destroyed by a fire.
We can see from the many engravings and color
tree

The reading room, the

first all-iron

with structural elements so slim as to be

St.

Paris,

1844-50.

library,

long and had an area of more than 800,000 square

prints that
ingly

were made of the building

modern

Crystal

how

the vast interior space was

appears

Palace

in

every

strik-

indeed,

architectural

ornamental but also

suited to the

history as the

wrought-iron structure

what much

first

later

fully realized

came

to be called

achievement of

modernism. The

exhibits that filled the Crystal Palace during the

Great

were

Exhibition

mented

also

thoroughly

in well-illustrated publications.

docu-

They form

a strange contrast with the building, as they are

generally of the decorated or over-decorated sort


that

became the norm of "high Victorian" design

(see

Chapter

1 1 ).

and

Iron

were

glass,

used

increasingly

as

building materials in the second half of the nineteenth century, most often for buildings that were

thought

market

of as

utilitarian

strictly

train

sheds,

and other factory buildings, and


all structures where the economy

halls, mills

exhibition halls

and ease of iron construction were more important


than monumentality.
France: Labrouste, Baltard,

The

French

and

Pierre-Fran(;ois-Henri

architect

Labrouste (1801-75) was trained

Beaux-Arts in Paris and

Rome

that gave

His

Italy.

Genevieve
is

first

him

Eiffel

won

at

the

the Ecole des

Grand

Prix de

a five-year period of study in

major work was the

library of St.

in Paris (fig. 10.18; 1844-50). Its design

forward looking in

way

quite independent of

the teachings of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

building has a simple exterior of stone,

its

The

rows of

arched windows framed with Neoclassical detail so


restrained as to be hardly noticeable. Carved into

the stone panels below the upper

names of 810 authors, arranged

windows
in

are the

alphabetical

A central entrance door leads to a large hall


where square Neoclassical columns support iron
order.

segmental arches that in turn support a plain,


ceiling.

and

On
room

hall passes

188

flat

either side of this vestibule are stacks


for special collections.

through the building

The entrance

like a

tunnel to

The Regency,

reach a grand double stair at the rear; this in turn


gives access to the great reading

room

that occupies

The walls are lined with


bookshelves with windows high above. A row of
thin iron columns on the center line of the room
supports the two simple barrel vaults, made up of
the entire upper floor.

grid stairs

and

permits

and

all

of the

levels.

glass wall

view from the reading room into the

A high, open central space runs through the


room, with bridges for easy access from one
to the other. Ornamentation is minimal,

stacks.

stack
side

room an

iron arches, that support the curved plaster ceiling.

giving the stack

The ironwork is perforated in a decorative pattern


with no historical precedents. The provision of gas

therefore surprisingly

entirely functional,

modern,

Other iron structures

and

aspect.

for various uses gradually

Paris (1859-67), also designed

became more common in the nineteenth century.


The great wholesale food markets of Paris, Les
Halles Centrales, begun in 1853 by Victor Baltard
(1805-74), were a virtual neighborhood of iron

more complex

pavilions with covered streets until their demoli-

light

made

library to

it

possible for this to be the

remain open

The much

larger

first

French

after dark.

Bibliotheque Nationale in

by Labrouste, is a
main reading room
(fig. 10.19), sixteen thin iron columns support
interconnecting iron arches to form nine square
bays. Each is topped by a dome made up from
building. In the

curved plates of earthenware ceramic.

window
with

at

light.

the center of each

The outer

dome

An

oculus

floods the space

walls are of masonry, inde-

1964. Exhibition buildings, such as the

tion in

Machines

des

Galerie

for

built

the

Paris

International Exhibition of 1889, used giant trusses

with pivot points

and

at their bases

at a center

point where the trusses meet to form a "three-

hinged arch" with a span of more than 480

feet.

movement

pendent of the iron structure, and are lined with

The purpose of the

three tiers of bookshelves with balconies for access.

thermal expansion and contraction occur in the

Adjacent to the reading room, the nmgasin central


or stacks occupy an equally large space
four tiers of stack shelving,

all

filled

by

of iron with open

Industrial Revolution

permitting daylight from roof

floors,

skylights to light

Revivals,

pivots

is

to allow

metal of the trusses. The French desire to

demon-

engineering as

equality or superiority in

strate

as

compared to English achievements is demonstrated by these stuctures and, close by, for the
same exhibition, by the famous tower by Gustave
Eiffel

(1832-1923).

It

was

for

The

structure ever built.

made

years the tallest

elevators that serve the

tower were evidence that

on

many

tall

buildings could be

The restaurants
combined the engi-

useful to the general public.

the platforms of the tower

neering vocabulary of iron with the fashionable


taste for decorative clutter. Eiftel's earlier

work had

10.20

touis-Charles

Boileau and Custave


Eiffel,

Bon Marche,

Pans, 1876-

Grand stairways lead

to

the upper levels of this

Pans department store,


in an engraving.

seen

The slim and elegant


iron structure permits

included several great iron railroad bridges and the


iron-structured interior of a large Paris department
store,

Bon Marche

(fig.

10.20;

1876),

where the

spectacular views of the

open central space and


supports the roof of
glass skylights. The

iron structure and glass roofs above open courts

crowds of fancily

allow daylight to flood the interior.

dressed shoppers found

The Regency and

the several revival styles that

the store a source of

entertainment as well

followed

it

sequence of

can be thought of
stylistic

as

ending the

developments dating back to

as a place to purchase
goods.

The changes brought about by the

antiquity.

Industrial Revolution upset this long continuity in

design

history.

and

Social

economic

production

created

new

changes

many aspects

relating to the mechanization of so

circumstances

designers struggled to deal with.

of

that

The Victorian

era in the second half of the nineteenth century, the

subject of the following chapter,

successes

and

terms with

is

marked by the

failures of the efforts to

come

to

new realities.
189

The Victorian Era

Until the nineteenth century, European society had

functionalism

been made up of

developments. Victorian design thus seems to be

"upper

and wealthy

a small, powerful,

class" of titled aristocrats

whose wealth was

tion

generation to generation, and a very large class of

worlds of

owned by

on

the land

The middle class of


tradesmen, skilled craftsmen, and professionals
was so small as to be a minor factor in the social
and economic order. In the nineteenth century, the
aristocratic upper class began to lose its domination for both political and economic reasons. The
the titled class.

class

of agricultural peasants decreased in

work

in mills, factories,

size as

and mines supplanted farm


work. The growing middle class was made up of a
stratum of society that learned to turn the

rising

Industrial Revolution into a source of

The

and powerful who

rich

new

wealth.

lived in great houses,

chateaux, and palaces had always been surrounded

by
11.1

richly

decorated

(be/ow) Catalog

page, Great Exhibition,

draperies,
skilled

London, 1851.
Despite the logic

and

simplicity of the Crystal


Palace, where the exhibition took place, the

all

rugs,

and

hand made of costly materials by


The new middle class could

craftsmen.

afford such things

produced

sively

ornate

objects,

now

that they

and the

ornamental became the dominant theme of

home

the riot of meaningless

ornament

demonstration of

striking

chimneypiece (bottom).

{opposite) Franl<

Furness, Pennsylvania

of Fine Arts,

Philadelphia, 1871-6.

The Victonan-type
institution incorporated

an art school on the


ground floor and a

museum on

the second

documentation of the Great Exhibition of 1851


the

Crystal

stration of the possibilities of the

reached by the grand


stainvay shown here.

and

original

version of Victorian
style

made

glass.

Within, however, the

were

frosting, each exhibitor

frequent use

competitors in an excess of tastelessness that

all

now seems

generate interiors that

depart from any


historic precedents.

The

make

lithographs

patterned wall surfaces

in

lively

an era that the

Lewis

Mumford

possible to study these curious

it

contrasts in considerable detail

background

the

In

wonderful

illustrated

a fine set of colored

(fig. 11.1).

and

overhead,

the

can be

simplicit)' of the great structure

H.

&

haldathii blgli

Pnmm,

The Roots of Victorian

'

wignTiog:

ll

up-

lun
I

nequlnd

pttHloi)

npuUUuoBhlclLthiHgTDlIwi
In til fmiU of Ean>\t
T

lietagut

'

aiiulniEtiiML

tnu

tna uobhuvj artir

ID oulluii, Li(til muil ien|>l~

Style

The

long

of

reign

Britain's

Queen

Victoria

(1837-1901) overlapped the period of revivals and


the "battle of the styles," and coincided with a

major part of the Industrial Revolution and the


Arts and Crafts or Aesthetic movement in
England. As a style, however, "Victorian" has come
to mean an aspect of nineteenth-century design in
England and America (and parallel developments
other

Ttiia

Lmch

luuu

ThsCniHiiTr

TlHa pwU nrra ifai pur

t Son. of Lobli

Inos

Putt

bjr

BruBali

llMm UOLLini
'

dciuK tloH

ID EnoluiiL

tlidul" J>>*.'

Of

Thm

it,

oa

Ihll at Ibi

TTit

iBirli !

cuiqnonaK

Miiuuiltlj

Ith > (n*

mnml

in

tdapUtUa

wilnul-oBl.

lottei

ulnngouL Tbs)

fM

UuJ

aboul Ihrno

iitlu

cDninDfUachiirMnria

In blight

European countries) characterized by


sometimes over-deco-

proliferation of decorative,
rative,

design

ornamentation.
historians

and

Many

twentieth-century

critics

have

dismissed

a riot of tasteless excess verging

on absurdity.

a vitality,

and

freedom that the more

"tasteful"

design of the preceding and following years some-

much

One

neglected

aspect of Victorianism has been

the development

of a simple

vernacular vocabulary in areas dealing with tech-

critic

called

the "brown decades.

190

complete

and

TnE WDnSTRY OF ALL NATIOSS.

times lacks.

and

and

ludicrous.

catalog of the exhibition

However, Victorian design often has an energy,

pointed arches to

are unusual

of decorative

riot

seemingly trying to outdo

Victorian design as representing a nadir of quality,

of stubby columns and

strong colors

demon-

industrial

and

A. HouiBi, caniagf-biiililniv qf
Ikriir. cDntribuU i Liost FiiiE
at

Furness's highly

personal

new

exhibited

materials, iron

materials

at

This famous proto-modern

Palace.

building (see pp. 187-8) was a dramatic

,1.

in

which was

floor,

seemingly

this

to beautify

Academy

of

all

Park Phaeton" (top) to

11.2

in

fields

inconsistent design view can be studied in the

varied from the "Light

intended

growing

in the

and technology.

science

developed

tradition

and

industry, transport,

and government,

religion,

life,

functional

the

design.

objects on display

architectural

florid decora-

dominating the formal and "respectable"

while

were inexpen-

in quantity; the decorative

two worlds, with

strangely split into

based on feudal land holdings inherited from


"peasants," mostly agricultural workers

a precursor of twentieth-century

is

"

nical, practical,

rative elements

and functional design where decowere restrained or absent. Such

'

iMrfcrsM

bm^ ud

*U

ili*

iu>ntl>

v*

of

Biitiali

'aecbjilunMB

fast h|(i,

ctgnt* oel^ tbtt

ot

wiil

Chapter Eleven

That the quality of ornamentation declined so

glimpsed. The hoop-skirted ladies and stovepipe-

dramatically

and one assumes admiring, chairs and tables,


mirrors, and pianos, stoves and mantels, china and
glassware, all encrusted with an amazing variety of

pre- industrial world, design was produced by a

ornamentation. In general, the ornament

not

is

based on any historic precedents. Greek columns

and Gothic arches are rarely to be seen; instead


forms borrowed from human and animal figures,
leaves and flowers, and complex florid arabesques
having no discoverable sources cover almost every
object. Here and there a locomotive, a

pistol,

an

astronomical telescope, or the gears of machines


offer

some

contrast, but these functional objects

are almost lost amid the plethora of "artistic" deco-

There were tables supported by

rative works.

cast-

small

calls for

number of creative people

art and
The weaver was the
he wove and had a knowledge

of the time.

architecture

designer of the cloth

of and respect for the materials and patterns that he

produced. The

silver smith, the glass

clock maker, the

craftsmen

wood

worked

all

carver,

the mill

The pianos

printing

are barely visible

upright,

beneath their overlay of orna-

When

weaving became an industrial operation,


hand had no role in the design of the
produced.

textiles that the factory

to

became

reasons behind this typically Victorian

frenzy of decorative excess seem to be based in the

congruence of two

related

Industrial Revolution

and

be printed was no concern of the workers


cloth. Factory-made furniture was

developments.

The

impact on manufac-

its

produced from machine-made parts that were


who had no role in design.

assembled by workers

Design became increasingly separated from the

and control of design passed into the hands


who had no
tradition of involvement in such matters. They

crafts,

of the factory owners and managers

once
for making ornamental carving
molds were made, repeating an elaborate design
was cheap, easy, and cost effective. In fact, ornamentation could conceal minor defects in castings

became the norm of Victorian

would be objectionable in plain surfaces. The


scroll saw and more complex carving machines
could produce details in wood reminiscent of hand

of decorative elements in

made

it

easy,

material

that

carving of the past.

Industrial

production also

generated wealth. The owners of factories and mills

for

rich,

new

accountants,

while their industries created a need

class

and

textile

producing the

and therefore
cheap, to produce ornamentation that would
previously have required slow and costly skilled
handwork. Power looms could weave elaborately
ornamented textiles and carpets as easily as plain
and simple equivalents. Cast iron was an ideal
turing had, by 1851,

became

When

mechanical process, the design

not constructed by cabinet makers, but instead

mental carving.

The

plaster

clientele that respected excellence in aesthetic as

winged thoughts," carved


bed "with details of
sideboards and
produced
industrially
Renaissance,"
the French

AxMiNSTER
of Collard and CoUard, one grand and one

blower, the

and the

in related traditions for a

well as materialistic terms.

carpets, flowery chintzes.

artists, architects

of his period in relation to the best

detail

iron swans, chairs of papier-mache decorated, the

cradles, a metal

and craftsmen-designers who


worked within traditions that had developed slowly
over long periods. The cabinet maker learned his
trade as an apprentice, and learned the ornamental
(often self-taught),

catalog states, with "two

of managers, salespeople, and


the

supporting

related professions that

make up modern

knew only

maximum

that

the

buying

public

wanted

production could deliver what was wanted


cheaply,

and

virtually a universal

at

tive,

classification.

the ever-

design

fi-om

for free

all

combinations

styles finally defeats

The

term

many sources,

"eclectic,"
is

descrip-

but that term has become so attached to a

more formal
its

style,

made such

norm.

The Victorian fondness

meaning borrowing

easily,

As garish ornamentation

profitably.

present desire to be "in style"

efforts

of ornamentation and that industrial

practice of the twentieth century that

use for Victorian examples creates confusion.

The

interior design of Victorian buildings

is,

if

the

mixture of styles

The
and the use of invented ornament

business.

having no clear

stylistic

systems

banking, securities markets, insurance, and

all

of

anything,

even

more

difficult

to

classify.

bases were typical of the

became
increasingly affluent, and so able to afford to buy
the products of industry that would make for a

design of furniture and other objects of the time,

comfortable

whim.

People

192

further explanation. In the

hatted gentlemen in the illustrations are viewing,

who worked

life.

in

these fields also

while the owners and occupants of buildings

felt

free to mix, aher, and redecorate according to

The Victorian

mented

Britain

and clock towers

defenses,

Era

visible for miles

around were favorite external features. In Cheshire,


lohn Tollenmache commissioned his architect,

The Gothic

Revival,

itself

a highly professional

exercise in historicism, lasted until well into the

1880s as one of a

competed

number of stylistic

the

for

directions that

patronage of newly wealthy

merchants,

manufacturers,

"self-made"

men who were

bankers,
all

and

other

anxious to have

great houses comparable to those of the titled aristocracy. The great houses of Tudor, Elizabethan,

Anthony

Salvin (1799-1881), to build Peckforton

Castle (1844-50), a surprisingly convincing imitation of an actual medieval castle, complete with

round tower keep, stone-vaulted great


the

and

children,

master's chamber. Tyntesfield in Somerset, a

more

typically Victorian

models, and castles could sometimes be bought in

with

some

with

states,

sham

so that real antiquity could combine

extensions.

Mansions
Architects and interior decorators

who worked on

houses for the English nouveaux riches were generally

quite knowledgeable about historic styles they


to

reproduce, although the results always

seem to

reveal their synthetic qualities. Victorian

tried

England were

mansions

in

buildings

with

great

halls,

large,

work

of John Norton (1823-1904), was built in 1863 in a

Jacobean, and Carolean times were at hand as

ruined

and

hall

room, a school room for


bathroom adjacent to the

chapel, but with a billiard

windows,

relation

muddle of styles,

to

Gothic,

generally

bay

with

but

and towers unlike anything built


in medieval times. The interiors, full of carved
pseudo-Gothic woodwork and harshly colored
turrets,

crowded with furniture

polychrome

tile,

every

while walls are covered with orna-

style,

are

in

of pictures, vases and


and Japanese origin, all in
picturesque confusion (fig. 11.3). Dozens of such
mansions dot the English countryside, inviting

mental

displays

detail,

pottery of Chinese

confusion with historic buildings of earlier times.

even gigantic,

chapels,

dozens of

Middle-class Houses and Public

bedrooms, and service wings to house the small

army of

servants that were needed to staff them.

Buildings

Half-timbered, gabled blocks, keeps with battle-

Town
want

houses of the sort that wealthy owners might

to live in

were usually parts of rows, or even

11.3 John Norton,


Indian Hall, Elveden

whole neighborhoods,

that

adhered to restrained

design based on Georgian traditions of classicism,


Internally,

however, restraint often gave way to

acquisition

and display

hard to imagine

walk about or

sit

Interiors of

how

in

ornamental chaos.

the occupants

It is

managed

to

also clut-

and decorated with patterned materials on


every surface, but some restraint seems to have
been applied either through taste or through finantered

cial constraints,

so that the effect

is

often one of

cozy charm. The front parlor of the house in the


Chelsea neighborhood of London that was

owned

by the writer Thomas Carlyle has been carefully


preserved as a museum and gives an idea of what
this
like

kind of middle-class residential interior was


in

the mid-nineteenth century

c.

The

sometimes

hall,

known as

the Marble

of the Victorian

mansion was remodeled into what was


thought to be Indian
of a

style for the benefit

new

owner, an Indian

maharajah, who

wanted

to create

marriage

new

gift for his

wife, the

half

Abyssinian, half

German Bamba
It IS

Muller.

only the overhead

plasterwork detail that


justifies the stylistic

designation The
ture

(fig.

England,

1870.

Hall,

down.

more modest houses were

Hall, Suffolk,

seems

to

be

furni-

stolidly

11.4).
English-

Suburban neighborhoods grew up around English


cities during the Victorian era. Here houses were
built in rows for those of modest means, and
"villas"

in

pairs or free-standing for those

who

could afford more. The design character externally

193

Chapter Eleven

11.4 Robert

Taft, /I

Chelsea

Interior,

Carlyle's

House,

London, 1857,
This painting of the

parlor of the house

occupied by Thomas
Carlyle

shows

comfort at

its

Victorian

best This

simple but handsomely


detailed in tenor
typical

is

of a

London row

house with the

moderate ornamentation that a literary

couple might find

comfortable

and

pleasing.

is

usually

some version of Regency or Gothic

sometimes with touches of decorative

Revival,

detail in the Victorian

arranged whatever

mode.

level

Inside, the

occupants

of Victorian detail that

painted

wood

trim are the primary materials, while

many small panes of glass.


common. There is a hint of Gothic
along with some reference to Dutch

windows are
Bay windows
Revivalism

large with

are

Most public spaces, clubs,


restaurants, theaters, hotels, and railroad stations
were carpeted, padded, and stuffed in order to

original. Interiors in his houses, rich in decorative

achieve a special comfort typical of the "gas-light"

bays,

appealed

to

them.

era that provided the settings in

Conan

which Arthur

Doyle's famous fictional detective, Sherlock

Holmes, conducted

Renaissance work, but Shaw's work

detail, are full

in his

irregularities that favor

(fig. 11.5).

own

house,

Shaw's
filled

clients,

objects,

furniture so beloved by Victorians

Shaw and the Queen Anne

Shaw was

Revival

Norman Shaw

(1831-1912), in a long and

London

is

number of
(New Zealand Chambers of 1871-3

the best known), banks, and churches.

productive career, produced a large body of work

New

quintessentially English Victorian in character. His

1887-90.

work belongs to the Gothic Revival, using, for


country houses, a mix of half-timber and masonry

Gothic Revival mode, so carefully correct as to be

often called "Old English;" but by about 1870, he

ings.

developed a more creative and individualistic

matters,

such

chimney

flues

early

which came to be

style

Queen Anne. This design


has little to do with the Queen Anne style of the
early eighteenth century. Shaw's Queen Anne
country houses and London town houses are based
on

called

asymmetRed brick and white-

intricate internal plans that generate

rical,

194

in

interiors with

and the ornate

also the designer of a

office buildings

Richard

comfort and

and Shaw himself

Queen Anne

framed pictures, ornamental

his practice.

unique and

of asymmetrical spaces with nooks,

and other

charm

is

irregular exteriors.

Scotland Yard, London,

Shaw's

churches

virtually indistinguishable

is

are

Shaw

structural

the

in

from medieval build-

He was much concerned


as

design of

invariably

with

technical

arrangement of

efficient

and bathroom drains; he used iron


elements where they seemed advanta-

geous and was the designer of the

first

English

house to be entirely lighted by the recently devel-

oped Swan
were

electric

usually

lamp. Shaw's country houses

rambling

in

plan,

their

rooms

"

The Victorian

Era

1.5 Richaid Norman

Shaw, drawing room,

Swan House, Chelsea


Embankment, London,
1876
The photograph, which

was taken

in

884,

of a Victorian

is

interior

with a pleasant variety

Anne
and Crofts
and even

of objects: Queen
chairs. Arts

decoration,

a Georgian

(at left)

spinning wheel William


Morris's influence

be seen

in

paper, which

used on the
in the

can

the waif
is

also

ceiling,

and

ornamented

grand piano from


Morris

Co.

Shaw was

not enthusiastic about


Morris's patterns,

he

felt

which

should be "of the

simplest kind, quite


unobtrusive.

arranged for both convenience and picturesque


external effect;

some were

much American
Although

staggeringly vast in scale.

Victorian design.

Americans

aimed

for

classless

Revolutionary War, the same

Shaw remained aloof from the Arts and Crafts


movement (the subject of the following chapter) in
a way that emphasizes the gulf between Queen
Anne and the Aesthetic movement. At the end of
his career, Shaw turned toward classicism, antici-

society

pating the twentieth-century reaction against the

prosperous merchants, and the plantation owners

norms of Victorian

created an appetite for the fancy and the elaborate.

design.

after

the

processes operated as in Victorian Britain. Simple

became

farmers

managers,

middle-class

professionals,

city

and

dwellers,

businessmen.

Awareness of the mansions of the wealthy, the

Ornamentalism was supported by an increasing


flow of imports from Europe. The American

United States: Victorian

clipper

ship,

the

McCormack

Variations
Victorian design in America produced

from such functional concerns

similar elaboration, although English

the

period tends to be
disciplined,

perhaps

more

reaper,

the

Colt

and the Waltham watch represented a


strain of Yankee ingenuity, honesty, and simplicity,
but architecture and interior design turned away
revolver,

work ot
work of the

somewhat more ordered and


and therefore

"professional"

less creative,

than the free improvisation of

other,

more

pretentious

in

order to embrace

and ostentatious,

aspect of Victorian taste.

There are several sub-species of Victorianism


often referred tp

by

historians.

They

include:

195

Chapter Eleven

11.6 Richard Up|ohn


with later additions by

McKim, Mead and


White, Kingscote,

Newport, Rhode Island

1839, additions, 1881.


The entry hall with
simple parquet
stained glass,

its

floor,

and

red

walls carries the love of

Gothic pointed arch

forms forward into the


Victorian era.

Carpenter Gothic: the term apphed to the vernac-

railroad stations as well as for houses.

ular adaptation of the Gothic Revival style in

General Grant

(fig. 11.6). The material used is usually


wood, often with board and batten siding.

America

somewhat

village

in spiky decorative patterns.

are

Leaded

common, sometimes

churches were often built in

Queen Anne

Revival): This

is

Victorian design that uses a

late

application

sophisticated

of orna-

with

mental

detail

and

parallel

with the Arts and Crafts movement.

as

it

developed in England

in

Typical features are the asymmetrical arrange-

this style.

ment of elements, bay windows, mixtures of

low-sloping hipped roofs, porches, and loggias

brick, terracotta, shingles,

with columns, bracketed roofs, and cornices, and

of bas-relief ornamentation and stained glass in

Windows and doors

are often

topped with semicircular arches.

Mansardic: These designs take


the mansard roof (see p. 113).

their

name from

A mansard

roof

has a steep, visible front surface, usually of

slate,

visible
is

from the

street.

Cast-iron decorative trim

often present, along with as

as the

owner could

afford.

much

carved detail

Mansardic design was

often used for public buildings, courthouses, and

196

The term

often given to mansard-

Italianate: This term describes designs using

often a tower.

(or

woodwork

colorful stained glass. Small railroad stations

Queen Anne

term applied to

windows

is

roofed Victorian buildings.

Pointed-arch forms are used along with applied

glass

style

and decorative

some windows.
The Centennial Exhibition

inserts

in Philadelphia in

1876 was a showcase for Victorian design

America,
England.

in

much as the Great Exhibition had been in


A number of halls showed off machinery,

horticulture,

and

art,

while various industries and

individual states erected smaller buildings in a

chaotic variety of styles.

An

actual

pagoda was

brought from Japan and stimulated interest in

The Victorian

more element

Japanese design, adding one


Victorian

One

to the

by the

built

Works to power a city pumping


was shown in operation and drew crowds

It

admire

impressive functional beauty. At the

its

same time, exhibitions of products

for

household

use leaned toward excesses of decorative detail.

Mason and Hamlin organ


parlor
ings,

suitable for the Victorian

encrusted with ornamental inlays, carv-

is

and

was described by Walter

crockets, but

Smith, a contemporary

critic, as "free

from

all

the

abortions in the shape of ornament with which

many pretentious instruments


The

style

the time
the

is

often called

and

designer

are disfigured."

of the organ and of much furniture of

aesthetic

values

Eastlake
advanced
Charles

writer,

in recognition of

by

an

Locke

English
Eastlake

(1836-1906). His book. Hints on Household Taste


(1868),

was widely read

considerable influence
simplicity

and

accompany the

(fig.

restraint,

text

in

Mansions

of the most impressive

Iron

Corliss

to

mix.

was a giant steam engine

exhibits

station.

stylistic

Era

America and exerted


11.7). Eastlake

urged

but the illustrations that

seem only additional examples

of the Victorian taste for excess elaboration.

Those made rich through factory production of


newly invented products usually chose to build
mansions

in which ornamentation in any and all


crowded every available space, inside and
out. Colonel Samuel Colt, the inventor of the
revolver, had a house (named Armsmere) built
styles

close to his factory in Hartford, Connecticut, in

an

amalgam of styles vaguely Italian with Moorish


domes in prominent locations. Frederick E.
Church,
his

a landscape painter, built his

dreams into

house called Olana, overlooking the Hudson

River

(fig.

1.8).

He was

his

own

designer, working

what he believed to be the "Persian" style, with


some assistance from the professional architect and
in

Vaux (182495).
by birth, but made his repu-

landscape designer Calvert

Vaux was
tation in

English

America

(in

parnership with Frederick

Law Olmstead) designing


including

New

great

public

parks,

York's Central and Riverside parks

and South Park in Chicago. In 1857 he published


Villas and Cottages, a manual based on his architectural

work with

A.

J.

Downing. The book begins

11.7 Charles Locke


Eastlake, dining room
sideboard, 1874.

Eastlake was

an

active

arbiter of Victorian

using his worl< as

taste,

a journalist

to

moke

suggestions to his

and promote
own designs An
Arts and Crafts orientreaders
his

ation

is

evident in his

work, but

it

shows an

urge toward extra elaboration. The craftsmanbuilt sideboard


in this

shown

plate from Hints

on Household Taste

in

Furniture, Upholstery,

and Other Details


(1868)

modified by

IS

the extensive display of

ceramics rich

in "art"

ornamentation.

11.8 Calvert Vaux and


Frederick

E.

Church,

Olana, near Hudson,

New

York,

1874-89.

This hallway displays

love of Victorian
fantasy, incorporating

elements intended to be
"Persian"

and

romantic and

therefore
artistic

Curtains edge the


raised landing from

which

stairs

move up

to

Moorish arches with a


stained glass

window

lighting the area.

197

Chapter Eleven

with highly practical suggestions for logical, func-

and

improved water closets. It then proceeds to illustrate the ornamental details, both exterior and inte-

pants was well recognized. Books and magazines

and then presents thirty-nine designs for


houses ranging from modest cottages to gigantic

ornamental

bought from

mansions. Given such

house.

with

Wing and

with

Tower"

counting the

designs

Attics"

(with

attic

titles as

"Picturesque Villa

and "Irregular Stone


twenty-nine rooms

and tower;

cost $30,000),

Villa

it is

York City row

shows how the


owners assembled a

Street

The Gothic Revival

Victorian interior with

wallpapers,

and

profusion of dra penes,

carpet

and

fabric-

covered furniture

to

generate the sense of


richness through orna-

mentation that was the

norm of late
taste.

Victorian

The elaborate

newel post at the base


of the

stair baluster sets

the tone for the space.

of

ornament in scroll-sawn wood


Thus a simple wooden house could

or in cast iron.

turn into a Victorian house fully decorated with

such

houses,

wallpaper

flowery

The American farmhouse of the Victorian era


moved away from its colonial and Georgian predecessors to give up symmetry and classical detail in

trim.

more

ings,

from

stove might be a fantasy of decorative elements in

favor

of

"picturesque"

vertical proportions,

and

irregular

plans,

detail that varied

Inside

covered the walls; patterned carpeting covered the


floors.

Woodwork was

the severe plainness of the houses of the settlers of


the mid-west to the ornate

by more affluent families

Around

Gingerbread favored
in the east

and south.

the factories of mill towns, districts of

small houses were built to

accommodate workers

and mid-level managers, somewhat in the manner


of modern suburbia. Houses varied from minimal
rows or groups of two (twin houses), built to house
workers, to

more generous

standing on their
together.

own

lots

iron,

cast

full

of carvings and turn-

The parlor

usually finished in dark tones.

characteristically late

dark woodwork, dull

mode

slipped into the

tion of gingerbread

Vernacular House Styles

house on West 45th

to introduce a level of

occupants could then amplif)' with

carpenter Gothic, which in turn led to the produc-

The contemporary

New

and moldings served

rails,

to a basic

paneling, fancy mantels, stair

wallpapers, drapery, and furniture to taste.

New York,

stairhall of this typical

lumber yard, and added

Internally,

not

taste.

photograph of the

that could be factory

details

not

Hall

1896.

and designs incorporating


made,

offered "ideal" plans

clutter that the

surprising that the designs express ornate Victorian

House,

and the value

of fashionable decorative detail to attract occu-

homes,

of

rior,

11.9 Blakely

lators or developers for sale or rental,

for

planning

tional

the parlor organ

comparable

fantasy

harmonium)

(or

wood.

in

Furniture

was

crowded into every room, filling up space with


carving and upholstery. Oil lamps, now the usual
source of

elaborate shapes

artificial light, invited

and colorful decorative shades. Any otherwise

unused spaces could be

with such newly

filled

developed furniture types as the

What-not,

a shelf

single family houses

unit intended to hold a display of generally useless

even when placed close

ornamental objects. Blank wall spaces could be

Such houses were usually

built

by specu-

hung with

"artistic"

while

small

the

produced

vast

in

prints in decorative frames

groups

sculptural

by

quantity

in

plaster

John

Rogers

(1829-1904) illustrated sentimental themes of love

and sadness.

curious Victorian fad favored the building of

octagonal houses. The idea was generated by Orson


Squire

Fowler (1809-87), an eccentric theorist

known

for the invention of the pseudo-science of

phrenology (the discovery of

human character by
A particularly

exploring the shape of the skull).

ornate octagonal example

house

(1860)

surrounded

columns and

by

ornamented
to

fit

Armour- Stiner

the

New

with

and has

cupola and

York.

florid

It

is

cast-iron

huge mansardic
spire.

The

richly

interiors include such oddities as a

triangular library

need

porch

railings,

dome topped by

is

Irvington,

at

and music room, created by the

the octagonal floor plan.

town housing was provided by


row houses (fig. 11.9). The unifor-

In large cities,
solid blocks of

mity of such rows

198

the

Brownstones of New

The Victorian Era

York,

the

Baltimore,

rows

brick

and

Philadelpliia

ot

example

for

produced

overall

monotony, but had the virtue of establishing visual


order which, when streets were planted with trees,
created attractive neighborhoods that can

admired where they have survived

mode was

Italianate

favorite

still

be

The

intact.

Minimal
windows by day;
walls.

daylight

entered

the

narrow

and gas lamps provided light at


night. Colors of brown, black, olive green, and
mauve made such interiors seem cluttered and
gloomy more quaint than beautiful by modern
oil

standards.

brownstone

for

rows, while mansardic roofs ami veranda porches


raised the status of free-standing houses that often

were intermingled with the rows. Internally

showed evidence of

all

of

Shingle Style

Queen Anne style, developed in Britain by Shaw,


was taken up with considerable enthusiasm in
and

America

alongside

Gothic,

Italianate,

Mansardic

alternatives.

A book by

the architectural

(usually hot air) heating, gas lighting, bathrooms,

historian

Vincent

Scully,

and kitchens. These were improved with the

these house types

progress

through

duction of running water,


years later, gas ranges,
tion. Built-in closets

central

intro-

coal and, then, a few

first

and

technical

of

introduction

the

ice

boxes for refrigera-

and cupboards were worked

house plans, along with extra dressing spaces

into

1971

),

I.

The

Sliingic

St)'le

has led to that term being used to describe

American country and suburban houses that


echoed the Queen Anne of Shaw and his followers.
Wood was the dominant material of such building,
the basis of Carpenter Gothic,

and the simplified

adjacent to bedrooms, often with wash basins with

version of that style that Scully calls "the stick

running water. Larger houses had such luxuries as

style"

marble top surfaces and built-in mirrors. Long

which featured external frame members. Shingle

flights

of ornamental

(often three or four)

stairs

led

to

upper

and narrow "back

floors

stairs"

were

usually provided for the use of servants.

Victorian taste favored vertical emphasis in

proportions so that ceilings were often unreason-

and windows were made


and narrow. Ornate overmantels above

a reference to

board and batten exteriors

style buildings often use


larly for

sometimes of rough

some masoni-y

ground-floor walls

particu-

rubble stonework, but otherwise exterior walls and


roofs are generally covered with cedar
gles left to

wood

shin-

weather to a natural grey. Exterior orna-

ably high while doors

ment

both

forms are often complex, with gables, projecting

the

tall

now

largely useless fireplace (often with a gas

up to the high ceilmoldings ran around the tops of

grate or hot air outlet) reached


ings

where

plaster

is

usually sparse or absent, but building

wmgs, porches, dormers and rounded bays, turrets,


and occasional towers.
Most Shingle style buildings are houses, but
11.10 Henry Hobson
Richardson, Watts

Sherman House,
Newport, Rhode

Island,

1876^
The drawing of
interior

this

was probably

by Stanford White who

was often the

interior

designer for Richardson


projects The paneled

and elaborate
woodwork with its typiwalls

cally Victorian Cothic

references typify the


early work of

Richardson and White.

199

Chapter Eleven

11.11 Camp Cedars,


Adirondacks,

New

York,

idiom as
at

The "camps" built as

1882),

houses

vacation

the

made a
rusticity

through the

and

the style of interior

bed

is

built of

wood members
The lanterns, fans, and

similar

curios are typical of

Victorian taste.

and

turret,

paneling,

small-paned

and nooks with

built-in settees

Queen Anne mix of complexity

H. H. Richardson (1838-86) worked in the


Shingle

and

c.

its

and cozy charm.

is

trimmed with
the

fireplaces,

generate a typically

decoration. The rough

logs,

type, with

through a wing of

a drive passes

Inside,

building.

windows,

choice of furniture

where

great arch

the

but they

stone fireplace

good example of the

rambling layout, picturesque porches,

point of

rough-hewn

is

moun-

tains were often quite


luxurious,

built in this

Kragsyde, a coastal private mansion

well.

Manchester-by-the-Sea (Peabody and Stearns,

1886.

summer

and clubhouses were

hotels, casinos,

Forked Lake,

when

style

designing

W. Watts

the

Sherman House at Newport, Rhode Island (fig.


11.10; 1874). The firm of McKim, Mead, and
White was responsible for many examples of the
style, such as the seaside mansion at Elberon, New
for Victor Newcomb, and casinos
Jersey ( 880-8 1
at Newport and Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island
1

) ,

(1879-84). These are architects better

more formal works mentioned


but these

most

and

lively

among

formal buildings are

less

works.

original

known

for

in later chapters,

The

their

"artistic"

lamps.

Elberon shows off

clutter of the great living hall at

mix of informality, complexity, pretension, and


comfort that was characteristic of Queen Anne at

the

Shaker Design
A

flowering in America.

its full

and lodges filled with rustic furniture, rugs


and cloth wall hangings, hunting trophies, and oil
cottages

drastically

excesses

Adirondack Style

A minor

modest and,

sub-style of Victorian design has been

recently given the

name Adironback

tion of its development in that

of

New York.

in recogni-

mountainous region

As railroad networks developed and

train travel

became reasonably

able, those

who

could afford

and comfort-

fast

summer

vacations

sought out locations in unspoiled natural regions

where

mountainous

the

summer

and

landscape

summer houses and

built as

hunters

and

fishermen.

lodges tended to
latter part

grow

as lodges for

Although

camps and

and comfort

in size

life.

and camps

In the Adirondack mountains, cabins

were

cool

climate provided an escape from city

in the

of the nineteenth century, the rustic

alternative

the

to

religious

florid

the

in

in their day, obscure,

communities of

known

The

sect

as

Shakers.

first

Shakers came to America from England in 1774

from

freedom

seeking

persecution.

religious

Shaker communities were villages built


center of agricultural lands where

had been

nism. By 1800 a

villages

established.

dwelling

dence

houses

men and

provided separate living quarters for

women.

the

commu-

property and work in a simple form of

number of these
Large communal

at

members shared

In pursuit of the goal of total indepen-

from

communities

"the
built

world"
their

or

outsiders.

own

produced, insofar as possible,

all

Shaker

buildings

and

of their needs

through subsistence agriculture and workshops.

character of simple cabins was usually retained and

Religious beliefs that forbade "worldly" ostentation

even developed as yet another Victorian form of

and favored

decoration. Adirondack furniture

of

tree

branches

(frequently

is

often

made up

with

still

bark

remaining) cleverly assembled to make benches,

and

tables,

mental

rooms
color.

and
200

the

different

of Victorian design developed

chairs, with smaller twigs

detail.

Great

lined with

Camps

Camp

stone

used for orna-

fireplaces

wood boards

left in

dominate

their natural

with quaint names such as Pine Knot

Cedars

(fig.

11.11) were

made up of

efficient use

of

human

efforts led to

the production of a wide variety of objects of total


simplicity

and remarkable functional

excellence.

Shaker design reached a peak of achievement

around 1830 and continued

to hold to

its

idealistic

standards throughout the Victorian era.

The
free

interiors of

Shaker buildings were totally

of ornament. Walls were plain and white-

painted.

Floors

were

wood boards

that

were

'

The Victorian Era

1
The Shaker Philosophy
The English religious mystic Ann Lee, known as
Mother Ann, left England in 774 to set up her own
form of Qual<er community in the freer religious
atmosphere of the New World. She founded the

Shakers and

summed up

her philosophy

the

in

following phrase:

put your hands to work and your hearts to Cod ....


[W]ork as though you would live a thousand years,
and live as though you were to die tomorrow.

The austerity of the Shaker lifestyle was expressed


series of Millenial Laws governing everything from

in

behavior,

Ye

have no talking, laughing, sneering,

shall

winking, blinking, hanging and lounging on the

hugging, fumbling and fawning over each

railings,

other

when going

to the table

to decorative finishes,

Beadings, mouldings and cornices which are merely


for fancy

may

made by

not be

believers.

Elder William Denning, a mid-nineteenth-century

Shaker builder noted

for his

work on the Church

Family Dwelling at Hancock, Massachusetts,

commented on the Shaker

habit of preserving

neatness by suspending chairs and clothes from

wooden

pegs:

we hang
for the

everything but people and that

world to do.

we

leave

The Shakers' opinion of the furnishings of the outside


world IS captured by a report made by one member
from Massachusetts on a

visit

to Harvard

in

850:

think they have gathered into their habitations


too much furniture which belongs to Babylon!
Mother [Ann] used to say "You may give such
I

things to the moles and the bats."

of

1 841
quoted In David Larkin and June Sprigg,
Work and /Art (London, 1 987), p. 43; 2. Millennial Laws

Holy Orders of

Shaker:
1

Life,

845, quoted

5./iwd, p.

in ibid,

p 33;

3. Ibid. p.

168

92;

4. Ibid. p.

68;

Chapter Eleven

painted, often in strong colors. Furniture included

benches, tables, chairs, storage cabinets, and work

utmost simplicity, but of great subtlety

tables of

proportion and

detail.

in

Floors were kept bare for

easy cleaning, storage was provided in banks ot

mounted
hang up hats,

built-in drawers; pegs

walls

made it easy to
when not in use. Boxes

chairs

clocks,

and

woven

produced with design of

cloaks,

and even

remarkable

materials

fine

aesthetic

were

effiall

quality,

and established no central control of design

practice.

The

ascetic pursuit

of simplicity and

effi-

ciency alone seems to have been the driving principles that

produced design that seems to presage

communisome products for sale most notably


their Ladder-back chairs, rockers, and straight
chairs of simple wooden parts with woven tape
twentieth-century modernism. Shaker

ties

seats

objects that achieved surprising popularity

in spite

of their total independence from the norms

of Victorian
are

11.14

Schuyler,

& Graham
New York, 864,

Hartley

shop,

Guns and military


goods were in great

demand

during

America's Civil War.

The stiop

interior

makes

use of counters, cases,

and

cabinets in a

vernacular of the
period, while

walls

and

upper

ceiling are

decorated according to
Victorian taste.

202

offered

now

taste.

(fig.

11.13),

Maine, and Pleasant Valley,

Kentucky, are preserved in a form suitable for

modern study and admiration.

bands along

although Shaker societies advanced no aesthetic


theories

Lake

Early Skyscrapers

for storage of small

objects, baskets, cast-iron stoves of

ciency,

in

number of Shaker villages, including those at


Hancock (fig. 11.12), Massachusetts, Sabathday

Although Shaker communities

reduced to a handful of members, a

As

cities

that

grew

larger, central districts

were devoted to business

phone communication was

activities.

available,

developed
Before

tele-

proximity

in making busicommunication fast and easy. The resulting


need for offices crowded into a central "business
district" led to high rents and high land values. Real
estate owners realized that their earnings were

was an important consideration


ness

limited by the quantity of rental space that could be

squeezed onto a

became

lot

profitable

of given area. Taller buildings


with

the

development

of

passenger elevators, but the height of buildings was


still

limited as long as

masonry

walls

and columns

were the main structural elements.


Cast iron, an extraordinarily useful and versatile
material,

was put to work

for a great variety of uses.


The Victorian

11.15

Office of a

publishing firm,
York,

Era

New

cl 890.

The development of
larger business firms

generated a need

for

extensive office spaces,

where

clerks

and

book-

keepers could handle


the tasks that were,

before the advent of


typewriters

and

computers, conducted

by hand Cast

iron

columns support wood


ceiling, and
Gas light
augmented daylight on

beams,
floors.

dark days

An

industry

developed to supply
suitable office desks

and

chairs for the

paper processing that

was the work of an


office.

including

of

building

the

American

cities

often

skyscrapers.

early

have "cast-iron

districts"

where rows of buildings were

built with iron struc-

columns and with

made

tural

exterior walls

up, like

the CPi'stal Palace, of prefabricated units of iron

holding glass windows. The ease with which iron

made it
be made up of

terracotta

made

it

classical

became

think

that
fires,

with

tile

heat

insulation.

higher "skyscrapers"

Still

finally

end of the nineteenth


century when the Bessemer process made steel
available for columns and beams. The tall buildings
of the

possible at the very

Victorian era presented difficult prob-

late

such buildings were vulnerable to disastrous

lems

made more dangerous by

offered few models for high building. George B.

stairs to serve

upper

floors.

lack of adequate exit

Many

cast-iron build-

ings were utilitarian loft buildings, warehouses,


factories, often

grimmest

sort.

and

housing sweat-shop industry of the


Others were

retail

stores,

"dry-

to

Western

Post's

Union

same

date,

both in

conglomerations

New

because

its

building

to

go

high-strength characteristics

higher,

made

it

mansard

Offices inside such

smaller

buildings,

York, are each curious

past.
tall

tended

The

buildings,
to

strictly

columns
within buildings. Masonry, however, remained the

treatment

preferred material for outer walls because

so that every office could be close to

possible to reduce the size of support

it

offered

a degree of fire safety by enclosing each building in

non-inflammable

barrier.

Fire safety within

or

masonry detail, arches,


roofs, and clock towers

cobbled up pieces of the


enabled

(1873-5)

Building

of

dormers,

iron

history

Richard Morris Hunt's Tribune Building of the

(fig. 11.14).

Cast

Architectural

designers.

their

goods" shops, the ancestors of department stores

beams and

iron

possible to build to heights of eight, ten, or

for these iron facades to

might

were

Fireproof structural framing and elevators together

twelve stories.

appropriate. Floors were of wood, with the result

on

supported

tile

wrapped

columns

possible

themes that owners and builders

floors

replaced with systems using arches of brick or

could be cast in any desired form

columns, Gothic arches, or any other ornamental

when wooden

building was improved

(fig.

11.15).

had rows of small


light

and

offices

utilitarian

typical office building

arranged along corridors

ventilation. Private offices

from the adjacent outer

and many

offices

windows

for

were screened

and waiting rooms


203

Chapter Eleven

204


The Victorian Era

by glazed wood partitions that allowed inner spaces


to borrow some daylight. Operable transoms over

made

ventilation from outer


rooms and corridors. Larger
"general offices," where many clerks or stenographers worked in a common open space, appeared
as larger businesses, railroads, newspapers, and

doors

windows

possible

into interior

manufacturing corporations grew to

a level that

required such hives of workers. Business equip-

ment,

cabinets, typewriters, adding machines,

file

and time-clocks were gradually introduced into the


late Victorian office, along with roll-top desks and
swivel chairs.

Gas

followed by electric

light,

light,

reduced dependency on window proximity, while


the telegraph followed by the telephone

became

communication devices. Floors, ceilings,


and furniture were usually of wood
most often oak in some shade of brov^n. Even the
offices of powerful chiefs and board of directors'
meeting rooms only differed from the norm in

France during the reign of Napoleon

known

as

Second Empire

An

by Americans.

work

in France,

style,

ornate reworking of Mansart's

was used

it

for such projects as

enormous City Hall

Philadelphia's

hollow

square

(1823-90), a

Jr.

overpowering

an

with

Mansardic tower. The

many now

interiors,

have a boldness and

fully restored,

care-

Thomas

all issues of taste and


government buildings designed by

Hall, Philadelphia,

1872-190L
This space,

a monumental
in the

Alfred B. MuUett (1834-90) while he served as

Supervising Architect for the U.S. Treasury, such as


the

War and Navy Building in


(1871-87), now the Executive

massive State,

Washington, D.C.

and architectural

hand

Mansard

with a heavy

are external characteristics, while internal

up

for anything lacking in styl-

the architecture of the

French Second Empire


style

had

The work of

Philadelphia

the

architect

sive efforts at
in the

particular school or

office buildings.

as to give daylight to every

major space. Externally

they are in what the designer called

conceived

Renaissance"

style,

massing

arches,

of

bays,

dormers, chimneys, and

were elaborated with


Victorian
their

style.

tile

all

as

of a democratic society.
This space, carefully

turrets,

the grandeur of High

rich with paneling, fireplaces

floors,

Servants'

and

rich,

luxurious

ments or sometimes,

as at the

colored marbles, a spec-

the Victorian Stick and Shingle styles, and the Arts

and Crafts movement. Furness had an extensive


practice which included the design of churches,

Dakota, in

attic

chose with carpets, wallpapers, drapery,

Fine Arts (1871-6) houses an art school on the

ground
floor.

iron

its

original color

and

railings

Gothic sources
of

University

on the upper

galleries

and

now

carefully

detail, uses florid

standards,

lighting

heavily

renamed

(fig.

11.2).

The

Pennsylvania

the Furness Building

library for

(1888-91),

the

now

and housing the

is even more
room and "rotunda" are

architectural school of the university,


original.

The

vast reading

lined with brick

detail.

Public buildings were built in styles as ornamental

of private dwellings, but on a more formal

The

museum

great entrance stair hall,

and

stone.

There are complex arch

a great fireplace with a clock above of

and
and curious form with much florid carved
Access to upper levels is provided by an

original

Public Buildings

scale.

floor with

restored to

details

and grander

and many private houses.

columns and pointed arches loosely based on

and furniture of the same sort that would have


been used in a private house of comparable luxury.

as those

originality,

materials.

apart-

and a ceiling rich


and gilding.

Gothic Revival,

as the

textured wall surfaces, and Furness's unique stubby

rooms. Individual tenants could, of course, decorate as they

and

also full of strength

it is

drawing on such varied bases

glass,

quarters were provided within

original

easy to charac-

His building for the Pennsylvania Academy of the

with mantels, sliding pocket doors, stained

parquet

It is

railroad stations, banks,

Hotel interiors

its

appearance, glories in

heavy and aggressive

its

"German

Apartment houses were planned,

main rooms

forms, but

movement.

with

ugly,

as

it

Victorian

balconies,
roofs.

terize

grandeur

public buildings

Frank

The problems of suitThe Vv'aldorf


Hotel (1893) and the Dakota Apartments (1884),
both New York works of Henry J. Hardenbergh
(1847-1918), are amazingly complex warrens of
rooms ingeniously arranged around light courts so
tall

some
and exces-

led to

rather florid

in color

Furness (1839-1912) was quite unrelated to any

able exterior design were also similar.

had

tacular gaslight chan-

quality.

were encouraged by the same economic values that


spurred

for the

large city that

restored to

elaboration makes
istic

detail applied

Furness

and apartment houses

huge building

become. Admiration for

leather-cushioned chairs,
walls.

" is

interior

that was the govern-

delier,

Taller multistory hotels

known as

Philadelphia

roofs

and a few pictures on the

and

restraint. U.S.

Office Building, follow a similar pattern.

floor,

Jr.

U. Walter, City

seems to be indifferent to

partitions,

having a rug on the

{opposite) John

mental center
vitality that

vital

11.16;

(fig.

11.16

McArthur

"Conversation Hall,

1872-1901) by John McArthur,


giant

(1852-70),

III

was much admired

official

architecture

of

complex iron stairway with ornaHouses and other smaller


buildings by Furness are full of interesting and
extraordinarily

mental iron

railings.

205


Chapter Eleven

11.17 John Henry


arm chair, New

unusual decorative

details in

As American

changed

wood, stone, and

tile.

Belter,

York,

c.

860^

Belter built a large busi-

ness specializing in the

production of furniture
in the style called

"rococo revival.

"

His

invention of techniques
for carving

and

tastes

in the early

somewhat contro-

century, Furness's work, already

when

twentieth

was designed, came to be disliked


even hated. He had employed Louis Sullivan,

versial

it

however, and influenced his development, and his


work has been studied and valued by such later
architects as Louis L Kahn and Robert Venturi.

pressing elaborate orna-

ment by mechanical
means made it possible
to

produce at modest

and Other

Furniture

Interior

cost the complex orna-

mentation that the


style

Furnishings

demanded. The

resultant, widely

popular forms are


typical of the Victonan

Factory production in the Victorian age

made

view of luxury as

richly decorated objects relatively inexpensive

symbolized by decora-

so available to a very large public.

tive

ornament

and techniques were developed

new

New

that

and

materials

made whole

categories of objects possible. In Austria, the

Thonet brothers developed the technique of using


steam

in pressure

bend thin

strips

chambers

of solid

that

wood

made

it

possible to

into curved forms.

"Thonet chairs and other furniture types made up of


a

pieces of Bentwood were strong,


and inexpensive, and so came into wide use
seating in cafes and restaurants and in informal

number of

light,

as

residential interiors.

style

Plywood, developed

made up of many
became an

to

form

seats

were used

and backs
in

splitting.

and curved parts


for

veneer.

It

such

as iron

As Victorian fashion sought out exotic themes,


furniture makers responded with designs intended

that could

plumbing

pipes,

types. Industrial

and brass tubing,

mate-

made as
make bed

at first

were turned to use to

frames, creating the popular iron and brass head-

and foot-boards.

All

of these

produce simple and practical

new

materials could

objects, but they

also adaptable to decorative designs that


in

forms

as

were

appeared

ornate as any traditional furniture

one or another popular

to relate to

Oriental

style.

and America

references were popular in England

for a time, leading to furniture detailed in imitation

of

bamboo

construction.

bamboo

Real

were imported or sometimes made

objects

locally

from

imported material. Folding screens with painted


surfaces or stretched fabric
a

on wooden frames were

popular means of introducing some privacy in

part of a

room, or simply

add an extra element

to

of decoration. Wicker furniture

made from woven

rattan or similar flexible material

Victorian

was

particularly

also popular

informal

types.

in

Most Victorian designs were ornate. The products of the New York shops of John Henry Belter

spaces

(1804-63), particularly his chairs

Victorian desire to display and enjoy whatever

(fig.

11.17), sofas,

and tables, used curving forms, bulging upholstery,


and frames carrying elaborate floral carving. Much
of it was made by mechanized processes using
plywood, built-up surface carving, and mechanically duplicated ornamental details. The resulting
designs,

206

American Victorian

often called

Plywood

benches and church pews

new furniture

is

and

less costly

combination with solid wood compo-

nents to form
rials

wood

wood,

warping and

panels, chair seats,

Europe, was

in continental

layers of thin

alternative to solid

subject

less

interiors. The
Rococo Revival, and Belter's
name is also applied to the work of other shops that
produced work in the same style.

characteristic of

much

imitated by other makers, are highly

mixed

came

to

interiors,

in

porches or children's rooms or simply

in

with other furniture in the

hand

in

any and every

t)'pically

style.

and for
dominant element

in Victorian seating furniture.

Cushions, usually

L'pholstery, desired both for comfort

the appearance of opulence,

attached to

wood

is

frames, tend to be thick and

bulging, with quilting

and tufting

to

emphasize

The Victorian

Metal springs hidden under cushions

their forms.

bouncy
surfaces. Cover materials with elaborate and
colorful woven patterns were the norm, with
woven horsehair (usually black) and leather as
alternatives. Leather was particularly favored in
used

were widely

create

to

and

soft

rooms intended to suggest a "masculine" atmosphere smoking rooms, "dens," and the rooms ol

men's clubs.

By

Greek key motifs.


pasting,

could

compositions customized to

and

arranging,

cutting,

paperhanger

the

pattern

create

a particular

room

or

wall.

Victorian color tastes gradually shifted from

and daring toward heaviness and gloom.


lones's book The Grammar of Ornament
(1856) illustrated ornamental motifs in brightly
colored plates that encouraged the use of strong,
bright

Owen

to

chromatic colors. As time passed, darker and more

massive size along with excesses of ornamentation.

muted colors, browns, olive greens, and mauves,


came to be regarded as more "tasteful." The end of

of

Furniture

Huge mirrored
halls

for

and

Victorian

the

tended

era

hat-racks were favorite elements

Pianos,

vestibules.

many made

in

the Victorian era has been described by Lewis

rectangular "square" form, as well as in the familiar

Mumford

grand and upright patterns, were important items

colors were carried over into the Edwardian era at

and were designed with

for status-oriented display,

particularly

complex, and generally heavy

rich,

ornamentation.
process of hand weaving by the use of powered

looms

up

set

sized hea\7, elaborate,

Llistribution of the elements of Victorian inte-

was furthered by several new commercial

doors,

techniques. Department stores in cities offered a

wide choice of goods of every

sort, so that

the

and colorful pattern, both

delivery of everything needed for household deco-

often equipped with curtain rods so that, in addito

somber

Victorian shopper could compare, select, and order

efficient mills,

woven and printed. Floral designs were particularly


favored. Trimming materials such as braiding,
fringe, and tassels were added to make drapery rich
and complex. Lace curtains were a popular, more
modest window treatment. Interior doorways were
tion

these

empha-

and

in large

brown decades";

as "the

the beginning of the twentieth century.

riors

Victorian textile design, separated from the

be

could

portieres

hung

to

ration at

one

stop.

Away from American

cities,

on the farms of the middle and

particularly

far

mail order catalogs from Sears Roebuck,

west,

Montgomery Ward, and many smaller firms illusmore extensive range of products

trated an even

that could be ordered for

most remote

shipment to even the

locations. In addition to furniture,

and wallpapers, the mail order

discourage drafts and add a touch of decorative

textiles,

richness.

firms offered heating stoves, plumbing fixtures,

Carpets,

now

generally

made on power looms,

were designed with themes similar to those used


for textiles. Leaves, flowers, arabesques,

forms were developed

and

scroll

in repeat patterns so that

carpet could be had by the yard to be sewed

together and tacked


a

down

wall-to-wall. Linoleum,

newly invented floor covering material, was simi-

produced

larly

imitating

woven

in floral patterns

rugs.

Wood

and

floors or

in designs

hardwood

parquet patterns, and floors of colored


varied patterns were also

Wallpaper became

tile

trim.

way

visible

kitchen equipment, and

all

sorts of useful

decorative objects. Stoves and kitchen ranges

of cast iron are ornate in form but


features

to

supplanted

heating

aid

wood

as a fuel, to

and

full

and

made

of practical

cooking.

Coal

be followed by gas

The patented 1871 Wilson


cushions supported on an

in

cities.

adjustable chair

uses

iron frame that

permits adjustment into a wide variety of configu-

Bathroom

fixtures

include flush

rations.

in

bath tubs, and wash basins in a variety of styles

from the sternly


popular form

of wall treatment, used whenever plain plaster

might be

carpets,

in

common.

a particularly

above wainscot or other wood

Oil

lamps

toilets,

utilitarian to elaborately ornate.

in

ornate, were the

great

variety,

most used

city gas led to fixtures in

from simple

to

lighting devices, but

forms similar to candle

Factory-printed papers provided a simple

brackets. Chandeliers were popular, often similarly

which might be

ornamented with brass work and hanging crystal


prisms. With the development of electric light,
older lamps and gas fixtures were regularly

to cover surfaces with pattern

geometric,

floral,

were also popular.

or even scenic; oriental themes

Some

papers were embossed to

create a bas-relief effect.

Printed paper borders

converted to use the

were available using designs based on architectural

electric service

molding and trim

fan was

details

such as egg and dart or

Era

made

new Edison bulbs wherever


available. The first electric

became

in

1889 and, by 1893, a

fully electric

207

Chapter Eleven

208

The Victorian Era

11.18

[opposite]

Horace Trumbauer, The


Elms, Newport,

Rhode

1901.

Island,

Trumbauer's work

marks a transition from


the creative ornamentalism of the Victorian

mto the more discipimed historicism of the


era

work that

eclectic

followed after the turn

of the century This

grand house attempted


a French

to recreate

Renaissance chateau.

It

captured the elaboration of

models, but

Its

without their aesthetic

Carved wood

discipline

columns, marble

detail,

at the fireplace

and

above, crystal chandeliers,

Aubusson carpet

and

richly

earned

furni-

ture all serve to support

the ambitions of the

wealthy owner.

11.19

(/eft)

Queen

Victoria's Royal Saloon

(railroad car),

1869.

The major Victorian


technological advance

represented by the
building of railroads

came

face to face with

the Victorian taste in

kitchen was ready for display at the


Exhibition

Chicago.

in

necessity. In

its

Columbian

first

sewing

Single,

named

for

(1820-95), and for

its

designer,

Patrick Stirling

single pair of giant eight-foot

its

household

driving wheels in gleaming green paint with no

developed form, the mechanism

decoration except simple stripes emphasizing the

machine of 1851
was embedded

Singer's

developed

in a table

into

supported on a cast-iron

base that carried the foot treadle and flywheel.

The

form of

mechanical parts, contrasts with a

its

interior design in this

special private car,

which was built for the


queen by the London &
North Western Railway.
Surfaces are

and

passenger coach outfitted as a private carriage for

drapery

iron parts, perforated to save material and weight,

Queen

furniture

were invariably made into ornamental forms, while

padded and

the machine

itself

carried gilt-stenciled designs.

stery.

The astonishing mixture of the functional and


the practical with ornamentalism and sham is the
characteristic of Victorian design that makes this
period so complex, so contradictory, and so interesting (fig. 11.18). The Victorian design dilemma
can be summed up at British transport museums

no

where

it

is

possible to view steam locomotives of

great elegance

and

simplicity.

The

great Stirling

The coach interior is


trimmed with woodwork in

(fig. 11.19).

quilted,

and furnished with opulent upholFringed curtains hang at the windows, and

Gothic

plywood top cover was usually provided.

Victoria

style,

trace of

speed along

its

role as transportation, intended to

steel rails

padded

quilted, fringed
is

everywhere,

is

can/ed

and

lamps are

quilted,

shaded and fringed


The door at the end of
the car

carved

is

of

wood

in Gothic,

pointed

detail.

behind a steam locomotive,

can be discovered.

The contradictions and problems of Victorian


movements dedicated to reform emerged. The most
effective and interesting of these movements is the
design did not go unnoticed, and eventually

subject of the following chapter.

209

The Aesthetic Movements

During the Victorian

era, various reactions devel-

in opposition to the historicism, decorative

oped

display,

and excess of the prevailing design

fash-

Opposition coalesced in several more or

ions.

less

into architecture, there can be but

hope for

little

The "seven lamps" of which he wrote were

it."

desig-

nated as "sacrifice," "truth," "power," "beauty,"


"life,"

"memory," and "obedience," suggesting the


It was

organized movements that are nowf usually thought

strongly idealistic tone of Ruskin's ideas.

of together as constituting the Arts and Crafts

Ruskin's

movement

produced objects that impacted most


strongly on the Arts and Crafts movement. The
assumption that machine-made things would
inevitably be tasteless and garish led to advocacy of

or,

as

it

sometimes

is

the

called,

movement. These movements had their


beginning in England and developed there in the

Aesthetic

second half of the nineteenth century. Eventually,

developments

these

MOVEMENT

in the

generated

United

the

Craftsman

States. Influence

can also

be traced into Germany and Austria in later styles


and movements which in turn have direct links to
the

modernism of the twentieth

and

philosophers,

relation

to

designers

whose names and works define the move-

theorists,

ment of design history. The individual becomes

hand

a return to

hand

that only

work

the

is

movement. Excessive

is

to be banished, but

"meaningful" decoration devised by the craftsman

welcomed. Since craftsmen with the inven-

to be

existed. Arts

make

can achieve such honesty,

and ugly ornamentation

celebrity designer was promoted by the expanding

to a

craft

the central doctrine of the

is

known

only possible route to

This combination of a desire for honesty in

tiveness

of publications that served to

craft as the

terms of expression of function, material, and tech-

teenth century advances. The emergence of the

of individuals

of

design

reform.

increasingly important in this respect as the nine-

availability

of the

niques of production, combined with a conviction

century.

In this chapter, developments are considered in

the

denunciation

bitter

industrially

might require hardly


and Crafts designers either turned
into craftsmen themselves, or produced designs on

and

taste that this

paper of the sort they thought craftsmen should

broad public.

invent.

Britain: Arts

and Crafts

Morris
The

Crafts
12.1

Charles Rennie

House,

Hill

The

first

is

reform the

art

John

what he considered to be pre-Renaissance ideals.


Ruskin's writings had a powerful influence on both

Ruskin, whose moralistic approach to art and

critic.

design critiscism has been mentioned already as a

development of Gothic

men who
between

between the Arts and


Crafts

emphasis on

simplicity

and honest

craftsmanship and the

toward more adven-

new forms

this interior the

furniture
lights

IS

was

also the source of

of the ideas that dominated Arts and Crafts

design. There are substantial areas of overlap

In

and

in the

and hanging

combined with

time
(

favored the idea of a close relationship

art

and

craft.

Street

of

its

and

own

movement sought

original design

time based on the ideology of Ruskin

his followers. Ruskin's

admiration for Gothic

Morris worked for a short

of George

Edmund

Street

Gothic Revivalist architect in London.


at

the time of his marriage, turned to his friend Philip

Webb

Arts and Crafts

),

office

Morris did not himself practice architecture, but,

but whereas the Revivalists simply

ideas,

the

in

1824-81

advocated return to medieval Gothic practice, the

and Crafts

use of

geometric forms

178),

cross-influence between Gothic Revival and Arts

Art Nouveau urge

turous

many

(see p.

involved in attempting to

of painting based on a return to

stands at a border

Revivahsm

Burne-Jones

not a

Dunbartonshire,

significant influence in the

Edward

who was

Helensburgh,

Mackintosh's work

painter

(1833-98),

designer but a writer, theorist, and

Scotland, 1902-3.

and

figures

Pre-Raphaelite

such person to be considered here

influential of Arts

was William Morris (1834-96).


Morris was educated at Oxford and there met the

Ruskin and the Roots of Arts and

Mackintosh,

known and most

best

Crafts

(1831-1915), another former employee of

who had

established an architectural office,

for the design of a

house to be

built at Bexleyheath,

then on the edge of London.

The Red House

(fig. 12.2;

1859-60) that

Webb

directions that point

toward

work

later

modernism. The carpet


uses small pattern

elements of tiny
squares in contrast to
Its

simple overall

210

color.

was "honest"
emphasis on crafts-

arose from his conviction that

it

of materials and in its


manship of the highest available quality.
In The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849)
Ruskin asserts, "Until common sense finds its way
in its use

designed

is

demonstration of the ideas that

Morris had formed.

Its

red brick walls and red tiled

no ornamentation, while its plan,


external form, and placement of windows and
roof carry

doors are

strictlv

the result of internal function.

Ji^-a toi'iaft,

^v.

Chapter Twelve

212


The Aesthetic Movements

The pointed arch of an opening


the

chimneys serve actual

is

12.2 {opposite) Philip


Webb, Red House,

a real brick arch;

fireplaces; large

windows

Bexley Heath, London,

and small windows relate to the spaces within; the


well house on the lawn serves a real water well. The
irregular plan

is

based on functional

realities,

1859-60

Webb designed
House

not

Red

the

for his friend

on a

desire for Gothic quaintness. Both the formal-

William Morns, and this


room contains many

ities

of classicism and the picturesqueness of the

typical details,

Gothic have been rejected

in

exchange

including the white-

for func-

painted walls and a

tional simplicity.

As a
as

bench unit (colled a

toward the modern view of design,

step

large bookcaseand-

Red House thus can be viewed

result, the

settle)

of Morris's

design

although

rustic informality

its

seems completely

white,

It is

and

painted
the

unrelated to the technological pioneering of the

hand-forged iron hinges

Crystal Palace of 1851. Ruskin hated the Crystal

are painted black. The

Palace, describing
cited

its

it

as a

ladder on the

"cucumber frame," and

left

gave

access to the door

internal exhibits there as evidence of the

disastrous level that Victorian design had reached.

an

opening

to

furniture

and

attic.

The

rugs are

of later date: the radi-

Morris was equally belligerent

denunciation

in his

of the industrial products that were featured

ator

12.3

1861 he had founded the tlrm of

exhibition. By

stained

tapestries,

glass

(fig.

wallpapers,

furniture,

Morris

12.3).

Wolverhampton,
Staffordshire, England,

some

Red House and a simple rushseated wood chair of 1862. His name, however, is
connected with all examples of arm chairs with
Morris chairs, so named
adjustable tilt backs
because Morris was the first to develop a prototype

1887-93
The

furniture for the

Morris's

changed,

far-reaching

interests

moving through

involvement

in

poetry

constantly
to

political

the cause of socialism, with

its

Morris

on whole rooms

and

Albert

Morris's

tain

on nature

theme.

for the

work;

Fairfax-Murray

The

wall paneling

The Green Dining


in the Victoria
is

&

Philip
artists

Webb was

the

Burne-Jones and
painted

contributed

and paper, the


all

Co.,

stands in

front of a wall of

Honeysuckle

patterned

linen.

The

painting by Frederick

Sandys (1829-1904)
in

is

a Rossetti frame. The

fireplace detail

and

mantel complete an
Arts

and

Crafts interior.

ceiling

main-

relationship orchestrated by Morris.


is

and

an example ot

treatment, the art work, and the furniture

room

showing great respect

interior

primary designer, and the

typography. His textile designs were always based


motifs,

themes.

now preserved
Museum in London,

panels.

sional design for textiles, wallpapers, books,

related

(1866),

workers from any creative contribution to the


focused on two-dimen-

for treatment in consistent Arts

Morris's

and Crafts

Charles

He

which was

Hunt and produced by

teaching that factory production tended to alienate

products they produce.

choir,

designed by Violet

Room

example.

Edward

Manor,

and

himself only

designed a few three-dimensional objects

(/eft)

Ould, Wightwick

Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Co. to design and

produce

modern.

IS

in the

The

richly colorful, with green as a unifying

natural subjects, the plants, flowers, and birds that

were their themes. Superficially similar to tactory-

made
ties

Webb

Victorian prints, Morris's designs have quali-

of simplicity and dignity that

remarkably

lively

when

so

much

make them
of Victorian

Philip

Webb

maintained a close association with

Morris throughout

his career, designing furniture

design appeared as pretentious, heavy, and overly

for use in Morris's interiors as well as for his

owner of
the firm, called then Morris & Co., which produced
many of his designs as well as work by a number of
followers. The output included designs for printed
chintzes and hand-tufted carpets and, eventually,
carpet designs for Wilton and Axminster factories.
The firm was also active in interior design, taking

architectural projects.

decorative. In 1875, Morris

became

sole

He was

massive wardrobe with

a front

own

the designer of the

painted by Burne-

Jones presented to Morris for the Red House.

Webb

also designed a

number of country houses

form an interesting contrast with the Queen


Anne work of Norman Shaw. Although some of
that

Webb's houses were very

large,

he aimed for a

213

Chapter Twelve

12.4

Philip

Webb,

Standen, East
Grinstead, Surrey,

England, 1891-4,

The drawing room of


this fine

house contains

a carpet and

many

pieces of furniture to

William Morris's
designs. The simple,

white-painted paneling
IS

characteristic of Arts

and

Crafts design at

its

best.

modesty drawn from English vernacular

certain

examples

goals developed through his Arts

Crafts involvement. His interiors seem, in contrast

crowding and

to Victorian love of

clutter,

British

Designers

remark-

In

the

nineteenth century a

half of the

latter

number of other

up

English designers took

the

ably simple and original and so are perhaps the best

themes of Morris's Arts and Crafts movement, or

examples of Morris's aims

the related Aesthetic

Clouds (1881-91),

Webb,

is

interior

in

a Wiltshire

design.

house designed by

and rambling mansion, but its


White Drawing Room with

a large

tion

movement

from such sources

that

drew

inspira-

Japanese prints and

as

ceramics. Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) began

interiors, including the

his design career with a study of botanical

white walls and a Morris carpet and the library with

which he urged

its

white-painted

fireplace,

modern

seem

woodwork and
free

plaster

and simple

of clutter and surprisingly

Webb

design

is

Standen

in

Surrey

(fig.

12.4; 1891-4), also large, but with the character of a

cluster of simple brick

farm buildings. Inside, most

of the rooms have walls paneled up close to the


ceiling;

some

are papered with Morris patterned

papers instead. Paneling

although in the dining


detailing

is

is

generally white-painted,

room

straightforward,

from Morris

carpets,

pleasant simplicity.

forms

as a basis for "applied art," that

decorative design.

is,

Dresser became interested in

Japanese art and design in the 1860s and eventually


established himself as a commercial designer; he

in spirit.

Another

214

Other

and

it is

textiles,

The
coming

blue-green.

and the

color,

and paper, has

sometimes spoken of as the

He produced
ware,

first

is

industrial designer.

designs for pottery, porcelains, glass-

textiles,

wallpapers,

Although he had no

silver,

and ironwork.

resei^vations

about designing

was

a vocal advocate

for industrial production, he

of simplicity and "honesty," making connections

between

his botanical

knowledge and the model

design excellence that nature has to offer.


his designs, particularly those for silver

ware, are amazingly

modern

in

concept

Many

and

for

ot

glass-

(fig. 12.5).

'

The Aesthetic Movements

his

Edward W. Godwin (1833-86) concentrated


work on furniture design based on Japanese

precedents. His firm, the Art Furniture

Company

(founded 1860s), was devoted to the production of


furniture

"Anglo-Japanese"

attracted

that

12.5 Christopher
Dresser, pattern

1886.
Dresser

moved from

inclined elite
delicate with

somewhat limited

(fig. 12.6).

aesthetically

His designs were

light

and

decoration that was, by Victorian

restrained

standards,

Godwin

and simple.

catalog of

with drawings grouped under headings such as

Room

"Students' Furniture." Other plates

rooms
Rossetti and the Aesthetic

was included
book Modern

which
in his

Ornamentation,

to

increasingly creative

designs was published in 1877, illustrated

"Anglo-Japanese Drawing

this

typically Victorian decorative pattern,

among

following

the

In

"Japanese Manner,"

Furniture"

forms that

make him a

precursor of modern
industrial design.

or

show complete

Godwin's own version of the Arts and


works were generally

in

Crafts approach. His later

House

made for his own


who included such leaders of the
Movement as Oscar Wilde and James

one-of-a-kind objects, hand craft


Lady Mount Temple, a respectable Victorian society
hostess, encountered at

expressed

first

hand the

artistic sensibilities of

use or for clients,

starkly

Aesthetic

the pre-Raphaelite

poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. She recorded


the meeting

her Memorials:

in

McNeill Whistler (1834-1903).

Godwin was

the designer of the White

House

in

London, for (and probably in cooperation with) Whisder in 1887-8. Although Whisder's
reputation is primarily based on his work as a

Tite Street,

You remember our dear

when we

Street;

house

little

furnished

Curzon

in

nothing would please

it,

us but watered paper on the walls, garlands of


roses tied with blue bows! Glazed chintzes with
I

ornaments we had in perfect harmony, gilt pelicans


or swans or candlesticks, Minton's imitation of
Sevres, and gilt bows everywhere.

was dining alone with us, and


admiring my room and decorations, as

One day Mr
instead of

Rossetti

expected, he evidently could hardly sit at ease with


began to ask if it were possible to suggest

them.

improvements! "Well," he said, frankly, "I should


begin by burning everythng you have got."
Rossetti's

decor,

own

house, with

its

artistic

was described by Henty

visit in

Treffry

he

painter,

bunches of roses, so natural they looked, thought,


as if they had just been gathered (between you and
me, still think it was very pretty) and most lovely

was

often

projects that ranged

involved

in

decorative

from painted picture frames

and screens made up of painted panels to the decoration of a room in a London house called the
Peacock Room (fig. 12.7), which has been reassembled in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington,
D.C. The

Thomas

room was

originally designed in 1876

Jeckyll (1827-81), a designer

who

the enthusiasm for Japanese themes with

and Whisder. The Peacock

room with Godwin

Room

was

by

shared

Godwin

12.6 Japanese

Court,

International
Exhibition, London,

1862.
The Victorian discovery
of Japanese design
promoted a new
interest in orientalism.
Visitors to the exhibi-

tion

came away with

an awareness of an
exotic theme that fitted
into the Aesthetic

Movement's urge

to

bring the forms of


oriental design into the

decorative practice of

a dining

furniture, walls covered with

nineteenth-century

England.

approach to

Dunn

after a

1863:

was ushered into one of the prettiest, and one of


the most curiously furnished and old fashioned
sitting rooms that had every been my lot to see.
Mirrors of all shapes, sizes and designs, lined the
I

whichever way gazed saw myself


What space remained was a most
original compound of Chinese black lacquered
panels, bearing designs of birds, animals, flowers
and fruit in gold relief, which had a very good

walls, so that

looking at myself.

effect,

and on the other side of the grate a

old Dutch

treated
period,

in

were

inlaid

1
Lady Mount Temple, Memorials (London,
Dunn, Recolleaions (London,! 882)
.

series of

mostly displaying Biblical subjects


a serio-comic fashion that existed at the
tiles,

890);

2.

Henry Treffry

215

Chapter Twelve

12.7 Thomas Jeckyll


and James McNeill
Whistler, Peacock

Room, 49 Prmces Gate,


London, 1876-7.
Within this dining room
Wliistler introduced

Japanese themes into

an Arts and Crafts

envi-

and lined with an intricate system of shelves


on thin vv'ooden support members intended for the
display of a collection of Japanese blue and white

leather

porcelains.

what he

Whistler converted this setting into

called

"A Harmony

painting the entire

and

window

in

Blue and Gold" by

even the doors,


with decorative forms

room

shutters

walls,

Charles Eastlake (see also

p. 197)

was another

movement through his


publications, but his own very limited work and
the work of his many imitators was closer to the
influential

figure

in

the

heavy High Victorian tradition than to the

spirit

the Arts and Crafts movement. The term

furniture" was Eastlake's

name

of

"art

for the aesthetically

ronment. The room,

based on the feathers of the peacock, a favorite

"correct" design that he advocated. Bruce Talbert

with

theme of the Aesthetic movement.

(1838-81) was a designer of furniture and metal-

Its

shelves to

display Japanese porce-

had been designed


by Thomas Jeckyll.
lain,

Whistler's decoration

of this

by peacock

feathers.

The furniture was by

the

was the

exotic,

drift

toward

extremes, and toward pretentiousness that became


the basis for the satire by

used blue and gold


wall painting inspired

movement toward

It

Gilbert

amusing

and

Sullivan

W.

operetta

S.

Gilbert in the
Patience.

It

is

to note that Gilbert himself lived in a

Norman Shaw London

house, Grims Dyke, with

Edward William
Godwin, a former

assis-

tant of William Burges.

216

interiors

that

exemplify

Patience satirizes.

the

pretensions

that

he called Gothic, but which appears


in the drawings he published to be close to Arts and
Crafts uitentions. Robert W. Edis (1839-1927) was

work

in a style

an architect working in the Queen Anne vocabulary,

but in his book Decoration and Furniture of

Town Houses

(1881) he illustrates interiors where

Morris wallpaper and


used

(fig. 12.8).

Godwin

furniture are to be

The Aesthetic Movements

Gimson (1864-1919) met Morris in


became skilled as a plaster worker and as a

Ernest
1886,

wood

and produced both furniture and


ironwork. The simple forms recall a medieval
turner,

vernacular, but also suggest the simplicity that was


to

become

primary value

twentieth-century

time a gathering point for Arts and Crafts-oriented

Ashbee (1863-1942) was

also associated with the guild, acting as

designer of furniture,

was instrumental

in

its

leading

and jewelry. In 1901 he


moving the guild, by then

silver,

Decoration and

Houses (1881) shows


interior with furni-

by Edward William
frieze by
Henry Stacy Marks, and
ture

Godwin, a

wallpaper by William
active propagandist for

the ideas of the

Aesthetic

and

Movement
and Crofts

the Arts

Movement. His book


urged readers

and

use in their

and the United


century

(fig.

States

12.9).

in

was an

Morris. Edis

(1865-1945) designed furniture for the guild, as

were published

Town

Furniture of

numbering some 150 craftsmen, to the Cotswold


village of Chipping Campden where it continued
production until 1907. Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott
well as interiors that

Edis,

London, 1881.

The plate from Edis's

an
in

modernism. He produced chairs for an organization called the Art Workers' Guild that was for a
personalities. Charles R.

12.8 Robert W.
interior,

to follow

the design lead

shown

by these movements
to

adapt them

for

own homes.

Germany

around the turn of the

His work forms a link with

European developments

in the twentieth century,

including the Deutsche Werkstatten.

A number
riors

r^^^>^M^

airy,

of details helped to

make

the inte-

of Arts and Crafts designers seem open and


even when ceiling heights were lower than

12.9 M.H,

Baillie

Scott, design for a

music cabinet. Marvel


Hill,
c.

Witley, England,

1914.

Mackay Hugh

Baillie

Scott continued to

design

the spirit of

and Crafts
Movement well into
the Arts

the

twentieth century. This

cabinet

is

covered with

painted ornamental

manner
had intro-

detail in the

that Morris

duced

fifty

years before.

217

Chapter Twelve

those favored in typical Victorian work. Walls were


often paneled

whUe

up

a frieze or

paper

have a directness based on

band of

own

introduced

lighter tones, paint, or

horizontal

element

that

suggested openness. Bulbous lamps and lighting


fixtures

were often replaced by box-like forms with

Hertfordshire,

suggesting

modernism, Voysey

Voysey
in

the

transition

from

textiles,

and

carpets.

space of

house, called

the "hall" Voysey works

with simple elements


that point to the ideas

of Modernism that were


to surface in the

following century.

218

design. His designs for such

and ironwork are

Mackmurdo
work

Mackmurdo

craft-

The

work.

(1851-1942) suggests an even closer link to Art

curving

own

own

objects as clocks, silver flatware,

simple,

a large

(1898), overlooking Lake

In the living

as

at

style well related to his architectural

Voysey designed

his

He became

of the Art Workers' Guild and eventually

developed furniture designs

Hertfordshire,

living

work carries hints of the Art Nouveau movement


on the continent (see Chapter 13).

based

England, 1900,

room

in spirit to

modernism

Francis Annesley Voysey (1857-1941). Voysey was

member

Wood,

and elegance

highly original and strikingly successful. Voysey's

wallpapers,

CFA Voysey,

The

actually disliked

mass
design.

Victorian to twentieth-century design was Charles

an architect but began his career with designs for

12.10

12.10).

wallpapers of his
figure

vernacular

His

Wood,

The Orchard has walls


covered with violet fabric up to eye level, with
white paint above. The woodwork is natural oak or
painted white. Bedroom walls are covered with

Modernism

important

gable-roofed

Although they appear close

duced

An

country

English

(fig.

electric bulbs.

craft orientation.

1900), at Chorley

simple

is

Interior spaces are of great simplicity

such.

The Orchard, Chorley

The Orchard

house.

frosted or colored glass to screen the newly intro-

Links to

with furniture of his design,

interiors, originally

to a height of six or seven feet,

bow windows

in

country house, Broadleys

Windermere.

It

has three

facing toward the lake.

The

Nouveau

of

Arthur

indeed, he

is

Heygate

often viewed as one of the

originators of that style. Early in

he acted as an

assistant to

Mackmurdo's career

Ruskin during a

trip to

The Aesthetic Movements

by the Glasgow

liked

Mackintosh also

public.

12.n

Arthur Heygate

Mackmurdo,

designed a few private homes, such as Hill House at

Dunbartonshire,

Scotland

(1902-3;

12.1),

fiig.

title

page,

Wren's City Churches,

1883^

church, and several tea-room restaurants in Glasgow

Mackmurdo, a devoted

operated by a Miss Cranston. The

supporter of Arts

had remark-

latter

and
was the
author of a book urging
Crafts ideals,

ably creative interiors, with decorative wall murals,

windows and doors with

fireplaces,

and

inserts,

own Glasgow

for his

designs

furniture

stained-glass

the presen/ation of

and

Christopher Wren's

special furniture. For private clients

Mackintosh developed

flat.

most often used simple,

that

geometric forms, but then introduced exaggerated


proportions, extreme high chair backs, and white or
black paint finishes with decorative details in violet,

or gold. Painted ornamental elements were

silver,

London churches. His


highly onginal

title

page seems unrelated


to the content and
suggests the Art

Nouveau

direction that,

at the time,

had not yet

fully surfaced.

added by Mackintosh's wife, Margaret


Macdonald (1865-1933), who, along with her sister

often

Frances (1874-1921), was an active participant in


the Arts

and Crafts movement and

activities that
It

is

a curious fact

Movement,
reform

despite

In 1877 he was in contact with Morris,

and

in

1880 with Whistler. His book Wrens City Churches


(1883) carried an oddly inappropriate

Mackmurdo woodcut showing


leaves, flowers,

came

to

and

title

page

sinuously curved

lettering in the graphic style that

be typical of Art Nouveau design

12.11). His fiarniture design

flowing curved forms.

He was

(fig.

in the 1890s.

and Crafts

that the Arts

and

design

influencing

productions. However, in

its

on honesty

group

in its

of

of

costly

its

meaning-

rejection of

in the design expression

only

taste,

small

mass-produced ornamentation,

less

broad

to bring about a

supporters and enthusiasts able to afford

emphasis

realities

of

function, material, and technique. Arts and Crafts

pointed toward the future, almost in spite of

made

use of related

Its

also the

founder of the

historicism,

Century Guild, yet another organization devoted to

in

related design

Glasgow

in

aim

its

Victorian

in

succeeded
Italy.

were centered

link to Art

Nouveau, with

makes it the
of modernism.

studies

itself.

total rejection

its

starting point

for

of
all

furthering Arts and Crafts ideals through publications

and production of various decorative

objects.

United States: The Craftsman


Mackintosh
In Glasgow, Scodand,

was produced
by

Charles

work

related to Art

for a short time

Rennie

by

Nouveau

few designers led

Mackintosh

(1868-1928).

Mackintosh's work grew out of Arts and Crafts


bases,

but

moved toward

Nouveau and became

the

greatiy

freedom of Art

admired by conti-

nental designers, including those based in Vienna


(fig.

12.1).

Mackintosh
(

The
is

most

large

windows

is

important

Glasgow

the

1896-1909), which

building

School

of

by
Art

devoted to studio spaces with

that

dominate

Internally, lobby, stairway, office,

and

the

simple

The

close link

made
Crafts

it

between England and the Americas

inevitable that there should be an Arts

movement

in the

United

States.

ornate Victorianism discussed in the

and

While the

last

chapter

War,
movement, limited in size and acceptance, surfaced and offered alternatives to the
dominant taste of the time.
remained dominant

America

in

after the Civil

a divergent

exterior.

library spaces

masonry constructional
elements set off by unusual furniture and details of
lighting and metalwork that move toward Art
Nouveau inventiveness. The building was not well
use

Movement

Stickley

and the Roycrofters

timber and

The leading

figure in

what came

to be called the
America was Gustav

Craftsman movement

in

Stickley (1858-1942), a

member

of a family that

219

Chapter Twelve

operated several furniture factories. Stickley began


his career

running

a furniture store selling a variety

of historic reproductions.

12.12

U.S. dining

room, 1904.

The Craftsman, from


which

this illustration

and

Movement,

which was known

article

made a trip to England to see the Arts and Crafts


work being produced there. He also made a stop in
Paris to visit Bing's Art Nouveau shop. On his

Orchard. Advertisements in The Craftsman offered

America as the
The magazine
for

rooms and objects that


were clearly inspired by
the thinking of Morns,

simple furniture, generally of massive form and

York, where offices and showrooms for Craftsman

made
wood

enterprises were grouped.

in

assembled with craftsmanly

solid oak,

existent except as
detailing.

The

it

resulted

from constructional

was often given the term

style

Mission because of

its

made

supposed similarity to

for the earlier California

Golden Oak for the


typical yellow-brown tone given the oak wood by a
process called "fuming." Some of the most interesting

examples

of

Stickley

were

furniture

produced during the brief period when Harvey


(1842-1904) was associated with the firm. His

Ellis

Traditional ladder-back

designs incorporated ornamentation suggestive ot

around a

and sideboard

Voysey and

room

Stickley.

Itself,

with

The

ideals in architecture
is

strong contrast to

"Craftsman houses"
also carried articles

the florid ornamentation of

most Victorian

design of the time.

and Scotch

designers.

The Craftsman, which promoted Arts and Crafts

its

wood wainscot and


plain window detail,
in

later English

In 1901 Stickley began publishing a magazine.

from the shops of

Oustav

The commercial success of

hardware, leather cushions and

joints, iron

Webb, and Voysey.

table

New

eventually established his headquarters in

missions, or was designated

Craftsman Movement

chairs stand

products by other craft-oriented firms. Stickley

return to America he began to design and produce

simple furniture

in

suggested designs

and idealistic. Voysey contributed an


on the design of houses, illustrated with
photographs of several of his designs including The
tasteful

encouraged various imitators

Stickley's

efforts

number of

until a

is

was a magazine
that promoted the
Crafts

interested in

the writings of Ruskin and Morris and, in 1898,

other details. Ornamentation was minimal or non-

taken,

ideals of the Arts

He became

and any other materials that came to Stickley's


attention that would appeal to an audience both

as

women's

justice,

rights,

along with

and design and


(fig.

12.12).

illustrated

The magazine

promoting various causes such

improved child
art

care,

and

photography, poetry,

social

fiction.

were producing Craftsman furniture and

factories

other products. As the excesses of Victorian design

began to lose popularity


Gustav

found

New

of the century,
importance.

in

New

Eastwood,

Stickley's factory at

York,

competition with the Onondaga,

itself in

York, shops of his younger brothers Leopold

and

George

John

(1856-1915)
venture
of

at the turn

Craftsman movement grew

the

New

Aurora,

at East

Hubbard

Roycroft.

pamphlets dealing with


in a style clearly

own

his

craft-oriented

York, with the

name

books

and

produced

art

Hubbard

Elbert

Stickley.

established

and

literature designed

based on Morris's precedents. The

Roycrofters also produced Mission style furniture


in

direct competition with Stickley,

and moved

even further than Stickley toward the establish-

ment of an

aesthetic cult.

importance

after

Although

World War

I,

it

faded in

when

"period"

decoration in various historically imitative styles

became

increasingly

Craftsman

Themes

influence

related

to

popular,

some

survived

into

the

Craftsman

traces

the

of

1930s.

movement

included the development of a "bungalow style"

based on a kind of vernacular one-story house that

became popular in California. A typical bungalow


had porches, overhanging eaves, walls of shingle or
stucco, and minimal ornamental detail.

Bradley
Will Bradley (1868-1962) was a commercial
trator

who developed an enthusiasm

Craftsman

the

and for English


character. He was commissioned
for bungalows,

style,

work of

related

by

popular

the

illus-

for

and

influential

Ladies'

Home

journal magazine to develop designs for houses,

rooms, and furnishings


renderings,

Mission

220

showing

style,

often

12.13).

(fig.

published in the form of his

skillful

colorful

with

They were

and

versions

amusing

attractive

of

the

decorative

"

The Aesthetic Movements

12.13

Will Bradley,

1902.

interior,

Colorful renderings of

house

interiors

of

Bradley's design

became

an

familiar to

extensive American

public through their

12.14 Henry Hobson

publication in the

Richardson, Trinity

popular magazine

Church, Boston, 1877.

Ladies'

Home

Journal.

His support for designs


in the Arts

and

Crafts

or Craftsman style
his hints

and

about the

designs of Charles

Rennie Mackintosh and


the Vienna Secession

designers helped to

lead to the acceptance

of the furniture that

came

to

be called

"Mission Style

Richardson's work was,


in Its day, often called

"Romanesque Revival,
it was far more

"

but

creative than that

designation suggests.
This church contains

known
Romanesque era,

forms unlike any


in the

and

they resulted in an

impressive space, rich in


color,

with stained

glass by Tiffany

and

painting by John La
Targe.

details.

The making of

"artistic"

wares

lamps

with stained-glass panels, decorative objects of

hammered copper, and pottery


Rookwood Pottery in Ohio

metal, most often

such as that of the

rounded out the presence of Arts and Crafts design


in the

United

States.

ideas developed in

The

influence of Art

Nouveau

same

time, so

America

at the

that the resulting overlap reflects a fusion of these

two, quite separate alternative challenges to the


patterns of Victorianism.

Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-86) was the
American

Richardson's

works were

early

various Victorian styles


Shingle,

Stick,

of

frequency,

increasing

masterpiece. Trinity

Church

Boston (1877), uses semicircular arches and

other

Romanesque

around
is

first

versions

in

Gothic, second Empire,

with

or,

Romanesque. His
in

first

architect of international importance.

motifs, but they are

a great central crossing

entirely

stonework

original.
is

combined

tower in a way that

Externally,

the

rough-cut

beautifully detailed but the interior

space suffers from the brightness of stained-glass

windows, some of indifferent

quality.

dominated by the

The

interior

ceiling form,

wood

(fig.

12.14)

and

plaster vaulting of trefoil shape with iron tie-

is

beams encased
tion

was

in

wood. Richardson's stated intenchurch" where aO surfaces

for "a color

would be covered with painted

stenciling or with

221

Chapter Twelve

222

The Aesthetic Movements

of

paintings

figurative

the

La

John

Farge

and Crafts respect

Arts

quality

for

handwork.

12.15

(opposite)

Greene and Greene,

(1833-1910)

and red-browns with

reds

dull

in

some blue-greens and gold. La Farge also designed


windows of the west front. Although
the
Richardson's work seemed for a time to be another
revival
in this case of Romanesque
his work
gradually moved from historicism toward simplifi-

cation while retaining fine stonework and semicir-

dominant themes. A series of library


on functional plans, became
innovative
progressively more
in design. The Crane

Ornamentation

but

present

is

very

generally

restrained, while panels of stained glass, lantern-

lamps, and hanging light fixtures (now for

like

electric

and simple furniture of

lights),

great

of craftsmanly details

full

fill

the

spacious entrance halls and other generous interior


spaces. Color

is

dominated by red-brown tones of

wood, mahogany, some

buildings, each based

ebony, and maple, with polished oiled natural

Library at Quincy, Massachusetts (1880-2),

is

the

main space is a double-height stack


room with an open reading space at its center. The
beamed ceiling, wood shelving, and access
balconies and floor are all of wood. An elaborate
fireplace and mantel forms a focus at one end of
the room. Tables, chairs, and (gas) lighting fixtures
are all of Richardson's design. The chairs used here,
and

known.

similar

chairs

designed by Richardson for

other projects, are spindle-backed

simple but elegant form,

far

arm

chairs of

superior to the U^ical

The Richardson work


(1885-7),

destroyed.

It

was

interiors

in

Store

in

been

orderly arch-topped groups.

and ware-

lofts

strictly utilitarian character.

fame of the building


to the even

influ-

unfortunately,

has,

were simple open

house spaces of
exterior form,

became most

a block-long seven-story stone

mass with windows

The

that

Field Wholesale

Marshall

the

Chicago

rests

and

The

on the simplicity of

which can be considered

its

precursor

more advanced work of Louis

Sullivan,

in rugs.

vocabulary sometimes called the Western Stick


His Christian Science Church in Berkeley

(1910) uses highly original, craft-oriented


detail to generate a

handsome and

in

In California, the brothers Charles

Henry

Greene

with a highly personal style that drew on the

San

Panama

House of 1907 and the Gamble House

(fig.

12.15)

of 1908 (now preserved as a museum), that distin-

windows generate
riors

inal

inte-

that are both orig-

and

full

of a sense

of tradition.

wood

original church

great

its

central

and

creative

era.

view of

its

classical

modest suburban development. At best


simple

and

sensible

pretensions. At worst,

by

alternatives
it

real estate speculative

became

to

it

offered

Victorian

a cliche

adopted

developers to lend a kind

of spurious charm to subdivisons

crammed with

dream of "a home of

Developments
Europe

Wood

is

intricate joinery detailing that

Arts and Crafts

Craftsman movement

in

Continental

movement and
in

its

parallel

America did not

transfer

European continent and the Scandinavian

countries in any clearly recognizable form. As the

nineteenth century came to an end, an extraordi-

used with

complex variety of developments surfaced in


On the European continent, the
emergence of Art Nouveau in Belgium and France

draws on

presented a

Greene and Greene work from other

oriental precedents in

and stained-

glass inserts in

The more modest works of the Greene


brothers and of Maybeck established a California
bungalow tradition, encouraged in the east by the
Craftsman movement, that became a staple of

to the

the quality of the interiors of these

houses, such as the Pasadena, California, Blacker

work of the same

furniture, original

precedents.

overhangs.

and

design. Finely detailed

Pacific Exposition of

with

Francisco,

a highly personal

The

careful

Japanese traditional

rotunda, turns away from vernacular and craft

Craftsman tradition, on the Stick style, and on the


bungalow vernacular. Greene and Greene houses
are of wood with low sloping roofs having long

California

that

Sumner Greene

Mather

(1870-1954) established an architectural practice

guishes

way

appears based on

His most spectacular work, the Palace of

the Fine Arts for the

1912

woodwork

detailing in a

one's own."

Greene & Greene and Maybeck

It is

the

designer of houses in a related California-based

interior.

ideals with

fixtures,

Maybeck (1862-1957) was

R.

public eager to satisfy the

and

in stained

based on an

poorly designed and badly built houses offered to a

one of the building's most vocal admirers.

(1868-1957)

some rosewood,

is

understanding of craft

lantern-like light

Bernard

style.

1908,
The work of the Greene

traditions toward historicism, albeit incorporating

furniture designs of the time.

ential,

glass

teak,

and greens appear

finishes. Reds, blues,

Its

Pasadena, California,

Brothers

elegance and

cular arches as

best

Gamble House,

combination with

parallel

narily

the design fields.

new approach to design


modern world (see Chapter 13).

suited to the

223

Chapter Twelve

224


The Aesthetic Movements

Germany: Muthesius

Hendrik Petrus Berlage (1856-1934), an architect

known

best

In

Germany, although no

direct parallel to English

Victorian design surfaced, the English Arts and


Crafts

movement became

model

for attempted

design reform furthered by the efforts of

An

(1861-1927).

Muthesius

Hermann

architect

the

for

Prussian government, Muthesius was sent to the

German Embassy

London

in

He was

English design practice.

number of magazine

1896 to study

in

the author of a

and books dealing

articles

with English Arts and Crafts and related design


activities. After

returning to

Germany he published

the three-volume Das Englische Hans (19045)

work by Shaw,

illustrating

and other leading


and

Baillie

Scott, Voysey,

figures in English architecture

interior design. As a

the

for

massive Amsterdam Stock

The building

is

constructed of Dutch brick with a facade that

is

Exchange

(fig.

12.16; 1898-1903).

symmetrical except for the great clock tower on

The arched entrance openings and simple


work of Richardson
historic
imitation and the
there is no attempt at
restrained.
The interior is
ornamental detail is
exchange
room, with
devoted
to
a
vast
open
largely
levels
looking
out
into the
on
two
upper
balconies
one

side.

brick walls suggest the later

central

through brick arches. Overhead,

space

exposed iron trusses with iron

open space and support

tie

rods span the

glass skylights that flood

Most of Berlage's later


planning for Amsterdam, but this

the interior with daylight.

work was

in city

he

building established his reputation as an important

design and was a

figure in the reform efforts that ultimately led to

government

official,

12.16 [opposite)
Hendnk Petrus Berlage,
Amsterdam,
1898-1903.

Bourse,

The carefully detailed


brickwork

in the walls

and upper galleries of


the Bourse (stock

exchange) forms a
dignified shell for the

exposed

steel trusses

that roof the space with


extensive areas of glass
skylights.

The work of

Berlage. with

base
tions

its

strong

Dutch tradiof fine masonry

in

(particularly in brick

and

tile),

embodied

elements of functionalism as

develop

it

was

in the

to

twen-

tieth century.

urged improvement in
key

figure

the

in

Werkbund

in

German

formation

1907,

promoted design excellence.


powerful

modernism

on

influence
in

of the

the

English

that

The Werkbund was


development

Germany, and made

nineteenth-century

Deutsche

organization

an

a link

design

of

between

reform

and

twentieth-century developments on the European


continent.

modernism.
If

design history had progressed according to a

Arts and Crafts moveNouveau design of continental origin would have come together and
moved into the modernism of the twentieth
century in a smooth progression. These efforts at
reform, however, were pushed aside by a new wave

strictly logical pattern, the

ment and the

parallel Art

of enthusiasm for historical imitation usually called


eclecticism (see Chapter

The Netherlands: Berlage

wave of reform
In the Netherlands, the effort to find an alternative
to Victorian excess

is

represented by the

work of

to

14).

It

required a

new

push eclecticism aside and open

up the way to the twentieth-century directions now


modernism.

called

225

Art Nouveau and the Vienna Secession

The

late

nineteenth century was a period of relative

and

peace

prosperity

in

upper-middle

experimental directions in design.

new and

direction

known

became

that

as

Vienna

the

and

and sculpture into

interior design.

The use of decorative ornamentation based on


forms

nature

France became the leading regions for the develop-

In Austria, Vienna beccune the center for the design

close relationship with the fine arts, incorpo-

architecture

Belgium and

ment of Art Nouveau (with some extension into


Germany, Spain, and the Scandinavian countries).

rating painting, bas-relief,

upper and

larger

could support

classes that

Europe.

continental

Economic prosperity generated

feathers,

flowers,

wings

insect

vines,

and

bird

shells,

abstract

forms

derived from these sources.

Curvilinear forms as dominant themes in both


basic structural elements

The

and

in

ornamentation.

relationship to the generally curving

and

Secession. Awareness of design in remote locations,

flowing forms of nature gave rise to the S curves

such as the orient (particularly in Japan), increased

or "whiplash" curves usually regarded as the

became easier and communication brought


and art works into European culture.

as travel

objects

most

visible Art

Art

Nouveau

Nouveau motif
directions

can

be

traced

in

graphic illustration, typography, posters and adverpainting and sculpture, and fashion
and the design of jewelry and decorative
objects such as ceramics, glassware and silver,
picture frames, and lamps, arriving at a synthesis in
complete interiors and in architecture. Because Art
Nouveau surfaced in many fields and in many
tisements,

Roots and Characteristics of Art

Nouveau
Many
13.1

[below)

Cf.

A.

Voysey, decorative

of these developments were quite unrelated

one another and had,

to

no

at least at their

design, England, 1907,

in retrospect that
Voysey stands at a
crossroads between the

and Crafts
Movement prevalent

Arts

in

England (seep. 210)

and

Nouveau
was devel-

the Art

style that

oping on the continent


of Europe. This design,

which comes from

late

makes use
nature-based and

in his career,

of the

curvilinear forms that

are charactenstic of Art

beginnings,

central core of direction or leadership.


it

has

and

commonalities

become

It is

only

possible to see

relationships

that

justify

Eugene

Vallin,

Masson

House, Nancy, France,

1903-14; now

Musee de

the

in

I'Ecole

de

Vallin
for the

responsible

design of every

detail in this dining

room. The built-in wood-

"style

of youth") was generally used. In England,

where Art Nouveau was

at first

simply an aspect of

movement (see Chapter 12), the term


Liberty style came into use also taken from the
name of the London shop that offered objects
related to Art Nouveau directions. Art Nouveau
work in Spain, Scotland, and America had only
relationship

surround and

over-mantel, the ceiling


detail, the

characteristics

hanging

surfaced

in

that

and

full

Art

Nouveau design

rejection of Victorian styles

and of

historic

nations of precedents.

the furniture are all

inal design

make

imitation in revivals or through eclectic combi-

of Vallin's highly ang-

A willingness

of
rials

(iron

modern matemodern techniques (indus-

to take advantage of

and

glass),

the flowing curves

production),

typical of the Art

trial

Nouveau movement.

electric lighting.

226

what had

recognizable as a unique development are:

light fixture, the rug.

and

to

and Paris. In Vienna, the development


called Vienna Secession can be viewed as a separate
but parallel manifestation of Art Nouveau. The

work of the cabinet, the


fireplace

difficult to trace

Nouveau
it is

first

and

such

innovations

as

It

appeared

is

in

an orderly develop-

usual to say that Art

France and Belgium, but

probably more accurate to identify England as

fied

Brussels

was

is

the point of origin.

remote

Nancy.

it

mental progression.

Nouveau had no currency at the time


the movement was developing
it was the name of
a Paris shop whose wares displayed the qualities
that were characteristic of the movement.
In Germany and the Scandinavian countries the
German term Jugendstil (the "young style" or
the term Art

13.2 [opposite]

places,

speaking of Art Nouveau as "a movement." Even

the Aesthetic

Nouveau.

design,

A number of individuals identi-

with the Arts and Crafts

movement designed

:.>?^-v

:^:

;{

Chapter Thirteen

13.3 Victor Horta,


Tassel House, Brussels,

1892.
Stairways offered the

Art Nouveau designer


opportunities to

develop flowing curves


in steps, railings, and,

as in the Tassel House

(now the Mexican


Embassy), painted or
stenciled color patterns

on walls and

ceiling.

The slim column

is

an

indication of the accep-

tance of metal as a
legitimate matenal for
interior detail, while the

hanging lighting

fixture

exploits the possibilities

of the then

new

electric light

228

'

Art

objects

embodied

that

of

characteristics

Nouveau and the Vienna Secession

Art

Nouveau. The term proto-Art Nouveau has been


used by

S.

Tschudi Madsen to describe the work of

Arthur Mackmurdo, such as


its

his chair

of 1882 with

perforated back carved in swirHng tlower-like

Victor Horta and Art

Nouveau

and the graphic design of the book cover of 1883

magazine L'Emulation described the


Nouveau movement in Belgium during the 8705
and 1 880s in the follov/ing terms:

(see p. 219). C. F. A. Voysey's textile prints also

We

make

our own, something to which

some of his metaiwork,

forms,

textile print designs,

use of plant forms in free curves

(fig. 13.1),

and Christopher Dresser's design philosophy was


largely based on his knowledge of botany. Aubrey
Beardsley (1872-98)

well

is

known

illustration using fantastically

In France similar

in the posters

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), and then

and other works of such major

posters

Art

upon to create something which

are called

we can

is

new

give a

name. We are called upon to invent a style .... We


must free ourselves from foreign influences ....
Nothing is beautiful in architecture unless true.

for his style of

curving linear forms.

themes appear

Tlie architectural

of

in the

arists as

The

Such

pamted

in

stucco."

'

the unique and

buildmgs of Belgian architect Victor Horta.

describmg the design concept

Tassel

far as to advise his

and

plaster

found expression

view/s

influential
In

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) and Pierre

Edouard Allen, went so

editor,

readers to "shun

House

for his celebrated

Brussels, Horta declared,

in

Bonnard (1867-1947).
I

discard the flower and the leaf, but

New

Belgium

keep the

'

stalk.

technology was central to

work and he

his

presented his designs and ideas to clients through

"photographs projected on to the end wall of the


drawing room and dining room space where the
audience

Horta

The

The Belgian

sat."

radical nature of Art

Nouveau

did not impress

and designer Victor Horta

many

outside a small avant garde. The writer

(1861-1947) produced an extensive body of work

Benn

criticized

shows off all of the

that

Nouveau

Art
(

architect

892

Tassel

House

in Brussels

has a symmetrical row-house facade that

uses

qualities that are typical of

The

design.

Within, however, there

in

R. D.

904:

said, and
on the one
hand, most of it which is really new, is not art, and,
on the other, that which is art, is not new; and do
not think that the situation could be summed up

With regard to this "new art,"


with some measure of reason,

it

has been

that,

conventional

fairly

the style

architectural

is

motifs.

complex open

stair

more

correctly or concisely.

using flowing iron railings, support columns, and


electric light fixtures

with curving lines that are

Edouard Allen, L'Emulation. quoted

Architecture. (London,

then carried into the stenciled wall and ceiling

Memoirs, quoted

painted decorations and the mosaic

1977),

tile

patterns of

more open and


flowing than Victorian practice would have
permitted. The Van Eetvelde House in Brussels
floors

(fig.

Spaces

13.3).

dome

a glass

151;

(London, 1904).

in J.

992).

67;

in

151,

Kenneth Frampton,

2, Ibid,

M.Richards, Who's

4.;i/d, p.
p.

p.

Who

p 68,

3,

in Architecture

S. H. D. Ber\!\,

Style

Modem

Victor Horta,

(London,

Furniture

37

are

(1895) contains a remarkable salon where iron

columns support

p.

in a relationship

detail.

The house

is

now

preserved as a

museum.

In

the Hotel Solvay (not a hotel but a luxurious

technically suggestive of the Crystal Palace, but

private house), also in Brussels, there are interiors

here with the introduction of the florid curves of

with an even richer display of Art Nouveau decora-

Art Nouveau.

tive

own house and

In his

Brussels

(fig.

13.4;

adjacent office-studio in

1898), with

its

asymmetrical

facade with twisted iron balcony supports and large


glass

detail

windows, Horta was able

panels,

furniture,

to

fixtures,

light

Nouveau,

curvilinear,

is

Horta's

Maison

now demoHshed, was

du

Peuple

a larger building

with an iron and glass facade curved to follow the

form of the adjacent

street. Its

top-floor meeting

with exposed iron structural elements and

design every

hall

stained-glass

great electric light standards suggests directions

door and window frames, even hardware

so that every element

vocabulary.

(1896-9),

an expression of Art

nature-related

decorative

that the twentieth century

was to explore. Having

achieved remarkable success with his early work,

Horta retreated into

a rather dull, conventional

229

Chapter Thirteen

enced by English work of the time, and established


a

between English and continental Art

bridge

Nouveau beginnings. He
Berlin,

and most of

design,

on which

eventually relocated in

his Art

Nouveau

furniture

his reputation largely rests,

developed during these years.

It

full

is

was

of the

flowing, curved forms typical of Art Nouveau,

complex and decorative but without any references


to historic precedents. The Art School Building at
Weimar that he designed in 1904-11 became the
building that housed the post-World War I
Bauhaus at its inception. Van de Velde was a key
figure in promoting the ideals of a new and
progressive direction in design

(fig. 13.5).

France

The School of Nancy


13.4

vocabulary and had a long and successful career

victor Horta,

Horta House, Brussels,

that never

1898-1911.
In his

moved

to exploit or extend his early

Victor Horta included

and

Van de Velde

ceilings,

work with stained-glass


inserts, electric lighting

fixtures,

and

furniture

his

own

white

and

of

1894

oil to

the use

style.

exemplified

the

Art

de Velde's

down to table silver and


He moved from Brussels to

Dekorative Kunst, Vol,

I,

Belgium, 1898,

ceiling

Van de Velde

offers

use

in interior design,

including papers
paints, textiles,

and

(fig. 13.2).

moldings,

wall

(now

the

Every detail of woodwork,


treatment,

carpet,

light

and furniture were his designs, creating a


fantastic environment of closely related, original,
curvilinear, and complex forms. There arose a
School of Nancy, which included other designers
fixtures,

glass

Emile Galle (1846-1904) and the furniture


Louis

designer

(1859-1926),

Majorelle

each

master of a vocabulary of ornate and complex

name

decorative form. Majorelle was a specialist in the

style

design

L'Art Nouveau and gave that name to the


and period. Van de Velde was strongly influ-

of furniture

using

carving,

inlay,

and

ormolu or other metal decorative elements; the


curving themes were generally based on floral

In this advertisement.

various materials for

was

(1856-1922)

Vallin

such as the master of decorative craftsmanship in

where he was the designer of the shop established by Samuel Bing (1838-1919) that carried the

Atelier,

of Nancy. In

kitchen cookware.
Paris

13.5 Henri Van de


Velde, magazine
advertisement for Van

two main

in

in the smaller city

furniture and contents,

of color are typical of


Art Nouveau

also

Nouveau desire to create everything in a new and


unified mode. He designed the house and all its

design. The

tiles

The second significant Belgian Art Nouveau practitioner was Henri Van de Velde (1863-1957) whose

own house

with flowing Art

Nouveau curves

Eugene

Nancy,

achievement

wood-

built-in cabinets,

and

museum)
of 1903-6 which included a dining room that
might be regarded as an archetypical Art Nouveau

the Horta

tiled walls

Nouveau developed

designer of interiors for a house

achievements.

own house (now


Museum)

In France, Art
centers, in Paris

patterns.

He

developed a successful business with

showrooms in
The work

and
originality,

Paris
at

and

and other French cities.


is amazing in its variety,

Nancy

beauty,

although

there

is

tiles,

light fixtures, all of

tendency toward an excess of decorative richness.

which were available


from his shop at Uccle,
near Brussels. The

Guimard

design of the advertisement, with


cun/es,

is

Its

flowing

evidence of

Van de Velde's commitment to Art Nouveau.

230

In Paris, the

most

significant figure

was Hector

Guimard (1867-1942). Guimard was an architect,


but his work included the interior design of many

Art

and

stenciled ceiling

its

is

Nouveau and the Vienna Secession

an integrated essay

in the

curving, whiplash forms and pastel colors of the

Art

3.6

(/eft)

Hector

Guimard, Castel

Nouveau vocabulary.

Stairs

in a tower,

rise

while the water hydrant in the court has been

The

into a fantastic sculpture in bronze.

made

interiors

Beranger, Paris,

1894-9,
In the vestibule

of this

apartment Guimard
uses uniquely designed

of apartments vary, of course, according to their

and the

histories

tastes

of occupants, but old

photographs show Guimard

own apartment surrounded by


and

woodwork,

plaster

elements that were

studio of his

in the

details,

terracotta wall

continue up to a

pamted
his

furniture,

many

offered for sale in a

of

the

brochure

tiles,

metal wall details that

ceiling,

and an

entrance gate of metal.


All these elements use

the flowing cun/es of

Art Nouveau. The

Le Style Guimard.
Guimard's own Paris town house of 1909-12 is
four-story corner building on an awkward trian-

titled

cream background and


blue-green painted
detail explore the pastel

palette favored by Art

gular

site.

The two

street fronts of stone with orna-

mental iron balcony

railings are full of

Nouveau

asymmetrical, flowing, curving, carved forms. The

13.7 (below) Hector

contemporary

Guimard, entrance to

interiors

appear

they

as

in

Porte

Dauphine

photographs consist of rooms of unusual shape,


with every bit of furniture and decorative detail an

Station, Pans,

example of Guimard's highly

stations for the

In the

from

Apart
houses,

an

office

individualistic style.

number of
building,

Paris

apartment

and many private

in

entrances differed in size and shape;


shelters,

1900.

entrances to

Pans

Metro Cuimard used

standard elements of

assembled

most

some had

incorporated

signs,

to

form

entrance kiosks of
varied size
All

roof

c.

metal that could be

and around Paris, Guimard designed the


entrance kiosks and many detail elements for the
Paris Metro (subway) system around 1900. The
houses

of his buildings, the design of furniture and smaller

designers.

unusual

made

and

form.

use of curved

glass

details with nature-

light

related forms.

^-^:

and of decorative elements such as tiles,


window and door trim, and fireplace mantels that
could be reproduced in some quantity for sale as
objects,

products.

He

was, in a way, a pioneer industrial

designer of a wide variety of objects.

such

He worked on

forward-looking projects as the design

of

visible components for the Paris Metro, the subway


system that was under construction at the end of
the nineteenth century. Many of Guimard's earliest
works and some of the small houses and villas he
designed throughout his career have a bizarre and

fantastic

quality,

but his major works can be

thought of as Art Nouveau

at its best.

Castel Beranger (1894-9)

is

a six-story Paris

apartment house built around a central courtyard

which
13.6).

is

entered through a vestibule passage

The entrance arch

but a closer look

at the

hints at the

(fig.

Romanesque,

stubby columns

at either

ornament makes it
original, not derivative. The

side with their swirling carved


clear that the design

iron

entrance

molded

gate

terracotta

is

and the vestibule with

tiles, its

metal

tile

its

retaining bars.

231

Chapter Thirteen

and panels

fixtures,

for advertising posters

and

Spain

Guimard dealt with


number of standardized

identification signs (fig. 13.7).

by designing a

this project

elements

metal

railing panels, signs, light stan-

dards,

and wall panels

cated

in

and

quantity

assembled

various

in

configurations to suit the need of the individual

Metro stations. Some of the larger entrances were


unique designs, but most shared typical elements
assembled in varied ways. Many of the Metro
entrances have been destroyed, but the surviving

examples have come

seem

to

essential elements of

the Paris street scene, beautiful and

They

color.

are

among

of local

full

the most successful of

all

Art Nouveau designs.

Guimard was
although his

later

Caudf

that could be prefabri-

The use of the term Art Nouveau, at first confined


to work in Belgium and France, has gradually been
extended to include work in related style, using
non-traditional, decorative design generally based

on nature forms, wherever


also used, therefore, for

appeared. The term

is

in Spain, England,

some or

Scotland, and America that shares

all

of

these characteristics. In Barcelona, Spain, although


there

is

of work in this

a variety

figure of

style,

the

dominant

Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) stands out

as

practicing as late as 1929,

the inventor of a highly personal vocabulary of

work moves away from the more


Nouveau toward a

flowing curves and unusual decorative details. His

still

florid

manifestations of Art

1904-6 reconstruction of an older building, Casa

more

restrained but

Batllo (figs. 13.8

Guimard's work,

demanded
a chair, for

richly decorative style.

most Art Nouveau design,

handwork. The flowdng forms of

costly

example, were not the result of the use

of woodworking
able

still

like

of a flowing material

by affluent

in their tastes

they demanded

Such work was only afford-

skill.

clients

a high order

who were

a very limited public that

could

line and, for


riors.

new

13.9), included a

facade

a fantastic

some apartments, remarkable

roof
inte-

Paneled doors are studded with small mirrors

of irregular shape; ceilings are of plaster in swirling

curved forms.

The nearby, much

known

locally as

larger Casa Mila, informally

La Pedrera ("the rock quarry;"

begun 1905), is a large, six-story apartment house


built around open courtyards. Its rippling cement
exterior with iron-railed balconies is wrapped

Other French Designers

around

A number of other

and

of complex, bone-like forms with

also avant-garde

never support quantity production.

ment

most unusual plan

in

which each apart-

of rooms of irregular shape

fitted

Art Nouveau vocabulary, specializing in interior

together like stones of a mosaic. At rooftop

level,

and smaller decorative objects in


ceramics, metals, glass, and jewelry. The shop

terraces are covered with broken, colorftil bits of

French designers worked

in the

design, furniture,

established in 1895 in Paris

name

by Samuel Bing with

is

a suite

combined

tile

as

forms are developed

mosaic. Fantastic sculptural


for

chimneys and

vents.

Gaudi

Nouveau helped to make such


work accessible and widely known. Among the
designers promoted by Bing, Edouard Colonna

developed fantastic curving, sometimes bone-like,

(1862-1948), and Eugene Gaillard (1862-1933)

projects.

were both known for

Sagrada Familia church (1903-26) exhibit Gaudi's

the

jewelry.

L'Art

their design of furniture

Rene Lalique (1860-1945) was

and

a designer

of textiles, jewelry, framed mirrors, and lamps, but


is

best

known

for his

work

in glass.

style

make

style

is

(1914).

fantastic

on

for furniture designed to be

skilled

craftsmen

for

specific

The Guell Park (1905-14) and unfinished


and highly personal

major

stylistic

vocabulary

scale.

Germany: Jugendstil

established, fashion tends

different directions.

As

a result.

Art Nouveau faded in the early twentieth century

and had

custom made by

the

popular with a fashion-oriented audience.

However, once a
to seek new and

sometimes wiry forms

relationship

to Paris fashion developed that helped to

232

it

work

virtually disappeared

by World

War

The name

jugendstil derives

called Die Jiigend (Youth),

1869, but the style

Nouveau

is

from

founded

a
in

periodical

Munich

in

essentially identical to the Art

directions practiced elsewhere in Europe.

Art

Nouveau and the Vienna Secession

13.8 (/eft)Antoni
Caudi, Casa Batllo,
Barcelona, 1904-6,

The dining room of the

Casa

Batllo contains

and chairs, door


and window frames,
table

paneling, hanging light

and flowing

fixture,

plaster ceiling forms in

Caudi's highly personal

form of Art Nouveau.

13.9

Antoni

(center)

Caudi, plan of second

Casa Batllo

floor,
1

Dining room

Grand staircase
room with

3 Waiting

fireplace

4 Salon
which

This building,

stood on a narrow city


site,

was an already

existing structure that

was reconstructed to
Caudfs design. There

is

a central court with


stairs

and

and

elevator,

many rooms had


unusual shapes

produced by curving
walls.

The street front of

the building

is

on the

right-hand side of the

and the dining


room illustrated above
IS on the left (number
I). Note the swiding

plan,

ceiling forms indicated

with dotted lines in the


"salon"

(number

4) at

the right.

Endell

13.10 August
Elvira Studio,

relatively

minor work of the

Jugendstil designer

896

Endell,

Munich,

(destroyed

1944).

Munich seems

August Endell (1871-1912)

in

sum up

directions in a single

Art

project.

Nouveau design

Atelier

Elvira

(fig.

to
This small building for

13.10;

1896,

now

destroyed) was a small, two-story building housing

a photographer's atelier

embodies the essence of


Art Nouveau
(Jugendstil) in the

The facade was penetrated by a doorway and a few small windows


placed asymmetrically. The openings are of curious
the studio of a photographer.

avoidance ofhistoricism

and

artistic

shape,

rectangular with

curving upper corners.

no hint of any historical


Ovenvhelmingly powerful decoration
There

is

the use of

cun/ing forms

and

elements that

relate to nature forms.

reference.

great

233

Chapter Thirteen

13.11

LarsSonck, St

bas-relief of curving form, abstract, yet suggestive

John's Cathedral,

Tampere, Finland,

of waves or sea creatures

1902-7.

upper wall surface.

dominated

Window

made from stems of vines. The


made use of related

Art Nouveau concepts

irregularly, as if

were strongly welcomed

entrance hall and stairway

where they

in Finland,

were known by the

Sonck was

Jugendstil.

fantastic decorative motifs. Endell

of several

German term

Nouveau

influenced by bnck-built

churches

in

Germany,

Elvira

less

the blank

mullions were curved

was the designer

and some Art

spectacular buildings

furniture, but his reputation rests

on the

shop alone.

but the flowing curves


of the architectural
elements, the painted

ornamental

murals and stained


glass,

and

lights all

Riemerschmidt and Behrens

details, the

the

hanging

suggest Art

Nouveau with a

Jugendstil themes were also developed

by Richard

Riemerschmidt (1868-1957), the designer of


music room for a Dresden exhibition

strongly individualistic

which included

Finnish accent

decoration.
predictive

of later design

directions.

Riemerschmidt chair incorporating

come

support has

and wall
makes it seem

his fiarniture, lighting,


relative simplicity

Its

1899

in

simple

a diagonal side

to be regarded as a "classic"

modern variants. In
1900, Riemerschmidt worked with Bernhard
Pankok (1872-1943) on the design of a dining
room shown at the Paris exhibition of that year,
while Pankok alone produced a "smoking room"
for the same exhibition, lined with wood in carved
design, the basis for several

and shaped forms


and

light

all

Lars

size) at

Tampere

that balance

Nordic and Art Nouveau influences.

ceilings,

of Jugendstil

Jugendstil decorative vocabulary. In the Helsinki

work of

Peter Behrens

windows,

three sides

also in the Jugendstil

(1873-1950) displays a

own house at
He later moved toward

Jugendstil

mode, such as
Darmstadt (1901),

the interiors of his

example.

reserved,

German

modernist

is

interior, a

The

for

by

exterior

expressive

The

(1868-1940)

is

13.11; 1902-7)

stony

Its

suggestive of H. H. Richardson, but with details

fantasy form.

early

(fig.

Sonck (1870-1956).

wide open space surrounded on


by broad balconies, uses stained glass,
wall painting, and ornamental plaster work in a

that related to

fixtures,

modest

in

style

electrical industry

his

work

Railroad

(1906-14),

Station

and an

early

Saarinen

Eliel

style transitional

between

form of modernism.

more

for

the

(AEG), which included

Austria:

The Vienna Secession

a variety of products such as electric fans, kettles,

and

Vienna Secession

lighting devices.

group of

artists

is

the term that

was used by

and designers who withdrew from

the exhibitions of the Vienna

Academy

in 1897 in

Scandinavia

protest against the refusal of the

Jugendstil spread northward into the Scandinavian

modernist works. The leader of the group was


the painter Gustav Klimt ( 1 862- 1918).

academy

to accept

their

countries where, particularly in Finland,

it

found

unique regional expression. Toward the end of the

Olbrich

nineteenth century, Finland had experienced a


design

development

Nationalism,

in

dating back to

called

Romantic

Olbrich

Joseph

(1867-1908)

space and headquarters for the movement.

unlike the American Adirondack style (see p. 200).


The originality and decorative inclinations of Art
Nouveau blended into this work to produce such

other details, but there

cathedral

(really

church of

the

is

The

symmetrical, rectilinear in form, and

building

the

designed

Secession Gallery (1897) in Vienna as an exhibition

vernacular craft traditions to produce work not

buildings as

234

usually

which ancient Nordic themes


the Viking era combined with

hints at classicism with

its

cornice moldings and

is

also decorative detail

based on nature-related motifs, carved leaves, and


mask-like

Medusa

faces.

On

the roof above the

Art

entrance there

is

a surface

of gilded leaves

of

building

the

(fig. 13.12).

been

has

photographs show

it

great central gallery

room

and painted

skylight

Nouveau

dome of metal with

a great hollow

as

it

was

at its

interior

but

opening: the

wall decoration in flowing Art

(fig. 13.13).

Building, Vienna, 1897,

Gallery.

Olbrich's Secession

In the central gallery

Mathildenhohe

art

number of

colony, founded

in 1899 at Darmstadt in Germany under the


patronage of the grand duke of Hesse. An exhibi-

there and the Hochzeitturm (Wedding

Tower, 1905-8) make

use of geometric decorative

elements along with proto-modernist rectangular


forms. Olbrich's residential

work combines

Wagner, Post Office


Savings Bank, Vienna,
1

building

had a symmet-

the Secession Building

the severely geometric

strongly rectilinear basis

forms of door

of classicism, but

with decorative detail

using

floral motifs

that

and

904-6.

of

ncal scheme with a

tive

13.14 (Wow) Otto

{above)

Interior of Secession

and moldings sugges-

patterns

in the

tion hall

13.13

left)

Josef Olbrich, Secession

old

has an arched ceiling and

Other work by Olbrich included


houses

The

altered,

^3.^2 {above

Nouveau and the Vienna Secession

other

The main banking room


uses

an exposed metal
and a glass

structure

openings and the

barrel-vaulted roof The

pattern ofsguares on

rivets

the wall indicate the

columns act as decora-

rectilinear

emphases of

of the steel

tive elements,

while

Secession design, while

other ornamental detail

The gilded sculptural

the wall painting uses

IS

dome has a laurel-leaf


theme and the balance
between straight and

the flowing forms

black

similar to those of Art

in the tiling

Nouveau work in
Belgium and France.

which

IS

admit

light to the base-

relate to Art

Nouveau.

curving forms typifies


Secession work.

confined to a few

and

white bands

of the

floor,

largely glass to

ment below.

traces

of an Austrian peasant vernacular building style


with the more original forms of Secession experi-

mentation.
detailed

Interiors

woodwork

fantastic forms.

are

with

filled

often

that

carefully

incorporates

creature with huge outstretched

wings forms a window frame

Friedmann near Vienna,

in the

1898 Villa

for example. Walls carry

painted decoration; beds are sometimes enclosed in


a virtual tabernacle of canopies

and hangings.

Wagner
Otto Wagner (1841-1918),
architectural

who had an

career working

in

established

conventional

moved toward a new direction with


book Moderne Architektur
which called for the abandonment of

revivalist style,

the publication of his


(1895),

235

"

'

'

Chapter Thirteen

The

panels of marble and glass.


detail reflects the

gilded decorative

Art Nouveau related ornamen-

talism of the Secession style.

Otto Wagner and "Modern Architecture"

Interior detail

in

and gold ornamented the lobby.

white, green,

Wagner's

church

large

of

S.

Leopold

tall

dome

Am

book Moderne Architektur, Otto Wagner coined


the term "modern architecture" as a battle cry against

Steinhof (1905-7), Vienna, has a

the nineteenth-century devotion to resurrecting

construction supporting a copper exterior. Inside

historical styles:

the church, a broad crossing

In his

We do

not walk around

in

form plan

the costume of Louis XIV.

with a

He was appointed Professor of Architecture at the


Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 894 and quickly
encouraging

his

being a radical teacher,

for

liturgical

students to publish their opinions,

which were strongly influenced by

his

pulpit

own. He was

the

an essay entitled Science, Industry and

Art, written

in

and confessionals, the hanging light fixtures,


mosaics above the altar, and the

windows

are

examples of the

all

geometrically based decorative vocabulary of the


Secession

and life with


newly discovered useful materials and natural
powers that work miracles, with new methods and
techniques, with new tools and machines.
itself

The

making use of materials and techniques

Bank

Aus der

Wagnerschule:

The

1904-6).

exterior

detail.

with lower side spaces on either side


constructed machine;

must

it

in its installation

hygiene and cleanliness, of


to clinical demands.

must

be on

aisles" in strictly

and

matters of

in

objects for use, be up

glass;

is needed is a synthesis of
and machine. ^

modern terms)

all

support columns are

rivet heads.

What

hospital, sleeping car

And

all

it

of the

Interior

stairs,

like a perfectly

the level of the wagons-lit; and

the large

and corridors are enriched with


Secessionist detail in metal and stained glass. The
central main banking room has a high central area

as possible. His students published

the building must function

is

sheathed in panels of stone held by bolts

is

with heads exposed as decorative


lobbies,

their impressions of his theories in the journal

known of Wagner's projects


13.14;

(fig.

building

as

in

movement.

best

headquarters for the Austrian Post Office Savings

Wagner's buildings articulated this belief in a


purposeful, modern approach to architecture by

way

The

the altar with baldachino, the

fittings,

stained-glass

the 1850s:

unremittingly science enriches

"honest" a

lined

ceiling of square, white

pictorial

inspired by the writings of Gottfried Semper,


particularly

suspended

light,

cruci-

dome

panels held by thin metal strips painted gold.

gained a reputation

formed by the

topped by a low internal

is

of iron

The metal

is all

"nave and

(a

roofed in metal

steel

with exposed

white; the floor of struc-

tural glass gives light to the space below. Electric

fixtures

light

and tubular ventilator

outlets

are

functional elements that also serve a decorative role.

again:

All coquettish, superficial efforts,

and

Simple wooden counters, check writing desks, and

all

individuality are avoided like a machine, a

good

stools

are

chair or a musical instrument the architectural

design.

Although

form must be a uniform designed after criteria of


working towards a greater
need and material

this

Wagner's

in

all

work of

increasingly

simple

the Vienna Secession,

room can be viewed as the first truly modern


It brings modern concepts first visible in

interior.
purity.

the Crystal Palace into use in an interior that


1

otto Wagner, Moderne Architektur,

Wissenschaft Industrie

895;

und Kunst (London,

Wagnerschule, extract quoted

The Anti-Rationalists (London,

Semper,

2. Gottfried

852);

3.

totally practical

Aus der

form and

Nikolaus Pevsner and J.M. Richards,

973)

p.

95;

4. Ibid P

95

and

aesthetically successful

structure, without

is

through

dependence on any

applied decorative ornament.

Hoffmann
historical revivalism in favor of design based

on

"purpose." His major civic projects of the 1890s


included parts of a

Danube

rating locks, bridges,

buildings,

and

Stadtbahn,

an

canal system incorpo-

and dams,

architectural

urban

rail

as well as viaducts,

elements
transport

for

the

network.

Entrance kiosks such as the twin structures

at the

Karlsplatz station in Vienna (1898) used a metal

cage

236

structure,

externally

visible,

to

hold

wall

losef

Hoffmann (1870-1956) had

architecture

and design

early days of the Secession

tieth-century

a long career in

that extended

modernism.

from the

movement

into twen-

most

important

His

works date from early in his Secessionist period. In


1903 he was one of the founders of the Vienna

Werkstatte,

the loose guild of craft shops that

produced objects of

his design

and work by other

Art

moved toward
made his drawings

Secessionist designers. His design


strict

rectangularity (he usually

on graph paper); themes of small squares


patterns for textiles and papers, for perforations

ornament in
common. The
contexts
Sanatorium near Vienna (1903-6)
metalware,

and
were

as

Vienna but
house

in Brussels.

The

Nouveau and the Vienna Secession

and luxurious
Belgian Adolphe

large

commissioned by the

in

Stoclet, usually called Palais Stoclet (1905-11),

in

an extraordinary building, an asymmetrical mass

architectural

with

a large

is

tower topped with sculpture. The walls

13.15

Josef

Hoffmann, Palais
Stoclet, Brussels,

1905-11.
In this

formal dining

room Hoffmann
designed the marble

Puckersdorf

are covered with thin sheets of marble edged with

an austere,

narrow bands of gilded metal ornament. The many

floor tiles, carpet,

symmetrical block with white walls and minimal

rooms include

furniture.

external ornament. Interiors are also simple, but

looking balconies, a small theater or music room;

patterns of squares in black

and

is

and white

tiled floors,

specially designed furniture including a simple

chair for the dining hall look toward the austerity

of later modernism.

He

also designed various exhi-

bitions, residential projects, retail shops, bars,

and

all

rials

geometric ornament. The dining

rich

mate-

room

(fig.

13.15)
is

an e.xceptionally large bathroom with tub, wall

and flooring

designed

the

silver

dressing table shelf

all

in

marble.

toilet

Hoffmann even

articles

and

The black

and white

floor tiles

and the dark

furniture

are brightened by the

warm

color of the

marble walls and by

has large mosaic murals by Gustav Klimt. There

and glassware.
not in

and use

(marbles in various colors) and restrained,

panels,

is

double-height hall with over-

are of rather formal character

restaurants, as well as furniture, china, table silver,

The most famous Hoffmann work

walls, built-in cabinets,

spread

on

the mosaic murals of


the side walls. These

were designed by
Gustav Klimt and were
executed
glass,

in

marble,

and semi-

precious stones by

Leopold Forstner.

237

Chapter Thirteen

13.16 Adolf

Loos,

apartment, Vienna,

production

Loos
c.

1903.
Loos's

1908 attack on

ornament
in the

presaged

is

simplicity of

home

tiis

own

The exposed

(fig.

much

of the design of the

own work

His

13.16).

Adolf Loos (1870-1933) was an architect and

included simple bentwood furniture for the Thonet

designer associated with Secession for a time, but

firm,

he became disenchanted with what he regarded as

geometric

central to

is

century

twentieth

the superficial decorative concerns of that

move-

degree on his

and glassware (still in production) for


Lobmeyr. His architectural work was, oddly, by no
means free of ornament. A Vienna retail shop of
1909-11 for the firm of

Goldman &

Salatsch used

beams and bnckwork

ment. His reputation

suggest the vocabulary

writings,

Greek Doric columns

that

lower floors, but nevertheless attracted anger and

of twentieth-century

modernism.

Built-in

shelving, seating,

and

cabinets support a
functional approach to
design. The decorative

rugs

and an

orna-

mental clock on the


shelf may

seem

surpnsing, but Loos did

allow such older orna-

mental objects within


his austere interiors.

rests in large

which include early statements of theory


became central to the development of

modernism.
Verbrechen"

His

essay

"Ornament

und

as exterior

ornament

ridicule because the upper, residential

for

its

apartment

(Ornament and Crime) of 1908


ornament, which he viewed as a
needless expression of degeneracy that modern
civilization could best eliminate. While Loos's

floors have plain, white walls with rows of plain,

attempt to make a clear association between orna-

hardly an austere space. By contrast,

attacks the use of

ment and
ornament

criminalit)'

now seems

as inappropriate to

odd, his view of

modern mechanized

square windows.
1907, with

its

is

Loos's Steiner

tiny

Vienna Karntner Bar of

ceiling of rectangular panels, floor

tiled in squares,

furnishings,

The

and

rich

woods and

House of 1910

the brink of brutality with

its

leathers for the

carries austerity to

blocky white-walled

masses punctured by scattered window openings.


Interiors are less

with a clutter of

doctrinaire,

contemporary Viennese comforts.


Secession design proved to be the most influential

aspect of Art Nouveau.

While the

of Belgian and French Art

regarded as eccentric

and

florid curves

Nouveau came

to be

willfully decorative, the

more geometric forms of the Vienna work were


more easily related to modernism. The writings of
Loos underlined the modernist emphasis on
simplicity,

puristic

while

the

craft-oriented

concerns for honesty of materials and workmanexpressed

ship

through

the

Werkbund

and

Werkstatte movements carried Arts and Crafts


concepts into the

modern world. Peter Behrens,


of the Munich (rather than the

member

although a

Vienna) Secession, formed a personal link from

modernism through his employment


most famous European modern
Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, and Le

Jugendstil to

of the

three

pioneers

Corbusier.

United States
role of Art Nouveau in America is almost
completely confined to the work of two individ-

The

uals

Tiffany and Sullivanboth of whom

were

highly influential.

Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) was the son of

New York jewelry


young man he studied painting in

the founder of the well-known


firm.

238

As

Art

Nouveau and the Vienna Secession

13.17

Louis Comfort

Tiffany,

window,

Rochroane,
Irvington-on-Hudson,

New

York, 1905.

The

Museum of
Corning, New York,

Corning
Art,

Tiffany's

fame

on

rests

use of

his stalls in the

stained glass in a

vanety of ways.

Windows such as
one

in

this

a reception room

at Rochroane were

executed

in

a pictonal

style that related to

painting of the period.


This landscape

becomes luminous as
IS lighted by outdoor

it

daylight Tiffany devel-

oped

his

techniques for

use in lamps with glass

shades and

and

in

bowls

vases that took on

the qualities of Art

Nouveau

America and Paris before


devote his attention to

settling in

art.

Toward

New York

to

the end of the

These rooms tended to follow the Victorian


for

crowded

rich

elaboration,

taste

modified by an

1870s he became increasingly interested in the

awareness of the standards of the Arts and Crafts

decorative arts, and in 1897 he established the inte-

movement. In 1885 Tiffany reorganized

rior decorating firm Louis C. Tiffany


Artists.

&

Associated

This offered both design and workshop

production of many of the elements that went into

Room of the Seventh


New York (1879) and resiwealthy New York families.

such spaces as the Veterans'

Regiment Armory

in

dential interiors for

ness, the

new name

design.

Tiffany Glass

his busi-

Company

indi-

on the art of
stained glass (fig. 13.17). He was commissioned to
produce windows for many American churches
(including H. H. Richardson's Trinity Church in

cating his increased concentration

Boston; see

p. 221),

often using conventionalized

239

Chapter Thirteen

Louis Comfort

13.18

Tiffany, Tiffany

Residence,
1

New

York,

883-4,

In his

work as a deco-

made

rator Tiffany

use

of a variety of orna-

mental elements based


Arts

on Victorian

taste.

and
and

artistic

Crafts influences,
his

urges.

own

florid wall

The

covering, elaborate

standing lamp, orna-

mental fireplace
surround,
for

and shelves

books and ceramics

come together

with

hints of the urgings of

Eastlake

and

illustration

is

Edis.

The

repro-

duced from a plate

in

publication entitled
Artistic

Houses.

pictorial

treatment

of religious

subjects

in

Victorian version of medieval practice. Gradually,


his

stained glass

came

into

demand

in settings

(fig.

13.18), clubs,

locations his landscape, floral,

and similar

and semi-abstract

themes showed increasing similarity to French Art


Nouveau work in glass. A window titled Four
Seasons, with landscape panels for each season,

exhibited in Paris in 1892;

it

was

established an interna-

tional reputation for Tiffany

and drew the atten-

lamps are

insect

The tremendous popularity of


World
but more recent interest in the Art Nouveau

furniture.

Tiffany designs faded as tastes changed after


I,

era has established Tiffany as a

of ornamental vases, bowls,


and other objects that used colorful

movement.

patterns with floral motifs or purely abstract color

Sullivan

weights,

\'and texture

patterns.

Terms

Some

small glass shades held

wings often appear as alternatives to plant

paper

production

many

forms. Tiffany also designed mosaics, rugs, and

War
glass led Tiffany into the

clusters of

by complex metal bases suggesting the stems of


flowers or vines. Nature forms, peacock feathers, or

shop.

working with

are often of

and often single-piece

globes of colorful, patterned Favrile glass.

some

Skill in

The shades

leaded, pieced stained glass,

Samuel Bing, who added Tiffany designs to


the roster of works shown in his Paris Art Nouveau

tion of

major figure

in the

for the various kinds

of glass included Favrile, Cypriote, Cameo, and

Louis H. Sullivan (1856-1924) has an important

and the
resulting designs. Iridescent color effects were often
used in the greatly admired Jack-in-the-pulpit and

though complex place

often thought of as a pioneer of modernism, the

Morning

He was

Lava, referring to the various processes

240

Tiffany lamps use metal bases with glass shades in a


great variety of forms.

other than churches.


In residences

and often surpassed the work of such great French


glass workers as Galle and Lalique. His famous

glory designs. Tiffany's glass resembled

in design history. Sullivan

is

advocate of the idea that "form follows function."


the

first

American modernist

architect, as

Art

well as the early

employer and mentor of Frank

Lloyd Wright. Yet Sullivan was not opposed to the


use of ornament.

ornamentation
its

basis

Most of

Sullivan

thus

he can also be

and

design

interior
briefly

at

the

in

the auditorium display Sullivan as an extraordinary

America.

designer both in terms of spatial organization and

Massachusetts

and then worked

for a

time

Philadelphia office of Frank Furness. In 1874

the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, but he

He

Chicago

was

at

dissatisfied

(1844-1900).

architect,

The

Building (1886-90)
in a central space,

firm's
is

Dankmar
Chicago

Adler

Auditorium

a great opera house, hidden

surrounded by

The

of ornament. The auditorium

is

topped with great

arches that span a space studded with electric light

bulbs and surrounded by

ment in
Nouveau

Sullivan's

florid, gilded relief

personal

related detail.

The

orna-

vocabulary of Art

sightlines

and acoustics

of the auditorium were excellent and there were

in 1875.

entered into a partnership with an older,

German-trained

ways, public spaces in the hotel, and those serving

in

he went to Paris to take up architectural study

to

Warehouse,

great glory of the project (fig. 13.19). Lobbies, stair-

studied

and moved

Field

contribution was in the interior spaces that were the

Institute of Technology
in the

Marshall

less successful. Sullivan's principal

rich

his

understood as an exponent of Art Nouveau


architecture

Richardson's

in a highly personal style that has

nature forms

in

work includes

H.

although visually

Nouveau and the Vienna Secession

a multistory hotel

ingenious arrangements for movable ceiling panels


that

could be lowered to reduce the 4200 seat

when an event did not require so large a


The main dining room of the hotel, placed at

capacity
hall.

roof

level,

was

magnificent arched space with

permits the ten-story height, but the outside walls

windows overlooking Lake Michigan, skylights, and


painted wall and ceiling surfaces edged with

are of masonry treated with detail reminiscent of H.

Sullivan's elaborate decorative detail.

and

office building.

iron structural framing

13.19

Louis Sullivan,

Auditorium Building,
Chicago, 1886-90.

With Dankmar Adler as

Henry

his partner, Louis

was

Sullivan

co-designer of the great

building that combined


offices,

hotel,

and an

opera house (which

gave the building

name)

in

its

one large

complex. Sullivan was


the designer of many
interior spaces, the

auditorium
the

itself

being

most spectacular

The arches of the


ceiling with their

painted

detail, the

proscenium design, and


the organ gnlles

combined

to

produce a

large space with


lewel-like light color,

and

form. It was unlike


any older theater or

concert hall

and a

striking success in

functional

and

both

decora-

tive terms.

241

Chapter Thirteen

Other

Sullivan

included

projects

houses, such as the Charnley

Chicago

which Frank Lloyd Wright had

(in

design role) with

now

private

House of 1892

in

major

particularly fine interior detail,

its

Transportation

the

restored;

carefully

Building for the Chicago Fair (World Columbian

&

Exposition) of 1893; and the Schlesinger

(now Carson

Scott)

Pirie

Mayer

Department Store

in

Chicago (1899-1904). This store building was in

many ways

most

the

forward-looking

The upper ten

Sullivan buildings.

of

all

floors of the

twelve-story mass are treated externally as a simple

bands covering the structural

grid of vertical

columns within, and horizontal bands

The

level.

at

steel

each floor

resulting spaces are filled with large

windows, generating

"curtain

wall"

of glass

The

divided by narrow bands of white terracotta.

band of ornament surrounding each window

is

so

thin as to be almost unnoticeable, leaving the exte-

modern

rior startlingly

lower

levels

windows, there

ment

in character.

On

the two

around the entrance and the shop

in metal.

a rich overlay of decorative orna-

is

An

overhanging roof cornice that

topped the building has been removed, to the


detriment of Sullivan's overall design.

Building

changed.

tastes

1900

after

as

Transportation

His

the Chicago Fair in

at

fantastic arched,

portals,

declined

career

Sullivan's

American

1893, with

its

ornamented, and gilded entrance

was unique

in its originality.

It

stood in

contrast with the other buildings of the fair that

were designed
Adler's role in the subsequent

13.20 and 13.21


Louis Sullivan,

nership

was

strictly

work of the

technical,

while

part-

Sullivan

east

building

trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Both

Guaranty Building,
Buffalo,

New

controlled design. His interest in the

York,

tall

problem deserving of non-historical

1894.

as a design

The identification with

solution led to a sequence of famous buildings with

Art Nouveau of the

exteriors that

decorative detail

designed by Sullivan

many of his

for

buildings

is

supported by these

examples of stair
ings

rail-

used inside the 12-story

Guaranty building.
his

were increasingly austere and close to

modernism of
details

the twentieth century. Interiors

continued to use nature-based, florid

The Schiller Building in Chicago


(1891-2) was an office tower with a theater with a
almost a smaller
richly ornamented interior
version of the Auditorium. The Wainwright

ornament.

and door knobs

Although

the

and

approach

to architecture

empha-

sized function in a

way

that pointed to

modernism, Sullivan

Building

in

St.

Louis

Building in Buffalo,

Bayard Building

in

(1890-1),

New York
New York

the

in the historically imitative classical

was coming into increasing favor among


coast architects, many of whom had been

style that

Guaranty

public and

many

columned

critics

reflecting pools,

were drawn to the white-

pavilions

classical

and tended

around

great

to find the Sullivan

Building a discordant note. As time went on,


Sullivan

had fewer

clients

Sullivan's St. Paul's

and

less

work.

Methodist Church in Cedar

Rapids, Iowa (1910-12), combines a rectangular

school block with a semicircular church audito-

rium
great

that gives the building


bell

tower

rises

The church

its

external form.

from the center of the

interior has seats arranged in

(1894-5), and the

building.

City (1897-8) are

curving rows, as in an amphitheater, with more

each studies in Sullivan's approach to skyscraper

seats in

an overlooking balcony. Unfortunately,

personal form of deco-

architecture. All have a simple vertical emphasis

Sullivan

fell

based on

externally, rich but appropriate decorative detail,

save money, omitted

produced a highly
rative detail

the forms of nature.

242

and public space interiors


(figs. 13.20 and 13.21).

filled

with fine ornament

out with his clients who, in order to

much

and substituted cheap


stained-glass

windows

of his decorative detail

"art glass" for the original

he

had

designed.

The

Art

windows.

Each

uses

counters,

detailed

fi.xtures that relate to

forms so

town

beautifully

glass,

and lighting
Art Nouveau and Secessionist

make

as to

into an

stained

and

Nouveau and the Vienna Secession

furniture

a small building in a small

work of

exceptional

Sullivan

art.

expressed his ideas about design in various writings,

most notably

articles

in Kindergarten Chats, a series

book form;

1901 and 1902 and later published in

and in his drawings


System of Architectural Ornament (both of

The Autobiography of an
for

of

presenting his theoretical ideas, written in

Idea;

1922-3).

The most important immediate successor to


was Frank Lloyd Wright. When Wright
was working for Sullivan, he was referred to by his
employer as "the pencil in my hand," and Wright
Sullivan

throughout
Sullivan,

gave

great

credit

to

only significant teacher,

whom

he

his

his

lifetime

referred to as "Lieber Meister" (beloved master).

Wright played

work
between 1887 and 1893 when he

a significant part in Sullivan's

during the years

established an independent practice, but Sullivan's

influence can be noticed in

many

of Wright's early

works. Wright, unlike most pioneer modernists,

continued to use decorative ornament throughout


building

The

is still

later

a striking

and unusual work.

commissions

his

ot Sullivan's career

mostly small bank buildings in mid-western


but they include

some of

his finest

works

were

cities,

in their

long career, although he

curving

toward

Nouveau forms used by


more geometric vocabulary

discussed in Chapter 15.

Columbia, Wisconsin (1919),

Nouveau only began

final

all

belong to

phase of Sullivan's career. Each one

is

this

a brick

box ornamented with sculptural and decorative


detail in terracotta. Each has great round or arched

was

in

the

of modernism

development

and internal detail. The National Farmers'


Bank of Owatonna, Minnesota (1907-8), the
People's Savings Bank of Cedar Rapids, Iowa
191 ), the Merchants' National Bank of Grinnell,
Iowa (1914), the People's Savings and Loan
Association Bank of Sidney, Ohio (1917-18), and
the Farmers' and Merchants' Union Bank of
1

that

entirely his own. Wright's role as one of the key


figures

the

Sullivan

Art
a

simple and original concepts and in their rich


external

moved away from

American Art Nouveau directions had,


end, no

more

Europe. Critics and


tieth

in the

had

lasting presence than they

is

in

historians in the early twen-

century took to referring to Art Nouveau as a

"style that failed," or to dismissing

it

as frivolous,

tasteless, and overly decorative. Rediscovery of Art

after

exhibitions, publications,
it

back into

in the

its

World War

and

fresh study

rightful place as

II

when

brought

an important step

development of modernism.

243

Eclecticism

Toward

the end of the nineteenth century

and

until

The Ecole des Beaux-Arts,

Paris

the middle of the twentieth century, the design


skill and enthusiasm
work of the past. Historicism,
which means relying on histor)' for inspiration

professions developed both


for the imitation of

(and for

development

common

has been

detail),

Renaissance and

is

since

the

natural part of progressive

in design.

Revivalism refers to efforts

to return to a particular historic style, as in the

Greek and Gothic


century.

revivals of the early nineteenth

The term Traditionalism

also

came

into

use to describe an alternative direction opposed to

modernism. The public often came to believe that a


choice between "traditional" and "modern" had to
be made. Traditionalism expressed the
that design

was primarily

new

belief

matter of imitating the

work of some, even oi any, historic "period." Thus


"period styles" came to be viewed as a stockpile of
possibilities to inspire every

new project.

be

to

methods, or

the

styles."

best

in

various

doctrines,

The term has had currency

philosophy where an "eclectic philosophy"

14.1

[opposite] ]ean-

Louis-Charles Gamier,

Opera House, Pans,


1861-75The

festive character

associated with atten-

dance at an opera

is

expressed through the


florid

elaboration of

lobbies

and stairs.

Sculptured figures hold

up giant candelabra,
and marble columns in
varied colors
detail

make

and gilded
the

grand

Paris Ecole, really the

truly professional

first

school of architecture, had developed a teaching

method

was

that

spectacularly

effective

tectural planning.

It

through the

also taught history

making of magnificent drawings and renderings of


the great monuments of classical antiquity. The
new designs that students produced in the ateliers
of their Beaux-Arts mentors were studies in the
application of classical historicism to skillful plan-

The

ning.

great teachers at the Beaux-Arts were

also designers of

hallmark buildings that demon-

strated the validity of the Beaux- Arts doctrines.

design

Nineteenth-centur)'

continental

in

Europe moved only gradually from the Empire

in

based

is

toward the

Neoclassicism

and America. In

strongly developed in England

France, the style called

Second empire developed

form of ornate classicism


influence

that later

on contemporary American work. French


in architecture and design was

professionalism
furthered

by the increasing importance of the

national school of art

and design

in Paris. Previous

on multiple sources. In design, it has come to mean


the practice of selecting from historical precedents

apprentice learning and self-teaching were replaced

\vhatever seems suitable or attractive for a partic-

that

ular

project.

Total

originality

was

eschewed.

However much the revivalists and the Victorians


may have drawn on historic precedent, they all
aimed to make something new, something of their
own time from the origins on which they drew.
The essence of eclecticism, by contrast, is a slavish
aim to reproduce the past some past, any past

as

long

as

the

made

be

can

reproduction

convincing.

at the

perhaps because there was so

little

past

on which

to

classroom

on

lectures

history,

construction, and other specialized topics, and by

design

teaching using a

method now

generally

adopted by almost aU design and architectural


schools.

Under

this

method, students were given

desired by

some imagined

Each student then

client.

prepared designs under the direction of a

who

operated an

atelier

or studio.

of the designs by the

were presented

in the

many

On

"critic"

a given date,

students in a class

form of elaborate drawings

High marks

many such judgements

cation with the European aristocracy.

architectural detail

American

with great clarity but

could compete with the universities, cathedrals,

take place in the

cannot convey the

institutions

visible

It

offered to

monuments

actual effects of color

and monumental governmental buildings

and

old world.

light

244

that

ot the

to

be criticized and judged by a "jury" of established

world, and the kind of design encouraged

will

build.

written "program" of requirements for a building

all

Eclecticism thrived in America, in particular,

Ecole by a rigorous and organized program

included

main auditorium. This


engraving shows off the

to match the excitement of the opera that

had so much

professionals.

an experience

style

Germany through
more ornate taste so

The idea of importing something from the


past that would bring with it culture, style, and
status became an obsession that offered to the
newly rich and powerful in America some identifi-

staircase

in

presenting an orderly and logical theory' of archi-

of France and Biedermeier of

The term "eclecticism" seems to be the best


word to describe the view that all design should be
a matter of choosing some historic precedent and
imitating it as convincingly as possible. The dictionary definition of the word is "selecting what
appears

The

in

could earn a diploma

that certified a high level ot

achievement and

The Beaux-Arts method was

so successful

it

skill.

attracted students

from

all

over the
at the

came to be called Beaux-Arts style.


A number of leading French architects were
teachers at the Beaux-Arts at the same time that
they produced work typical of Beaux-Arts style.
Ecole

^^^

Chapter Fourteen

14.2

{right)

and 14.3
and

[center) Section

plan of the Opera

House, Pans.
Entrance for those

arnving by carnage

Entrance for those

arriving

on foot

3 Stage

4 Emperor's entrance

The most admired of


Beaux Arts architectural works combines a
Victorian-style love of

ornament with a monumental presence. The

WTEm

functional arrangement

^FffiniP^-^*'

of the building, a basic

^f^^^ |lliiii|ii f tiirtir-f-f jpTJ- ^rferi-fy^-

strength of Beaux Arts


thinking, provided

ample

circulation

-J

spaces for the move-

ment of large

audi-

ences. The working

The

spaces backstage were


also logically planned.

Opera House (1861-74) by Jean-Louis


Gamier (1825-98) is a fine example of

Paris

Charles

at its best (figs. 14.1-14.3).

Beaux-Arts design

It

has a logical and highly functional plan, realized in

and

richly decorative exterior

interior detail that

of over-elaboration without ever

rises to the level

overstepping the line into vulgarity. The building

remains a model for what a

Gamier was

the

also

successful Casino

should be.

festive hall

of the

designer

and Concert Hall

at

equally

Monte Carlo

(1878-82).

The

final

phases of French Beaux-Arts design

reached a pinnacle of decorative excess in some of


the exhibition buildings for the Paris world

fairs,

such as the Petit Palais of 1897-1900 built to the


designs of Charles-Louis Girault (1851-1932), or
14.4

the great Paris railroad station of 1898-1900, the

[right) V\ciO!

Laloux, Care

Gare du Quai d'Orsay, by Victor Laloux

du Quai

d'Orsay, Pans,

1850-1937),

1898-1900.

museum

Laloux overlaid the


great railroad station
the

Beaux Arts

in

style

with classical detail.


Tracks earned trains

through the station at

a lower

level,

and

the

platforms were reached

by

stairs

from street

level in the vast, skylit

main

hall.

The huge

clock dramatizes the

main
went

to

be put

modern use as the


Orsay Museum.
to

The

at a

lower

electric trains

came and

from the passenger


one of the finest inte-

level visible
is

rior spaces of the nineteenth century. Its typically


florid

Beaux-Arts sculptural decoration

is

skillfully

integrated into a highly functional scheme. Giant

clocks facing out toward the Seine

and facing

the public area provide decorative accents

and

into
are,

in a railroad station, highly functional as well.

Louis Sullivan studied


left it

when

and

individuality

at

the Beaux-Arts, but

his

drive toward personal expression

was

not

accepted.

Americans were more accepting,

home

Other

and brought

Beaux-Arts classicism as the cornerstone of

their eclecticism.

246

vast iron-framed vault of the

where

to

schedule The building

has survived

art.

train shed,

(fig. 14.4;

recycled into a highly successful

circulation spaces above,

railroad company's

commitment

of

now

Eclecticism

Key Architects and Designers

United States

Hunt
In the United States, as elsewhere, styles

formed

Hunt

Morris

was

(1827-95)

the

stock of treatments from which the designer could

Richard

seemed appropriate for each


proiect. Cities, towns, and countryside were turned
classical
into exhibits of varied, unrelated works

vanguard of the Beaux-Arts invasion of America.

choose whatever

for

banks

and

courthouses,

Gothic

for

churches, Georgian colonial for others.

some

Houses

might be colonial, Norman, French Renaissance,


Tudor half-timbered, Gothic, Spanish Mission,
ranch-house, or even odd combinations of

The only firm

rule

came

to

styles.

be that originality was

forbidden, only imitation of the past tolerable. For

many

years this approach

tional" and,

it

was defended

was claimed,

as "tradi-

as satisfactory to the

at

He had studied at the Ecole from 1846 until 1855


and brought back to New York the skills and prestige that his Parisian training had given him. His
typically eclectic viewpoint

him

to

project

work

in

whatever

made

it

possible for

style suited a particular

or the taste of a particular client.

William K. Vanderbilt's

New

For

York town house

(1879-91) he adapted the design of early French


Renaissance Loire Valley chateaux to
lot.

corner city

Hunt's Marble House, the Newport,

Rhode

Island, mansion of 1885-92 for the same William

match

general public that tended to like whatever was

K.

familiar.

grandiosity of the palaces of French royalty.

Vanderbilt,

has

Hunt's design

interiors

for

1892-5), another great

that

the

The Breakers (fig. 14.5;


Newport, Rhode Island,

14.5 Richard Morris


Hunt, dining room, The
Breakers, Newport,

Rhode

Island,

c.

1895.

Hunt brought back


from France

to

America

his devotion to the clas-

sicism of his

Beaux Arts

training. In this

building he reproduced
his

own

Italian

version of

Renaissance

and the intematched the lavish


scale and detail of
design,
riors

external architecture.

247

Chapter Fourteen

248

Eclecticism

mansion,

time for Cornelius Vanderbilt

this

a classical Renaissance style with

II, is

in

rooms symmetri-

monumentality of Beaux-

superficial appeal of the

4.6

(opposite)

Richard Morris Hunt,

Arts eclecticism.

Biltmore, Asheville,

arranged around

cally

two-story central court

designed to be used as a ballroom. The walls are

his

ornamented with Corinthian

ot

portico

entrance

and the

pilasters

four

uses

free-standing

Corinthian columns. For the bedrooms on the

second

oped

Ogden Codman (1863-1951)

floor,

devel-

interiors of relative simplicity of the sort

on

Hunt's place in design history depends

less

own work

in setting the

course

1890-5

He

can be

In this building,

than on his role

American design toward

thought

eclecticism.

having brought the Beaux-Arts

of as

approach to America, but with

urge

toward emphasis on imitative historicism. At the

was not

Paris Ecole, such historicism

primary

some-

times described as

French Gothic, Hunt

own

his

North Carolina,

attempted

to

reproduce

a French chateau on a

grand scale Some of


the intenors, like the

suggested in his

book The Dccomtioii of Houses

written

(1879),

with

collaboration

in

Edith

(most often ancient Greek and

historic buildings

Roman monuments)

Wharton.

made drawings of

Students studied and

focus.

understand their

in order to

banqueting

hall,

beyond anything

go
actu-

ally built in

Renaissance France

The huge country chateau named Biltmore

1890-3) near Asheville, North Carolina, was

14.6;

Hunt

designed by
style

for

George W. Vanderbilt. The

again the French Renaissance of the time of

is

Francis

and

(fig.

I,

with elements recalled from

Blois.

Within each of these houses,

were designed to follow the overall

interiors

char-

stylistic

making each room

acter of the house,

museum

Chambord

a virtual

piece of antique decorative style.

qualities. In design projects, the

emphasis was on

planning and composition, not on imita-

skillful

The works of Gamier and Labrouste were not


narrowly imitative and can hardly be considered
examples of eclecticism. Hunt was most successful
when he was most narrowly imitative (as at
Biltmore) and least successful when confronting
tion.

problems

historicism offered

where

Tribune Building)

the

in

(as

in

order to satisfy the


desires of the client for

a fantasy version of
ancient grandeur. The

monumental scale of
the room makes the
table and choirs appear
lost amid the tapestries,
carved bas-relief sculpture,

banners,

and

trophies of the hunt.

no ready models.

Hunt's unhappy struggle to apply historicism


to the

problem of the

building in the

tall

Tribune Building has been mentioned


11

an example of

as

the

face

new

of

New York

in

Chapter

Victorian uncertainty in

late

provided

opportunities

by

McKJm, Mead, & White


Charles

Follen

member
1893

McKim

(1847-1909),

Fair,

was

also a product of the Paris Ecole des

advancing technology. Hunt was able to design

Beaux-Arts.

with greater confidence

Richardson,

where

he

which antiquity

monumental buildings for


offered more reasonable prece-

(1853-1906).

McKim

established his

dents.

The

great front entrance hall of

Museum

Metropolitan
designed as

Renaissance version of

cism, with a facade and


rior

New York's

of Art (1895-1902) was

Roman

classi-

monumental vaulted

inte-

of impressive dignity.

Hunt was

He had worked

Stanford

White

own

practice

then joined in a partnership with William

Mead (1846-1928)
to

time for H. H.

for a

met

1877 and with White

in

form the successful and

McKim, Mead, & White.

influential

key figure on the board of

Rhode

Island, or the

Rhode

Bristol,

William

Island,

was

in

at

Low House

1879

firm

work of the

Early

such as the house Kingscote (1880)

At the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893


in Chicago,

in 1872,

another

of the architectural board for the Chicago

of

firm,

Newport,
(1887) at

in the picturesque

idiom

architects responsible for the general concept of

of the Victorian Shingle

monumental columned white palace-like structures around a great lagoon. The Administration
Building that he designed had a dominant central

such work gave way to eclectic historicism as larger


based monumentality.

position and, in spite of

carefully

domed

its

rather poorly conceived

mass, served to symbolize the ascendency

of the kind of eclecticism that


rich classical detail
(all

Hunt

favored.

The

of the gleaming white buildings

temporary structures, using plaster to simulate

stone) captured the popular imagination

Louis Sullivan's far

Building with
detail

its

more

strong colors and Art

seem odd and out of

viewed

as a

and made

original Transportation

place.

The

Nouveau

fair is

often

turning point, where the promising

directions developed
Sullivan were

by H. H. Richardson and by

overwhelmed and defeated by the

style,

but the originality of

commissions offered opportunities


"correct"

Renaissance and
brilliant

McKim

for classically

was

a specialist in

of

adaptations

Roman

classicism.

and imaginative designer inclined

use of historic precedents, while

Italian

White was

to a treer

Mead provided

organizational back-up for the design partners and

group of
Henry Villard

dealt with matters of construction. In the


six

New York town

houses

(1882-5), the firm established

for
its

mastery of eclectic

practice with a sober Italian Renaissance palazzo


exterior housing richly decorative interiors.

Villard

group has been preserved, serving

The

in part as

an entrance to the adjacent modern hotel.

249

Chapter Fourteen

14.7 McKim, Mead, &


White, Public Library,

Boston Massachusetts,

1895.
In the majestic delivery

could

hall, library users

wait for the delivery of


books brought from the

which were not


public The

stacks,

open
detail

to the
is

drawn from the

Italian Renaissance,

with painted wood


beams overhead, a
massive fireplace and

mantel, Corinthian

columned doorways

in

band of
mural painting above
Any citizen of Boston
marble,

and

could enjoy the glories


of a Beaux Arts inspired
interior while waiting
for

a book

14.8 McKim, Mead, &


White, Pennsylvania

New

Railroad Station,
York,

1904-10,

The growth of railroads


in the early

twentieth

century inspired the


building of monu-

mental terminals that


provided both functional sen/ices to travelers

and a symbolic

assertion of the

rail-

road's importance. This

grand concourse,
modeled on the ancient

Roman Baths

of

was reached
by monumental stairs
Caracalla,

that descended from


street level.
ticket office

It

housed

windows,

where the traveler could


stop before continuing

onward into the train


shed beyond The
building was destroyed

1963-6.

250


Eclecticism

The Boston Public Library


established the primacy of
in

the design

recalls

Paris

above

complex loosely based on


in ancient Rome. The

main concourse with

dous Corinthian columns and coffered vaulting

of upper-story arched windows

was one of the most majestic interior spaces of the

upper

room

level

where

grand

stair

a richly deco-

stretches across the

Copley

Square front. The work of several distinguished


artists

John
and

Singer Sargent, Augustus

Daniel

Chester

French

enriches the interior spaces, which are arranged in


a

a vast

of Caracalla

It

line

Saint-Gaudens,

York was

baths

in

gives access to the

American

New

Genevieve

S.

a simple base, but internally a

rated reading

in

the

of American public buildings.

the Labrouste Bibilotheque

Vkfith its

1895)

14.7;

(fig.

McKim, Mead, & White

hollow square around a central court.

McKim, Mead, &

White's block square station

for the Pennsylvania Railroad (fig. 14.8; 1904-10)

vaulted, majestic

twentieth century.

The adjacent

its

tremen-

made

train shed

use of glass and iron in a roof structure equally

impressive even

neo-Roman

if

hemmed

classicism.

in

by

surround of

The building was destroyed

in 1964.

Stanford White

more

is

usually credited with the

and decorative character of other


works of the firm, such as the first Madison Square
Garden (1887-91, now demolished) and the
delicate

Century Club (1889-1891), both

New

in

York.

14.9 Carrere and


Hastings, Public

New

tibrary,

York,

1902-11.
The monumental library
building was designed
in the style the archi-

had absorbed
when they studied at
tects

the Ecole des Beaux

Pans The handsome interior of the


main reading room

Arts in

with

surrounding

Its

open shelves of books

on two

levels

is

flooded

with light from the

windows above.
remains
with

its

It

in current

use

original func-

tion.

251

Chapter Fourteen

After White's death, the firm continued to prosper.


Its

many commissions

monumental

for

Early Skyscrapers

buildings

important in major

and groups of buildings included the college


campus for Columbia University, with its central
domed Low Memorial Library (begun 1897) in

Tall

New

lems for their designers that were only rarely well

York. The firm continued in practice for

many

no

years after the original partners were

longer

producing innumerable major

involved,

buildings, usually

increasingly

buildings,

business needs and elements of civic and

cities as

commercial pride pressured

for height,

The Monadnock Building

solved.

(1889-91)

by Burnham and

posed prob-

Chicago

in

lohn

partner,

his

Welborn Root (1850-91), was remarkable for its


early simplicity. It is a totally unornamented

monumental.

sixteen-story slab with bearing walls of red brick,

enormously thick

Public Buildings

at the

lower

base stoiy and a simple rolled cornice give the mass

public libraries, courthouses, churches, and

an articulated bottom and top of great dignity.

homes on

private

eclectic architects

built

by

among

the

were

a palatial scale

projects that remain

important structures of every major American

Where planning followed

city.

the sound concepts of

Beaux-Arts teaching, and where eclectic histori-

cism was controlled by a sense of what might be


appropriate,

the

sometimes

resulting buildings

American

the

called

of what

Public Library

Carrere

14.9;

(fig.

New York

1902-11) by John M.

Thomas

and

(1858-1911)

is

Renaissance

remain serviceable and impressive. The

Hastings

(1860-1919), both Beaux- Arts trained and both

ex-employees of McKim, Mead,

&

White, has a

and elevator cages

Internally, the iron structure

provide the only decorative elements. The Reliance


Building in Chicago (1890-5) by the same firm (but

completed

masonry

Root's death)

after

finally

abandons

exterior walls in favor of "curtain walls" of

iron, terracotta,

and glass

that

do not support

floors

but are themselves supported by the metal structural frame. This

is

adopted for

sally

the system that


buildings,

tall

became univereven when a

masonry exterior was desired.


The distinguished tall buildings

of

Louis

Sullivan (see Chapter 13) suggested an appropriate

direction for skyscraper design that did not attempt

complex plan which arranges many handsomely


detailed spaces around two interior courtyards

to

with admirably efficient circulation. The building

without the pretense of massive masonry. Eclectic

continues

to

restoration has

they were

in

but

within

simply

an aesthetically satisfactory fashion

modern needs and

recent

designers, determined to cling to the traditions of

made

the interiors as impressive as

pre-industrial constructional techniques, insisted

when new.

Beaux-Arts

it

structure

the

disguise

sheathed

serve

instead

Another surviving example of highly successful


eclecticism

New

is

York's

Grand

on developing designs
modern

tion to the realities of


Internally,

tion.

tall

that

had

little rela-

high-rise construc-

buildings

were sometimes

(1907-13) by Whitney Warren

given distinguished spaces for entrance halls and

and Charles D. Wetmore (1866The ingenious planning includes viaducts


for traffic, arrangements for train movements on
two levels, and remarkably efficient movement of

elevator lobbies. The Chicago office building called


The Rookery (1886) by Burnham and Root has a
central court roofed over with glass and iron at the

Central Station

(1864-1948)
1941).

passengers,

baggage,

provided, vehicles.

and,

at

least

as

originally

The main concourse,

vast

ground-floor

Wright

in

detailed Art

star-studded sky), and the adjacent public spaces

The upper

among

classic

the greatest interiors in America.

columns of the facade and the

tural detail at
at its best.

were

built

its

The

florid sculp-

top represent the Beaux-Arts style

Other great American railroad stations


in various cities,

such as the Union

level,

creating a space that was given a

distinguished ornamental interior by Frank Lloyd

space roofed with a simple vault (painted with a

are

252

slightly projecting

the turn of the century, state capitols, city

Around
halls,

levels to carry the

huge weight of the walls above.

1905.

Sullivan

provided

Nouveau decoration

beautifully

in his buildings.

floors of office towers

were hives of

small offices, partitioned with walls of

wood and

on

the guest

glass or solid partitions like those

room

floors of hotels.

Tenants could, of course,

decorate as they chose, but most were content with


a strictly utilitarian "business-like" space.

few

Station in Washington, D.C. (1908), by Daniel H.

buildings had a central court with skylights at roof

Burnham (1846-1912).

level

and open balconies

to take the place of corri-

Eclecticism

14.10 George Herbert


Wyman, Bradbury
Building, Los Angeles,

1893,
The emergence of the
modern large office
buildmg posed new

problems

for architects

of the eclectic

Wyman

era.

introduced the

skylights of a central

atrium to provide light


for the galleries that

took the place of dark


corridors

and gave

access to offices on

many
tors

The eleva-

floors.

moving

in

open

cages and the stairs


connecting the various

an
image more functional

gallery levels present

than

dors giving access to offices. This approach created

an impressive internal atrium where

stairs

and

elevator cages could be seen as interesting visual

The

elements.

Bradbury

1893), Los Angeles, by

Building

(fig.

George Herbert

14.10;

Wyman

is

Flagg

(1857-1947)

was

that

fronting

on two

streets.

unusually

firm's

headquarters

The

that

metal facade, permitting

style to the forty-seven-story Singer

now

demolished).

was the headquarters of the prosperous Singer


Sewing Machine Company and served to glorify
It

that

firm

building

as

the

a status

owner of the world's


soon

lost

tallest

to competitors.

Its

highly original exterior mass, a mansard-topped

tower rising from a larger massive block below, and


the florid public space interiors with stairs

balconies and vaulted ceilings

made

it

and

strikingly

superior to the high buildings that rose around

lower Manhattan. Flagg had designed an


smaller Singer Building (1904)

by Flagg

fine interior

it

in

earlier,

on Broadway

in

occupied

the

entire

store has a remarkable glass

Second Empire

(1907-8,

finely

survives in the ground-level store of 1913, origi-

building.

New York

and metal exterior that

fronts a twelve-story loft building of L-shape plan,

successful in applying the florid decoration of the

Building in

showing off

survives,

detailed glass, terracotta,

nally the retail outlet for the Scribner publishing

an outstanding example of this approach.


Ernest

New York

eclectic.

and

view of the vaulted and

balconied interior space within.

The long struggle

to find an appropriate eclectic

style for skyscraper design produced

many

strange,

The 1915 design by Welles


Bosworth (1869-1966) for the New York headquarters of the American Telephone and Telegraph
Company (now known simply as 195 Broadway) is
made up of nine Roman Ionic colonnades stacked
one on top of another, each representing three

even absurd,

efforts.

floors of the building.

At ground-floor

level,

the

public lobby spaces are a virtual hypostyle hall with


their

rows of huge Greek Doric columns

certainly

253

Chapter Fourteen

254

Eclecticism

impressive but oddly unrelated to the purposes and

14.11 (oppos/fe) Cass


Woolworth

De Wolfe

Gilbert,

ownership of the building.

many

For

Building,

years the world's tallest building was

the Woolworth tower (1913) in New York, the


work of Cass Gilbert (1859-1934), a prominent

who had developed Beaux-Arts


McKim, Mead, & White.

eclectic designer
skills as

an employee of

Gilbert reasoned that the only historic precedent


available for a
in the

tower structure was to be found

tall

towers of Gothic cathedrals. The Woolworth

building

tower

is

a simple block

from which

tall

central

clothed in white glazed terracotta

rises, all

sheathing detailed with the vertical

lines, tracery,

and pinnacles of French Gothic church architec-

The

Elsie

the

de Wolfe (1863-1950)

first

is

usually thought of as

successful professional decorator. She

an actress and

a society figure

remodel her own home, transforming


Victorian

rooms with

was

before she began to

stylish simplicity

typically

by using

Her distinguished guests often admired

what she had done and began

to ask her for help

with their decorating problems. Stanford White,


for
tial

example, asked for her help with some resideninteriors, as well as with the interiors

New York Colony Club

(fig.

of the

14.12; 1905-7).

De

framing, elevators, and sixty stories

Wolfe

also gave public lectures; she published

of offices were thus converted into a "cathedral of

House

in

commerce"

not a primary concern of the de Wolfe view of

ture.

steel

ornamented the city skyline


and advertised the success of the famous chain of
five and ten cent stores. The public interiors
that both

include spacious elevator lobbies


arcades, stairs,

(fig.

and balconies detailed

Good

Taste in 1913.

and of the houses

them pushed
imitation. Henry Clay
magnate, employed de

that eclectic architects designed for

14.11) with

her work toward historic

curious

Frick, the millionaire steel

in a

The

While historicism was

design, the nature of her clients

York,

Called a "Cathedral of

Commerce,

the outside

"

of the Woolworth

white paint, cheerful colors, and tlowery printed


chintzes.

New

1913,

Building was clothed in

Gothic style

detail. In

the public lobby,

however, Gilbert turned


to

Byzantine

detail, for

which he used marbles

and

mosaics. Gargoyles

provided a setting for


entrances to the elevators that

sened

the

many stories of what


was, for

some years, the

tallest building in the

world.

14.12

New

York,

1905-7,

In this private dining

room, as illustrated

but quite effective mix of Gothic and Byzantine

There

styles.

tion.

is

much marble and mosaic

decora-

Interior gargoyles include small caricature

Wolfe

in

1913 to deal with the second-floor family

quarters of his Fifth

Avenue mansion (designed by

Carrere and Hastings,

now

the

museum

housing

de

(fae/ow) Elsie

Wolfe, Colony Club,

in

her book The House

in

9 /i|de
Wolfe demonstrated her

Good Taste

("Z

personal style through

of both

portraits

Woolworth

(clutching

money

bags labeled "3c" and "10c") and Gilbert holding a

model of

the building. Executive office interiors

the Frick Collection), for

which she assembled

French antique furniture and placed

it

in suitable

the use of delicate


colors, wallpapers,

settings.

displayed an amazing variety of carving, tapestries,

and

ornamental

furniture

in

truly

mixture. Gilbert was the designer of a


later eclectic

works

and Arkansas),

eclectic

number

ot

truly eclectic

sense of

inspiration derived from

Wood
Ruby Ross

and

simple forms to suggest

many

Wood

(1880-1950), originally a news-

historic sources

but without showing a


concern for the accu-

(West Virgina

state capitols

and the

libraries,

sternly

Roman

paper reporter, after working for


a writer (she

Elsie

probably wrote most of

de Wolfe as

TJic

House

in

rate reproduction of

any particular past

era.

temple for the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington


(1933).

The Rise of the

Interior

Eclectic architecture created a

who had

design specialists
to

produce rooms

in

Decorator
need for interior

the knowledge

styles

building that housed them.

and

The profession of intetill this need. The

rior decoration

developed to

typical decorator

was trained to know period

to be skillful in assembling the

go into an

many

interior, and, often, to

might be required to complete

decorators

were

also

dealers

styles,

elements that

be an expert

acquisition of antiques, art works,


else

skill

appropriate to the

a project.

or

in

and whatever
agents

Many
who

acquired and resold to their clients furniture, rugs,

and decorative
cajole,

was also

The ability to charm,


whims of wealthy clients

accessories.

and adjust

to the

essential.

255

Chapter Fourteen

Good

became her

Taste),

own

established her

own book.

assistant,

Honest House

The

and eventually
(1914),

urges

"common sense." The eclectic


of her own work is characterized by the

and

simplicity

historicism

use of English period furniture, often with florid

and

wallpapers

strong

William

colors.

Baldwin (1903-84) started


to

his career as

Ruby Ross Wood and pushed

the

an

(Billy)

assistant

work of her

firm in a theatrical and fantastic direction that

became

Eclecticism in Professional Practice

business as a decorator. Her

typical of his

own

dent decorator after World

output as an indepen-

In the design of larger,

more

public, institutional

and commercial interiors, eclecticism was the


norm. Designers with specialized knowledge and
skill in a particular style became well known and
admired

for their ability to achieve a convincing

reproduction of the work of a particular historic


era.

Ralph Adams Cram

was both

1863-1942), for example,

propagandist for the virtue of Gothic

design and a skilled practitioner in that

for the virtues of medieval English

McMillen

illustrates

McMillen Inc. was established in 1924 by Eleanor


McMillen (1890-1991). Her leaning was toward
French period furniture arranged within rooms
that

mixed period

details in a truly eclectic fashion.

The firm provided many wealthy and powerful


families with residential interiors that showed off
their wealth

and

taste for display. Eventually she

for All Saints"

and accurate recreation of a


typical English parish church. Cram and his firm.
Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson, came to be enormously successful in producing Gothic churches
(1891), was a careful

as well.

norm

Gumming

Cram,

St.

Church,

Thomas's

(1887-1968) was

less

New York,

concerned

Although Cram worked


he became best

known as an

expert in

producing Cothic
design that convinc-

use ot

who

established successful prac-

included Nancy McClelland (inclined to a

tices

more

in various eclectic

much

and smoked-glass mirrors. Other American

eclectic decorators

1906-13.

styles,

aggressive color, elaborate draperies,


gilt,

conservative and "correct" use of historic

precedents), Elsie

Cobb Wilson,

Francis Elkins,

Syrie Maugham, and Dorothy Draper (whose work

was

largely in

commercial rather than

The work of

these

residential

and of many others

ingly recreated the

practice).

architecture of the

became well known through such magazines as


House and Garden, House Beautifid, and other
publications that were showcases for the homes of
wealthy and famous people. Another tier of maga-

Middle Ages.

In this

large city church forms

that merge French

and

English traditions
create a rather cold

ambience that
reality,

strong blues
in the

that

is.

in

enriched by

and

reds

stained gloss

fills

and end

the clerestory
wall windows-

combined coverage of decorating with


matters
The Ladies' Home
Journal Good Housekeeping, Delineator, and
others
carried word of eclectic period decoration
to the middle class. The idea that every interior had
zines that

other

household

to be in a style that could be

"Tudor,"

came
idea,

or,

named

most popular of

all,

"Spanish,"
"Colonial"

to have almost universal acceptance. This

and many of the people who promoted

it,

continued to dominate the interior design of the


twentieth century at least until after

256

for

such

Gothic" came

use of period elements in settings with strong and


14.13 Ralph Adams

Church, Dorchester, Massachusetts

construction that made the Gothic

with accuracy of period reproduction than with the

World War

II.

Gothic work,

examples of medieval excellence, and

and Tudor Gothic groupings

Other American Decorators

In his
a case

makes comparisons with illustration of "vicious,"


"affected," and "unintelligent" design. His design

turned to work for business and corporate clients

Rose

style.

book Church Building (1901) Cram makes

War II.

projects.

for college

The term

"collegiate

works

into use to describe such

the dormitory groupings

at

campus

style the eclectic

the

University

Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (1895-1901

as

of

by Cope


Eclecticism

and Stewardson, or the quadrangles at Yale with


the spectacular Harkness Tower (1931) by lames
(

ings

for

Princeton

In

1922, a competition

number of

build-

University,

including

some

paper company.

critics,

(1925-8) are convincing reworkings of their Tudor

among them

(1906-13)

is

at

Oxford and Cambridge. The

City

church

of

an outstanding work.

impressive interior

(fig.

St.
Its

Thomas
strikingly

14.13), with stone vaulting,

stained glass, and a huge sculptured reredos that

combines

made

details

from many Gothic precedents,

aspects of medieval

American public

in

Chicago

to

design was a piece of Gothic eclecticism suggestive

Graduate College (1913) and the University Chapel

New York

was held

Howells and Hood's winning

of a medieval cathedral.

large

14.14

work

available

that, at least at that time,

chance to experience the original sources.

to

had

an

little

Eliel

Saarinen,

Saarinen House,

impressive interiors. Those of the refectory for the

Gothic equivalents

Academy

design a skyscraper tower for the Tribune news-

Gamble Rogers 1867-1947).


Cram's own firm designed

Saarinen and Cranbrook

however,

noted

Many
that

professionals

several

and

entrants

modernism Adolf
had
Loos, Walter Gropius, and Adolf Meyer
submitted designs far more imaginative and
advanced than the winner's. The most admired
the forefathers of

design was that of the second-place winner, a

submission by the Finnish architect

He proposed

Eliel

a relatively simple massive

Cranbrook, Michigan,

1928-30^
Saarinen brought from
his native Finland

sense of Scandinavian
simplicity along with a

respect for fine crafts-

manship The quite


formal symmetry of the
living

by

room

enlivened

is

tapestries,

a rug by

Loja Saarinen, furniture

by

Eliel,

and lamps by

Eero Saarmen-

Saarinen.

tower of

stepped form with strongly emphasized vertical

masonry
Although

lines

between

bands

of

windows.

details carried a suggestion of tradition.

257

Chapter Fourteen

14.15 Eliel Saarmen,


Kingswood School,

there was

no overt imitation of any

historic work.

Saarinen was invited to America to head the

Cranbrook, Michigan,

1931.
The dining hall

is

dignified space with


light grey walls

and a

Science (1933), and the Cranbrook

Cranbrook Academy of Art at the Cranbrook


Foundation, an educational and cultural complex

cism

near Detroit. As the head of that school and as the

are full of interest.

architect

and designer of various buildings

at the

of

the

1920s

modernism. The
School for Boys

to

interiors of

is

The

center, Saarinen exerted considerable influence in

coral-

painted details of the


chairs

and

the seat

same
and window

cushions of the
color,

curtains in vermilion,
silver,

and grey. The

tapestry
wall.

the

development of American architecture and

From 1925 onward, he headed a


group of designers at Cranbrook who moved away
from eclecticism toward a modern vocabulary that

Festival of the

designed by

Eliel

Loja Saarmen.

and

chamber with a high,


windows on

barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling, arched

both sides with leaded

glass,

hanging Orrefors

glass

and simple wooden tables and


At Kingswood, the dining hall (fig. 14.15)

retained

and auditorium are impressive spaces with finely


detailed leaded glass windows, oak woodwork and

strong

roots

in

traditionalism.

Cranbrook, Saarinen was asked to design


that

gradually

created

At

number
campus

complex of great beauty.


The Cranbrook School for Boys (1927), the
Saarinen House (fig. 14.14; 1928-30), Kingswood
School for Girls 1931 ), the Cranbrook Institute of
(

258

to

bowl

of buildings

May Queen, was

approach

of these buildings

interior design.

on the end

The

near
all

great dining hall of the

a long

dark oak floor Color

came from

Academy of Art

(1942) form a progression from the Nordic eclecti-

light fixtures,

chairs.

furniture,

and

textiles in grey, vermilion,

and

silver.

In the Saarinen House, simple spaces are furnished

and ornamented with custom-designed

tapestries,

and other decorative details. At


Cranbrook, other ornamental details such as ironwork for gates, special lamps. Andirons, and
lighting fixtures,

Eclecticism

works of art were by the students and faculty of the


school. Graduates of the Cranbrook Academy had
an important

role in the

the 1940s and 1950s;

it

development of design
continues to be

in

major

center of American design education.

geometric vocabulary that seems almost diagram-

marbles and handsome woods are

Fine

matic.

typical materials, while the introduction of "indirect lighting" in

which sources are concealed so

as

to create an overall, near-shadowless illumination

gives such interiors a dignified, solemn,

sometimes

rather chilling quality. Stripped classicism often

Stripped Classicism

echoed the form of the more fashion-oriented Art


After

World War

I,

eclectic design

began to move

DECO design

Chapter

(see

16),

but

its

dignity and

away from the literal reproduction of historic


examples toward a simplified, less ornamented
version of Roman and Renaissance precedents,

made it more acceptable for governmental


and other monumental buildings. When the

often called Stripped classicism. In America, a

of public building as a form of work relief

French Beaux-Arts graduate, Paul Phillipe Cret

depression years of the 1930s, Cret's stripped clas-

(1876-1945), was influential in promoting the

sicism

came

Beaux-Arts approach to design teaching

many

post offices, courthouses, and other build-

architectural

the

of

school

at

the

University

of

became the principal


teacher in 1903. His own work moved from the
imitative classicism of the Pan American Union
Pennsylvania,

where

he

Building in Washington, D.C.

more

the

Federal

(1935-7),

both

Reserve

in

(fig.

theater,

Building

Office

Washington.
Cret's

Ahhough

of
the

reproduce an

interiors

generally

follow a pattern of classically inspired forms and

proportions; ornament

is

to be regarded as ideally suited to the

were

ings that

in the

under

built

and

Administration)

came

Indeed, this style

WPA

(Works Progress
programs.

Federal

other

to be informally labeled

WPA STYLE.
Masses

Eclecticism for the

14.16; 1930-2)

library contains a curious attempt to

Elizabethan

United States government backed a vast program

1903) to a gradually

simplified version of classicism, as in the

Folger Shakespearean Library

and

reserve

reduced to

simple.

developed by professional archi-

Eclectic design, as

and

tects

the

to

buildings,

museums,

hotels,

libraries,

theaters,

at

population

general

accessible

banks,

was

decorators,

interior

and

office

stores.

first

buildings,

Magazines,

however, illustrated and recommended the

commissioned

designs

by

the

only

public

in

eclectic

and

wealthy

powerful, and so contributed to a trickle-down


effect in

which people of moderate means became


styles and developed an

acquainted with period

appetite for something of the sort for themselves.

1917 issue of House and Garden magazine,

for

example, devotes pages to interiors of the magnifi-

Adolph
cent New York mansion designed
and
Gilbert
(1863-1952)
Lewisohn by C. P. H.
Hoffstatter
and
firm
of
decorated by the
for

14.16

Paul Phillipe

Cret, Folger

Shakespearean

tibrary,

Washington, D.C,

1930-2.

Although Cret was best

known

for his "stripped

classical" design,

which

characterized the exterior

of

this building,

inside he turned to

an

eclectic urge to present

Baumgarten,
the

specialists in eclectic residences for

The typical reader was not


commission similar work, but the
such magazines offered furniture and

very wealthy.

prepared to
advertisers in

other

products

provide an

in

economy

various

"styles"

that

could

version of eclectic grandeur.

an Elizabethan English
intenor that would
relate to Shakespeare.
In the

reading room, a

hammer-beam wood
truss ceiling, candle

chandeliers,

woodwork

and carved

assert a

period orientation.

Houses and Apartments


The houses and apartments where average people
lived were generally given some details of trimming
that could justify the real estate agents' claims that

they were of

and

city

some named

style.

Suburban houses

apartment houses were not

built to order

259

Chapter Fourteen

reproductions of the styles of Chippendale and

Sheraton to crude mass-produced maple furniture

THE PURITAN INTERIORS

unlike anything
far

offered as

many

department

known

to the

from major

For those

styles as

stores.

cities,

American

colonies.

mail order catalogs

could be found in big city

Even complete houses could be

ordered by mail; a Sears Roebuck catalog

each

and trimmings

14.17). All the materials

(fig.

would be delivered

any location, ready to be

to

who was

assembled by a local carpenter


relieved of

thus

any responsibility for providing design

in a recognizable style. Sears

be found

illus-

and picture of

trated dozens of designs with a plan

Roebuck houses can

over America and can be readily recog-

all

nized as matching their catalog illustrations.

was given to the

In the 1930s a special impetus

by the restoration of the old Virginia

colonial fad
capital

With

Williamsburg.

at

support

the

of

Rockefeller financing, the rather meager traces of

the colonial

town were recreated by the Boston


and Hepburn,
eclectic Georgian design. The recre-

architectural firm of Perry, Shaw,


specialists in

town

ated

far

is

more

"correct" and perfect than

anything that eighteenth-century America could

have produced. As

famous

Williamsburg, Williamsburg

reproductions became widely

popular

the

settings.

desire

The Boston

(1895-1962)
OontleiDsn'

to

built

live

See 1>escnpUon of the Puritan flome on Opposite Pane

1926.

America

down

to

"colonial" design

came

be a favorite theme.

In this

advertisement

from a Sears Roebuck


catalog (1926). the
illustration

to

was intended

support the colonial

ideal, albeit

kitchen

with a

and bathroom

more familiar

to

pine cabinets and "country style"

to

the eighteenth century.

hundred

in

window

colonial

in

rows and clusters by the

suburban

real estate subdivisions. In

England, a parallel vogue developed for country

work welcomed the


and convenience that

chateaux, in Italy Mediterranean stucco cottages

life

or factory

in

are

grim suburban rows. In France, miniaturized

all

evidence of eclectic ideals. Eclecticism

on

catalogs of furniture

lives

of wealth and culture.

accessories offered to an eager public, in

preferences varied

Spanish

styles

the southwest.

somewhat

were favorites

New Orleans

base in

New

and

houses, and in an occasional brand new Georgian


bank branch or ranch-style restaurant.

its

home

style

most

mean anything

Cape Cod cottage to a Georgian mansion.


Furnishing ranged from fine quality accurate

from

bits ot

half-timber trim, "quaint" details in development

in California

England to become the

odd

region-

ironwork in the south,

but "colonial" spread in popularity from

in

still

and decorative

the magazines suggested were necessary as evidence

ally.

curtains.

reproduction

cottages suggesting the days of Henry VIII but built

decorative elements of style

Stylistic

cottages.
refrigera-

commodi-

widely desired. The term could

1920s family than

260

exquisitely

and wallpapers were


population moving upward from the

just as furniture, carpets,

poverty of farm

of the house

and an assortment of
interiors

ties,

produced.

general public where

to

on

practice

were regularly made "colonial" with knotty

tors

Page 25

were produced by devel-

opers or speculative builders as saleable

The desire for period

filtered

fueled

pseudo-colonial

charming reproductions of Cape Cod


Kitchens with modern electric stoves and

houses were built


for their occupants; they

Puritan

interiors in

known and
in

architect Royal Barry Wills


his

Crude versions of such

interiors,

attraction,

and Williamsburg

I have Juet recently oonpleted building one of your "Honor Bllt" Modern Hones, and *ant
I saved over 82,000,00 In building this houee, and when It was
to tell you how well I aa aatlaried.
oomplgted I was able to get a mortgage for more than the construotlon coat.
It o^rtalnly Is a substantial house, and no one will make a alstake In buying or building an "Honor Bllt" Modern Hone.
You night alao like to know that it is furnlehed with Sears-Roebuok rugs, furniture and
You
ourtalna, also wall papor and fixtures, and in buying ay furniture from you I saved over half.
nay refer anyone to me as I know they will be pleased as well as satisfied in dealing with your oompany.
(Signed) A. W. Fischer, Eastwood, Ohio

14.17

tourist

style,

Furniture and Accessories


Furniture stores and department stores featured
"traditional" products

room

settings

and often provided model

where customers could

see furniture

Eclecticism

come

Roxy and find


decorative furniture and a

into a gigantic Loew's, Fox, or

lobbies loaded with rich

auditorium designed to suggest a Moorish

vast

harem, a Spanish palace, or some assortment of

The ceiling might simulate a


and moving clouds, while the giant

decorative treatments.

sky with stars

theater organ rose out of the orchestra pit, filling the


hall

with

its

(1871-1942) became a
theaters

with

fantastic

settings

New York and

in the design

specialist

suggesting

interiors

of

and

exotic

Hindu,

Persian,

some amalgam of styles. Loew's


in

Thomas W. Lamb

sentimental vibrato.

Chinese,

or

175th Street Theater

14.18 Harold Van


Doren and

J.G.

Rideout,

Air-King Radio,

Brooklyn, 1930-3.

home

Eclectic
in

interiors

assorted traditional

demanded furniand equipment to

styles

ture

match- Console radios

were housed

in

wood

cabinets in a variety of

period styles This

example

is

intended to

suggest a Renaissance
design, perhaps

Spanish.

the Loew's Pitkin in Brooklyn, the

Stanley and Fox in Philadelphia

(Adam

Fox (Baroque)

the San Francisco

1920s and early 1930s) were

(all

among

style),

and

of the

late

the

more than

300 theaters credited to him. lohn Eberson was a


specialist in the

"atmospheric theater," where the

ceiling

was

moon

floating

detail

of fantastic

a false sky with

moving

and

clouds, stars,

above architectural and sculptural


complexity.

The Paradise

in

Chicago (1928) was one of dozens of theaters of this


type.
(

Grauman's Egyptian

1927) theaters in

and accessories arranged by "store decorators" who


were also prepared to offer advice and decorating

were extravaganzas in

help to hesitant customers. Furniture manufac-

followed

turers took to

making

"suites" (often called "suits")

of ftirniture that claimed to

represent

one or

another period, especially colonial. Even such

modern invention

as

universally desired object in

made

in

some

XV, or Spanish

traditional style
(fig.

wooden box

Georgian,

Louis

The round form of the


wooden
medieval rose window and

14.18).

of a

this

toward story-book

drift

imitate at

home.

Europe
not unknown,
grip of the

ence of

it

did not develop the near-universal

American experience. Perhaps the

real historic buildings

and

new

Renaissance, tended to seek

rather than slavish reproduction.

European buildings on

Movie Theaters
pictures as a

medium

of mass entertainment provided another vehicle for


eclectic designs.

were,

more

decorated

The magnificent Hollywood

sets

often than not, great mansions richly


in

grand

interpretations

Some

period

styles,

either

for

historic

Joseph

Poelart,

Emmanuel

II

in

or

the

Rome

Monument

866-83 ), by
to

Victor

(1885-1911) by Giuseppe

unmatched

Sacconi, achieved an

eclectic

such as the

scale,

Palace of lustice in Brussels, Belgium

The development of moving

pres-

interiors gave

imitation less appeal. Historicism, present since the

wooden

became widely popular.

was

In Europe, although the practice of eclecticism

pointed arch-shaped cases, so that Gothic radios in


cabinets

historical

settings that the householder might then attempt to

earh'

radio speaker stimulated designs that used


tracer)' like that

and restaurants

nationally famous. Hotels

it

from the laboratory functionalism of the


wireless set into a piece of furniture, a

their respective styles that

became a
every home, changed

the radio, as

became

and Chinese

(1922)

Hollywood, by Meyer and Holler,

level

of over-

bearing grandiosity. Hotels, banks, churches, and


private

homes were

built in great

numbers

one

in

dramas or as modern environments for the rich


and famous. The moving picture theater itself

or another historic

became

design meant creativity rather than historicism.

part of the eclectic visual experience.

Theaters and opera houses had always been elaborately decorative,

but

now

mass audience could

style,

works of indifferent

but these tended to be the

practitioners. Leadership in

Stripped classicism

came

to be the official style

of governmental design in Europe in the 1930s

(fig.

261

Chapter Fourteen

14.19

Crigorii

Zakharov and Zinaida


Chernysheva, central
hall,

Kurskaya Metro

Moscow,

Station,

949.

The totalitarian regimes


of Europe

tool< or}

eclectic design as

it

suited their various


onentations, whether
fascist,

in this

communist

or,

example,

Stalinist.

form of

stripped, classic

Done

architecture serves the


unlikely role of subway

station entrance

14.20 Ragnar
Ostberg, City Hall,

Stockholm, 1908-23.

The Nordic accent of

Swedish design

in the

early years of the twentieth

century

had

strong popular appeal.


It

seemed

to offer a

design vocabulary that

was of modern times


but was firmly rooted
tradition. This

in

formal

and monumental hall,


known as the Golden
Chamber, was one of
several rooms of the

Stockholm town hall


that
to

had strong appeal

a widely varied audi-

ence around the world.

262


Eclecticism

14.19).

The combination of a
depression

the

economy and
fine

years

example

is

mental

certain

its

the Finnish Parliament

Helsinki (1927-32) by

columns

teen classical

efficiency contributed to

of

flight

J.

at the

Saarinen (see

of

unique aspect into eclecticism.

appeal.

pp. 234, 257-8) began his career in 1902 with the

House

at

design and construction of his

an

studio

group

monu-

Hvittrask.

orderly

tile

top of a broad,
screens

steps

National

as

sense

Siren. Its facade of four-

S.

of what became
Romanticism introduced a

development

Finland,

In

known

touch of modernism and

tradition along with a


in

sense of formality, of

It

Helsinki

near

was

Eliel

a cluster

own house and


he named

that

of structures in the red

roofed Nordic Romantic style that had connec-

symmetrical plan arranged around the circular

tions with Jugendstil work, but also

chamber at its center. The same style had


the misfortune to become the architectural expression of fascism in Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's

qualities,

legislative

Germany. Great

halls

favorite

for

settings

marble were

with

lined

dictators

who wished

to

particularly

where rugs and


ture were

all

in

the

examples of design based

and designer of

and

carpets,

design

of

textiles

participant

impersonal vastness of the spaces they built and

continued to participate

occupied. Albert Speer (1905-81) was the favorite

projects throughout his career.

in

many

was an active

and

Hvittrask

of her husband's

Saarinen's European reputation was established

buildings in this chillingly ostentatious

with a design for the Helsinki Railroad Station

such as the new Chancellery in Berlin

style,

the

in

regime and produced a

of the Nazi

number of

in craft

tradition. Saarinen's wife, Loja, a sculptor, weaver,

pretend to greatness and to intimidate with the

architect

original
interiors

metalwork, and furni-

tapestries,

fine

had

spacious

Although the U.S.S.R. under

Stalin

1938).

was ostensibly

(1906-14), a distinguished masonry building with


a

tall

tower and handsome interiors that carry a

the adversary of fascism, the official style of design

hint of Nordic traditionalism.

became similarly heavy and intimidating.


Even after World War II, buildings such as the

United States

in Russia

Lomonosov

University

Moscow

in

(1948-52)

influential

in

in

With

1925, Saarinen

the

development

his

move

to the

became highly
design

in

some of

the

of

America.

continued to be designed in a way suggestive ot the

American eclecticism of the pre- World

War

era.

Britain
In England, eclecticism surfaced in

Scandinavia

later

The

eclecticism of Scandinavian design, built

folk traditions reaching

on

as Arts

and Crafts

influence faded and Beaux-Arts classicism asserted

back to the Norsemen,

never became narrowly imitative and so was able to

smooth transition into the simpler forms


came to characterize modern design.
"Scandinavian modern" in its earliest forms really
belonged to the eclectic era and so avoided the
qualities that made early modernism unpopular

make

work of Norman Shaw

that

14.21 Richard

Norman Shaw,
Cragside, Rothbury,

Northumberland,

1870-84.
The drawing by W.

R.

Lethaby of Shaw's
design for a chimney

with a major part of the general public. Almost

breast at Cragside indi-

met the eclectic Stockholm


Town Hall (1908-23) by the Swedish architect

cates

universal admiration

Ragnar Ostberg (1866-1945).

composed block of
and

a great

tower

It is

a romantically

brick, with green

beautifully sited

copper roofs

by

a lake.

The

how Shaw used


and

local buildings

vernacular details to
create a personal style

of nineteenth-century
English design, which

projected a sense of the

Blue Hall, really a covered courtyard or atrium

traditional without

where exposed pink brickwork contradicts the

attempting a direct

name

(blue

installed), the

mosaic

was

intended

Golden Chamber

(fig.

but

never

14.20), a great

hall with walls of gold and colorful


and the Prince's Gallery with murals
painted by Prince Eugen offer both grandeur and
charm to match the exterior.

assembly
mosaic,

imitation of past exam-

ples This
tive

florid,

decora-

composition

satisfied

a wealthy

client's desire for baro-

nial splendor while

having a basis

still

in its

own time

263

'

Chapter Fourteen

itself.

Shaw's enormous mansion, Bryanston

Dorset

1889-94),

is

with hints of both

in

symmetrical U-shaped mass

Wren and French

eighteenth-

Edwin Lutyens and the Viceroy's House

Sir
Interiors are filled

century chateau architecture.

New

in

with heavy
(1870-84;

Cragside

classical detail.

14.21)

fig.

at

Rothbury

heavy with ornament. The

is

Delhi

Throughout

Northumberland mansion Chesters (1890-4) used


even more formal and monumental torms of clas-

Edwin Lutyens worked

his long career,

very closely with his clients, often establishing lifelong


friendships. During

new

however, the

sical symmetry, with a massive Ionic portico at the

one of

his largest projects

center for government

in

New

became frustrated by a certain


Hardinge, who seemed to him to be the

Delhi, India, Lutyens

entrance and interiors notable for size rather than

Shaw's

interest.

London

is

a massive

(1905-8)

Hotel

Piccadilly

Lord

in

personification of bureaucracy

block mixing Dutch Baroque

Having

Service.

design, Hardinge

flourishes with a screen of Ionic columns.

way through

Civil

and grand

became anxious about costs half


demanded cut-backs.

the project and

Lutyens chronicled the series of set-backs;

Lutyens

composing an opera when they leave out


all but one wind Instrument, and
leave you a banjo with one string, the Viceroy's
drum, a triangle and a cornet perhaps.

He

Lutyens (1869-1944).
of Norman

Shaw and

a direction of his

the fiddles and

started out as a follower

Webb, but soon found


the design of some of the

Philip

own

in

like

it is

England's most creative eclectic was Sir Edwin

Sir

last great

the Imperial

in

mitially specified a large

country houses around the turn of the

Herbert Baker, a friend of Lutyens and the

servant

in

civil

charge of the project, commented:

century. Deanery Gardens at Sonning, Berkshire


(1889),

is

familiar

elements

brick

and

tile,

an

landscaped garden
collaborator

site

arched

Government; a

in

complex grouping

all set

loyalties as

Jekyll

(1843-1932).

although there

is

working with amazing


his plan

and

and

The end

result,

to

suggest

medievalism,

no overt reproduction of Gothic

Drewsteignton, Devon,

England, 1910,
deli-

cate balance between

and a

forward-looking

approach at Castle
Drogo. This passage in
a large country house-

not a

was accepted.

'

despite Lutyen's unhappiness at the

cost

in

and

scale,

were impressive enough

in

for

the Architectural

1931:

The road describes a curve and embarks


imperceptibly on a gradient. Suddenly on the right
a scape of towers and domes is lifted from the
horizon, sunlit pink and cream, dancing against the
blue sky as fresh as a cup of milk, grand as Rome
Dome, tower, dome, tower, dome, tower, red,
pink, cream and whitewashed gold flashing in the
morning sun. ^

Lutyens, Castle Drogo,

it IS

expense of his plan. Finally


and energy, he reduced

skill

from Robert Byron, writing

14.22 Edward

traditionalism

it

the

to earn him a knighthood and the following accolade

Review

Lutyens achieved a

how

building, in relation to the floor

Surrey (1899) he produced a

in a native stone with gables

clustered

difficult position of conflicting

area, contributed to the

At

reductions

chimneys

and with admiration, Lutyen's

probably alone knew

immense mass of

in a beautifully

developed with his frequent

Gertrude

Tigbourne Court

silently

tenacity in his fight with the Viceroy and the

entrance, great chimneys, a great projecting bay

with small-paned windows

watched

an original and handsome grouping of

Edwin Lutyens,

Life

castle at all-

3.

letter to his wife,

quoted

of Sir Edwin Lutyens (London, 1953),

RobertByton, Architectural Review,

in

p.

"New

Christopher Husscy,

320;

2. Ibid, p.

Delhi,"

32 1

1931

leads from the drawing

room

to the hall

and

uses simple detailing in

stone to create space

detail.

The only departure from

austere simplicity

that can be understood

as traditional or as

pointing

to

a new,

twentieth-century

is

in a

low entrance porch with

turned to his

own

free

classical detail.

adaptation of classicism for Heathcote (1905-7), a

simplicity.

country house
(fig.

14.22;

manor

in

Yorkshire. Castle

1910)

is

In

Drogo

a fortress-like

house, less original and

imitative.

264

He

and somewhat eccentric


in

Devon

battlemented

more narrowly

these houses, Lutyens developed a

Eclecticism

remarkable talent tor offering to

the

his clients

comforts they desired, a sense of belonging to an


tradition,

aristocratic

and

genuine element of

creative originality.

regarded as the leading figure of his time

larger

culminating

arranged
formal

and more monumental

in the

New

city at

commissions

His

architects.

British

to

be

among

gradually

in character,

planning of the Indian capital

Delhi (1913-30). There buildings are

according

to

symmetry, but

Lutyens's design

German pre-World War liners excelled


eclectic
decor the swimming pool
I

came

Lutyens's status rose rapidly as he

became

were everywhere. The smoking room of the


Cunarder Franconia (1923) was a Tudor halftimbered hall with a huge brick fireplace. The great
crystal

in excess

of

the

Vaterhuid (1914) (later renamed Leviathan) was

Roman

"Pompeian," with

Doric

pool.

The

Conte

Italian liner

main lounge

columns two

surrounding the

stories high along the decks

di Savoia

193

tiled

had

reproduced the gallery of the

that

Colonna

Rome,

traditional

concepts

of

seventeenth-century

individual

buildings

of

complete with statuary and fresco painting.

Palace

in

(such as the Viceroy's House)

combine elements of Indian

traditional design with

The Spread of Eclecticism

British classicism in a truly eclectic mix.

Ships with eclectic interior decor carried colonists

Ocean

to

Liners

undeveloped parts of the world where they

immediately demanded the recreation


design

Eclectic

interior

extremes

in the interiors

(fig.

14.23).

enjoy

halls,

of the great ocean liners

Aboard the

Mauretania (1907),

British

Cunard

passengers

first-class

smoking rooms

lounges, and

Renaissance and Francis

remarkable

reached

French

styles

liner

could

in Italian

designed by

the British architect H. A. Peto (1854-1933),

had established

reputation

for

who

town houses,

country mansions, and hotels with lavish eclectic


interiors.

Paneling,

columns,

pilasters,

gilt,

and

home

through

countries

eclectic

of their

building.

The

westernized architecture of India, Australia, and


other colonial regions

is full

of

Roman

classicism,

Gothic and Renaissance motifs that comforted


colonists

and

either

impressed

or

exasperated

native populations. Even

China and, to a lesser


extent, Japan produced eclectic work inspired by
the British presence in Hong Kong and Shanghai,
and by Chinese and Japanese architects who had
been trained

at

American architectural schools

where Beaux-Arts eclecticism was the universally


accepted direction. The Bank of Japan (1895) by

Kingo Tatsuno and the Akasaka Palace (1909) by

Tokuma Katayama

14.23 SS

France,

1910.

closely parallel eclectic

work

in

Some of the most spec-

Europe and America.

tacular eclectic interiors


were, oddly enough,

long struggle to root out the devotion to histori-

cism that had come to dominate design schools


took place

in

training turned

the

1930s and

away from

As design

1940s.

eclecticism, the design

professions gradually were taken over by a

new

in

ocean-going ships. This

grandiose space, the

grand

stair

room, with

and dining
its rich,

supposedly Baroque
decoration was

generation rooted in the modern, technological

intended to convince

world and devoted to the rejection of

first

imitation. Eclecticism

became

all

historic

not

buildings but on

class passengers

that they were dining in

a surviving direction

only in a few backwater design schools, and in the


practice of the manufacturers

and builders who

remained convinced that the public

a grand hotel or palace


rather than on the
Atlantic Ocean.

When

intercontinental travel
still

desired

could only be accom-

design that clothed every object, every setting, and

plished by sea, passen-

every building in forms borrowed from centuries

gers,

none too happy

with the time

long past.

and

possible discomforts of

sea

travel,

could be

a feeling of
contentment with the
lulled into

aid of such design.

7fi'R

The Emergence of Modernism

By the first decades of the twentieth century, it had


become apparent that industriahzation and the
technology that
changes

in

reHed on had brought about

it

human

any that had


and the inven-

affairs as great as

occurred since the discovery of

fire

tion of language. Telephone, electric light, travel by

and by air, and structural


and Reinforced concrete

ship, rail, automobile,

engineering using

steel

brought about the extensive changes

human

in

experience that are often characterized as those of


the "first machine age."
history,

Through

handwork had been

of earlier

all

the primary

pioneers of

new

modernism

in design.

directions with such clarity

They defined

and force

that they

can be thought of as the originators of the "modern

movement."

All four

were also active

were

architects, but all four

in interior design

and

in the design

of objects and other elements that characterize


twentieth-century

modernism.

They

were

the

Europeans Walter Gropius (1881-1969), Ludwig


Mies van der Rohe

1886-1969), and Le Corbusier

and

(1887-1965),

the

American

Frank

Lloyd

Wright (1867-1959).

means by

which things were made (aided by limited use of


wind, water, and horse power). In the modern

hand made and factory production has become the norm. Accelerating population growth and the increase in urban poverty were
new and pressing problems. The rise of communism and fascism and the distress engendered by
World War I presented problems that technology
did little to solve. In art, architecture, and design it
became increasingly evident that the traditions that
had served past ages were no longer relevant to this
world, very

modern world.
The nineteenth-century

to

new

find

to

efforts

the Arts

of pre-industrial

Nouveau and Vienna

15.1

Frank Lloyd

Wright, Larkm Building,


Buffalo,

New

York,

Art

times.

Secession sought

new deco-

but did not recognize the extent

changes that were overwhelming every

of the

aspect of

modern

Eclecticism was devoted to

life.

The office building was

mentalism

a moil-order
company, and Wright

and the

for

arranged space
office workers

for

on

several levels

(in

many

four hundred constructed buildings and

other projects

modern

architect.

in

Chapter

Sullivan in Chicago (1887-93)

established the direction he

historicism of eclectic
for
in

attack.
a

The

leaders

of

revolutionaries,

sense,

new

ideas

were disturbing and

fright-

ening to major elements of society.

specially designed furni-

The most important development


design

vocabulary

world

of advanced

appropriate

to

with a swinging

patterns of life that

name

was demol-

ished in 1950.

266

all

it

technology

early

of the arts

new forms

modern
new
Modernism is
the

and

brought about.

given to the

Wright's design. The

building

in

twentieth-century design was the emergence of a

the

his

was

rela-

Sullivan

to take in his

that

own

work. Sullivan's dedication both to the concept

early work. In spite of his great admiration for

reality.

Sullivan

and

his

important role

that

the

appeared in

in painting, sculpture, architecture,

music, and literature. Four

men

are regarded as

in Sullivan's office

(he was the primary designer of Sullivan's Charnley

ture,

light clusters of

was

and the close

tionship that he established with

nets are neatly fitted

and each
arm
support. Daylight was
augmented by electric

It

period of employment in the offices of Adler and

skylit court. Filing cabi-

related desks

first

Wright"

a brief training in engineering at

the University of Wisconsin in 1886.

fortable in the role of

to their

"later

18.

Wright had

House of 1892

ture included chairs

The second

phase, which surfaced after 1930, will be discussed

ideas in politics. In design, just as in music, litera-

attached

in design

about 1920, clearly established his role as the

although not directly connected with revolutionary

and

of sufficient

The first or "early Wright" phase,


history.
extending from the beginning of his career up to

in Chicago),

surrounding a central,

into alcoves,

is

importance to support his major place

work

became a focus
modernism were,

art,

long career that can be

Victorian and parallel examples)

superficial

and

in a

divided into two phases. Each phase

embodied in the phrase "form follows function,"


and to a style of ornament that was non-historic,
original, and "organic" was central to Wright's own

the application of bygone design to

The heavy elaboration of nineteenth-century orna-

1904,

more than

handcraft

rative vocabularies

Wright produced an enormous body of work

major modern

and Crafts Movement,


Secession
all remained
Nouveau,
and
Vienna
Art
tied to the past. Arts and Crafts asked for a return
design directions

the

Frank Lloyd Wright

little is

Wright was uncom-

an assistant to someone

else

and so moved to establish his own practice in 1893


in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. Oak
Park and the neighboring suburb of River Forest
were situated in open country where well-to-do
businessmen who traveled daily into Chicago had
houses built in pleasant surroundings. Wright built
a

house for his owti family

in

Oak Park

(1889),

with an adjacent studio, and began to receive

commissions
communities.

for other houses there

and

in

nearby

^Vl-.

'#

-s-'-^-

Chapter Fifteen

The

Early

Commissions

room, on the other side of the central chimney,


extends outward from the rear of the building in a
semicircular

Winslow House of 1893

The Hickox House (1900) at Kankakee, Illinois,


retains symmetry only for the open living, dining,
and music room grouping across its front. Its gable
roof has long overhangs and horizontal bands of

earHest Wright houses are

in

River

Forest

is,

however, a decisive step toward original expression


(fig. 15.2).

rical

The

and has

front facing the street

a classic dignity

projects of the

is

symmet-

not unlike some early

Vienna Secession. Unlike the

Victorian house with

its

vertical

zontal lines are emphasized. There

typical

emphasis, horiis

low hipped

Illinois,

In hii early

work Wright

often used details that


carry a hint of traditional architecture,

and

the influence of his

association with Louis

Henry Sullivan

is

evident. Here, off the

entrance hall of this


house, this small loggia

provides a fireplace

flanked by built-in
seating. The roils
either side

on

end with a

pedestal topped by
sculpture.

268

Sullivan's

vocabulary,

but

shifted

is

toward a more geometric approach that Wright


gradually developed as his career

moved onward.

windows, and low walls extending outward

ground
istic

level give

it

at

the long horizontals character-

of what Wright called the Prairie

house

ornament are arranged around the entrance door,


and the upper-floor windows are placed in a
continuous frieze of terracotta ornamentation. The
is

more complex

interlocking of varied

with rooms clustered around a central

chimney. The entrance

1893.

suggests

detail

some windows

landscape of the American mid-west. The side of

hall has

an arcaded alcove

with seats on either side of a fireplace. The dining

River Forest,

including stained-glass inserts in

roof with a broad overhang. Decorative bands ot

spaces,

15.2 Frank Lloyd

conservatory.

form, implying a relationship to the broad,

plan

Wright, Winslow House,

Ornamental

somewhat tentative,
with hints of Victorianism, Arts and Crafts, and
Queen Anne aesthetic touches and, usually only
when demanded by a client, eclectic elements (halftimber work in a few examples) as well. The
The

the house facing the street

is

entirely asymmetrical.

Its white plaster wall surfaces divided

wood

give

it

flat

by

strips

a vaguely Japanese flavor. This

the result of any imitative drive, but

may

is

of

not

reflect

Wright's awareness of oriental aesthetic ideas as


expressed in Japanese prints

favorite

works with

The Emergence of Modernism

throughout his career. Squares are the theme for

15.3 Frank Lloyd


Wright, Coonley House,

decorative
areas,

and

in specially
inserts.

and

tile

plaster patterns

on

exterior wall

for interior details such as pattern motifs

woven rugs and

The forms of the sloping

patterns of structural

roofs are visible as

strips suggesting the

members and with

decorative

As

ceiling panels covering concealed lighting.

in

there

interiors,

sense of

is

color, although his use of color

is

generally very restricted according to his convic-

movement

the Aesthetic

England and

in

a contin-

uing interest for Wright. Interiors were carefully

developed

in

all

of

Wright's

Drawings that Wright made

Home Journal

Ladies'

for publication in the

in 1901

show

the open suites

of living spaces, the extensive built-in

and

houses.

prairie

specially designed furniture that

tion that the natural colors of materials should not

typical

tones of natural wood, brick,

or stone and the beiges of woven materials generate


the basic color; leaded glass
detail in bright red

The

woodwork,
were

warm

be altered. The

large

and an occasional small

provide decorative accents.

house for Frederick Robie

Chicago (1906)

is

of

this house, estab-

modern

style The

drawing, reproduced in
the

magazine and book

illustrations circulated

most of Wright's

warmth and

1907,
Wright had, by the time
lished his personal early

wood

ceiling internally, with

window

stained-glass

Riverside, Illinois,

in

in

Holland and

Germany, displayed
Wright's approach to
design. The ceiling

pattern reflects the roof


structure but

one of the most successful of

Geometric design

is

and

in the

specially designed rug.

The furniture
all

also

present in the stained


glass

south

is

strongly decorative.

is

of

Wright's design.

of Wright's residential projects.


Wright's growing reputation brought him

number of non-residential commissions,

including

the large four-story office building for the Larkin

Company at Buffalo, New York (1904, now demolished). Open general office spaces are arranged
around

a central skylit courtyard, a majestic inte-

unique decorative

rior space with Wright's

introduced only

detail

the top level just below the

at

skylights (fig. 15.1). Highly innovative metal furni-

The Philosophy of Frank Lloyd Wright


Frank Lloyd Wright's

and

light

fixtures

were designed

for

Church at
work in
reinforced concrete. It is made up of two linked
blocks, the church proper and the related parish
house with entrances in the linking element. Roof
slabs project out above bands of windows placed
near the top of the church auditorium walls. The
part of a unified design concept. Unity

Park, Illinois (1906),

is

Wright's

first

interior with projecting balconies, a ceiling incor-

porating a grid of square skylights, linear decora-

bands of wood along the white

tive

walls,

in his

approach to architecture was expressed

in

hanging

When

In

art

1907,

stained-glass

and design
the

few years

suburban

large

15.3).

The house

is

residential

Chicago suburb

at

(fig.

surrounded by elaborate

gardens, a pool, and various service buildings.


is

developed on

means of
tional

modular

years

looked south from the

His aims as an architect were, as he expressed

himself to exalt the health,

complete environment

in

the

lift

and create

spirit,

response to the immediate

surroundings. The prairie houses he designed were a


specific response to the

and he wrote of

landscape he saw around him,

his theories in

an essay

in

908,

describing the inspiration for such houses as Highland

Park and Riverside

of the Middle

in Illinois:

West are

has a beauty of

its

living

on the

prairie.

quiet

level.

The

own and we should


its

Hence, gently sloping roofs, low

proportion, quiet skylines, suppressed heavy set


chimneys and sheltering overhangs, low terraces
and out-reaching walls sequestering private

gardens.

The

grid of squares, a

establishing unified control of propor-

relationships that

as he

'

plan

928

recognise and accentuate this natural beauty,

later.

grouping designed for Avery Coonley was built


Riverside, Illinois, another

890s:

hands of a master, the red glare of the


Bessemer steel converters to the south of Chicago
would thrill me as pages of the Arabian Nights
used to with a sense of terror and romance.

prairie

European

pencil in the

We

in

his career in the

in early

space suggestive of directions that were to surface

and

on

massive stone tower of the Auditorium Building, a

windows of
geometric form generate an abstractly complex
fixtures,

light

responses to his

this

building so that every interior element would be

Oak

years as an architect were

his

surroundings. The romanticism inherent

reflected

ture

first

spent drawing together

Frank Lloyd Wright, 'The Nature of Materials," Architectural Record

(Chicago,

928):

2.

Frank Lloyd Wright,

Frampton, Modern Architecture (London,

908, quoted

992),

p-

in

Kenneth

37

Wright frequently used

269

Chapter Fifteen

earthquake in 1923. This event brought Wright to

pubHc notice

he was

in a favorable light, so that

able to build a second career after his return to

America.

De
It

StijI

was Wright's frequently expressed conviction

that he

was the only originator of modernism in


and that European modernists were

architecture,

merely (inferior) imitators of his achievements.


Reality hardly supports such claims, but

work was

that Wright's

is

true

exhibited, published,

and

it

Europe long before it had comparable


recognition in America. The Dutch artists, sculptors, architects, and designers who in 1917 began

admired

in

De
may

publication of the magazine

Stijl

(The

Style),

which appeared

well have

known

until 1927,

of Wright's work. Certainly,

it is

possible to notice

some similarities in form between such Wright


designs as the Gale House of 1909 in Oak Park and
15.4 Frank

Wright's houses.

Lloyd

Wright, Robie House,

Chicago, 1906,
This

house

is

probably

the best l<nown

and

Wright's early works.

The dining room forms


an extension of the
room, with only a

free-standing fireplace

and chimney

of Wright's design.

all

and extended sloping hip roofs surround living


spaces that flow together. The main living and
dining rooms

(fig.

separate the two spaces without walls or doors.

Stained glass in the windows,


ceiling surfaces,

wood bands

and buih-in woodwork

across
fittings

lighting fixtures give the interiors a unified

and

Dutch Huis ter Heide at Utrecht (1916) by


Robert van't Hoff (1887-1979), an architect of the
De Stijl movement.

the

15.4) are a continuous space,

windows forming an uninterrupted band


along the main street front of the house. A central
fireplace and chimney backed by an open stairway

to sepa-

rate them. The furniture


IS

walled gardens and terraces

their

most admired of

living

Low

Mondrian and van Doesburg


was primarily concerned with concepts of
and sculpture which
had surfaced in cubist art of the time and which
were taken to their logical limits by such artists as
Piet Mondrian (1871-1944), Jean Arp (1887-

De

Stijl

pure abstraction in painting

around the table and


the lamp units at the

were

designed by Wright. The high-backed

1966), and Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931).


Mondrian is famous for his abstract paintings

table corners were

dining chairs were intended to give a sense of

using bands of black arranged in rectilinear grids

intended to give a

enclosure to those sitting together around the

on

The high-backed chairs

character. Originally, furniture, rugs,


all

sense of containment to
family

and

table.

visitors

seated at the table. The


built-in

cabinet work,

stained-glass windows,

and

ceiling detail are

all typical

of the work

Wright completed

in

the early twentieth


century.

The

table

itself

textiles

was unusually low, and

supported by corner posts that


top to become

and

rise

above the table

lighting fixtures.

Wright's American career gradually slowed and


then came

to a halt

between 1910 and 1930.

unhappy and tragic events in his personal


with the drift in public taste away
combined
life
from work of such striking originality combined to
leave him with little work. An invitation by a group
series of

of Japanese business

men

Tokyo was accepted and

to design a
led to a

major hotel

in

number of years

spent in Japan designing and directing construction of the Imperial Hotel (1916-22,
ished).

The

large

building

with

now demol-

its

vast

and

elaborately decorated public spaces survived a great

270

white background, with some areas

filled in

with pure primary colors. Although he confined his

work to
become

painting, Mondrian's

work was destined to


and architec-

a strong influence in design

As historicism fell into disrepute, abstract


form became a primary interest. Mondrian and
Doesburg developed a theory, called
van
ture.

Neoplasticism, set forth in a

number of manifestos

that asserted the superiority of abstract values of

form and color (the primaries and black) over


naturalistic

and subjective values

in

art.

all

Van

Doesburg developed a number of architectural


projects in which abstract forms and primary
colors

are

compositions

translated
that

into

could

three-dimensional

become

buildings.

Although he developed many projects on paper

The Emergence

15.5

(/e/t)

Modernism

of

Theo van

Doesburg, Cafe
I'Aubette, Strasbourg,

1926-8.

France,

15.6 {below) Gernt


In this

entertainment

center, with bars, ball-

and a cinema,
van Doesburg used De

rooms,

StijI

abstract geometric

forms to generate a

modern intethe Cinema

strikingly
rior.

In

Rietveld, Schroder

House, Utrecht, The


Netherlands, 1924,
Rietveld worked with

the designer Truus

Schroder-Schrdder

(1889-1985) on
house

in

the films were projected

upper

level

on

was

Dance Hall

(seen here)

to the central screen,

the

Utrecht The

of the house

fitted with sliding

making

while patrons occupied

panels,

booths or danced on

possible to screen off

the central dance floor

individual rooms or

Van Doesburg worked


with Jean Arp and his

open up the space as

wife,

Sophie Taeuber-

it

it

appears here The


typical

De

StijI

color

Arp, on the abstract

scheme, with white,

designs, which were

black, red,

by the public
when the complex first
opened

enlivens the rectilinear

disliked

and

blue,

geometry of the space.


Rietveld's red

armchair

is

and blue

in the fore-

ground.

had considerable influence, van Doesburg's

that

own small
Meudon 1930) and a complex of restauinteriors known as I'Aubette at Strasbourg in

only works that were executed were his

house
rant

at

1926-8

Geometric, abstract diagonally

(fig. 15.5).

placed three-dimensional forms, tubular stair and


railings, and wall paintings using the
"modern" materials of concrete, steel, aluminum,
and glass (avoiding wood), with black, white, and

balcony

primaries as the only colors, are

all

important

features.

Rietveld
The

known De

work was produced by


whose Schroder
House at Utrecht (fig. 15.6; 1924) is the most
complete realization of the movement's ideas. It is
a rectilinear block made up of complex, interpenebest

Gerrit

StijI

(1888-1964),

Rietveld

trating planes of wall, roof,

with voids

main

filled

by

living floor

panels

that

glass in

is

and projecting decks,

metal sash. The (upper)

divided by a system of sliding

permit

rearrangement

to

achieve

varying degrees of openness. Built-in and movable


is geometric and
Only primary colors and black
are introduced within the generally white and grey
tones of most surfaces.
Rietveld's most familiar works are two geometrically formed chairs, the small and simple "Z

furniture of Rietveld's design


abstract in concept.

271

Chapter Fifteen

made from four flat wooden rectangles


Z configuration, and the more
complex "red and blue" arm chair of 1918 where a
cage of thin wooden strips painted black with

comfort while acting as abstract sculpture in visual

The Bauhaus developed a new educaprogram that attempted to establish a relation between the emerging modernism of the fine
arts and a broad range of design and craft fields,
including architecture, town planning, advertising
and exhibition design, stage design, photography
and film, and the design of objects in wood, metal,
ceramics, and textiles
in short, what has come to

terms. Both are currently in production. Other

be

chair,"

called design.

arranged in a

tional

yellow ends supports the

flat

and back planes

seat

painted red and blue. Although they appear some-

what forbidding, they

Rietveld furniture
parallel pattern

offer a reasonable degree of

and

strictly abstract,

as industrial design.

The Bauhaus program began with an introduc-

lighting designs follow a

of conception in

tory year of studies devoted to abstract design in

two and three dimensions, and studies of materials,

sculptural terms.

Because of

known

its

few members, short

limited accomplishments,

De

influence in the

Stijl

development of modernism has been


than that of the pioneers in

and

life,

obvious

less

Germany and

France.

and color that would form a sound basis


Gropius recruited an extra-

textures,

for later specialization.

number of distin-

ordinary faculty that included a

guished modern

such as Paul Klee, Wassily

artists,

many

Kandinsky, and Lyonel Feininger, and

other

distinguished teachers, such as losef Albers, Laszlo

Pioneers of the International


Style

Moholy-Nagy,

and

economic and

political

of the Bauhaus

Marcel

Breuer.

Weimar and

at

relocation to

its

new

the industrial city of Dessau, in a

In Germany, Peter Behrens, mentioned above as a

Werkbund, the

significant figure in the Deutscher

promoting

organization

design

German production
an active practice

excellence

in

Completed

Gropius

15.8

(figs.

building

and

15.9).

Bauhaus building was an

in 1926, the

impressive grouping that embodied Bauhaus ideals

both plan and aesthetic expression. The most

(see p. 225),

had established

in

in architecture

and design and

striking part of the

complex was

block

a four-story

developed a reputation as a leader in advanced

devoted to workshops where students could actu-

design thinking. In 1910, three of the employees

ally

working

Behrens were the Germans Walter

for

Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the


Swiss-born Frenchman Charles Jeanneret

became

famous

Corbusier.

It

who later

pseudonym

produce, at

scenery,

and costumes were

all

turned out

in the

persuaded to take on production of Bauhaus

all

were aware of the early

designs.
library

Walter Gropius established his


practice in 1911

and began

unornamented, functional
Behrens's

own

architectural

produce work

to

bridge across a public street contained a


offices

and formed

A low link element

a link to a

classroom

contained an auditorium

in

an

making

it

possible for

the school.

The

them

to live full time within

striking appearance of the

Bauhaus

style directly

descended

building resulted from the three-story-high glass

building

practice.

curtain walls of the shop block, the austerely orna-

much

ment-free white walls of the other wings with their

industrial

Gropius's historical importance

is

not so

own work as to his role in design


After World War
he was offered the

related to his

of the schools of fine

applied art at Weimar.

and

and dining hall; this led to a small dormitory unit


where advanced students had studio bedrooms,

Gropius and the Bauhaus

directorship

textiles,

can be assumed that Behrens and

block.

education.

woven

lamps, metal objects, stage

ceramics,

furniture,

shops and, whenever possible, manufacturers were

the

work of Wright.

from

least in prototype, the objects that

they designed. Printed materials,

Le

under

these three apprentices

He merged

art

and of

the two schools

under the name Staatliches Bauhaus

272

by

designed

1925

In

problems led to the closing

(fig.

15.7).

large ribbons of glass

the roofs were

industrial practice.

The

creation of the kind that, in English,

tion of modernists.

functional

traditionalists as

in

flat

sternly

simply

for the

The form of the building was derived from

The German verb zii bauen (literally, to build) has


a broader meaning in this context, implying
is

windows, and,

dormi-

tory, tiny projecting balconies with tubular railings.

it

as

its

plan;

accordance with modern


resulting appearance

was

shockingly disturbing to

was exciting

to the

new

genera-

The Emergence of Modernism

15.9 (above)

Exterior

of the Bauhaus,

Dessau

ground floor
plan the shop areas
appear at the lower

The

In the

The Bauhaus building and


works

were

described

as

International style by the


Henry-Russell Hitchcock

all

similar

being
historian

when he

modern
in

and

(with

the
critic

Philip

Johnson) organized an exhibition of such work


1932 at the

Museum

in

Modern Art in New York.


fact that modernism was not

of

The term reflects the


marked by the strong national differences typical of
earlier design history. As related work began to
appear in France, Italy, England, and the
Scandinavian countries, it became clear that such
modernism was truly international. Interiors at the
Bauhaus were

as

simple and functional as the

15.7 {above

left,

Its

walls of steel

curtain

and glass,

housed the many work-

and the lecture hall


and dining room

left)

large, four-story

block, with

shops that served the

Bauhaus

Walter Cropius,

extend to the right

Bauhaus, Weimar

bridge at upper floor

programs. To the

left,

1923.

levels

connects to the

an entrance and

stair

classroom block, shown


While the Bauhaus was
still

at Weimar, Cropius

designed

his

own

office

using abstract

above.

street passes

under the bridge


element,

and

there ore

area

is

instructional

visible before

the bridge element that

extends out of the

photograph

to the

left.

entrances to the

geometric forms. The

building on both sides.

rug, tapestry, furniture,

and hanging

lighting

fixture are the

the

Bauhaus

work of

faculty or

students. The desk

chair are Cropius's

and
own

designs.

273

'

Chapter Fifteen

exterior.

the

for

Gropius designed
director's

geometric

form.

remarkable interior

study in rectilinear

office,

and

Furniture

fixtures

light

Mies van der Rohe: The Tugendhat House

designed by various Bauhaus students and instruc-

were used wherever possible, while the use of

tors

Crete and Fritz Tugendhat, the occupants of the


Tugendhat House, were extremely positive about

and primary color accents suggested

white, grey,

De Stijl movement.
The Bauhaus came under financial

experience of living

the design of the

and, with the hostility toward

marked

that

all

as being immensely uplifting, as well as practical:

avant-garde ideas

Though the connection between

political

close

When

the school

was

finally forced

members left
work and

positions

became

central

most uncommon restfulness such as a closed room

Fritz

the wide acceptance of

to

America

to

England but

become

1937 he

in

the head

moved

Tugendhat was equally enthusiastic about the

design:

International Style modernism. Gropius practiced


for a time in

After nearly a year of living here

to

at

can absolutely

attest to the fact that technically the house has

of the Graduate

man

everything that modern

School of Design

sense

cannot possibly have.

achieved a remarkable dispersal of Bauhaus ideas


that

self-sufficient; in this

they

teachers,

as

and outside

nonetheless

If it were otherwises,
myself feel that one would
have a sense of restlessness and exposure. But as it
is, the space has precisely because of its rhythm

many students and faculty


Germany as refugees. As they found

design

inside

is

the glass wall functions completely as a boundary.

1933,

in

and

entirely enclosed

succeeded by Hannes Meyer and, in 1930, by Mies

to

indeed important, the space

is

pressures as well. Gropius resigned in 1928, to be

van der Rohe.

their

a house designed by Mies van

der Rohe. Crete described the "rhythm" of the space

pressures

movement,

the rising Nazi

in

Harvard.

winter the house

is

could possibly wish. In

easier to heat than a house

with thick walls and small double windows. Thanks


to the floor-to-ceiling glass wall.

Mies van der Rohe

deep

can lower the panes and

After his apprenticeship with Behrens, Mies van

for a large

house for H.

E. L.

a style that relates to the Neoclassicism

although with

less

use of historic
house,

1.

KroUer

detail.

is

number of

World War

projects for

tall

his

own

Cited in Wolf Tegethoff. Mies van der Rohe: The Villas

Houses.

prac-

985.

p,

97

2.

Cited

in ibid, p.

and Country

98

he worked on

Behrens, Gropius, and Le Corbusier) were invited

model houses

to design

were

built to

form

new

in

buildings with exterior

Mies was the designer of the

largest building, a

bands

and

for

an office

at

each

floor

alterlevel.

the late 1920s

in

both Europe

in

Germany was

and

many

him the role of director for an exhimodern housing design at Stuttgart called
Weissenhofsiedlung. A number of leaders in
growing modern movement
(including

was

a collaborator

development of furniture designs such

chairs

which used

form

stretched leather.

The

frame of

as the

steel

tubing bent

to support seat

and back of

austere simplicity of these

where colors and textures of

cient to bring

interiors,

bition of

rials

the

demonstrations of Mies's belief


his

Mies oppor-

of these projects, and probably had a role

into a cantilever
suffi-

early 1930s offered

demonstrate his approach to interior

design. Lilly Reich (1885-1947)

in the

Work of the 1920s and 1930s

style.

and roof-deck apartment house with


the smooth white walls and large bands of windows
typical of the International Style. Other exhibits in

modernism of the 1950s and 1960s


and America.

in

the

three-story

tunities to

By 1927, Mies's reputation

that

demonstration neighborhood

MR

274

Although unbuilt, through published plans and


drawings these designs strongly influenced the

the

'

I,

uous horizontal bands of windows were to


concrete

electric air conditioning

provide comfortable temperatures

less

building of concrete construction where contin-

with

weather we
warm sun and

model of the

full-size

curtain walls entirely of glass,

nate

the

scenery of wood and canvas,

most often known) established

tice in Berlin. After

sit in

summer the sunshades and

in

was built on the intended site, but the the house


was never actually constructed. In 1913, Mies (as
he

the sun shines

of Schinkel,

emphasis on symmetry and

made like stage

look out at the snow-covered landscape .... In the

der Rohe spent the year 1912 in Holland working

on designs

into the room. In clear freezing

rich

mate-

provided the only ornamentation, were clear

phrase "less

is

more."

in the validity

of


The Emergence of Modernism

Mies

won

an international reputation with his

German

design for the

Barcelona
Pavilion (as

been the

The

Barcelona

now generally known),

placed on a

modern structural technology of steel and concrete


to make walls optional elements
they have no

of

Exhibition
it is

production. The Barcelona Pavilion seems to have

Pavilion at the

Exhibit
1929.

first

building to fully exploit the ability of

wide platform of marble with two reflecting pools,

role in holding

was a simple structure made up of eight steel


columns that supported a flat slab roof. There were

can be freely planned without division into rooms

no enclosing walls, but screen-like walls of glass


and marble were arranged in an irregular but recti-

a particular function.

hnear abstract pattern, with some walls extending

design in Mies van der Robe's Tugendhat House

outdoor space

into

move through

the

(fig.

15.10).

open spaces

to

Visitors

could

admire the

rich

materials, the abstract composition of the planes,

and

few works of modern sculpture. The color

gleaming chrome on the


walls in rich greens

steel

columns, marble

and orangy

red, scarlet red

drapery, and both clear and opal glass


pavilion an abstract
chairs,

work of

made the

art in itself.

Simple

ottomans with chrome-bar frames and

leather cushions,

and

related glass-topped tables

were provided for use

at a ceremonial visit by
and queen. These furniture designs
have become modern classics, which are still in

Spain's king

and with

as

up the

roofs, so that interior space

much openness

as

may be

Similar ideas were introduced

Brno

in the

Czech Republic

1928-30). The house

is

on

(figs.

desirable for

residential

in

at

15.11 and 15.12;

a hillside,

its

entrance

Bedrooms
occupy something like a penthouse on this top
floor. The main living area on the floor below is an
open space subdivided only by an onyx marble
screen separating living space from an adjacent
and garage

at

the upper (street) level.

library-study area

and a curving screen of Macassar

open dining area. The exteon the downhill side of this space and
across its end are entirely of floor-to-ceiling glass.
The curtains can be drawn back and the walls
lowered by mechanical means into the basement.

ebony

that defines an

rior walls

15.10 Ludwig Mies


van der Rohe, German
Pavilion, international

Exhibition, Barcelona,

1929.
The open space of the
area,

which had no

identified

rooms but

screen walls of glass

and marble

to define

spaces, has been a key

influence on

modern

ideas of interior plan-

ning The walls at the


right are floor-to-ceiling
glass,

and

support

IS

structural

provided by

slim steel columns The

area was finished with


luxurious materials,

including marble,
travertine, onyx,

glass,
steel.

green

and polished
The chairs and

ottomans,

now

called

Barcelona, are visible in


their original positions.

275

Chapter Fifteen

15.11 Ludwig Mies


van der Rohe,

Tugendhat House,
Brno, Czech Republic,

1928-30,
The idea of open planning

is

apparent

living area

of

in the

this

house The
floor-to-ceiling glass

walls could be lowered

basement

into the
to

make

totally

level

the house a

open pavilion

The furniture

is

of

Mies's design, while

comes from

color

richly

and
polished woods

veined marbles
fine,

used

for the screen-wall

elements. The structure


is

of steel columns.

15.12

Plan of the

Tugendhat House.
The openness of

plan

in

which

this

living

spaces omit walls of


separation has exerted

great influence on

subsequent design
thinking.

Emigration to the United States

and then

After serving as a teacher

the Bauhaus, Mies could find

little

Germany. He developed designs


that

were never

built

designs

as director

work

in

of

Nazi

for several houses

known from

his

remarkable drawings that show interiors compa-

and openness

rable in simplicity

to those of the

Barcelona Pavilion. The drawings are works of art


as minimalist as the spaces they describe. In

Mies relocated

in

America

to

become

1937

the head of

the architectural program at Illinois Institute of

Technology

in

Chicago.

His role as

leaving the space totally open to the out of doors.

Slim

steel

columns are the unobtrusive

elements,

barely

noticeable

polished steel surfaces.

Tugendhat

on modern

276

their

The Barcelona

interiors have

mirror-

Pavilion

and

had tremendous impact

interior design,

arrangements of

with

structural

emphasizing abstract

spatial elements, with the colors

transferring

the

modernism

into

teacher was another factor in


ideas

the

of

International

Style

mainstream of American

own work in America included


campus plan and many buildings for Illinois
Institute. Among them is Crown Hall, housing the
architectural and design departments. It is a simple
design practice. His
a

rectangle of

on

all

open

interior space with all-glass walls

four sides. There are no internal columns

since the roof

is

supported by

steel girders that

and textures of the materials taking the place of

project above roof level. Internal subdivisions are

ornamentation.

movable screen and storage

units, while stairs lead

The Emergence of Modernism

15.13 Mies van

der

Rohe, Farnsworth

House, Piano,

Illinois,

1946-51.
Late in his career, while

he was working

in the

United States, Mies was


able to apply the

concept of open

space

in the

living

country

weekend house he
for Dr Edith

built

Farnsworth, in which all


four walls are of glass

The wall elements to


the left are for

an

island with fireplace


(visible here), bath-

rooms and
within,

utilities

and

kitchen

elements on the opposite side.

storage unit

forms a screen (seen

ahead) All furniture


here

is

of Mies van der

Rohe's design.

down
all

to a

basement, partially above ground, where

enclosed rooms are located. Externally, struc-

elements are painted black so that they

tural

become unobtrusive elements in the wall surfaces


of glass. The term Minimalist is often applied to
such design, in which extreme care in the simple

and a subtle sense of

detailing of the structure

proportion give the building a serene, classical


feeling

comparable

to

that

of ancient

Greek

tloor

raised a few feet above the ground, allowing

eight steel

Commissions

In the latter part of his

American

career,

Mies van

in Detroit,

Newark,

New

Jersey,

and Chicago, and office buildings there and in


Toronto and (in collaboration with Philip
Johnson) in

New York

New

York. The Seagram Building in

(19548)

is

modernist American

one of the most admired of


tall

buildings

(see

p.

323

below). His most famous late residential design


the

Farnsworth House

Piano, Illinois.

supported by the same

is

which

(fig.

15.13;

The house stands

in

1946-51)

is

at

an open but

secluded country location near the Fox River. The

is

size

deck reached by
a

five

broad steps that lead up from

wide platform reached

columns and
are

all

the

steel

in turn

by wide

steps.

ties

The

edges of floor, roof, and plat-

painted white. The open glass box that


interior

is

subdivided

by

only

enclosed "island" that houses bathrooms and

der Rohe's commissions included skyscraper apart-

ment buildings

It

that support the roof,

and shape. About two-thirds of the


space between floor and roof is enclosed by glass on
all four sides
the remaining space is an outdoor

forms
Later

columns

of identical

form

architecture.

is

open space beneath.

and forms

open kitchen

an

utili-

back wall for the equipment of an

area.

few pieces of furniture

(all

of

Mies's design) are placed in the open living space.

One

of Mies's

last

major works was the National

Gallery in Berlin (1962-8).

broad raised terrace

base enclosed galleries, offices, and a restaurant.


its

upper

glass

surface, set

back

at its center,

enclosed exhibition space.

supported by eight columns

at its

Its

On

a simple,

steel

roof

is

outer edge. Set

back under the roof, floor-to-ceiling


enclose the

is

unencumbered open space

glass

walls

that can be

arranged as necessaiy for temporary exJiibitions.

277

Chapter Fifteen

15.14
Villa

Le Corbusier,

Amedee Ozenfant

Le Corbusier

Schwob,

Chaux-de-Fonds,

Switzedand, 1915-17,
Le Corbusier demonstrated his mterest in

the geometric aesthetic

generated by the
golden ratio proportion
in this early work. In

the diagram, diagonals


are

drawn across

golden rectangle
elements. The parallel

angles of these lines

and

their right

intersections

angle

demon-

strate their relationships.

Although not

apparent

in the

young man, the fourth pioneering leader of


modernism, Le Corbusier, designed several houses
in or near his home in the town of Chaux-deFonds, Switzerland, near the French border. The
style is romantic with a hint of Art Nouveau or
As

influence.

Secessionist

months

in the office

Le

Corbusier spent

five

of Peter Behrens in 1910 and

they joined

named Purism.

In 1920

of a magazine,

publication

the

in

VEsprit Nouveau, which dealt with every aspect of

modern
tect

In 1922-3, Le Corbusier

art.

was the

of a Paris studio-house for Ozenfant.

archiIt

is

small four-story building at the end of an attached

house row, austere and geometric in form, with


large

windows

which

for the top-level studio

is

topped by

Hoffmann. The influences of these experiences can

used to

be traced in the largest of the early houses

International Style white walls and steel-framed

Chaux-de-Fonds, the
1916-17).

while

Neoclassicism,

(fig.

15.14;

windows, and

flat

modernism. The
from

the

material

(reinforced

openness of planning, the large

the

concrete),

derives

Schwob

Villa

at

has the symmetry and orderly sense of

It

resultant visual unity of

the design can be

developing a form of cubist

then stopped briefly in Vienna to work for Joset

finished building, the

sensed.

in

abstract painting that they

roofs suggest the direction of

aesthetic design of Villa

Schwob

system of geometric controls that Le

Corbusier called "regulating lines"

intersecting

saw-tooth skylight of the sort often

light industrial buildings.

windows, an outdoor projecting


second-floor

and, above

level,

The rigorously

spiral stair to the

all,

the skylights gave

the house an exterior that was shockingly unlike

any

conventional

The

architecture.

geometric

system of regulating lines controlled the form and

placement

of

approach the golden

proportions

while

elements,

of 1:1.618. The

section ratio

top-level studio, with giant corner

windows on two

sides meeting the skylight area of the ceiling in a

three-way corner defined by the thinnest possible


structural elements,

space deriving

ment of

its

abstract

its

a dramatically impressive

is

effect entirely

building has undergone

but

alterations,

proportion to

still

elements. The
some unfortunate minor

has a visual intensity out of

small

its

from the arrange-

geometric

all

size.

Although Le Corbusier continued to be active


as

throughout

a painter

his

life,

his interest in

and design increased during the 1920s.


His ideas became widely known through the publication of some theoretical texts and some drawings
architecture

of unbuilt

projects.

Architecture

(given

His
the

book Vers une

1923
title

Towards

Architecture in English translation)

with

diagonals

right-angle

that

relationships

govern the placement of elements according to a


systematic

method

recalling

the

practice

of

in

eclectic imitation

developed more and more

as

aesthetic

power

that

ical

in

way of bringing order

to

what might otherwise

be entirely arbitrary forms.

"The

for

Developing the Machine Aesthetic

it

concentrating on painting under the influence

of Picasso, Braque, Duchamp, and others. After

moving
278

to

Paris

in

1917,

he joined the

is

is

artist

is

formal qualities, while

condemned with such phrases

of Louis XIV, XV, XVI or Gothic, are

to architecture

head;

abstract,

what a feather is on a woman's


pretty, though not always,

sometimes

and never anything more." Pictures of factories,


grain elevators, ocean liners, automobiles, and
appear

along

with

details

of

the

Parthenon. The beauty of modern machinery

For a time, Le Corbusier gravitated toward the fine


arts,

its

styles

airplanes
Paris:

modernism

architecture, particularly that of ancient Greece,

Corbusier used such geometry in systems that he

works may derive

New

design with great force and clarity. Historic

praised

The impact and


can be felt in even his minor
some part from this method-

a collection of

essays that set forth the basic ideas of

Renaissance masters. Throughout his career, Le

fully.

is

cited as the true artistic expression of the

is

modern

"A house is a machine for living" is the


memorable quotation that has drawn both anger
and praise, but it is often misinterpreted as an
world.

The Emergence of Modernism

'I

expression of hostility to aesthetic values. In

fact,

Le Corbusier had a deep understanding of the


aesthetics of historic design,
is

and

comparable to that of any past

his

own

own

and simple, anonymous upholstered

design,

Purist paintings

chairs.

With the help of

walls, the rugs are vernacular craft

The

sories.

and frequent collabo-

used for flower vases,

shells are the

only decorative acces-

resulting

ideals of 1920s

The

designed a pavilion (1925) sponsored by L'Esprit

plaza at Bologna,

in turn,

There

is

be an element in a newly planned


a

double-height

living

space

city.

with

The furniture includes


simple, mass-produced bentwood chairs from
Thonet, modular storage units of Le Corbusier's

balcony above

(fig. 15.15).

demonstrate the

interiors

modernism with dramatic

rator Pierre Jeanneret (1896-1967), Le Corbusier

Nouveau magazine for an exhibition in Paris. It was


conceived as a model apartment that could form a
module in a large apartment building that would,

Berber weav-

is

ings, laboratory glassware

age.

and Apartments

his cousin

15.15

Le Corbusier,

Pavilion de I'Esprit

Nouveau, Exhibition of

aesthetic

and stones and


Early Houses, Villas,

hang on the plain white

and Gabrielle de Monzie commissioned the design


of Les Terraces, a large house at Garches at the edge

is

(figs.

15.16-15.18).

The

symmetrical as seen from the street front except for minor


deviations to provide a garage door and a canopy
ribbon windows, and

a model apartment,
designed according

flat

to

Modular

storage units, simple

arm chairs, and Thonet


bentwood chairs
suggest furniture far
from the norms of the

resulting building

a cubistic International Style block with white

walls,

Within the exhibition


space, Le Corbusier

his theories

Italy.

1927 Michael Stein (brother of Gertrude)

of Paris

Paris,

1925,

presented an interior of

clarity.

pavilion was reconstructed in 1977 in a park

In

Decorative Arts,

roof.

It is

decorative furniture of
the period. The art

works on the wall typify


the purist style advo-

cated by Le Corbusier.

279

Chapter Fifteen

I
^5.^6
^5.^7

{right)

and

+4-

[far right) le

U^

Corbusier, Villa Stein de

Monzie (Les

Terraces),

Carches, near Pans,

1927.
The plan of the house,
similar to that of
Palladia's Villa Foscaro

at Mira (see

p. 88) is
based on a rectangle of
1

1:16 proportions-

planning grid

Its

is

however divided

in 4, 3,

4 proportions from

I
I

front to back, and, like


I

Palladia's, in 4, 2, 4, 2,

4 from

side to side. Fig.

15.17 shows the architect's

own

isometric

drawing of the house.

above the entrance door, but, from the rear and

hi

symmetry is abandoned in favor of a complex


scheme based on internal function. An analysis by
the British historian and critic Colin Rowe has
shown that the plan is based on the geometrs' of
plan,

Palladio's Renaissance Villa Foscari at Mira.

no

While

overt resemblance can be observed, a sense of

classical

order

is

clearly present in the

building. Le Corbusier's diagrams

completed

show

that his

forms are here again based on golden section geometry. Interiors

15.18

Interior of Villa

Stem de Monzie

(Les

Terraces).

An

interior

of

this early

Le Corbusier house,

seen

in Le Corbusier's

own drawing,

reveals

the open plan relationships, the simplicity,

and

the austerity that

characterized the space.

280

of Les Terraces have been drastically

altered,

but old photographs show

white)

the

complex

spatial

(in

black and

organization

as

it

The Emergence of Modernism

15.19
Villa

Le Corbusier,

Savoye, Poissy,

France,

1929-31.

Livmg spaces open out


to a terrace enclosed
within the walled geometry of this house.
Originally, since

no

appropriate furniture

was

available, the inte-

riors

made

use of

nondescnpt designs
then in production. The

house has
restored

now been

and

furniture

of Le Corbusier's

own

designs has been put in


place. The rolled-back

glass walls demonstrate


the open relationship

between

interior

and

outside that Le

Corbusier favored.

appeared before furnishing. The opinion some-

ground

times expressed that Le Corbusier interiors are

leading to a garage, an entrance hall area, and

colorless

and

may

"cold"

be

well

based

photographs that suggest that these spaces are


black, white,

and chrome. In

actuality,

Even exteriors were not always,

several service

the mass of the floor above

Le Corbusier

of the small

workers' houses built for the industrialist Henri

Fruges

at Pessac outside

of Bordeaux (1926) were

impact.

A ramp

the

space.

richly colorful in

One

ways that suggest cubist paintings.

of the best

known

and one of the most


Poissy,

thus

near Paris,

of Le Corbusier's works,

influential,

known

as

is

Villa

the house at

Savoye

(fig.

back beneath
either of glass

up

itself to

to the

main

living floor,

reach into the center of

living-dining area

large

The

sky;

stretches

floor-to-ceiling

open

wall of glass faces into an internal patio,

to the

an unglazed portion of the exterior ribbon

scape.

is

set

and are

across one side of the building.

window band

The group

leads

doubling back on

Similar colors were used in interiors; often one wall

of a space was strongly colored in contrast with the

rooms. Walls are

or painted a dark green that minimizes their visual

painted yellow, blue, pale green, or a dark maroon.

other walls, which were white.

occupied by a curving driveway

all

as often supposed,

many

is

on

made extensive and quite daring use of strong color


in a way that derives from his work as a painter.
plain white boxes. Walls of

level

gives a

view of the surrounding land-

The ramp continues out of doors


to roof-deck living spaces protected

curved

screen

walls

painted

in

to give access

by

straight

pastel

and

colors.

own curving stair, bedrooms,


and baths are arranged within the box-like block of
Services with their

the house,

generating complex, surprising, and

now been

The main block of the house is a


near square raised up to second-floor level on slim,

dramatic relationships. The house has

tubular steel columns.

Old photographs do not convey how colorful the


interior
spaces are. Those photographs do.

15.19; 1929-31).

Its

walls are white with

continuous bands of ribbon windows. The space

at

carefully restored, although

it is

without furniture.

281

Chapter Fifteen

however, show the

level

was generated

the

in

and

modest

table

stered

chairs

of comfort and charm that

main

chairs, a

and

furnished the space.

few nondescript upholsmall

several

when

living area,

rugs

oriental

continuous indirect lighting

hanging from the ceiling was the primary

strip

source of

Walls are bright blue and

artificial light.

orange; the floor

is

of square yellow

tiles laid

diago-

The master bathroom, opening without

nally.

or door into the adjacent bedroom,


interior

wall

remarkable

tile-surfaced, with a blue-grey tile-lined

sunken tub and

a built-in

and

1928

In

is

1929,

arm

number of

furniture designs including an

an adjustable chaise, and a group of

chair,

steel.

furniture was used in a house at Avray,

demonstration apartment

to the public in a

storage units that could

make up room

dividers or

appeared here, along with

walls

storage

at the

Modular box

Salon d'Automne of 1929.

Paris

This

and shown

glass-

topped tables and model kitchen and bath arrangements,

house

reflecting the concept of a

all

machine

for living."

The

as "a

furniture continues in

production and frequent use.


In 1931, Le Corbusier designed a nine-story

with

collaboration

in

of chrome-plated

in a cage structure

contoured chaise.

Charlotte Perriand (1903-99), Le Corbusier devel-

oped

upholstery designs in which loose cushions are held

Geneva named Immeuble


on two levels,
with double-height living rooms overlooked by
balconies. The glass walls flood the spaces with
light. There are two identical entrance lobbies, dark
spaces that lead to the elevators, and stairs serving
apartment house
Clarte.

Most of

in

the apartments are

one half of the building. The stairs are largely of


glass and are topped by skylights that pull natural

The Philosophy of Le Corbusier

light

down through

The Maison
and ideas at
book Vers une Architecture (Towards
Architecture) published in 1923:

Le Corbusier explained his theories

length

New

in his

dence for Swiss students living


a

rooms with

instinct of every

human

being

is

concrete
called

is

supports

leaving

the

ground under the building

elevator are in a vertical element

from a one-story wing that contains


entrance and communal facilities. A curving end
wall of the long wing is of rough stone work that

It

at the root of the

social unrest of today; architecture or revolution

'

contrasts dramatically with the


taller

The difference between construction and

architecture

with photomurals

microscopic
You employ stone and wood and concrete, and with
these materials you build houses and palaces; that
is

construction. Ingenuity

is

at work. But suddenly

you touch my heart, you do me good. am happy


and say: "This is beautiful". That is Architecture.
I

Art enters

in.

made up

If

we

house was a "machine

for living":

eliminate from our hearts and minds

concepts

in

covered

by

Corbusier
bilitation
at

natural

walls of the

of magnified images of

all

dead

regard to houses and look at the ques-

painted

at the

and objective point of view, we


"House Machine", the main
production house, healthy (and morally so too) and

same way that the working tools


and instruments which accompany our existence

home

for the rest of his


a

tiny

cabin

Le Corbusier designed

were never

built.

une Architecture,

Modern Architecture (London,


Ibid

p.

53

992),

p,

923, quoted
178;

Frampton,

in K.

2. Ibid, p.

reha-

house

and

roof-level

life

except for

on the coast of

many major

projects

His designs were often

rejected for trivial reasons, as


Le Corbusier, Vers

II

Paris apartment

southern France.

that

War

now

by Le

and studio with large glass areas,


curving ceiling surfaces, and contrasting surfaces of
smooth plaster and rough brick. This was Le
regular visits to

beautiful in the

is

apartment

Corbusier's

3.

wall

executed

Porte Molitor designed by Le Corbusier and

shall arrive at the

The

mural

time of a post-World

of the building.

tion from a critical

are beautiful.

forms.

built in 1933 contains a top-floor

For Le Corbusier, the

282

smooth

mass. Inside, this wall was originaUy covered

vividly expressed in the following words:

is

up on

"pilotis," as they came to be

that rises

in

their needs; neither the artisan or the intellectual.

a question of building which

a four-

is

dormitory

a roof-deck floor above, raised

open. Stairs and

to assure himself

society today no longer have dwellings adapted to

Is

in Paris,

story block consisting of three floors of

The machinery of society is profoundly out of gear,


oscillates between an amelioration of historical
importance and a catastrophe. The primordial
of a shelter. The various classes of workers

the public spaces.

Suisse (1932), a dormitory- resi-

when

his

competition

entry for the Palace of the League of Nations at

49;

Geneva was disqualified for being drawn in the


wrong type of ink. Many ink-line drawings ranging

31

The Emergence

from casual sketches


perspectives
offices,
cities.

to

meticulous constructed

show Le Corbusier's

ideas for houses,

whole neighborhoods, and


The frequency with which resistant and
apartments,

and authorities managed

resentful clients

made him,

Le Corbusier's projects

combative and
further

as years

irascible to a degree that

limited

success

his

in

may have

achieving

built

first

Voisin for Paris (1925),

in

which most of central Paris was to be demolished

make room

for

futuristic

of giant

city

long and narrow

Duplex

(an apartment on

through the building to open decks on both

Le Corbusier's ideas about town planning were

to

is

went

Town Planning
in his Plan

ground on Pilotis, creating open space at ground


level (figs. 15.20 and 15.21). The typical apartment
two

projects.

developed

seventeen floors of apartments raised up off the

to block

by,

skyscrapers set within a system of elevated road-

Modernism

of

floors),

with one floor passing

all

way

the

sides.

The other level is only half as deep, with an open


balcony and stair connecting the two levels. The
interlocking of two apartments leaves a central
space for a corridor that occurs only on every third
floor. From the corridor, apartments on one side
are entered at the upper level, with a stair leading

down

to the larger level, while those

side are entered

on the lower

leading up to the larger level


clearer in a sectional

on the other
with

level,

an

diagram than

stairs

arrangement
1

in words.

5.20

(left)

Le

Corbusier, Unite d'habi-

ways.

It

included the concept of large buildings that

would each become


apartments of various

up

in the

building,

a small
sizes, a

There

is

shopping

street

neighborhood, with

height of the building, and

shopping

the roof,

street high

and various communal

facilities

school

where there

is

half

communal

way up

the

functions on

The vast apartment

on top of

house was designed

really a building

a building

and great funnel-like ventilator stacks of strongly


sculptural form.

a building

he called a

Unite d'habitation.
In 1946 the government of the city of Marseille
commissioned a group of such Unite buildings to
form a new housing district. Only one Unite was
built there (1945)
a huge slab-like block with

The small but adequate

apart-

ments are ingeniously planned, exceptionally light


and airy with their open decks facing in two directions,

and surprisingly

The
makes up the
brightened by

rich in spatial qualities.

grid of sunshades (brise-soleil) that


exterior surfaces of the building
brilliant colors painted

on the

is

side walls of the

outdoor decks that they shade. The building has


aroused

to

be a complete neighbor-

and even

Such

1945

small two-story nursery

such as a restaurant, a school, recreational spaces,


a small hotel.

tation, Marseilles,

much

controversy.

Some
its

within

buildings,
in

Itself.

Such

spaced apart

parl<-lil<e setting,

were intended

to take

the place of the

crowded and chaotic


conditions found in

most modern

cities.

15.21 [below]

ie

Corbusier's elevation of

the Unite d'habitation.

critics

blame

it

as

the source of the evils of later high-rise public

housing, while others note

hood

many

Kindergarten/nursery

Ramp

3 Tower for escalators

advantages

over even luxury apartment buildings as they are

4 Ventilator stacks
5

Windshield

6 Gymnasium

conventionally built. Le Corbusier designed other


Unites

at

Briey-en-Foret,

Firminy-Vert,

and

Upper terrace

8 Corndor
9 Shopping street

and

At Firminy

Nantes-Reze

in France,

there

an interesting Fiouse of Youth and

is

also

in Berlin.

lOSunshaded areas
1

Fire

escape

12 Air conditioning plant

Culture, with a tension cable roof structure that


helps to generate unusual and striking interior
spaces.

and machineries
1

Pilotis

The scheme of the


Unite called for apart-

ments of double height


opening on both sides
of the building on one
floor and on one side of
the building only on
the other so that
central corridors could
serve apartments that,
alternately,

second

level

had a
above and

below the corndor

level.

Corridors thus occurred

only at every third

level,

minimizing the number


of elevator stops.

283

Chapter Fifteen

15.22

Le Corbusier,

Church of Notre-Damedu-Haut, Ronchamp,

1951.
The emotional character of the dark interior

of the pilgrimage

church

IS

intensified

by

the effects of light

coming from small


windows, which are
filled

with colorful

stained glass. The


curving roof is held

above the walls by


metal pins, permitting
a continuous band of
light at the wall to roof

intersection point Le

Corbusier was the

designer of all the

inte-

rior fittings.

Postwar Years
After

designed by the architect to create a mysterious and

World War

work tended
gularity

II,

to shift

moving space

away from the

interiors.

cubistic rectan-

freer, more
The church of Notre-Dame-du-

at

Ronchamp

Swiss border,

is

(1951) in France, near the

dramatic example of

this later

design vocabulary. Curving concrete walls enclose

an irregularly shaped

interior.

The roof is

wing of an

two low and one higher,

airplane.

rise

comes
windows at
light

is

(fig.

sides of a central
large block

open

concrete, with surfaces

The church forms a


The building is of
rough as they are when

court.

on the fourth
left

side.

suited the ideals of the monastic order, but also

curved

the

to

derived from Le Corbusier's inclination toward

very dark: the

strong forms executed in rough, even brutal mate-

15.22).

from hidden

The roof

two walls on pins, leaving a


makes the roof seem to float

is

rials.

The term "new brutalism" was coined by


from Beton brut,

British critics (perhaps derived

raised above

glass-filled

the French term for rough concrete) to describe

slot that

in the air.

such work.

One

wall

is

very thick, with rectangular funnel-

shaped openings, large on the inside but tapering


to small

windows on

glass in various colors

the outside where stained


fills

the openings. Although

the walls are white, the light from the glass

the openings light


altar,

the wall

that light

up or

is

up

in brilliant colors.

makes

Behind the

pierced by tiny glazed openings

are cut off as a viewer

moves about

within the space. The colorful windows, an enameled ceremonial entrance


pivot), the seating,

284

near Lyon groups monastic buildings on three

hollow in

into the three chapels


their tops

suggestive of Gothic church

Three chapels,

above the roof level

curving tops. The interior space

is

formwork into which concrete is poured is


removed. The uncompromising austerity of finish

construction of reinforced concrete,


section like the

that

The Dominican convent of La Tourette (1960)

of earher projects toward

sculptural forms.

Haut

the character of Le Corbusier's

door (which swings on

and the chancel

fittings

were

all

A visit to the Romanesque monastery of

Le Thoronet in southern France (see

p.

49) was a

modern equivalent to such


medieval simplicity. The interior of the church is a
simple box-like space with a central altar. The roof
stimulus to seeking a

is

separated from the walls by a narrow ribbon

window

that

admits a diffused daylight

above, and slot-like

windows shielded by

from

exterior

planes admit light reflected from above in brilliant


colors

generated

surfaces.
turally

by

simply

painted

reflective

Adjoining the church, a projecting sculp-

contoured unit houses many small chapels

The Emergence of Modernism

arranged on two

Funnel-like skylights are

levels.

painted on the inside in bright colors, creating

through

effects that suggest stained glass

totally

simple means.

or metric scales are replaced by a progression of

Modular

Human
Toward

concept

end of

the

Le Corbusier was

his career,

involved in the planning of a

new

capital city for

the Indian state of Punjab, Chandigarh in Pakistan.

and many of the buildare by Le Corbusier. The bold, sculptural

The

forms of the larger buildings

High Court

the

(1956) where open-air circulation leads to offices


and courtrooms with tapestries designed by Le
Corbusier,
the
Secretariat
and the
(1958),

Assembly
chamber,
a

The

with

(1961)

the

main

legislative

round fimnel form placed off-center

broad "forum" circulation space

with

in

their

rough concrete surfaces and bold colors, make

them among Le Corbusier's most powerful

late

There

only one building by Le Corbusier

is

America.

It

devoted

structure

in

Carpenter Center (1963), a small

is

to

art

studios

graduate

for

of

and the

related to the golden section proportion.

Unite

several

work

and

buildings

of

all

made

thereafter

Le

of the

use

modular system.
Although
bitter

subject

frequent

to

and

criticism

the

attack,

sometimes
work of Le

Corbusier has had enormous impact on modern


design practice.

Its

success in bringing about a rela-

tionship between aesthetic values and the realities

of the modern technological "machine age" world

became

its

cubistic

and supposedly "harsh" and

"cold" materials and forms,


sculptural forms

undermined

and more

such

movement

Corbusier's

attacks.

design

into freer,

richly textural materials

rather

ultimately

qualities of

faded

many ways

Corbusier came to seem in

artificial

and nature-related

work of Wright and the "mechanistic"


Le

became

clear in the 1920s. Just as criticism

focused on

contrast between the "organic"

works.

details

whole buildings or communities.

to

dimensions are fundamental,


is

Corbusier's

basic plan of the city

ings

up

furniture

Late Commissions

dimensions intended to govern every

element of design, from the smallest

as

Le

as organic

Cambridge, Massachusetts.

on the campus of Harvard University in


A central ramp plunges

and romantic in orientation as Wright. In late


work, Wright often turned to forms related to the

through the building, giving access to studio spaces

International Style, however bitter his criticism of

students

wings with curved forms. The rough

in adjacent

"brutalist"

of concrete with occasional

surfiices

accents painted in bright colors are particularly


well suited to studio functions.

very

work,

late

Corbusier's death,

Zurich park

Le

after

pavilion

is

the exhibit

as

Centre Le Corbusier or La

known

It

is

in

and

ramp

and a long
upper level. A

for access to

its

great roof umbrella of steel, supported

on thin

columns, shelters and contains the entire building.


Internally,

open

while one area

complete with
building, as in
atic

galleries

provide for exhibitions,

arranged as a kind of ideal house

is

and bedroom.

kitchen

In

this

of Le Corbusier's work, system-

all

use of a geometric system of proportions was a

governing factor in every detail of design. This


systematic approach,
earliest

writing,

first

was

described in some of his


gradually

developed

throughout Le Corbusier's career, leading to the


publication of a two-volume work,

Modular

II.

Here

dimensional rule

"late

modern" works

as a source

of inspira-

His furniture remains in production and wide

and make

it

clear

that

confirm their merits

photographs,

however

impressive, never fully convey the complexity and


richness of Le Corbusier's work.

Aalto

primary colors

bright,

projecting

tion.

draw on Le Corbusier

geometric

arrangement of cubical modules with wall panels of


glass

might have been. Recent

use. Visits to actual buildings

completed

Maison de I'Homme (1963-7).

it

often

in

text

Modidor

and

and diagrams propose a


scales of feet and inches

which

In addition to the four pioneers already discussed,


there were a

number of

other European figures

who made major contributions

to the

development

of modernism. For some, their secondary status

may

from the lesser quantity of their


production, for others from a late start that makes
their work seem derivative, or even from the
remote or unfamiliar location of their works. The
derive

most important of these "second-tier" pioneer


modernists is the Finnish architect and designer
Alvar Aalto (1898-1976). Aalto's career began

amid the romanticism and Nordic nationalism of


Sonck and Eliel Saarinen, with its links to
Neoclassicism and Jugendstil movements of the
late nineteenth century. The Workers' Club and
285

'

Chapter Fifteen

15.23 AlvarAalto,
Turun Sanomat
Building, Turku,

Finland,

1927-9.

The tapering concrete

columns generate
rhythmic forms that

make

this essentially

industrial interior-the

press room of the newspaper Turun Sanomat-

a space of great
beauty.

Theater

at Jyvaskyla (1924),

an early Aalto work,

even makes use of Doric columns and entablature

The Vision of Alvar Aalto

to

form

a loggia-like

band

at

ground

level.

By 1929,

however, his building for the Turuii Sanomat, a


Alvar Aalto described his thinking behind the design
of the Finnish exhibit at the World Fairs
(1

937) and New York

(1

939) as

in

Pans

follows:

Turku newspaper, is clearly a work of International


Style modernism with its white walls and asymmetrically

One

of the most difficult architectural problems

is

the shaping of the building's surroundings to the

human

scale. In

modern architecture where the


frame and the building

(fig.

15.23).

The sequence of

rationality of the structural

and

masses threaten to dominate, there is often an


architectural vacuum left over, which is filled with
formal gardens. It would be good if the organic

forms a distinguished space for

movement

between Man and Architecture. In the


case of the Paris Pavilion, this problem could
relationship

fortunately be solved

in this

way.

Humanity and a sense of the organic were always

at

would

like to

crystallises in our world of thoughts.

The architect and

writer Stanley Abercrombie,

press

curved edges

above

a strictly utilitarian

even doorknobs, were carefully studied so

concept to the

from the general

tiniest elements.

Aalto's international reputation


a

hospital

large

Sanatorium, built

building,

was established
Paimio
the

1930-3 for the treatment of

in

tuberculosis patients.

add that architecture and its details


are connected in a way with biology. They are
perhaps like large salmon or trout. They are not
born mature, they are not even born in the sea
where they will normally live ... as the fish egg's
development to a mature organism takes time, so it
also requires time for all that develops and
I

their

that a unity of design extended

by

the heart of his work:

the

function. Interior details such as lighting fixtures,


railings,

order to create an intimate

site in

In

flared tops that flow into the ceiling slab

of people could be incorporated in the

shaping of the

Connected wings placed

long six-story block for patients' rooms,

all

facing

south to trap the sunlight, a shorter wing of openair terraces, a central

communal

dining

entrance block, and units for

and

services.

utilitarian

Internally, the spaces are open, simple,

and

logical,

but details are extraordinarily sensitive. The recepone of

tion

office,

stairs,

elevators,

and

such

small

elements as lighting fixtures and clocks were

"human"

specially designed with great care

qualities of architecture:

He once advised the

architecture students at

sitting in

them.

if

the

992),

p,

the Mountain Stream, quoted in

97,

p.

other interior elements that

ibid, p,

Alvar Aalto, The Trout

201

3-

Stanley

many

of which are

The Library

Frampton, Modern

in K.
2.

and

and

all

subtlety.

Aalto continued to be involved with furniture and

ucts,

Abercrombie, Contemporary Architects (Chicago and London,


1987),

MIT to

they loved were

Alvar Aalto, Collected Works, quoted

Architecture (London.

girls

at

angles house the various parts of the building

Aalto's contemporaries, observed this emphasis on the

design their windows as

at

still

Viipuri

became

factory prod-

in production.

(1935,

but virtually

destroyed in the Russian war with Finland) was a

simple building

made up of two

rectangular blocks,

main reading room


small auditorium and other minor

the larger block containing the


spaces, with a

286

ribbon windows.

arranged

room, columns of reinforced concrete slope inward


The Emergence of Modernism

functions in the attached longer but lower block

The reading rooms were top-lighted by

(fig. 15.24).

round skylights

be

that could

The auditorium

night.

artificially lighted at

was an undulating
wood. Aalto's furniture

ceiling

surface of strips of natural

had the simplicity of the International


the material

warmth

suggested

but

Style,

molded plywood of Finnish birch


and

introduced

color

that

"humane" character typical of


work. The firm Artek took up produc-

contributed to the
all

of Aalto's

and eventually

tion of Aalto-designed furniture,

other Finnish manufacturers of lighting, glassware,

and other products brought Aalto's designs

to

international recognition.

The

Mairea

Villa

Noormarkka

at

15.25;

(fig.

1938-41), built for the Gullichsen family, a wealthy


industrialist

firm),

and

is

and

his wife

(who

directed the Artek

a singularly successful blending of the order

logic

of International Style thinking with a

sensitive,

almost romantic use of natural materials

and

forms. Gallery, studio, and entertainment

fi-eer

spaces are arranged with easy and flowing forms that


offer flexibility of use along with great visual variety.

Americans were able

hand

at the

an Aalto design

to see

New York

at first

World's Fair of 1939. The

box-like interior space of the Finnish exhibit was

made remarkably

interesting

by the introduction of

flowing, free-form walls (fig. 15.26).


strips

wall of wood

leaned out over the main exhibit space that

screened additional exhibit space on an upper

A balcony
tion

from

level.

restaurant with provision for film projeca startling

suspended free-form projection

booth completed the

exhibit. In spite of its small size

and somewhat obscure location

at the fair, Aalto's

design attracted highly favorable

and eventually

led to a teaching

comment

critical

appointment

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His design


for Baker House (1947), a dormitory at
most important Aalto work in America.

MIT
It is

is

the

a long

six-story block of undulating shape stretched out

along the bank of the Charles River.


single-story block houses a

open space lighted by

common

circular

An

adjacent

room,

a large

skylights

which

become the sources of artificial lighting at night. All


bedrooms face the river, while two stairs climb up
the inland side of the building in strong, angular

forms.
After returning to Finland, Aalto received a

The Pensions Institute


complex facility of
but the modest scale of its

steady flow of commissions.


in

Helsinki

government

(1952-6)
offices,

massing and the

warm

is

brick of

its

exterior walls

Chapter Fifteen

288

The Emergence of Modernism

15.26

{opposite) M\iai

Aalto, Finnish Pavilion,

New York
193a

World's

Fair,

Although a small space


within a larger
building, Aalto's

was a

Finnish Pavilion

major

critical

success at

the Fair The slanting


wall of undulating

wood stnps and


balcony (barely

the
visible

at right) formed an
exciting space, within

which products of
Finnish industry could

be seen

relate to interiors that are pleasant

and

practical.

skylighted hall with small booths for interviewing

thinking

meets

always

devoted to past values. Modern

art,

modern music,

and the detailing and lighting throughout the


building are a model for such public

of this modernist work has stimulated a revisionist

The

buildings

facilities.

of the Technical Institute

at

literature seeking out

One

Otaniemi (near Helsinki, 1964) combine several

nesses.

low classroom wings with

stucco walls, rusting

large

lecture

hall

its

real

and imagined weak-

hears of leaking roofs, streaked white

window

frames, excessive glass

areas leading to winter heat loss

Inside, the tiered seating of the hall

gain,

arranged in

curves that parallel the forms of a stepped ceiling


that conceals

and

windows

by day

that light the space

also contain the artificial lighting that

becomes

unhappy

Negative

clients,

and

most

criticism

the

and summer heat

similar

often

commentators who have not


lived in

comes

from

alone

visited

projects in question.

complaints.

It

let

often turns

the primary light source during the long Finnish

out that poor maintenance, inappropriate usage,

winter.

and problems of client-designer

The Vuoksenniska Church


1956-9) provides

Imatra

at

a large interior

(fig.

15.27;

space that can be

accommo-

friction are

behind

such reports. Reports of great satisfaction can also

be found, from

clients

15.27 (above) kWa\


Aalto, Vuoksenniska

Church, Imatra,
Finland, 1956-9.

The sectional drawing


shows the way in which
the space has been
divided into three
sections separated by

element that generates a striking external form.


is

a stimu-

critics

and modern architecture have all been subject to


such resistance. The wide acceptance by historians

building at Viipuri,

visitors, a library recalling the

in

lating setting.

from

resistance

such as Frederick Robie or

moveable

walls.

The

mam

church at the

right,

with altar,

stained glass,

and

organ, serves for normal


services.

On

special

occasions, the walls can

be rolled back

to

add

one or two additional


spaces to hold larger
congregations. Note the
skylight at the right,

Herbert lacobs (Wright), Fritz Tugendhat (Mies

which floods the

date varied uses by different sized groups. Daylight

van der Rohe), or the tenants of the houses

chancel area with

floods into the space, which

Pessac (Le Corbusier).

subdivided by curving sliding waDs to

floors

is

largely white with

and furniture of natural wood. Aalto

designed the chancel

fittings

(even to vestments),

The merits of

windows, and the striking display of pipes

question.

in

good

repair

and

for the

Most of Aalto's works


in active use, offering

impressive evidence of the practical and aesthetic


success of his work. Furniture

Aalto design

is

in

The work of
vastly influential,

become

and glassware of

the pioneer modernists has been


so,

perhaps inevitably,

the subject of considerable criticism.

the Lakeshore

Unite

at
at

modernism can

visiting the buildings

in

The Robie House, Unity Temple Church,


Apartments

at Illinois Institute

church

by

in

Chicago,

Crown

Hall

of Technology, Villa Savoye, the

Marseille, the

Imatra are

all

Paimio Sanatorium, the


accessible

and each

gives

testimony to the lasting merit of modernist work.

continuing production.

and

unseen source.

International Style

best be appreciated

remain

daylight from an

also

the small inserts of colorful stained glass in the large

large organ in a side balcony.

at

it

has

New

Although design has moved onward, the modernist


pioneers retain their stature as the inventors of a
design vocabulary for the twentieth century.

289

Art Deco and Industrial Design

design (see Chapter 15), Art Deco design was not

design direction that would be a true expression of

strongly concerned with issues of functionalism

modern design. In
France the word Moderne came to be understood
as a designation for a new style, a style which in
English took on the name Modernistic. The term
served to distinguish the word modern, which
simply meant recent or current, from the idea of a

and technology. It was primarily a fashion-oriented


style which was expected to take its place in the
sequence of styles from past history styles among

After

World War

Europeans struggled to find

the twentieth century, a truly

new, that

is.

Modernistic

which designer and client could choose as their


preferences might suggest. A room in the Salon des
Artistes Decorateurs in Paris (1928) by Michel
Roux-Spitz (1888-1937) sums up the essence of

style.

The carpet pattern


The folding screen
pattern derived from African tribal art.

Art Deco design

16.1).

(fig.

suggests awareness of cubist

Art Deco

carries a

art.

The stepped forms of furniture suggest


The 1925 World's

Fair in Paris carried the

title

L'Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs


Industriels Modernes.

exhibition of interior
the

new, post-war

et

was a showcase for the


design, objects, and rooms in
It

style.

A number

of French

designers had already produced designs for furniture, lamps, textiles,

showed

and various accessories that

stylistic similarities.

Sharply angled and

aluminum, black lacquer,


and glass, and zig-zag shapes that were thought to
relate to electricity and radio served as symbols of
the modern world. The term "jazz modern" was
cubistic forms, the use of

16.1

(Mow)

Michel

Roux-Spltz, Salon des

sometimes used

to suggest

an

affinity

the archi-

tecture of skyscrapers, while the large mirror

prominent lighting units

attention to

call

and

modern

and electric lighting. The total effect is in


no way suggestive of anything from the past but
materials

neither

is it

related to the functional interior of the

International Style;

it

rather, fashion-oriented

is,

and strongly decorative. With France


the

origin,

style

European countries and


until the

to the

beginning of World

as its point

moved

gradually

to

of

other

American continent

War

II.

France

with the

Artistes Decorateurs.

nervous rhythms of the jazz music of the 1920s that

Pans. 1928.
/Krt

Deco had

its

origins

Pans

in displays in

became popular

in

France

elsewhere

in

The

term Art Deco has

come

Exposition des Arts


Decoratifs et Industriels

tify

Furniture Designers

The design of

Europe.

in

the 1920s, notably the

in

and

design of this character.

into use to iden-

Unlike modernist

field in

many

in

carpet pattern, the light

decorative

the use of

mirrors are typical of

designers as

in

&

and

and mirrors appear

was a favorite medium for


and lamps by such
Rene Lalique (1860-1945) and by the

vases,

bowls,

designers of the firm of

Art Deco.

Ellis

style

extensive

designs. Glass

folding screen, the

[opposite)

made

inlays of ivory, tortoise-shell,

leather. Polished metal, glass,

African themes of the

16.2

a readily available

could develop. Art Deco furniture

zebrawood with

the dressing table, the

and

became

use of such rich materials as Macassar ebony,

1925. In this room,

the stepped forms of

fixtures,

furniture

which the ideas of the French moderne

Daum. Their

Art Nouveau idioms was

now

earlier

work

converted to Art

Williams, Daily Express

Deco forms.
The furniture of Jacques-Emile

Building, Fleet Street,

(1879-1933) made use of rich materials and fine

Clarke with

Owen

London, 1931.

The entrance lobby of


this building,

an
example of the Art

Deco

style

R.

Atkinson, was

surfaced

as

in

Black glass

it

England.

and chrome

with Deco style murals

and a spectacular
ceiling light fixture

make up a 1930s
period piece.

290

simOar

to

those

design. Louis Siie (1875-1968)

of

formed

traditional
a partner-

designed

early

by

craftsmanship

Ruhlmann

Andre Mare (1885-1932) to produce


similar designs on a commercial basis, but with
emphasis on rich materials in simplified forms (fig.
16.3). Jean Dunand (1877-1942) was a figure in
the Art Nouveau movement before World War I,
but in the 1920s turned to the more geometric
form of Art Deco. He established a factory where
he produced screens, cabinets, chairs, and tables.
ship with

Chapter Sixteen

usually with areas of decorative lacquer work.

He

rooms

for

worked

also

as a decorator, creating

wealthy clients that could serve as settings for his


furniture.

Maurice Dufrene (1876-1955) made


transition

from Art Nouveau

was well known and widely


his writings

and teaching

as well as his actual

interiors

Deco

style

in

modern

art

surrealism. His couch in the shape of a

based on a painting by Salvador Dali.

shop

made

in

including

clients,

He opened

Frances Elkins.

many

the

Nelson

Eileen

is

He

also

wealthy

Rockefellers

he produced a typically Deco

apartment

as

and American designers

Maugham and

designed residential interiors for

whom

such

mouth

1932 where his furniture designs were

available to English

such as Syrie

that

characteristics, but also

shares

Paris

work

metalwork,

Jean-Michel

16.4).

(fig.

Frank (1895-1951) developed

many of the same


draws on new directions

He

style.

influential as a result of

as a designer of furniture, textiles, glass,

and complete

a similar

Deco

to Art

for

New York

in 1937.

Gray (1878-1976) was born

in Ireland

but had a long career in France, her work spanning


several periods

lacquer

began

and

work before World War I


and other

furniture and,

to design screens

permitted, complete interiors,

16.4 (below) Maurice

16.3 {above) touis


Sue and Andre Mare,

Dufrene, Hall, ta

Grand Salon,

Maitrise Pavilion,

Exposition Universelle,

Exposition Universelle,

Pans, 1925.

Pans, 1925.

Sue and Mare's

To the architectural

company, La

space designed by

Compagnie des Arts


Franfais, aimed at the
luxury market. At the

architects

Pans Exposition,

their

J.

Hinart, G.

and G. Beau,
Dufrene added a decoTribout,

rative overlay of

room design indicated

painting on walls

how

ceiling, slim

traditional period

design

had been

ings,

and

replaced by newly

devised forms that

still

new style

find a

upholstery, the fabrics

detail.

of clock and vases on


the bookcase at the

and

left,

the mirror over the

mantel at the right


suggest an effort to

modify traditional forms


without rejecting them.

rail-

lights,

decorative objects.

apparent

patterns, the grouping

and

The Art Deco effort to

retained a link with the

florid

metal

hanging

past The over-stuffed

and carpet with

in

but after the war

when opportunity

292

She became an expert

styles.

is

in every

Art Deco and Industrial Design

own

often using her

was highly
acter.

lacquer panels. Her furniture

original, ingenious,

The Bibendum arm

and cubist

chair

Transat chair of 1924 (patented


variety of cabinets, couches, tables,

of 1925,

the

1930),

with colorful geometric patterns appear in interiors

designed for her

own

16.5 Roger Expert and

Liners

in char-

and a
lamps, and rugs

in

Ocean

use and for various clients. By

Art Deco of the

1920s, with

its

strong

to

ties

and with emphasis on decorative forms


were inevitably costly to produce, was limited

fashion
that

and customers. Acquaintance

to wealthy clients

Richard Bouwens,
Grand Salon, SS
Normandie, 1935.
In the double-height,
first

dais main lounge

of the great French


oceanliner Normandie,

with the style reached a wider public, however, as

tall

1929 her work turned increasingly toward architec-

Art Deco interior design

and painted gloss,

ture with a simple, cubistic character that related to

rants, hotels,

the

work of Le Corbusier.

liners

and

Textile

and

patterns to suit the

demand

Some manufacturers used

for Art

Deco

designs.

leading designers; others

simply asked their in-house designers to develop

new

patterns in this
zags, stripes,

mous

style.

and plaids

designers

particularly well

the artist Sonia

Deco

colors by anonyavailable.

figure in textile design

was

became

known

widely

Delaunay (1885-1979) who began

to design textiles for a

1922.

in

Cubistic themes, zig-

manufacturer

in

Lyon

in

of the great ocean

of the 1920s and 1930s. The French liner

French

produced

manufacturers

carpet

into use in restau-

in the interiors

Normaudic (1935) was


Textile Design

came

showcase for the work of

decorators,

architects,

artists,

and

craftsmen whose way of expressing modernity was


to

adopt Art Deco themes. Overall responsibility

for the interiors of the

placed

in

(1863-1939)

the

and

Normandie

hands
Roger

of

(fig. 16.5)

Richard

Expert

was

Bouwens

(1882-1941).

Although they designed some of the spaces, they


were assisted by a number of French

artists

and

Raymond Subes, Jean Dupas


and Jacques Dunand (1887-1942).

decorators, including

(1882-1964),

Those working on the project were


call

a virtual roll-

murals of etched

designed by Jean

Dupas

(a portion

now

installed in the

Metropolitan
in

New

Museum

York), took the

history of navigation as
their theme.

The

tower-like, glass

lighting fixtures were

designed by tabouret.
Great urns,

visible

on

the right, emerge from

round seating

clusters

and contain lights


directed upward to
ceiling

the

This room, like

most others on the ship,


was a showcase of Art
Deco concepts.

of the French masters of the Deco idiom.

293

Chapter Sixteen

16.6

[right) Pau\ J.

Frankl, skyscraper

furniture,

1930.

The excitement of
skyscraper building in

New

Yorl<

and

the

stepped, set-bacl( forms


typical of these tall

buildings led frankl to

designs for furniture

using similar stepped


forms. Skyscraper

became a

profiles

favorite part

of the

Art Deco design


vocabulary.

16.7

(below)

Relnhard

&

Hofmeister,

&

Corbett, Harrison

MacMurray, Raymond
Hood, Codley &
Fouilhoux,
International Building,

Rockefeller Center,

New

York, 1935,

The monumental lobby


contains gas escalators

leading to upper

and

lower concourse levels

Green marble and a


gold-leaf ceiling establish

level

grandeur

of luxurious
formal

for this

entrance to one of the


several skyscrapers that

moke up

the Rockefeller

Center complex.

16.8

(top right)

Donald Deskey, Radio


City

Music

Hall,

New

York, 1932.

The huge theater,


designed as a major
feature of the
Rockefeller Center

development, was

intended as a setting
for film

and stage

productions. Deskey's
furniture used Bakelite

and aluminum, among


other materials, and
was in a style that
combined the luxury of
French Modernism with
the functionality of the

Bauhaus.

294

Art Deco and Industrial Design

The style spread internationally so that the


German, Italian, and British liners each showed off
the Deco idiom in a particular national version and
carried Art Deco, both figuratively and quite literally,

from Europe

wood, but the slick and curving forms of the enclosures were no longer historically based. They
carried Art Deco into almost every home. The
studios of radio stations such as those of

New

to America.

NBC

in

York's Rockefeller Center (often called Radio

City in the 1930s), where the public was often


invited to watch radio

United States

programs being broadcast,

were also typically Art Deco spaces, both

and
Designers from Europe

Some American

in their

daring use of colors. Blue was thought

and black and chrome hinted

to suggest electricity,

designers working in the style were

at

new

of the lobbies and other public spaces

at

The

Rockefeller Center are of Art

but had an extensive career in the United States.

It

lobby of the International Building (630 Fifth

of

and subtly
concealed lighting, is a prime example (fig. 16.7).
The vast Radio City Music Hall, a spectacular
display of Art Deco design, is largely the work of

who

he

American

observed
buildings

tall

the

forms

stepped

(forms created by the

requirements of zoning laws rather than for any

and applied them

aesthetic reasons)

in

furniture

930.

The Art Deco style

borrowed forms from


skyscraper architecture,
the

same time

architects incorporated

decorative elements

Deco

(1878-1958), for example, was trained in Vienna,

was

New York,

and at

technology.

Many

themselves immigrants from Europe. Paul Frankl

form

in

16.9 William van


Alen, Chrysler Building,

Avenue),

with

materials

rich

its

character.

from Art Deco into their


buildings. The Chrysler

Building, with

and

Its

decorative

details leading

Shelves were cantilevered in a

16.6).

way

solid

wood

that

(18941989). Lobbies and lounges are as inter-

typical of

Urban

(1872-1933),

came

trained in Vienna,
designer.

He

in

1930 in

New

also

had

America as a stage
interior and furniture

an Art Deco vocabulary. His

New

interiors for the

who

to

also turned to

working

design,

esting in their color

torium

and

detail as

Deskey

itself (fig. 16.8).

is

the huge audi-

also designed the

number of apartments and houses for


wealthy clients. The dining room of a New York
interiors of a

older furniture.

loseph

Deskey

Donald

designer

the

demonstrated the characteristics of plywood, the

newer material that replaced

American

(fig.

School for Social Research of

York are a fine example of his work.

commonly used

cork

to

most

bleached to near white, with black lacquer


Walls, doors, and furniture are

all free

Regis Hotel in

(1929) have, unfortu-

Deco

cally

interiors

in Art

Deco modes

designer in his native Vienna, associated

turers

and, as he

Frederick

Kiesler

De

(1892-1965),

movement

originally

Holland

design

coming to America in 1926. His first


American project was a small theater in New York,
the Film Guild Cinema on 8th Street, which was
one of the first modern interiors known to the
general public. His work was largely in sculpture,
but he became known as something of a theorist
and futurist, most closely associated with his neverbuilt proposal for a curvilinear Endless House
exhibited in drawings and models.
Radio, a new means of communication and
entertainment, was widely understood as one of

lamps

briefly

with the

Stijl

in

before

the key innovations of the post-World

War

era.

It

Deco forms
should be applied to the cabinets of table- and
console-model radio receivers. The material was
seemed

was

When

it

was
Manhattan's tallest
building, crowned by
built, it

the steel spire, which

weighed 27 tons

details.

by

Deskey

set

into

an

International Style shell. Deskey designed textiles

been demolished.

nately,

stage

New York

of skyscraper

of moldings

designed by Edward Durell Stone, contained typi-

auditorium and

this style

architecture

of maple veneer

is

well as his exotic roof-top restaurant at the St.

elliptical

dramatic example of

refrigerated

insulate

storage rooms. The furniture

and paneling typical of traditional design. The


Mandel House at Mount Kisco, New York,

its

to

apartment has walls covered with thin sheets of

richly painted walls, as

His more spectacular Ziegfeld Theater (1928), with

up

the great stainless steel


spike, IS the

such as his "skyscraper" furniture of the 1930s

its

stepped, set-back forms

natural, then, that fresh Art

practice,
in

for several

American manufac-

moved toward an

his

work included

industrial

clocks

and

Deco forms.

Deco Architecture
The

architectural forms of

Building

(fig. 16.9;

Alen (1883-1954), with


stainless
details

steel

New

York's Chrysler

1930), designed
its

by William van

stepped setbacks and

spike top, were

ornamented with

intended to suggest the headlights and radi-

ator caps of the automobiles that were Chrysler's

The building created a perfect setting for


van Alen's Deco interiors of lobbies, stairs, and
elevators. Many other office and apartment build-

aa aa
mm Hw

products.

ings have similar characteristics,


interiors of the period that are

condition.

and many
still

in very

retain

good

SR Ml II
HB SB aa
an 13 aa

5B

at a; ' 4
53 ^ ^
i Btt
|

>

*i la

'

Hffl ffl5

__ _-

--/

295

'13
I

\
l

in BB J

Chapter Sixteen

The relationship between Art Deco design and


modern architecture was an uneasy one, despite

ceramicist

many

semi-abstract patterns of Deco character.

As the architectural profession

overlaps.

became

to

increasingly loyal

the

International Style in the 1930s

came to be
and decorative,

design

ideals

and

called "modernistic"

Deco

superfi-

mere whimsical expression of


popular fashion while the word "modern" was
reserved for work that was more clearly based on
cial

theoretical underpinnings.

Still,

many

parallels

can

of World's

deep depression

and

1920s

1933-4 called

design.

A Century

of Art Deco buildings,

pottery objects with colorful

architect

and

designer Wells Coates (1895-1958) for Ekco

considered the

first

truly

modern

Other English designs

in England.

is

design to appear
for table radios

were developed by Serge Chermayeff (1900-92)

Misha Black (1910-77)

1933,

Gordon

in

1937 (also for

in

Russell (1892-1980)

and

his

brother Richard, with cabinets of plywood, for

provided a forum for


The Chicago fair of

along with several partners, was also a designer of

of Progress was a cluster

many

with brightly colored

and objects of
While public acceptance was often
hesitant, some manufacturers launched furniture
and other products of clearly Deco character. The

Murphy

from 1930

Ltd.

an exhibition room

for

Deco

1937, with furniture by

character.

modern" design of factory-made inexanonymous origin with its

to 1938.

Gordon

Russell,

Deco furniture. He became something of a


spokesman for British design and was responsible

exteriors, that displayed interiors

"waterfall

designed in 1933 in typi-

Deco form by the English

occurring in a time of

Fairs,

in the 1930s,

1930s

included

(1899-1972)

Cliff

plastic table radio

cally

Ekco), and by

be discovered.

A series

of the

1940s,

Clarice

many hand-painted

at

the Paris Exposition of

W. H.

and

Russell

textiles

by Marian Peplar.

Scandinavia

pensive furniture of

curving veneers, perhaps suggestive of Niagara


Falls,

brought Art Deco into

at least

some homes of

While the Scandinavian countries are not generally


thought of as having any significant involvement
with Art Deco design ideas, work there in the 1920s

people of limited means.

and

early

1930s parallels developments in other

countries to a considerable degree. Scandinavian

Britain

designers also sought

The Art Deco

style

was taken up

in

England to

limited extent, usually surfacing in the interior

of theaters,

design

hotels,

and

restaurants.

In

London's Strand Palace Hotel, for example, public


interiors were filled with angles and zig-zag forms

in the development of International


modernism. Instead, a somewhat cautious
advance took place that had strong roots in traditions of craftsmanship and wise use of materials.

participate
Style

and metal. The London building


for the Daily Express newspaper (1931) by Owen
Williams (1890-1969) with the firm of Ellis and

The

example of Art Deco design,

The

in glittering glass

Clark
with

is

its

a gleaming

rounded corners and bands of polished

ties

in order to a

International Style

the mechanistic qualito appear

"warm" and

broad consumer public.

seemed "cold" and

still

forbidding.
In

Sweden,

the

Stockholm

Town

with

Hall

by

such

Ragnar Ostberg

rable

decorated Blue Hall, became famous as an example

tion of Frank Pick (1878-1941).

Many

stations

(with architecture by Charles Holden) had inte-

Deco character, as did the intecarriages and buses. The work of the

riors with strong


riors

296

work avoided
of De Stijl and Bauhaus
resulting

comfortable

black glass edged with chrome. Public interiors


as the main entrance hall show off compaDeco detail (fig. 16.2).
The Art Deco interiors of British ocean liners
such as those of the Cunard Line Queen Mary and
Mauretania of the 1930s) and those of the Orient
Line by Brian O'Rorke (1901-74) have already
been mentioned (p. 293). Art Deco exposure for a
wider public came from the design produced for
the London Underground system under the direc-

new directions appropriate to


some time did not

the twentieth century, but for

of train

(see p. 262),

its

beautifully

of a charming kind of modernism which hinted


tradition. National

applied to such

Romanticism

work

way

at

the term often

that did not attempt imita-

tion of past achievements but


a

is

to recall the past in

seemed rather to seek


more contemporary

Whatever the aims, such work had an


to a large audience. The term
"Swedish modern" came to suggest furniture and

terms.

immediate appeal
interiors that

were not reproductions of historic


had a warmth and appeal that was

design, but that

easy to accept.

Art Deco and Industrial Design

16.10 Cunnar
Asplund, room setting,

Slojdforemngen
Exhibition, Stockholm,

1917,
In

Asplund's kitchen

and

living

room

for the

exhibition of

Sldjdforeningen
(Society of Arts
Crafts), the

and

simple

Scandinavian wood
detailing of furniture

and

the craft-woven rug

indicate

an acceptance

of modernism while the

window drapery and


the

shaded hanging

light

pay homage

to

earlier traditions.

The 1917 room


Asplund

Stockholm helped

by Giinnar

settings designed

(1885-1941)

an

for

Swedish approach to interior design


His Senna chair of 1925, with

in

and publicize the

define

to

e.xhibition

16.10).

(fig.

smoothly curved

its

high back, and stubby arms, suggests a simpli-

seat,

fied version

of some

the architect of the

classic protot)'pe.

Stockholm City Library of 1928,

an example of a restrained and

modernism, while

Asplund was

classically

his role in the design

based

of the 1930

Stockholm Exposition asserted Sweden's modern


Scandinavian direction.

An

extension table of 1938

by Bruno Mathsson (born 1907)


simplicity

and

logic of 1930s

is

typical of the

hanging

conservative

craftsmanship and became


that

was simple,

practical,

for

known

traditions

in

1925 by Poul

Mogens

Koch

furniture designs based


as well as

on

stered chairs. Finn Juhl

ture that

a traditional vernacular,

some simple and comfortable uphol(

was produced

1912-89) designed furni-

Denmark and

in

the 1950s, designs for production by the

then, in

American

firm of Baker Furniture. His most important interior project

was the Trusteeship Council Chamber

of the United Nations headquarters building

New York

(1952-3).

It

in

has a wall of undulating

woodstrips and a ceiling open to the ducts and

equipment overhead.

Swedish design.

respect

PH, developed

(1895-1967).

(1898-1969) became known for a variety of folding

Danish design of the 1920s and 1930s maintained

light unit

Henningsen

of

for furniture

and well made. Neither

(For the
interior

work of Eliel Saarinen,

and

furniture

design

particularly his
at

Cranbrook,

Michigan, which has strong links to Art Deco


concepts, see Chapter 14.)

Deco influences ever


overcame Danish traditions, which were more
International Style nor Art

rooted in a logical vernacular than in any particular


style.

The

resulting "Danish

history that extends

modern"

in the devel-

1920s and early 1930s, a number of


some of whom had been proponents of
Art Deco and others more oriented toward the

on human proportions

International Style, developed an interest in design

from the

early years of the

twentieth century until recent times. Kaare Klint

(1888-1954) was a leading influence

opment of

furniture based

and human needs.

His updated version of the

traditional safari chair

become

classics.

and

Industrial Design

style has a

deck lounge chair have

Another Danish

classic

was the

In the late

designers,

for

production. The term "industrial


came into use to describe a new profession
would focus on products for industry. In

industrial

design"
that

297

Chapter Sixteen

16.11 [below

left)

promoting

new

their services, the

mock-up
York,

office,

New

934.

Loewy created
office interior

this

as a

display for a design

The designer

exhibition.
IS

surrounded by exam-

ples of his work in furniture, lighting, clock,

drawings,

and automo-

bile model.

forms

The circular

testify to the

industrial designers'

adoption of streamlining as

a decorative

theme.

industrial designers spoke to their clients not so

much

oceanic flights and Amelia Earhart's and Wiley

of aesthetic goals, but rather of the

Post's

depression, when manufacturers were faced with

streamlined Lockheed Vega airplane

sagging

the idea that

sales,

new

design could

The new forms became


The sources of these forms
enough, in new technology in

the industrial designers.


typical of the 1930s.

were,

logically

Panama

Line,

record-setting

flights

in

the

beautifully

came to fix
the streamlined form in the public mind as a visual
symbol of future-oriented achievement. The minds
of industrial designers were turned in the same
direction, so that streamlined forms became a
theme for 1930s industrial design.

particular, the technology of aerodynamics.

During World

made

use

of

War

large

I,

Germany developed and

dirigibles,

Loewy and Other Designers

called

usually

Zeppelins after Count von Zeppelin, their leading

Raymond Loewy (1893-1986) began

designer and producer. After the war dirigibles

with a modernized form for a Gestetner

the British R-34 and R-lOO and the

the

make

products attractive to consumers brought clients to

were adapted

Ancon, and Cnstobal of

strictly

commercial goals of increased sales. In the years of

stateroom

the ships Panama,

Hugo

Eckner piloting the Graf Zeppelin on long trans-

16.12 (below right)


Raymond Loewy,
interior for

Public excitement over the exploits of Dr.

generation of

Raymond Loewy,

as transport vehicles.

Zeppelin became weU


airships, dirigibles

1934.

liners

Ingeniously compact

tive luxury.

furniture arrangements,
It

known

Such

craft as

German Graf

to the public. Called

were indeed as large

and could transport passengers

in

as

ocean

compara-

graph machine

(a

sales.

lined design for automobiles for

Studebaker had similar success.

His stream-

Hupmobile and
Other American

including Henry Dreyfuss (190472),

Norman

Walter Dorwin Teague (1883-1960), and

was discovered

that efficient flight could be

Bel

career

mimeo-

small office printing device)

producing a dramatic upturn in

designers,

his

Geddes (1893-1958) followed

Success

suit.

use of strictly fireproof


materials,

and an

overall sense of the

combination of stream-

best achieved

if

the form of the airship featured a

rounded, bullet nose and a tapered

tail

with a

with industrial products led these designers to

expand

some

concepts were part of

shghdy bulging curve between. Such form was


called "streamlined" because it encouraged the

and Deco

lined

their practice into interior design

Deskey

(see p. 295)

the effort to introduce

smooth flow of an airstream over the

dirigible hull.

designer,

working

modern design to
American passenger

Smaller airplanes that were rivals of the dirigibles

furniture

and

ship

also turned out to benefit

interiors.

298

from streamlined form.

and even

efforts in architecture (fig. 16.11).

now
in

every field of design. His

lighting fixtures of the

early 1930s helped to

Donald

practiced as an industrial

make his

1920s and

reputation.

Art Deco and Industrial Design

(1889-1936) was a German-born industrial designer

who came to San

Pacific International Exposition there.

Panama-

the

He remained

and worked on furniture designs

in California

Baker and Widdicomb of Grand Rapids, on

for

retail

and on clocks and other objects. His


Airline chair of 1934 is his best-known work.
Russel Wright (1904-76) was a successful
American industrial designer. His most significant
store interiors,

known

"American
Modern," achieved enormous popularity from

work, a line of tableware


1939 onward

16.13).

(fig.

and functional china


Its

as

was the

It

first

Russel Wright,

simple

tableware, 1939.
Wright's designs intro-

duced the American


public to simple

modernism that could


be put to use m any
home- The enormous
success of this dinner
sen/ice helped to

convince American
industry of the value of

modern design

in prod-

ucts offered to the

general public

to be introduced in America.

success brought attention to his other designs

for furniture, metal accessories, cutlery,

With

linens.

promoter
1951

arm

his wife,

design

book,

in his

and

Mary, he was an

modern

of

and

exhibits
(

16.13

"American Modern"

work on

Francisco to

room-setting

in

Guide

table

effective

to Easier

Living

Wright's sculpturally formed wood-framed

).

chair of 1934

was used

of the newly built

Museum

in the

members' lounge

Modern

of

Art in

New

York, but no manufacturer could be found to

undertake

The

its

production.

was usually

industrial designers

Loewy (and
oped

offices.
tives,

his increasingly large firm) devel-

and
He not only redesigned railroad locomo-

interior design for ships, retail stores,

but also provided interior designs for the

passenger cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad and for


the three sister ships of the
(fig.

16.12),

Ancon,

produced similar work

Panama

and

Line,

Dreyfuss

Cristobal.

for the rival

Panama

New York

ornamentation with the


lining.

The

of the larger ships Independence and

same steamship line.


Teague worked on passenger car interiors for the
New Haven Railroad. Bel Geddes moved from a
disginguished career in stage design to focus on
futuristic proposals for vast airplanes and streamlined ocean liners. These never came to realization,
but his modest Elbow Room Restaurant in New York
(1938), with its curved walls and mirrored areas,
showed that he was a talented interior designer.
Gilbert Rohde (1894-1944) is best known for his
work in furniture design. In the 1930s he introduced
the American firm of Herman MUler to the ideas of

train,

or

fore

philosophic and functionalist goals of the early

European modernists were not concerns of the


borrowed

industrial designers although they often

from the International Style, softening,


and decorating those forms to make them

forms

Constitution for the

forms of stream-

goal was to convince a large public that

some important way better and therewould become commercially successful. The

diluting,

sible for design

the early

blend of Art Deco

newly designed vacuum cleaner, railroad

Central Railroad, and interiors for four ships of the

was respon-

slick

ship was in

American Export

Line. Later, his office

work of

visual character of the

more

palatable to a

consumer

public.

In addition to the increasingly popular forms of


trains, buses,

became

well

automobiles, and ships, streamlining

known

to

Americans

in the

form of

curious vernacular type, the diner, a short-order

form of a railroad dining car (fig.


diners were actually railroad or
street cars blocked up on fixed foundations. As
streamlined trains became well known, the
restaurant in the
16.14).

The

first

building of diners to imitate the cars of luxury


trains became popular. Often at roadside locations
where they could serve the increasing flow of automobile traffic, the diner was a popular symbol of

Diner interiors with curving

modernism, although the character of his design was

depression era

more

metal trim, mirrors, and bright color accents were

functionalist directions that

of

Deco than with the


later became the norm

closely allied with Art

modernism

in

furniture.

Kem

Weber

life.

produced by anonymous designers working

for the

firms that built these units.

299

Chapter Sixteen

16.14 Supreme

Diner,

Design Training

Boston, Massachusetts,

1946,

The pioneer

The diner, a short-order

industrial designers

were not actually

trained in design. Loewy's training was as an elec-

at Pratt Institute,

Brooklyn, in 1937. Such programs

remain within an

art

school setting and so continue

somewhat removed from the training offered to


architects. The reality that buildings have interiors

restaurant intended to

engineer in France; Dreyfuss's background was

simulate the dining car

trical

of a railroad

in stage design;

Teague was an

studied at the

New York

train,

became a popular
feature of roadside

America As

real

rail-

road cars took on the


qualities of streamlined

and Deco

Paris but

Formal training

in this field

only began

when

indus-

led

to

relationship,

design was developing as a profession. Carnegie

Institute

chrome tnm, and

harsh lighting that


created the atmosphere

a quick meal.

however uneasy, between

and interior design, bringing about a


style somewhere between modernism and Art Deco.
The austerity of International Style modernism was
architecture

widely

felt

to be too forbidding, while the less doctri-

naire quality of Art

design, the

trial

300

in

appears to have been self-taught as a designer.

adopting rounded

for

who had

Art Students' League;

Deskey studied and taught painting

diner followed,

forms,

illustrator

some

architects.

It

Deco design appealed to at least


was the style of many public

(now Carnegie MeUon University) in


Pittsburgh offered a program in industrial design as
early as 1935 under the leadership of Donald

buildings in the United Sates, particularly those built

Dohner (1907-44), who

(WPA). The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

later

introduced the subject

under the sponsorship of depression era work

relief

projects such as the Works Progress Administration

Art

built great

dams and power

(1898-1970),

and

interior

who was
design,

in

houses. Roland

charge of

produced

its

Wank

facilities

industrial design

at

remarkably

Just as

some

ideas,

the dams. Here

Deco and

idioms made an unusually fortu-

style as

architects

many

began

to incorporate Art

interior decorators took

an addition to the portfolio of

Residential Design

up the

historic styles

Architects of residential buildings were generally

from introducing Art


Deco and modernist concepts, although flat roofs,
rounded corners, and such newly developed materestrained by their clients

rials as glass

block were occasionally used.

would bring the economic


production

"moderne" or "modernistic" were used to describe


English and American work, such as the rooms by

publicized, but

Maugham

(1879-1925),

Many

proposals for prefabricated house construction that

on which they had previously depended. The terms

the English decorator Syrie

Design

fine

nate meeting.

Deco

Industrial

architectural

examples of industrial interiors within the powergenerating

Deco and

benefits of factor)'

were

mass

and
none achieved popular acceptance.

into

housing

developed

Kitchens and Bathrooms

which had an all-white color scheme along with


mirrors and

glass.

In

America, Dorothy Draper

(1889-1969) designed public spaces such as the


lobbies of the Carlyle Hotel

and the 770 Park Avenue

Industrial design, with

and

its

its

connection to Art Deco

love of streamlining,

ot the twentieth-century

came

middle

into the
classes

apartment house. In each, a black marble floor with

kitchens and bathrooms rather than

white banding, white walls, and glossy black doors in

living spaces (figs. 16.15

sjTnmetrical

arrangements are used, with

few

strong color accents of red and blue in limited areas.

after the introduction

and

of

remained rooms housing

homes

through

more formal

16.16). Kitchens, even

electric appliances,

a collection

had

of unrelated

16.15 Kraetschand
Ktaetsch, Butler House,

Des Momes, iowa,


1936,
The modern kitchen, as
It

had developed by

1930s,

made

the

use of a

continuous counter
with overhead cabinets

modeled on the practice

of scientific labora-

tory design Ease of

cleaning

and

efficiency

of work patterns are


implied, while the

visual

impact

relates to

the streamlining typical

of industrial designers'

work of the

time.

Kitchen appliances-

such as the range


visible in this illustra-

tion-were designed
fit

into this

the

modern

to

concept of
kitchen.

301

Chapter Sixteen

16.16

Paul Nash,

bathroom for Edward


James and Tilly Losch,
London, 1932.
The idea of the bath-

room as a place

for

decorative pleasure
rather than a minimal
utilitarian

oped

room devel1920s and

in the

1930s. In this example,


mirrors, metals,

and

lighting elements malce

room a showplace
ofDeco concepts. Note
the

the mirror element in


the ceiling lighting
fixture.

electri-

treatment, with a built-in tub and shower, and

and the sink and drainboard unit, each in


forms that dated back to the early nineteenth
century. Industrial designers persuaded manufac-

wash basins made into cabinet units.


The makers of plumbing fixtures became enthusiastic clients of industrial and interior designers,
who produced model bathrooms in bright colors
and advertised them in magazines. Houses that

items

the cooking stove, the ice

box (now

fied),

turers to transform the old


slick,

wooden

streamlined

mildly

white,

ice

box

form.

into a

Loewy

designed the 1935 Coldspot, soon to be followed by


similar designs for General Electric, Norge,

and

other manufacturers. White and smooth surfaces

then became the

norm

for ranges, beginning with

Bel Geddes's simple, white-painted, smooth metalformed unit for the Standard Gas Equipment

Corporation (1933).

Teague appeared

in

An

many

still

duplicated historic

designed

modes would

modern

kitchens and baths. In the basements of


industrial

designers provided

styled exteriors for furnaces,

by

oil

now

smoothly

generally fueled

or gas rather than the earlier coal.

flat

counter tops

Lighting

designers and manufacturers

The conversion of oil and

topped with metal or linoleum to produce

gave lighting design a

a labo-

lamps and

of the 1930s.

sources remained hidden

became

eligible

for

modern

light

gas lighting to electricity

new

band of equipment. Only the smooth


refrigerator needed to poke up above the line. With
gleaming white cabinets and smooth tops, banks of
overhead cabinets and floors of colorful linoleum,
such kitchens became favorite elements in houses
also

sentimentally

houses,

the idea of continuous counters that could be

Bathrooms

in

nevertheless sport

1934. These simple cubical

ratory-like

302

were otherwise

almost identical design by

forms with their standard height


suggested to

often with

lease of

life.

claimed to have "sight-saving" virtues.


lighting

that

is,

Art Deco

fixtures appearing in the

lighting in

which the

1930s

Indirect

light sources

are concealed in coves or other housings so that the


light

produced was

reflected

from

came

the 1930s, tubular light sources

ceilings while the

into

wide

became

use. In

available.

Art Deco and Industrial Design

16.17 Norman

Bel

Geddes, Futurama
Exhibit,

New

York

World's

Fair,

1939.
General

Visitors to tlie

Motors

extiibit

were

transported in moving

booths above a scene


oftlie "World of the

Future" built in highly


realistic

model

form.

shows a

The

illustration

city

of the future OS

conceived by the industrial

designer,

Norman

Bel Geddes

(1893-1958), a strong
advocate of streamlined design. This

often thought

exhibit

IS

of as a

pnmary stimthe design and

ulus to

construction of modern

superhighway networks

first

in incandescent versions

development of fluorescent
sources

and

became the norm

and then, with the

in public,

Neon

institutional interiors.

tubular

light,

light

commercial,

lighting, first

only

used in signs, became an occasional source of decorative light effects. Practical, functional

to appear in the

lamps began

work of designers such

Versen (born 1901), whose

own

as Kurt

firm manufactured

Just as the era

Paris

of Art Deco was introduced by the

Exposition of 1925, the World's Fair that

opened

in

New York

in

1939 can be thought of as

summarizing and bringing to

Deco and

streamlining.

It

a close the era of Art

included work by

the important designers of the 1920s

many of

and 1930s and

offered examples of each of the directions that the

preceding decades had developed.

German and

They
were used in interiors designed by architects and
interior designers, but remained Uttle known to the

Italian exhibits displayed the stripped classicism that

general public for residential use.

modernist work of Roger Expert,

a range of

such lamps and lighting

fixtures.

had come to symbolize the aggressive trends of


fascism.

In

contrast,

the French pavilion was a

who had been one

of the designers responsible for the interiors of the


liner

Textiles, Carpets,

and Furniture

Nonnandie. The designs of Dreyfuss

the fijture in

model form

in the fair's

(a city

theme

of

center),

Bel Geddes's Futurama, a whole world of the future


Textiles

and carpets

geometric and abstract

in

patterns suggestive of cubist art

became

available

from sources catering to the professional design


fields, but rarely found their way into average
homes. Dorothy Liebes (1899-1972), for example,

had a successful career

as a designer

of modern

popular with the designers of public and


commercial interiors. Manufacturers catering to
fabrics

mass markets

still

found

it

expedient to produce

flowery prints, designs with illustrative motifs, and


rugs

based

designs.

on

oriental

and other

traditional

moving overhead booths in the


(fig. 16.17), Loewy (for
Chrysler), and Teague (for Ford and Eastman
Kodak), among others, showed off the commercial

viewed

from

General Motors exhibit

merits of the industrial designers' devotion to both

Deco and streamlining themes. Modernism of a


more serious kind could be found in the works of
Lescaze (the Aviation building), Aalto (the Finnish
exhibit,

an

interior

that

introduced

Aalto

to

America), and the handsome Swedish pavilion by

Sven Markelius (1889-1972). The modernism of the


1920s and 1930s

is

the subject of the next chapter.

303

The Spread of

Early

Modernism

in

Europe
Although design

in the first half

of the twentieth

century continued to be dominated by eclectic


historicism, awareness of the ideas of

began gradually to spread. In 1932,


of

Modern

historian

New

Art in

modernism

at the

Museum

York, the architectural

and

Hitchcock

Henry-Russell

Philip

Johnson, the museum's director of the department


of architecture and design, organized an architec-

the U.S.S.R.,
istic

qualities,

including

flat

only

1929-3a

bridge in an obscure
alpine valley in

Switzerland drew atten-

historical or

ornamental

ceived aesthetic goals.

modernism
An

offer.

was

not concerned with


visual effect

designed

when he

this

300-foot

long structure

terms

in

of functional perfor-

mance and economy.

la

that architectural design should begin

with interior arrangements that


logical external expression.

share the

same

major

demonstrate the ideas


this

public pavilion in a
is

to

illustrated interiors

same

a fine

such as
rods,

wood and

airfield outside

of Paris

placed

of

Style

the

exhibition

modernism

as

and mechanistic

defined

having

the

qualities that

represented the twentieth century, the "machine


age."

The

magazine

style

articles

became increasingly visible in


and book publications. Among

is

the

practice,

columns and

beams carried forward into the use of concrete in


most buildings. The difficult engineering calculations and the complex formwork required for freer
forms have tended to
Maillart's bridges

his designs for

facilities,

into overhead slabs in

use of concrete.

restrict the

and

and water storage

warehouses

where columns flow

smooth

curves, suggest inte-

forms that had rarely been seen outside of such

rior

utilitarian structures.

modernism was blocked in


Europe by political factors. In the U.S.S.R.
repressive government was fearful of the implica-

The

organizers

In

habits of using materials in straight

work both of Frank Lloyd


and of Scandinavian designers whose
design might be seen as having a romantic leaning,
the

formwork before concrete

in

great strength of this material.

question.
In omitting the

steel (fig. 17.1). Steel reinforcing

poured, accept tensile stresses and generate the

parts of

abstract, cubistic,

buildings in England to

Orly

at the

(now destroyed) by Eugene Freyssinet (1879-1962)


and the many concrete bridges in Switzerland by

characterize the external form of the buildings in

International

seaside resort

lead

absence of historic and ornamental detail that

1935-6.

of modernism,

The

would

functional simplicity, the

Warr

Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea,

first

It is

interesting to notice that

was one of the key principles of

It

Sussex, England,

One of the

is,

they placed

Wright

17.2 (opposite)
Mendelsohn and
Chermayeff, de

The designs were

the images exhibited were, in eleven cases, illustrations of interiors.

techniques

detail.

the requirements of function ahead of any precon-

tion to the aesthetic

engineer, Maillart

smooth (and
of glass, and asym-

examples of "functionalism," that

possibilities that

modern technological

several styl-

metrical planning, along with a total absence of any

Maillart, Salginatobel

reinforced concrete

15.

roofs,

usually white) walls, large areas

Switzerland,

hangars of 1916

are difficult to achieve in other building materials

International Style.

of the modern pioneers discussed in Chapter

use of steel

and reinforced concrete to create forms that would


have previously been impossible. The great airship

and Japan. They shared

The

the seventy-five projects presented,

seven were in the United States. Sixteen were works

Bridge, near Schiers,

the impres-

sive engineering

There were buildings from across western Europe,

Of

(below) Robert

and mecha-

new work were


structures that made

of the

nistic reference

Robert Maillart (1872-1940) suggested the ways in


which new structural techniques could promote
new forms of great power. Concrete, since it is in
semi-liquid form before being poured, has the
ability to take shapes, such as smooth curves, that

tural exhibition entitled

17.1

the stimuli encouraging the simplicity

early spread of

tions of a freely developing vocabulary in the arts.

Germany and

In

brought

Austria,

the

rise

of tascism

progressive thinking to a stop. Early

all

and Rationalist work in Italy was pushed


by burgeoning fascism that favored the
"stripped classicism" of Hitler's Germany. In the
Futurist

aside

of

countries

Europe

that

remained

free,

modernism also encountered much opposition.


Governments and the established professions were
firmly wedded to eclecticism and to the conviction

example of modern
architecture at

its best.

that excellence could only be

examples.

The building houses an

historic

auditorium, exhibition

modernism gradually

and
and outdoor

space, restaurants,

indoor

lounge spaces The


architects

drew

tion from the

inspira-

Among
and

their

found

Nevertheless,

in imitation

the

ideas

of
of

established a hold.

the ideals of the modernist pioneers

followers

was the

should serve the needs of

all

belief that

design

people. All users of

Schocken

Store in Stuttgart for

designed buildings and objects were to be treated as

the curving,

equals.

an ocean view through

Although the clients who commissioned


much modern work were generally wealthy and
powerful, many projects, housing schemes, public

curving areas of glass.

buildings,

cantilevered

which

304

IS

stair,

seen against

and products such

as furniture

were

Chapter Seventeen

planned to serve the needs of

broad spectrum of

Germany and

Austria

the general population. This respect for individual


people, for their needs and desires, was at odds

with the

fascist

view of individuals as helpless

It is

not surprising, therefore, that modernism

developed most rapidly and

fully in the parts

Europe where democracy and

social

of

idealism

thrived during the difficult years between

World

and II. Holland, the Scandinavian countries, and England became the countries where
modernism found most acceptance during the late

Wars

1920s and 1930s until

Before

modernism was

repression by the Nazis,

its

developed not only by the major Bauhaus figures

servants of an all-powerful state.

World War

II

interrupted

Gropius and Mies van der Rohe, but also by a

number of other
work in interiors,

influence. Lilly Reich (1885-1947)

worked

closely

with Mies van der Rohe and had a role in the interior design

of a

number of

exhibitions, in the

famous Barcelona Pavilion, and


credited

furniture

but

interiors,

is

Stijl

in the design

of

Breuer

Marcel

Mies.

to

at the

Bauhaus working on

particularly

known for his furniin wood suggests De

work

ture designs. His early

The Netherlands

and

furniture,

(1902-81) was active

progress.

and designers whose


textiles had wide

architects

connections but,

it

is

said, after a visit to a

bicycle factory, he began experimenting with steel

Several architects carried forward the traditions of

H.
17.3 Willem Dudok,

Town

P.

Berlage and other late nineteenth- and early

tubing as a structural material. The side chairs

called Wassily (1925)

work avoided the narrow historicism of the eclectics. Willem M. Dudok (1884-1974), for example,
who worked in the small city of Hilversum, near
Amsterdam, designed the town hall there
(1924-30), a distinguished and monumental structure in brick, its interiors pointing in both Deco
and modernist directions (fig. 17.3). J. J. P. Oud,

classics

Hall, Hilversum,

The Netherlands,
1924-30.

chamber
of this government
building, Dudok has
In the council

achieved a sense of
formality

and

official

dignity while working


in the

vocabulary of

modernism.

and
make

Warm
mate-

colors

rich

rials

the space

seem comfortable while


maintaining
tarian

role.

its

authori-

name Cesca

given the

twentieth-century architects and designers whose

one of the architects included

Modern

Art exhibition,

is

best

in the

Museum

known

of

for public

housing projects that demonstrate the connections


between modernism and enlightened social and
political policies (see

Chapter

15).

(1928) and the

arm chair
known

have become well

of the modern movement.

exhibition housing group called the


Weissenhof Siedlung, built in Stuttgart, Germany,
in 1927, included examples of the design work of
most of the leading figures of modernism,

The

including Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier,

J.

J.

P.

Oud, Ludwig Hilberseimer, losef Frank, Mart


Stam, and Hans Scharoun. All of the houses were
furnished according to the designs of the architects,

and

all

were open to the public for the duration of

the exhibition. Public awareness of the ideas of

modernism was encouraged, with considerable


impact on German design directions.

A comparable

housing design exhibition called


the Werkbundsiedlung was introduced in Vienna
in 1930.

There the designers included Josef Frank,

Adolph

Loos,

Richard

Josef

Neutra,

Hoffmann, Andre

and

Gerrit

Rietveld,

Lur^at,

among

others. The impact on the Austrian public was

comparable to that of the Stuttgart exhibition in


Germany. These exhibitions marked a peak
achievement of the Werkbund (see
influence

of

the

Werkbund

p. 225).

increased

The
with

but it was dissolved in 1934.


Mendelsohn (1887-1953) is known for a
major early work, the Einstein Tower astronomical

modernist

ideas,

Erich

observatory (1921)

at

Potsdam.

It

is

unique

example of Expressionism in architecture, a direction that Mendelsohn abandoned as his work

moved more toward the International Style. His


work in Germany included several major depart306

The Spread

ment
1933.
his

store projects before he

He

finally settled in the

work followed

left

for

United

England

States,

in

where

International Style directions.

of Early

Modernism

Europe

in

17.4 Giuseppe
Terragni, Casa del

Popolo,

Como,

Italy,

1938.
Originally

Casa

known as

del Fascia, this

public building was

Italy

intended to accommo-

date political meetings,

The movement called Futurism developed in Italy


before World War I. In various manifestos,
Futurists advocated modernity, technology, speed,

and the power of the machine. Although Futurists


such as Antonio Sant'Elia 1888-1916) made archi-

but

in spite

of Fascist

preferences for

mentality
Terragni

managed

produce a

fine

none was

built.

Gruppo

It

remained

for

and others to
take up the modernist cause between the end of
World War I and the rise of the fascists in Italy.
the Italian Rationalists of

"Electrical house," a

and G.

Figini

model house designed by

Pollini

Monza, was the only

for

Italian

1930 exhibition

work included

International Style exhibition

Como,

in

New

to

work of

modernism. The open,

tectural proposals,

monu-

in design,

grid-like sides

lead to a

glass-topped atrium

has survived under

new name

It

its

as an expres-

sion of a democratic
spirit

I.

at

in the

York. At

town administrative building was built in


1933-5 by G. Terragni, a handsome modernist
a

building with an open-grid facade organizing

its

four-story interior which surrounds a central court


(figs.

17.4

and

17.5). Its exterior elevation

is

of

17.5

Exterior of

Casa

del Popolo.

work of the

Rationalist movement,
this

building has a

strict

geometric

program

controlling the

proportions which are


the basis for

its

aesthetic qualities.

307

Chapter Seventeen

exactly half-square dimensions

and the proporA main

tions of the grid are geometrically derived.

room with abstract wall treatments


De Stijl art has tubular metal chairs

meeting

smooth

around a glass-topped table. This opens onto a


large central court which is accessed from the street

for the firm of

through a bank of glass doors that could be simul-

furniture

fascism,

it

recently

it

was renamed the Casa del

become

has

In 1938, the Milan firm

members,

was

Rogers)

known

Belgioioso,

Banfi,

camp

responsible

for children

BBPR

(for its

Perressutti,

the

for

Heliotherapeutique at Lugano.
health

as

It

was

and

Institut
a

kind of

where sun exposure was

expected to offer therapeutic benefits. The building


is

largely

devoted to a large double-height dining

hall seating 800.


tiled

retail stores in

and other household items were on


and available to the Swiss public. The

display there

played

firm

modernism

the Casa del Popolo.

South-facing glass areas and a red-

north wall are of typically International Style

Although

Italian fascism was, in

its

early years,

prominence

work faded.

Germany became dominant, modern


It

did not resurface untO after the war.

became something of a spokesman


through

He was

his association

bringing

for

modernism

with the Swiss Werkbund.

also involved in publishing, including the

multivolume
Corbusier.

presenting the work of Le

series

He was

the designer of the Swiss exhibi-

tion area at the Milan Triennale in 1936 in

and

exhibit panels

cases

were placed

which

freely in

an

surround for

a white

units in strong, bright colors.

Le Corbusier, although thought of as a French


architect, was, in fact, Swiss.

house
1924

at

is

The

Vevey that he designed

small, lakeside

for his parents in

a clearly realized International Style project.

Although conceived

Switzerland

in

in Swiss design.

Max Bill (1908^4) had been a student at the


Bauhaus and, after his return to Switzerland,

not overtly hostile to modernism, as the influence


of Hitler in

role

significant

into

open space which formed

character.

furniture,

Zurich and Basel in 1933


Wohnbedarf, which had connections with the Werkbund. The best of modern

designed

Under
Fascio; more

and a
most by

light color tones,

modern

Breuer or Aalto, characterize the interiors. Breuer

suggestive of

taneously opened by electrical controls.

and

walls of white

variety of examples of

interior space

is full

as a "dwelling

machine," the

of subtleties such as the dark-

ness of the end spaces that form a contrast for the

The orderly and homogeneous nature of Swiss


society, and the strong development of engineering
and technical skills in Switzerland, made that
country hospitable to the rational and logical
concepts of modernism. The engineering of Robert
Maillart, the art of Paul Klee, and the egalitarian
nature of Swiss society were

development.

St.

all

important for

Anthony's Church (1925)

by Karl Moser (1880-1936)

is

its

at Basel

main

interior space, a long

uous

glass, facing

band

lighted

by contin-

south and offering a view of Lake

Geneva. Furniture comprised simple, traditional


country

between

tables, chairs,

the

older

and beds. The relationship


and the austere

furniture

modernism of the space is strikingly happy. (The


work of Le Corbusier is dealt with in more detail in
Chapter

15.)

a bare concrete

on
columns placed close to the side walls. The tall
windows are glazed in small panels of stained glass.
structure, with a long coffered vault carried

It

probably

is

successful

Also

the

modern
in

at

designed by A. and

who was

Protestant

church

of

Although Le Corbusier produced most of his work

two

apartment

in France, and has come to be France's most


famous modernist, he always remained somewhat

design.

Switzerland,

houses of 1935-6
Breuer

first

E.

small

Doldertal near Zurich were

Roth, together with Marcel

in Switzerland for a

time between

from the Bauhaus and his move to


England. The buildings were commissioned by
Sigfried Giedion, the well-known architectural

his departure

and advocate of modernism. One of the


belonged to Alfred Roth and included his

outside of the mainstream of French design

was

too

radical

to

achieve

wide

he

acceptance.

Another pioneer, Auguste Perret (18741954), was

one of the
bilities
rial

designers to understand the possi-

first

of reinforced concrete as a structural mate-

that offered

new

aesthetic directions. His early

historian

work, such as the apartment building

flats

Franklin in Paris, has close

architectural office. Large areas of glass, simple

308

France

Nouveau, but

his

ties

at

25 bis Rue

to the spirit of Art

church of Notre

Dame

at

Le

The Spread of

Raincy (1922-4) presents a dramatic interior of


clearly

concrete

modernist

character

made

structure

(fig.

possible

it

The

17.6).

to

use

stand

that

the

at

border

International Style concepts.

rooms

than solid walls or massive columns. As a

his

of

modernist design but of strong and rich color. The


resulting space suggests a

modern

version of the

less

famous

figure

of French

modernism is Robert Mallet-Stevens (1886- 1945),


whose early work seems close to the moderne direction of Art Deco (fig. 17.7). His 1924-33 house at
Hyeres for the Vicomte de NoaiUes had a number
of interiors of forward-looking design. The Pink
Salon used simple, geometric forms as a setting for

rubber upholstered furniture and

steel

tube designs

by both Mallet-Stevens and Breuer. The large


Cavrois (1931-2)

at

in

Paris of 1928

Hygiene and
Paris.

Villa

Croix has handsome interiors

metal

Europe

made

visible to a larger public, as did his Bally

projects

is still

and

in

designed

1937

furniture

17.6 Auguste

Ferret,

Church of Notre Dame,


Le Raincy, France,

fair in

for

1922-4.

a
In this building the slim

his simple

1928 side chair of

production and frequent use.

Chareau (1883-1950)

Pierre

designs for the

his

Electricity Pavilions at the

Mallet- Stevens

number of

medieval Sainte Chapelle.

A somewhat

work

shop

in

are particularly forward-looking. His role in

the design of settings for films of the 1920s

the outside walls are entirely of stained glass

Modernism

between Deco and


The kitchen and bath-

supporting columns of extreme thinness rather


result,

Early

is

best

columns and

flat

vaulted ceiling of

known

for

concrete clearly express


the qualities of the

his

1928-32 Maison de Verre (House of Glass)

Paris that

made

in

use of steel framing and large areas

of glass block and plate glass

(fig. 17.8).

His furni-

an
ambience suggestive of
material, while

Gothic churches

is

generated by the walls

ture designs included both chairs of rich

woods

and heavy upholstery and simple folding seating


with metal framing and wicker seats and backs,
suggesting

move

International Style.

from

Art

Deco

to

the

that appear almost


entirely of stained
glass.

The glass

mounted

is

in screens

of

concrete, which enclose

the interior on all sides.

309

Chapter Seventeen

17.7

(/eft)

Robert

Mallet-Stevens,

House

17.8 [below]

Pierre

Chareau and Bernard


Bijvoet,

Stevens, Pans, 1927.

(Maison de Verre),

For his

own

Pans,

designed a
that

1928-32.

The Scandinavian

house,

Robert Mallet-Stevens
living

room

marked a transiDeco

The early and dramatic


use of metal

generated

and glass
dramatic

this

tion from Art

and handsome

design to Modernism.

shown- Chareau was

interior

the primary designer,

but he worked with a

Dutch architect,
Bernard Bijvoet
(1889-1979), on
project.

steel

Scandinavia

Dalsace House

at 12 rue Mallet-

democratic

ideas of social equality,

The exposed

blocks predate Le

Although

Chateau's work was not

famous

house remains an
important work of

modernism.

310

to

ideas of modernism in design.

The work of Alvar Aalto

in Finland has already

been discussed (see pp. 285-9). His furniture using


molded plywood as a primary material was manuFinland and

exported to the United States and other countries

where

it

modern

became some of

ture

at

the best

known

of

all

furniture designs. Aalto taught architec-

Corbusier's use of the

extensive, this

and openness

were strongly drawn to the

factured by the firm of Artek in


this

frame and glass

materials.

countries, with their generally

political orientation

the

Technical

University

outside

of

and supported many other Finnish archisuch as Erik Bryggman whose chapel at

Helsinki,
tects,

Turku (1939) presents


of great dignity.

a serene,

mostly white space

The Spread of

Swedish modern design,

at first in the

vocabulary discussed in Chapter

16,

cautious

became more

Crafts

1925,

where

large part

handsome

on the

was developed

in

basis of acoustical considerations.

Modernism became
for

interior

the accepted stylistic direction

Swedish public and commercial buildings of

the 1930s
Girls'

and

early 1940s, such as the

School

of

Hedquist. Modest

by

Stockholm,

1941,

modern

Kingholmen

furniture, textiles,

Paul

and

in the

moving on

While in England he formed a partnership


Maxwell Fry (1899-1987) with whom he
designed a fine educational group for Impingten
College in Cambridgeshire in 1936.

many

type for

later

buildings in the

two

men

Church

modern

also designed a

Street,

England met with considerable

public taste and from

more

specific obiections

the part of architectural professionals

London

existing

to

traditions

(1936), for

design.

and designers exiled from Germany and Austria in


the 1930s brought an influx of modernist ideas.
resonated

designers,

whose

directions that

thinking

of British

with

the

ideas

were moving along the

had

their origins in the Arts

and

Benn Levy, ft is
modernism in

Style

on the same

street,

interior design. Close

is

riors with typically modernist furniture and details.


Chermayeff had been born in Russia but was
educated in England; Mendelsohn had come to

England

and

in

1933

after

being

forced

leave

to

Germany.

Nevertheless, the arrival in England of architects

These

example of International

in

the street brought light flooding into simple inte-

demanded
of

modern house

in

and govern-

preted to cover aesthetic choices that

The
Old

design vocabulary.

on

mental restrictions. Building laws were often inter-

adherence

a proto-

a house by Erich
Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff (1935). The
two houses in an accessible city location made
modernism visible to Londoners, as did Sun House
(fig. 17.9; 1936) by Fry. Its large glass areas facing

by,

in

It is

one- and two-story school

plan, exterior character,

both from a degree of conservatism

1934 for a

in

to the United Sates in

1937.

public acceptance.

resistance,

Europe

with

a fine

Modernism

in

English versions of Art

Walter Gropius came to England


brief stay before

accessories were widely available and had general

England

Modernism

Nouveau.

clearly identified with the Internationa] Style in the

Stockholm Exhibition buildings of 1930 by Sven


Markelius and his Halsingborg Concert Hall of

movement and

Early

for

Mendelsohn and Chermayeff were responsible


one of the most successful of larger public

buildings in England, the de

la

Warr

Bexhill-on-Sea (1935-6). This

is

a seaside pavilion

Pavilion at

with restaurants, an auditorium, and extensive


terraces

and other public spaces

for recreation

17.9 Maxwell

and

Fry,

Sun

House, Hampstead,

London, 1936.

One of the

first

modern

residential interiors in

England, the Sun

House makes use of the


large glass areas
typical of International

Style architecture

311

Chapter Seventeen

use of rough, exposed stone walls that offered an


alternative to the

of

smooth white more often thought


of

characteristic

as

modernism. The
visitors a

International

Style

interior of the pavilion offered

glimpse of what modern interiors could

In this project, Breuer collaborated vth an

be.

English architect,

F. R. S.

had been one of the

first

Yorke (1906-62). Yorke

native British architects to

undertake modern work, including several houses


in strongly cubistic form. Gropius, Fry,

were

among

number of modernist

and Breuer

designers

who

worked on furniture using plywood and some metal


parts intended for factory production under the
name Isokon. The best known of Isokon products is
a Breuer chaise v^dth a frame of molded plywood
(fig.

17.10). Breuer also designed

using molded and

flat

department store

in

room
17.10 Marcel
plywood long

Breuer,

chair,

London, 1936.
After the dosing of the

Bauhaus

in

Germany,

Breuer spent several


years

where

in Britain,

he was involved

furniture intended for

production by the firm


Isokon. The material

is

molded plywood, using


familiar

made

by Alvar

Aalto's designs for


Artek.

17.11 Adams, Holden

&

Pearson,

Underground
Gant's

Hill,

Station,

London,

1934.

Under the design

direc-

torship of Frank Pick

(1878-1941), the
London Underground
system became a leader
in

introducing

modernism

to the

British public

through

the design of train

carnages, graphic
elements,

and

stations.

This interior-jokmgly

"Moscow Hall"an example of the

called
is

functional simplicity

and

fine aesthetic

quality of much of the

work produced

1930s

312

acter than the white of

in

designing a group of

techniques

wall surfaces that

in the

house

at the

Royal

Show in

Bristol

1936).

It

made

Many

street-level

by Breuer in a 1936 exhibi-

showing the work of seven

the designer of an exhibition building in the form of

tion

furniture

London. Real's included

interior designed

The interiors with a fine winding stair


and large open spaces exhibit International Style
modernism at its best (fig. 17.2). The building has
been well maintained and is in current use.
Breuer had come to England in 1935 and was
lounging.

some

panels of plywood for Real's

architects.

entrance

buildings

for

London Underground from 1934


onward were of modern design, usually with brick
stations of the

17.11).

seemed less aggressive in charmost early modernism (fig.

The firm of Adams, Rolden, and Pearson

The Spread of

Early

Modernism

Europe

in

17.12 Tecton
(Berthold Lubetkin et
al.).

Highpomt,

Highgate, London,

1936-8.
Berthold Lubetkin was
the leader of a group of

who

seven architects

practiced under the


firm

name

of Tecton. In

the apartment blocks

known as Highpoint I
and Highpoint
they
II,

demonstrated the qualities

of modern architec-

ture that could serve

residential as well as

public

The

roles.

entrance lobby

illus-

trated here leads from


the front entrance

few steps

seen at the
in turn,
tors.

up a

to corridors

which,

right,

lead to eleva-

The airy and

simple space continues


to serve the building

and

its

residents

appear modern

and

to

in spite

of Its early twentiethcentury date.

were the architects

London

transit system,

1936-8, one of the

first

which brought modernism into the everyday Hfe of

modern movement

in England. Its plan provides

Londoners.

for eight large

for the

Wells Coates, mentioned earlier


role in industrial design,

was

also

(p.

296) for his

an architect

who

helped to bring the International Style to England.

Lawn Road

His

Flats

in

London

Hampstead,

and the Embassy Court Flats at Brighton


(1935) were among the first large buildings in
England of International Style character. Similarly,
(1934),

his

Sunspan Bungalow

tiny

offered the

same

at

Welwyn

(1935)

qualities in a small, family house.

Coates was also a designer of interiors and furniture.

For the

Lawn Road

flats

he detailed

made

conventional furniture largely unnecessary. Coates

home,

some ingenious

furniture for his

own

including a desk on rollers that could be

inserted into a

bank of cabinets so

as to

merge into

the total grouping.

Berthold Lubetkin (1901-90) was born and


trained in Russia, studied in Paris,

England

in

1930 where

and luxurious

on each of

its

and open views without overlooking


windows of neighboring flats. The entrance
foyers, fine examples of simple modern interior
design, are still in good condition and in regular
use (fig. 17.12). Tecton also produced a number of
buildings at the London Zoo in Regent's Park,
including the famous Penguin Pool (1933), a
ventilation

the

classic

demonstration of the

possibilities for rein-

forced concrete to create abstract forms in space.

and came

to

he founded the firm

The development of modernism in England and in


continental Europe was brought to a temporary
hah by World War II in 1939. In the United States,
in spite of the early pioneer work of Louis Sullivan
and Frank Lloyd Wright, development of
modernism was relatively slow. However, many
European designers moved
bilities

of the

New

America

to escape

World. The following chapter

traces the progress of

house

States.

Highgate, London, called Highpoint, in

to

the upheavals in Europe and to explore the possi-

Tecton. Tecton designed the multistory apartment


at

flats

seven floors, each disposed so as to provide cross-

a typical,

tiny apartment with built-in fittings that

designed

striking successes of the

modernism

in the

United

313

Modernism

America

in

In the United States, the most successful architects


and designers maintained the dominant role of
eclectic historicism based on the concepts of the
Paris Ecole des Beaux-Arts. The work of Sullivan
and Wright at the turn of the century was generally

Wright: 1920s and 1930s

ignored or regarded as a

in

American design history,


European modernists was
therefore

little

curious

while

footnote to

the

work of
and

rarely published

known.

when

1932,

In

Henry-Russell

Johnson

Philip

organized

International Style for the

New

the

and
The

Hitchcock
exhibition

Museum

of

Modern

Art

York, they included only seven American

projects.

Of those

seven,

one

room

a single

is

inte-

by Mies van der Rohe, three are small projects,


retrospect hardly memorable, leaving only three

rior
in

examples of genuine significance. These constituted a fairly complete survey of

Architects and Designers

America

at the time,

excluded from the

of Frank Lloyd Wright

one must assume, because

tion,

concept

the

The work of

Gill,

Dodge House,

Los

Angeles, 1915-16,
Before wide acceptance
in tlie

United States,

did not

it

that

International Style implies. Between his return to

number of buildings that


modern developments, while
shows some influence from the Spanish

to presage later

missions. His interiors had simple,


unornamented white walls and, sometimes, arched
openings. Smooth wooden walls without moldings
and grilles of wood generated spaces with modern
sensibilities. Gill's best-knowTi works are the Dodge
house in Los Angeles (fig. 18.1; 1915-16) and the

Scripps house at La JoUa (1917J.

Hollyhock House, Los Angeles, was designed and


constructed for Aline Barnsdall during Wright's
Japanese years, and was completed in 1921.
large,

It is

almost monumental structure in poured

concrete with bands of cast geometric ornament.


Externally,
internally,

Mayan

architecture, while

rooms have

surprisingly limited

suggests

it

large

its

openings onto the elaborate surrounding terraces

and gardens

(fig. 18.3).

Several of Wright's subse-

quent house designs used concrete block

way

in a simi-

of poured concrete. Each

modern ideas of

larly creative

simplicity were

block was cast with a decorative patterned

tfie

fit

term

the

America from Japan in 1922 and the mid- 1930s,


Wright produced comparatively few buildings.

attracted httle

California

(fce/oiv) Irving

modernism

exhibi-

work had

contempo-

it

rary attention, includes a

his design

of

in

the Californian architect Irving Gill

(1870-1936), although

18.1

his early

already passed into history or because

Gill

seem

modern work

with the exception of the work

in place

face,

basis for the interiors of

houses designed by
American architect

this

giving the wall surfaces an overall repeat pattern


that

Wright

recall

18.2

called

Textile block because of

[opposite) Philip

Johnson, Glass House,

New Canaan,

La Miniatura, the Millard house in Pasadena


(1923),

Connecticut, 1949.

While he was working

is

houses of

probably the most successful of Wright's


this period.

a hillside building with

It is

kitchen and dining space on a lower, garden level

in close association

with Mies van der Rohe,

Johnson planned

own
way

his

glass house in a

looked by a balcony. There

on each

level.

interior walls,

Mies's Farnsworth

house (see
IS

277). The

p.

a simple

The red

the floor

and

tiles

of

the

outward view

into

surrounding greenery
establish color. The
furniture, all

of Mies

houses hint

chrome frameworks.

314

The patterned block appears

in the

in

some

at

Mayan

textile

block California

architecture, although

it

may

be a fortuitous by-product of the use of patterned

block rather than a deliberate reference.

As Wright's work gradually became known,

young people
often

interested in studying architecture

approached him

van der Rohe's design,


uses brown leather on

and blocks with perforations

and dark. Several other

walls of floor-to-ceiling

is

exterior walls, generating internal patterns of light

rectangle, with all four

glass.

room above overbedroom and bath

with a large, double-height living

that relates to

house

its

of the repeat patterns of printed fabrics.

advised

them

for

advice.

He

always

against studying at the established

architectural schools and, instead, began to invite

Chapter Eighteen

18.3 Frank Lloyd


Wright, Aline Barnsdall

House (Hollyhock
House), Los Angeles,

1916-21.
Decorative patterns on
the ceiling reflect the
structural support

members.

skylight

with ornamental detail


lights the area in front

of the massive fireplace

and chimney, which


form a spatial anchor
for this large room.

Indirect light

comes

from the coves at the


lower edge of the
ceiling.

Some of the
can be recog-

furniture

nized as being of
Wright's design.

18.4 Frank

Lloyd

Wright, Taliesen, Spring

Green, Wisconsin, from

1925.
The complex of buildings that forms Wright's
estate includes

dramatic

many

interior

spaces. This living

room

with sloping ceiling

planes

and massive

stonework
fireplace

with

is

for walls

shown

and

here

many small

objects from Wnght's


collections.

Much

Wright furniture and a


rug

and hanging were

designed late

in his

career The name,


Taliesin

(meaning

"Shining Brow"),

was

that of a mythical

Welsh poet

316

Modernism

those interested to
his

home

(fig. 18.4).

work

him

near Appleton, Wisconsin

at Taliesin,

This arrangement became

and continued
It still

to

It

known

was, in effect, Wright's office

grow and prosper during

exists

as the

his hfe-

under the direction of former

apprentices.

where rough stone walls contrast with

smooth
varied

same

issue, the first

plaster,

Fallingwater, the
first

published pictures of

most famous of Wright's houses,

appeared. This house, built in 1936 for the

Kaufmann

family on a

Pennsylvania,

near

wooded

Pittsburgh,

site at
its

Bear Run,

balconies

of

concrete projecting out over a stream and waterfall,

one of the most romantic examples of modern


architectural form anywhere (figs. 18.5 and 18.6).
is

The full impact of Wright's approach to


modernism did not become widely known until, in
1938, the Architectural Forum, an American periodical, devoted an entire issue to previously unpublished Wright buildings. The large complex of living
and work structures at Taliesin first appears here.
Many photographs show the richness of interior
spaces,

In the

at

18.5 Frank

America

Lloyd

Wright, Fallingwater,

Tahesin Fellowship.

time.

as apprentices with

in

Bear Run,
Pennsylvania, 1936.

One of Wrighfs best


known commissions,
Fallingwater was undertaken at the request of

Edgar Kaufmann Jr

for

was built
over a waterfall and
his father.

It

has cantilevered
concrete balconies

and

roof planes that project

from the vertical


elements of rough

stonework The relation


of the house to

its

natural setting

is

remarkably

effective.

elements in natural wood, and

window areas

often in continuous bands or

in high clerestories. Wright's

own

furniture designs

are everywhere, but decorative detail

is

minimal.

and objects collected in


Japan generate a sense of warmth and richness that
Plants, material textures,

is

a characteristic

of Wright's

interiors.

18.6

Interior of

Fallingwater,

The great open living

space of Fallingwater
uses large areas of
glass to look out into
the countryside

and

beyond

includes floors

and

fireplace of local stone.

The ceiling patterns


relate to

hidden electnc

light elements. The


built-in

seating benches

and moveable

stools

are of Wright's

own

design.

317

Chapter Eighteen

18.7 Frank Lloyd

Wax

Wright, Johnson
Building, Racine,

Wisconsin,

1936-a

The "great room" of the


administration

was

building, which

constructed at the

Wax

Johnson

S. C.

Factory,

is

dominated by concrete
structural columns,

which spread out

to

form disk elements of


the roof Between the

concrete

circles,

glass

tubing skylights provide


daylight

18.8 {below)
office,

Private

Johnson

Wax

Building.

The distinctive furniture


designed by Wright
the

S, C.

Johnson

for

Wax

Building used circular

and semicircular
elements to relate to the
structural design of the

building Desk drawers


swing out on pivots and

desk tops end


circles.

Many

in

semh

desks also

have an upper shelf


along the rear edge

to

provide extra storage


space.

The unornamented cantilevers and the bands of


windows with thin metal frames suggest an awareness of the International Style modernism of
Europe, although Wright would never acknowledge such influences. The much photographed and
(which

now

can

published

interiors

visited), in

which natural stone,

also

be

built-in furniture

wood, and a miscellany of other furniand possessions combine in relation to views


of the surrounding outdoors, have great charm.
The spaces are at once open to views of the
surrounding woods and closed in circulation and
in natural

ture

private uses.

The same magazine

also carried

construction photographs of the

Company

office building,

Racine, Wisconsin.

became one of

On

the best

residential projects.

its

then

still

drav^ngs and

S.

C.

completion

known

Johnson

being built in
in

1939

it

of Wright's non-

Most of the building is devoted


room" general office space.

to a single large "great

The structure is a cluster of "mushroom" concrete


columns which are not, in fact, mushroom-shaped,
but are formed with slim tapered shafts that spread
318

Modernism

out into large disks

made

tubing

The

at their tops (fig. 18.7).

spaces between the disk tops are

with glass

filled

into skylights that flood the space

with daylight. Perimeter walls of red-brown brick

band between
and the edges of the column tops. There is

are windowless, but glass forms a


wall tops

mezzanine surrounding the main space,


and some private offices and related spaces in a
penthouse on the roof Wright designed unique
a balcony

furniture for this building,

desk tops and shelves,

which do not

pull out but

among

These are

18.8).

making use of

swing on pivots

(fig.

most successful of

the

windows on

made up

there

the walls can be

strong

are

American pioneer modernists had

at

in

Rudolph Schindler (1887-1953) had

stormy relationship with Wright that began with

collaboration

(fig. 18.9)

Lovell family in

floor that holds

water for radiant

Usonian

modernists

of America.

and

studied

as

been Schindler's

together during the winter months.

large

interplay

are

wood used

among

Wright's works. For the


to

rest

in a

most

the

of his

romantic
of

interesting
life

he was able

produce an increasing flow of work of striking

originality.

however,

In

spite

Wright

of his

success

and fame,

something

remained

an

of

outsider to the architectural and design professions.

As long

as eclecticism

remained dominant,

the architectural establishment ignored his

viewed

it

work or

with horror. As modernism became more

it was the European International Style


was more widely admired than Wright's more

early

He came

for a short

time with Frank

house

in

clients earlier)

Hitchcock-Johnson exhibition).

example of the International

The

States (fig. 18.10).

with

associated

client

advocacy

involving sun and exercise.

known

the

as

commissioned
It is

the

first

was
of

a doctor

health

much

practices

The house became

House, with pool, gym,

Health

outdoor sleeping porches, and huge

glass

white,

unornamented

grey carpeting in

all

walls outside

and

in,

and

a highly personal idiom. Wright's freely

expressed contempt for virtually

work but

all

own

did nothing to draw other


sympathy or understanding.

Some

of Wright's

practitioners'

their

went on

the

Los Angeles in 1934. His

style

Neutra's

own house

of 1932 and a series of

houses for private clients in the Los Angeles area


established the character of a large

house

particularly

body of his
was a

spectacular project

in the California desert for the film director

own. Harwell

Joseph von Sternberg (1935, demolished 1971).

own

Walls surrounding a pool and driveway extended

Hamilton Harris (1903-1990) established


office in

to

furniture,

America.

work.

apprentices

produce distinguished work of

his

in

with

and simple, largely


house represented a

living areas,

dramatic introduction of the new, modernist

rials

areas

admitting sunlight throughout the interior. With

built-in

emphasis on natural mate-

clear

United

Style in the

accepted,

its

1927 in Los Angeles (included in the

that

organic work, with

to

moved to Los Angeles to


own practice. The Lovells (who had

establish his

with rough stone and

such

where he met Louis

1921

and worked

West where Wright and the apprentices worked


interiors

with

there

Lloyd Wright. In 1926 he

gradually grew into the complex called Taliesin

Its

California, in a

Loos and Otto Wagner.

the United States in


Sullivan

modest desert camp near Phoeni.x, Arizona,

Newport Beach,

Richard Neutra (1892-1970) was born in

Stijl.

incorporate the letters U.S., to suggest his convic-

United States

conflict.

practice in California

geometric modern vocabulary suggestive of De

Vienna

to the

bitter

in

own

designing a beach house (1926) for the

house design. The term was coined by Wright to

was unique

ended

but

Schindler conducted his

simple interior spaces with surfaces of natural

tion that his style

traditional

tenuous relationship with Wright early

Several other
least a

wood and

heating, are t>'pical of what Wright called

with

Schindlerand Neutra

their careers.

warm

connections

Japanese house design.

the pipes that circulate

a single, simple space with

The glass areas


removed to transform the house into an open pavilion. Kitchen and
bath occupy an enclosed area at one end of the
main living space. As in much of Wright's work,
that

The Winkler-Goetsch house of 1939 at


Okemos, Michigan, is an example of Wright's work
in modest residential projects. Its clerestory-lit,
and the concrete

was

three sides, a floor of rush squares,

plus a few bits of simple furniture.

Wright's furniture designs.

brick,

It

own

tiny

America

circular

and backs, for the ends of


and even for desk drawers

motifs, for chair seats

wide recognition.

in

his

house

Fellowship Park, Los Angeles (1935), brought

at

him

box form of the house outward in long


horizontals. The walls were of steel and painted
the basic

319

Chapter Eighteen

18.9

(ng/)f)

Rudolph

Schlndler, Schlndler

House, North Kings


Road, Los Angeles,

1921-2.
Sliding walls
this

house

open out

to its

and clerestory
windows admit light
above a continuous

surround,

shelf.

The fireplace and

chimney are of unornamented simplicity. The


chairs are of Schindler's
design.

18.10

{below) Richard

Josef Neutra, Lovell

House, Los Angeles,

1927-9.
The large glass areas

and undecorated white


wall surfaces are

nents chosen from

aluminum. The interior spaces, with unornamented stretches of white and large glass areas,
were exceptionally fine examples of how modern
interior space was organized. Neutra designed a
large number of houses, apartment buildings, and

catalogs.

schools in which he remained a consistent advocate

evidence of Neutra's

commitment

to the

International Style. This

steel-framed house
largely

was

made of compo-

of a severe, geometric modernism.

Lescaze
The importation of European

ideas of

modernism

was furthered with the arrival of William Lescaze


(1896-1969) in America in 1920. He had been a
pupil of the Swiss architect Karl Moser in his native
Geneva, and he opened a practice in New York in
1923.

partnership

In

Vkith

Howe

George

(1886-1955) he was the leading designer of the


building for the Philadelphia Saving
(fig.

18.11; 1929-32).

Fund

Howe had been

Society

a successful

designer of houses and small bank buildings but

was persuaded of the


Lescaze.

modern

The
tall

logic

of modernism by

resulting building

is

the

building anywhere and the

readily visible

work of

first

truly

first large,

the International Style in

America. Its great size, sternly geometric mass,

and

black stone-surfaced base with a huge corner area

of glass

320

shocked the conservative Philadelphia

unaware

public,

previously

modern

architecture.

of

the

nature

of

The building was, however,

Modernism

highly successful.

With no

suitable

modern

Edward Durrell Stone designed a house


Conger Goodyear at Old Westbury, Long

In 1940

furni-

ture available in the United States, Lescaze was

for

forced to design special furniture for the project in

Island,

the general idiom of

Bauhaus design, using metal

New

in

America

18.11 [above

left)

William Lescaze and

George Howe,

York,

flat-roofed

International Style modernism.

essay

in

Philadelphia Saving

Floor to ceiling

Fund Society (PSFS)

tube frames supporting the seats and backs of

glass

and tops and drawers of tables. After the


partnership with Howe was dissolved, Lescaze
worked on residential projects, radio studios (for
CBS) and a variety of other projects, always clearly

International Style in design.

The direct influence of International Style


modernism increased hugely when several of the
European leaders of the movement arrived in the
United States. Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer

and plain white walls form

a gallery space for

Building, Philadelphia,

1929-32.
chairs,

Goodwin and Stone


New

York's

Museum

Modern

of

Art opened in

1931 and immediately became a strong influence in


promoting interest in the modernism that was by
then well established in Europe. The museum's

own

New

modernism

designed

For a

large glass areas.

were invited to Harvard University

in

Cambridge,

Concealed mdirect light

comes from lowered


ceiling area panels.

The

columns are faced with


polished black marble,

and

the floor

is

dark

grey.

Massachusetts, in 1937. Gropius became the head

of the Graduate School of Design. Architectural


training

abandoned

its

tradition-oriented content

18.12 {above right)


Goodwin and

Philip

Edward Stone, Museum

from the programs

of the newly

by

the

architects,

New York

L.

(fig.

made

public in an

an avowed educational purpose.

number of

is

flooded with light from

Cropius and Breuer

occupied a penthouse

visible to a

institution with

mam

bankmg room

Technology). As faculty and graduating students

auditorium, and members' rooftop lounge


all

The large,

Durrell Stone

Godwin (1885-1958) and Edward

18.12),

works.

interior spaces, lobbies, stair,

York, a fine

example of modernism, was designed by Philip


Its

art

modern program. In 1938, Mies


van der Rohe became Director of Architecture at
Armour Institute (now lUinois Institute of

building on 53rd Street in

(1902-78) in 1939.

major collection of modern

years

it

was the

best,

indeed

almost the only, example of International Style


architecture

and

excellence in

New York City.

interior design of a high level of

in favor

of a

fully

at these institutions

began to

teach and practice in America, a vast change in


professional attitudes took place.
particularly the
Style,

modernism of

Modernism, and
the International

began to replace the tradition-oriented and

of

Modern

Walter Gropius was the architect of his

constructed building of
the

Museum

house

at Lincoln,

Massachusetts

of Modern

Art. Floor-to-ceiling

glass

opened

an
Modern
including exam-

outdoor
ples

own

New

The members lounge

chairs,

modernistic directions of the 1920s and 1930s.

Art,

York, 1939.

by

to

terrace.

Breuer,

Mathsson, and Russel

Wright were used.


(fig.

18.13; 1937).

321

Chapter Eighteen

fine

example of International

a typical
as

an

flat roof,

entrance

Style design,

large glass areas,

shelter

columns, an external

and such

it

has

details

by tubular
and generous use

supported

spiral stair,

of glass block. The white walls

are, surprisingly,

not

of concrete or stucco but of the tongue-and-groove

wood boards
building.

display

The

typical of vernacular

New

pieces

of

furniture

by

named

and

ings

group of

which he
was respon-

a firm

the Architects' Collaborative.

sible for the extensive

It

residential build-

grouped around court)'ards known

Harvard Graduate Center, the

first

Han'ard

interior,

institutional building in the

Josef Albers,

Mies van der Rohe

modern

as

the

build-

Mies van der Rohe planned


Illinois

Institute

In

Building (1943).
steel structure

late

in

the Graduate School of

for the
first

Its

austere patterns of exposed

with fiUed-in areas of brick and glass

work. As the campus developed,

possibilities

up a teaching post

new campus

established the vocabulary of his hugely influential

Cropius,

1937 Cropius took

of Technology where his

American project was the Metallurgical Research

Cropius House, Lincoln,


Massachusetts, 1937.

States. Interiors

and Herbert Bayer.

number of Mies's
18.13 Walter

United

included distinguished art work by loan Miro,

various

members of the modern movement (fig. 18.14).


The house is now landmarked and open to visitors.
By 1949 Gropius had organized

campus at Cambridge,
The simple forms, exterior and
gradually became the vocabulary of most
the

England

interiors are of elegant simplicity

many

on

ings

Massachusetts.

it

included a

buildings that demonstrated the

of minimalist simplicity.

The concept of

the glass skyscrapers that Mies

had developed before leaving Germany finally


found realization in the t\vin-tower apartment
buildings in Chicago overlooking Lake Michigan.

Design at Harvard, and


his

own house

a fine

is

International Style
design, the
built in

first

New

although

traditional
fashion.

to

black-painted

in

wood

in

outdoor

spiral stair connects the

second-floor terrace

with the ground floor

18.14 Intenorof
Cropius House.

tect's

in the archi-

own house has

windows above the


built-in

surface

deskwork

door gives

access to the outside of


the house, while

a wall

of glass block isolates


this

small room from

the

main

living

dining areas.

322

and

glass.

all

four faces of

central core ot

stairs

and

each

floor.

elevators served the eight apartments

The apartment

on

interiors were, of course,

each decorated as the occupant might choose but

American

An

The study

steel

be

England,

it is

constructed

The Lake Shore Drive apartments (1948-51) were


simple rectangular blocks, with

example of

and

the outside walls of floor- to-ceiling glass

still

domi-

nated the interior space, and the ground-level

Modernism

entrance areas show Miesian interior design

simple best. (Mies's work

more

tiiliy

in

Chapter

in

America

is

at its

discussed

in

America

house" has become a famous example of the

"glass

possibilities of

an open plan carried to

its

logical,

extreme conclusion.

15.)

Johnson and Mies van der Rohe were collaborators

Johnson

New York

on the

skyscraper Seagram Building

of 1954-8, a simple rectangular tower rising from a

Johnson

Philip

(born

1906)

left

his

post

chairman of the department of architecture

Museum

as

at the

of Modern Art in order to study architec-

ture as a student at Harvard

under Gropius. His

broad plaza. The exterior walls are of bronze-tinted


glass held in
riors of

by

vertical

bands of bronze. The

inte-

lobby and circulation space are lined with

travertine in totally simple forms.

The ground-floor

1942 house in Cambridge, Massachusetts (said to

restaurant (called the Four Seasons) was designed

have been designed and built as his graduate

by Johnson

thesis),

demonstrates his developing devotion to

the ideas of Mies.

It is

a simple walled rectangle of

in

collaboration with the decorator

William Pahlmann.

which about two-thirds are

brass-

sky,

hanging

in

ture

hung over

a garden open to the


and the remaining third an enclosure open to

the garden, with a tloor-to-ceiling glass wall.


furniture,

house
In

The

of Mies's European design, gives the

It

majestic space using

is

Mies's Brno chairs and glass walls curtained with

and

is

copper-colored

curved swags.
the

aluminum

chains

Richard Lippold sculp-

bar.

The entrance

area

contains a curtain painted by Picasso.

a striking International Style character.

1949, aware of Mies's Farnsworth house,

Johnson designed

his

Connecticut, as an

all

own house
glass-walled

at

New

Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill

Canaan,

box with only a

small cylindrical brick enclosure to house a bath-

room and to provide a location for a fireplace (fig.


18.2). The kitchen was a counter with lift tops
giving access to equipment. The furniture was all of

number of partners
more than a hundred)
on major design projects

Large architectural firms with a

and a
began

large staff (often


to

emerge

to take

generated by large corporate, institutional, and

governmental requirements. The firm of Skidmore,

Mies's design, while major works of art introduced

Owings,

and

a variety of less rigorous forms into the space. This

founded

in

Merrill

(now known

SOM),

as

1936, was responsible for both

the

18.15 Skidmore,
Owings &

Merrill,

Terrace Plaza Hotel,


Cincinnati, Ohio, 1945.

SOM became known


especially for

on buildings
scaped
hotel's

room

work

settings. This

small dining

IS

upper

its

in land-

on one of the

floors,

and

there

a large glass area


offering an attractive
is

view The

built-in

banquette seating and


chairs are covered in
light

brown leather The

mural by the Spanish


painter Joan Mird

(1893-1983) on the
curving inner wall
enlivens the space.

323

Chapter Eighteen

architecture

and the

interior design of the Terrace

Ohio (fig. 18.15; 1945).


Interiors included art works by Joan Miro, Saul
and Alexander Calder. Benjamin
Steinberg,
Baldwin, Davis Allen, Marianne Strengell, and
Plaza Hotel in Cincinatti,

18.16

and Eero

Eliel

Saannen,

First

Christian

(Tabernacle) Church,

Ward

Bennett (born 1917) participated in various

aspects of

its

interior design.

The firm came

to

Columbus, Indiana,

favor the minimalist direction of Mies van der

1942.

may be

This

as the

regarded

first U.S.

church

of modern architectural
design. The extreme
simplicity of the finely

proportioned space,
with
Its

its tall

Rohe, particularly

in projects

developed by Gordon

Bunschaft (1909-1990), the partner in charge of


design, such as the

House

(1952), the

to be built in

New York

first

truly

skyscraper Lever

modern

tall

building

New York City.

windows,

and its
and
natural wood tones as
the

end

wall,

Eero Saarinen
Eliel

the only color, generate

calm meditation.

with

The

first

twentieth-

has simple, dignified

it

interiors

in

Columbus, Indiana (1942), presents a comparably


simple and impressive interior with white walls and
brickwork generating a serene sense of space

(fig.

The Saarinens, in partnership with the firm


of Perkins and Will, were the lead designers for the
Crow Island School (1939), an impressive demonstration of the possibilities of modernism for the
18.16).

J.

American public school. In partnership


Robert F. Swanson, the Saarinens won a

competition in 1939 for a Smithsonian Gallery of

Saarinen's son Eero (1910-61) entered into

partnership

(1938).

which unornamented wood surfaces generate a


sense of warmth. Their First Christian Church
known as the Tabernacle Church) at
(also

with

use of white

a space promoting

excellence,

typical

dignified cross on

New York

Buffalo,

century American concert hall to achieve acoustic

his

father

at

Cranbrook,

Michigan, to design the Kleinhans Music Hall

in

Art to be built in Washinton, D.C., a superbly

would

organized, asymmetrical composition that

have been the

first

important work of modernism

it was never built. The


on the mall was ultimately given over

in that city. Unfortunately,

intended

site

to the National Gallery in an eclectic,

looking

style,

the

work of John

backward-

Pope

Russell

(1874-1937), completed in 1941 after his death.

Interior Decoration: the

Reaction to Modernism
American schools of design taught historic imitation in programs modeled on the Beaux-Arts
system, often requiring students to execute prob-

lems

in a particular historic style. Interior

tion

was taught

in

many

home economics, with the


use their knowledge

decora-

schools as a branch of
idea that students

would

own

in the decoration of their

Among professional
Maugham worked on residential

decorators,

homes.

Syrie

projects in the

United States as well as in England. American

working

designers

included

in

an

eclectic

vocabulary

Ruby Ross Wood, Rose Gumming, Nancy

McClelland, and the firm of McMillen, Inc. Smyth

Urquhart

&

Marckwald were responsible

for ship

interiors, including those of the America. Frances

worked

Elkins

Draper,

best

in

California,

worked on both
18.17).

(1910-94) was

country-house

324

Dorothy

decorators,

and

residential, hotel, restaurant,

office interiors in her overscaled


(fig.

while

knovm of American

Mrs.

Henry

known
style.

ornamental

("Sister")

style

Parish

II

for her easy-going English

Modernism

store in

New York became

well

known, and

Billy

in

America

18.17 Dorothy
Draper, Pompeilan

Baldwin (1903-84), whose fashionable interiors

were favorites of many wealthy

Court Restaurant,
Metropolitan

clients.

of Art,

New

Museum

York, 1948.

The interior decorator

Furniture

and Other

was retained

Interior

to

mal<e

over on older space,


originally

Furnishings

museum
that

It

used

for

exiiibits,

a restaurant. The

Modern

America

interior design in

1930s

in the

and 1940s was hampered by the lack of

available

modern

of

Office

furniture.

furniture

steel

so

could be used as
lively

scheme chosen for


the floor and walls was
augmented by the very
color

large

and ornamental

construction from such tlrms as Globe-Wernecke

hanging

and General Fireproofmg (now G.F.) was, even

Doric columns are part

if

somewhat pedestrian in design, available for office


and institutional use, but furniture for residential
and commercial interiors hardly existed. The
designs of Gilbert Rohde manufactured by Herman
Miller were one exception, but they displayed a
strongly Art Deco character not quite in line with
the

simplicity

designers.
for

the

sought

by

International

The Finnish firm of Artek found

lights.

The

of the pre-existing
architecture.

Style

outlets

imported designs of Alvar Aalto and

Thonet, and manufactured some products suitable


for

modern

interiors.

However, designers were

custom

often compelled to design furniture to be

made

for their interiors, or to settle for whatever

nondescript designs they could find in production.

Knoll
Several other decorators, however,

from

They attempted to develop


were more related to the modern world,

historic imitation.

styles that

while

moved away

avoiding

the

functionalist

aspects

of

International Style modernism. T. H. Robsjohn-

Gibbings
trained in

who had been born and


England but who worked in America,

(1909-73),

designed furniture in a stripped classical vocabulary that suited his rather simple
riors.

He became

furniture

factory-made

particularly interested

of ancient

modern Klismos

but elegant

Greece

in

inte-

the

and developed a

chair that was for a time offered as

product

from the Widdicomb

Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan.


Edward Wormley (1907-95) became known for

Furniture

his

tastefully

simple furniture produced by the

Dunbar Furniture Company in Berne,


showrooms for Dunbar placed the
working

in a variety

step forward occurred

(1914-55) came to

Germany
ture.

when,

New

in 1937,

Hans Knoll

York from

to begin production of

his

native

modern

furni-

Knoll was not himself a designer, but he had

learned in

Germany an appreciation of the kind of


modern interiors called for. He made

furniture that

an alliance with Jens Risom (born 1915), a Danish


designer

who had

arrived in

New York

in

1938.

Risom designed for Knoll a number of simple chairs


and tables that could be made in readily available
wood with chair seats and backs of stretched
webbing. As wartime restrictions tightened in the
late 1940s, most furniture manufacturers were
diverted into military production. Knoll's furniture

could, however, be manufactured in small shops

Indiana. His

using available basic materials; the webbing was

furniture in

said to be available as reject material

versatile decora-

from the
making of parachutes. The simple designs also

of styles included William

turned out to be highly suitable to wartime needs

suitably reserved settings.


tors

Other

Pahlmann (1906-87), whose floridly elaborate


model rooms for the Lord and Taylor department

for

the

interiors

of military

facilities,

officers'

lounges, servicemen's clubs, and similar installa-

325

Chapter Eighteen

IS.ISand 18.19
Florence Knoll, furni-

1940s and 1950s

ture,

was

Knoll Associates

New

founded

in

1946 by

the

York in

German-

born Hans Knoll and


his wife, formerly

Florence Schust

As

design director,

was a

Florence Knoll

key force

in

main-

taining the company's

determination to

produce furniture of the


highest design quality.

made

The company

available the classic

designs by the early

modern

pioneers,

including Breuer

and

Mies van der Rohe, but

when a need

surfaced,

Florence Knoll

took

new

modern

under

designs

idiom.

in the

tions.

As

a result, Knoll secured a foothold in the

production of modern furniture

(figs. 18.18 and


The 650 chair of 1941-2 remains in
production and is as suitable to modern interiors as
it was when first introduced. As the only supplier
of modern furniture suitable for use in the interiors
that architects and designers were producing in the

18.19).

and

1940s, the Knoll firm established a long

fruitful

relationship with the design professions.


In 1943, Florence Schust (born 1917) joined the

Knoll firm to deal with interior design projects that

were often referred to Knoll by


spent

architects.

some of her youth with

Cranbrook, and she was able

She had

the Saarinens at

to use her

Cranbrook

contacts to bring into the Knoll orbit the classic

designs of Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe.

She also persuaded other leaders of the developing

American modern movement to assign designs to


Knoll. Eero Saarinen was the designer of a series of
lounge chair of 1948 (now

objects, including the

often called the

"womb"

chair)

and the pedestal-

based chairs and tables of 1955-6. Harry Bertoia

who was

(1915-78), a sculptor
contact,

another Cranbrook

was the designer of the wire chairs that

added

own

director.

The Knoll Planning Unit produced some

guished interior design for the office building of


the Connecticut General Life Insurance

tural project of

straightforward
seating

and

modern

of a

number of

designs for upholstered

Knoll, originally a

at

furniture,

interior

design

direction,

it

a favored source

design for architects of

unable

or

Under Florence

service.

became
unwilling

Knoll's

of interior

modern works who were

to

van der Rohe

is

evident, along with a sense for

modest

and placegradually grew into a complete

service that offered help in the selection

ment of

Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill.

Florence Knoll's awareness of the aesthetic of Mies

strong color.

office furniture.

The Planning Unit

Company

Bloomfield, Connecticut (1954-7), an architec-

Florence Schust (now Hans Knoll's wife) herself

development

A textile division was

of the best interiors of the period, including distin-

at

the

projects.

in 1949, with Eszter Harastzy (1910s-95) as

joined the Knoll line of classic designs in 1952.

undertook

326

design for their

undertake the interior

Herman
The

Miller Furniture

Herman

curtailed

devote

Miller

Furniture

Company
Company had
War II to

production during World

its facilities

to war-related products. After

the war, without their designer Gilbert Rohde,

who

Modernism

had died

in 1944, the firm

(1908-86), an architect

asked to develop
ture

who had

complete

written and edited

be introduced in

to

Nelson produced a

modular cabinet

units with related seating

He

full

range of

in the

Museum of Modern

and

Art's

Organic Design

Home

in

Furnishings

competition. Altliough

by the sculptor Isamu

few designs

prize-winning design

submitted

also advised the inclusion in the product

of a

line

1940, The Museum of


Modern Art, New York.

Working with

1946.

several associates.

beds.

competition drawings,

of modern furni-

line

America

18.20 Charles Eames


and Eero Saarinen,

turned to George Nelson

magazines dealing with design. Nelson was

several

in

production problems

Noguchi, the Hollywood decorator Paul Laszlo

prevented the design

and, most significantly, seating and storage units by

from being manufactured, the

Charles Eames.

concept led

to later chair designs

Eames (1907-78), who was also an architect,


had been at Cranbrook from 1937 and had estab-

developed by each of
the designers
separately-

lished a friendship with Eero Saarinen. Together,

Eames and Saarinen took two first prizes in a 1940


Museum of Modern Art competition entitled
Organic Design

The

Home

in

turned out to be too

Eames

Furnishing

(fig. 18.20).

intended to be of molded plywood,

chairs,

to

difficult

produce, but

working on molded plywood

persisted in

seating during the

war years

duced by Herman

Miller.

until they

They were

were intro-

the

first

of a

long series of Eames furniture designs.

The design program of

Company was

the

Herman

Miller

enhanced when Alexander


Girard (1907-93) became head of a textile division
in 1952. Girard was trained in Europe but came to

sense was in part a product of his study of and love

New York

objects he collected.

in

1932 and relocated to Detroit in 1937

where he was
His

designer.

further

active as an architect

own house

Michigan, was a showcase of


interiors filled with objects

of folk

form

art.

in a

His

Herman

lively

from

and

Grosse

at

interior

the bright

and daring color

typical

By 1950, modernism was firmly

norm

of

of the

in place as the

major American designers.

Pointe,

established

and colorful

The wider

public, however, looked in a different

direction,

translating

his vast collection

Miller textiles used abstract

range of cheerful colors.

for

He was

also

language

all

modernist

of commercial

ideas

production.

houses of questionable merit, interiors

the

into

Suburban
filled

with

responsible for the interior design of a large house

gross versions of "modernistic" furniture, kitchens

designed by Eero Saarinen for Irwin Miller in

with appliances in pastel colors, and, above

Columbus, Indiana
Fe,

New

Mexico,

in

1953.

moved

gigantic automobiles sporting meaningless tailfins

Here he acquired and

became the design icons of the post-World War II


world. Interior design, in the work of thoughtful

reconstructed a traditional adobe house, making


a virtual

museum

all,

to Santa

1952). Girard

it

of folk art collected in Arizona,

Mexico, South America, and India. Girard's color

professionals,

moved forward

in contrast to this

unfortunate dominant direction.

-in

The Ascendency of Modernism

World War

II had limited design activity in


had brought design to a virtual stop in
Europe. After the war, design began to come alive
again in Europe. As countries recovered from the

If

America,

war and

it

its

return

to

economic impact, there was


prosperity.

In

the

a gradual

United

States,

economic health rapidly encouraged new building


to make up for the suspensions of the war years.
Expanding businesses required new offices and
other facilities. The expansion of programs in

and other

colleges, hospitals,

institutions created

an extensive need for interior design work. Design

grew and prospered

firms

Europe and

in

in

became studded

and

attached

to

however

poorly

ceilings gave

known

way

as "sheet-rock"

institutional buildings,

were hung from above by a

tion grilles could be integrated into ceiling design.

The

traditional

produced

interiors

without

"traditional"

directions,

stylistic

dependence on windows

source of light and fresh

by mechanical
ered

air, at

air

air

as a

began to be displaced

conditioning systems that deliv-

the desired temperature and humidity,

its

Residential

often undesirable aesthetic

design

was influenced by

these developments in ways that were often unobtrusive. Plastics

could be

made

to simulate tradi-

tional materials in carpets, textiles,

and

furniture.

reproduced.

Air conditioning could be concealed with only

Housing developments, usually the work of specu-

small inlet and return grilles visible. Fluorescent

and

understood

and

occupied increasing areas of land

by

fed

districts

extensive

in

highway

suburbs became endemic,

their related

It

is

not

lighting

came into acceptance in business interiors,


and bathrooms but remained less used in

kitchens,

living spaces.

Design became more truly international than


ever before. There was an increasing flow of infor-

mation through magazines and books, while the

surprising that the interiors were also rarely of

coming of

outstanding design quality. Residential interiors

tion

were normally assembled by the householders that

an interested public. European modern design


became increasingly familiar to and popular with

nature of the

home

furnishing products offered at

which were

retail,

aesthetic quality.

rarely of great

It is

in the

work of

affluent population in the United States,

spread from their points of origin (often in the

government agencies

United States) worldwide.

that the better design of these

to be found.

Many technical developments

led to changes in

Colombo arranged

the nature of interior spaces. Synthetic materials,

rotatmg elements

such as

plastics,

became

available as replacements

for older, natural materials. Textiles

and carpets

on the

using synthetic fibers (often in combination with

some

both for designers and

professional

1970.

is

more

easier

while developments in materials and technology

designers as they served business, institutions, and

years

the

regular intercontinental air transporta-

made movement

or

technical

furniture, Milan, Italy,

328

boards

or "dry-wall." Ceilings, particularly in offices and

qualities.

were to occupy them. Design resulted from the

with a folding canopy.

and

Plaster as a material for walls


to factory-produced

spaces in spite of

Paris

tall

in the

buildings.

with buildings of indifferent design.

a Cabriolet Bed

which could be used

London and

new tall

cities

table-shelf and,

chips,

and furniture construction.

surfacing

but even such traditionally conserv-

States,

was most marked

"Suburban sprawl" the clutter of


unplanned commercial development surrounding

right,

made of wood

wall

for

into buildings that could have fixed windows or no


windows at all. Inexpensive fluorescent lighting
became the norm for commercial and institutional

networks.

mcluding a dining

paneling

central city districts were clogged with such

suburban

forms OS a theme,

in body-fitting curvilinear forms.

were the binders for various forms of

air circula-

lative builders,

circular

made

Plastics

of acoustic

benefit of professional design tended to remain

futuristic apart-

for chairs

sound-absorbing material. Lighting and

Buildings

an impervious material for

as

and counter-top surfaces. Glass fiber


reinforced plastic became a highly useful material

Modernism with a basis in the International


Style became the norm of professional design work.
There was a new willingness to move beyond the
vocabulary of flat roofs, white walls, and maximal
glass. The glass-walled skyscraper became a symbol
of success for businesses and municipalities, so that

with

ment using

wide use

into

furniture

strips that held panels

ative cities as

In

came

most used material for floor tiles


Melamine plastic

asphalt-asbestos).

system of metal

United

Joe Colombo,

the

(replacing

America.

buildings. This tendency

19.1

became

natural fibers)

came

into general use. Vinyl

Italy
became a leading center for exciting post-war
design and exported furniture and other products
to other countries hungry for new and imaginative
design. Anyone arriving in Rome by train would be
Italy

Ml!

'

Chapter Nineteen

new

struck by the

railroad station, the Stazione

Termini (1951) by Eugenic Montuori (born 1907)

Cio Ponte:

Pirelli

In his early life

dilemma

movement and

the more accepted fascist

Persico, the Turinese art critic

wrote about this struggle

Today
Italian

classical style.

artists

in

(1891-1979),

an

engineer

whose reputation was formed by his stadium


Florence (1930-2), had the opportunity there

through the imaginative

spaces

interior

create

in

to

934:

geometiy of reinforced concrete construction. In

must tackle the thorniest problem of

the capacity to believe

life;

and designer,

Nervi

Luigi

Pier

between the modernist

orthodoxy which advocated a more

Eduardo

impressive space.

as an architect Cio Ponte faced the

of trying to steer

Rationalist

and associated architects. The great galleria leading


from street entrance to train shed is a dramatically

Tower

in specific

Ideologies and the will to pursue the struggle


against the claims of an anti modernist majority.

Turin (1948-50) great

his exhibition building in

pylons of concrete branch out to form a support


for a vast

roof shell, in which the ribs are formed in

corrugations permitting bands of glass between

was free to follow his true


and express beauty and excitement in his
work. The architect Richard England, who studied

vitality.

under Ponte after the war, comments on the

Labor (or

After the war Ponte


instincts

individuality of the

Pirelli

Tower and the way

its

1960-1)

design attempts to transcend purely materialistic

19.2

Pier Luigi Nervi,

Palace of Labor, Turin,


Italy,

1960-1

spreading, leaf-like

arms form the structure


for the large Exhibition

Hall of the Palace of

Labor The photograph


IS

of a scale model

commitment was essentially


and the unique
The Pirelli Tower in Milan must be considered as the
jewel of modern skyscrapers; a diamond well cut and
Rente's belief, plea and

viewed from above The

transcends purely intellectual technological values


into the realm of the spiritual.

changing exhibits that


the hall was designed
to

contam.

Quoted

p 205;

m
2.

K.

Frampton, Modern Architecture (London,

Quoted

Chicago, 1987), p

in

992),

Contemporary Architects (London and

708

roof panel

of

by

created

carrying the roof

steel

decking. Bands of glass separate each square while


the perimeter enclosure

is

entirely of glass.

Nervi was the engineering collaborator with

Marcel Breuer

of the Unesco head-

in the design

He was

quarters building (1953-7) in Paris.

also

the engineering collaborator in the design of the


Pirelli

a visual character

that unifies the

with a tapering center column

branching rib-spokes of

beautifully facetted. In the best Italian tradition

(and what a tradition that is!) Rente's work evokes


in its spectators a magical sense of ecstasy and
fantasy. This is an expression of love and joy that

19.2;

(fig.

as a cluster of sixteen square

supporting

concrete

structural system establishes

formed

each

units,

61 Pavilion) at Turin

Italia

is

requirements;

for the individual, the particular

Concrete columns with

them, generating a space and structure of great


His exhibition hall called the Palace of

building

Milan (1955-9). Gio Ponte

in

(1891-1979) was the architect responsible for the


basic plan of this impressive skyscraper, one of the

modern

first

buildings to be built in Europe.

tall

Ponte's interiors of the ground-floor public spaces


are examples of post-war Italian interior design at
its

best.

The gleaming

floors of rubber in yellow

marbleized veining have

and green

islands

of

colorful rugs containing Ponte-designed furniture;

the ceiling

is

made up of bands

of acoustic mate-

separated by grooves providing air

rials

inlets.

Ponte was also responsible for a widely admired

on

side chair based

traditional craft precedents.

This 1951 Superleggera


simple, elegant,

and

and

modern

light in

was

visual character.
Italian design

the Olivetti

became

visible in

New York

with

Avenue (1954,
typewriter outside on a marble

showroom on

Fifth

destroyed).

Its

pedestal,

elegant use of marble in the interior,

and

its

its

enormous

wall bas-relief mural by the

sculptor Constantino Nivola


city's

most beautiful

Many
for

330

classic

both physical weight

their

made

it

one of the

interiors.

other Italian designers became famous


furniture.

Franco

Albini

(1905-77),

The Ascendency of Modernism

Marco Zanuso (born 1916), Tobia Scarpa (born


1935), Carlo Molino (1905-73), Vico Magistrettti
(born 1920), and the Castiglionis (Achille, born
1918, and two brothers) all became known for their
furniture, lamps, and other products. Joe Colombo

Sydney, Australia

(1930-71) was one of the most adventurous of the

linear plan

Italian designers,

many

producing

a variety

of chairs and

Italian design products,

Many

known and

other

such as the colorful glass-

ware produced by Venini, made


well

combined

interesting furniture units that

various functions into single packages.

Italian

modernism

Its

repeated sail-like shell

interiors within. His design for Bagsvaerd


in

Copenhagen (1979)
on

itself.

As

module, which

a square

remarkable complex

Church

also deserves attention.

number of spaces designed with

includes a

in the ceiling

a furniture designer,

It

a recti-

rise into a

of the church

Utzon developed the

Utsep Mobler seating system which used a number


of modules that can be combined into

a variety

of

curved and straight groupings.

The modern

influential.

1956).

forms create a landmark externally and remarkable

furniture of

worldwide.

popular

Denmark became

somewhat

Its

conser\'ative

design combined with traditional craftsmanship in

Scandinavia

favorable

Denmark, known before the war for its warm,


attractive modernism, became a leader in post-war
interior design. Finn Juhl (1912-89)

traditional

produce

use of

Danish woodworking craftsmanship


elegantly

many

designed

made

where

Hans

luhl

Crete

and

Juhl

and other units generated a quiet


and subtle sense of space. His designs were made
available in the United States for a time, produced
by the Baker Furniture Company in Grand Rapids,

to

make

particu-

it

Designers

States.

Wegner,

Mogensen,

Borge

and

Paoul

Kjaerholm. Younger designers were Peter Hvidt,

furniture,

built-in shelving

United

the

in

included such pre-war established individuals as

his furniture

sculptural

interiors

to

and other hardwoods and

economic conditions

popular

larly

teak

finished

finely

(alk,

and Verner Panton, along with Finn

and Arne lacobsen, who are mentioned above.

Modern Danish

cabinetry and shelving systems


became popular, while the availability of
related ceramics, silver, and other household products made "Danish modern" an internationally

also

Michigan. His most important interior project

in

popular

America was the Trusteeship Council Chamber

in

The design of post-war Sweden was strongly


concentrated on advanced ideas of town and city
planning, but many individual works also came
into notice. Gunnar Asplund's last work, the Forest
Crematorium at Sockenvagen near Stockholm
(1934-40), is a serene grouping with a woodland
cemetery and a main chapel with a bronze and
glass gate forming its front wall. The gate can be
lowered into the ground, making the outdoor

the United Nations building in

wood
window

New York

(1953).

Simple

paneling on the side walls frames a

great

looking out over the East River that

can be closed off by drapery. Overhead, the ceiling


is

hold box-like lighting

a series of metal grids that

units, each in a bright color, giving the space a


lively

and

active character.

Arne lacobsen
architect

schools,

1902-71

was

such as the town

Rodovre,

halls at Sollerod, Glostrup,

had simple and handsome

often with Jacobsen-designed furniture.


also

Danish

a leading

who produced some fine private houses,


and town halls. Many of these buildings,
and

interiors,

He was

responsible for such major projects as the

high-rise

SAS Royal Hotel

19.3; 1958).

in

Copenhagen

(fig.

His Egg chair designed for that hotel

became widely known, as did several simple chairs


using molded plywood for seat and back with
metal legs produced by Fritz Hansen. He was also

style.

court and the chapel interior into a single space.

Sven Markelius continued

his distinguished career

Hus

with such works as the Stockholm Folkets


1934), a grouping of meeting

other

facilities to

meeting

largest
finest

work.

serve
hall

has been called Markelius's

He was one

responsible for the

UN

of several

headquarters

where he produced the

in

architects

New

interior design

designed by Finn Juhl but with a ceiling formed as

design at

chamber.

its

textiles,

lamps,

silver

flatware,

best.

lorn Utzon (born 1918)


winning competition design

is

best

for the

known

for his

opera house in

one

council chamber, a space similar in form to that

smooth panel studded with recessed


The impact is more formal and sedate than

designer of

York,

for

ceramics, and glassware that represented Danish

the

(fig.

rooms and
Swedish trade unions. The

19.4;

a large,

The

many

fine quality

private

of Swedish design

homes

and

is

housing

lights.

Juhl's

evident in

groups.

331

Chapter Nineteen

19.3 Arne Jacobsen,


SAS Royal Hotel,
Copenhagen, Denmark,
1958.

A room

interior

designed

the quiet

in

form of modernism
typical ofJacobsen's

Danish

worlc. All

furniture

is

the

by

Jacobsen, including the


curving

arm chair often


Egg chair.

called the

19.4 Sven Markelius,


Folkets Hus, Stockholm,

Sweden,

934

The large auditorium


has seating

in curbing

rows that are widely

spaced

to permit easy

access.

The simple,

functional forms are

enlivened by the ceiling


design, in which
lighting takes the form

of bnght discs that


seem to float against a
darker background.

332

The Ascendency of Modernism

Household products of superior design quality are


and

sold in retail stores. Swedish furniture, textiles,

decorative objects, such as the glass of the Orrefors

became

firm,

known and

well

popular.

The

AGA

cooker (kitchen range) and the unique Ericofon


telephone continue to offer Swedish design available for

any suitable

interior.

Finland has maintained a high standard of


design,

its

simplicity

back

roots

going

and

craftsmanship.

to

traditions

Alvar

of

Aalto

continued to exert a strong influence in Finnish


design through his later

work and

his role as a

teacher. Aalto's Technical University at

Otaniemi

(1955-66) with

its

is

close

to the student

union building called Dipoli

(fig.

distinguished lecture hall

Paatelainen and

1964-6), by Raili

19.5;

Reima

sprawling building of irregular shape with

Pietila, a

interiors enriched

by natural rock formations that

have been preserved as interior


City Theater

1967) by

Timo

walls.

The Helsinki

Penttila has an extra-

ordinarily successful theater auditorium.

was first known for a


Hango (1954-6) that included
office spaces. He became better

Viljo Revell (1910-64)

factory building at

simple, brightly

lit

known internationally with his winning design for


a new city hall for Toronto, Canada (1958). Its two
curving

buildings look across lower buildings

tall

that hold council

chambers and other

facilities.

Finland has had a particularly distinguished

and other house-

history in the design of furniture

hold products. The hollow

by Eero Aarnio

ball chair

(born 1932) of 1963-5, and his 1967 arm chair,

cup-shaped on a pedestal base, are among the

made

designs that

19.5 {top
Dipoli,

19.6 [bottom

right)

Paatelainen and

Finnish furniture internationally

Pietila,

Otaniemi (near

Helsinki), Finland,

1964-6

right)

Paatelainen and

Pietila,

Kaleva Church,

Tampere, Finland,

1964-6,

In the Interior

space of

The

tall interior

space

the students' union

created by

natural outcroppings of

concrete walls, which

rock have been retained

is

fin-like

have been widely

the building's interiors

to make room
bands of windows.
The roof is made up of

generate a sense of

concrete panels, posi-

to

form wall surfaces.

The irregular forms of

comfortable

infor-

and

husband Reima
carried out

for

tioned to

match the

spacing of the

mality. Raili

Paatelainen

spaced

her

Pietila

many other

projects together

walls.

The color scheme

subdued
for the

is

greys, except

warm wood

tones of the seating

and case

for the pipe

organ on the

right.

333

Chapter Nineteen

known. The Finnish shipyards of Wartsila


produced an outpouring of passenger

at

many handsome

large floating hotels with

Turku

ferry ships,
interior

The ferry Finiijet (1973), for example,


provides handsome staterooms and distinguished
public spaces on its five passenger decks.
The Kaleva Church at Tampere (fig. 19.6;
1964-6) by Raili Paatelainen and Reima Pietila,

spaces.

with

walls

of

curved

tall,

slabs

concrete separated by bands of

Switzerland.

group of mostly

glass,

is

Otaniemi by Kaija and Haikki Siren

complete building stands below

this virtually

four steel structural columns.

just

building

is

demonstration

connecting two

a space

is

levels.

Germany
One

demonstrated

of the other great pioneers, Mies van der Rohe,


of "universal

idea

his

Corbusier's

later

design in France.

works dominate post-war

at

Ronchamp and

planes define platform-like elements for the seating;

on

would each
finally came

constitute a complete
to

tall,

reality

residential buildings that

neighborhood

with the building of the

Unite. Le Corbusier was commissioned to build


several other Unite buildings at

and

adopted the approach


called Burolandschaft

(meaning

"office land-

scape"). Private offices

and

closed spaces are

replaced by freely positioned groups of furniture,

which are sited

according to patterns
of communication. The
swirling lines indicate
circulation paths.

334

Nantes and Firminy

last

works

Le Corbusier of 1967

is

a large

organ with exposed pipes occupies an asym-

the interat

Zurich,

on the

metrical position

right.

The

orchestra

is

placed in a central area, surrounded by the audience.

At

Ulm

Bauhaus

an

in a

effort

new

was made

to reconstitute the

institution, the

Hochschule

fur

The building (1955)


director. Max Bill, and is

Gestaltung, founded in 1952.

was designed by

Germany and Belgium.

of Le Corbusier's

esting Centre

corporation's

in

tent-like curving

to the vast concert hall within. In the hall, angled

that focused

large,

its

roof forms, includes handsome foyer spaces leading

the

at

discussed (see p. 283). His idea for city planning

German

in

Marseille have already been

The chapel

Unite d'Habitation

administrative offices

space"

open glass-walled enclosure


of the National Gallery in Berlin (see p. 277). The
Philharmonic Hall of 1959-63 in Berlin by Hans
in the great,

Scharoun (1893-1972), with

The plan for a large

an

ramp

a simple,

France

19.7 KurdAlsleben

of the

of

Germany

and QuickbornerTeam,
open office plan,
Germany, 1968.

Part

ideal house, part

exhibition center with a projecting enclosed

out on a beautiful landscape.

One

a steel

"umbrella" of triangulated panels supported by

box-like form facing a front wall of glass looking

in France

modular

of reinforced

impressive dignity. In contrast, the small chapel at

Le

cubical,

elements enclosed in glass with a few solid panels,

its first

appropriately International Style in character.

became

center

for

the

It

development of the

The Ascendency of Modernism

The Netherlands

9.8

{left) Frei

German

Otto,

Pavilion,

Expo

67, Montreal 1967.

The use of tension

The

Aldo Van Eyck (born 1918) has criticized the aim of modernist designers who seek an
architect

"ideal" solution to problems, usually


of their

He

own

on the

basis

Euro-centric and middle-class values.

has urged a freer view in which constructed

space leaves openings for user and occupant partic-

Herman

ipation in the organization of interiors.

Hertzberger (born 1932) employed similar ideas


for the office building of Centraal Beheer (fig. 19.9;

1973), an insurance

building

is,

{born

Rams

Hans Gugeiot (1920-65). The

1932) and

at

made up of modular units stacked in


but irregular patterns. The interior space

masts and supportmg a


net of cables, which, in
turn,

supports a plastic

skin,

encourages the

development of freely
curving shapes. The

translucency of the roof


material

made

it

possible for the interior


to

be

filled

with light by

day while at night


rior lighting

made

extenor glow

inte-

the

in the

dark

complex of small spaces where the


are encouraged to arrange
equipment, and personal accessories in

as a result, a

individual
furniture,

workers

elegant products of the Braun electrical industry

any desired way. The resulting

and furniture such as the Ml 25 modular furniture


group of 1953 were t^^pical examples of the influ-

ingly
is

Apeldoorn. The

is

rectilinear

austerely minimalist style favored by Dieter

company

cables hanging from

clutter

is

surpris-

humane, quite unlike the uniform order

the effect of so

many office

that

projects.

ence of the school of Ulm. The school was closed in

1968 but

its

Several

influence continues.

major

buildings

office

German

for

corporations sprang up during the post-war years.

Most

are of typically restrained International Style

Many

modernist character.

of their interiors

use of a concept developed by


tants,

the

brothers

management consul-

Eberhard

and

Schnelle working in the organization

Quickborner Team. Their approach


ning called for the elimination of

Wolfgang

known

as the

to office plan-

all

partitioning

into separate office

rooms and

open space

Biirolamischaft ("office

called

made

the substitution of

land-

scape") in which furniture and movable screens

19.9 Herman
Hertzberger, Centraal

Beheer, Apeldoorn, The

Netherlands, 1973,

The

office building that

Hertzberger designed
for the insurance

company Centraal
Beheer, moves away
from the concept of the

open plan

office in

favor of a more cellular


organization.

could be freely placed to permit easy communication (fig. 19.7). Early examples of such

ning

were

at

considered

first

open plan-

radical

but

in somewhat modified form, has


become the norm of modern office planning. The
Buch und Ton offices at Guttersloh (1961), those
of Krupp at Essen (1962), and the 1963 offices of

acceptance,

Orenstein-Koppel
typical early

Dortmund-Dorsfeld

at

are

The works of

Frei

Otto (born 1925) generate

exceptional tent-like interior spaces as a result of

dependence on suspended cable

German
Montreal

Pavilion at the
(fig. 19.8)

structures.

Expo 67 World's

made

at various levels are

placed

His

in

a complex,

constantly vaned
pattern More than
1

000

office workers are

placed
offer

that

in locations

each worker a

unigue

setting,

and

workers are encouraged


to

examples of office landscape.

Modular

platforms or balconies

arrange furniture

and personal belongings in any way they


wish to create lively
settings with

no sense

of regimentation.

Fair in

the possibilities of such

The
Munich Olympic Stadium (1972) is a larger and
more dramatic example of such a structure.

structure visible to a large audience of visitors.

335

Chapter Nineteen

19.10 RH. Matthew


and

J.

L Martin, Royal

Festival Hall,

The

Britain
II

The large concert hall

was part of a complex


on the South Bonk

built

Post-war work in Britain was dominated by the


planning of new towns and by housing projects of a
generally high level of design.

The Royal

Festival

of the Thames. The

Hall, built as part of the Festival of Britain exhibi-

and

of 1951,

remains as the only permanent

cun/ed fronts of boxes

tion

on side walls were

survivor of that

planned

to favor

acoustical considerations.

The ceiling

incor-

porates concealed

and the
natural wood of the

fair.

the

Queen

Elizabeth

The

architects

were R. H.

that

design

Theo Crosby of the firm

at

front focus attention

on

were examples of British

Pentagram was the designer of a particularly hand-

some room on the upper deck, a bar and lounge


called The Lookout. The room was an observation
lounge stretching the width of the ship;

bulkhead

(wall) slanted

its

forward

inward and was studded

bow

with large windows overlooking the

distinguished concert hall interiors to be built in

touch of strong color. Pentagram has been respon-

the post-war era

sible for a

(fig.

19.10).

(Alison and Peter) are thought

of as leading proponents of the

the platform area. The

exposed pipes of the

best.

its

Matthew and J. L. Martin of the London County


Council. The 3000-seat main hall is one of the first

The Smithsons

three panels at the

tion (see p. 284). Their best

large organ provide a

Economist

decorative element

towers

336

liner,

Lennon and Partners

ship.

There

lightmg,

above the

ocean

London,

1951.

ceiling forms

last great

(1968), had interiors coordinated by Dennis

building

new brutahst
known work

is

the

actually

three

London. The

interior

(1964)

in St. James's Street,

direc-

is

of the

piano in bright vermilion, the only

number of other

interior

and exhibition

design projects of outstanding quality, including


office interiors for Reuters, British

Pentagram's

own London

Petroleum, and

offices.

David Hicks (1929-98) established


in

his practice

1955 and became a leading British designer. His

stage.

spaces of the original entrance lobbies and other

distinctive designs for textiles

public areas display the austerity of brutalism.

on rectangular

and carpets are based

blocks. Patterned floors, with strong

The Ascendency of Modernism

rooms with large paintings and


marked his personal style.
Furniture by Robin Day, Ernest Race, and a

colors, often in

traditional

furniture,

different approach. Its cable

ture

generates

suspended roof struc-

an impressive and vast interior

concourse. Special vehicles called "mobile lounges"

number of other designers was assembled by


Terence Conran to provide designs for the highly

transported passengers to and from the terminal to

successful Habitat retail shops.

more compact terminal

airplanes waiting

on the

field.

This scheme

been required to give direct access

made

to planes.

At the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT;

United States

would have

possible than

fig.

round chapel
reflections
from a

19.12), Saarinen designed a small,

lighted

by

the

changing

Gropius, Breuer, Mies van der Rohe, and Aalto

surrounding water-filled moat, and the related

continued to exert their influence

Kresge Auditorium within a great

Eero

America.
terminal at
its

free

large,

Saarinen

Kennedy

forms

in

designed

in

post-war

TWA

the

airport (fig. 19.11; 1956-62),

reinforced concrete generating

open, sculptural interior spaces with curving

in

New York

riors designed

by Florence Knoll.

After Saarinen's death, the successor firm of

Roche Dinkeloo designed the

curving surfaces. Access to the aircraft was through

John Deere

at

Moline,

and the distinguished

office

complex

Illinois (fig. 19.13;

New York

for

1955),

headquarters

openness of the main

building for the Ford Foundation (1967). The John

Saarinen's design for the terminal building for

conservatory, which makes the office furniture a

their sense of closure with the

Deere space has the character of a two-story garden

terminal building.

the

CBS

(1965) housed elegantly colorful inte-

elevated walkways looking out over the complex,

tubular passages, also curving but contrasting in

shell structure

(1955). His austere black tower skyscraper for

Dulles

located

at

airport

serving

Chantilly,

Washington,

Virginia

(1962),

D.C.,

used

minor element
plants.

in

an area dominated by growing

In the Ford Foundation building, office

^.^^i^i^j.^^^/'riiJi

19.11

Eero Saarinen,

TWA Terminal,
Kennedy Airport, New
1956-52.

York,

Saarinen explored the


possibilities inherent in

reinforced concrete as

structural material to

create the freely curving

forms that characterize


the building both inside

and out Cun/ing

stairs

give access to upper


levels,

while simple

metal railings act as


decorative detail Large
glass areas admit light
in

ways that accen-

tuate the sculptural

forms of the structure.

Even the information


desk, visible at the

right

is

made up of

freely flowing

cun/ed

forms.

337

Chapter Nineteen

338

The Ascendency of Modernism

schools, medical facilities,

and

private houses,

all

in

19.12

{opposite) Eero

Saarmen, Kresge

International Style vocabulary of rectilinear

the

simplicity. His

house of 1946-7

California desert

the

for

at

Palm Springs

Kaufmann

the

in

family

Memorial Chapel at
MIT, Cambridge,

Massachusetts,

1952-6.

(who had been Wright's clients for Fallingwater)


is a particularly fine example (fig. 19.14). Vast
areas of floor-to-ceiling glass connect the simple
interiors with the

design was particularly

in Calfornia.

William Wilson Wurster

(1895-1973) was one of several architects


developed what

form an L-shape on two

floors

Windows

garden atrium.
rior space,

where

trees

sides of a high

look into this

skylit inte-

and smaller plantings make

the garden equal in importance to the surrounding

Warren Plattner developed its


dignity and simplicity, often with

style

unpretentious and direct.


1958,

for

house

great

furniture of

painted

Richard Neutra continued to produce


distinguished

projects

example,

in

after

the

war,

many

including

has

roof and

gable

San Francisco (1962) has

steel

framing with broad

views of the bay.

design.

bay.

modernism that is
The Pope ranch house of

surrounded by wide verandas. The Coleman

interiors of

own

its

draws on the tradition of farms and ranch

structures to produce a form of

offices.

his

often called a Bay Region vernac-

centered around San Francisco and

ular,

The

is

who

Interiors

painted walls, and natural

and

trim.

crisp white-

simple,

mined only by

illu-

reflected

surrounding moat

admitted through
arches at the base of
the walls. The altar

reredos

is

a screen of

golden bronze elements,


a sculptural work of the
Italian-born sculptor

Harry Bertoia

(1915-78).

19.13

[top

Kevin

left)

Roche and John


city

glass areas giving

use

wood

is

is

cylinder of brick,

light from

surrounding outdoor spaces.

Modernist residential

welcomed

This building

white-

for floors, doors,

Dmkeloo,

offices for

John Deere &


Moline,

Co.,

1955.

Illinois,

Work spaces are


arranged on two

floors

of two rectangular
blocks,

which have a

spacious garden atrium

between them. Every

work station

is

within

sight of either the

atrium or the park


setting in which the

building stands.
Structural

of COR-IO

members

are

steel.

19.14

(/eft)

Neutra,

Kaufmann

Richard

House, Palm Springs,


California,

1946-7.

The simplicity of the


International Style

continued

to charac-

terize Neutra's later

work,

and

the influence

of Mies van der Rohe

can be seen

in the

Kaufmann House. The


large, roll-away glass

and simple treatment of floors and

areas

ceiling give the intenor

space a unity with the


carefully

planned

garden areas

outside.

339

Chapter Nineteen

19.15

Pietro

BelluschI, Central

Lutheran Church,
Portland, Oregon,

1951.
Belluschi
Italy

was born

and moved

United States
1920s,

in

to the

in the

when he joined

the Portland architectural practice of Albert

Ernest Doyle

(1877-1922), a practice

he took over on

Doyle's death.

and

An

altar

teredos form the

visual focus within this

dignified interior. The

pattern of the teredos

is

random except as the


cross image develops at
its

center.

The white

railings that define the

chancel area are of

utmost simplicity.

Farther

north,

Portland,

in

Oregon, Pietro

became known for his


Equitable Building of 1948, one of the first tall
buildings in America of strict modernist character.
(1899-1994)

Belluschi

Built

three

years

Church, also

Central

his

later,

Portland,

in

is

Lutheran

a construction

redwood, inside and out, suggesting an

of

affinity

overwhelms

any

work

art

displayed there.

Another

museum

of comparable importance to

Guggenheim is the Whitney Museum of


American Art in New York (1963-6) by Marcel
Breuer. The massive, heavy structure houses spaces
of austerity and dignity. The entrance across a
the

with the vernacular barn structures of the Pacific

bridge over an open garden leads to a lobby area.

became dean of
the architectural school at MIT in 1951 and
managed to continue his practice on the west coast

and the basement cafe prepare the

Northwest

19.15). Belluschi

(fig.

while accepting commissions in the east as well.

He

was the designer of many churches, such as that of


the Portsmouth Priory at Portsmouth, Rhode
Island (1961), an octagonal building with walls of

redwood and

fieldstone, the

wood dominating the


Juilliard

School

in

warmth and

texture of

interior. (For Belluschi's role

of the Pan

in the design

Am

New York,

Building and the

a continuing, active

career in the post-war era which led to one of his

most famous (and

final)

gallery spaces

open

large projecting

allows the visitor

works, the Guggenheim

(fig. 19.17).

the outside world a glimpse into the galleries.

Breuer had a number of major commissions

United

States,

Ferry House, at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie,

York (1950), and

St.

church interior

is

a large, auditorium-like space

with walls and ceiling of folded concrete slab.

balcony

is

an

indepedent

concrete

private houses.

centered on

with

critics

its

Controversy has

19.16).

suitability

as

museum

space,

suggesting that the strength of

its

New

Abbey Church and


Minnesota (1953-68). The

John's

modern

(fig.

in the

including a dormitory building.

standing within the church auditorium.

building

One

window, asymmetrically placed,


a glimpse of the out-of-doors and

in New York (1942-60). Its interior, a


round funnel-like space holding a winding spiral
ramp, is one of the most remarkable designs in any

Museum

It

visitor for the

areas with a ceiling structure

of concrete in a triangulated grid

library at Collegeville,

see pp. 342, 343.)

Frank Lloyd Wright had

340

form

architectural

Breuer's office in

New York

structure

designed

many

churches, college buildings, office complexes, and

The giant headquarters building for


the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development in Washington, D.C. (1963-8),

The Ascendency of Modernism

19.16 Frank Lloyd


Guggenheim
Museum, New York,
Wright,

942-60.

The museum's

mam

rotunda space

is

formed by the great


spiral ramp. Art works

are displayed against


the outside wall, which
follows the curve of the

ramp- Visitors can look

down

to the

below or up

ground
to the

skylight

dome

Color

a cream

IS

above.

off-white with plants

providing green
accents.

19.17 (below) Marcel


Breuer,

Whitney

Museum of American
Art, New York, 1963-6,
The floor of stone
rectangles

and

the

functional overhead
grid,

which contains

adjustable lighting
fittings,

combine with

the white walls to

provide a setting

in

houses nine floors of routine office space within an

which works of art

exterior grid of concrete above an entrance floor

be seen without compe-

bordered by sheltered outdoor passageways.

tition. In

may

the center of

the far wall can be seen

one of several trapezoidal windows that

Urban Office Buildings

project out from the


building's exterior walls.

Walter

Gropius

Collaborative

(TAG)

in 1945.

was a consultant

Belluschi he

of the

New York

known

as the

Pan

The

organized

office

Am

Architects'

Together with Pietro


in

shaping the design

tower of 1963 originally

Building.

The firm of Emery

Roth and Sons carried out the execution of the


project. Gropius's influence can

of the tower with

its

be seen in the plan

tapered ends, and in the public

spaces at ground level

(now unfortunately badly

modified) enlivened by distinguished art works by


Josef Albers,

The

Gyorgy Kepes, and Richard Lippold.

Architects' CoUaborative has designed

many

school and college buildings, as well as govern-

mental and institutional buildings, such as the


Johns Manville office building

Denver (1976-7), with

its

in

open

Colorado, near

stretches of office

space treated in office landscape fashion.

Other exceptions to the indifferent quality of

many office

New York

towers include the Citicorp building in


(1977),

outstanding quality by
Its

office

tall

Hugh

handsome inner atrium

is

building

of

Stubbins (1912-94).
a

shopping center,

its

341

Chapter Nineteen

19.19

I.

M,

and

Pel

many

stores

and restaurants surrounding

open

space

with

levels.

An

a high

Partners, National

John

Airlines Terminal,
F.

Kennedy

International Airport,

Queens,

New

offices

open space roofed

This

several

unusually interesting office interior can

be found on a high floor of that building: the

York,

1972.

connecting

escalators

BEA by Tod

of

with a space-frame

columns housing

structure has exterior

attractive quality.

walls of glass.

Williams and Associates.

of sand-blasted glass and red-brown

Partitions

lighting give the space a quiet

and

Skidmore, Owings, and MerriU were the architects

and

Republic

designers

interior

Moines, Iowa (1965), with


riors.

field

at

for

Company

Insurance

American

the

building

in

Des

its

distinguished inte-

The firm produced many

projects outside the

of office design. The

Mauna Kea Beach

Hotel

Kamuela, Hawaii (1965), for example, has

riors that refer to local traditions

materials

and

craft-related forms.

furniture of local wicker

narrow

and

Rooms

inte-

through their

face

which

his

(1952), to a range of major projects for


also

office

provided interior design.

Apartment buildings in New York, Philadelphia,


and Washington, D.C., are typical examples, as is
Denver Hilton Hotel (1960) where Alexander
in the interior design. The
National Airlines Terminal of 1972 (now TWA
the

Girard cooperated

terminal B) at

Kennedy

New York

airport in

open space topped by

supported by columns that stand outside the

allow visual openness.

walls of the building (fig. 19.19).

Johnson was the designer of the A.T.&T.


Building).

It

is

New

York

an architecturally

controversial project discussed in the following


chapter.

The

many ways

by the firm ISD are

office interiors

in

backward-looking, with their rich areas

of marble, elaborate
19.18 Edward

wood

paneling,

and similar

The

Larabee Barnes, IBM

references to the corporate styles of the past.

World Trade

lobby of 885 Third Avenue (also a Philip Johnson

New

serenely simple country house at Katonah,

New York

has been used for floor-to-ceiling partitions that

(now the Sony

Offices,

own

his

vast

Philip

Pleasant,

more allied to
Deco directions of the 1930s.
The work of I. M. Pei (born 1917) extends from

the Art

called for the enclosure of private spaces, clear glass

headquarters office building of 1984 in

Mount

stepped, eUiptical

its

shape, has ground-floor lobby space

Guest rooms use

sliding screens of

on galleries that
surround an open court with tall palm trees.
Edward Larrabee Barnes (born 1915) was the
architect and designer for several IBM projects
including the World Trade offices at Mount
Pleasant, New York (fig. 19.18; 1974), its three
floors of open office space surrounded by windows
opening onto the countryside. Where the program
strip louvers.

Building in recognition of

project)

of

1986,

jokingly

called

the

Lipstick

is

space-frame truss roof


glass

suggests a

It

strong attachment to Mies van der Robe's concept

of universal space.

For

later

work by

Pei

and

his

partners see Chapter 20.)

The group of buildings forming New York's


is a monu-

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

mental cluster with disappointing interior spaces.

The

best of the three

rior design point

is

New

the

York

inte-

State

The entrance-

(1964) by Philip Johnson.

Theater
level

major buildings from an

of view

lobby and the grand foyer above

it

are distin-

York, 1974,

guished spaces where travertine floors and walls


The three-story building

has walls of continuous


glass.

circulation

stations are

grouped

balconies

on

several

levels

Elie

Nadelman. The auditorium expresses some of

access to the light

and

Each

carpeted

in

gold leaf and red plush.

successful

views of the pleasant


exterior space.

the sense of the great opera houses of the past, with

much

workers have equal

IS

foyer,

work

within so that all

floor

the

in

provide a setting for two major sculptural works by

space follows the glass


walls, while

and,

an

than

the

banal

It

is

more

far

of

interior

the

Metropolitan Opera House adjacent. The nearby


of Music

Juilliard

School

Belluschi

and Eduardo Catalano

of

1968
(fig.

by

19.20)

Pietro
is

the

identifying color, here


red,

pleasantly

contrasting with the

many green

342

plants.

best of the Lincoln Center buildings:


sized Alice Tully Hall auditorium
interior

is

its

moderately

an outstanding

both visually and acoustically.

The Ascendency of Modernism

Office Planning
The design of office

facilities

has become so impor-

tant an aspect of interior design practice that a

Connecticut, are good examples of ISD practice.

19.20 Belluschiand

The

Catalano, Juilllard

interiors

of the

Boston building

for

the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1961) by


the architectural firm of Kallmann, McKinnell, and

called

Wood

finds

Space planning. Space planners also deal with

where

a sense

and retail projects. Their


approach begins with the development of the plan,
and moves into furniture placement and the more
decorative aspects of interior design. The goal of

through the use of wood surfaces with other care-

such planning

for Business (the latter responsible for fourteen

specialized profession has

institutional,

grown up, usually

hotel,

is

to provide for efficient office func-

tioning along with comfort for workers and

flexi-

fully

ISD working with more varied spaces


of calm and dignity is developed

chosen materials and objects.

Theater, Lincoln Center,

New

York,

IS

Other space planners include the firms SLS

and Designs

floors of offices for Time-Life Inc. in the

New York

housed within the

contains the Juilliard

School of Music.

best

known and most

successful of space planning

organizations. Their office interiors in the Boston

City Hall, the A.T.&T. Building in


the

Xerox headquarters building

Time-Life building of Rockefeller Center). Sidney

size

Its

and

extensive use of natural

wood give

it

a comfort-

able quality, which

makes

it

a highly

successful setting for


recitals

and organizational change.


ISD (Interior Space Design) has been one of the

bility for grovrth

968,

extensive building that

moderate

Environetics, the Space Design Group,

This theater-concert hall

and chamber

music concerts.

Rogers Associates were the planners for the twentysix floors

of the

Montgomery Ward headquarters

building in Chicago. Carpeting in differing bright

New

York, and

colors

in

Stamford,

project,

serves

to

differentiate

the

which are otherwise almost

floors

of the

totally similar.

343

Chapter Nineteen

All

landscape

use

planning

(discussed

below).

Rogers Associates were also office designers for the


headquarters building in Tacoma, Washington, for
the Weyerhaeuser

was used

in

Company. Knoll

office furniture

open-plan configurations with broad

system

Lutherans building (1976) by John Carl Warnecke

(born 1919) in Appleton, Wisconsin. The special

Hannah, and Morrison systems were introduced by


Knoll. There were also the Haller system from

open-office fiirniture system was produced under

Switzerland,

name

Storwal International.

An

(1971,

now

(with

Judith

in a circle, with a

forming a kind of internal roof

a smaller scale, the

demolished) shows the Nelson office

Stockman

in

charge

from a major American

manufacturer
in

is

shown

a typical grouping

with work surface,

ergonomically designed
chairs,

and a lamp

contained

in

a space

defined by wall panels.

The interchangeable
panels

may

be fabnc

covered in a vanety of
colors, or

made of clear

or obscure glass to

provide privacy,

and open

light,

vision or

closure as desired.

344

of

design)

cheerful as

Before

1964.

in

number
named

Herman

Miller Furniture

long

an

increasing

of similar systems began to appear, each

from

Italy,

for

the

its

designer.

The Stephens, Zapf,

Marcatre and Olivetti systems

the Lucas system from England, the

Race system from Canada, the Voko systems from

Germany, and the products of Hayworth and


Steelcase in the

The

United

States.

discovery that full-time office

in a chair at a

work

work

seated

station could generate physio-

logical

problems led to the development of so-

called

ergonomic

chairs

that

offered

designs

well as highly functional.

intended to be beneficial to the physical comfort

Office Furniture

and health of the user. Designs by Bill Stumpf (the


Ergon chairs), Niels Diffrient, and then a host of
other designers all aimed at providing superior

With the

screen partition system

On

Company

New York restaurant La Potagerie

producing spaces that were colorful and

1985.

unusual

was the use of small conference areas made

central umbrella

The office furniture and

19.21).

(fig.

an exceptional interior for the Aid Association to

up of movable panels arranged

Interior,

equipment requires

office

Action Office for the

feature

Miller, Inc.,

modern

The building architects were Skidmore,


Owings, and Merrill.
The office of George Nelson 1908-86) produced

the firm

Herman

that

Robert Propst developed a system which he called

19.21 BillStumpf,

with the plethora of electric and telephone wiring

areas of glass opening onto the surrounding landscape.

Ethospace

in which work surfaces


and storage were integrated with screens or panels
that provided a degree of privacy and also dealt

began to develop systems

vast expansion of office building,

and

increased use of Biirolandschaft (office landscape)

office seating.

planning, American furniture manufacturers soon

in

modern

They have become

office design.

essential elements

The Ascendency of Modernism

19.22 Sarah Tomerlin


Lee,

Helmsley Palace

Hotel,

New

York, 1980.

The fine houses

designed

in the eclectic

era by McKim, IV\ead,

&

White were preserved

when

the

new Helmsley
and

Palace was built

made

into public

for the hotel.

rooms

The

designer has

made

adjustments

in relating

the elaborate traditional interiors to

modern use and


modern taste, but the
nch color and detailing
of the anginal spaces
are echoed in the
choice of furniture

and

color scheme.

345

Chapter Nineteen

Interior Designers

The

(1969-74).

exceptionally fine interiors of the

Americana Hotel
Interior design

often undertaken without strong

is

involvement in architecture, especially by those


of some designers

and glamorous that


in

America,

Hampton

such "star" designers working

Mario Buatta (born 1935), Mark


(1940-98),
and Angelo Donghia

known

(1935-85) are best

a fine

is

East

Hampton, New

example of his approach to design.

for lush interiors using

Furniture

and Other

Interior

Furnishings
Modern

furniture that

came

into use post-World

antique furniture and colorful fabrics to generate

War

work of the eclectic decorators


of the 1920s and 1930s. The work of John Saladino
(born 1939) places historic references in more

1920s and 1930s, such as those of Aalto, Breuer, Le

spaces recalling the

clearly

contemporary

1917),

mentioned

Manhattan

Ward

settings.

work

earlier for his

designed

tower,

Bennett (born
at the

simple

Chase

interiors

suggestive of the International Style together with


his

own

D'Urso (born 1943)


an interior designer and as an

furniture. Joseph Paul

was trained both

as

architect and worked for a time with

before establishing his

sometimes

own

Ward

His work,

practice.

used

"minimalist,"

called

Bennett

simple

II

includes

many of the

"classic" designs

of the

Corbusier, and Mies van der Rohe. Charles Fames,

Warren

the office of George Nelson,

many

Platner,

and

other Americans joined the classics and

imports of more recent designs from


Scandinavian

countries

Italy

provide

to

and the
interior

designers with a rich variety of available furniture

of excellent design quality. Charles Fames provided


a steady flow of distinguished designs, often by-

products of interior projects that he and his wife,

worked on

Ray,
ally

together.

Such designs were gener-

only familiar to architects and designers; most

surfaces along with elements of industrial products

households of middle-class families made do with

(shelving, table bases, light fixtures) to generate

shoddy products

what may

"colonial" or "French provincial." Exceptions to

also be called an industrial

TomerUn Lee (born

Sarah

st)'le.

1910s) developed a

practice that specialized in hotel interiors,


called

and

"romantic"

in their use

textiles, in hotels

many

of period furniture

such as the Parker Meridien

of 1981 (made over from an older hotel) in

New

York, or in interiors of traditional design dating

from an earlier era. The Helmsley Palace in New


York is made up, in part, from the great Villard
houses of 1884 by McKim, Mead, and White. The
1980 conversion to hotel use gave Sarah Tomerlin
Lee a setting of eclectic opulence in which her
richly

ornamental interior

home

(fig. 19.22).

style

seems entirely

the

most distinguished

the

the 1960s and 1970s. His

architects,

and

I.

M.

for

interior projects of

style, close to

minimalism

but with a strong sense of color and form,

made

it

work with a number of modern


including Edward Barnes, Louis Kahn,

possible for

him

Pei.

to

For Kahn, he was responsible for inte-

riors of the library

and dining

Academy,

New Hampshire

Exeter,

for flirniture

and

for

Art

British

(1917-69)
that

the

are

simple

seem

of Paul

designs

wooden

to have a basis in

pretended to be

cabinets

hall at Phillips Exeter

(1967-72), and

related details at the Yale Center


at

New

Haven,

McCobb

and chairs

American colonial or
in any way imita-

Shaker precedents without being


tive.

McCobb's inexpensive

department

stores,

furniture, available in

and the designs of Jens Risom

(born 1916), as well as the more costly designs of

Edward Wormley, found


some American homes.

their

way

into at least

Textiles

at

product of

Cranbrook Academy, who became known

some of

pattern

this

in designs that

The wide acceptance of the modernist

Benjamin Baldv^dn (1913-93) was

346

York,

Worth, Texas (1980), are

in Fort

own house at

regarded as so exciting

can enhance the status of

it

Among

their clients.

is

work. His

The

active in the design of residential interiors.


vifork

also his

Connecticut

propelled

the

toward production of

a vast range

color

stripes,

patterns,

aesthetic

major manufacturers of
plus

textiles

of simple, solid

checks,

and other

geometric designs suitable for use in upholstery

and drapery. There was also continuing production


of the floral and other decorative prints and weaves
used

in

traditional

interior

decor.

Among

American designers, Dorothy Liebes (1899-1972)


became known for rich, over-scaled textures in
thick yarns. Boris KroU (born 1913) established a
firm offering varied textiles of high quality in both

design and structure.

The Ascendency of Modernism

19.23 Larsen Design


Studio, foyer of the

Rainbow Room,
Rockefeller Center,
York,

New

1996

Strong patterns

in

jacquard fabric on
cun/ing wall

a
tlie

and a

pattern of rings in the


Wilton carpet demonstrate the

way

in

which

woven matenals can


elaborate a basically

simple space.

Most production textiles and carpets were


anonymous patterns produced by staff designers
employed by manufacturers, but some furniture
manufacturers turned to offering proprietary

by Verner

designs

Panton

Swedish and German

The designs were then coordinated with

many

special

stylistic

approach using distinguished

in the

The work
of Alexander Girard for Herman Miller, based on
the color and pattern ^f Mexican and South
American folk art, has already been mentioned.
Knoll employed a sequence of able designers

1960s,

public, always finding

including Eszter Harastzy for such patterns as the

Some work

hnear Tracy, and Anni Albers

ities

Bauhaus origins

for abstract

(1899-1994)

of

geometric patterns.

Angelo Testa (born 1921) contributed some of the


first

abstract prints offered

At

Cranbrook,

Loja

and Marianne

lasted

It

that often

adopted the superficial qual-

of modernist design without understanding

its

underlying intentions helped to encourage a backlash

(1879-1968)

against

it.

Modern

design was accused of

Cranbrook

The work of

had more

users in pursuit of abstract ideals that

among

in a

professional colleagues than

wider public.

Modernism

included Ed Rossbach (born 1914)

Strengell (born 1909).

in the

new forms and new expreswas inevitable that the ascendency of


modernism would continue to evoke criticism.

sions.

among

Later

for

through two to three generations of designers and

many

weavings.

style

in the 1920s, its rise

its dominance
and 1980s mean that it has

1970s,

significance

craft-based

emergence

use.

1930s and 1940s, and

organized a weaving studio and was the designer of

textile designers

Its

known

ignoring the needs and desires of occupants and

by Knoll.
Saarinen

decades.

and

1926),
lesser

came into wide availability and


Modernism has been a significant

textiles.

styles.

by

designers

lines

of

designers identified with individual

(born

textiles

is

a stylistic designation that takes

broad spectrum of design; early and recent,

Jack Lenor Larsen (born 1927) in developing a

thoughtful and dull, original and imitative.

great variety of creative weaves, often using newly

selecting the least successful of modernist

works

By
for

developed fibers (metallics and synthetics) and

attack while ignoring inspired successes, hostile

abstract prints, has established textile design as a

critics

form (fig. 19.23). He has been the


most influential of Cranbrook influences in the
world of textiles.

the effect that

The color and bold patterning of Finnish textile


art became widely known under the trade name
Marimekko with design by Armi Ratia (1912-79)
and Marja Isola (born 1927). Imports such as the

buildings as evidence. This criticism has at least

distinctive art

Thai

silks

of Jim

Thompson

(1906-77), Danish

many

have built up a body of negative criticism to


vast

modernism

and the monotonously


had

sufficient

of the

is

a "failure," citing the

housing projects of indifferent design


dull

glass

tower office

resonance to encourage exploration

directions

that

design

modernism. Possible answers

is

to

take

after

to such questions are

the subject of the following chapter.

347

Late Twentieth-Century Design

The urge

may

new

to identify a

style or direction that

develop to replace the International Style

theme of modernism

is

historians alike. Recent

competing

in several

active

in

and

critics

to have

moved

directions, each suggesting a

possible future dominance, or

opment

among

work seems

some

further devel-

another direction not yet surfaced, or as

of amalgamation of several directions.

result

There has also been a growth of internationalism.


Neutra, Lescaze,

Eliel Saarinen,

Gropius, Breuer,

and Mies van der Rohe brought the International


Style and variations of that style to England and to
America.

One

of Frank

Lloyd Wright's

most

important early projects was built in Japan. After

World War
coming of jet

II,

air

travel,

air travel,

and

particularly

throughout the world readily available

through magazines and books. As


20.1

{below) Louis

Kahn,

First

Unitarian

Church and School,

New

Rochester,

York,

1959-69.
The austerity of the
interior

is

relieved

by

the daylight that enters

at each of the four


corners of the

room

from windows above


the ceiling, which are

not readily

visible

from

normal seating or
standing positions.
Color comes from the

woven tapestry panels


on the side

walls, the

work ofJack Lenor


Larsen.

20.2
Pelli,

(opposite) Cesar

Winter Garden,

World Financial Center,


Battery Park City,
York,

With

New

980-8,
obvious echoes

Its

of London's Crystal
Palace of 1851,

this

structure offers a

huge

space that can be used


for concerts, exhibitions,

and other special


events.

When not so

used.

forms an atrium

It

circulation space, from

which there

is

access to

surrounding shops.
Color comes from floor
patterns, painted

columns,

of trees.

348

and

the green

Two

examples of this internationalism can serve to

make

I.
Kahn (1901-74) is an
known and admired figure, little
the 1940s and 1950s when reputations

this point. Louis

internationally

known

until

began to develop quickly and dramatically through


printed communication. Cesar PeUi (born 1926)
still

in active practice

the globe. Both are architects


special

is

with work on both sides of

whose work has

concern for interior space; both are hard to

classify as

proponents of any particular

stylistic

direction.

the

made movement anywhere

on the globe a matter of hours. Increasing ease and


speed of communication have made awareness of
design

Prophets of Future Design

as a

a result of these

Kahn
Kahn was born
architectural

Pennsylvania

in Estonia, graduated

of

school
in

1924,

the

from the
of

University

and then worked

as

developments, design work has become a truly

draftsman and designer in a number of architec-

international profession.

tural offices. In 1941

he joined George

Howe

in

Chapter Twenty

20.3

Louis

Center for

I.

Kahn,

British Art,

Yale University,

New

Haven, Connecticut,

1969-74.

door opens into the

round

stair enclosure

of

brick which houses

steps connecting the


floors

of

this

museum.

Daylight enters the


stair well

from above

contrasting with the

subdued

lighting

focused on art works.

tones of

worm
wood and

masonry

materials.

The colors are

architectural practice. After beginning teaching at

Yale in 1947 he became better


professions

design

as

an

known

within the

outstanding theorist-

philosopher than for his executed work. His

important building was an


University (1951-3).

made

spaces

special

The
by

gallery

art

for Yale

gallery floors are

ceilings

first

formed by

open
trian-

(fig.

positions within the church

the light seems to

simple, grey
it

is

masonry

walls the space

is

enlivened by brightly colored fabric tapestry

in relation to the limited color create

housed

phere that

(1957-61)

at

the

Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Here


a

Universit)'

of

Kahn developed

concept of separation between what he called

"serving spaces" and "served spaces."

The

serving

its

austere, but

four levels connected by an elevator and stairs

Laboratories

With

enter from mysteriously invisible sources.

hangings by Jack Lenor Larsen. The

in a cylindrical enclosure.

light

from windows high up on roof projections


20.1 ). The windows cannot be seen from most

enters

gular cofters of concrete structural slabs. There are

The Yale Art Gallery was followed by the even


Research
Medical
more
striking
Richards

is

effects

of light

an atmos-

powerfully moving.

Kahn's practice became


The Indian Institute of Management
at Ahmedabad, India (1962-74), and the new
Capitol of Bangladesh at Dhaka (1962-83) are
some of Kahn's most impressive works. In each,

As

his reputation grew,

international.

masonr)'

forms

are

penetrated

by

openings

spaces are tower-like enclosures that stand outside

planned to create interiors where a constant play of

of the larger laboratory spaces that they serve, with

light

and similar utilities. The


serving towers are windowless and of brick, while
the laboratories are arranged on five floors of
pavilion-like units with glass walls and concrete-

Assembly building

stairs,

ducts, plumbing,

framed

structure.

The

building were unlike any

external

forms

of

the

modern work previously

built and, although the resultant interiors are of

generally utilitarian character, this building

made

Kahn a major figure in American architecture.


Kahn was deeply concerned with expression of
materials and with the ways in which light reveals

form and

350

surrounding a central church sanctuar)' where

creates the nature of interior spaces.

Unitarian

church

(1959-69),

is

at

cluster

Rochester,

New

The

York

of multipurpose rooms

modulates the interior space. The National


at

Dhaka

is

of cylin-

a cluster

drical and rectangular masonry units with round

and triangular openings into interior spaces. They


surround a central assembly chamber with a vaultlike roof and high clerestory windows.
In the United States, a library for the Phillips

Exeter

Academy

at

Exeter,

New Hampshire

(1965-72), has stacks arranged on balcony floors

surround a central atrium looked into through


huge circular openings. Light comes from skylights
above the atrium. The Yale Center for British Art at
that

New

Haven, Connecticut

(fig.

20.3;

1969-74),

provides gallery space on levels surrounding two


skylit

courts.

The Kimball Art Museum

at Fort

Late Twentieth-Century Design

Worth, Texas

1966-72),

a single-story building,

is

made up of

a kind of pavilion

vaulted elements where light

sources

is

parallel concrete

from hidden

led in

the top of each vault. Artificial light

at

comes from the same locations as daylight. As a


teacher, Kahn tended to speak in mystical phrases
about form, light, and materials that had a fascina-

and experiment. These experiments can be


as falling into a number of competing
categories, each of which has developed a popular
title. They are: hi-tech, post-modernism (incorporation

viewed

rating a revival of tradition), late

modernism, and

deconstructivism.

tion for his students and, ultimately, for the design

professions that

and

came

him

to regard

as a

prophet

The modern movement viewed new technology


(steel, concrete, and glass) as one of its prime bases.
In recent years technology has made vast forward

Pelli

Cesar
figure

Pelli,

seem

riors

born

in Argentina,

maker of
to

be

a far

is

more worldly
where

gigantic projects

inte-

by-product of massive building

Embassy in
Tokyo, a rectilinear mass clad in mirror glass and
aluminum. In 1984 he was the architect for work at
structures. In 1972 he designed the U.S.

the

Museum

of

Modern

Art in

New

York, adding

an adjacent apartment tower and extending the


original

museum

building with a glass-enclosed

atrium-like space that houses escalators connecting


the exhibit floors. At the

Battery Park City in

World

New

Financial Center at

York,

Pelli

group of similar tower buildings. The


the Winter

Garden

(fig. 20.2;

famous Crystal Palace of 1851

The 1995
is

Hi-tech

leader.

made up

steps, particularly the


aircraft,

technology associated with

with space exploration and the associated

advances

communication and, most

in

recently,

computers. The popular term given to design based

on advanced technology

is

Hi-tech. The designers

of hi-tech projects point to the

reality that

than 50 percent of the cost of any

modern

generated by the systems that provide

plumbing,

telephone,

When

basic structure

(elevators, escalators,

more

project

is

electrical,

and air quality services.


and mechanical transport
and moving sidewalks) are

designed a

added, technology can be seen as the dominating

interior of

portion of any building or interior.

1980-8) suggests the

make

(see p. 190).

mize

NTT building in Tokyo by Cesar

Pelli

The

these systems visually apparent


their

decision to

and

to

maxi-

impact leads to the special quality of hi-

tech design.

of a thirty-story tower, basically trian-

gular but with a curved hypotenuse, giving typical

and view out over the adjacent


plaza and small service building. Workplaces are

Fuller

office floors light

fully

computerized

as are the building

management

(power and security) systems. The public entrance


lobby

at plaza level

ceiling of perforated

open

stair to the

is

marble floored and has

aluminum

mezzanine

level

plate.

curving

above provides

The twin towers of Pelli's Petronas Center in


Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1998), are the tallest
buildings in the world. They house, at base level, a
variety of lobby and shopping atrium spaces; upper
levels form balconies surrounding open areas, one
topped with a flat dome. The works of Kahn, with
their introspective sense of restraint, and of Pelli
with their exuberant excesses form an interesting
contrast, but both defy classification as representa-

of any recognizable emerging

this

way of thinking took on

name,

it

(1895-1983),

Fuller

the

American

designer-inventor-philosopher

became known

as far

back

the inventor-designer of

whose

engineeractivities

as the 1920s. Fuller

many

was

projects that were

and therefore not implemented beyond the few prototypes that he could
manage to build. He coined the word Dymaxion
(made up of "dynamic" and "maximum") to identify such projects as his Dymaxion house of 1927,
its elevated living floor cable suspended from a
central mast. The Dymaxion three-wheeled autousually called "futuristic"

visual accent.

tive

Even before

was the basis of the work of Richard Buckminster

style or school.

mobile of 1933 followed,


prefabricated

plumbing were an
be

shipped

Although

The long domination of the established norms of


modernism has invited a mannerist era of explo-

bathroom
to

each

in

as did a

factory-made,

which the

fixtures

and

integral part of a unit that could


a

of

site

completely

Fuller's

projects

assembled.
attracted

none came to the mass-production realthat he had visualized. However, his devel-

interest,

ization

351

Chapter Twenty

20.4

Richard

(right)

Buckminster

United States Exhibit

Expo 67,

Pavilion,

Montreal, 1967.

partial sphere

constructed with the

geometry of Fuller's
geodesic domes housed
exhibits

on platforms

reached by escalators.
The geodesic domes
were hemisphencal,
space-frame constructions,

hexagons. The

to create

design of the exhibition

was by a company
called the Cambridge
Five Automatic shutcontrolled the

daylight which poured


in

through the plastic

panels that formed the


outer skin for the metal
structure.

20.5

(r;g/7t)

Charles

Eames, Eames House

and

studio, Santa

Monica, California,

1949.
Better

known as the
Eames

designer of the

chair (1940-1),
Barnes's

own house was

an early example of the


direction

known as

"hi-tech" in

metal and

its

use of

glass.

Exposed open-web joists


support the

roof,

while

the exterior walls are

made up

of glass and

solid panels in stan-

dard industrial window

and structural
elements. In this view of

the studio, a stair leads


to

an upper

level

where

the primary colors of an

Eames storage
be seen.

352

the

building of hemispherical

unit can

made possible
dome structures

that

from triangulated units resulted in the geodesic


dome, an idea that turned out to be workable in
many different materials and at many different
scales. The most spectacular use of the Geodesic
dome was the U.S. exhibit pavilion at Expo 67, the
World's Fair at Montreal in 1967. The huge structural dome (more than a hemisphere) was enclosed
by plastic panels admitting light controlled by
mechanically operated shades. The interior housed

formed from

lightweight rods, joined

ters

opment of a geometric concept

Fuller,

exhibits

on platforms accessed by

escalators, while

the enclosing structure formed an independent

membrane high above


interior

and

(fig. 20.4).

The

resulting

was generally judged to be both dramatic

beautiful.

"

Late Twentieth-Century Design

Rogers and Piano


Probably the best

Rogers and Piano and the Centre

tech projects

Pompidou

is

known and most accessible of hithe Centre Pompidou in Paris

(1971-7), a multipurpose cultural center.


Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano

Pompidou

to design the Centre

and

their original design

won

the competition

early in their careers

concept was informed by the

freedom of space and

architects' firm belief in

our belief that buildings should be able to


change not only in plan but in section and
It is

A freedom

which allows people to do


their own things .... This framework must allow
people to perform freely inside and out, to change
and adapt in answer to technical or client needs,
this free and changing performance becoming an
expression of the architecture of the building-a

giant Meccano set rather than a traditional static

transparent or solid doll's house.

Such a design allowed the managers of the Pompidou


to adapt the interior space according to the changing
reguirements of the programme of events, yet while
the building

was hugely popular with the

by the team of the

exhibition-

going public, some contemporary commentators, such


as Alan Colquhoun, an architectural critic, criticized

Its

design

Renzo Piano (born

Italian

1937) and the Englishman Richard Rogers (born


1933).

The

displays

movement:

elevation.

is

large, multistory building

its

structure,

exposes and

mechanical systems, and

vertical transport (escalators)

on

way

side, the scaffolding

that suggests,

on the west

its

exterior in a

of a building under construction, and, on the east


side, the pipes

and tubes of an

The spaces within

ical plant.

their display of

oil refinery

or chem-

are equally honest in

overhead ductwork, lighting, and

most more conventional construction (fig. 20.6).


The building has been intensely popular with the
public, a mecca for tourists and Paris residents

restoration, the results of

condemned by Richard

used as a
housing work

from the French


national art collection.

The wall and ceiling


panels are moveable,
while the quality of the

Collection

Museum

in

Houston, Texas (1981-6),

exterior structure supporting overhead louvers

Galerie

form

Museum

gallery ceilings. His

(1998)

in

Basel,

work of great dignity.


Rogers's most spectacular independent project
the Lloyd's Bank office building in the financial
is

is

established by

overhead patterns
developed by the way
in

which the structural

and mechanical system


elements are

inside to

Beyeler

Switzerland,

is

999, the building underwent much needed

is

gallery,

space

attitude to those activities.


1

Part of the interior

The partners went their separate ways after the


Pompidou project. Piano designed the Menil

which continue

In

Pans, 1971-7,

alike.

the design for not being discriminating enough:

assumes that the purpose of


architecture is merely to accommodate any form of
activity which may be required, and has no positive

Richard Rogers, Centre

Georges Pompidou,

space

piping, the elements that are carefully concealed in

its

[the design]

20.6 Renzo Piano and

left

entirely exposed. The

emphasis on the

tech-

nological elements

supports the Center's

popular designation of
"hi-tech.

which were strongly

Rogers. The following letter

printed in the Architects' Journal articulated the

disappointment that Rogers and others


in

which the

flexibility

felt at

the

way

of the original design (as well

as the original paint colors) had been compromised:

The original masterly handling of the circulation


which was part of the joy of the building has now
been weakened, and the clarity of expression
muddled. Rogers and Piano are right in deeming it
a tragedy. How would Leonardo da Vinci have felt if
Jacopo Blogski had repainted the face of the Mona
Usa?'
1

Rogers and Piano, "A Statement." quoted

Rogers

and Stirling. (London, 1985),

Architecural Design, quoted

in ibid, p.

Architects' Journal, January 20.

Charles Eames's
industrially

p.

2000,

29;
p.

in

24;

Deyjan Sudjic,
2.

3. Letters

page,

23

own house buUt from

produced parts

Foster,

Alan Colquhoun,

(see p.

standard

346) has also often

been cited as a demonstration of the way in which


technologically based design could produce interior

spaces of great beauty, even for residential uses

(fig.

20.5).

353

Chapter Twenty

20.7 {above

left)

Headquarters of Lloyd's

1978-86.

of London,

The

floors

occupied by

office workers

surround

an open atrium, where


structural

of London (1978-86). Like the Centre


Pompidou, the building carries much of its structure and mechanical systems (including elevators)
on its exterior. Inside, office floors surround and
district

Richard Rogers,

columns and

a network of escalators

dominance of
modern technology.

assert the

20.8 (above right)


Norman Foster,

the end of the building

(fig.

of
in

any element can be


inserted, moved, and
changed as circumstances demand. A
major part of the
building

is

open

grid,

an open

lighting

is

354

an

providing

and

other tech-

nical requirements.

his

Foster (born 1935) was in partnership

became widely known with the completion of


Sainsbury Centre

Anglia

Norwich,

at

building

is

by a tubular
rise

exhibition hall, seen

here The ceiling

later

on each

each end of

at

the University of East

England

(1976-8).

truss structure, a series of frames that


side
its

and cross overhead

(fig. 20.8).

At

rectangular interior, a wall of glass

opens to the out of doors. The side walls and roof


are

art. The open space at


away from the gallery is a

central space connect the three floors (fig. 20.9)

Norman
open

study area above the

The

tional projects.

Foster

which

an exhibi-

an unobstructed interior space created

glass, structure,

that houses the arts

is

The eight-foot truss structure houses


on either side of the building and overhead, where louvers partially screen the lighting
and other services. Although highly technological
in concept and realization, the interior spaces give
a sense of serenity and simplicity.
The office building of Willis Faber and Dumas
at Ipswich, England (1970-5), was also designed by
Foster's firm. Glass waUs follow the form of an
irregular site. An open central area inside is
surrounded by two floors of offices and various
services on the ground floor. Escalators within the

The building gives a sense of being entirely


and services. Rogers has offices
Berlin and Tokyo and works on many interna-

20.7).

with Richard Rogers from 1963 to 1965. Foster

large,

common room and

within the lower levels of this central space

England, 1976-8.

interior space

tion gallery, while a second level provides for a


raised

The university building

is

of the panels are easily interchangeable.

quarters of the school of fine

Anglia, Norwich,

structure, into

all

half-cylinder glass skylight. Banks of escalators rise

Sainsbury Centre for

courses

The main, ground-level

overlook an enclosed central court topped by a

the Visual Arts,


University of East

interruptions in the otherwise uniform exterior


skin

made up of

square corrugated

aluminum

restaurant.

services

and a roof penthouse which houses a

Open planning

links

all

restaurant.

of the interior to the glass

perimeter and the central atrium, where the over-

head structure of open trusses underlines the

panels held in place by Neoprene rubber gaskets.

Foster developed a fine addition to the Art

Some

loslyn Art

glass panels

and some door panels occur

as

hi-

tech character of the space. In the United States,

Museum

building in

Deco

Omaha, Nebraska

Late Twentieth-Century Design

20.9 Norman

Foster,

Willis-Faber-Dumas
Offices, Ipswich,

England, 1970-5.

three-story office

building for the insur-

ance company has an

open central atnum.


which the escalators

in

floors and
movement

connect the
introduce

into the areas

where

1300 workers are


accommodated. The
visible structural

framing of the skylight

and
aluminum stnps
at roof level

the

forming ceiling panels

emphasize the technological focus of the

building's design.

Yellow wall panels

and

green flooring establish

a bright and colorful


atmosphere.

355

Chapter Twenty

20.1

[opposite]

James

Staatsgalene, Stuttgart,

it,

trap

to

sources

display of

central courtyard-

a room open

to

the sky-forms the core

of the art

gallery,

which

was a modern addition


to an older museum
building Statuary, an
arcade of stone faced
in marbles,

and stubby

Tuscan columns at the


entrance point on the
left

hint at a

movement

toward post-modernism.

winding ramp leads

to

an upper

20.10

level.

gallery

ideal
art.

Law

the

space

the

for

James

Other hi-tech projects by


Faculty

building

at

James

Cambridge, England (1995), which uses a hi-tech


truss structure of half-cylindrical form as a glazed
shell

above multiple

and reading
tower

level

building

platforms holding stacks

Hong Kong

in

new

in the buildings

(1991), which

interior inserted into a court space

of the Royal

Academy

makes use of subde

in

(below) iames

London

Stirling later

new

architecture.

to reflect the

'

it

was

needs of the building's

occupants than be limited by the

rigid restrictions

of

the building's materials:

spaces.

University,

1964-7.

ceased to believe in Frank Lloyd Wright's


philosophy of truth to materials when saw for the
first time a building by Palladio where the peeling
I

Stirling

This building, largely


to librae/ func-

tions,

has several

levels

ovedooking an

floor

open atrium, which


enclosed

The Liverpool School of


the post-war period and

in

modified his views, explaining that

more important

Cambridge, England,

devoted

new

Tightness of the

detail to relate

displayed there to the technically advanced

England

discussion was intense. Some staff resigned and a


few students went off to other schools, at any rate
was left with a deep conviction of the moral

Shanghai National Bank (1986); and the Sackler


Galleries, a

in

There was furious debate as to the validity of the


modern art movement: tempers were heated and

the

for

Stirling studied at

remembers the controversies surrounding new,


modern architecture:

areas; a spectacularly tall skyscraper

office

Stirling

Architecture

the classicism of the older buildings and of the art

Stirling, History Faculty,

Cambridge

modern

include

Foster

from hidden skyhght

dayhght

estabUshes

Germany, 1977-84.

leally

serene white space with a ceiHng

(1994). In

curved

Stirling,

is

lames

Stirling (1924-92), a British architect,

thought of as belonging to the hi-tech direction. The

Engineering

Building

at

Leicester

England (1959, with James

in glass.

Projecting enclosures

columns were in fact made of bricks and not of


marble or stone as had naively assumed from the
books. believe that the shapes of a building
should indicate-perhaps display-the usage of the
way of life of its occupants, and it is therefore likely
to be rich and varied in appearance and its

can be

attracted

wide attention with

Gowan
its

University

in

as a partner)

glass office tower,

with windows allow


passers-by to look

down

into the gallery space.

expression

wedge-shaped adjacent blocks containing lecture


halls,

and

ship's funnel-like ventilator.

There

is

is

unlikely to be simple.

'

He elaborated these views when designing the

addition to the Staatsmuseum

in Stuttgart,

complaining that he was

and

sick

tired of boring, meaningless, non-

flexibility, and the openendedness of so much present day architecture

committed, faceless

p.

James
14;

Stirling,
2.

James

Buildings
Stirling,

and

Projects

Architects (Chicago and London,

and Bickford, James


p. 252

1950-74 (London,

speech ,1957, quoted

Stirling:

987), p 230,

Buildings

and

low adjacent area devoted

large,

in

974),

Contemporary
3.

Quoted

in

Projects (London,

to

shop

Arnell

984).

facilities.

The

interiors share the mechanistic qualities ot the exterior,

their

exposed structure suggesting the engi-

neering-related role of the building.


Facult\' building

which
gallery

IS

mostly devoted to a

library, contains a large

atrium topped with glass skylight roofing.

Here again the mechanics of structure


acter of the large

and impressive

20.10). As Stirling's career


logical

The History

(1964-7) at Cambridge University,

moved

set

the char-

interior space (fig.

ahead, the techno-

emphasis of his work gradually moved toward

more complex range of

values.

At the

Olivetti

training facility at Haslemere in England (1969) interior spaces

356

were more varied, so that a "multispace"

Late Twentieth-Century Design

boredom. The book

cites

many examples from

architectural history (Blenheim Palace, Hotel de

Maignon,

lefferson's Monticello,

All Saints,

Margaret

Street, for

He

Butterfield's
in

which

from complexities and

greatness derives instead

contradictory forms.

and

example)

human

qualities,

and contradiction.
Venturi uses

(below) Robert

Vanna Venturi

House, Philadelphia,

1964.
In this interior, the

visual consequences of
Its

suggests that acceptance

of such qualities can bring design into closer touch


with

20.12
Venturi,

which are

full

of complexity

and

is

interesting to note that

many examples drawn from

the

work

in the stair

fireplace-chimney

element that constricts


It

It

unusual planning

can be seen

Conventional

furni-

ture contrasts with

these unusual forms..

of the pioneer modernists, Le Corbusier and Aalto


in particular, in

could be converted to accommodate meetings of


varying size and character. Glazed galleries with

ramp

circulation paths connect elements of the building.

which these masters

felt

free to

be

20.13 (bottom)
Ground

floor plan of

complex and contradictory in violation of the


announced goals of modernism.

Vanna Venturi House.

The house Venturi designed in 1964 for his


mother, Vanna Venturi, at Chestnut Hill, a suburb

demonstrates some of

In the plan, Venturi

the complexities

and

contradictions that are

Stirling's last

major work, the addition

to the

of Philadelphia,

is

the

first

important demonstra-

Staatsmuseum at Stuttgart, Germany (1979-84),


moves away from technology and toward a more

tion of the ideas that characterize

adventurous

tied

20.12 and 20.13).

(figs.

Its

basic

post-modernism

symmetry

is

modi-

central to his design


thinking.

nals,

around
marble

direction.

Gallery

circular courtyard

spaces

(fig.

are

20.11)

set

where

(from the museum's collec-

walls, statuary

and a portal using stubby versions of Tuscan


columns make references to past architectural

tion),

styles.

by unexpected asymmetries. Interior spaces

have unexpectedly angle.

modified

by

unexpected

Its

basic

symmetry

asymmetries.

is

Interior

spaces have unexpectedly angled forms that upset

Rooms have

corners cut off at diago-

a central entrance

requires a sharp turn to

reach the doorway,

and

a stairway that begins


at an angle widens
IS

and

suddenly narrowed.

The building is totally original, but still


complex relationships to art and architec-

suggests

ture of the past.

It

is

tempting to suggest that

Stirling

had moved toward the approach

called

post-modern,

although

now

building

the

some of the rigors of hi-tech


The exhibition gallery spaces are restrained
in form and color, while the entrance lobby, shop,
circulation spaces, and restaurant use brilliant,
saturated color as do many details of the exterior.
certainly retained

design.

Post-modernism
The term Post-modern would seem to identify
any work that post-dates the style now called
modern but, in current use, it identifies a particular
recent direction that

is

actually a part of the contin-

uing development of modernism.

Venturi and Scott Brown


Robert Venturi (born 1925) developed the theoretical basis

of post-modernism in his Complexity and

Contradiction in Architecture (1966).

It

suggests

which was
the cornerstone of the modern movement was a
limitation, leading ultimately to dullness and
that the devotion to simplicity

and

logic

357

Chapter Twenty

20.14 Ventun,

Scott

Brown Associates,
Venturi House,
Philadelphia, 1980s.

The Venturis occupy an


older house as their

home, and they have


introduced into

it

their

design idiom in which


traditional

and modern

elements are easily


mixed. The painted
frieze

above the picture

molding, the glass

wood

and

built-in cabinets,

the hanging Tight


fixture,

room

and

the dining

furniture all

suggest

highly

this

personal blend.

20.15

Venturi, Scott

The furniture is tradiand nondescript rather than the modern

their routine rectangularity.

Brown Associates,
Samsbury Wing,

tional

National Gallery,

classics that

London, 1986-91.

residence for the elderly in Philadelphia (1960-3),

The gallery spaces in

and the Brandt house of 1970

this addition to the

original

museum

might be expected. Guild House,

Connecticut,

embody similar

Greenwich,

in

complexities.

are of

In later unbuilt projects

simple design, with the

and actual buildings,

smooth walls setting off

Venturi has embraced decorative ornament and

the paintings that are

references to historic precedents.

on

1997 proposal

display. The galleries

are connected by

arched openings, which


create appealing vistas,

drawing the

for a

house

in

Greenwich, Connecticut,

is

a version

mansion at Mount
Vernon, oddly condensed and distorted. Venturi's
of

George

Washington's

visitor

onward. Above,

furniture designs of 1984 for Knoll introduced

windowed

both decorative pattern and references to historic

clerestories

admit daylight, while


arched forms

precedents.

A number of chairs were

in ceiling

make a transition
between the arched

structurally alike

openings and the

back and rear

coves

clerestories

high above.

developed,

all

simply two elements of molded

plywood, one the seat and front


legs.

legs,

the other the

variety of versions

were

generated by cutting out the plywood planes in


decorative

forms

reminiscent

of Chippendale,

Queen Anne, Sheraton, and Art Deco. The surfaces


of some are silk-screened with playful, decorative
designs

suggestive

of conventional

wallpapers,

while others have patterns in bright color.


exaggeratedly over-stuffed proportions

is

A sofa of
covered

358

|J

Late Twentieth-Century Design

in a

flowery tapestry

own home,

textile. In their

Venturi and Denise Scott Brown (his partner and


wife) have used traditional furniture

and decora-

tive patterns in wallpapers to generate

phere that

is

comfortable

As
receive

both
(fig.

which

Venturi

major

for

began

to

architectural

his interiors generally

showed the

whimsical and contradictory qualities of post-

modernism.

faculty dining

room

Penn

at

State

stair

native access to the

20.15) are sufficiently simple in character to

(fig.

form

advanced,

commissions

projects in

and

20.14).

career

his

an atmos-

eclectic (in the literal sense)

The

and the bridge give altermain galleries, sixteen rooms


connected by arched openings, some edged by
stubby versions of Tuscan columns. The galleries
older building.

on display, but
and columns offer a

ideal settings for the painting

the subtle details of moldings

reminder of the unique nature of the building's

The more

design.

recent

museum

in

Seattle,

Washington, follows many of the same conceptual


patterns

on

more modest

scale.

University, State College, Pennsylvania (1974), has

screen walls with decorative perforations, a truncated arched opening

on

a balcony,

mental lighting fixture overlooking the sedate


dining

room with

Venturi

and

Brown

Scott

Wing

( 1

added

986-9 1

to the

Michael Graves (born 1934) began his professional


career working in a modernist direction together

chairs,of traditional design.

outstanding Sainsbury

Craves

and an orna-

New York
The New York

with four other

architects.

known

Five, or the

as

National Gallery on Trafalgar Square in London.

their devotion to that color in

Externally, the classical detail of the older building

Graves pulled away from

is

repeated in the form of variations on

Openings lead

to a

monumental

stair

shaped metal frames overhead. The


access

to

lower

restaurant, shop,

levels

its

theme.

with archstair

gives

housing an auditorium,

and other

facilities.

They became

the

835

At the top of

the stair a bridge link element connects with the

and moved

in

this

all

group, however,

more post-modern

embracing decorative

details,

Whites for

their works.

direction,

strong color, and

forms that might seem arbitrary and even eccentric.

His 1978 design for the Kalko house (unbuilt)

shows

two

house that

sides

is

basically symmetrical but

do not match.

stair,

its

too narrow to

20.16 Michael
Craves, furniture show-

room, Houston, Texas,

1980.
Craves's use of such

unexpected elements as
the paired columns

supporting blacky capi-

support

tals that

indi-

rect lighting units

and

his use of a palette

of

strong secondary colors

supports the view that

such an

interior

is

post-modernist The

showroom
Furniture

for the

Sunar

Company

offers visitors visual

entertainment together
with a display of furniture designed by,

among
Vignelli

Massimo
and Graves

others,

himself

359

Chapter Twenty

20.17 Michael
Craves, Public Services
Building, Portland,

Oregon,

980-3.

The exterior design of


the Portland building

provoked a shocked
reaction

among many

critics,

but the

are, in

comparison,

interiors

quite conservative. Only

the colors, the


capital-like lighting

units

nine

above the mezzolevel,

and

the

upper wall and ceiling


lighting units suggest
the qualities of

post-modernism.

late light

ornaments the other

winery, Clos Pegase at Calistoga,

side.

Graves interiors appear in several showrooms


Company in 1979

designed for the Sunar Furniture


20.16).

(fig.

complex of chambers with unusual

forms and pastel and

strong

settings for furniture, including

Graves's

own

foremost

colors

some examples of

proponent

of

Oregon. The building


but

is

decoration

massive cubical block,

shocked

architectural profession.

had

"set

The
able,
in

One

established

the

critic asserted that

American architecture back by

it

fifty years."

interiors of the building are largely

although the main entrance lobby

the eccentric vocabulary of

(fig.

unremarkis

an essay

post-modernism

20.17). Graves's San Juan Capistrano Library

(1980)

is

low building with

Two hotels for the Walt Disney World at Buena


Florida

Vista,

Swan

the

and

Dolphin

the

the opportunity to design interiors wdth flamboy-

wedge-shaped elements, changes in surface material and wdndow shapes, and its bands of ribbonlike

teenth-century French Neoclassicist Ledoux.

was

varied surface treatment with projecting

its

post-

explores

design of the eigh-

at the

competition

1980 for a city office building for Pordand,

in

(1984),

modernism by hinting

Napa

the

in

huge masses each sporting sculptural


ornaments on roof tops. They have offered Graves

post-modernism

when he won

modu-

entering quietly detailed reading areas.

California

Valley,

provided

design. His growing reputation as the

dramatically advanced

360

using clerestories and exterior pavilions to

climb and with steps too high for any but giants,
moves up one side of the facade, while a pergola

a central courtyard

(1990)

are

eccentric forms and colors. The Disney


connection with entertainment has provoked a
antly

design that

is

playful,

flaunts a disregard for


"taste."

and

is

a Paris Disney project in

amazement and
always

that

what

is

at

to reflect the

the

delight to the public.

same

human
logic

vein.

Such design

the border of "kitsch," that

and

is,

tasteless in

design

an

effort

appetite for mischief.

determination

escape from

much

their interiors are a source of

deliberately foolish

The

usually thought of as

Graves has also designed offices for Disney

These buildings and

is

even foolish, in a way that

of

post-modernism

and order may be a

to

reflection of a

Late Twentieth-Century Design

modern world

in

which

logic

seems

to

20.18

have disap-

Sottsass

Associati,

peared into the excesses of the affluent 1980s and


1990s. Eccentricity

and

have become

tastelessness

Museum

of

Contemporary
Furniture,
Italy,

Ravenna,

1994,

and the garish and the banal are


seen as legitimate means of communication with a
population whose ideas come from the entertain-

Simple geometric

ments offered by

visual surprises that are

tools of design,

celebrities.

television, film,

cults of

used
rior

scale, his

and kitchen

for a tea kettle, scarves,

witti

strong colors to create

Graves has also designed a large number

of major projects in Japan. At tiny

work

and the

shapes combine

designs

to

generate

space

inte-

in the spirit

of the Memphis design

tools bring his

movement. The openings in rectangular

to a large public of fashion-oriented shoppers.

and

arched forms produce

changing patterns of

Johnson

sunlight, which

contribute to the

Philip Johnson,

once

modernist

in the

manner of

Mies van der Rohe, seemed to have joined the postmodernists when his

New York

skyscraper head-

quarters office building for A.T.& T.

topped by

on

1978-83) was

whimsical motif thought to be based

the center

is

the gilded statue that once topped the

old A.T.&T. building in

downtown New

surpnsingly calm
overall impression.

York. The

majestic claims of a giant corporation appear to be


interpreted ironically in whimsical and decorative

terms.

the pediments that topped Chippendale book-

cases.

The entrance

portal

which leads into

is

that suggest a medieval

through a vast arch-form


a

marble lobby with

monastery

(fig.

Post-modernism

in

Europe

details

20.19). In

In

Europe the claims of modernism encountered

major challenge

in the

work of

the Milan-based

group that took the name Memphis

in 1981. Ettore

Sottsass (born 1917), the leader of the group, along

with his associates Andrea

Branzi,

Aldo

Cibis,

Marco Zanuso, and others, broke away from mainline modernism by designing furniture, textiles, and
decorative objects of deliberate eccentricity and

20.19

Philip

A.T.&

(now Sony

T.

Johnson,

Plaza) Building,
York,

New

1978-83.

The ground-floor
entrance lobby of this
building, a

modern

playfulness. Bright color, decorative surface pattern,

skyscraper, introduces

and shapes

such surprises as

that have

characteristics of

little

reference to function are

Memphis

design. Michael Graves

provided a dressing table design for


1981.

top

Its

Memphis

in

stepped forms, strong color, and pinnacle


clearly

relate

to

such designs as Sottsass's

arched and vaulted


spaces, with

columns

reminiscent of a

Romanesgue

cloister in

front of paneled

elevator doors, a

Casablanca sideboard and Cariton bookcase (1981)

geometncally patterned

with their bright colors and angular shapes.

marble

Sottsass's firm, Sottsass Associati, created a

gallery

for

the

Museum

new

Contemporary

of

Furniture in Ravenna (1994). The resulting spaces,

enclosed gallery, portico, and open courtyard use

simple rectangular and arch-shaped openings that


generate spatial
color

(fig.

20.18).

complexity accented by bright

The

fantasy of

Memphis can be

traced here in the perspective illusions of wall


painting, while a tranquil serenity dominates the

spaces intended for "open studio" gatherings of

floor,

and, on a

central pedestal (to the

nght of the photograph), a gilded statue

of a winged male
The shadow of

figure.

the statue flickers on


the wall in this view.

Johnson's design

not

is

altogether surprising

when

It is

remembered

had long since


abandoned Mies van
that he

der Robe's precepts.

artists.

Hans HoUein (born 1934) was

the designer of a

remarkable post-modernist interior


Austrian

Travel

Bureau

office

in

in

1978, the

Vienna

(fig.

361

Chapter Twenty

20.20 HansHollein,
Austrian Travel Bureau
Office, Vienna,

1978.

Decorative elements are

meant

to

suggest

possible destinations
for travel.

floor

a setting

palm

The green

and skylight form


for

metal

trees representing

tropical destinations;

fragment of a column
evokes Greece or Rome.

20.20).

Its

toy-like

elements

intended

are

symbolize travel to various regions

to

fragment to suggest Greece and Rome, a garden


kiosk pavilion, and, most obvious, metal palm trees
to suggest exotic tropical

and desert

floor in pale green patterns

and

Green berg

column

destinations.

a glass skylight

The most extreme form of this new Neoclassicism


appears in the work of Allan Greenberg (born
1938). His design for a large house for a horse farm
in

Connecticut

(1979)

the

takes

Mount Vernon,

scheme

of

and

ceiling create a restrained setting for the elements

Washington's

of fantasy.

corrects the "errors" present in the original design


(fig.

20.21).

The columns of

enlarges

the original veranda

have become paired columns and

The Revival of Tradition

larities

it,

all

minor

irregu-

have been eliminated. His courthouse for

Manchester, Connecticut (1978-80), could easily

Along with the fantasy and freedom of post-

modernism, another,

related

development

appearance of a return to classicism

is

be mistaken for an eclectic design of the 1930s.

the

not the accu-

Stern

rate reproduction of past design that characterized

the eclecticism of the 1920s


to

and 1930s, but an

ples.

PaUadian design

ideals,

the classic orders,

columns, and pediments reappear


as playful inserts,

but in

history used as a basis for

362

effort

produce new work on the basis of classic princi-

literal

in

such work not

quotations from

new design.

Robert A. M. Stern (born 1939)

is

usually thought

of as a post-modernist although most of his work


stands in a position

turousness

of

somewhere between the advenpost-modernists and the

the

constraints of classic revivalism. In interiors Stern

focuses

on small

details that

look back to

strict clas-

Late Twentieth-Century Design

20.21 Allan
Creenberg, farm house,
Connecticut, 1979.

The drawing shows a


design for a house

based on George
Washington's
eighteenth-century

mansion

in Virginia.

proposal by Robert
Venturi in

E^

1997 had a

similar theme: the

condensation of the

famous house

into a

post-modernist fantasy.
In Greenberg's design,

sicism

and forward toward post-modern

Much

of his work has been residential, including

apartments and country houses.

city

logical

variants.

In

both,

planning creates rooms that have a strongly

traditional flavor, although details are often given

enlarged and exaggerated form. Country "villas"


suggest the eclectic

Edwin Lutyens

work of Stanford White or

of

suggestive

resort

of

hotels

the

nineteenth

century. Interiors are richly ornamental without

paired twins

at

Burbank, California (1991-4), and the Casting


Center

both

at

details place his interiors for office

buildings, hotels,

and other

large projects

between

Buena
hotels,

and Beach Club Resorts

at

Vista, Florida (1987-91), close to Graves's

form

a virtual village

six

place of

Washington's eight
single columns.

with

decorative

colorful

detail.

In

amusement park. In contrast, the interiors of the


Columbus Indiana Regional Hospital (fig. 20.22;
1988-96) resemble early Frank Lloyd Wright in

revivalism and post-modernism.


Stern's Disney Yacht

in

Lake Buena Vista, Florida (1987-9), are

filled

Euro Disney (1990) exhibits the playfulness of an

and other

with the veranda

flamboyance. The Feature Animation Building

Pediments, domes, classically inspired columns,


urns,

if

anything, expanded,

columns made into

France, at Villiers-sur-Marne, a visitors' center for

in

is

not condensed but,

slipping into excess. Disney projects tend toward

contemporary terms.

recast

however, the house

of large buildings

their extensive use of brick

warm

and natural wood

in

colors. Stern's international practice includes

projects in the Netherlands

and

in lapan.

20.22 Robert

Stern,

Columbus Indiana
Regional Hospital,

1988-96.
Matenals

in

warm

color

tones generate an

atmosphere of calm
this

in

public space of a

large hospital complex.

363

Chapter Twenty

20.23

I-

M,

East

Pel,

Wing, National Gallery


of Art, Washington,

DC, 1968-78.
An

atrium space leads

to exhibition galleries

on several

The

levels.

plan of the building,

based on triangular

makes

forms,

for

complex, interesting
spatial relationships.

Balconies overlook the


atrium, where a

skylight roof floods the

space with light The


color

but

scheme

IS

is

neutral

enlivened by the

bright red of the mobile

by Alexander Colder
(1898-1976).

20.24

I-

M.

Pel,

Late

Modernism

Pyramid, Louvre

Museum,

Pans,

1983-9-

An

The public space acts

characteristics

new entrance to
many traditional
spaces that make up
as a
the

famous museum.
Although it inspired
much doubt and
the

controversy, the glass

alternative

continuing

theme in recent design rejects the


of post-modernism in favor of

loyalty

to

the

concepts

of earlier

modernism. Late modernism describes work

that

does not imitate that of the modern pioneers, but


that moves ahead in ways that they might have

been expected to develop

if

they were

still

active.

and metal structure has


come to be recognized
as a great success.

Pei

Glimpses of the

surrounding

The work of I. M.

Renaissance architec-

moved onward, be thought

ture are set off

by the

County

pyramidal geometry

The

and

(1963-9),

the flow of the

great winding stair that


leads to the lower level

entrance concourse.

is

Pei (see p. 342) can, as his career

Librar)'

at

of as late modernism.

Columbus,

a simple rectangular block

Indiana

of brick

with asymmetrically placed areas of glass at the


entrance. Inside, a balcony level overlooks the main
reading area where natural colors of materials and

simple forms generate a sense of calm and order.


An addition to the Des Moines Art Center
(1966-8), Iowa, has strong geometric forms that
create a simple setting for sculpture and painting in
the gallery spaces.

364

Late Twentieth-Century Design

In the Municipal Center (City Hall)

natural light

is

overlooked by balconies that give

access to the various city offices.


surfaces of a

warm

The concrete

beige color are surprisingly

one of the
most successful of American governmental public
buildings. Another Pei project, well known and
pleasant despite their vast areas;

well liked
to

by

its

public,

is

it

is

the East Building added

John Russell Pope's older

Glass and steel also form the structure of the

Dallas,

Texas (1977), the vast public space flooded with

eclectic classical

main

huge exhibition areas of the


Center in

New York

Javits

(1979-86).

recalls the Crystal Palace

Convention

The building

of 1851 with

its

glassy

overhead grid braced with triangulation along


edges. Triangulation

pyramid structure
Paris

1983-9).

new entrance

The

is

a central

and

for

its

the

of the Louvre in

in the court
steel

theme

glass

pyramid forms a

to the Louvre, giving access to stairs

and an elevator leading

lower concourse

to a vast

building of the National Gallery in Washington,

that acts as an entrance foyer

and location

The building is based


triangular
forms
that
dominate
the main atrium
on
space; the skylight root is formed by a triangular
structural grid. Balconies on several levels overlook
the main open space and give access to galleries and
other secondary spaces on seven levels. A giant

shops, exhibits, and a cafe

(fig.

20.24). Although

modern

structure into the

mobile by Alexander Calder introduces

Partners as the important roles of

D.C.

(fig.

20.23; 1968-78).

brilliant

the introduction of the

court of the historic Louvre raised


versy, the

much

contro-

completed project has come to be recog-

nized as a major success. Pel's firm became


Pei

for

and Partners, and then

Pei,

I.

M.

Cobb, Freed, and

Henry Cobb and

red color into the otherwise neutral tonality of the

James Freed became recognized. The Myerson

space established by

Symphony

its

marble wall surfaces.

Hall by Pei, Cobb, Freed, and Partners

20.25

Charles

Cwathmey, De Menil
House, East Hampton,

New

York, 1983.

double height

room has an

living

over-

looking balcony

and

seating area facing a


fireplace.

trophy

IS

The mounted

a favorite

possession of the
owner.

365

Chapter Twenty

in

Dallas,

Texas (1982-9),

is

an extraordinary

main hall
tones and in its

success both in the visual qualities of

with

its

rich,

warm wood and

brass

its

The firm has been responhuge number of major projects, with

acoustical exceOence.
sible for a

international representation in Singapore,

Hong

Kong, Japan, and China.

produced work that ranges from the

residential

Cogan house of 1972 at East Hampton, for


example, or the De Menil house of 1983, also at
East Hampton; fig. 20.25, p. 365) to increasingly
major works. The addition to Whig Hall at
(the

Princeton

University at

(1970-2),

is,

in

New

Princeton,

modern

a late

effect,

Jersey

building

inserted within the shell of the preexisting 1893


classical structure

Cwathmey and Meier

The Shezan
Charles

Gwathmey (born

1938) and Richard Meier

(born 1934) were both associated with the

York
20.26

Richard Meier,

Five,

but both have

moved

to

New

practices

producing work that adheres to the modernist

Stadhaus, UIrr,

Germany, 1993.

complex arrangement

of intenor spaces with

smooth white surfaces


forms a contrast with
the medieval cathedral
nearby.

themes of

simplicity, geometric form,

absence of decorative

detail.

Gwathmey

and

small house for his parents at Amagansett


Island,

New York

(1966).

Its abstract,

with

Robert

Siegel,

the

on Long

geometric

forms suggest the work of Le Corbusier.


partnership

total

designed a

Now

firm

in

has

which had suffered

fire

damage.

New York

restaurant interior in

(1976) uses glass block walls and a gleaming metal


ceiling along with Breuer

room

Cesca chairs to generate a

modernism of the 1930s.


Gwathmey's addition to Wright's Guggenheim
Museum in New York is, like many of his office
interior projects, late modernist in style. The Sony
related

to

the

New

takeover of the former A.T.&T. building in

York gave the Gwathmey and

Siegel firm

an oppor-

tunity to generate such spectacular interiors as the

"sky lounge" reception area,


a setting

simple furniture in

its

of travertine marble dominated by a

bril-

liantly colorful wall fresco.

In

1996,

Gwathmey

Siegel

inserted into an

new

older former department store building a

and Business Library for the


New York Public Library. The entrance at street
level gives access to a lower-level lobby by elevator
and an open stair. Original columns, now encased
Science, Industry,

in green surfacing,

emphasize the height of the

space. Electronic signage provides directions,


stations are fully computer-equipped, while

reading

desks

provide

connective

many

all

500

sockets

for

portable computers. Five levels of stacks above the

lobby

level

occupy

floors of the old store.

The work of Richard Meier has gradually


moved from the complex late modernist geometry
of early residential projects, such as the Smith

house (1965)

at Darien,

Connecticut, the Saltzman

Hampton, New York, and


the Douglas house (1971-3) at Harbor Springs,
Michigan, to increasingly complex large projects,
such as the Atheneum at New Harmony, Indiana
house (1967-9)

at East

(1975-9), and the Hartford Seminary at Hartford,

Connecticut (1978-81). In the Bronx Development

Center in

around

New York

(1973-7), a four-story cluster

a central court, the usual

white walls have

been abandoned in favor of aluminum surfaces


with rounded corners. The Getty Center in Los
Angeles

(1984-98),

claimed

building complex of the

to

be

twentieth

the

largest

century,

is

almost a village of separate units with a variety of


classically conservative interior spaces.

366

Late Twentieth-Century Design

become international with


Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and
France. The Stadhaus (town haU) at Ulm, Germany
(1993), is a complex building woven into spaces in

Starck's furniture designs often use plastic

the old

legged stool of 1990, with

Meier's practice has

projects in

city. It

stands in a plaza,

its

curving, white

forms creating a striking contrast with the medieval


cathedral tower opposite.

Open

space

is

threaded

into the center of the building, giving access to

and public

offices

on

a top floor

spaces, including gallery spaces,

(fig.

20.26).

The

interior

is

flooded

larly

unexpected mixes of cubistic straight-line and

The

flowing curved forms.

flowing

legs,

can be viewed as

functional object.
chair designs

aluminum threeon tapered


more sculpture than

cast

its

tiny seat

The whimsical nature of Starck's

emphasized by the names he gives

is

them (Lord Yo, Dr. No, Miss


As

Aha).

an

Trip,

designer,

industrial

with light from triangular gabled skylights that

produced toothbrushes, an orange

offer glimpses of the cathedral tower, maintaining

and other

contact

between

the

ancient

and the modern

tical.

objects, all

more

and Prince
Starck

has

juice squeezer,

sculptural than prac-

In interior design, Starck has been similarly

unpredictable.

building.

and

metal parts in unexpected combinations, and simi-

The Cafe Costes

in Paris (1987;

no

longer in existence) was dominated by a staircase


that

Individual Stylists

widened

clock at

its

as

it

top

ascended, facing a gigantic wall


20.27).

(fig.

Fantasy elements

appear in his designs for restaurants, nightclubs,

and hotel

interiors.

The Royalton Hotel

Starck

in

New York

(1988) has a

large two-level lobby with a blue carpet with a calli-

Some

late

does not

twentieth-century work of great interest


fit

any of the

critics like to use.

stylistic

designations that

Philippe Starck (born 1949)

first

became knovm as a furniture designer, but his


work has moved onward to interiors and architectural projects that are often flamboyant and exotic.

graphic pattern in white along one edge defining


the
is

main

circulation path, while a zone at

one side

fiUed with groupings of Starck's erratic furniture.

At

New

York's Paramount Hotel (1995) a double-

height lobby houses a dramatic stair that also starts

narrow and v^ddens

as

it

rises.

Starck's selection of

20.27

Philippe Starck,

Cafe Costes, Pahs,

1987 (no longer

in

existence).

Shades of apricot and


olive

and

clocl<

at the head of the

the giant

tapering stair

demonstrate the
post-modernist accep-

tance of unconventional, often fantastic

elements.

367

Chapter Twenty

20.28

(right) Philippe

Paramount

Starck,

New

Hotel,

York,

In this hotel

the floor

1995.

guest room

carpeted

is

in

black with squares of


grey. All walls, ceiling,

and

furniture are white,

allowing the large

framed reproduction

dominate the

picture to

room.

20.29

(far right)

Philippe Starck, Asahi


Building, Tokyo, 1994.

tapering stairway

with adjacent sculptural forms

lighting

and

aimed upward

from floor
generate a
futuristic

level

mood

fantasy

of
in this

public space within the

Asahi

office building.

post-modern furniture
a carpet

marble

is

arranged

groups on

in

of large squares placed diagonally on a

Bedrooms

floor.

dominated by

are

massive framed reproduction of a detail from


a

Vermeer painting forming

headboard

for the

and Mallet-Stevens. She has now also designed a


number of offices, showrooms, and shops around
the world.

The showrooms and

outstanding
the

relates

examples

of her

simplicity

of

offices

of Ecart are

approach,

early

which

modernism

to

bed, while typically curious Starck furniture rests

restrained decorative detail and quiet colors. In

on

1988 she designed

of two-toned checkerboard squares

a carpet

(fig.

20.28).

The bathroom washbasins

stainless steel

bowls

cone that tapers to

are

round

top of a stainless

fitted to the

a point at floor level.

Starck demonstrated his approach to a

building with the Asahi building in


20.29).

An

exterior of reflective

tapering block form; on top,

form

sculptural

is

Tokyo

glass

tall

(fig.

covers a

a gigantic gilded

described by Starck as a "flame."

In the ground-level cafe, an angled mezzanine, a

slanting wall,

and twisting sculptural columns form

a setting for Starck furniture in bright red.

The

adjacent bathrooms use glass and marble in unex-

pected ways; the men's urinals are golden vertical


half-cylinders, the

marbles and

women's room

is

an essay

in fine

office interiors for the Villa

Chaux-de-Fonds, an early
Turque
work of Le Corbusier.
Putman's museum interiors in older buildings
in Bordeaux and Rouen adjust simple details to
(fig. 20.30) in

existing

spaces,

such as the magnificent stone

vaulting of the Bordeaux building

Club,

hotel,

and

restaurant

(fig.

20.31).

interiors

in

Kawaguchiko-Cho and in Kobe, Japan, in Monaco


and Seville and many shops and private apartments
in England, France, and the United States follow
the
same patterns of quiet serenity, often
combining elements of an existing space with
furniture of the early modern era and, occasionally,
antiques. The Wasserturm Hotel in Cologne
(1990)

glass.

new

is

fitted into a gigantic

water tower built in

the nineteenth century and preserved as a historic

monument. The round form of

Putman

the tower and

its

massive brick construction generate spaces that


Like Starck, Andree

Putman (born 1925) maintains

an international practice. From 1978 to 1997 she

headed Ecart International and she

own

firm. Ecart

now

runs her

began producing early modern

furniture classics including those of Eileen

368

Gray

Putman has put

to

good use with thoughtfully

related interior detail. In

the

New

York, interiors for

Morgans Hotel (1984) and the

elegantly simple

jewelry shop for Ebel (1989) are fine examples of

her work.

Late Twentieth-Century Design

20.30

Deconstructivism

(/eft)

Putman,

Andree

interiors at

Turque, Chaux-de-

Villa

Fonds, Switzerland,

The term Deconstructivism has come


identify a strain of design practice that

work of the 1980s and

into use to

emerged

in

The term was given


Museum of Modern Art New

legitimacy with a

1990s.

York exhibition

in
1988 organized by Philip
Johnson and Mark Wigley. Drawings and models
of unbuilt works in which broken up, loosely
assembled parts, and elements seemingly torn

apart

term

and reassembled
itself refers

in

chaos were

The

tising firm in

and

it

the interiors required


total renovation while

the character of the


historically

early

window
garden

Application of such theory to design stretches the

for the
Villette

MOMA exhibition
in

Paris

(fig.

reality.

20.32;

sitting

viewed

facing a

but

original,

is

now has Roman


of net and

blinds

The two

silk.

dark chairs are Transat


chairs,

Eileen

from 1927, by
Cray who had

exhibited with Le

Corbusier at the Pans

and Wigley selected

included the Park

is

floor level. The high

theme in French philosophy and literary criticism


which aims to break up the elements of any text
into its components in an effort to reveal meaning
not apparent on the surface of its narratives.

projects that Johnson

here from the upper

frag-

ments, and to deconstructionism, a significant

The

important

modern work was

room area

concept of a text to include any built

1988,

was decided that

preserved-

on assembly of broken

p.

278) became an office


facility for an adver-

and Rodchenko,

often focused

by

villa

Le Corbusier (see

both to the works of the Russian

constructivists Tatlin, Malevich,

who

typical.

1988.
The 1916-17

at

Exhibition in

1937

La

1982-5), in which

Bernard Tschumi (born 1944) placed small pavil20.31 Andree


Putman, Musee
Contemporam,

d'Art

Bordeaux, France,

1984.
The old Lame ware-

house

for spices, origi-

nally built in 1824,

was converted

to

accommodate offices
and a museum of
modern art to house
the

city's collection

of

the Centre d'Arts

flastiques

Contemporams (CAPC).
The brick and masonry
arches of the old

and the
wooden roof that they

building

support have been carefully

preserved The

restaurant space

is

dominated by the
circular weaving used
as a wall hanging.

Metal frames hold

woven seat and back


surfaces of the Topacio
chairs

by

Ecart.

369

Chapter Twenty

20.32 Bernard
Tschumi, Exhibition
Building,

Parcde la
1982-5,

Villette, Pans,

This

one of a number

is

of structures distributed
tfirougfi the large Parl(.

A ramp

leads to

an

upper

level accessible

to the

public Red

and

blue elements enliven


the mostly white
in tenor

20.33

Peter

ions, all

Eisenman, Miller House

(House

III),

Lakeville,

into

formed from basic cubes deconstructed

complex geometric

realities,

painted bright red

Intersecting cubes

and placed according to a geometric grid in an


open park. These pavilions have various func-

generate a complex

tions

Connecticut 1970,

geometry, which

is

emphasized by the

all-

white paint Only the


natural
flooring

a cafe, a children's play space, a viewing

platform

wood of the
and the distant

glimpse of outdoor

so that

most can be entered, making it


from within.

possible to see their cut-away forms

Several

larger

building

units

contain

complex

elements in intricate relationships that can seem

Tschumi has become the dean of the


school at Columbia University in

greenery contrast with

accidental.

the white architectural

architectural

elements.

New

York.

For Columbia, he has designed a

student center, Lerner Hall, where long glass ramps


cross through a glass-walled atrium facing into the
college

main campus.

Eisenman
Eisenman (born 1932),

Peter

the

New York

Five, has

first

known

as

one of

developed work in terms of

A series of
Roman numeral identifi-

complex deconstructivist geometry.


houses of his design (given

cation) use grid plans, with several grids overlapping.

White remains the color

Miller

370

House (House

inside

and

III) at Lakeville,

out.

The

Connecticut

Late Twentieth-Century Design

conventional

the

new

building

older

galleries

20.34

Peter

Eisenman, exhibit

designed on the basis of overlapping Greek cross


forms.

The four arms use strong

colors to identify

Canadian

installation,

Centre for Architecture,

the separate themes of the projects that they house.

Montreal, 1994.

Green stands

In this exhibition,

Long Beach, California, rose for


Berlin, blue for Paris, and gold for Venice. The
complex forms and strong colors make the installation the most important element of the display.
for

which

was devoted to his own


worl< and was entitled
"Cities

of Artificial

Excavation,

"

Eisenman

retreated from his

customary practice of

Cehry

using white to

intro-

duce strong color Each

Despite his disclaimer of a deconstructivist iden-

Frank Gehry (born 1929) has become the best-

tity,

known

practitioner

working

in this idiom.

He

first

attracted attention with an unconventional renovation of his

own modest suburban house

Los

in

color identifies the location of the projects


display.

on

The green, for

example, relates to
design for projects

intended for Long


Beach, California.

Angeles (1978-88). Elements appear to have been


torn
in

away and then attached

house

to the

arrangements that imply chance

house and

this

e.xterior

collisions. In

in other residential projects in the

Los Angeles area, Gehry has brought the seemingly

random and
rials

projects have
a

chaotic interplay of

and colors

inside

come

(fig.

to Gehry, he has

and

developed from the forms of two cubes

that intersect

and overlap

one

in collision,

at a

45

degree angle to the other. The resulting interior


space
forms,
ture

an abstract study

is

all

in white (fig. 20.33).

accommodates the

lives.

In

in rectilinear sculptural

Museum

the

Some

realities

of

simple furni-

of the occupants'

Modern Art

exhibit,

Eisenman was represented by drawings and models


showing a building called The Biocenter for the

University of Frankfurt, Germany.


circulation path penetrates

laboratory blocks, each a small building in


sense of elements torn apart

bined

is

typical

In the

Ohio

(1985-9),
passage to

University

itself.

loosely

The

recom-

at

Columbus,

Ohio

long

spinal

together in a loose relationship a

series

of units including,

point,

some curved

at

main entrance

the

tower-like units.

An

all-interior

Eisenman project was an exhibition of

his

work

called Cities of Artificial Excavation, organized

the Canadian Centre for Architecture


in their existing

Canada

(fig.

of

for the Visual Arts for

Eisenman again used


tie

series

of the deconstructivist direction.

Wexner Center

State

and then

museum

20.34; 1994).

and

by

installed

building in Montreal,

The

Weil-am-Rhein,

exhibit inserts into

Germany

(1990),

interior

Museum

Vitra

is

at

such

an

assembly of white boxes of varied shape coming


together

at

unexpected

complex provides spaces

modern

angles.

the

Internally,

suitable to the display of

and other objects from the Vitra


The American Center in Paris (1991-4)
juxtaposes similarly complex forms with masses of
more conventional character to express the varied
chairs

collection.

functions for which the building was planned.

The Frederick

long spine

and connects a

moved toward

produce

that

The

space of unusual variety.


is

mate-

As major

vocabulary of complex, curving forms that seem

in collision externally

(1970),

common

20.35).

almost

simple,

R.

Weisman Art Museum

in

combines

Minnesota

Minneapolis,

(1994),

conventional

gallery

with

plan

complex curving skylight forms and an entrance


area of amazing complexity, emphasized externally

The
rooms at
eye level, but become startling overhead where
great truss forms (all in white) and curving

by

its

cladding in gleaming stainless

steel.

gallery spaces are simple, white-walled

skylights challenge the simplicity of the plan.

Gehry's Guggenheim
(1998),

Museum

applies
to

the

Museum

concepts

the total

in Bilbao,

of the

Spain

Weisman

mass of the building,

complex of forms all wrapped in gleaming titanium


metal. The internal spaces reflect the external
forms in their intricate and varied forms (fig.

371

Chapter Twenty

20.35 Frank

Cehry,

Cehry House, Los


Angeles, 1978-88.
In the kitchen

of his

remodeled suburban
house, Gehry demonstrated his enthusiasm
for elements that

appear

to

hove been

torn apart, tossed

about and reassembled


in surprising relation-

ships.

Although the

working level of the


kitchen

is

quite func-

tional, the skylight

elements above justify


the term deconstructivism.

20.36 Frank Cehry,


Guggenheim Museum,
Bilbao,

Spam, 1998,

The complex, titanium-

wrapped extenor forms


of the

museum house

similarly

complex

The development of complex and curving


volumes has always been limited in the past
by the practical problems of making drawings and
engineering calculations, as well as by the cutting
and assembly of actual building materials in ways
20.36).
spatial

spatial relationships.

that depart

Walls slope, overlap,

shapes.

and

curve, leaving only

from the basic geometry of orthogonal

Gehry has

computer-aided

exploited

design

potential

the

make

to

freer

of

forms

the flat floor plane as a


reference to familiar

patterns of architectural geometry.

possible.

Gehry

is

also interested in furniture design. In

1972, he introduced a group of furniture products

made from corrugated


form

wide

slabs

cardboard, laminated to

several

inches

thick.

Their

surprising strength permits curving forms that


retain springiness.

The Wiggle

chair

is

the best-

was reintroduced by
known
1990-2,
Gehry
was commissioned
1992.
In
Vitra in
tables for Knoll.
of
chairs
and
develop
a
group
to
design of the group;

The

it

resultant designs use strips of laminated

wood

that are assembled into a variety of configurations,

ranging from a small side chair to a massive arm


chair

372

and ottoman.

Late Twentieth-Century Design

Other Trends

exhibits. Interior spaces are

dark and somber, their

exposed concrete walls permitting play of light and


shade, constantly changing with the
the sun

East-West Crossovers

(fig.

Museum

20.37).

The same

(1994) also at Osaka, Japan,

IMAX

structure with a great

The emergence
designers as

of several Japanese architects

prominent

in Europe and America


nationahsm of design

design had exerted

its

and

figures in current practice


reflects the

growing

Earher,

practice.

inter-

western

Tokyo or Le Corbusier's Tokyo National Museum

of Western Art (1955-9). Increased availability of


publications,

and

travel

United States made


sionals

The

and study

and

in

many younger

more aware of modern

simplicity

logic

Europe and the

Japanese profes-

design in the west.

of traditional Japanese

architecture generated an affinity between Japanese


traditions

The Chikatsu-Asuka

Historical

at

once

a minimalist

Ando

to

the

drum from

waterfront.

is

Suntory

a seafront

theater rising in a

stepped plazas leading

elements

Rectangular

a restaurant and a gallery and contribute to

the strongly geometric forms of the building.


In the Kirishima International Concert Hall at

Aiura,

Japan (1994), by Fumihiko Maki (born

1928) an entry hall and foyer wrap around the

main auditorium with an outer

glass wall giving

views of the surrounding mountain terrain


20.39).

The main

hall

balcony seating stepped

on

(fig.

leaf-shaped in plan, with

is

down

in terrace

platforms

either side of the central space. Walls are of

natural

wood, while the

ceiling

is

made up

of trian-

gular white panels in an irregular arrangement that

and western modernism.

Osaka, lapan (1994), by Tadao


is

house

influence in Japan through

such projects as Franlc Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel


in

tapered cylinder

down

movement of

architect's

Museum

in

(born 1941)

work of modernism and

seemingly timeless cluster of spaces relating to the


ancient tombs that are the focus of the

museum's

is

visually interesting
Just as

and

acoustically effective.

western influences have

moved

into the

lapanese design world, a reverse flow of Japanese


into Europe and America has become
commonplace. Arata Isozaki (born 1931) has a

design

20.37 Tadao Ando,


Chikatsu-Asuka

Museum,

Historical

Osaka, Japan, 1994.


In

the

main exhibition
model of an

space, a

ancient burial

mound

occupies the focal

at the lower

level.

ramp

rises to

level,

which gives

circle

an upper
visi-

tors access to

surrounding cases and


objects

on

display.

The

subdued ambience
reflects the traditional

Japanese respect
accorded

to the

ancient

materials exhibited.

373

Chapter Twenty

20.38 Tadao Ando,


Kidosaki House,

Setagaya, Toyko,

1982-6.
Simplicity of form

and

restrained use of furniture

suggest a meeting

point for the ideas of

Japanese tradition and


International

Modernism.

20.39 Fumihiko

Maki,

Kirishima International

Concert Hall, Aiura,


Japan,

1994

Maki developed the


idea of the angled
ceiling planes

and

the

leaf-shaped plan of the

auditorium to improve
the acoustic of the
space. Balcony seating
IS

extended

in

a senes

of stepped levels as

it

bears the stage.

Natural

wood surfaces
worm color.

introduce

374

Late Twentieth-Century Design

striking presence in the

story

administrative

Disney

States. In his four-

building

in

seeming

of Yoshio Taniguchi

collision.

(born

of

Modern

Art

is

The

1937)

designer of a major reconstruction of

Museum

Team

for

Lake Buena Vista (1990) a variety of

at

masses are grouped


tion

United

center

New

selec-

as

the

York's

another indication of

the extent of internationalism in the design fields.

sures. Railroad stations,

now often made obsolete by

changing modes of transportation, are obvious


candidates.

The

loss

of New York's old Penn Station,

an impressive work of eclectic

McKim, Mead, and White

Roman

classicism by

(1911, destroyed 1963),

has inspired the restoration and reuse of the old

Union

Station in Washington, D.C.

(c.

1975), for

example, and the careful on-going restoration of

New

Grand Central Station. In Paris, the


and conversion of the Gare d'Orsay into
the Musee d'Orsay (1986) by Gai Aulenti (born
York's

restoration

Preservation

an extremely successful demonstration of

In the last decades of the twentieth century, interest

1927)

has increased in preserving older structures, inspired

the

by the waste and

can serve as background for modern elements

of so

many

loss associated

with the destruction

buildings in response to economic pres-

is

way

in

which the

details

of historic architecture

standing within an existing structure.

20.40 ErickVan
Egeraat Associated

ING Bank,

Architects,

Budapest, Hungary,

1995,
/\

sliding door of frame-

less

glass opens into

the boardroom of the

bank The laminated


wooden ribs that form
the shell of this space,

which was sited above

an

existing nineteenth-

century landmark, give


the

room

its

character.

futuristic

glass-

enclosed elevator shaft


IS

at the

left.

Chairs

designed by Charles

Eames surround the


gleaming top of the

boardroom

table.

375

Chapter Twenty

nineteenth-century building in

Hungary, became the basis for


tion

Erick Van Egeraat


1995

by EEA

Associated Architects

in

The new construction

is

old.

rises

buildings offer

floors

of the

surrounding the

center space, while the roof-top structure

becomes

an amorphously shaped "whale" of wooden

and

boardroom

for the

ribs

bank

demands on

their

advantage of natural ways to provide desired functions.

While buildings are designed by architects


their nature is largely determined by

and engineers,

York, 1992.

older building,

dating from 1891,

which might well have

been designated
destruction,

for

was

rescued through a renovation that focused on

environmental concerns
to

minimize energy

consumption, to
provide efficient waste
recycling

and

and

disposal,

to use materials

from renewable sources.


The office space shown
retains the old, arched

windows as sources of
light

and

ventilation.

Paint colors were


selected for

maximum

reflectivity to
light,

and

conserve

the lighting

system was designed


for

maximum

efficiency

The space profits


aesthetically from

natural ambience.

376

its

of environ-

has

the

increasing

dependence on technology to solve

mental concerns in the design of its national head-

problems has brought with it increased consumption of raw materials and increased demand for

quarters building (figs. 20.41 and 20.42). Croxton

desire to preserve

come

and

air

and reuse older


that

realization

late

twentieth-

artificial

lighting,

conditioning, along with mecha-

nized vertical transportation. As resources have

New

less destructive

structures

heating,

An

made

ment and natural resources and, incidentally, often


more economically sound.
In New York the National Audubon Society
elected to demonstrate its commitment to environ-

century building depends on

Audubon

The concept of green


make minimal
environment and take maximum

heat and solar energy supply.

buildings refers to structures that

dependence on energy-hungry mechanical systems,

energy use. The typical mid- to

National

more depen-

turns to intelligent use of materials, to minimal

is

in tan.

Along with the

Society Headquarters,

suggestions:

the interiors that they house. As interior design

interior shape

Green Buildings

Architecture Designers,

many

dence on dayUght and natural ventilation, on solar

buildings can be

Collaborative

becomes

reflected

The unique

20.40).

forms

20.41 Croxton

it

an irregularly shaped rug in blue with abstract

(fig.

in

glass that serves as the

by increasing demand,

toward design that is oriented to


rather than consumption. Older

conservation

above the

new building on top

strained

logical to look

1956)

inserted into the center

occupy the

Offices

ING

become

Bank.

(born

for the

courtyard of the old building and

roof to become a virtual

Budapest,

a drastic reconstruc-

Collaborative, the designers, bought a neglected

1891 eight-story
cost of

new

windows
skylight

loft

space.

building for a fraction of the

full

renovation preserved

opened and used window and


illumination to reduce power requirethat can be

Late Twentieth-Century Design

Glossary

Guide to Pronunciation

aisle

selected terms appear in

parentheses. Strongly stressed


syllables are

shown

in large-size

capital letters; lightly stressed

shown in small-size
letters. Most of the

syllables are

capital

symbols, which use ordinary


letters

or combinations of letters,

should be self-explanatory. The

may need

following

of the

at the side

clarification:

alignment Prehistoric
arrangements of large stones

cat

ah

father, clock

ay

date, play

dh

that,

andiron (AN-digh-uhrn) One


of a pair of metal stands used
to support logs in an

aqueduct

net, berry

it,

open

igh

ice, light

kh

Bach
French bon (shows that
the vowel is nasalized)

side.

Sculptural carving of a

symmetrical balance.

surface in low relief

atrium (AY-tree-uhm) In

batter Inward slope of a

Roman

ancient

architecture,

building; interior space

A bridge

beneath

structure

A series

roof

OH-

buh-SAHN) A handmade
French rug or carpet with a
flat

French d eux German


schon

arch A structure of wedgeshaped blocks bridging over

construction using a cut pile

oh
ou
u

open, cold

an opening.
architrave (AHR-ki-TRAYv)

pattern and color.

ue

French rue, German Uber


cup, about, bird, paper
measure, beige

put,

uh
zh

ow

traditional carpet

an entablature.
archivolt (AHR-ki-voHLT)

molding on the
arch following

abacus The topmost block of a


Greek Doric column capital.
acanthus An ornamental leaf
element surrounding the
capital of a Corinthian

column.

curve.

armoire (ahrm-WAHR) A
movable wardrobe cabinet
with door front.

The sharp edge


formed where two surfaces

Interior

and

DEK-oh) A decorative

A decorative element

style

bottom of a furniture

the American Adirondack

elements intended to suggest

post or

mountains using rough

modern

handrail.

straw. Also structures built of


this material.

adze A heavy chisel-like longhandled tool.


Aesthetic

movement

century British

art

19th-

and design

movement
agora (AG-uh-ruh) The open
market square of an ancient
Greek city.

378

technological

Art Nouveau (AHR(T)-noo-

VOH) A late

projecting

reel

carved

and semi-cylindrical

spherical

form.

beam A

horizontal element

providing structural support.

Beaux-Arts (boh-ZAHR) An
architectural style developed
at the French school of art
and design in Paris, the Ecole
des Beaux-Arts.

forming

strips

of wood into

curves by applying steam heat

and placing the softened


wood on molds. Furniture

leg.

baluster (BAL-uh-stuhr)

column supporting

made by

this

technique

architectural

and

design style of the latter phase

bergere (ber-ZHER) A low


upholstered armchair

of the Renaissance which

developed and used

stylistic

development using
flowing curves and nature-

developed

France.

inspired elements to replace

with elaborate decorative

19th-century

Italy.

historic decorative elements.

Arts and Crafts

An

movement of the

latter half

of

the 19th century in England,


led

by the teaching of William

Morris.

ashlar (ASH-luhr) Building

in

16th-century

Spaces of complex form

in

betonbrut (bay-taw"-BRUET)
The French term for exposed
reinforced concrete.

detail are typical.

barrel vault

aesthetic

A masonry vault

of

bilateral

symmetry Design

semicircular form. Also called

using elements in two

a tunnel vault.

symmetrically placed

barrow An ancient tomb


form of an

is

designated as bentwood.

Baroque The

developments.

branches.

element.

bentwood A technique of

of spherical form at the

of the 1920s and 1930s using

adobe (uh-DOH-bee) Brick


made of dried earth and

window

ornamental treatment using

ball element.

furniture style developed in

tree

identical elements.

bead and

baldacchino (BAHL-duh-KEEnoh, BAL-) A canopy


supported by columns,
usually above an altar or
tomb.
ball and claw foot A decorative
element at the bottom of a
furniture leg in which a

ball foot

Art Deco (AHR(T)-day-KOH,

(Aii-uh-

of wool in a wide variety of

carved claw grasps a spherical

arris (AR-is)

meet.

Adirondack style

RAHN-dak)

face of an

its

of design.

A unit of a structural

alternating elements of semi-

The lowest horizontal band of

book

development of modernism

bay window

oe

sound,

Under the direction of Walter


Gropius the school was

system using repeated

think, sing
,

design of 1919 to 1932.

in all aspects

ng

arches.

vertical wall surface.

Bauhaus(BOU-hous) A
German school of art and

bay

weave.

axminster (AKS-min-stuhr)

of adjacent

flat

strongly influential in the

aubusson (oH-bue-SAW",

decoration.

a Christian church,
having a high central nave
with lower aisles on either

bas-relief (BAH-ri-LEEF)

open courtyard of
a house. By extension, any
central open space.
attic The upper story of a

arabesque (AR-uh-BESK) A
light and flowing surface
arcade

became

blocks.

the central

supporting a water channel.

big

made up of such

astragal (AS-truh-guhl)

^symmetry Avoidance of

chancel.

courthouse of a type that

beads.

apse (aps) The semicircular


end of a basilica or church

mother

Originally, an ancient

rectangular blocks; walling

ornamented with carved

chancel of a church.

Roman

stone cut in regular

small concave molding, often

in straight lines.

ambulatory (AM-byuh-luhTAWR-ee) A passage around


the sides and rear of the

fireplace.

'^

A passage

nave of a church.

Pronunciation guides for

artificial hill.

basilica (buh-SIL-i-kuh)

in the

locations.

blockfront Furniture unit with


a three-part front, projecting

Glossary

on

and recessed

either side

in

the center; a popular type

with 18th-century American


(especially

New

England)

cabinet makers.

French term for furniture


using outward-swelling
curves.

tortoise-shell inlay

developed

in

work

as

Wood

(finger) joint

joint

teeth.

breakfront desk

made up

bookcase with
desk below.

furniture

ot an

upper

a projecting

broken pediment A pediment


with a central opening.

brownstone

Soft

brown

architectural style

using massive elements,

bureau a cylindre (bue-ROH-ahsee-LA"-druh) Writing desk


with cylindrical roll-top

burl Decorative veneer

made

irregular

structure used in building an

chaise longue

(shavz-LAWNG)

with an extended seat

chancel (CHAN-suhl) The


sanctuary area of a church or
cathedral, also called choir.

A grouping

and ambulatory of a Gothic


Chinoiserie (sheen-WAH-zuh-

Use of decorative
elements derived from
ree)

cur\'ing, tapered furniture leg.

caldarium (kal-DER-ee-uhm)

Chamber of ancient Roman


canape (KAN-uh-PAY) French
term for a couch or sofa.
cantilever (KAN-tuh-LEE-vuhr)

horizontal projecting

beam

or other structure supported

only

at its

inward end.

Cape Cod cottage A muchimitated colonial American

house type of one story with a


gable roof.
capital

The top element of a

classical

column.

Carolean (K.'KR-uh-LEE-uhn)
The English style of the time
of Charles 11.
Carolingian (tj\R-uh-LIN-j(ee)

Chinese traditional design


18th-century France and

in

England.

originally occupied

by the

choir of monks.

churrigueresco (CHOOR-ee-

guh-RES-koh) Spanish
Baroque design of 1650

to

1780.

cimborio (sim-BAWR-ee-oh)
Spanish term for a lantern or
elevated structure above a
main roof to permit window
clapboard (KLAB-uhrd)

element such as
base of an arch.

overlapping horizontal,

flat

also, in

woodworking, a groove.
Danish Modern 20th-century
decorative and furniture style
developed in Denmark.
Dante chair (DAHN-tay, -tee)
Renaissance folding

chair using stretched leather


for seat

and back.

making use of broken and


decorated The second period
of English Gothic architecture
14th century).

projecting decorative details

era.

A projecting element
a

beam

used in Ionic and Corinthian


classical architecture.

or the

Corinthian (kuh-RIN-theeuhn) The most elaborate of


the Greek and Roman orders
of architecture using a

grouping of carved
(acanthus) leaves around the
capital of each column.
cornice The topmost element
of an entablature or any
projecting element at the top

desornamentado des-AWRnah-MEN-tah-doh) Late


(

Spanish Renaissance
decorative style using

minimal decorative detail.


DeStijl(duh-STlGHL) A
Dutch movement 1917-31)
of early modernism in art and
(

design.

Directoire (dee-rek-TWAHR)

French design of the postrevolutionary period

(1795-1804) emphasizing

coro The choir of an Italian


and Spanish Gothic or

ancient

Roman

decorative

elements.
sii (dee-SAWT-tawin-SOO) Ceiling painting in
perspective with upward-

di sotto in

cove A concave projecting


molding or element, a trough

looking illusion.

or recess.

dolmen A

Craftsman Movement
American design and
furniture style based on Arts
and Crafts movement in

England.
credenza (kri-DEN-zuh)

prehistoric grouping
of stones made up of two or
three upright stones topped
with a horizontal. Probably
part of an ancient tomb.

dome A

circular vault derived

horizontal cabinet with

from rotation of an arch; may

shelves or drawers.

be hemispherical, flattened

crocket

Ornament using

foliage.

Exterior building siding using

portion of an interior wall

with a special finish;

projecting form based on

openings.

dado (DAY-doh) Lower

dentils (DEN-tIz) Tooth-like

Renaissance church.

cathedral or church,

boards.

applies

of a wall.

choir The chancel area of a

bath for hot steam bath.

it

supporting a structural

cathedral.

Napoleonic
corbel

chaise (shayz) Side chair.

A chair

materials to which

intended for

separated elements.

decorative style of the

or support. (See also flying

cabriole (KAB-ree-OHL)

force tending

Consulate style French

of chapels around the choir

buttress.

stress.

chevet (shuh-VAY)

elements.

(SEL-uh) The enclosed


chamber of an ancient Greek

wood

seat

deconstructivism In late 20thcentury architecture, design

to squeeze or compress

element of masonry
structure providing bracing

buttress

Ionic and Corinthian

elaborately carved chest.

centering Temporary

Roman

person of high rank.

Italian

order using a combination of

compression

Renaissance

area usable as a lounge.

closure.

piece of furniture

shelves.

arch or vault.

usually of e.xposed concrete.

American work before 1776.


colonnade A series of columns.

Composite order Architectural

back and arms so that it can


also be used as a bench.
cassone (kuh-SOH-nay, -nee)
Italian

of colonial history, especially

containing drawers or

ornate chest with paneled

cathedral, often used as a

curule (KYOOR-ool) Ancient

open

by extension, a
monastery or convent.
coffer A hollowed out panel in
a ceiling, vault, or dome.
colonial Design from a period

commode A

with side-hinged sash.

cassapanca (K,\s-uh-PANGkuh) Italian Renaissance

temple.

this material.

brutalism (or new brutalism)

from wood with


growth patterns.

Window

cella

sandstone. Also, buildings of

Modern

used as

support carved in
form.

casement window

with interlocking projecting

KAR-

below the floor of a church or


chapel or burial place,

wall.

courtyard of a monastery.

a structural

human

France by

Charles Boulle.

or openings in the

Also,

wood.

A column

Windows

cloister Enclosed

decorative elements cut from

ee-uh-TiD)

clerestory (KLEER-stawr-ee)

upper part of a

structure using Gothic

caryatid (K^R-ee-AT-id,

boulle(bool) Metal and

unit

750 to 1000 c.E.


carpenter Gothic American
Victorian carpenter-built

bombe (bahni-BAY, baw"-)

box

uhn) The Romanesque style


of France and Germany from

cruciform Having the shape of

An underground

Doric The simplest of the


Greek and Roman classical
orders of architecture.

a Latin cross.

crypt

(saucer dome), or elliptical in


plan.

space

dormer A

projection

on

379

Glossary

architectural orders.

sloping root providing


location for a

window

window;

also, a

capital, often

A woodworking joint

using interlocking elements

classical column.
Etruscan style Decorative
based on early ancient

Roman

of tapered form.

dowel A round pin fitted into


matching holes to join two
elements; also a type of joint

carpentry and cabinet

making.
drop-leaf desk

swelling or outward

curvature of the shaft of a

supporting

arches above.

in

The

entasis (EN-tuh-sis)

block placed above a column

style

desk with a down-swinging

bent

The second or
middle band of a classical
entablature and, by
extension, any horizontal
decorative band.
frigidarium (FRll-i-DER-ee-

uhm) Chamber

of ancient

bath containing a

exedra (pi. exedrae) (EK-suhdruh) Room or other area of


semicircular shape intended

frosting Decorative surface

elaboration suggesting cake


icing.

Futurism

for conversation.

Italian art

and design

of the 1920s featuring


movement, mechanization,

style

and speed.

expression.

panel to form a writing


surface. (Also called a fall-

front desk.)

duplex An apartment or flat of


two stories.
Dutch bed A bed fitted into an

fan vault

of a structure with slanted

suggesting a palm fan.

roofs.

An

fasces (FAS-eez)

Roman symbol
in the

ancient

of imperial

form of a bunch

of sticks tied together. The


Early English The earliest of

form was revived

architecture (13th century).

Empire period in France to


symbolize the power and
ambitions of Napoleon.

florid

Victorian decorative style

introduced by

Thomas

Eastlake.

echinus (i-KIGH-nuhs) The


round element of a Doric

column capital at the top of


the column and below the

fauteuU (foh-TUH-ee) A
French Renaissance
upholstered armchair with

A period

architecture

of American

and design

(1780-1830) following the

The borrowing of
design from various earlier

colonial era.

periods,

common

in

architectural

and

interior

design of the

first

half of the

20th century.

egg and dart A decorative


detail used to ornament

molding

feudal system

The

in classical

in fantastic

A table with

hinged leaves supported by


swinging leg(s) when lifted.

General Grant

style

American

Victorian architectural and


Ulysses Grant's presidency

George

authority of a hierarchy of

gar see yurt.

rule.

gingerbread Informal term for


or

crown ornament.
Flamboyant The last period of

to

George IV

(1714-1830).

elaborate Victorian surface

ornament.
girandole (JIR-uhn-DOHL)

decorative candle holder,


often a mirror with a candle

(1558-1603).

flame-like decorative tracery.

fluting Carved parallel grooves

used on the shafts of


classical columns.

Empire A period of French


Neoclassical design

flying buttress

holder on either side.


Glastonbury chair An English
Tudor folding chair with Xleg base.

as

golden

A buttress of

mean A

proportion

in

ratio or

which the

number

corresponding to the reign of

half-arch form, spanning over

smaller

Napoleon (1804-14).

an open space to a point


where pressure is applied to
resist the thrust of an internal

larger as the larger

entablature (in-TAB-luhchuhr, -choor)

The

horizontal band supported by


the

380

columns of classical

is

to the
is

to the

sum

of the two, or
A:B=B:A-t-B.

Golden Oak style American

vault.

folded pilaster

A pilaster

fitted

brick or plaster.
hall

church Church having one

large interior nave space


aisles.

which

the base

of truss

a horizontal tie at
is

omitted.

high altar The most important


central altar in a church or
chapel where there are several
altars.

(14th to 16th centuries)


characterized by elaborate

system of wood

structure with in-filling of

in

reigns of the English kings


I

and beams with bracing are


exposed on the outside of a

without

French Gothic architecture

reign of Queen Elizabeth

producing the intersecting


edge lines called "groins."
grotesque Fanciful and

hammer beam A type

Georgian The style of the


English and American

elements.

period corresponding to the

by

construction in which posts

egg-shaped and dart-like


Elizabethan English design

A vault formed

half timber

form.

gate-leg table

periods corresponding to the

A top

are used.

groin vault

such form.

governmental system of
medieval Europe based on
the holding of land and the

finial (FIN-ee-uhl)

architecture with alternating

(1869-77).

abacus.

eclecticism

used.

Greek Revival A 19th-century


style in which the forms of
ancient Greek architecture

distorted form; carving of

above.

decorative style of the time of

open arms.
Federal

Greek cross A cross having


four arms of equal length.
Greek key A decorative pattern
used in ancient Greek design
in which a key-like motif is

projecting water spout carved

decorative design of the

gambrel roof (GAM-bruhl)


Gable roof having two angles
of slope, steeper below and
flatter

pointed arches.

Gothic Revival A 19th-century


style in which the forms of
medieval Gothic architecture

the intersection of two vaults

gargoyle (GAHR-goil)

in

the periods of English Gothic

Eastlake style

gable The triangular end wall

ribs radiating in a pattern

power,

enclosing alcove.

A vault with many

Gothic The architectural style


of the later Middle Ages
characterized by the use of

are used.

cold water pool.

precedents.

century using brown colored


oak.

frieze (freez)

Roman

Expressionism Art and design


style striving for emotional

A box-form

it

or folded form,

and cornice,

dosseret (DAHS-uh-RET)

used

into a corner by giving

It is

three

elements, architrave, frieze,

placed in such a

projection.

dovetail

made up of the

furniture style of the late 19th

highboy A

tall

chest with

many

drawers.

high Gothic Medieval Gothic


architecture of the most fully
developed periods.
high tech 20th-century modern
architecture

and design

featuring elements typical of

advanced technological
design, such as that of aircraft
and spacecraft.
hipped roof Roof with slanted
surfaces at ends as well as at
fi-ont and back.
historicism The practice of
using historic forms in
design.

humanism Thought

or

Glossary

philosophy based on

human

actions and values.

hypocaust (HIGH-puh-KAWST)
A hollow space beneath the
floors of

Roman

some ancient

heat from flue gases passing


a

hypostylehall (HIGH-puhSTIGHL) a space containing

many columns

supporting a
roof structure above.

impluvium (im-PLOO-veeuhm) In ancient Roman


architecture, a pool or cistern
in the center

of a courtyard

open to the sky.


impost block (IM-pohst)
masonpi' block

at

the base of

an arch.
inlay Decorative surface

ornament made by

inserting

forms ot contrasting color or


material in spaces cut out
from a background material
with a flush surface finish.
intarsia (in-TAHR-see-uh)

Elaborate decorative inlay

work often forming

abstract

or pictorial design, as used in


the Italian Renaissance.

A 20thcentury architectural style


based on function, usually

International style

without ornament, and


characterized by flat roofs

and

large glass areas.

Ionic (igh-AHN-ik)

The

second of the three orders of


'
ancient Greek and Roman
architecture.

Column

for late

19th-century German,
Austrian, and Scandinavian
design of Art

Nouveau

character.

buildings providing

through the space from


remote furnace.

The term

SHTEEL)

wardrobe cabinet with hinged


door front.
keep The most securely
defended, usually central,
part of a medieval castle.

Low quality,

Italianate (i-TAL-yuh-NA^T)

Design imitative of Italian

kuhm) Chamber of an

Roman

ancient

hot, dry heat to

Also, a fabric

made by the

jacquard process.
Jugendstil (YOO-guhnt-

TAWRZ) The

French

style

of

and design

reign of Louis

XIV

as a

XV style

(LOO-ee-KA"Z)
of

style

modern

finishes of similar

is

used for

made from

character

synthetics.

A windowed

structure

above the top of a


or roof

describe late
architecture

and design that

continues the qualities of

modern

(often

International Style) design.

wood

strips that

form

a base for plaster surfaces.

Modern lath may also be of


metal mesh or plaster board

A cross

three equal

having

arms and one

longer one.

Liberty style

XVI

The design

style

1790 in France,

of 1 765 to

named

Nouveau

British

term for

style.

wooden

ornament suggesting

folded linen.

A horizontal member

classical

Doric

mews A narrow alley


service behind

used for
rows of larger

mezzanine (MEZ-uh-NEEN,
intermediate partial floor
a principal level

of a

mihrab (MEE-ruhb) Niche


mosque oriented toward

in a

Mecca.

Minimalism Design using


or no decorative detail.

little

Mission style 19th-century


American design suggesting
the design of the California

style (i.oo-ee-SEZ)

for

XVI who reigned from


1774 to 1792. The period is

Louis

missions. Often used as

synonymous with Craftsman


or Golden Oak design.
miter A joint between two
pieces, with each cut at

angle to

fit

at a

an
corner of the

(usually right-angle)
intersection.

maksura (mahk-SOOR-uh)
Sanctuary area of an early
mosque with wood or stone
applied to

and design in
Italy toward the end of the
Renaissance, in which there
was an effort to escape the
strict classicism of the High
Renaissance. The term is also
used to identify work in
northern Europe in the 16th
and 17th centuries. The term
has been applied to modern
work which attempts to
replace the domination of
Modernism.
mansard roof A roof with
architecture

steeply sloping surfaces as

linenfold Carved

lintel

Louis

Mannerism A term

used to
20th-century

surface

usually

perforated enclosure.

dome
late modern A term

Art

is

restraint.

slats.

lath Thin

reigned from

characterized by Neoclassical

ladderback chair Chair with a


back using several horizontal

rising

for

designated as Rococo.

The term

lantern

who

named

1723 to 1774. The character

surface.

of a

building,

of the period

coats forming a high gloss

frieze

entablature.

MEZ-uh-NEEN) An

promote

An Asian varnish used


wood finish, with many

alternates with triglyphs in the

the character of the style.

The French

In

the square panel which

above

Louis

palaces.

ancient Greek architecture,

(1643-1715). The term


Baroque is used to describe

bath using

sweating.

Greek

houses.

typical of the period of the

the king

lacquer

Latin cross

KAHRD) A type of loom


developed in France, capable
of weaving elaborate patterns.

early

metope (MET-uh-pee)

covered
porch or verandah with
columns supporting the roof.
Louis XIV style (Loo-ee-kuh-

period 1730-65,

plaster.

Jacobean (lAK-uh-BEE-uhn)
English design dating from
the reigns of James I and
Charles 1 (1603^9).
jacquard (JAK-ahrd, juh-

large central hall space of

architecture and design of the

laconicum (luh-KAHN-i-

with holes to help bonding of

precedents.

loggia (LOH-jee-uh)

architecture

poor taste.
klismos (KLIZ-mahs) An
ancient Greek form of chair
with fonvard curving front
legs and curved rear leg and
back supports supporting a
concave curved back.

capitals

of a pairofvo/utes of spiral
form.

often

playful, design of

early

are characterized by the use

megaron (MEG-uh-RAHN) The

en bateau (LEE-ah"-bahTOH) A French form of


elaborate bed in a form
suggesting a boat, developed
in the Empire period.

kas (kahs) Large Dutch

kitsch

or other structure above.


lit

developed

in the

French

Renaissance.

Mansardic

style

Moderne(moh-DERN)

French
language term for modern or
modernistic design.

Modernism 20th-century
architectural

and design

structure.

Modernistic 20th-century
decorative design using

elements suggestive of the


modern world.

module A

single geometric unit

in a series

of repeated units

making up

modular

dimensioning and proportion


developed by Le Corbusier.

monopodia (MAHN-uh-POHdee-uh) Decorative carving


of furniture leg using
grotesque head and body
tapered to a single foot.

American

Moorish arch Semicircular or


pointed arch raised by

using a mansard roof

vertical stilts

marquetry (MAHR-kuh-tree)
using inlay in

provides support for the wall

veneering.

design.

modulor A system of

Victorian architectural style

bridging an opening such as


door or window. A lintel also

styles

based on function and

Elaborate surface decoration

wood

which may

curve outward.

Morris chair 19th-century


armchair with adjustable
back.

381

Glossary

mortise and tenon (MAWR-tis;

TEN-uhn) A wood joint


which
fitted

is

mosaic Small squares of


tile fitted

together to form patterns or

images.

mud brick Masonry block


made by impacting and

mud

drying

in a

mold.

mudejar (moo-DHAY-hahr)
Spanish decorative

style

developed under Islamic


influence in the 13th to 17th
centuries.

mullion (MUHL-yuhn)
vertical

of strips of wood often

architecture are often used as

ornamental detail in interiors


and furniture.
pegged lap joint Wood joint in
which two pieces are
overlapped and held together
with a peg or pin passing
through both pieces.
pendentive A triangular area of
masonry used to connect the
base of a

member dividing the


window

panels or panes of a

dome

to a square

space below.
peristyle

A sequence of

columns surrounding

or door.

porch or vestibule

perpendicular

the front

at

of the nave of a church.


a cathedral or church.

A style of

and design
derived from ancient Greek
and Roman architecture.
architecture

Norman The
and 12th

style

of the

1th

angles to another (usually

oculus (AHK-yuh-luhs)

opening or window
at the top of a dome.
oecus (EE-kuhs) The main
room of an ancient Greek
house.

of

the systems of design used in

Roman

on column
and entablature. The three
architecture based

important orders are Doric,


Ionic, and Corinthian.
ormolu (AWR-muh-LOO)

of the Neoclassical period.

palazzo (puh-LAHT-soh)

word for palace.


Palladian (puh-LAY-dee-uhn)
Design based on style of
Andrea Palladio.
Italian

is

wall treatment using

surface panels.

382

by
form of

surface enclosed

framing. Paneling

complex

wood

and

tracery.

reeding Parallel thin

describe his mid-western

semicircular moldings used

houses designed with

decoratively.

refinements In ancient Greek

horizontal emphasis.

provincial Design of historic

architecture, small

periods of vernacular or

modifications in seemingly

informal character. French

straight lines

and

Italian provincial style

of

and 18th century are


and imitated.
pueblo (PWEB-loh) Flatroofed adobe house or group
of houses as built by native
American communities in the

and geometric

relationships intended to

the 17th

correct for optical distortions

often admired

and improve

and New Mexico.


pylon (PIGH-lahn) A massive
masonry element as used on

aesthetic

qualities.

Regence(ray-ZHAH"S) A
French design

of the

style

early 18th century

(1715-1723), a period falling

between the reigns of Louis


XIV and Louis XV.

Regency An English period in


architecture and design of the

front of ancient Egyptian

early 19th century,

temples.

corresponding in date to the

piano nobile (PYAH-noh


NAW-bee-lay) Italian term

pyramid A building, usually a


tomb of pyramidal form as
built in ancient Egypt.

for the principal (usually

pUaster (pi-LAS-tuhr)

form of a column

regency of Prince George


before he became George IV

(1811-20).

reinforced concrete

quadratura (KVVAH-drah-

TOOR-ah)

Illusionistic

painting in perspective on

embedded

walls or ceilings.

absorb tensile

and

scroll elements.

(pi-LAHT-ee) Massive

into four parts.

column

quadro riportato

pylon-like support

used to elevate building mass

above ground-floor
Spanish design

style

of the

characterized by fine detail

suggesting the

work of a

vault or paintings simulating

quatrefoU (KA-truh-foil, KATuhr-) An ornamental


element of four lobes.

Queen Anne

polychromy (PAHL-ee-KROHmee) Ornamental surface


portico

droh-REE-pawr-TAFI-toh

this pattern.

half of the I6th century,

A colonnade

supporting a roof to form


porch, usually

at

style

the entrance

in the

second half

of the 19th century, marking


a return to Neoclassicism.

quoin

to a building.

queen
The style

for the English

(reigned 1702-14).

was revived
a

English design

of the early 18th century,

named

reja

in

concrete to
stresses.

(RAY-hah) An elaborate

iron grille in Renaissance

Spanish church interiors.


reliquary (REL-i-KWER-ee)

Chest or other container for

(KWAH-

Paintings on panels set into a

level.

Plateresco (PLAT-uh-RES-koh)

first

druh-PAHR-tight) Vauhing
in which each vault is divided
by ribs or intersection lines

steel

reinforcing rods are

and scroll style


American 19th-centur)' style
developed by Duncan Phyfe
using carved classical column

quadripartite vaulting (kwah-

A system

of construction in which

set against a wall surface.

design using several colors.

characterized by rich

house Term used by


Frank Lloyd Wight to

prairie

architecture.

silversmith.

as

decorative detail on furniture

panel

Gothic architecture

decorative elements.

of English Gothic

piloti

One

order (of architecture)

circular pattern.

rayonnant (RAY-oh-NAH") A
13th-century phase of French

either side of the entrance

pillar

circular

Gilded bronze used

and use of

across several axes in a

15th- and 16th-century style

flattened

centuries.

ancient Greek and

historicism

second) floor of a building.

English

Romanesque

at right

horizontal) line. Also, the

nave The main central space of


Neoclassical

A line

work, characterized by

southwest states of Arizona

building or interior court.

narthex(NAHR-theks) A

post-modernism 20th-century
architectural and interior
design succeeding modernist

pediment Triangular form


created by the end of a gable.
The pediments of classical
Greek and Roman

inserted into a

opening (mortise).

colored stone or

parquet (pahr-KAY) Flooring


forming patterns.

tongue

a projecting

(tenon)

in

(koin, kwoin)

the relic of a revered saint or

other personage.

Renaissance The period


beginning around 1400 in
Italy and continuing in
European design until about
1800 in which a revival of
classical

design concepts was

dominant.
reredos (RER-uh-DAHS, REERdahs) A screen behind the
altar of a church usually
sculptured or decorated.

Restoration period The era of


Charles

II

of England.

Rococo (ruh-KOH-koh, roh-

projecting stone at the corner

kuh-KOH) A

of construction using vertical

of a building forming a

architecture

elements (posts) to support

decorative corner band.

of the 18th century following

post and lintel

horizontal
or lintels).

A basic system

style

of

and decoration

the Baroque period,

members (beams
radial

symmetry Symmetry

made

which

use of simpler forms

Glossary

and more

delicate decoration.

rolltop desk Desk with a top

pantp,'.

scroll

saw Mechanical powered

cover that could be rolled

.saw capable

away.

complex

Roman

arch

An

arch of

Secession

semicircular form as used in

ancient

Roman

architecture.

Romanesque (koti-muhNESK) The architectural


style

in

of the early Middle Ages

Europe characterized by

use of

Roman

arch forms.

The term Norman is applied


to Romanesque work in
England.

developed

in the late 18th

and early 19th century.


rondel(RAHN-dl, rahn-DEL)
A round element of surface
decoration, often containing
a

in

'

the end of the 19th

century in which architects

and designers (and other


artists) withdrew from
academic exhibitions in order
to create a non-traditional

window The

window, usually

round

large
in

the facade

of a Gothic cathedral or
church.

and 18th-century
England and America.
sedia (SED-yah) Italian

rustication Stonework treated

with projecting stones and

upper

tall

buildings, a

level to

which the vault surface was


made up of six parts.
sgabeUo (skah-BEL-oh, zgah-)

A small,

easily portable chair


in the Italian

the

style as

developed by

American Shaker

robing of clergy.
sail

vault Vault of flattened

curvature forming ceihng of

an interior space.
A house form

salt-box

a gable roof extends

lower

at the rear

in

which

much

of the

building than at the front, a

form suggesting

commonplace kitchen

salt

Savonarola chair

{sa\

-uh-nuh-

Italian

Renaissance folding chair said


to be used by Savonarola.
Savonnerie carpet (SAV-uhnREE) French carpet of the
18th century produced by

factory at Savonnerie.

screens
hall

thin slice of wood

used to form external


covering of buildings.
Shingle style Architectural
of the

late

style

Victorian era in

America with building


exteriors covered by shingles.
soffit (SAHF-it) The under'side
of any element.
space planning 20th-century
office and other interior
planning.

Thin sheets of wood


partially split to form a base
for plaster which forms keys

Room

adjacent to the

of a medieval

house acting

manor

as a vestibule or

as

it is

pressed into the

splits.

spool and knob Decorative


detail using alternate

cylindrical

and spherical

elements.
stave church Early medieval

church in Finland using


massive vertical structural

members.

tabhnum (ta-BLIGH-nuhm) A
small room or alcove in an
ancient

Roman house

at the

end of the atrium where


family records and portraits
were kept.

tambour door (TAM-boor)


door formed

tamped earth Earth pounded


form

from

solid

masonry

tongue and groove

Wood joint

using projecting tongue

matching groove.

fitting into

torchere (tawr-SHER)

candle or lamp stand.

torchier(tawr-CHEER) Stand
or fixture holding torches or
candles to provide lighting.

tower house Medieval castle


type in which a vertical stack
of rooms creates a defensible
tower.

a firm service to serve

form of construction also


known as post and lintel.
tracery Gothic ornamental
carved detail in thin, complex
patterns.

traditionalism Design limited


to elements

borrowed from

historic precedents.

either side of a

cathedral or church forming a

cross-shaped (cruciform)
plan.

transparente (TRAHNS-pah-

REN-tay) An elaborately
sculptured backing for an

Spanish cathedral,

altar in a

permitting observation of the

sacrament from the chancel


and from the ambulatory
behind.

trefoU(TREE-foil, TREF-oil)

having three leaf forms.


triclinium (trigh-KLIN-ee-

uhm) The dining room of an


ancient

Roman house

using

supporting skin or blanket

three reclining platforms

external surfaces.

arranged to form an open

tepidarium (TEP-i-DER-ee-

uhm) Room of ancient


bath providing

moderate heat.
terrazzo (tuh-RAHT-soh, RAZ-oh) Small chips of
marble imbedded in cement
and polished to form a

smooth surface

suitable for

square.

triforium (trigh-FAWR-ee-

uhm) The

gallery

the clerestory of a Gothic


cathedral or church.

triglyph(TRIGH-glif) A panel
carved in three vertical strips
used

in alternation

with the

ornamented the
Greek Doric

metopes

block Concrete block


developed in the 1920s by
Frank Lloyd Wright with

entablature.

textile

above the

main nave arcade and below

flooring.

that

frieze of a

triptych (TRIP-tik)

A three-

patterned surface to provide a

panel painting in which the

textile-like surface pattern.

side panels are hinged to

thrust

carved decorative element

temple house House built in


the form of a Greek temple.
tepee American native portable
house formed of poles

Roman

trabeated (TRAY-bee-AY-tid)

transept Outward projecting

as a floor.

split lath

container.

ROH-luh)

shingle

colonnade.

center line.

to

religious society.

Room

step forming the base of

a classic

of parallel thin strips glued to


a canvas back.

and

style Reserved

simple

The

Flexible sliding

Renaissance.

recessed ioints to form a

of a church intended for the

and 1930s based on

classicism but with classical

restraint

or from buttressing.

arm on

type of medieval vaulting in

strong surface pattern.


sacristy (SAK-ruh-stee)

the 1920s

another as

required by zoning laws.

Shaker

leather.

in the form of
hanging garland.
symmetrical balance Balance
achieved with matching
elements on either side of a

Renaissance chair.
set-back In

developed

houses.

bands cut from

sexpartite (seks-PAHR-tight)

rotunda (roh-TUHN-duh)
Round, domed interior space.
row house A house built into a
continuous row of adjacent

decorative detail suggesting

swag Decoration

7th-

ancient Greek cities.


strapwork Carved or plaster

stylobate (STIGH-luh-BAYT)

reduction of size from one

sculptural element.

in

detail simplified or omitted.

bookcase above and writing


desk below as developed in
1

marketplace (agora)

stripped classicism Design of

style.

Second Empire French Louis


XVI revival style of 1850s and
secretary desk Desk with

Interest in

romantic concepts such as


medieval and Gothic periods

rose

A movement
at

1860s.

Romanticism

as

Vienna

of cutting

curves.

stereotomy (sTER-ee-AHT-uhmee, STEER-) Art of stone


cutting to form elements of
complex vaulted structure.
stoa (STOH-uh) Covered
loggia at one side of the open

The outward

force

exercised by arches, vaults,

and domes, requiring

form doors

to cover the

center panel.

trompe-l'oeil (trawmp-LOI)

383

Glossary/Bibliography

Realistic painting

technique

creating an illusion of reality


(literally, "fools

the eye").

truUi (TROO-lee) Simple

dome-topped buildings
typical

of Apulia in southern

developed

in the

20th century

by Le Corbusier.

Usonian (yoo-SOH-nee-uhn)

Term coined by Frank Lloyd


Wright to describe his
American (U.S.) design.

wood

or steel spanning open

spaces through use of

shaped to retain its place in


the completed arch structure.

of early

in the reigns of the

to 1558.

turkey-work Embroidery
imitative of oriental textiles

used for upholstery

Tuscan Ancient Roman


simplified Doric order.

tympanum (TlM-puh-nuhm)
formed

triangular panel

which one or more arch


forms are used to cover an
open space.
vernacular Design produced
through common practice
without assistance from

within a pediment.

Italian

of better design.

Werkstatte (VERK-shte-tuh)
Austrian organization
in

country house,

TAY-dah-bee-tah-SYAW"

Term

into

The term has come


more general use for any

A spiral

hut of grass and

thatch as built by native

American tribes in the eastern


American continent.
William and Mary The English
of the 17th century
during the reigns of WiUiam
III and Mary (1689-1702).
style

The design of the period


Baroque

Windsor

(chair)

A chair with a
many

simple saddle seat using

wood

thin

is

in character.

turnings to

support a bent back rim.


wing-back chair Chair with a
high back with forward
projecting upholstered

elements.

WPA style

Architectural design

of the 1930s projects of the

American governmental
agency using stripped
classical

forms.

churches.

yurt (yoort)

A movable round

intended to hold decorative

hut used by migratory

ornaments.

Mongolian

tribes.

5000

New York:

chair using a circular wheel

decorative form used as the

as

German medieval

wigwam A

wheelback chair Victorian

large country house.

volute (vuh-LOOT)

given to large

apartment dwellings

promoting the work of


Vienna Secession design
through workshops, shops,
and displays.
westwork Frontal structure of
what-not Victorian shelf unit

usually of considerable
luxury.

unite d'habitation (ue-nee-

an

dedicated to the promotion

An

later

Austrian, organization

England and America


corresponding to the reign of
Queen Victoria 1837-1901 ).
villa

Werkbund (VERK-bunt) A
German, and

in

Victorian The design period

Renaissance England.

lining for the lower

part of an interior wall.

trained or professional aid.

in

skuht)

A masonry construction

vault

Tudor monarchs from 1485

The

wainscot (WAYN-skaht,

Renaissance.

style

Renaissance architecture of

England

vargueno (vahr-GAYN-yoh)
form of drop-fronted desk
developed in the Spanish

triangulation.

Tudor The

in the capital

stone of an arch, wedge-

Italy.

truss Structural element of

major element

of a column of the Ionic


order of architecture,
voussoir (voo-SWAHR) A

form

as a back.

Bibliography

General
Ball,

Boyce, Charles, Dictionary of

Virginia Kloss, Architecture

and Interior Design,

2 vols.

New York:

&

J.

Wiley

Sons,

1980
Battersby, Martin, The

New

Decorative Thirties.

York: Walker

& Company,

Blakemore, Robie G., History of


Interior Design

and Furniture

from Ancient Egypt

New York: Van

Nostrand

ed.),

1985

Complete Guide

to

Furniture

Styles (rev. edn.). Prospect

Waveland

Press,

History of Architecture.

A Critical
New York: Oxford

World Architecture. London:

Architecture:
History.

Dorfles, Grillo, Kitsch.

New

University Press, 1980

Giedion, Sigfried, The Eternal

York: Universe Books, 1969

Present:

The Beginnings of

New York:

L.G.G., eds.. The

Architecture.

Connoisseur's Complete

Pantheon, 1964

New York:

Bonanza Books, 1968


Fairbanks, Jonathan L. and

Space,

Time and
Cambridge, MA:
Press,

Architecture and the


Phenomena of Transition.

to

MA: Harvard

Richard Markek Publishers,

Cambridge,

1981

University Press, 1971

Fletcher, Banister

(Musgrove,

J.,

New

York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986


Jervis,

Simon, Dictionary of

Design and Designers.

Harmondsworth, England:
Penguin Books,
Kostof, Spiro,

Ltd.,

1984

History of

Architecture (2nd edn.).

New

Press, 1995

Lucie-Smith, Edward, Furniture:

Concise History.

New York:

Thames and Hudson, 1950

1941

New York:

Harry

York: Oxford University

Architecture.

Harvard University

Years.

N. Abrams, 1993

Hine, Thomas, Populuxe.

Butterworths, 1987

Hamlyn, 1963

the Present.

London:

Framton, Kenneth, Modern

ed..

American Furniture, 1620

Bogen, Louise Ade, The

(rev. 19th edn.).

Facts

Bates, Elizabeth Bidwell.

Reinhold, 1997

384

File,

Copplestone, Trewin,

Interior Guides.

to

Nineteenth Century Europe.

1997

on

New York:

Edwards, Ralph and Ramsey,

1969

Heights, IN:

Furniture.

Harris, Jennifer, ed.. Textiles,

McCorquodale, Charles,

History of Interior Decoration.

New York: Vendome Press,


1983
Oliver, Paul (ed.), Shelter

and

Bibliography

New

Society.

York: Frederick

A. Praeger, 1969

Oman,

Badawi,

Charles C. and

All International History

ami

Survey from the


and Albert Museum.

Illustrated

New York:

Harry N. Abrams,

1982

New

European Architecture.

York: Penguin Books, 1943


Pioneers of Modern Design

from William Morris


Gropius

to

Walter

(rev. edn.).

Harmondsworth, England:
Penguin Books, 1966
,

and

New

Design.

John, Furniture,
Post

Modern.

John Wiley

&

Modern

New York:

Sons, 1990

Praz, Mario, .An Illustrated

F.,

History of Furnishing.

New

Rappoport, Amos, House: Form

Englewood

Culture.

Cliffs,

Edwards,

Thornton, Peter, Authentic


Decor: The Domestic Interior.

1620-1920. London:

Trachtenberg,

Hyman,

&

Myron and

Isabelle, Architecture

N. Abrams, 1986
Venturi, Robert, Complexity
in

New

of Modern

Art, 1977

Wanscher, Ole, The Art of


Furniture.

New York:

1967

and Decoration
Philadelphia:

I.

Design

(4th edn.).
P.

Wiffen, Marcus and Koeper,


Frederick, American
Architecture,
vols.

Cambridge, MA:

Press, 1981

MIT

The

Renaissance

and Baltimore: Penguin, 1970

Blunt, Anthony, Art

Lawrence, A.W., Greek


.Architecture.

Palladia.

Harmondsworth, England
and Baltimore: Penguin, 1973
Scully, Vincent,

The Earth, the

the Gods.

New

Haven, CN: Yale University

Alberti.

Harmondsworth, England
and Baltimore: Penguin, 1958

Early Greeks.

to the

New York:

Norton, 1969

lames and Revett,

Nicholas, The Antiquities of


Athens, 3 vols. London: lohn

Haberkorn, 1762;

repr.

B.,

New

De Arcliitectura, Libri
trans. M.H. Morgan. New

Vitruvius,

York: Dover Publications,

Harper

&

Palaces.

Archin Books, 1965

and
London: Thames and
Italian \'illas

Hudson, 1966
Murray, Peter, The Architecture

1966

London: Alec

Andrea (intro. Adolph


Placzek), The Four Books of

K.

Architecture. Venice: 1570;

800-1200.

New York:

Pelican

Books Ltd., 1959


MacDonald, W., Early Christian
and Byzantine Architecture.
Braziller,

Gentleman
1762; repr.
in

The

Interior,

Yale University

K.M.

New

1400-1600.

York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991

Wundram, Manfried, Pape,


Thomas and Martin, Paolo,
Palladio. Koln: Taschen, n.d.

Blunt, Anthony, Baroque

and

Leake. London: Oldbourne,

1967

Decoration.

Gothic

Furst, Viktor,
R.,

Gothic Architecture.
Braziller, 1961

Fitchen, John, The Construction

of the Gothic Cathedrals.

London: Oxford University

Publications, 1966

Cabinet-Maker and

New York:

& Row,

London,

&
New York:

1786; 3rd edn. London:

Taylor, 1794; repr.

1.

J.

Dover Publications, 1969


Sheraton, Thomas, The Cabinet-

Maker and

Upholsterer's

Dravfing Book. London, 1793;

New York: Dover

Publications, 1972

Rococo Architecture and

Branner,

London,

New York: Dover

Hepplewhite, George, The

repr..

Baroque and Rococo

Harper

& Cabinet- Makers

Upholsterer's Guide.

Italian Renaissance

1962

Oursel, R., Living Architecture:


trans.

London,

Britannicus. 2 vols.

Directory, 3rd edn.

Peter, Seventeenth

Romanesque

Tiranti, 1959

Campbell, Colen, Vitruvius

Chippendale, Thomas, The

Publications, 1965

Press, 1978

(e.xcerpts)

1727

London: Isaac Ware, 1738;


repr. New York: Dover
Thornton,

in Architecture,

London, 1773,

1778-1822;

Palladio,

New Haven:

Carolingian and

James, Works
3 vols.

Early Christian, Byzantine,

K.J.,

Eighteenth Century

Adam, Robert and Adam,

of the Italian Renaissance.


New York: Schocken Books,

England, France and Holland.

Conant,

Sir Christopher Wren.

Hamden, Connecticut:

Century Interior Decoration

1960

Summerson, John, Inigo Jones.


Harmondsworth, England:

New York:

1962

Braziller,

Masson, C,

1500-1700. Harmondsworth,
England: Penguin, 1957

Penguin, 1966

Renaissance

Architecture.

Architecture of Ancient Egypt.

from Stone Age Man

Leon Battista

New York:

Row, 1977
Lowry,

Press, 1962

and

Architecture in Fraiwe,

Harmondsworth, England
and Baltimore: Penguin, 1966
Borsi, Franco,

of

1968

French and English

New York:

1607-1976,2

S.,

Braziller,

Harmondsworth, England

rev. 1961

Lippencott,

1974

Renaissance

Rome

New York:

1947

Romanesque,
Sherrill, Interior

Italian

Ackerman, James

Harmondsworth,

New York:

Reinhold Publishing Corp.,

Whiton,

of

New

Portoghesi, Paolo, The

Press, 1962

Borromini.

Romanesque Architecture:

Architecture (rev. edn.).

Museum

The Pyramids

Baroque and

Architecture of Michelangelo.

X,

from Prehistory to PostModernism/The Western


Tradition. New York: Harry

Y'ork:

I.E.S.,

A.,

York: Braziller, 1961

1965

York: Benjamin Blom, 1968

Nicolson, 1984

and Contradiction

Architecture.

Braziller,

Henry

Rococo Architecture.

England: Penguin Books,

Stuart,

NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969

Weidenfeld

Roman

New York:

Stern, P.V.D., Prehistoric Europe

York: George Braziller, 1964

and

Brown,

Phaidon, 1969
Millon,

Taschenbuch Verlag, 1957;


repr. New York: Minerva

MA: MIT

Smith, W.S., The Art and

York: Praeger, 1968

and

Hamburg: Rowphalt

1966

Press,

Temple and

The Sources of Modern

Architecture

Pile,

Cambridge,

Egypt.

Pevsner, Nikolaus, Outline of

East.

Southern Germany. London:

Press, 1961

lantzen, Hans, Kunst der Gotik.

A., Architecture in

Ancient Egypt and the Near

Hamilton, Jean, WciUpapers:

Victoria

Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rotne

Yarwood, Doreen, Robert

Adam. New York:

Scribner's

Sons, 1970

1978

The Architecture

American Colonial and

of Sir Christopher Wren.

Revival

London: Lund Humphries,

Hamlin, Talbot, Greek Revival

1956

Architecture in America.

Hitchcock, Henry-Russell,

Rococo Architecture

in

New

York: Oxford University


Press, 1944

385

Bibliography

Norman M. and Brown,

Isham,

Albert

Early Connecticut

F.,

Homes.

New York: Dover

York and London:


Martin's Press,

Publications, 1965
Kelly,

1.

Wallpapers and Chintzes.

New

Domestic Architecture of
Connecticut. New Haven: Yale

Day, Lewis

F.,

Work.

his

University Press, 1924; repr.

London: H. Virtre and Co.,

New York: Dover

1899

Hawkes, Pine

Furniture of Early
England.

New

New York:

Furniture, 3rd edn.

London:

repr.

Publications, 1929

8<

Co., 1872

New York:

Church,

Rodman, How to
Home. New York:

Furnish a

D. Appleton

& Co.,

1881

Kassay, John, Book of Shaker

Fumiture. Amherst,

MA:

University of Massachusetts
Press, 1980

Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, H.H.

MIT

Press,

1982

New York:

Press, 1983

Smith, Bruce, Greene and

Schaefer, Herwin, Nineteenth

New York:

Style, rev.

Jr.,

edn.

The Shingle

New Haven:

Yale University Press, 1971


Sprigg, June, Shaker Design.

New York: Whitney Museum


of American Art and W.W.
Norton, 1986
Years of Furniture.

Woodbury, NY;

Barron's,

1980

Selected Writings

and

Baltimore: Penguin Books,

Cathers, David M., Furniture of


the

American Arts and Crafts

Movement.

American

386

New York: New

Library, 1981

Students by Themselves.

1992
Wingler, Flans, The Bauhaus.

MIT

Press,

Buddensieg, Tilmann and

Sekler,

R.,

Art Nouveau.

New York;

Eduard

F.,

Rogge, Henning, Cidtura


Industria: Peter Behrens e la

AEG, 1907-1914. Mihn:


Electa Editrice, 1979

Josef

Hoffmann: The Architectural

Cathers,

Bush, Donald

The

J.,

New

Beth, Treasures of the

Work. Princeton, NJ:

Streamlined Decade.

American Arts and Crafts

Princeton University Press,

York: George Braziller, 1975

New

York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988

Watkinson, Ray, William Morris


as Designer.

New York: Van

1985

Hennessey, William, Russel

Selz, Peter

and Constantine,

Cambridge, MA:

New York: Museum of

1983

Art, 1960

Art Nouveau; Vienna

Movement. London:

Secession

Dutton/Studio Vista, 1972

J876-79J7.

Nouveau.

New York;

Beaux Arts.

Museum

Brunhammer, Yvonne, et ah.


Art Nouveau Belgium/France.
Houston TX: Institute for the

New York:

StijI;

of Modern Art,

Bauhaus

Herzogenrath, Wulf,

50

Years Bauhaus. Toronto: Art

Gallery of Ontario, 1968

Hochman,

Elaine

S.,

Bauhaus:

Biennale di Venezia, 1977

York:

1997

Schoenberger, Angela,

ed.,

Pioneer of

American Industrial Design.

1930.
ed.,

Crucible of Modernism.

Lanier, Hector

Temple

Munich; Prestel-Verlag, 1990


Sembach, Klaus-Jurgen, Style

Werkbuiid. Venice; La

F.

Philadelphia:

Raymond Loewy:

1977

De

Twentieth

University Press, 1979

Architecture of the Ecole des


in

L.,

Century Limited.

Brooklyn Museum, 1979

Glasgow School of Art


Glasgow; Glasgow

Graham,

Art Deco.

Meikle, Jeffrey

Drexler, Arthur, ed., The

Some

1976

Hillier, Bevis,

Institute of the Arts, 1971

Eclecticism

Vista, 1960

Burkhardt, Lucius, ed.. The

London; Thames and

Hudson, 1980

The American Revolution,

Examples of Furniture by
Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Press,

Minneapolis: Minneapolis

Amaya, Mario, Art Nouveau.


London: Dutton/Studio

Barnes, H. Jefferson,

MIT

Heskett, John, Industrial Design.

Spencer, Robin, The Aesthetic

BasriUi, Renato, Art

Wright, American Designer.

Mildred, eds.. Art Nouveau.

Modern

Nostrand Reinhold, 1967

Arts, Rice University,

1962

The

1969

School of Art, 1969

Designs.

ed..

Bauhaus: Masters and

Art Deco; Industrial Design

Harry N. Abrams, 1964

Collection.

Briggs, Asa, ed., William Morris,

Weimar Bauhaus. New York:


Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1967

Residenz Verlag, 1982

Francisco: Chronicle Books,

the

Arts and Crafts

London:

Salzburg and Vienna:

London, 1962;

London; Hamlyn, 1966

Wilk, Christopher, Thonet: 150

Stijl.

Cambridge, MA;

n.d.

Ruckschio, Burkhardt and

Schmutzler,

Praeger Publishers, 1970


Scully, Vincent,

New York:

Greene Masterworks. San

Tod M. and

De

Dutton/Studio Vista, 1968

Schachel, Roland, Adolf Loos.

Viking

Movement, 1890-1920.

London:

Architectural Press, 1951

Century Modern.

Textiles.

Revisited.

Dutton, 1985

London: Conran Octopus,

Harry N. Abrams,

di Vienna.

Parry, Linda, William Morris

Volpe,

Pevsner, Nikolaus, High


Victorian Design.

La Seggiola

1998

Richardson: Complete
Architectural Works.

Cambridge, MA:

P.,

Hagen: Folkwang-

of Art Nouveau.

Turin: Martano Editore, n.d.

The Bauhaus

Whitford, Frank,

Rheims, Maurice, The Flowering

Massobrio, C. and Portoghesi,

Ella

New York; McGraw

1967

Velde.

Scheidig, Walter, Crafts of the

Tschudi, Art

Verlag, 1920

Harry N. Abrams, 1989


Victorian

Hill,

New

London: Dutton/Studio

Overy, Paul,

Osthaus, Karl Ernst, Van de

Century Decoration: The Art


of the Interior.

S.

Nouveau.

Gere, Charlotte, Nineteenth-

Stijl.

Vista, 1968

New York:

Hamlyn, 1968
Madsen,

in

Longmans Green

Doubleday Doran, 1929;


New York: Dover

Modern Movement. New


York: Wittenborn, 1953

Rennie Mackintosh. London:

on Household Taste

De

L.C.,

York: Harry N. Abrams, 1967


Naylor, Gillian, The Bauhaus.

Macleod, Robert, Charles

Eastlake, Sir Charles Lock, Hints

Publications, 1963
Kettell, Russell

Hans

Jaffe,

of Modern Art,

Howorth, Thomas, Charles


Rennie Mackintosh and the

Decorative Art of

William Morris and

Museum
1970

St.

Academy

Editions, 1973

Frederick, Early

New York:

Guimard.

Clark, Fiona, William Morris

New

Fromm International,

New York:

Universe

Books, 1971

Windsor, Alan, Peter Behrens,


Architect

and Designer,

1868-1940.

New York:

Whitney Library of Design,


1981

Bibliography

Modernism
Ambasz, Emilio,

ed., Italy: the

New Domestic Landscape.


New York: Museum of
Modern

Harry N. Abrams, 1982


Morgan, Ann Lee and Naylor,

Art, 1972

Banham, Reyner, Theory and


Design in the First Machine

New York:

Age.

Praeger, 1960

Dictionary of Design. London:

Conran Octopus
Builders.

1985

Ltd.,

Knopf,

Clark, Robert ludson. Design in

New York:

Vision, 1925-1950.

Harry N. Abrams, 1983


Frank], Paul T.,

New

Form and Re-

York: Harper

&

Garner, Philippe, Contemporary


Decorative Arts.

on

File,

New York:

Furniture.

New York: Van

Command. New

New York: Whitney


Museum of American

Marcus, George,

eds..

Design

Since 1945. Philadelphia:

Museum

of Art,

1983

Landmarks of Twentieth

An

lUustrated

New York:

Library of Design, 1978

Press,

New

Book

Architecture since

York:

W.W.

922.

New

Norton. 1932,

2ndedn. 1966
Larrabee, Eric and Vignelli,
Massimo, Knoll Design. New
York: Harry N. Abrams, 1981
Mang, Karl, History of Modern
Furniture. New York: Harry

New York:

The Modular

and

II.

Towards a

New

8c

London: The Architectural

New York:
1970; New York:

Press, 1927;

Praeger,

Dover Publications, 1986


Charles and Ray Eames
Drexler, Arthur, Charles

Collection.

Museum
in

New

New York:

of Modern Art,

Library of Congress and Vitra

Alvar Aalto
vols.

ftir

Architectur Artemis, 1963

Gutheim, Frederick, Alvar

Design

Museum, The Work of

Goran, Alvar Aalto: The

Rizzoli,
,

Neuhart, John, Neuhart,

Marilyn and Eames, Ray,

Eames Design. New York:


Harry N. Abrams, 1989

Rohe.

New York:

Glaeser, Ludwig,

Braziller,

Ludwig Mies

van der Rohe: Furniture and


York:

Museum

of

New

Modern

Art, 1977

Rohe.

C, Mies van

der

New York: Museum of

Modern

Art, 1947

Tegethoff, Wolf, Mies van der

Rohe: The Villas and Country


Houses.

New York: Museum

MA: MIT

Press, 1986

Richard Neutra

McCoy,

Esther, Richard Neutra.

New York:

New York:

1984

Alvar Aalto: The Decisive

Braziller,

1960

Eero Saarinen

Temko,

Allen, Eero Saarinen.

New York:

Adam,

Braziller,

1962

Skidmore, Owings and


Merrill

Danz, Ernst, Architecture of


Skidmore, Owings and Merrill,
1950-1962.

Eileen Cray

Early Years.

Drexler, Arthur, Mies van der

Braziller,

1960
Schildt,

Interiors.

London: Academy Editions,

1973

Ray Eames. New


York: Harry N. Abrams, 1997

New York:

Werner, Mies van der

Rohe: Furniture and

Eames

Charles and

Aalto.

Mies van der Rohe

of Modern Art/Cambridge,

Furniture from the Design

Alvar Aalto, 3

I.

Braziller,

1962

Johnson, Philip

Architecture, trans. F. Etchell.

Miller (Design Quarterly

Fleig, K., ed.,

Louis

Furniture Drawings.

1929 SitzmobeL Zurich:

Herman

America 1918-1941.

Jr.,

New York:

1960

University Press, 1980

in

New York: Harper


Row, 1987
Walker Art Center, Nelson,
Fames, Girard, Propst: The

the

New

1982
a

is

Galerie Heidi Weber, 1959

History.

Kahn: In

York: Rizzoli, 199!

Blaser,

Praeger, 1965

Smith, C. Ray, Interior Design

Zurich: Verlag

International Style:

Barron's,

7 vols. Zurich: Girsberger,

York: Harry N. Abrams, 1986

Harmondsworth, England
and Baltimore: Penguin, 1968
and Philip Johnson, The

Fusco, Renato, Le Corbusier,

Cambridge, MA: Harvard

Dianne H. and Tashjian,


Dickman, The Machine Age

and

De

I.

Scully, Vincent,

Kahn.

1964

1988

Sembach, Klaus-Jurgen,

York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986

Twentieth Centuries.

I.

Realm of Architecture.

Le Corbusier, Creation

Wilson, Richard Guy, Pilgrim,

Architecture: Nineteenth

Kahn

Louis

Brownlee, D.B. and DeLong,

Patient Search.

MA: MIT

Reinhold,

1981

1937-67

Pulos, Arthur, The American

New

Hitchcock, Henry Russell,

of Modern

1977

Art Center, 1975

Hine, Thomas, Populuxe.

Museum

Le Corbusier: Oeuvres Completes,

New York: Whitney

Design Process at

New York:

1954

Art/Architectural Press, Ltd.,

Woodbury, NY:

98-99). Minneapolis: Walker

Abbeville Press, 1993

New York/London:

Designer: Furniture 1929.

Art/Summit Books, 1985


Pile, John, Open Office

20th Century America:

and

Hiesinger, Kathryn B.

Century Design:

Styles:

Braziller,

Giedion, Sigfried, Walter


Gropius.

Interiors.

Baltimore: Penguin Books,

Publishing Co., 1982

York:

and

Blake, Peter, Le Corbusier.

Contemporary Furniture.

O.xford University Press, 1948

Philadelphia

High

York: Architectural

Mechanization Takes

New York:

1960

Le Corbusier

Design.

Cambridge,

Giedion, Sigfried,

Handbook.

Phillips, Lisa, et ai.

James Marston, Walter

D.E., Lotus

New Public

London:

Architecture.

Walter Cropius
Gropius.

Research Co., 1984

Design Adventure.

1980

Twentieth Century

Nostrand Reinhold, 1980

Designers. Detroit: Gale

Planning.

Bros., 1930

1987

Press,

Contemporary

Twentieth Century American

America: The Cranbrooli

Facts

ed..

Rizzoli,

Fitch,

Breuer, Furniture

Laurence King, 1996

1964

Form.

Myerson, Jeremy,

The Master

New York:

James

St.

New York:

1986

Wilk, Christopher, Marcel

Chicago/London:

Architects.

Years.

Marcel Breuer

Colin, eds.. Contemporary

Conran

Bayley, Stephen, ed.,

Blake, Peter,

N. Abrams, 1979
McFadden, David, Scandinavian
Modern Design. New York:

New York:

Praeger, 1963

Peter, Eileen Gray:

Architect, Designer.

New

York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987

Louis Sullivan

Morrison, Hugh, Louis Sullivan,

387

Bibliography/Picture Credits

New York:

W.W.

Jr.

Postmodern Architecture.

New York:

Buildings.

New York: Dover

Meridian, 1960

Press, 1973

An
London/New
York: Longmans Green and

Modern

Wright, Frank Lloyd,

Autobiography.

Frank Lloyd Wright


Life of Frank

New York:

Lloyd Wright.

1987
Hitchcock, Henry Russell, In the

New

ed..

1981.

London: Academy Editions,

Mark, Deconstructivist

Deconstructivism

Architecture.

lencks, Charles

C,

Papadakis, Andreas

Post- Modernism on Trial

Post-modernism and

New

Suzanne,

Slesin,

New York:

Clarkson N. Potter, 1978

The Language ofPost-

1990

Johnson, Philip and Wigley,

Putnam's Sons,

Nature ofMateriah.

Kron, loan and

York: Rizzoli, 1978, rev. edn.,

Co., 1932

Many Masks: A

Brendan,

Gill,

Press,

1988

High Tech.

Architecture.

MIT

Cambridge, MA:

Movements in Architecture.
Garden City, NY: Anchor

Autohiograpliy of an Idea.

Publications, 1956

Klotz, Heinrich, The History of

Modern

Jencks, Charles,

and

Wright. Writings

Sullivan, Louis H., The

Harry N. Abrams,

1982

and

Raeburn, Ben, Frank Lloyd

Norton, 1935

New York:

Pearce, 1942

York: Sloan and


Kaufmann, Edgar,

Prophet of Modern
Architecture.

Museum

and Chaitkin,

Riewoldt, Otto, Intelligent

New York:

Spaces: Architecture for the

Information Age. London:

of Modern Art,

Laurence King, 1997

1988

William, Architecture Today.

Picture Credits

&

Calmann

institutions

King Ltd wish to thank the


and individuals who have

provided material or artwork for use in


book.

this

AKG. London/Eric Lessing


3.19Courtesy of the Honourable

6.4

3.18

Thomas

Lindsay.

Hedingham

CAMERAPHOTO

Arte,

Venice
Minist^re de

1.1 J.CIottes,

de

la

Communication

Patrimoine

la

Culture

Direction

et

du

Sous Direction de

I'Archeologie
1.2 Scala,

1.5

Florence

l.MiuIohn

1.3. 1.13,

Pile,

New York

Smithsonian Institution, National

Anthropological Archives, Neg. 1713


1.1

Photo C.unter

Castle

Rome

8.3

6.17, 6.18. 6.19, 6.21. 6.22, 6.24, 6.26

4.3, 4.5. 4.13. 4.15. 4.19, 4.22. 4.23, 4.25

7.1, 7.9

lohn

Pile,

New

London

1.15 Robert Harding Picture Library.


London/photo Gavin Hellier
1.16 Egyptian Museum, Cairo, photo

4.30 Bibliotheque Royale de Belgique,


Brussels,

Codex 9967

47 (lean

Wauquelin, Lystoire de Sainte Helen)


4.31 Musee Royaux des Beaux Arts,
Brussels,

photo

Scala, Florence

5.10 Studio Fotografico

AKG, London

the Eighteenth

Century Laurence King,


(

Library, Courtauld Institute

of Art, London
7.4

lohn

Pile,

Photo RMN, Paris


7.8Bullozneg81902
7.5

2.20, 2.21. 2.22

Fotografica Foglia,

Naples

lames Morris, London


lohn Pile, New York
5.30 Accademia, Venice, photo
CAMERAPHOTO Arte, Venice
5.14, 5.18

Library. Courtauld

London

7.16 Giraudon,

Paris/G.Biot-C.Jean

9.8

King. London, 1992)

Maeyaert

6.1 Galleria

3.10 A.F.Kersting,

London

De

Florence

6.2

3.17

388

John

Pile.

Nazionale

Palazzo Braschi.

3.13 Studio Fotografico Quattrone,

3.16.3.20.3.21

New York

Angelo Hornak. London

Luca.

di Arte

Antica at

Rome, photo Araldo

Rome

Musee des Beaux

Tours/photo Arsicaud
7.19 as above, pl52, photo I.M.Tardy
7.20 as above. p80/Hazlitt,
Fox.

Gooden

&

7.23 as above. p65. photo I.M.Tardy


7.24 as above, pp68-69. photo I.M.Tardy

Paris/Arnaud Fevrier

lames Morris, London


6.3.6.14 Achim Bednorz. Cologne,

7.22 Photo

Germany

Compi^gne. photo Hutin

7.25 as above, pp2 2-2

3. (ilhateau

de

).

The

of Art. Rogers

American views.

Esto Photographies Inc.

Mamaroneck NY/photo Wayne Andrews


1252. All rights reserved.

9.9 Colonial Williamsburg Foundation,

Virginia

9.10 Arcaid, London/Richard Br)'ant


9.11 Philadelphia

London

RMN,

769-7

18.87.1-.4),

lohn Whitehead, The French Interior in


the Eighteenth i'cntury, pi 89 (Laurence
Arts,

CAMERAPHOTO Arte. Venice

Museum

American Wing

Venice, photo Scala, Florence


5.33 Accademia. Venice, photo

Fund. 1918

Pari.s

the Powel House,

765-66, remodeled

Metropolitan

7.18 Bridgeman Art Library, London,

5.31 Scuola di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni,

Florence

3.2

(Room from

Philadelphia, Penn.sylvania, built


1

RMN,

CAMERAPHOTO Arte, Venice


3.3 Vincenzo Pirozzi, Rome
3.8, 3.14. 3.15. 3.24 Paul M.R.

3.1. 3.4. 3.27, 3.28 Scala,

Paul M.R.

Washington

D.C.
9.7

Maeyaert
7.15 Photo

5.23, 5.28, 5.29

of New Mexico, Neg. no 100506

Museum

9.6 Library of Congress,

5.12

M.R. Maeyaert. Mont

London

London

Rome
2.13, 2.15 '0 Paul

London

7.10 Country Life Picture Library,

7.13, 7.14. 7.17. 7.28, 7.34

de I'Encius (Orroir), Belgium

of Art.

9.2 Photo by Ferenz Fedor. Courtesy of

Institute of Art,

King Archives/Ralph

Ian

Monuments Record
lohn Pile, New York
Conway Library, Courtauld Institute

9.1 A.F.Kersting,

Lagiewski

5.32 Scala. Florence

&

8.21

8.22

New York

Conway

at a

x 17V4

Kersting. London
8.10 lohn Freeman, London
8.11 Wilton House Trust, photo

8.20 National

Conway

on canvas. 20

x45.5 cml). National Gallery,

7.2 Roger-Viollet. Paris

5.6, 5.7. 5.8. 5.9. 5.13, 5.19, 5.20. 5.24,

Calmann

in [31.5

New York

Ltd,

A Young Woman

1670. oil

c.

lackson

Washington D.C., Samuel H. Kress


Collection. Photo Fototeca Unione,

Lieberman

Naumann

Ian Vermeer,

London. 1992). photo I.M.Tardy

7.11,7.33

New York

8.9,8.13.8.15,8.17,8.19.8.23 A.F.

Bridgeman Art Library. London.


lohn Whitehead, The French Interior m

Quattrone, Florence

Pile.

8.6

London

127 X 99 cm). National Gallery of Art.

John

The

Hague

Virginah

5.2, 5.3, 5.4,

Paul M.R. Maeyaert

8.5 Otto
Stift

Florian

2.2 (G.P. Pannini,

Venice

London
6.16 Paul M.R. Maeyaert/Courtesy
St.

8.4 Courtesy the Mauritishuis.

6.13. 6.25 A.F. Kersting,

7.3

folio

6.23

Angelo Hornak, London

4.10. 4.20, 4.26. 4.27

6.1

Vincenzo Pirozzi, Rome


CAMERAPHOTO Arte,

Paul M.R. Maeyaert

4.24 Scala, Florence

2.10. 2.1

7.35 Scala, Florence

Giraudon, Paris
4.2.4.14,4.18,4.32 Paul M.R.
Maeyaert
4.1

4.21. 4.29, 4.34 A.F.Kersting.

Hirmer Fotoarchiv, Munich


c. 1750. oil on canvas,

Araldo De Luca.

6.9

Universitat, lena

2.1

The Royal Collection 2000, Her


Maiesty Queen Elizabeth II
3.26 British Librar>', London MS
HarleyMS4431
3.29 Oronoz, Madrid

Fotozentrum der Friedrich-Schiller-

Scala, Florence

6.5

London
Madrid

7.27 A.F.Kersting,
7.31 Oronoz.

6.8. 6.12 Scala, Florence

York

Schorlitz.

Library, Courtauld Institute

01787 460261
3.25

frontispiece

Conway

ofArt. neg#B76/2249

Mr & Mrs
Mrs.

Pierre

Museum of Art. Gift of


Du Pont and Mr. &

S.

Lammont du

Graydon

Wood

Ponl, photo by

989

9.13 Society for the Preservation of

England Antiquities, Boston

New

Picture Credits

9.14 MDHticelliV IhiMiias Ictfersoii

Rochroane. Irvington-un-the-Fludson,

16.2

Memorial Foundalinn inc

New

16.5 ("ourtesy Philippe (iarner,

9.16 Architect ot the c:apitol.

York. 1905,

home of Melchior S.

lohn Freeman. London

Andrew Gordon PhtJtography

Bellzhoover, 34b.2 x 330.1 x 21.2 cm).


Courtesy Ihe Corning Museum of Glass,
Corning, New York, 7h.4.2

New York

Washington P.C. Photo by Robert

13.18 Morris Library, Universitv of

photo George Kalinsky

CLdutniaii.

Delaware, Neward, Dc.

16.9 John

Wdshingloii

D.C..

9.17 Courtesy

10.1

The Octdgon

Miiseiini,

&

Royal Pavilion. Libraries

13.19

Museums, Brighton

An

Instilutc of

Chicago

13.20. 13.21 i:almann

&

King,

10.2

f^'^

Angelo Hornak, London

London/Ralph Lieberman

10.3

>

lohn Hreenian. London

14.4 Roger-Viollet, Paris

London

16.7

Inc,

London
19.12 Esto Photographies Inc.
Mamaroneck NY I09.Q6. All rights
reserved.

16.8 Courtesy

Radio City Music Hall,

Pile.

19.14 lulius Schulman, Los Angeles


19.15

New York

Esto Photographies Inc,

Mamaroneck NY/photo Wayne Andrews

16.10 Arkitekturmuseets. Stockholm

1919. All rights reserved.

16.14 Diner Archives of Richard

19.16 (iiiggenheim

|.S.

Museum. New York/

Hedrick Blessing Collection

ARS. NY and DACS, London 2000


19.17 Esto Photographies Inc,
Mamaroneck NY/photo Ezra Stoller

10.7 A.F.Kersting,

Preservation Society of

16.16 Courtesy Architectural Press.

78BB.

All rights reserved.

10.9

14.6 Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North

London

19.20

Carolina

16.17

10.4RCHME

14.5

London
The Merchant's House Museum,

New

Vork/photu Madeleine Ooering


10.10 David Finn. New York
Library' ot

10.1

Congress, Washington

D.C.

Freeman. London

16.15 C^lhicago Historical Society,

The Breakers and Marble House,


Newport County

Washington

14.7 Library of Congress,

D.C.
14.8

10.13. 10.14 lohn

Gutman, West Roxbury. Mass

CM

Michigan, neg 148553

17.1. 17.3. 17.10

Museum

of the City of New York,

Print Archives.

Photo George P.Hal!

10.15 (145 Buccleach Street. Cilasgow).

Son. 1911.

Arcaid. London/Richard Biyant 1993.

14.9 Esto Photographies

courtesy of the National Trust

Mamaroneck NWphoto

&

Pile. New York


London/Richard

Bryant

t'onway Library, t-ourtaiild

17.5

Ezra Stoller

66EE.i9. All rights reserved.

lohn

17.2. 17.12 Arcaid.

Esto Photographies Inc,

Mamaroneck NY/photo

Media Archives. Detroit

Institute

19.22

Hsto Photographies Inc,

Mamaroneck NY/photo Peter Mauss


91M37IB. Ail rights reserved.
20.1

20.2

Timothy

Mudtord. Los Angeles


Hursley, Little Rock

("irant

1.2 (.Courtesy The Pennsylvania


Academy of the Fine Arts. Philadelphia,

14.10?^ Esto Photographies Inc.

London
17.6 Paul M.R. Maeyaert
17.7 DACS. 2000
17.8 Courtesy Tim Benton Musee des

Mamaroneck NY/photo Wayne Andrews

Arts Decoratifs, Paris

London, photo Tim Street-Porter

photo Rick Echehneyer

893. All rights reserved.

10.18, 10.19

lames Austin. Cambridge

1.3 A.F.Kersting.

1.4

London

1.5

National

Monuments

Record.

Bedford Lemere 5272

of Art.

Aaron

All rights reserved.

Inc,

Marvin Rand. Venice California


Norman McGrath, New York
18.3 Esto Photographies Inc.

20.9

Mamaroneck NY/photo

20.14 Courtesy VSBA, photo Rollin R. La

ofCranbrook

noK1989-2&K1989

8.2

Shakespeare Library. Washington D.C.

London 2000

14.22 National Trust Photographic

18.4

Library

2000

Byron collection
11.11 Courtesy ot The Adirondack

Museum, Blue Mountain

Lake,

New

York
1.12 Arcaid.

y(
1

14.23

Compagnie Generale

Modern Art. New


York/ ARS. NY and DACS. London

Herman Myers

1.29 Science

&

Society Picture Library,

<md(m

12.1

RCHMS, photo

12.2

1904 neg no DB/580

lohn Freeman, London

Museum

ot

2000

ARS, NY and DACS.


London 2000
15.5 DACS. 2000
15.6 photo courtesy Centraal Museum
Utrecht/ DACS. 2000
15.3, 15.4

12.10 British Architectural Library, RIBA,

Bauhaus Archiv, Berlin


15.10 DACS. 2000
15.1 1 The Mies van der Rohe Archive,
The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Photograph courtesy The Museum of

London

Modern

12.3 Arcaid,

London/Richard Bryant

12.4 A.F.Kersting.

London

12.7RCHME

12.13

lohn

Pile,

New York

12.14Courte5y of the Boston Public

Department
12.15 Arcaid, London/Richard Bryant
12.16 Courtesy Beurs van Berlage. photo

Library. Print

15.7

New

Art,

York.

DACS, 2000

15.13 Esto Photographies Inc,


Mamaroneck NY/photo Scott Frances
88SF 17.20. All rights resetted. DACS,

13.2 Gift of

Madame Charles Masson,

Editions A. Levy, Paris/

Image

Paris

Martin Charles, London/ DACS.

Paul M.R. Maeyaert/

2000
13.4

13.6 photo by Nicolas Sapieha


13.7

and DACS, London 2000

13.11

Museum

of Finnish Architecture.

13.12

15.19

Paul M.R. Maeyaert.

FLC/ADAGP,

Mont de

Peter Kent,
Paris

and DACS,

London/
and DACS. London

Low, London/
FLC/ADAGP, Paris and DACS. London

Anderson

8<

I'Endus (Orroirl. Belgium

2000

13.13 Osterreichische

15.21. 15.22

NationalBibliothek, Vienna

DACS, London 2000

13.14 lohn Pile, New York


13.16 DACS. 2000
13.17 (Comfort Tiffany. Leaded glass
window from reception room at

Paris

2000
15.20

Helsinki

King Archives.
photo Ralph Lieberman/ ARS, NY and
DACS, London 2000
18.7. 18.8 lohnson Wax Company,
Racine, Wisconsin. ARS, NY and
8(

DACS, London 2000


18.9. 18.10

FLC/ADAGP.

15.23. 15.24. 15.26

Museum

Paris

and

of Finnish

Architecture, Helsinki

15.25

Museum

of Finnish Architecture,

Helsinki, photo lussi Tiainen

lohn Donat Photography,

Pictures.

London
VSBA, photo by

20.12, 20.15 Courtesy

Matt Wargo
France

Esto Photographies Inc,

Mamaroneck NY/photo
82A46-I5.

Calmann

Peter

Aaron

All rights reserved.

20.18 Courtesy Sotsass Associati

20.20 Courtesy Studio Hans HoUein,

Vienna
20.22

Esto Photographies Inc,

Mamaroneck NY/photo

Peter Aaron. All

rights reserved.

Grant Mudford. Los

20.23

Esto Photographies Inc,

Mamaroneck NY/photo Ezra

Angeles
18.11 Courtesy Avery Architectural

and

rights reserved.

Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.

20.25 Courtesy

New York

York

18.12 Photo by Robert

Damora,

Stoller. All

Gwathmey Siegei, New

2000
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
18.14 Photo by Paul Davis, Gift of Walter
Gropius. Courtesy the Busch-Reisinger
Museum, Harvard University Art

20.26, 20.36 Arcaid, London/Richard

Museums

York

President and Fellows of

Bryant
20.27. 20.29 Courtesy Philippe Starck.
Paris

20.28 Courtesy Schrager Hotels,

Harvard College. Harvard University.

20.30, 20.31 Courtesy

Copy prmt by Katya

Paris

Kalisen

DAO.

Esto Photographies Inc,

Pile.

Inc.

New York

&

Co.

(New York}

on white poster board, 30 x 40 in The


Museum of Modern Art, New York.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
J9.1 Courtesy Philippe Garner, London
19.3 Kim Ahm. Copenhagen
).

Stockholm
19.18, 19.19 lohn

Dick Frank, New York


Canadian Centre for
Architecture, Montreal. Photo Michel
Legendre
20.35 Elizabeth Whiting & Associates,
London, photo Tim Street-Porter
20.37 Courtesy Tadao Ando Architect &
Associates, photo by Shigeo Ogawa, The
20.34

18.20 (Charles Eames & Hero Saarinen,


Competition Drawing, 1940, colored
pencil wood veneer and paper cut-outs

Japan Architect Co. Ltd, Tokyo


20.38 Shinkenchiku-sha, Tokyo

20.39 Courtesy Maki and Associates,

photo

Toshiharu
EEA

19.4 Arkitekturmuseets,

20.40 Courtesy

19.5, 19.8, 19.13,

Christian Richters

Pile.

19.6

New York
Museum of Finnish

Andree Putman,

Peter Mauss/Esto

20.33

All rights reserved.

18.16 lohn

New

20.32 Courtesy Bernard Tschumi, photo

Ezra Stoller 591

18.17 Courtesy Dorothy Draper

London 2000

FLC/ADAGP,

Paul M.R. Maeyaert

FLC/ADAGP,

15.17, 15.18 Le Corbusier Foundation,

Paris/

DACS. 2000

and DACS, London

18.15

Amsterdam

London
View

20.17

NY

Mamaroneck NWphoto

Ian Derwig,

1938. Photo Studio

ARS,

Ezra Stoller. Alt

ARS, NY and DACS,

2000

15.14 lohn Pile, New York


15.15 Photo Musee des Arts Decoratifs,

13.3

18.5, 18.6

Maritime/Agente Le Havre
15.1. 15.2

London/Richard Bryant
11.13. 11.17^0 John Pile. New York
ll.ieCourtesyVITETTA. Philadelphia
1

London

18.1

14.14, 14.15 CAiurtesy

2670. All rights reserved.

Print Archives.

Associates,

Collection Box 189

neg.

New York.

&

20.8, 20.10

rights reserved.

of the City of

New York

20.7 Courtesy Lloyds,

14.16 By Permission of the Folger

Museum

Pile.

20.5 Elizabeth Whiting

17.9 Courtesy Architectural Press,

of the City of New

Mamaroneck NY/photo Wayne Andrews


11.9

lohn

AR

20.16, 20.19. 20.24

1,

London
London Transport Museum
17.1

Museum

Archives. Bloomfield Hills, Michegan.

11.8 Esto Photographies

20.3, 20.4. 20.6, 20.1

York. Print Archives. Wurts Bros.

14.11, 14.13

National 1 rust Photographic

Library/Michael Boys
1

98A38.

Inc,

Peter

Kitajima
Architects/photo

20.41. 20.42 Croxton Collaborative

Architecture,

Architects PC,

New York

Helsinki

19.10 Courtesy Royal Festival Hall,

389

ndex
GadDC

oAcs deaoBe i

Xcasdbais in

Pranmiaaiaa ^idet ior sdectsd pni|ier


^koa ai paRndiess; farm
ixnmi
cxrimaiaB of Ike sraliak used, see

56-7, S6i Idaink (or

Aifen.Alnr<AHL-iialht 2B5-9. 3%. 3110,


133, 357; and Uimittil State. 303.325.

137

AMma.BtTO

iJitHSS-yobi 333

jldH.U>cnaMl|aHS
fmacsMmt

322

HoAdom & Rcffisom 312

B^Be Scott. MackzyHi^

Atdatemaio lVoe&. dc] 136


ArdlMscaamrffwvfn [peiiodica]] 317

haMarrtym; B-'Jil-dub-KEE-Dee, S.U-)

ArfaxSK3affie4^CDtumn'Hiu5e. T?ie

BaildwiB. BeniaiQii]

IDOHBBtBliaS
ArdUfelttraCMelGiuixBi] 97

Baldiriii. V*'iniam IBiily]

(.iHfi-see-NYAY-

Sim Xzvvr dd Bac. TocsoD

154^

ant gaQaries

l'K.210-^

aBd iDiaseunas
163, 215

\leaaisa

16

Seoesskm 234,235;

Modeima
Modensa

;32
128.34S:JHFlnes
I

340, 34]; laae


364. 364. 365; pos-iraT

aadardi^ 29S,299,304:poni

340, 34 J; late 2di

117.342.3h]idiliiqgt 303

349. 350-1,

Aiiir Ht WHIM*

iinteiBOTS

37J,372;aMower4tyJes 373,373;

27Z 322. 34S


AlKn.PliKK 186, ISS
AInix. Kntf

presgvjgioB gad

liMiem.ham9aasui.iiA-WB.-V) 7%
DcKejIafi^KiBBru 79

m nwHjimcaoga

246.246.375

AmtNomieaD

hdEd-HAM-litdit

36^ 36ft posl-modemist

361. 361; deccmnniaJrasl 371,

347

AlllHa,ADii]BCi(AHL-9)eiK,jUL-l!iDfaz)

I,

cennnT ^.2.

35a m-i, 354. 357.

357, 35S, 359:

13^00 26t

I^

21&, 219. 221. 223, 226-32:

UmsadStaies 23S-43

53. 53

AitWodkas'Gaki

TattcoOt Spssn 1132

217. 21S

An^FUasndifAHR-iEdtS 310,325

s^StaoAiKSBaaaes^) 12

103

bankbpoildii^EKeradatflca] 174. 174,

An Nouveau and Seoessian

AndKrims. Mmindh ijli-MAH-keiiiiiiii

jtaagJMlfMWinmBnrlimar] 324
AmicBGoia^ai !, 139-61. 26D

AMBKCaboikLIiaMetJfeB-V^I
OLCa 62.64
StQidk

28

2H2S
Amcy-le-tiiif

331

i(

jfe"-

SBt^kdi-FRAH!! 111. 1J3


A]i]ufta.Tada9

373

n]

Tooi 342, 361, 36J, 366


AsdEerOvn*^ Mxnai^^ jElvgiraS&sifio]
(;sH-ld-YAY-d-VEEK,A) 233,233
Aaboas: Eieabesmi Itesi^ik] 24. 176:
PauJjenoo 23, 23. 278; aoa of -Aiialoi
25. 26; Tcnqdc erf At'hpna Kite 24
fi i

mm . RtSlfit>p ^IhrirMft 241.241.


,

333.336,337,343.374
AjQS&ra^ SfidBe^' (^wra Hoose 331
Banoipieafle lOS-I

%HfirtfyTini>ciin

{{SnunjBiibneaJ
16a. 175

oBiwTaabofRa-sdnl&llieba
II

Ajpifia. hilly iidli-KX)L-f]di|l

10,

306

MeBBaSeoeaaaa 226.234-S
IBidi9^EM<&AU>ey JOfl 101. 10}
jef dkp Vienna
Ansaitsan Tiztd DtflitMi Ofiocc Vicnaa
361-iJ62

14

^HoQse, London 142, 142


Barcdona: Casa BalSo. 23Z 233; Casa
MialUPedio-a] 232; GneJl Paii
232; Sagrada Familia

390

27-&, 27i

dmrdi

Blois,

Qiateau

106

Boi&and, Gabrid-Gennaine (baw-

FRAH"i

232;

France (bhah) 108

of,

Blondel, lean-Frani^jis (l>la>--DEL

123-4

Geiroan Exhaiit PatSoo (1929) 275.


275, 276
BarcelomaEdi[aiJliom(1929) 274.275,

Boileau. Louis-Charles 189

276
Bamei, Edward Larrabee 342, 346
BaToqoe sn,-k 91, 92, 132-3. 143-4. 1546: and Rococo 92-136
barroH's JancieDi tomb*] 12

Borromini, Francesco (BAWH-ob-MEEneei 95-6

Bon Marche.

Paris

BAW-mahr-SHAY

189

189,

Boscobel. Garrison, New York

(BAHS-

kuh-KEl) 166
Boston, Massaditisetis: King's Chapel

Pubhc Ubrari- 250, 25ft 251;


House [State Capitol] 166;
TnniTv Church 221. 22), 39; s also
164, J64:

BaiTT, Charles ISl

State

BaiTT, }osq!>fa 170


Kactlira Mceiiza. Itah' 87

Massachusetts

basilicas 31, 31, 36. 48, 67

and balhrooms: anoenl Rome

28.

Boston Public
250,

185: 'V'jctorian 199. 207;

25a

Library',

Massadiusetxs

31

Tbc 272-5,

asEooDolbdlcs

295.298

33

Bosi'orth. Welles

Vienna

306
Bar R^ioD vernacular 339

Bouwens. Richard (BOU-nhnzl 293

BBPK

Bradbur>- Building. Los .Angeles 253, 253

Baiihans.

social

27.1,

IBanfi. Bf^iokKio. Peiressiini.

Bradlei. Will 220-1

Bramante. Donate (brah-MAHN-iay)

BcatiK-Arts stvle 244-6; in .America 24~61, 25ft

262

bedrooms 89-90. 89.

125,

13a

15S, 201.

Btirens. Peter iBAT-ruhns.

KK-dmz)

38. 271. 274, 278


BdGeddes. Norman l"bd-GEI>,eez)

S.

dd

Rei.

54; S. Francisco,

Ouro

298.

Preto,

Sao

Minas Gerais

Preto,

154
Breakers, Hie. Neviport,

234,

Ouro

Francisco de Assis,

MinasGerais
loao

249

247,

Rhode Idand

247

Breuer, Marcel BROI-uhri 308, 309.


i

Belanger, Frani^ois )osq>b (SAV-lah-

ZHAY)

79-82. 94

Brarit

312, 330. 348;

and the Bauhaus 272,

306; and United Sutes 321. 326, 340

126

Bdgjtun 223; see flisiJ Low Countries


BeDuschiPietrollw-ljOO-dtee) 340,

brick.s,mud 16

341,342
Bdler. )ohn Hemr 206
Bdlon House, Ei^land 145,154
BenneuWard 346
Beriage, Hendrik Petn (BER-Uitb-di)
225.306
Berlin. Altes Musemn 175-6.176

Britain: prehistoric structure 12;

BeminiGiankwenzo

Brittani-. prehistoric structures 12;

l"beT-NEE-Dee) 94-

5,117.120,143

243

adheE aadera jRome

Man; The

302, 303

AjQsaiia

ifMaaa-afHiBule

of the Tm'd Sons of St

[Uedelj 68

146. 146

13

Roeers] 308

242.243

dMBam. Bmgidy

Birr^i

bourgeois class 130. 131; see also ciatses,

aWfamimiiimi 9, 241, 243, 242, 243, 332.

iloceaDlneri! 291.299

102,

302

ttTii KBiM

bdoqe^ fllie

Germany 'BIR-nou)

Blakdy HaD, New York 198. 198


Blenhrim Palace, England BLEN-uhm)

Beaid^.Aadnor 229

}Ooeiib AflUBesBca; Uasaced Ssascf

of,

103

BouBe. Andre (bool) 122,174

Amenca sfleCflDads; LsfliD Aaaaeincs;

.?2 J:

Church

Secessjoo 237; iodnstrial design 301-3,

I^

Assriia 17

116,106,12)

235.

amdpieaavatioia 375376
BaskafE^and,LGn>dan 174.174
ies

of Frankfurt 371

Bimaix, Monasten- and Pilgrimage

Asdu Bid&i^ Ta4a <(<li-SAH-liee'l

AsfllBmi,GnBaar<AHS-|ihbBd) 297.

173-6. 176

Biocenter,Uni^'ersit>'

29, 30: medie^'a] 50: industrial era

Adbee.C]uria8. 217

ZAY-rnl

(l>ahl-

As^aDdCiral&sMawiiQesist lAesiiietk
210-19, 239, 31
awoemoaij

36S,168

10

Nonnaiad}'

Bahani,V]Cr(t>ahl-TAHK) 189
BabsoKneCfibedxai 168

liaiifwL

Hague], LrwAgiedei 314, JM


AlSaiBts,MBi9RtSlRi(a,LaiDdaB IS3,

256, 325

113

baaSdoll^^ NeodassicaLl 176. i76;

AnSmiMiiini

of^

North Carolina 249,


249
Bing, Samuel 230. 32. 240
Bing's Alt Nom-eau Shop, Paris 220, 232,
240

BittiDore. Asho-iDc.

346

fa^i-sed]! 352-4, 353:, reconstnoctioia

caicOMMS WO,

Affllscfc.T1luiaK((AF4dk]l 170

Baiks^'. f^aTfan

RWAHj

Bernard iBIGH-wwt) 310

Birx'oet,

Bin, .Max 308. .^34

236, 242, 243; ,Modernist 320-1,

27D

lajrap)

AfflOteoo 259.290-303

Ora^jj

uhri 131

94, 94, 121

177;

tap. Jean

jteadiieDic Maneniianit i| Asits 2md

217

BaDfiiiap. Paris 309

Amdo,Lc^f<3e(.<^H-ny-VAH-Ml) 132,
Aiieoosa,

Ader, ir^-iAnr 249. 24Z 2M>

188, 189

St. Genex-iex^e, Paris (BEE-

188, J 88
Biedermeier fumirare fBEE-duhr-MiGH-

BadSam. Stqjbeo 170

jteAjaasi' /fntrf Iperiodkall 353

03

I4S

a-TEK-NiH-s>a-N.MB.i
Bibliotheque

DCHi) 111-12- JJJ

1-M, l-ta. 166;

Tk Htois c* jbiiBKSainr ofJEaiien ahI

Azar-ie-3tdeau, chateau fah-zi-luh-ret-

blee-aw-TEK-sE^T-zhulm-MflA')

Aroaie^Clauioode

Jilge^ 5Sf gsaoGBsaienei

Moorid)

RoBUDCaiae 42

AidaBcB'CulAui aiMe

P.37X.

AdaaiQ&,

52-3;

BiifiolSseque Nalionale, Paris

BE-blee-

bridges 185-6,304,304
Victorian period 193-5; eclectic snies
263-5: -An

336-7;

Deco

Festi%-al

srilc 296;

posi-war

of Britain 1951
1

336;

ae also England: London: Scotland:


Wales
British

Museum. Londcm 176

abo France: Paris


Brno. Tugendhai House 274, 276

Index

Bronze Age, Late 20


Brooklyn Museum. Ne%*- York 162-3
BroH-n, Scolt 337. 359
brownstone houses 198-9

285
Carpenter Gothic 196,199

Charles

I,

carpets see textiles

King of England 142


King of England 138. 143
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King
of Spain 132^ 135,136
Charles Mil. King of France 108

classical ci\'ilizations

Bruant. Liberal 121

Charles

11,

clav tablets 16

Chartres Cathedral, France (SR\HR-tr,

Cluny. Abbe>-. France klue-NTE,

Bninel, Isambard

Kingdom

Brunelleschi, Filippo

186

Carraci. Annibale

BROO-nuh-LES-

kee) 72, 75-7. 85

see

France

Burlington, Lord 88

lohnM. (kuh-RER) 252.255

Carter's Grove, Williamsburg, Virginia


161, 162

Canuja, La, sacristry

kahr-TOO-hah)

of,

Granada

lah-

Casa BatUo, Barcelona (KAH-suh-buhtYOH 232. 233


Casa del Popolo [Casa del Fascio], Italy
)

B>-zantine design 36, 38-4

Chateau de Maisons [Maisons

oh) 66

Boot

77ie[ Sheraton

iSi, 153,

i5i

TEE-BOOR) 123

medieval 46-7, 66-9

(1893) 209. 242, 249;


(

337

Chinese and Far Eastern influences:

(1876) 196-7

Dutch Renaissance 138-9; Georgian

Centraal Beheer. Apeldoom, Netherlands

(sen-TR.\HL-buh-HER,-HEERi

335,

335
Central Lutheran Church, Portland.
340, 340

Massachusetts

ceramics see pottery

Cambridge. Massachusetts: lohn Vassall


House 160; Kresge Memorial Chapel
337, 33S; Massachusetts Institute of

Cambridge L"niversit>% England 356, 356


Cameroon, Africa 14
Camp Cedars, Adirondacks, New York
200
Campbell, Colin, Mereworth Castle.
England 88

Campen, )acob van (vahn-KAHM-puhn)


Campin, Robert [?Master of Flemallel 68
Annunciation 68

Canada 15, 333, 371; City Hall, Toronto


333: Nooika Sound \5: see also
Montreal
Canadian Centre for Architecture,
Montreal 371.377

Cape Cod cottages 157,260


Capitol, Washington D.C. 166-9, 167
Caracaila. Baths of, Rome (KAR-uh-KALuh) 29,30,250,251
Carlone, Cario Antonio (kahr-LOH-nay)

Carnegie Institute [Carnegie Mellon

KAHR-nuh-gee, kahrNEG-eei 300

Universityl

Carolean [Caroline] period 143-6

Carpacdo,

\"ittore

5f.

<

kahr-PAHT-choh)

Augustine

in his

Study

90;

216;

An Nouiieau

226;

Modernism

Chippendale,

Thomas 152-3,163,361;

The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's


Direaor 152, 152
Chiswick villa, London S8
Christ Church, Philadelphia 163-4
Christ Church, Spitalfields. London 146,
147
Christianity 31,36, 181; Catholicism 92.

city house,

San Francisco 339

Mary [Wren

colleges Afe educational buildings

Joe 328. 330

ancient Eg>pl 19, 19


ancient Greece 25, 25, 27
medie\'al 5

Renaissance 90, 91

Baroque and Rococo 122, 125, 125


Tudor and Jacobean 141,143,146,

Color primitj^e panems and designs

New York

295. 295

Church Building [Cram] 256


Church, Frederick L 197
Church of the Sanctuary of the \'trgin
Guadalupe, Morelia. Mexico 154, 155
churches
Early Christian 31, 36-8, 36,

medieval period 51.54.54-5:


Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo
106-7. 122; French

Empire

style 128;

Federal period 170; Viaorian 199,


207; Craftsman

movement

221, 223;

Modernist 270, 271, 272, 281-2, 284.


327; Art Deco 295; industrial de^gn
302; post-war 336-7

Colosseum. Rome 28
Colt. Samuel 197
Colimibian Exhibition, Chicago 1893)
209, 242, 249
(

Columbus, Christopher 72

Columbus Indiana Regional Hospital


363. 363
Columns: ancient

18, 19; andent


andent Rome 27.
30, 35; Eariy Christian 36; and
Modernism 286; and post-modernism

Greece 23.

Egv-pt

23, 24;

357, 359; see also orders

commercial productioQ 296,312.325.


327
communicatioas 16.205.206,348.351

37

357

Arcftirecrure [Venturi]

computers 351,372,377
concert halls 311. 324, 334. 336, 336,
373, 374; see also auditoriums; opera

houses; theaters

concrete 269, 304, 308, 313. 314

Connecticut: ferm house [Greenbergj

New Canaan

Georgian 152, 163

Byzantine 42-6. 42. 43, 44, 45, 46


Gothic 54-64. 55-64

314, 315, 323; Miller House. [House

American Federal 170

Renaissance 75-7, 76, 77, 79-82. 79,

ffl],

Shaker 202

30,

Viaorian 206-7,205

81

85-8. 88

Baroque and Rococo 120-1

362, 363; Glass House.

Lake^ille 370-1. 370: Stanley

UTiirman House, Farmington 158


Conran. Terence 337

Art Nouveau 229

Restoration

Art Deco 292, 293, 297

Colonial American 158. iSS. 163-4

Constantinople Tstanbulj 36, 38. 40

Modernist Aamio 333; Breuer 306.


312, 312, 366; Eames and Saarinen
327, 327; Gehry 372; facobsen
331, 33 >Knoli 325-6, 326;
Mallet- Stevens 309; Mies 274;

Greek Revival 178


Shaker 201

construction, medieval 56-S; see also

Art

344, 344; V'enturi 358;

Wright. Russel 299

post-war 330, 331, 332, 333, 344


post-modernist 358

Chambord, Chateau de, France


BAWRi no, 111,111
chapels iee churches

London

Nouveau

143-5, 146, 147

257

Modernist 284-5, 289, 289, 308. 309,


309, 3 10; International style 324.

324
post-war 331, 337. 338, 340, 340
late 20th century 348, 350
Churriguera, Jose (CHOOR-ree-GAY-rafa)
132

(shah"*-

Churrigueresco style (cboor-REE-ge-RES-

koh) 132.154
Citicorp Building,

Constantine,

Emperor

31, 36, 38

engineering

232, 234, 234, 242-3

eclectic styles 256.

Ponte 330;Rietvald 271-2;

15;

ancient Egypt 19; ancient Greece 24;

Complexity and Contradiction in

136, 134, 156

deconstructi\T5t 372

Carolingian style 42

period 196-7,206;

Arts and Crafts 214,215,215,216.

Chrysler Building,

chairs

Stumpf

100-1

89, 90;

146, 147

136

Maorian

268, 319; late 20th century 373-6

Technology- 287. 337, 340; see also

John 136

period 150. 152. 160; Federal style


170-1;

I'Homme], Zurich SAH"-truh-luhK-WMl-bue-Z^'AY) 285,334


Centre Pompidou, Paris SAH-tnihPAw"-pee-DOO) 353,353
Century Guild 219

Calv-in,

A Century

of Progress' l933-t) 296


Chikatsu-Asuka Historical Museum,
Osaka 373. 373
chimneys 157. 159

92, 136, 154, 156

New York

House 270, 270. 289


Columbian Exhibition

252; Robie

cathedrals see churches

CathoUdsm

Monadock

Building 252; Reliance Building

Centre Le Corbusier [La Maison de

calligraphy, Arabic 53

Coleman

Colombo,

Exhibitions:

Oregon

Francisco

France (ZHahk-

of,

KOERl 69-70.69

Building]. Williamsburg, Virginia 164

Store 223, 241;

350.350

56; see also Los Angeles; San

Codman, Ogden 249

College of VVilliam and

322-3; Marshall Field Wholesale

Center tor British Art, Yale Univeraty

Carmei

49, 50, 70

Chateau de Petit-Bourg, France (puh-

Catalano, Eduardo ( KAH-tuh-LAH-nob

CBS.

Carlos Borromeo,

Quny, France

Coeur. lacques, house

(DROH-goh)

cafes see restaurants

S.

KLOO-

48

Colorma. Edouard (kuh-LOH-nuh) 232


Colony Club. New York 255. 255

Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia

Springs 339, 339;

Lafitte},

Buildings: Lake Shore apartments

CafelAubette. France loh-BET) 271,


271

Gamble House. Pasadena


Palm

Chicago

caves 10

222, 223; Kaufrnann House.

Castel Beranger, Paris (kah-STEL-bay-

T7i?[Hepplewhitel J 52, 153


Cafe Costes, Paris (kawst) 367, 367

California;

163

[religious sect]

Colonial styles 154-64

Catholics 92, 136, 134, 156

Calder. Alexander 324. 365

122.151.170

The

Cherraayeff, Serge (chuhr-MAH-yef) 311

Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer's Guide,

122.

Qoister,

Paris(me-2AW"l 113,113.114.115
Chateau de Malmaison, Paris MAHL-meZ.\W"l 128, 128

342

Cabinet Maker and Uphobterer's Drawing

docks

Coates, Wells 296,313

\'AY) 10

Castle Drogo, England

KAH-DAWR-

20-35

Cbff. Clarice 296

nee
i

cities

138-9, 184, 190, 195. 226

cast iron see iron

castles,

Venice. Italy

towns and

City Hall. Philadelphia 204, 205


classes, social

Chateau de Compiegne. Paris shah-

261. 264

Ca d'Oro.

cities see

41-2.

Chauvet cave paintings, France shoh-

rah"-ZHAY) 231,231

58

TOH-duh-kaw"-P\TNl 127

132, 133

{KAH-suh-mee-L\H) 232

Iowa 501

Charlem^ne SR\HR-luh-MAYN)

shahrtl 56.58.59.60.61

Cass^GUberl 255

William 183

Butterfield.

buttresses. fl>ing

kahr-RAHT-chee)

{IC-KH-sah-daW-PAW-poh-loh) 308-9.
308
Casa Mila [La Pedrera], Barcelona

Bume-Iones, Edward 210.213


Bumham, Daniel H. 252
BurolandschaA [office landscape]
(BUEROH-LAHNT-shahft) 344
Butler House, Des Moines,

Chareau, Pierre ishah-ROH) 308


62

83-4
Carrere,

Bryggman. Erik(BRIG-mahn) 310


Buana. Mario Iboo-AH-tuhl 346
Budapest. ING Bank 575, 376
Bulfinch. Charles 166,167
bungalows 220, 223. 313; st^uisa houses
Bunschaft, Gordon (BUHN-shaft) 324

Burgundy

The Legend of St Ursula 89


Carpenter Center. Harvard University

coQStructi\Tsts, Russian

369

Conte di Savota [ocean liner[


tay-dee-sah-VOI-ah) 265
Contrasts

[9u^]

cooking appliances

KOHN-

181
see kitchens

Coonle^- House, Riverside, Ellinois 269,

269
Copenhagen, SAS Royal Hotel 331, 332
Copernicus 72
Cotta^ Residences [Dowmngl 180
Cotte. Robert de. cfaapet Versailles

New York

341-2

(kawtl

118

391

Index

Counter-Reformation (Catholic) 92
Craftiinm. Tde |niagazine| 220,220
Cragside, Northumberland, England

Diderot, Denis (deed-ROH,

DEE-duh-

ROH) 183
diners 299, 300

dining rooms 227, 230, 230. 233, 237;

263, 264

Cram, Ralph Adams 256-7; Church


Buililiiig 256; St. Thomas's Church,
New York 256, 256, 257
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Detroit 257,

eclectic 247, 248, 255. 258;

Modernist

exhibition buildings 246, 246, 361, 361,

equipment 234, 335;


194,205,207,218,226,266
electricity, power houses 301

lighting

369-70, 370, 371, 375; see also


galleries

Dinkeloo, John (DING-kuh-U)O) 337.

339

DEE-poh-

MOMA 1932) 273, 304,


MOM A (1988) 369-

galleries:

306, 314, 319;

70,371

and Clarke 290, 296


Harvey 220
Elms, The, Newport, Rhode Island 208
Ellis

housing design, Vienna

Ellis,
(

an

and museums

exhibitions

Elizabethan style 140-2


Elkins, Frances 324

270; post-modern 359

Dipoli, Otaniemi, Helsinki

258-9

Eisenman, Peter 370-1


electrical

World's

1930) 306

London (1851) 186,


196; London (1862) 2J5;

Fairs:

Elveden Hall, England 193

190, 190,

Directoire style 126-7

Empire

Philadelphia (1876)

crematoria 331

Disney buildings 360, 363

Endell, August (EN-duhl) 233-4

Chicago (1893) 209, 242, 249; San

Cret, PhillipePaul(kray) 259

Dodge House, Los Angeles 314,3/4


Doesburg, Theo van (vahn-DOOS-

engineering 27, 57-8, 88, 304, 308

Francisco (1912) 223; Paris

England

279, 290. 292, 303; Barcelona

Crane

Library, Quincy, Massachusetts

223

Crete 20
Cristobal [ocean liner], interior design

298, 299

crossover styles 373-6, 375

Croxton Collaborative Architecture


Designers 376
crusades 52
Crystal Palace,

London

!S8, 190, 203, 213;

186, W7. 188,


and 20th-century

design 348, 365

Cubism

290, 293, 303

Cubitt, Lewis

186

Cumming, Rose

256, 324

Cunard

ships

liners

st'c

Cuvillies, Frani;oi5

333,333

lee)

dolmens 12
domes: ancient Rome 27-8; Renaissance
76, 76, 94, 94; Baroque 96-7, 96, 98-9,

Renaissance 135, 139-53

(1936) 312; Milan, (1936) 308;

Regency style 169, 172-4


Greek revival 176

Paris (1937) 296, 309;

(1951) 336; Turin (1960-1) 330,

Donghia. Angelo (DAHNG-gee-uhl 346

Gothic revival 180-3


Industrial Revolution 185-8
Arts and Crafts Movement 210-19

Downing, Andrew lackson 180, 197


Draper, Dorothy 301,324,325

Modernism 311-12
buildings: de la Warr

98. 120-1; Federal style

dams

166; late 20th

century 352, 352

Dreyfuss,

5,

1 1

London

290. 296

Italy 84,

84

facility

TSAH-tee) 75, 75
Davis, Alexander lackson

177, 178, 179-

Cathedral, England 45, 45

12, 12;

churches:

2;

354, 355;

72;

Stonehenge

Montreal (1967) 335,335,

Decoratifs

et

Paris (1929)

Industriels

Modernes.

L',

290

Exposition Universelle (Exhibition of


decorative Arts], Paris (1925) 279,
292, 303

Expressionism 306

University of Cambridge,

Durham

Cathedral 45, 45;

College Chapel, Cambridge 63. 66;

Low Countries;

see

330;

352, 352

Exposition Internationale des Arts


-

Exeter Cathedral 62-3, 62; King's

Wells Cathedral 56,

factories see industrial buildings

factory-made goods 296, 312, 325, 327


Fallingwater. Bear Run, Pennsylvania

317,317,339

56, 62

Dyckman House, New York (DIGHKmuhn) 162

exhibitions. World's Fairs, Bristol

dymaxion (digh-MAK-see-AHN) 351

houses: Belton

Farnese Palace (Palazzo Farnese[,

(fahr-NAY-zay) 82-4,

(19361 312

House

146; Castle

Rome

82, 83, 85, 92

Farnsworth House, Piano,

45, 154;

Blenheim Palace 146,

80

De Architecturii [Vitruvius] 34-5


la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea,

356-7; Royal Pavilion,


/

York,

History Faculty 356

Netherlands

12

Dumas offices

Brighton 172,

New

1939) 287, 303; Festival of Britain

Expert, Roger (ek-SPER) 293.303


Pavilion,

Building 356; Olivetti Training

Dutch design

Davanzati Palace, Florence (DAH-vahn-

Leicester University, Engineering

298,

D'Urso, loseph Paul (DUHR-soh) 346

dating, radio-carbon

296. 297, 311; Bristol, England

Faber and

229

Dudok, WillemM. (DUE-dawk) 306


Dufrene, Maurice (due-FREN) 292
Dunand, Jean (due-NAH") 290, 292, 293

Durham

301

dance halls 271


Dark Ages 4

(1929) 290; Stockholm (1930)

45-6

Bexhill-on-Sea 304, 305, 3

Henry (DRIGH-fuhs)

Ducal Palace, Urbino,

Daily Express Building,

(1929) 274, 275, 275, lib; Paris

12

Romanesque JNorman] churches

300, 303

da Cortona, Domenico

1925)

prehistoric structures

(KUE-vee-YAY) 106,

196-7;

buhrg) 270-1
Doge's Palace, Venice (DOH-jiz) 97, 97
Dohner, Donald (DOH-nuhr) 300

drawings see illustrations


Dresser, Christopher 2 4,

123

127-30, 169

style

Illinois

177,

277.314,323
fascism 263. 304. 306, 308

Drogo 261, 264; Cragside,


Northumberland 263, 264;

Customs House], New

Federal Hall (U.S.

England (DEL-uh-WER) 304,305,311-

Eames, Charles (eemz) 327, 346, 352,


375

12

Early Christian design 36-8

181, 1S2;

Federal styles 165-71

Early English style 63, see idso Gothic

140;

Feininger, Lyonel (FlGH-ning-uhr) 272

de

De Menil House, East Hampton, New


York(duh-me-NEEL) 365,366
De Re Aediftcaloria ^Mbern) 79
DeStiiKduh-STIGHL) 270,271-2

De Wolfe,
De Wolfe,

Elsie
Elsie,

(duh-WULF) 255
The House

Good

Taste

style 63, see also

Gothic

style

decoration see ornament and decoration


Decoration and Furniture of Town Houses
|Edis|

216,2;/

Decoration of Houses, T/ie [Codman] 249


Delaunay, Sonia(duh-loh-NAY) 293
De/ineflftJr (magazine] 256
Demoulin, lean (duh-moo-LE") 122

Denmark

297, 331; SAS Royal Hotel,


Copenhagen 331,332

Early Renaissance 75-9,108-12

Hedingham

Film Guild Cinema.

Locke 197,216
Ebel [iewelry shop] New Y'ork 368
Eberson, lohn (EB-uhr-suhn) 261

Kirtlington Park 147, 147;

eclecticism 225, 244-65, 278

Orchard, Chorley

Modernism 304-13

Edifices

de

Rome Moderne

Edis,

Robert

W.

392

Wood

New York

Otaniemi, Helsinki 333, 333; Helsinki

The

City Theater 333; Kaleva Church,

2\S.2I8;

Tampere

333, 334; St John's

Castle 193; Standen. East

Tampere 234, 234; Turun


Sanomat Buildings 286, 286; Viipuri

Grinstead 214, 2i4; Syon House

Library 286-7, 287, 289; Villa Mairea

148,

49; Tyntesfield

Cathedral,

287, 287; Vuoksenniska Church,

193;

Imatra 288, 289; Worker's Club and

universities

engravings 123, 136, 174

fiMMJet (passenger ferry) 334

Erectheum [temple], Athens (i-REKthee-uhm, ER-uhk-THEE-uhm) 24,

fire

educational buildings

254 31 1,324
and colleges: 66, 256-7,

263, 295; Modernist 285, 289, 322,

366; post-war 333, 334, 340, 342,


343, 346; late 20th century 350,

354, 356-7, 357. 370;

[Erick

Van

Egypt, ancient 16, 17-19, 127; pyramids,

Giza 17-18,

/7, /8;

Karnak, Egypt

J8,

Temple of Amon,
19; tombs 10, H,

12, 17-18, 17, 18


Eiffel,

176

ergonomic design 344


Erick

Egeraat Associates) 376

Gustave(lGH-Rihl,e-FEL) 189
Abbey of, Zurich (IGHN-ZEE-

Van

375,

Egeraat Associated Architects

ING

Escorial, El,

Bank, Budapest 375, 376


Madrid (el-ES-kawr-YAHL)

132, 132, 134


Esprit

Theater, Jyvaskyla 286

Finnish Pavilion,

style 27. 149,

style 261-5;

Fair

16,

143,203

First Christian (Tabernacle)

Church,

Columbus, Indiana 324, 324


First Unitarian Church and School,
Rochester, New York 348, 350
Fischer, Johann Michael 103
Flagg, Ernest 253

houses

Flemish design see

Low Countries

Florence

Ethospace interior 344


Etruscan culture and

New York World's

(1939) 287, 2, 289

flats see

Nouveau, L'imagazinej 278, 279


/49

Modernism

Einsiedein,

Europe: eclectic

duhln) i02, 103


Einstein Tower, Pot-sdam (IGHN-

299,304-13
Euston Station, London 176, 176, 184
Exeter Cathedral, England 62-3, 62

shtighn, -stighn) 306

295

148,

schools 258,

300-1,321

EEA

shte-tuh) 217,236,238

88;

15

Wightwick Manor 213, 2J3;


Wilton Hou.se 143, N3
see also London; Scotland; Wales
Englische Haus, Das jMuthesiiusI 225

255-6, 346

Deutsche Werkstatte (DOl-chuh-VERK-

Hoo

Mereworth Castle

Fiji

Finland 286-9. 310, 331, 347; Dipoli,

OsterleyPark 149, (49; Peckforton

(ED-is) 216; Decoration

Edwardian era 207

bunt) 225,238,272

148;

Letarouilly]

and Furniture of Town Houses 216, 217


education and training, design 272-4,

industrial 241; interior 128,214-19,

258, 25S

Castle, Essex 47 47;

Longleat 140; Luton

84

designers 128, 214-19, 255-6, 331, 346;

Deutsche Werkbund (DOI-chuh-VERK-

177, 177, 179

feudal system 41, 54

Early

300-1,321

Desornamentado style 132


Detroit: Cranbrook Academy of Art 257,
258-9; Kingswood School, Cranbrook

York

Hardwick Hall 141, 141;


Hatfield House i36, 137. 142;

design training and education 272-4,

Deskey, Donald 295, 298, 300

Haddon Hall 67, 67, 140.


Hampton Court Palace 70,

7J;

style

Eastlake, Charles

255
deconstructivism 369-72

Decorated

Elveden Hall 793; Fonthill Abbey

buildings: Davanzati Palace 75, 75;

Laurentian Library 73, 92; Palazzo

Medici- Riccardi 78, 78


churches: Florence Cathedral 64, 767, 76;

Medici Chapel

(S.

Lorenzo)

Index

85. 85\ Pazzi

Chapel

Lorenzo 76,

77, 85-6; S.

Freer Gallery of Art,

77, 77; S.

Miniato

43. 43; S. Spirito 76

Cornells (FLAWR-is)

136

Washington
(FOHL-iuhr) 259
folk art 327.347
Folkets Hiis. Stockholm (FAWL-kuhtsl.).C.

HUS)

33

TWAHR)

style (dee-rek-

127

The American

Chippendale 163
Fonda/ione Bagatti Valsecchi. Milan 91
I

fresco paintings. Renaissance 83, 86, 87;


sffn/5it painting

127

Fontaine, Pierre- Frant;ois-Leonard

Fonlainebleau. Palace ot, Paris (faw"-

heating; lighting

5ft'

Furness, Frank 190,205-6,241

112, 128

furniture
181. iSJ

and furnishings

ancient

German

Exhibit Pavilion [Barcelona

Pavilion,

Expo

World 19,34

and
and
and
and

buildings:

Renaissance 74, 90-1; England 141-

Netherlands 139; Spain 132, 135,

298
Modernism 304, 306-7
post-war 334-5

135

late

2, 143. 143,

France

Baroque and Rococo 106-7, 121-3,

cave paintings 10
prehistoric age

Romanesque

42, 44-5,

4-J,

45

Baroque and Rococo 106,108-31


223. 230-2

Modernism 367
Ahes Museum,

buildings:

86,

126. 127

style

Greek Revival 175-8

Modernism

278, 325

Erectheum

]teniple|,

Potsdam 306; H^tchschule

52
American Colonial 157-8,163

Gestaltung,

Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart 357, 357;

fiir

334; Schaezler

Augsburg 104-5,

24;

Temple

of Apollo, Bassae 24

Georgian, England 150-3,

Palace.

French Rococo

Athena Nike, Athens

Berlin

Provincial, France 130-1, iJO

Ulm

Athens 23, 23, 278; stele of


Hegisto, ancient Greece 25; stoa of
Attalos. Athens 25, 26; Temple of

175-6, 176; Einstein 1 owcr,

140-1

Athens 24, 176; Parthenon,

industrial design

126, 128

12

Gothic 59-62

Nouveau

145-6, 147;

85

Renaissance 73-4

Greek revival 175-6


Deutsche Werkstatten 217
Deutsche Werkbund 225

fortresses sec castles

334-6

190, 79ft 196

Great Mosque, Cordoba, Spain 52


Greece, ancient 22-7

lugendstil 226, 232-4

Norman

54-71

great houses, Elizabethan

medieval 50-1,67,68,69

Fowler, Orson Squire 198

Montreal

67,

form. Modernist 270-1


Foster.

style

government buildings 205


Gozzoli, Benozzo (goht-TSAW-lee) 78;
Procession of the Magi 78, 78
Grace Church, New York 179
Grammar of Ornament, The \]ones] 207
Granada CathedraL Spain 131,737
Grand Central Station, New York 252
Graves, Michael 359-61,360
Gray, Eileen 292-3,368
Great Exhibition, London

275,275,276

Pavilion]

German

Byzantine style 42-3


Gothic style 63-4

primitive 15

Crematorium, Stockholm 331

Forest

Georgian period 147-53, 159; seealso

335, 335

functionalism 240, 266, 304

ten-BLOH, FAHN-Iin-KLOU) 112-13.


Fonthill Abbey, Fngland

172

Germany

Richard Buckminster 352

Fuller,

Regent]

American Georgian

Eugene (fray-see-NE) 304


Frick, Henry Clay 255
Fry, Maxwell 31
fuel

Gothic

152, 152

352, 352

French Revolution (1789) 123, 126-7

Freyssinet.

Folwell. lohn

domes

George I, King of England 147


George II, King of England 147
George III, King of England 172
George IV, King of England Prince

French, Daniel Chester 251

French Directoire

Folger Shakespeare Library.

r/ie(Chippendale|
geodesic

Frei,Otlo(frigh} 335

Florence Cathedral. Italy 64, 76-7, 76


Floris.

Washington D.C.

215

05;

Greek Revival 175-8


green buildings 376-7

Greenberg, Allan 362

Sumner and Greene,


Henry Mather 223
Gropius, Walter (GROH-pee-uhs) 238,
266, 269, 311, 348; and the Bauhaus

Modernism 278-85. 308-9

American, Federal 169-71


Regency, England 174-5
Victorian 192, /97, 206-7

Art Deco 290-5

Shaker 201, 202

post-war 334-5

Arts and Crafts 21

buildings: Cafe I'Aubetle 271. 271;

216,216.2X7,217,218
Art Nouveau 227, 230, 230
Art Deco 290, 292-3, 294, 295, 297

41, 41; S. Michael, Corvey-on-the-

Gropius House, Lincoln, Massachusetts


322, 322

ecelctic styles 260-1

Weser

Gruppo

modern 269,287,287

43, 43; Speyer Cathedral 43;

Modernist 274.279.279,282,287,
319, 319, America 325-7, 325, 326.

Vterzehnheiligen, Pilgrimage

Art

Beaux-Arts

Mont

S.

style

244-6

Michel.

Normandy

45,

Musee d'Art Conlemporain.


Bordeaux 368, 369; Pont du Card.
Nimes 2^
45;

churches: Amiens Cathedral 60, 60,


62. 64; Bourges. Cathedral of

S.

Etienne 58. 5H; Chartres Cathedral


56, 58, 59, 60, 61!;

Cluny, Abbey

48; Hotel de Dieu,

Beaune

65, 65;

Le Thoronet, Abbey 48, 49. 284;


Notre Dame. Le Raincy 30, 309,
Notre-Dame-du-Haut 284-5,254;

Reims (Cathedral 62; S. Foy,


Conques 44, 44, 50; S. Maclou,
Rouen 60, 6ft S. Madeleine,
Vezelay 44. 45; S. Martin du
Canigou, monastery of 48, 48; S.
Philibert, Tournus 42
houses and chateaux: Ancy-le-Franc,
chateau. Burgundy 113,7/3;
Balleroy. Chateau of, Normandy
113; Chateau dePetit-Bourg 123;
Chateaux de Chambord 110, 111.
/ ] I; Maison Carre, Nimes
30. 30,
165; Masson House, Nancy 226,

366, 367;

Wasserturm Hotel, Cologne 368

1,

furniture 344. 344

1,

100; Palatine Chapel,

42;

Aachen

Michael, Hildesheim

S.

5ce(i/50
II

Munich

[Church of theGesii],

Rome

Getty Center, Los Angeles 366

Gibbons, Grinling 145, 145

post-modernist 359,360,361

Gideon, Sigfried 107; Space, Time and

Futurama

Exhibit,

New York

303

Gilbert, C.P.H.
Gill,

Guarini, Guarino (gwah-REE-nee) 97-9;


Architetlura Civile [Guarini] 97

Hans(GOO-guh-LOHT) 335
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (GOOguhn-HlGHM,GU- 371-2,372
Guggenheim Museum, New York 340,
Gugelot,

341

Guide to Easier Living. A [Wright] 299


Guimard, Hector (gee-MAHR) 230-2

Architecture 107

Futurism 304,307-8

259

Gwathmey, Charles (GWAHTH-mee)

Irving 314

Gimson, Ernest 217


Gingerbread
Gabriel, Ange-Iacques (gah-bree-EL)
124, 125-6

Gaillard,

Eugene (gah-YAHR) 232


The Louvre 119

Galileo 72

Emile(gah-LAY) 230,240
and museums

galleries see art galleries

283, 283, 285. 289, 334; Vaux-le-

Gamble House, Pasadena,

California

222, 223

366-7

198

Giotto (JAWT-toh,JAHT-oh) 84
Girard, Alexander

Galerie d'Apollon,

Galle,

style

New York

Guell Park, Barcelona 232

deconstructivist 372

see also interiors

(GROOP-poh-SET-tay)

7, Italy

Guaranty Building, Buffalo,


242, 242, 243

102

(eel-iay-SOO) 89,92, 93,94

20th century 367-8. 367

321-2,337,341

307

Church of, Bamberg 103, 103; Die


Wies (Pilgrimage Church of

Gesii,

299

272-4, 273, 306; in United States 257,

02, 103;

Christ Scourged), Bavaria


office

Greene, Charles

Monastery of S. Florian, Lin? 100-

M3, 321,

327; International style

industrial design

Pilgrimage Church

212, 213, 214,

323
post-war 328, 329, 330-1. 335;

late

Ulm

churches: Birnau, Monastery and

227; Unite d'habitation, Marseilles

Vicomte, Melun 115-16, /J5; Villa

Stadthaus,

(juh-RAHRD)

327,

342, 347

Habitations of Mart in Atl Ages, The

290; Modernist 310,370,314,375;

13, ii, 50
England 67. 67, 140, 140
Hadtleld, George 177
Hagenberg, Frans, 136
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (HAH-gee-uhsoh-FEE-uh, HAH-jee-) 40,40,52

post-war

half-timber construction 50,70-1, 156,

|Viollet-le-Duc|

zhee-ROH

246
Giza, Great Pyramid, Egypt 17-18,77
Girault, Charles-Louis

glass

186, 188, 189; stained 54-5,67,62,

239-40, 239, 284, 309, 309, Art Deco


331

Italian

New Canaan,

Haddon

Hall,

Cavrois, Croix 309; Villa Savoye

gambrel roofs 162

Glass House,

281-2, 281, 289; Villa Turque,

Gaona, Ignacio (gah-OH-nah) 156


garden design see landscape design
Gardner-Pingree House, Salem,

314,375.323
Globe Theatre, London 140
Godwin, Philip L. 321

Hallet, Etienne

Gogswell, John 170

Hancock Shaker Village, New York 201


Hapsburg Empire 136

Chaux-de-Fonds 368,369
French Revolution

1789) 123, 126-7

Massachusetts 171

France [ocean liner) 265

Francesco di Giorgio frahn-CHAYS(

koh-dee-IAWR-joh) 72
FrancisI, King of France 108, 112. 113

Franconia [ocean

liner]

265

Gare du Quai d'Orsay, Paris GAHRdue-KE-dawr-SE) 246,246,375


(

Garnier, Jean-Louis Charles (gahr-

NYAY) 246,249

Frank, lean-Michel (frah"k) 292

Gaudi, Antoni (gou-DEE) 232

Frank, Josef (frahngk) 306

Gehry, Frank (GER-ee) 371,371-2,372

Frankl.PaulT. (FRAHNG-kuhl) 294,

Gehry House, Los Angeles 371, 372


General Grant

295
Frazee, John (fray-ZEE)

177

style

196

Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's

Director,

Connecticut

194

(ah-LAY) 167

Hampton Court Palace, England


Hampton. Mark 346

Gold Weigher, The [Man, de] 138


golden section; and pyramids 17-18; and
Greek architecture 23; and medieval
architecture 58, 58; and Renaissance
architecture 80; and Modernism 278,
280, 285
Good Housekeeping [magazine] 256
Goodwin, Philip 321-2

Hardwick

Gothic Revival 178-83, 193

Hardwick, Philip 176

70, 71

Haraszty, Eszter (HAHR-ah-stee) 326,

347

Hardenbergh, Henry

BUHRG) 205
Hardouin-Mansart,

mah"-SAHR)
Hall,

I.

(HAHR-dn-

Jules

(ahr-dwe"-

117, 121, 126

England 141, 141

393

Index

Harris, Harwell

Hotel de Carnevalet, Paris (oh-TEL-duh-

Hamilton 319

KAHR-nuh-vah-LE) 115

Harrison Gray Otis House, Boston 166,

duh-DYOE)

Harrison, Peter 164

BEEZ)

321
Hastings,

Thomas

124, 124

Hotel de Sully, Paris (oh-TEL-duh-suel-

252, 255

LEE) 115

Hatfield House, England JJ6, li7, 142

Hawksmoor, Nicholas 146,147

Hotel de

Healing of the Daughter ofSer Benvegnmio


of San Polo. The |Mansueti| 91
heating systems: ancient

65, 65

Hotel de Soubise, Paris (oh-TEL-duh-soo-

Harvard University. School of Design

YET)

Villette, Paris
J

(oh-TEL-duh-vee-

09

Hotel Lambert, Paris (oh-TEL-lah"-BER)

Rome

Isokon (EY-soh-KAHN) 312

Coonley House, Riverside 269,


269; Farnsworth House. Piano 177,

Isozaki, Arata {ee-SOH-z.\H-kee) 373,

277. 314, 323; Illinois Institute of

Istanbul (Constantinople) 36, 38. 40;

Illinois:

375

Technology [Armour Institute] 321,


322; John Deere & Co. offices, Moline
337, 339; Winslow House, River Forest
268, 268
Illinois Institute of Technology [Armour
Institute] 321.322

Hagia Sophia 40,

hotels 205, 264, 323. 323, 324; post-war

40, 52

196

Italianate style
Italy

Byzantine churches 43-4, 43

Gothic

64

style

Renaissance 72-91

Baroque

illuminated manuscripts 50. 5i, 54, 54,

114, 115

(hypocausts) 28, 30, 34; medieval 70;

Islam and Islamic cuhure 52-3, 131

igloos 13, 14

Hotel de Dieu, Beaune, France (oh-TEL-

166

Idaho, Medice Lodge Creek

style

Modernism

67-8

94-100

304, 307

Renaissance 74, 135; Victorian 184,

331, 332, 342, 345, 345, 346; post-

illumination see lighting

post-war design 328-31

185, 199, 207; eclectic style, fireplaces

modern

illusionism,

Baroque 92.97
illustrations 123, 136,229

buildings: Basilica, Vicenza 87; Casa

377
Hedingham Castle, Essex, England 47. 47
Hedquist, Paul(HED-kvist) 311

367, 368; see also restaurants

263; green buildings

Helmsley Palace Hotel, New York 345.


346
Helsinki City Theater 333
Henningsen. Poul 297
Henri 11. King of France 113

Henry

England 71
Hepplewhite. George 152. 153. 169; The
Cahmct Maker and Upholsterer's Guide

House Beautiful (magazine] 256


House and Garden (magazine] 256, 259
House in Good Taste. The (Wolfe] 255
House of Pansa, Pompeii 32,34
House of the Vettii, Pompeii (VET-tee)
Household Furniture attd
Decoration (Hope]

Ititerior

174, 175

Fiji,

Hugh

65.

65

Company

326-

Herrera. Juandeler-RER-ah)

132

Herman (HERTS-BER-

khuhr. HUHRTS-BUHR-guhr) 335


Hicks. David 336-7

Foscari (Malcontenta), Mira 88,

industrial designers 214

88,

Industrial Revolution 183-9, 190. 192

Lugano 308

interiors

primitive 15

Jacquard

Rococo and Neoclassiscal 123-4,129

ancient world 19. 24-5, 26. 33. 34

James

Georgian 149-50, 159-63

medieval [secular] 46-7,47,49-51,


49, 51, 54, 65-71, 65, 67, 68, 69, 71

Renaissance (secular] 89-91, 89, 90,

French Provincial Proveni;al

Beaux-Arts and eclectic

Colonial 157-8, 157, 158, 159, 160,

high-tech 351-7

Art

Hill

Nouveau

197,216
Hitchcock, Henry-Russell 273. 304, 314
Gestaltung, Ulm,

jazz

Jeckyll,

Modernist 185, 270, 270, 273, 279,

Jefferson,

269, 269, 270, 279, 314-17, 315,

279, 280, 281-2. 281, 308, 309, 31

3!6, 317, 318, 3)8, 319

3/J,312;functionaIism 304;

Modernist 365,366

Howe. George 320,348


Howells and Hood 257

Hope, Thomas

humanism

attd Interior Decoration

174, /75

(HA WR-tuh)

228, 229-30

Horta House, Brussels 229, 230

Hoxie House, East Sandwich,


Massachusetts (HAHK-see) 157,157
72-3

Hungary, Budapest, ING Bank 375, 376


Hunt, Richard Morris 203, 247-9
Hygiene and Electricity Pavilions, Paris

(1937)309

hospitals 65, 120-1, 121, 286, 308, 363,

363

h>'postyle halls 19

TEL-boh-DAHR-duh-se''-ZHEMS,

ZHAHM)

126

Hotel d'Amelot, Paris {oh-TEt-dahm-

LOH)

394

123

ture

Baroque and Rococo;


and furnishings

furni-

International Building, Rockefeller

London (1862)

215

Massachusetts (VAS-uhl) 160

Jones, Inigo
lones.

Owen

142-3, 149

207

Josephine, Empress 128


lugendstil 226. 232-4
luhl,

International Style 272-89, 296, 319, 320,


348; exhibition 11932) 304

internationalism 348
Invalides, Les,

John Vassall House, Cambridge,

Jugend, Die {periodical] 232

Center 294
International Exhibition,

Finn(yool) 297,331

luillard

School of Music,

Juvarra, Filippo

342,

(yoo-VAHR-rah) 99

121, 121

Iowa: Butler House. Des Moines 301;

Merchants' National Bank of Grinnell

Kahn, Louis I. 206, 346, 348. 350-1


Kaleva Church, Tampere, Finland

Rapids 243; St. Paul's Methodist


Church, Cedar Rapids 242-3
iron 185. 188-9,202-3,206

Kandinsky, Wassily 272

iconoclasts, protestant 136

ISD

Kaufmann House, Palm

[Interior Space Design]

343

KAH-

le-vah) 333,334

IBM World Trade Offices. Mount


Pleasant, New York 342, 342

New York

343

church of S. Louis, Paris

243; People's Savings Bank. Cedar

Hotel Baudard de Saint-lames, Paris (oh-

see also

Illinois

339

337,

369
Johnson Wax Building, Racine,
Wisconsin 318-19, 3iS

20th century 352

crossover styles 374

Houses of Parliament (New Palace of

Hollyhock House (Aline Barnsdall


House], Los Angeles 314, 3i6
Holzinger, F.). (HAWL-tsing-uhr) 101
Honest Hoitse, The (Wood] 256

& Co. offices, Moline,

Johnson. Philip 304, 314, 323. 342. 361.

see also palaces,

Westminster], London 181, 182

order 94

Jesuit

post-war 329,331

see Low Countries; Netherlands


HoUein, Hans(HAWL-ighn) 361-2,

houses

Gertrude (JEE-kuhl) 264

Jekyll,

John Deere

late

mansions and great

1,

Thomas 215,216
Thomas 88.165-6

Wright 3i4,3i5.3i6, 317, 3i7,


37^; International style 321,322
industrial design 301-3. 30i, 302. 328
reaction to Modernism 324-5, 325

deconstructivist 372

Horta, Victor

music 290

leanneret, Charles see Le Corbusier

277, 277, 322, 323; Wright 268,

crossover styles 374

Household Furniture

268,

Jeannerel, Pierre (zhahn-uh-RE) 279

deconstructivist 371-2

174;

and Art

Modernism

Beaux-Arts 257, 258, 260, 260, 345

321,323;LeCorbusier

363, 363

361-2,362

226; and

319; late 20lh century- 373-6

Craftsman movement 220, 221


Art Nouveau 240, 240

Holden, Charles 296

Austrian Travel Bureau Office, Vienna

Victorian period 196-7; and Arts and

Nouveau

post-modernist 357-8, 359-60, 362,

Holland

Japanese design 197, 214, 215, 216; and

Art Deco 291, 292, 293, 297, 297

late

306

Tokyo

Crafts 214, 215. 2J5, 216, 2i6;

post-war 339

Germany (HOHKH-SHOO-luh-fiierguh-SHTAHL-tung) 334


Hoffmann, losef(HAWF-mahn) 236-7,

Suntory Museum. Osaka 373; see also

30-

199,200,206-9.208,209
Shaker 200-3,20/

industrial design 301-3

Hitchcock, Lambert 170

128. 170

King of England 142


Japan 265,348.351,361.373-6;
Chikatsu-Asuka Historical Museum,
Osaka 373, 373; Kirishima
International Concert Hall 373. 374;
I,

278, 278, 279-83, 285; Mies 274,

style 313,

197,

(YAH-kawp-suhn) 331

textiles

Victorian 185, 193-5, 193, 194, 197,

311, 314, 3J4, 319; International

Hints on Household Taste jEastlake]

160, 166
Greek Revival 178

227, 228, 229-30, 231,

Vienna Secession 238, 238


Art Deco 295
Modernist 271,271,308,309,310,

House. Dunbartonshire. Scotland

fiir

styles 249,

231

210, 2J0, 2;j,219

Hochschule

91, 139

259-60, 260, 345, 346

BRAHNT) 104

142-3, 158

st>'le

Renaissance, Dutch 138-9

Greek Revival 177-8, 178

Hildebrandt. Lukas von (HlL-duh-

Jacobean

Jacobsen, Arne

Victorian )5. 193-5, 198-202, 205

muhr) 306

Henry 13
(zhah-KAWB) 127

prehistoric 10-15. 15

High Gothic style see Gothic style


High Renaissance 79-84.112-16
High Victorian style 188

Hilberseimer. Ludwig (HIL-buhr-siGH-

Jacob, Georges

lackson. William

Eclectic 255-6; post-war

346

168-9

and

cities

128; British 214-19;

hieroglyphic writing 17.19

Highpoint, Highgate. London 313. 313

names of Italian

towns

Bank, Budapest 375, 376

interior designers

280

see also

medieval 68-71,69, 71

Federal American

86, 86;

Barbaro. Maser 87. 87; Villa

318,333

Colonial American 156-8

Mantua

Olimpico, Vicenza 88-9. 89; Villa

industrial buildings 286, 286, 290, 290,

American

15

Byzantine period 41
Romanesque 49-50

Hertzberger.

traditional

84; Palazzo del Te,

Siena Cathedral 64; Teatro

Hospital 363, 363

Institut Heliotherapeutique,

31-4. 126

Popolo (Casa del Fascio] 308Ducal Palace, Urbino 84,

9, 308;

Columbus Indiana Regional

Indiana.

houses

Herculaneum (HUHR-kyu-LAY-nee-uhm)

del

Delhi 264, 265

ING

ancient world 18-19, 25,25, 31-4

Miller Furniture

New

household products, post-war 333

152, 153

Herman

India,

industrial design 297-9

32, 32, 33, 34, 34

Vlll. king of

Herland.

360, 353; late 20th century

Kaufftnann, Angelica

(KOUF-mahn)

149
Springs,

Index

California

Kennedy

(KOUF-muhn)

New

Airport.

339, 339
York 337, 337,

342

America 132,154-6

(luh-TROHB)

143, 148

Kenwood House, London

Abbey

Laurentian Library, Florence 73, 92


Le Corbusier [Charles leanneret] {luh-

149

Lievende(duh-KAY) 136

Khorsabad. Palace of Sargon


Kidosaki House,

galleries,

design 24. 88; influence on others

Tokyo (kee-DOH-SAH-

kee) 374

293, 357; Towards a

(KKES-luhr) 295

Kindergarten C^hnts ISullivan] 243


164. 164

England 63,66

London 186, IS7


Newport. Rhode Island I9t

313;

duh-BROE")

Lebrun, Charles

115. 116,

Kirishima International Concert Hall.

Lee Mansion, Arlington. Virginia 177

Kirdington Park. England 147,147


kitchens: medieval 70. 71; French

Provincial

!30\

Colonial American 139, 162, 163;


Victorian

185. 199, 207. 209; eclectic

styles 260; industrial design

301-3,

302\ deconstructivist 372


Klee, Paul (klay)

324

Adam

Kaare 297

Knoll. Florence [Florence Schust) 326.

337

Hans 325-6. 347, 358. 372


Knossos(NAHS-uhs) 20,20
Koch. Mogens (kohk) 297
Kraetsch and Kraetsch 301
Knoll,

Rome Moderne

New York

Rome

/S. 189;

20th

Liedet,

the

late

modernist 366

Two Sons

of St.

Mary 68

lighting

La Cartuja. sacristry

of.

Granada

(lah-

kahr-TOO-hah) 132. 133


La Farge, lohn (luh-FAHRZH, -FAHRJ)
223
La Madeleine, church

mahd-LEN)
La

Scala.

of. Paris (lah-

129-30, 129

Milan (lah-SKAH-luh) 106

Labrouste. Pierre-Fran^ois-Henri llah-

BROOST) 188-9.249.251
Home Journal. The magazine)

Ladies'

220. 221, 256. 269


Lafever.

Minard (luh-FEE-vuhr, -FEV-

uhr) 177

Rene (lah-LEEK) 232, 240, 290


Laloux. Victor (lah-LOO) 246
Lamb, Thomas W. 261
landscape design: French Baroque
15;
Victorian 197; Modernist 317; postwar 337. 339, 344
language, and primitive societies 16
Lansdowne House, London 149
Larkin Building. Buffalo. New York 266,
Lalique.

269
Larsen Design Studio. Rainbow
Rockefeller Center,

Room,

New York 347

House

Louis XIV, King of France [The Sun


King)

113. 115. 116, 122

Louvre Museum, Paris (loovr) 364, 364

205. 207, 218, 226, 240, 266. 290.

Louvre, Paris 113, 117, 119, 120

297, 302-3; gas 172.203.205,207;

Lovell

343
10.

Lippold. Richard 323.341

Antonio Francisco |0
Aleijadinhoj (leez-BOH-ah) 154

Lisboa,

Livesof the Artists

[V^sd.r\\

Lloyds Bank offices,

Loewy,

House [Health House], Los

Angeles 319,320

New York

Low Countries

London

Netherlands. The

353-4, 353

Lur^at,

Andre (iuer-SAH) 306

Luther, Martin 92, 136


Luton Hoo, England 148. 148
Lutyens. Edwin (LUHCH-uhnz; LUHTyuhnz) 264-5,363
Lyming, Robert (LlGH-ming) 142
Lyndhurst, Tarrytown, New York 180,

Jr.

205

banks. Bank of England 174,174


churches: All Saints, Margaret Street

McCobb, Paul 346

Spitalfields

Church,

146, 147; Restoration

Larsen, lack Lenor 347. 348

143-5. 146, 147;

Lascaux cave pamtings, France 10

Cathedral 144, 145, 168;

St.

Paul's
St. Paul's,

113.

mansions and great

Mansueti, Gentile (mahn-SWET-ee) 91;


The Healing of the Daughter ofSer
91

16

Queen of France

125,

127

markets 31, 31, 66, 66, 189; see rt /so shops


Marshall Field Wholesale Store, Chicago
223, 241
J.L.

336

223; Gardner-Pingree House, Salem


171; Gropius House. Lincoln 322. 322;
Hoxie House, East Sandwich 157, 157;
Old Ship Meeting House, Hingham
i56, 158; Whipple House, Ipswich
1 57; see also Boston; Cambridge
Masson House, Nancy, France (mahSOH") 226, 227
Master of Flemalle (?Robert Campin) 68

Annunciation 68
materials: prehistoric 10, 12-13; ancient

36;

18, 22; Early

Romanesque

Christian

46; medieval 47, 49-

Baroque and Rococo 121-3,

131; French, Provincial

130-1;

Renaissance, north Europe 139, 141-2,


145-6, i46; Colonial

American 156-7;

Federal period 169; Industrial

Revolution 185-6; Victorian 191-2,


198-9, 202-3, 206-7; Art

Nouveau

226,

317, 325; Modernist 269,270-1,304,


310. 312, 314. 319-20; Art
late

Deco 290;

20th century

351,372,376-7
Matthew, R.H. 336

McBean. Thomas 164


McClelland, Nancy 324

183, 183; Christ

see palaces,

post-war 328, 347;

M
McArthur, John,

302. 303

London

(mah"-SAHR)

120,205

houses

50, 70-1;

180

298-9,300,

mansions

world 16-17.

135, 136. \5&-9; see also

Lubetkin. Berthold (loo-BET-kin) 313

82

Raymond (LOH-ee)

114, 115, 117,

Massachusetts: Crane Library, Quincey

Louis XVI. King of France 125

ocean liners
Lion Panel, Chauvet cave, France

196

Bradbury Building 253, 253; Dodge


House 314. 3i4;Gehry House 371,

328; candles 51. 150; electric 194,

of Music,

st>'le

Mansart, Fran<;ois

Martin.

Victorian 184, 185, 199; post-war

198

Mansardic

[Hollyhock House] 314, 3i6;

Louis XV, King of France 117,123

liners see

Lake Shore apartments, Chicago 322-3

319
Los Angeles: Aline Barnsdall House

Baroque and Rococo 122;

oil

138;

The Gold Weigher 138

Mannerism 84-91
manor houses 66-7

311,331

Louis XIII, King of France 113

Limbourg, Pol de, Les Tres Riches Heures


du Due de Berry 54, 54
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
New York 342; Theater, luillard School

Man, Cornells de{duh-MAHN)

Markelius, Sven (mahr-KAY-lee-us) 303,

[Health House] 319,320

Renaissance 90-1; French

Mallet-Stevens House, Paris 310

Mare, Andre (mahr) 290.292

97

green building 376-7

artificial:

Mallet-Stevens. Robert (mah-LE) 309,

Marie-Antoinette,

372; Getty Center 366; Lovell

churches and temples 31.40,132

Malaysia 351

London Zoo 313

Modernist 287
natural 205, 319, 348, 350, 373;

vee-YAW") 292
(mah-yaw-REL) 230
Maki, Fumihiko(MAH-kee) 373

Majorelle, Louis

Benvegnudo of San Polo

Loos. Adolf (lohs, loos) 238. 257, 306.

Dorothy LEE-buhs) 303, 346


Loyset (lyay-DE) 68; Tne Birth of

Maitrise Pavilion, Paris (me-TRF.E/.-pah-

maps

Longleat, England 140

late

(mah-YAHR) 304,308
Maison Carre, Nimes, France (me-ZAw"kah-RAY) 30,30, 165
Maison de Verre, Paris (me-ZAw"-duhVER) 309.3/0
Maillart, Robert

[subway system] 296,312


London, Great Fire (1666) 143
London Underground 296,312

Modernist 286-7, 287, 289;

Kresge Memorial Chapel, Cambridge,

Moscow
(KOOR-skuh-yuh-mee-TROH) 262

Underground

Longhena, Baldassare (lohng-GE-nah)

modernist 360;

346

station 372; King's Cross

Station 186. 787;

Craftsman movement 223; Beaux Arts


and eclectic styles 250, 251. 259. 259;

Liebes.

Kurskaya Metro Station,

142;

Westminster Hall 65, 65


transport buildings: Euston Station
176, 176, 184; Gant's Hill under-

ground

designs 149; furniture 152, 153;

Houses of Parliament

Palace of Westminster] 181,

182; St. lames's Palace

81

medieval 66; Renaissance 85;

industrial revolution

Kragsyde, Manchester-by-the-Sea 200

Kroll, Boris

142, 142;

(LEE-vuhr) 324

McMillen, Eleanor 256, 324


Maderno, Carlo 94

310,368

353
buildings: Banqueting House

[New

84;

century 350, 356. 356. 364; post-

Massachusetts (KREZ-gee) 337. 338

slate

Letarouilly, Paul (le-tah-roo-YEE) 84;

libraries:

194,

Building 290, 296; Lloyds Bank

Liberty style 226

Klimt, Gustav 237

Swan House, Chelsea

offices 353-4,

Leonardo da Vinci 72, 108. 10,


Lescaze, William (les-KAHZ) 303. 320-1.
348
Lescot. Pierre (les-KOH) 113

Lever House,

in

office buildings: Daily Express

Tomerlin 345. 346


Legend of St Ursula, The [Carpaccio] 89
Lemercier, Jacques (luh-mer-SYAY) 120

engraving of Tempietto,

New York

195

Lee. Sarah

Edifices de

272.308

Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo.

3J/;

174,360

Georgian 150;

house

Street,

Room now

Washington D.C.) 2 J 6; Red


House 210. 212, 213; Soane House
i73; Sun House, Hampstead 311.

117, 119

129. 168,

Old Church

311; Peacock

135

Ledoux, Claude-Nicolas (luh-DOO)

)apan (kee-REE-shee-mah, Ktt-ree-

Wing

houses: Highpoint, Highgate 313,

115, 116, 119

Kingswood School, Cranbrook, Detroit


258, 258

SHEE-mah) 373.374

Globe

336
(

leather crafts

King's Cross Station,

176;

358, 359; Royal Festival Hall 336,

115,

Le Thoronet, Abbey, France luh-TAW-

raw-NE) 48, 49, 284


LeVau, Louis (luh-VOH)

King's College Chapel, Cambridge.

Museum

Theatre 140; London Zoo 313;

116

King's Chapel. Boston, Massachusetts

entertain-

National Gallery, Sainsbury

LeN6tre, Andre (luh-NOHlruh)

Mackintosh, Charles Rennie 210,219


Mackmurdo, Arthur Heygate 218-19,
229; Wren's City Churches 219. 219

museums and

ment: British

New Architecture

278

Kiesler. Frederick

Kingscote,

186, 187, 188. 188, 190,203,213;

348, 365

278-85, 306. 308, 334; and classical

McKim, Charles Follen 249-52


McKim, Mead, 8( White 249-52,255.
345, 375

63, 63

exhibition buildings; Crystal Palace

KAWR-bue-ZYAY) 238,266.272.278,

(KHAWR-

sah-UAHD) 17

Klint,

Covent Garden 142-3; St. Stephen


Walbrook 144, J44; Westminster

167-9,

171. 184

Kent. William

Key,

Latin

Latrobe. Benjamin

Macdonald. Frances 219


Macdonald. Margaret 219
machinery, and modernism 278-9
Mclntire, Samuel 169

Maugham.

Syrie

(mawm) 301,324

Mauretania [ocean
Mauritshuis. the
HOEis. -housj

Mayan

liner]

265. 296

Hague (MOU-rits136, 138, 138

architecture 314

Maybeck. Bernard R. 223


Mayflower [sailing ship] 156
Mead, William 249, 249-52

395

Index

Medici Chapel

368; detlnitions of 290. 301;

Lorenzo) Florence
S5

(S.

(MED-i-chee).

itaty 85,

Medici-Riccardi. Palazzo, Florence 78,

summary

Modular land Modular II (Le Corbusier(

medieval period 41-53.54-71

MOMA see Museum of Modern Art,

(MIGH-uhr) 366-7

Meier, Richard

Meissonier, luste-Aurele (Mts-awn-YAY)


123

Melk. Abbey

Austria 100, 101, 101

of.

Memphis group

Mendelsohn. Erich 306,311


merchant classes, Dutch 138-9

monasteries:

Romanesque

Merchant's House Museum,

iOi;

New York

178, !7S

Merchants' National Bankof Grinnell.

Baroque

42. 42, 48-9,


99, 100-1. 100,

modern additions 103,284

metalwork

135.258
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
147, 149.

New York

160,249

Mexico: Cathedral, Mexico City 154;

Church of the Sanctuary of the Virgin


Guadalupe, Morelia 154, i55;

S. Jose,

352
Montuori, Eugenio

mosques

lohm-MAY-oh) 78-9

Miel, Ian. paintings.

(mohn-TWAWR-ee)

II

93

238. 266. 272, 274-7. 306;

post-war 334, 337. 342. 348; United


States

Munich:

migration 12-13, 14

233. 235;

Milan:
buildings: Fondazione Bagatti
Pirelli

Building 330
churches: Milan Cathedral 64;

Ambrogio

S.

43; S. Satiro 79-80.

exhibitions: Triennale

80

1936) 308;

Milan Cathedral, Italy 64


Milan Triennale (1936) 308
military styles

Musee d'Orsay, Paris 375


Museum of Contemporary
Ravenna,

Museum

128

Hermann 326-7

Miller House.

|House

IIIl,

Gerais, Brazil; S. Francisco de

Ouro Preto 154; S. Francisco.


Sao loao del Rei. Ouro Preto 154

Assis.

nee-ah-TOO-rah) 314
minimalism 277, 335, 346

Minoan

Furniture,

[MOMA], New

musical instruments; Renaissance 91,

Baroque and Rococo 106.122;

Georgian 151; Federal period 170,


;77; Victorian 197. 207; post-war 334

Hermann (moo-TAY-zee-us)
22

style

[Golden Oak| 220

missionaries. Catholic

MIT

154,156

(Massachusetts Institute of

Technology! 287, 337. 340

Modern Builder's Guide [Lafever] 177


Moderne Architektur (Wagner) 235, 236,
319

moderne (definition ofl 290,301,309


Modernism 153, 240-1. 266-89, 296, 304.

396

181, /S2

54!;
178.

Museum of Art
249; Museum of

147. 149, 160,

Modern

Art 249, 321, 32/, 351,

375; Schenck House. Brooklyn

Museum

162-3;

Whitney Museum

churches: First Unitarian Church and

Church

N
Napoleon

[Bonaparte

St.

Thomas's Church 256,


Church 179. i 79

entertainment buildings: Film Guild


295; luillard School.

Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo

Audubon

New York

Society Headquarters,

376-7, 576, 577

North America 156-64


North Carolina, Biltmore, Asheville 249,
249
Norton, lohn 193
Norway, S. Andrew's Church, Borgund
46,46
Notre Dame, Le Raincy, France (naw-

truh-DAHM) 30,309
Notre Dame, Paris (NAW-truh-DAHM)
58, 60, 64

truh-DAHM-due-OH) 284-5, 284


Nymphenburg Palace. Munich (NIM!05, 106, 123

ocean

liners 265, 265, 293. 295, 295. 296.

299. 336

Octagon House, Washington D.C.


offices

and

Modernist 267. 269.

274. 308. 318-19, 318, 325; Art

exhibition buildings. World's Fair


(

1939) 287, 288, 289, 303, 303

hotels

and restaurants: Helmsley

Morgans
Hotel [interior] 368; New York
Colony Club 255, 255; Paramount
Palace Hotel 345, 346;

Deco

290, 290, industrial design 298; post-

war 328. 334, 335, 555, 337. 337-8.


339, 34 1-4; late 20th century 354-6.
354, 355, 368; crossover styles 575,

376; see also bank buildings

Ohio: People's Savings and Loan


Association Bank, Sidney 243; Plaza
Hotel. Cincinnati 323, 324

houses: BlakelyHall 198, 198;

Boscobel, Garrison 166;t^amp

Dyckman House

167.

office buildings: Victorian

295, 547; Ziegfeld Theater 295

De

366;

National

293. 295, 303

194, 203-5. 205;

Nash, Paul 302

New

liner!

France

324; Radio City Music Hall 294,

Menil House. East Hampton 365.

York 337, 557, 342

see

168

Lincoln Center 342, 545;

Nash. lohn 172-3, 184


National Airlines Terminal [TWA],

Normandy

15

63

Paul's Chapel

Cedars, Adirondacks 200;

121.127

style

hjhn-BOORK)

179; St. Patrick's

Restaurant 325

Nadelman.Elie(NAHD-l-muhn) 342
Nancy. France, Art Nouveau 230

Norman

Notre-Dame-du-Haut, France (naw-

Hotel 367, 568; Pompeiian Court

Mique, Richard (meek) 125


Mission

London

Metropolitan

178;

Nootka Sound. Canada

Normandie (ocean

and museums:
Guggenheim Museum 340,
Merchant's House Museum

Cinema
and museums
140,290

see art galleries

20. 22,

154;

Laguna 156

164; St.

Muthesius.

Acoma

Palace of Westminster [Houses of

256, 257; Trinity

Mycenae

Miro, loan(mee-ROH) 322,324

Estevan,

16

Nippur, Sumeria(ni-POOR) 16

Mexico: Palace of the Governors,


S.

359, 366,

New York Public Library 25 i, 366


New York World's Fair (1939) 287,303
Nile, river

Delhi, India 264, 265

Santa Fe 154;

255

370

273,304,306.314,319;

139;

New York Colony Club 255,


New York Five [The Whites]

Countries

Balthasar (NOI-

International Style Exhibition (1932)

225

Minos, King 20

Low

Cathedral 179;

32i, 351,375;

music 18.58,79. 117,


cabinets 217

culture 20, 22

Airport 337, 337. 342

Hilversum 306,

Hall,

School. Rochester 548, 350; Grace

36

of Modern Art

museums

Miniatura. La |Millard House] (iah-MF.E-

Town

of American Art 340. 34 i

369-70,371

Lakeville,

Robert 177

Minas

Palace and

Deconstructivism exhibition (1988)

Connecticut 370-1.370
Mills,

Italy 361.

York 249, 321,

Millbach. Pennsylvania 162


Miller.

Nymphenburg

Amalienburg 105, 106. 123; Olympic


Stadium 335; Residenz 106
Musee d'Art Contemporain, Bordeaux,
France 368. 369

World's Fairs (1936) 308

251. 375;

271;

art galleries

Atelier Elvira [Elvira Studio!

TWA Terminal, Kennedy

Schroder House, Utrecht 271.

Parliament!.

131

style

Pennsylvania Road Station 250,

136, 138,

New York

mud-brick 16-17. 18

Central Station 252;

158;

S. Jose,

Mucha.Alphonse(MUKH-ah) 229
Mudejar

Airport 337, 557, 342;

Hague

brutalism 284. 336

New

movie theaters 261

Mullett. Arthur B. 205

314,321,322-3,324.326

Valsecchi 9/; La Scala 106;

Alexandria, Virginia

161, 162

Rome

555; Huis ter Heide, Utrecht 270;

Neutra Richard losef (NOI-truh) 306,

New
New

Grand
Kennedy

transportation buildings:

Mauritshuis, the

new

52-3, 52

Philadelphia 160, 160

Gesu,

shops. Ebel (jewelry shopl 368

319-20,339.348

Pleasant Mansion. Fairmount,

Woolworth Tower 254,255

Customs House] 177, i 77, 179;


New York Public Library 251. 366;
World Financial Center 345,351

Amsterdam Stock

Neumann. lohann
mahn) 103-4

Station 262

Building 341; Schiller

Exchange [The Bourse] 224, 225;


Centraal Beheer, Apeldoorn 335,

306; see also

Mount Vernon,

Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig (MEEZ-van-

duhr-ROH

buildings:

330
Moorish culture 52-3, 131
Moosbrugger, Kaspar (MOHS-BRUG-uhr)

Mount

253;

modernism 306

335. 352.

Moser, Karl 308.320

Middle Ages see medieval period


middle classes see classes, social

Am

public buildings: Federal Hall [U.S.

Netherlands

post-war 335

Moscow, Kurskaya Metro

Bartolommeo (BAHR-toh-

1 1

DeStijl 270

165-6, 165

Michelangelo Buonarroti 72. 73, 82-3,


di

337; Chrysler Building

295, 295; Citicorp Building 341-2;

12

Nervi. PierLuigi (NER-veel 330

mosaics 32, 39

85-6.92, 132

CBS tower

Mont S. Michel, Normandy (maw"-se"mee-SHEL) 45. 45

Meyer, Adolf (MIGH-uhr) 257


Meyer, Hannes 274

Michelozzo

Seagram Building 323;

242, 245;

Building 242; Singer Building

Morris, William 210.213,219.220

154

showroom 330

Pan

102. 103

City, Cathedral

Olivetti

skyscrapers: Guaranty Building 242,

Nepvau, Pierre

Teptzollan 154

Mexico

Society

Headquarters 376-7, 576, 377;

neighborhood design 150


Nelson, George 327, 344
Neoclassical style 123.125-7,165

Architecture 371. 37/; Expo 67 335.

131,

Audubon

National

Neoplasticism 270

Montreal: Canadian Centre for

322

(nah-TWAHR)

Mondrian, Piet 270


Mongolia 14

(MAHN-ti-SEL-oh, -CHEL-oh) 88, Ki5.

Metallurgical Research Building, Illinois

Larkin Building, Buffalo 266, 269;

neolithic period

Monticello. Charlottesville. Virginia

Iowa 243
Mesopotamia 16-17

native (Brazilian) styles 154

Nazi regime 263, 274, 306


Building, Chicago 252

48, 53. 53. 63;

361

Offices,

124

New York
Monadnock

IBM World Trade


Mount Pleasant 342, 542;

office buildings:

National Gallery, London 558, 359


Natoire. Charles-Ioseph

285

meetinghouses. Shaker 20!

239; Tiffany Residence

240. 240

National Gallery. Berlin 277. 334

section

7S

Hudson

National Gallery of Art. Washingttin


364. 564, 365

of 347; and post-modernism 357


modular design 285, see also golden

162;

Hancock Shaker Village 20i; Lever


House 324; Lyndhurst. Tarry
Town 180, /SO. Olana, Hudson
197, 197; Rochrane. Irvington-on-

Olana. Hudson.

New York (oh-LAH-

nuh) 197, 197


Olbrich, loseph (AWL-brikh) 234-5

Old Senate Chamber. The Capitol.


Washington /67
Old Ship Meeting House, Hingham,
Massachusetts /56. 158
Olivetti

showroom. New York 330

Olmstead, Frederick Law 197

Index

Olympic Sudium, Munich 335


Onondaga shops. New York (AHN-uhnDAH-guh, -DAY") 220
open planning str space planning
opera houses
331; sec

06, 24

auditoriums

Orchard. The. Chorley

Wood, England

218,2)^
orders (classical architecture) 23. 23. 24,
27. 30. 35. 36; Renaissance 79, 83. 89,

136;

Empire

128; Federal styles

st>'le

165, 167, 168; eclectic styles 265;

Modernism

MO. Public

86,

86

Palazzo Farnese IFarnese Palace),

138-9; Georgian period

150. 152, 160;

Federal style 170-1; Victorian period


196-7. 206; Arts

and Crafts 214.215.

ArtNouveau

2)5, 216. 216;

Rome

(fahr-NAY-zay) 82-4, 82. 83. 85. 92

Massimo alle Colonne, Rome


MAHS-see-moh-AHt-lay-koh84,

84
78,

226;

Patladio,

centur)' 373-6

24, 24: Early Christian 38: medieval

Palladianism

9, 92, 136, 162, 165, 166;

140. 142. 166; in the 20th centur)- 280.

362;

ornament and decoration: ancient Greece

Andrea (puh-LAH-dee-OH) 87-

Am

Qtianw Lihn
Building.

Panama
Panama

ciell'Architcnum 87

New York

341

Arts

and Crafts 2)5; cubist 290.293,303;


F.L.Wright 314; post-war 336-7.346.
347, 347: post-modernist 358-9; see

[ocean liner] 298. 299

Francisco 223

Paris (ptAHS-vah"-

126

plantation houses )6). 162. 178

Mawr, Wales PLAHS-MAH-oor)

Plas

140, 140

post-war 328

plastic,

Plateresco style 131, 154, 1.56

Paxton, Joseph 186. 188; see a/so Crystal

pU-ivood 206.287.310.312.327

Plaza Hotel. Cincinnati,

plumbing

see

Ohio

32J, 324

water supply systems

Poblet monastery, Tarragona. Spain

77
Peacock Room, London [now in

Washington D.C.[ 2)6


Peckforton Castle. England 193
Pelli.

San

Vendome,

ornament and decoration


Pavilion de I'Esprit Nouveau, Paris 279,
279
also

New York
(

Cesar (PEL-ee) .348.351

Ponte.

Pennsylvania: Fallingwater. Bear

Run

317^3)7. 339; Millbach 162;

Academy

(poh-BLET) 53. .53


Pompeii 31-4. 126. 127. 149
Pompeiian Court Restaurant,

325
Pont du Gard. Nimes. France paw"due-GAHR) 28

342. 346. 364-7

Pel. l.M. (pay)

Pacific Exposition (1912),

planning, commercial 328

15; Islamic 53;

Pazzi Chapel. Florence (PAHT-tsee) 77,

12

174

Building. Milan (pee-REL-lee) 330

DOHM)

Palace

paleolithic period

Pan

268, 319; late 20th

Place

324

'sister'. 11

Parthenon. Athens 23. 23. 278


pattern: primitive

78

Oriental influences: Dutch Renaissance

Mrs Henn'

170

Scroll style

Place de

Parish,

and

Piranesi (PEER-ah-NAY-zee)

la Concorde Place de Louis


XV], Paris 126

Dauphine Station 231


Metro subway! 231-2,23)

Paris World's Fair (1925) 290

(MED-ee-chee-reek-KAHR-deel

Seri-ices

Pirelli

Palazzo

Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence

Building. Portland 360, 360

Isubway] 231-2. 23); Porte


Paris

tsoh-KAH-ree-NYAH-noh) 97-8
Palazzo del Te. Mantua. Italy (dayl-TAY)

pilgrims and pilgrimages 44, 50


Pillar

Palatine Chapel, -Aachen.

LOHN-nayl

357. 359, 362

189, 189

du Quai
d'Orsay 246, 246. 375; Metro

Palais Stoclet. Paris (pah-iE-stawk-LE)

Germany 41. 41
Carignano. Turin (pah-LAHT-

Bon Marche

232. 240;

transport buildings: Gare

houses

also

Oregon: Central Lutheran Church,


Portland 340,

eclectic styles 249: see

Palazzo

286; late 20th century

Modernism

American

197-8;

237, 237

245. 246, 246.

theaters, concert halls,

ijIso

houses 140-1: Victorian 193,194-5.

GiolPOHN-Iay)

3.30

Pope. lohn Russell 324


Porta.

Giacomo

della

(PAWR-tah) 92

50-1. 56. 70; Renaissance 75. 75. 139;

Pankok, Bernhard (PAHN-kawk) 234

French Rococo

Pannini, G.P. (pahn-NEE-nee) 20

190. 191. 205: Richards Medical

Pantheon. Paris 129. 129

Research Laboratories 350; University

Post.

of Pennsylvania 205-6. 256. 259. 350;

post and lintel (trabeated) construction

26; Federal

st>-le

69;

Victorian 192, 195. 198; Arts and


Crafts 210;
226. 241

ArtNouveau 215,226,

242. 242. 243: Vienna

Secession 238: Art

Deco 290. 293;

Modernist 314; post-Modernist 361:


sec (j/s(i Baroque style: pattern
O'Rorke. Brian 296
Ostberg. Ragnar (OEST-buhrg) 262,
263. 296

Oslcrley Park. England 149, /49


Otto, Frei 335

Oud,

I.I.

(out! 306

Pantheon,

Rome

Paramount Hotel. New York 367, 368


Pare de la Villette, Paris 369-790, 370
Paris 115

and museums: Centre


Pompidou 353. 353: Louvre
Museum 364, 364
churches: Les Invalides. church of S.
Louis 121. i21: Madeleine, church
of 129-30. /29; Notre Dame 58.
art galleries

Pantheon.

60. 64;

Ould, Edward ohid) 213

21, 30-1. 30. 166

Genevieve]

[S.

121. 129, )29; S. Chapelle 59, 59.

S.

Abbey of

Denis,

55,

60

333. 334

Pahlmann William iPAHL-muhnI

323.

cave

Villette

279, 279. World's Fairs,

Compiegne

Chateau de Maisons [Maisons

127:

Lafitte]

ancient world 25. 33. 34. 34

Chateau de Malmaison 128, i2S;


Flotel Baudard de Saint-lames
(26; Hotel d'Amelot 123: Hotel de

87. 9. 9/. 93;

138:

Low Countries

136.

England 142, )42. 143. 143

Baroque and Rococo 92.

97, 101,

104. 115. 124


1

94

Pre-Raphaelite 210.213
American 251
Modernist 270-1.272.278.322
Palace of the Governor. San Antonio,

Palace of the Governors. Santa Fe.

New

Mexico 154

mansions and great houses:


1

7,

20, 20. 22:

Romanesque and medieval

42. 66-9;

Renaissance palazzi 74, 82-4, 86-7;

Baroque and Rococo chateaux 108-19.


(09- J5. //". )J9; Elizabethan great

127, 175

Trianon, Versailles. Paris (puh-TEE-

Iree-ah-N.W") 124-5

128;

buildings: Christ

Hall 204. 205;

Church

Mount

163-4; City

Pleasant

Mansion. Fairmount 160,


Philadelphia

Museum

160.

of Art 160.

163; Philadelphia Saving

Fund

[PSFS] Building 320-1.

125-6. 146; Petit Trianon

(Place de Louis

Vendome

XV]

la

124-5

Concorde

367

290
shops: Bing's Art

Philadelphia

Museum

of Art 160.163

Fund

Society JPSFSj

220,

Magi

172

[Gozzolil 78. 78

Provincial style. France

130-1

public buildings: American colonial 1634;

Victorian 205: Vienna Secession

235. 236: Beaux-Arts styles 251. 252,

259, 262. 296; Art

Deco

295;

Modernist 277, 308-9, 308: post-war


331; postmodernist 360. 360; late

modernist 365, 366. 367

Philadelphia waterworks 168


Philip

II.

King of Spain

Philippe. P.

250.250.251
Pugin. Augustus

Welby N. (PYOO-jin)

181; True Principles of Pointed or

Christian Architecture

Puritan interiors 260

Building320-1. 32)
132. 136

138

Putman.Andree(PUHT-muhn) 368
Pyramid. Louvre Museum. Paris 364. 364
pyramids. Egypt 17-18.

//.

18

Ph)^^ Duncan (fighO 169. 169-70. 171

Renzo(PYAH-noh) 353-4

278.323
Frank 296
Piermarini, Giuseppe p^ FR-mah-REE(

neel

Nouveau Shop

Prince Regent [George IV of England]

Public Services Building. Oregon 360. 360

Pick,

Salon des Artistes Decorateurs 290,

primitive societies 10-19

Venturi House 358. 35S

Picasso. Pablo

restaurants. Cafe Costes 367,

20. 22

Public Library. Boston, Massachusetts

Piano,

126; Place

126

).5.

Powel House 159. 160; Second


Bank of the United States 177;

Philadelphia Saving

116-17. 117. 118, 119.

10-19.

Primaticcio, Francesco (PREE-mah-TEET-

Protestant Reformation sec Reformation

Centennial Exhibition (1876) 196-7

Philadelphia Chippendale 163

Louvre 113, 117. 119, 120;

prehistoric period

proportion see golden section

Bibliotheque Nationale

112-13, /12.

pretabrication 231-2

Philadelphia

188. 189; Bibliotheque St.

330

Deco

Powel House, Philadelphia )59, 160


prairie houses 268, 269
Prandtauer, lakob tPRAHN-rOL'-uhr)

Procession of the

321: Philadelphia waterworks 168:

Unesco headquarters

pottery: primitive 15. 150-1; Art

Peto. H.A. (PEE-toh) 265

280, Villa

Genevieve 188. 188

236

choh) 112

Peruzzi. Baldassare (pay-ROOT-tsee) 84

Societ)-

libraries:

18

100, 100-1. 101

de Monzie] 279-8
Ca\Tois. Paris 309

public spaces: Place de

330, 330

Percier. Charles (per-SY AY)

237. 237: Les Terraces [Villa Stein

Versailles

Palace of Labor !ltalia61 Pavilion]. Turin

and Loan Association

Bank. Sidney. Ohio 243

114. 115: Palais Stoclet

1 .

203

296; industrial design 299. 299

People's Savings

Hotel de Villette /09; Hotel

palaces: Fontainebleau

Texas 156

ancient world

15;

office buildings.

Pakistan 285

palaces,

B.

posters. Art

Iowa 243

Soubise 124, 124: Hotel de Sully

Lambert

Mannerist 85

Victorian

113, 113. 114. 115;

George

post-modernism 357-62
Nouveau 229

Timo 333

People's Savings Bank. Cedar Rapids,

Petit

doh-FEEN) 231

Post, Pieter 136

perspective 80. 92

la

tombs 10

Renaissance 75. 78. 78. 83-4. 83. 86.

New York

250.251.375
Pentagram 336
Penttila.

Porte Dauphine Station. Paris (pawrt-

Post Office Savings Bank. Vienna 235,

Nouveau

Pavilion 292: Pare dc

primitive 15

medieval 67-8. 6

Arts 190.

369-790. 370. Pavilion de I'Esprit

231. 231: Chateau de

10. 10. 12

205
Pennsylvania Road Station.
)9).

(pe-ROH) 120
Perret. Augustelpe-RAY) 308-9
Perriand. Charlotte (per-YAH") 282

houses and chateaux: Caste! Beranger

painting

Academyof Fine

Pennsylvania

Perrault. Charles

Paris 279, 290, 292. 296. 303. 309

325

of Fine Arts

perpendicular style 63

exhibition buildings: Maitrise


Paatelainen. Railli (PAH-te-Lic;H-nen)

Pennsylvania

Pietilii.

106

Reima (PEE-e-rft-lah) 333, 334

Quattro

Liliri

[Palladio]

deU'Architettura.

87

Queen Anne period 146-7. 159. 163. 199


Queen Anne revival. United States 1945.

196

397

Index

Queen Elizabeth II [ocean liner) 336


Queen Mary {ocean Wncr] 296
Quickborner Team KVlK-BAWR-nuhr,
(

KWIK-) 334,335

Rogers, John 198

Rohde, Gilbert (ROH-dee) 299,325,


326-7
Romanesque style 36,41-51,53

Romano, Giulio(roh-MAH-noh
Radio City Music

New York

Hall,

Rome

radio studios 294,295,321

buildings: Farnese Palace 82-4, 82.

radios, designs for 261, 261, 295, 296

S3. 85, 92; Palazzo

railroad cars 209, 209, 299


railroads; industrial revolution

184, 186, 187; Victorian 209, 20^. Art

Termini,
80-1, S)

23), 234; Beaux-Arts

churches:

246, 246, 252, 375; eclectic styles 250,

Carlo

Deco 296;

Modern 296,312,3)2;

Furniture 361, 36);

S.

36, 36, 38; S.

36; S. Paul
St. Peter's

see also

Rome,

Italian

Vitale 39,

94,95, 121, 144


ancient;

towns and

Rome, ancient

Sacconi, Giuseppe (sahk-KOH-nee) 261

Sagrada Familia church, Barcelona (sah-

S.

S.

tay-TYEN) 58,58
Florian, Monastery of Linz 100- 1 )00
Foy, Conques, France (se"t-FWAH)

S.

Francisco, Sao Joao del Rei,

S.

Francisco de Assis,

cities

24, 27-35,

199, 302

R^gence [Regency)

style,

21, 30-1,

France 123-5,

1-30;

style,

delli

62

world 16-17,

S.

S.

roofs: ancient

Reliance Building, Chicago 252

Mansard 1 13, 205; Colonial


American 156-7, 162
Root, John Welborn 252
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel 215
Rosso, Giovanni Battista [Rosso

reliquaries,

medieval 50-1

Renaissance 24,35,72-91

Renwick, James,
Residenz,

179

Jr.

S.

367

Restoration period 143-6,158


Revell, Viljo 333; city hall,

Revett, Nicholas (ri- VET)

Toronto 333

The Breakers, Newport


The Elms, Newport 208:
Kingscote, Newport )96;Vv^atts
Sherman House, Newport ) 99, 200

Richards Medical Research Laboratories,

Pennsylvania 350
Richardson, Henry

Hobson 200,221,

223,239,241,249
Richmond, Virginia 165

306

Risom, Jens (REE-sohm) 325


Robbia, Luca della (DEL-uh-ROH-bee-

Roycrofters,

The 219,220

Rubens, Peter Paul 142


Ruhlmann, Jacques-Emile

92-9; Austria,

Switzerland,
1

Germany

23-7; see also

398

Baroque

Paul's Cathedral,

Ivo della Sapienza,

Rome

(sahnt-EE-

Laguna,

New Mexico

(SAN-hoh-

154, 756

Teptzotlan, Mexico 154

Leopold

Am Sleinhof. Vienna (saynt-

New York

London

The Seven Lamps of Architecture 181,


210
Russell, Gordon 296

S.

S.

168

New York 164


Covent Garden, London 142-3
St. Paul's Methodist Church, Cedar
Rapids, Iowa 242-3
St.

Paul's Chapel,

St. Paul's,

Rome

Cathedral,

St. Peter's

S.

294. 295.

100-7; France

Stephen Walbrook, London 144, 144

Lorenzo, Turin 98, 98

Saint-Gaudens, Augustus (sayut-GAWD-

S.

Louis des Invalides, Paris (se"-LWEE-

Saladino, John (sal-uh-DEE-noh) 346

S.

de-ZE"-vah-LEED) 121, 121


Maclou, Rouen, France (SE^-mahKLOO) 60, 60

S.

Madeleine, Vezelay, France (se"t-

Salisbury Cathedral, England 62, 62

S.

mahd-LEN) 44,45
Marco, Venice (sahn-MAHR-koh)

Thomas's Church,

New York

256,

256, 257

nz) 251

Salginatobel Bridge, Switzerland (zahl-

GEE-nah-TOH-buhl) 304,304
Salon des Artistes Decorateurs, Paris
37,

290, 290

Anthony 193

San Francisco: Coleman

Panama

city

house 339;

Pacific Exposition (1912)

223

Maria della Salute, Venice (SAHN-tahmah-REE-ah-DEL-lah-sah-LOO-tay)

San Xavier del Bac, Tucson (SAHN-hah-

97

Sangallo, Antonio, the

Maria la Blanca, Toledo, Spain


(SAHN-tah-mah-REE-ah-lah-

Sangallo, Giuliano da

BLAHNG-kah)

52-3

Santa Creus monastery, Spain

S.

Maria Maggiore,

Rome (SAHN-tah-

S.

Martin du Canigou, monastery of,


France (SE"-mahr-TE"-due-KAH-nee-

tah-KRAY-oosI 53
Sant'Elia, Antonio (sahnt-AYL-yah) 307
Santiago de Compostela (sahn-TYAHgoh-dhay-KAWM-poh-STEL-ah) 44, 50

GOO)

Sargent, lohn Singer 251

S.

Michael, Corvey-on-the-Weser,

Sargon, Palace

Germany 42

SAS Royal

S.

vee-ER-del-BAHK) 154-6
Younger (sahng-

GAHL-loh) 82

mah-REE-ah-mah-IOH-ray) 36

48, 48

Germany 43. 43
(SAHN-mee-NYAH-

of, at

Hotel,

1 1

(SAHN-

Khorsabad

Copenhagen 331,332

S.

Michael, Hildesheim,

Savery, William 163

joh) 43

S.

Miniato, Florence

Scamozzi, Vincenzo (skah-MAWT-tseel

Andrea, Mantua (SAHN-ahn-DRAY-ah)

79

Andrea al Quirinale, Rome ISAHN-ahnDRAY-ah-ahl-KWEf-ree-NAH-lay) 95,

S.

Paul Outside the Walls,

S.

Philibert,

ApoUinare in Classe, Ravenna Isahnah-POHL-lee-NAH-ray-een-KLAHS-

S.

Rome

36

Tournus, France (SE"-fee-

Milan (SAHN-sah-TEE-roh) 79-

Scandinavia:

Romanesque

46. 49. 49,

Jugendstil 226, 234, 234: Art

296-7;

Modernism

war 331-4;

see

rt/so

Deco

304, 310-1

Finland;

1;

post-

Sweden

80,80

Schaezler Palace, Augsburg 105

Sindone, Capella della, Turin (kah-

Scharoun, Hans (SHAHR-ohn) 306, 334


Schenck House, Brooklyn Museum, New

PEL-lah-DEL-lah-SAHN-tah-SEENdoh-nay) 98.99
S. Spirito,

Florence (SAHN-SPEE-ree-toh)

S. Vitale,

(san-KAHR-lohs-BAWR-uh-MAY-oh)

39,39

York

162-3

Ravenna (SAHN-vee-TAH-lee)

Saarinen, Eero (SAHR-i-nen, -nuhn)


324, 326

New York 241,


Rudolph 319-20

Schiller Building,

Schindler,

76

troh-fohn-TAH-n.ny) 95-6, 95, 96


Carlos Borromeo. Carmel, California

Chapelle, Paris (SE"T-shah-PEL) 59, 59

Rome

lee-BER) 42
S. Satiro,

36,39
Carlo alle Quattro Fontane,

165

toh) 43, 43

95

156
S.

81-2, 87, 82,

92, 94,95, 121, 144

Ambrogio, Milan (SAHN-ahm-BROH-

79,
S.

179

)44, 145,

S.

Ruskin, John 181,186,210,213,220;

S.
style: Italy

St.

53

St.

(ROOL-

(sahn-KAHR-loh-AHL-lay-KWHT-

347
Rococo

Patrick's Cathedral,

DHOH-roh)

St.

S.

mahn) 209

York 239

New York

St.

DEEN) 36,36,38

say)

Rockefeller Center,

John's Church, Washington D.C. 169

Isidoro, Leon, Spain (SAHN-ee-see-

88

Rou,x-Spitz, Michel (roo-SPITS) 290

Roche Dinkeloo 337

New

St.

88,

Salvin,

S.

Rochrane, Irvington-on-Hudson,

234, 234

Giorgio Maggiore, Venice (sahn-

236

S.

Royal Festival Hall, London 336, 336

142

Tampere, Finland

Maria in Cosmedin, Rome {SAHNtah-mah-RE-ah-in-KOHZ-may-

uh) 77
Robie House, Chicago 270, 270, 289
Robsjohn-Gibbings, T.H. 325
Roche, Kevin (rohsh) 337,339

James's Palace.

Roth, E. 308

SHMIT) 234
Rietveld, Gerrit (REET-velt) 271-2,

121, 129, 129

Lorenzo, Florence (SAHN-loh-RENtsoh) 76, 77, 85-6

S.

Rideout. ).G. 261

Riemerschmidt, Richard (REE-muhr-

St John's Cathedral,

ZAY)

;72

Island;

St.

zhuhn-VYEV)

S. Jose,

112

Roth, Alfred 308

Antiquities of Athens 165, 175

247, 247:

London

Genevieve Ithe Pantheon), Paris (se"t-

S. Jose,

S.

Genevieve, Bibliotheque, Paris 188,


188

voh-DEL-lah-sah-PYEN-tsah) 96-7, 96

Royal Pavilion, Brighton, England 172,

165,175

St.

42. 103

salt-box shape houses 157

Fiorentino)

restaurants 261, 271, 27), 299, 300. 324,

Gallen), monastery,

[S.

London 358, 359


Andrew's Church. Borgund, Norway
46,46
St. Anthony's Church, Switzerland 308
St. Augustine in his Study [Carpacciol 90

St

40

Munich 106

325. 366, 367,

18:

65, 65-6;

Egypt 17

Minas
{sou"m-frah"-SEESPreto,

lAWR-joh-mah-IOH-ray)

medieval

reinforced concrete 269, 304, 308, 314

religion, ancient

Ouro

LAY-uh-PAWLT-ahm-SHTIGHN-hohf)

Herculaneum 31-4, 126


and the Renaissance 73-4
and French Neoclassical style 130
see also Italy; Rome; names of Italian
towns and cities

England 169,172-4
Cinque Onitni Vignola) 89
Rekh, Lilly (righkh) 274,306
Reims Cathedral, France (re"s, reemz)

Regency

Gall

GAWL)

39

Trulli houses, Apulia

154

Gerais, Brazil

Switzerland (se"-GAHL, saynt-

14, 17

169

Minas

Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery,

Ouro

koo-dee-ah-SEES) 154

250, 251;

i36

GRAH-dhah-fah-MEEL-yah) 232
Sainsbury Centre, University of East
Anglia, England 354. 354

Gerais, Brazil

S.

Gesii,

II

93

Preto,

S.

Colosseum 28; Pantheon


2), 30-1,30, 166; Temple of
Poseidon, Paestum 24, 24: Temple
of Venus and Rome 30; temples

Estevan,

44, 44, 50

names of

buildings: Baths of Caracalla 29. 30,

Reformation |Protestant| 92, 135, 136,

Rhode

Etienne, Cathedral of, Bourges (se"-

Maria
Maria

Outside the
Cathedral 81-

Maggiore
Walls 36;

TOH-ray) 88

Regale

Cosmedin

2, 8), 82, 92,

Apollinarein

39
Red House, London 210, 212. 213
Redentore, II, Venice (eel-RAY-daynS.

in

Rome

S.

alle

38: S. Ivo

257, 257, 258


Sacchi. Andrea, paintings,

Quattro Fontane 95-6,


Costanza 38,

Saarinen House, Cranbrook, Michigan

Acoma, New Mexico (SAHN-eSTAY-vahn) 154

S.

330; Tempietto

della Sapienza 96-7, 96; S.

Rams, Dieter (ralims) 335


Randolph, Beniamin 70
Ratia, Armi(RAH-tee-ah) 347
Ravenna: Museum of Contemporary

refrigeration

Massimo

84, 84: Stazione

234, 257-9, 263, 285, 324.

Eliel

326, 327; post-war 37, 348

55,60

Ge.su 89, 92, 93, 94: S.

II

alle

95, 96: S.

Modernist 330

Classe 36, 39;

Rome
Rome

Colonne,

176, 176^

Nouveau 231-2,

251, 252, 262, 263, 375; Art

S.

STAHN-tsah) 38,38
Denis, Abbey of, Paris (SE"-duh-NEE)

86-7,

92

Saarinen,

Costanza.

Romanticism 175-83,317,319

(Rockefeller Center] 294, 295

Early

Rome (SAN-tah-koh-

S.

Rogers, Richard 353-4

247, 242

SchinkeL Karl Friedrich 175


schools

set'

educational buildings

Schroder House. Netherlands (SHROEduhr) 271.277

Index

Schuyler. Hartley

& Graham

shop,

New

Blanca, Toledo 52-3; Santa Creus


monastery 53; Santiago de
Compostela 44, 50; Seville
Cathedral 64; Toledo Cathedral

York 202
Scotland: Hill House, Dunbartonshire

Glasgow

210, 219; tenement buildings,

185
Scully,

132

Vincent

199

J.

Alhambra. Granada
Alhambra. Toledo 132

palaces:

sculptural decoration 92. 198.330.342


sculpture. Modernist 323. 327

Speer. Albert (shpayr, speer) 263

Seagram Building, New York 323


Sears Roebuck, catalogs 260, 260
Secession Gallery, Vienna 234, 235
Second Bank ot the United States,

Speyer Cathedral,

style 205,

Seven Lamps of Architecture. The [Ruskin]

181.210
Spain h4

sewing machines 209

Seymour, lohn 170


Seymour, Thomas 170
Shaker design 200-3
Shakespeare. William 140
Shaw. Richard Norman 194-5.

Germany

366. 367

Maker atui

199, 213,

houses

Upholsterer's

Drawing Book

151, 153. 153

Shingle style 199-200.249


Shingle Style, The \Scu\\y]

199

State

Tiffany. Louis

tiles

Stickley,
Stirling,

135

Stirling,

Diego de{sEE-ioh-AY) 131


Singer Building, New York 253
Skidmore. Owings, and Merrill (SOM)
323-4. 326. 342. 344
Siloe,

Gustav 219-20
James 356-7
Patrick 209

luhs) 25.26
Stockholm

Telford.

Smithson, Alison 336

stools, ancient

Smithson, Peter 336

Egypt 19
strapwork 113. 136, 140

Smithsonian Institution, Washington

Stratford Hall, Westmorland, Virginia

Edmund

210

Smythson. Robert 140,141

Street,

Soane, John 171

Strickland, William

Soane House, London 173


Sonck. Larsfsohngk) 234.285
Sony Building (A.T.&.T. Building! 342,

Stripped Classicism 259.261-2

177

James 165, 175; Antiquities of


Athens 165, 175

Stuart,

Hugh

Sumeria 16-17
Sun House, Hampstead, London 311,

64

Renaissance 131-5

311

Art Nouveau 232

churches and mosques: La Cartuja,


sacristr>'.

Granada

132. /33;

Granada Cathedral 131,


Great Mosque, Cordoba

J3J;
52;

Poblet monastery. Tarragona 53.


53; S. Isidoro.

System of Architectural
Ornament 243

Spain
style

Abbot (sue-ZHER) 54,60

266. 319;

107

Leon

53; S.

Maria

la

traditionalism 244

185-6

Trajan,

Rome (taym-PYET-toh)

80-

Emperor

31

Transparente, Toledo Cathedral, Spain

(TRAHNS-pah-REN-tay) 132

Temple of Amon. Karnak, Egypt (AH-

muhnl
Temple
Temple
Temple
Temple

transport see travel and transport

Transportation Building. Chicago Fair

IS. 19

of Apollo, Bassae 24

242. 249

of Athena Nike, Athens 24

travel

houses 177-8

travel

of Poseidon. Paestum. Italv 24,

bureaux 361-2,362
and transport: medieval 69;

Industrial Revolution

Sunar Furniture Company, Houston,


Texas 359.360
Suntory Museum, Osaka 373
Superga. church and monaster)'. Turin
(SOO-payr-gah) 99
Swan House, Chelsea, London 194, 195
Swanson, J. Robert F. 324

184,186;

Victorian 200; 20th century 266, 328,

Templeof Venus and Rome, Rome 30

348; see also air transportation;

temples: Sumeria 17; ancient Egypt

roads, ships

19;

ancient

Rome

18-

21. 30-1. 130;

ancient Greece 22-4, 23, 24

tenement buildings, Glasgow, Scotland

Tris Riches

Hemes du Due

Tennessee State Capitol, Nashville 177

279-81,250

Terragni, Guiseppe (ter-RAH-nyee) 307

Texas: furniture

showroom, Houston

339; Palace of the Governor, San

Antonio

156;

Sunar Furniture

Company, Houston
textile block,

359,

360

concrete 314

Africa 75; ancient Egypt 19;


medieval 51; Renaissance 91.135,

textiles:

146;
126;

rail-

de Berry, les

54,54
rribnne (newspaper] 257
Trinity Church. Boston, Massachusetts

185

Paris (lay-te-RAHS)

Sullivan, Louis 206, 223, 240-3. 249, 252,

Time and Architecture (Gideon]

design 303

trial

221,227.239

New York

Terraces, Les [Villa Stein de Monzie],

Suger,

111

198, 202;

modernist 283. 283, 334; and indus-

Stupinigi hunting lodge, Turin (STOO-

237, 296. 312. 312

ancient Assyria 17;

49; United States. Victorian

Triumph of Venice,

Sue, Louis (sue) 290,292

space planning 334, 335. 335, 343-4

16;

cities

tepees 13, 73, 14

subway systems 231-2,

Sourdeau, Denis and lacques de (soor-

towns and

Stumpf. Bill(stuhmpf) 344


pee-NEE-jee) 99, 99

129

Town, Ilhiel 177, 178, 179-80


town planning 283. 283, 328, 334

Trinity Church,

341

Netherlands 306,

trade. Renaissance 138-9.140

Thomas

Tempielto.

Hall, Hilversum,

306

Tennessee Valley Authority [TVA] 300

Stubbins.

Ettore(SAWT-sahs) 361
facques-Germain (soo-FLOH)

20th century 351.

24

162

Sorbonne. Paris (sawr-BAWN) 120

late

[Le

ancient Greece 24-5; early medieval

226;

1,81

World's Fair (1930} 296.297.311

George

Nouveau

telephones 205.266

Smirke. Robert (smuhrk) 176

361. 36i

209; and Art

telegraph 205

Stockholm City Hall 262, 296


Stone Age 12
Stone, Edward Durell 295.321
Stonehenge, England 12, i2

D.C. 179

34-5; nine-

Tecton (BertholdLubetkinefn/) 313

Hus 332

Slbjdforeningen Exhibition 297

7,

stoa of Atlalos, Athens (AT-uh-LAHS,-

skyscrapers 202-5. 242, 252-5, 328;

Rome

New Architecture

Corbusier] 278

Town

300. 302, 303

Modernist 266;
377

buildings: City Hall 262, 296; Folkets

Modernist 274, 277. 322, 323. 324; Art


Deco 290. 295; post-war 330, 337; late
20th centur\' 368. 368

Teague. Walter Dorwin (teeg) 298, 299,

troh-oh-LEEM-pee-koh) 88-9.59

A.M. 362-3

TREK) 229
Towards a

teenth centur)' 153. 183-6. 203-5. 206-

centers 341-2

Siena Cathedral, Italy 64

(TAHS-uhl) 228,

229

technology: ancient

132

Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri (too-LOOZ-loh-

122

Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza, Italy (tay-AH-

loh) 25
Stern, Robert

of Western Art 373

373, 373

Tassel House, Brussels

202. 207, 223, 241, 312. 325; shopping

Museum

Tom^, Narciso(toh-MAY)

Rome (stah-TSYOHnay-TER-mee-nee) 330


steam power 184. 197; locomotives 209
steel 304,325

of Hegisto, ancient Greece (he-GlS-

National

Toledo Cathedral. Spain 132


tombs: ancient Egypt 10.77.12,17-18,
77, 18; Napoleon I 121; Osaka, Japan

Taniguchi. Yoshio 375


Taskin. Pascal (tahs-KE")

stele

shops 69. 308, 309; department stores

Talbert, Bruce 216

stave churches 46

Steinberg. Saul 324

265, 293. 293, 295. 296, 299, 336

Mycenae (TIR-inz. TIGH-rinz)

Toleda. Juan Bautista de 132

194

tapestries sec textiles

136

139

17,

Hotel 270; Kidosaki House 374;

[The Architects' Collaborative] 341

(TAL-ee-ES-in) 3/6,317,319

Stazione Termini.

Comfort 238-40
New York 240, 240

Tiffany Residence,

Taliesen (Shining Brow], Wisconsin

[State Capitol). Boston,

Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista (tee-EP-uh-

20,22
Tokyo: Asahi Building 368. 368; Imperial

Taft. Robert

House

19, 79, 51

Peter 102, 103

Tiryns,

TAG

Whitman House, Farmington,

thrones

Thumb.

loh) 104

Standen, East Grinstead, England 214,

Steen, Ian (stayn)

ships 298. 324. 334; ocean liners 265.

Gothic

Chaux

Sydney Opera House, Australia 331


Syon House. England 148, 149
System of Architectural Ornament, A

tableware 296, 299. 299

Connecticut 158
Starck. Philippe 367-8

Sheraton, Th()mas 153, 169; The Cabinet

Space,

Church, Basel 308; Salginotobel

Stani.Mart (stahm) 306

Massachusetts 166

shelters, sec also

DOH)

Lugano 308; S. Gall [S. Gallen),


monastery 42. 103; St. Anthony's

stained glass: Gothic 54-5, 6J, 62;

Stanley

see also auditoriums; concert halls;

movie theaters; opera houses


Thornton. William 166-9,171

103; Institut Heliotherapeutique,

[Sullivan] 243

214

263-4

Soufflot,

Art Deco 295; post-war 333. 342. 343;

modernist 284. 309. 309

Seville Cathedral,

Sottsass,

Maison de rHomme). Zurich 285,


334; Einsiedeln. Abbey of, Zurich 102,

Bridge 304, 304; Villa Schwob.

stage design 92

113, 165

106, 117, 126; French

Neoclassical 129; eclectic styles 259;

de Fonds 278. 278

Stadthaus, Ulm,

244

and Rococo

Zurich 308; Centre Le Corbusier [La

Germany
(SHTAHT-hous) 357,357

stadiums 335

Serlio.Sebastiano(SER-lyoh)

silk

Germany SHPIGH-

Renaissance 88-9, 89, 140; Baroque

331, 333

Switzerland 103, 308: apartment houses,

uhr) 43
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart,

Philadelphia 177

Second Empire

53. 53;

Sweden 262, 263. 296-7,

Baroque and Rococo 107,122-3,


French Empire style 127, 128;

Federal period 170; Industrial

Revolution 184; Victorian 192,206-7;


Art Deco 293; industrial design 303;

Modernist 327; post-war 328, 336-7.


346-7, 347; late 20th century 350
theaters: ancient Greece 24, 26;

T/ie

179,779

(Veronese] 97

True Principles of Pointed or Christian


Architecture [Pugin]

181

Trulli houses. Apulia, Italy

(TROO-lee)

14, 17

Trumbauer, Horace (TRUHM-BOU-uhr)


209
Trusteeship Council Chamber,

Headquarters.

New York

UN

297

Tschumi, Bernard (CHOO-mee) 369-70


Tudor Place, Washington D.C. 167

Tudor

style

140

Tugendhat House, Brno {TOO-guhnHAHT) 274.276


Turin: Palace of Labor [Italia 61 Pavilion]
330, 330; Palazzo Carignano 97-8; S.
Lorenzo 98, 98; S. Sindone. Capella
98, 99; Stupinigi

hunting lodge 99.

99,

Superga. church and monastery 99

399

Index

Turin shroud 99

Turku, chapel

at

Ca d'Oro

Venice;

Turku, Finland 310

Turun Sanomat Buildings, Finland


{TOO-roon-SAH-noh-MAHT) 286,

97;

Tutankhamen

Giorgio

S.

Maggiore 88, 88; S. Marco


Maria della Salute 97
Venturi. Robert

286

66; Doge's Palace 97,

Redentore 88;

II

York 337, 337, 342

37. 40; S.

(ven-CHOOR-ee,

Brown

u
Headquarters,

New York

331

underground houses 14-15


Unesco headquarters, Paris 330

87, 97;

283, 283,

285.289,334
United States: Georgian 148. 159-63.
260; Greek Revival 176-8ArtDeco
194-5; Gothic Revival 178-80;
Victorian style 195-209; Craftsman

movement

219-23; Art

Nouveau 238-

43; eclecticism 244,247-61;

Modernism

276, 314-36; post-war

330. 337-47; see also America;

The Triumph of Venice 97


116-17, 117,

Versailles, palace of, Paris

Unite d'habitation, Marseilles (UE-nee-

TAY-tUH-bee-tah-SYAW")

Veronese, Paulo (vAV-roh-NAY-zay) 87.

New

York; names of cities; names of states

US,

119, 125-6, 146

Versen, Kurt

(VUHR-suhn) 303

Queen of England

186,209

University of Pennsylvania 205-6, 256,

Brow] 3/6,317,319

wood

Gallery of Art 215; National Gallery of

Greek 22; Byzantine


and Romanesque 46; medieval

Art 364, 364, 365; Octagon House

70-1; colonial

167, 168;

John's

St.

Church

Versailles

238; Post Office

150;

236;

S.

Leopold

Am

Steinhof 236;

Rome

16;

America 168; Victorian 184-5,


and industrial design 302;

Vienna Secession 226. 234-8

Watt, lames 184


of,

92,94

19;

15, 15;

power looms

ancient Egypt

286-7, 287, 289

roh) 87.87
skah-ree) 88. SS. 280
Villa Mairea, Finland

Velde, Henri (vahn-duh-VEL-

Van Doren, Harold 261


Van Egeraat, Erick (vahn-AY-khuhitAHT) 376; see also Erick Van Egeraat

281, 289

Schwob, Switzerland (shvohb) 278,


278
Villa Stein de Monzie 5ee Terraces, Les
Villas and Cottages [Vaux] 197-8
Viollet-le-Duc,

Eugene-Emmanuel

(vyaw-Li>luh-DUEK)
Habitations of Man

13, 50. 67;

in All

The

Ages 13,

13,

50

Associated Architects
Eyck. Aldo (vahn-IGHK, van-) 335

Virginia: Carter's Grove, Williamsburg

and Mary

161, 162; College of William

Vanbrugh. John (VAN-bruk, VAN-bruh,

[Wren Buildingl. Williamsburg


Lee Mansion, Arlington

146

164;

77;

Vanderbilt family 249

Monticello, Charlottesville 88, 165.

Vanna Venturi House (VAN-uh-venCHOOR-ee. -TOOR-ee) 357-8,357

165-6, 165;

(vah-ZAHR-ee) 82
[ocean liner, renamed

Vasari. Giorgio
Vaterlarid

Rome

Romanesque

27-8. 30;

42, 48, 49, 56-7;

Gothic

56-8, 57, 62-3

Vaux, Calvert 197-8


Vaux-le-Vicomte, Melun, France (vohluh-vee-KAW'^T) 115-16, 115

400

76/. 162; Stratford Hall,

Westmorland

162; University of Virginia

165,166;

Vitruvius (Marcus Vitruvius Pollio)

TROO-vce-uhs) 27, 35,


De Architect lira 34-5

Leviathan] 265
vaults: ancient

Mount Vernon, Alexandria

(vi-

79, 87, 142;

Voysey, Charles Annesley (VOI-zee)

218.226,229
Vries,

Vredeman de (duh-VREES) 136

Vuoksenniska Church, Iniatra, Finland


(VOO-ohk-SEN-ee-skah) 288, 289

see also

Financial Center,

New York

348,

II

325-6,328

Wormley, Edward 325

WPA style

151

groupl (VIGH-suhn-HOHF-ZEED-

259

Wren, Christopher

Wren

style

143-5, 163, 168

164

Wren's City Churches IMackmurdo] 219

Wright, Frank Lloyd 241, 242, 243, 252,


266, 268-70, 285; and functionalism

225,

238,272.306,308
Werkbundsiedlung [housing design exhibitionl (VERK-bunt-ZEED-lung) 306
Westminster Abbey, London 63, 63
Westminster Hall, London 65. 65
westworks 42
Wctmore, Charles D. 252
Wharton, Edith 249
Whipple House, Ipswich, Massachusetts

304; post-war 340, 348;

White. Stanford 249. 249-52. 255, 363

White Temple at Uruk 17


Whitney Museum of American Art, New
York 340, 341
Wies. Die, (Pilgrimage Church of Christ

A Guide

to

Easier Living 299

Wright. Russei 299


Wriothesley manuscript (RIGH-uhthslee)

51

writing: hieroglyphic

17, 19;

Greek

alphabet 22; Arabic calligraphy 53

Wurster, William Wilson 339


Wyatt. James 181

Wyman, George

157
Whistler, lames McNeill 215.216,219

van Liebenhofen, Liebert 105

van-BROO)

281-

and 1930s,

World's Fairs 1920s and 1930s 296

Werkbunden (VERK-BUN-duhn)

(sah-VWAH)

Fairs 1920s

exhibitions

World War

Wells Cathedral, England 56, 56, 62

Rotonda(Capra),Vicenza 87-8, 165

2,

losiah

300

World

351

lung) 306

(MIGH-ray-ah)

Villa

duh) 230

Van

Mira (FOH-

287, 287

Eugene (vah-LE") 226

Wedgwood,

in Architecture oj Robert and James


Adam. The Adam] 148
Works Progress Administration |WPA]

World

Weissenhof Siedlung [exhibition housing

Villa Savoye, France

Van de

(BAHR-bah-

Villa Foscari (Malcontenta).

Finland 286

192, 207; post-war

347; see also textiles

Villa Barbaro, Maser, Italy

255-6, 324

Woolworth Tower, New York 254, 255


Worker's Club and Theater, lyvaskyla,

Watts Sherman House, Newport, Rhode


Island J99, 200
weaving: primitive

89,

145, 145;

Works

green buildings 377

Webber, lohn 15
Webber, Kem 299

van Alen, William 295


van Campen, lacob 136, 138

Wood, Ruby Ross

Georgian England 149,

194, 199;

Secession Gallery 234. 235

Villa

34;

medieval 50; Renaissance 74;

Viipuri Library, Finland (VEE-poo-ree)

Vallin,

Modernist 312; Scandinavia 331

water supply systems: ancient

Nouveau 238,
Savings Bank 235,

{1930} 306; houses. Art

University of Virginia 165,166

Utzon, lorn (OOT-sawn) 331

Victorian 201, 202, 206;

Vienna: Austrian Travel Bureau Office

upholstery 206-7

Utsep Mobler seating system 331

Modernist 287

180;

furniture: Renaissance 132, 135;

169;

marquetry 122, 131, 170


plywood 206,287,310,312.327

361-2, 362; exhibitions, housing design

50,

156. 157-8; Gothic

water, in architectural design 317

Webb, John 143


Webb. Philip 210.213-14,264

Upjohn. Richard 179


Ur, Sumeria 16-17
Urban, Joseph 295
Uruk, White Temple at (OO-ruk) 17
Usonian house design 319

Revival

Room [moved from

Peacock

Vignon, Alexandre-Pierre (vee-NYA")


129-30

259, 350

in buildings:

767; Freer

Victorian period 181,190-209

Bamberg, Germany (FEER-tsaynHIGH-Ii-guhn) 103, 103


Vignoia, Giacomo (vee-NYAW-lah)

colleges

Building,

Racine 318-19, 3i8; Taliesen |Shining

interiors: carving

181,

universal space 342

and

Wax

Wisconsin: Johnson

waste disposal see water supply systems

Victoria,

Vierzehnheiligen, pilgrimage church

universities

Forest, Illinois

268. 268

Smithsonian Institution 179


Washington, George 161,162,166

universal design 377

universities se^ educational buildings,

Winslow House, River

Wank, Roland (wahngk) 301


Warnecke, lohn Carl (WAWR-ni-kee)

London] 2/6;

Vertue, William 63

medieval 67,70-1;

Renaissance 75; post-war 328

140, 140

344
Warren, Whitney 252
Washington: Capitol 166-9,

Woman

Standing at a Virginal 139

UN

Mawr

19, 57, 126;

stained glass 54-5, 6i, 62, 239;

Walpole, Horace 181

Associates 359

Vermeer, Ian 136; Young

Wales, Plas

wallpaper 129. 150, 160. 170, 207

Venturi House, Philadelphia 358, 358


Venturi, Scott

windows

Wagner, Otto (VAHG-nuhr) 235-6, 319

-TOOR-ee) 206,357-9

19

TWA Terminal. Kennedy Airport, New

Herbert 253

Y
Yorke, F.R.S. 312

Young

Woman

[Vermeer]
yurts (gers)

Standing at a Virginal
139

14, 14

Scourged) Bavaria (dee-VEES) 102

Wightwick Manor, England 213,2/3

wigwams

13, 14.

Zakharov, Grigorh

156

William and Mary period 143-6. 158


Williams,

Owen

Williamsburg
Willis Faber

Zanuso, Marco (Isah-NOO-soh) 331,

290, 296

style

361

260

and Dumas

offices.

England

354. 355
Wills. Royal Barry 260
Wilton House, England 143, /43

Winde, William 145

(zuh-KHAHR-uhO

262

Ziegfeld Theater,

New York

(ZlG-feld,

ZEEG-) 295
Zimmerman, Johann Baptist (TSIM-uhr
MAHN) 106, 123
Zimmermann, Domenikus 102, 103

was
itt

Professor of Design at the renowned

Institute, Brool<lyn, for

career.

He

is

most

of his teaching

the author of twelve books on furniture,

color, drafting, office planning,

and other aspects

of

interior design.

kob Prandtauer and Antonio Carlone,

Monaster/

of St. Florian, Linz, Austria,

Paul M.R. Maeyaert, Mont de

1718-24

I'Enclus (Orroir),

Belgiunn, courtesy Stiff St. Florian.

Jacket design by

Angus Hyland/Pentagram. pnnted

JOHN WILEY

in

&.

Hong Kong

SONS, INC.

New York Chichester Weinheim


Brisbane Singapore Toronto

^i^pfip^iPiS

r-tup^""";

''

ISBN 0-M71-3Sbbh-2
90000

780471"356660

You might also like