Key characteristics distinguish churches of the Polish Cathedral Style from other architectural styles represented in North-American church buildings. The most visible is the large amount of ornamentation used in decorating both the exterior and interior, comparable only to the more famous Churrigueresque or Spanish Baroque style. The decorations used reflect the tastes of the Polish immigrants to these regions in both the symbols and statuary of saints prominently displayed throughout.

Additionally there is a heavy proclivity towards ornamentation drawn from the Renaissance and Baroque periods as well as modeling designs after famous churches in Poland. The claim of different ‘architectural styles’ of Europe ascribed to these churches is misleading, as most of them are already labeled by art historians as examples of Eclecticism and Historicism, characterized by the various Architectural Revivals found in styles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In these churches are found a mixture of architectural traits from numerous past eras characteristic of Europe and the Americas.

Links

• Polish Cathedral style – Wikipedia
• The Polish Churches of Milwaukee/

Named for the Churriguera family of Salamanca, its origins can be traced back to an architect and sculptor named Alonso Cano, who designed the facade of the cathedral at Granada in 1667.

The development of the style passed through three phases. Between 1680 and 1720, the Churriguera popularized Guarino Guarini’s blend of Solomonic columns and composite order, known as "supreme order". Between 1720 and 1760, the Churrigueresque column, or estipite, in the shape of an inverted cone or obelisk, was established as a central element of ornamental decoration. The years from 1760 to 1780 saw a gradual shift of interest away from twisted movement and excessive ornamentation toward the Neoclassical balance and sobriety.

Among the highlights of the style, interiors of the Granada Charterhouse offer some of the most impressive combinations of space and light in 18th-century Europe. Integrating sculpture and architecture even more radically, Narciso Tomé achieved striking chiaroscuro effects in his Transparente for the Toledo Cathedral. Perhaps the most visually intoxicating form of the style was Mexican Churrigueresque, practised in the mid-18th century by Lorenzo Rodriguez, whose masterpiece is the Sagrario Metropolitano in Mexico City (1749-69).

A distant precursor (early 1400s) of the overwrought style can be found in the Lombard Charterhouse of Pavia; yet the sculpture-encrusted facade still has the Italianate appeal to rational narrative. The Churrigueresque style appeals to the proliferative geometry, and has a more likely ancestry in the Moorish architecture or Mudéjar architecture that still remained through south and central Spain. The interior stucco roofs of for example the Alcazar de Granada flourish with detail and ornamentation.

The style enjoyed a resurgence after Bertram Goodhue’s designs for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park, San Diego, California included Churrigueresque ornament.

Links

• Spanish architecture

Incoming search terms:

• churrigueresque
• churrigueresque building technology
• Churrigueresque spain
• churrigueresque style