Page 229 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

114 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

accretions. French architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot Early Modernism
combined Gothic structural lightness with classical spa- In the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution
tial purity in his Church of Ste.-Geneviève (1755–1780) expanded its impact on European architecture. France’s
in Paris. Étienne-Louis Boullée drew unbuildable projects, official architectural school, the École des Beaux-Arts,
like the Cenotaph to Isaac Newton (1783–1784), a clas- emphasized “universal” architectural ideals found in pri-
sical but sublime giant hollow sphere that celebrated the marily classical models, but the buildings of its alumni,
achievements of the great physicist. It connected use and including Charles Garnier’s exuberant Opéra (1860–
form in a direct manner called “architecture parlante.” 1875) and Henri Labrouste’s Bibliothèque Ste.-
Mining historical styles for contemporary projects con- Geneviéve (1838–1850), both in Paris, united those les-
tinued into the nineteenth century, highlighted by Karl sons with contemporary technology. The celebration of
Friedrich Schinkel’s Greek Revival Altes Museum (1824– modern materials and their logical assembly was epito-
1830) in Berlin, and the Gothic Revival Houses of Par- mized by the Eiffel Tower (1887–1889), by Gustave Eif-
liament (begun 1835) in London, by Charles Barry and fel. Conversely, William Morris, the most significant
A.W. N. Pugin. British voice at the time, protested against the social
By the mid-eighteenth century, Europeans began to upheaval and shoddy craftsmanship associated with the
seek increasingly private and comfortable residences. Industrial Revolution. His Arts and Crafts Movement was
Renovated (1732–1739) in the delicate Rococo style by advertised by his own home, The Red House (1859–
Germain Boffrand, the Hôtel de Soubise in Paris incor- 1860), by Philip Webb, in Bexley Heath, with its infor-
porated intimate interiors that were easily heated by mal, vernacularly derived forms and materials that hear-
improved fireplace design and easily illuminated by large kened back to a simpler time.
windows and mirrors. Residences of the well-to-do incor- American architects adapted these British ideas to
porated dumbwaiters and corridors to allow
greater separation between masters and
their servants. The English aris-
tocracy and North American
colonists also turned to making
more comfortable buildings,
typically favoring a restrained
neo-Palladian approach to de-
sign, such as Thomas Jeffer-
son’s Monticello (1768–1782)
in Charlottesville,Virginia.

Houses in Tangier,
Morocco, in the
nineteenth century. The
flat roofs provide
a sitting area in
cool evenings.