Romanesque Revival architecture

blogtopia — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:03:29 +0000

Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed in the late 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque style of architecture. Popular features of these revival buildings are round arches, semi-circular arches on windows, and belt courses. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, however, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to feature more simplified arches and windows than their historic counterparts.

The style was quite popular for courthouses and university campuses in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, especially in the United States; a well known example is the University of California, Los Angeles. The style was widely used for churches, and occasionally for synagogues such as the Congregation Emanu-El of New York on Fifth Avenue built in 1929. Neo-Romanesque details in a neo-Renaissance structure:New York State Capitol, Albany, New York
Richardsonian Romanesque: Bexar County Courthouse, San Antonio, Texas

By far the most prominent and influential American architect working in a free "Romanesque" manner was Henry Hobson Richardson. In the United States the style derived from examples set by him are termed Richardsonian Romanesque.

A variety of Romanesque revival style known as Rundbogenstil (Round-arched style) was popular in German lands and in the German diaspora.

During the 19th Century the architecture selected for Anglican churches depended on the churchmanship of particular congregations. Whereas high churches and Anglo-Catholic, which were influenced by the Oxford Movement, were built in Gothic Revival architecture, low churches and broad churches of the period were often built in the Romanesque Revival style.

Gothic Revival architecture

blogtopia — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:18:57 +0000

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement which began in the 1740s in England. Its popularity grew rapidly in the early nineteenth century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval forms in contrast to the classical styles which were then prevalent.

In England, the epicentre of this revival, it was intertwined with deeply philosophical movements associated with a re-awakening of ‘High Church’ or Anglo-Catholic self-belief (and by the Catholic convert Augustus Welby Pugin) concerned by the growth of religious nonconformism – until the style became widespread for its intrinsic appeal in the third quarter of the nineteenth century.

In parallel to the ascendancy of neo-Gothic styles in nineteenth century England, interest spread rapidly to the continent of Europe, in Australia and the Americas; indeed perhaps the number of Gothic Revival and Carpenter Gothic structures built in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries exceeds the number of authentic Gothic structures that had been built previously.

The Gothic Revival was paralleled and supported by medievalism, which had its roots in antiquarian concerns with survivals and curiosities. It also took on political connotations, as well; with the "rational" and "radical" Neoclassical style being seen as associated with republicanism and liberalism (as evidenced by its use in the United States), the more "spiritual" and "traditional" Gothic Revival became associated with monarchism and conservatism, and this was reflected by the choice of styles for the rebuilt Palace of Westminster in London and Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

In English literature, the architectural Gothic Revival and classical Romanticism gave rise to the Gothic novel genre, beginning with Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, and inspired a 19th century genre of medieval poetry which stems from the pseudo-bardic poetry of "Ossian." Poems like "Idylls of the King" by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson recast specifically modern themes in medieval settings of Arthurian romance. In German literature, the Gothic Revival also had a grounding in literary fashions.

The Gothic style dictated the use of structural members in compression, leading to tall, buttressed buildings with interior columns of load-bearing masonry and tall, narrow windows. But by the turn of the 20th century, technological developments such as the steel frame, the incandescent light bulb and the elevator led many to see this style of architecture as obsolete.

Building Techoclogy » Gothic Revival architecture

Romanesque Revival architecture

Links

Gothic Revival architecture

Links

Incoming search terms: