ARCH416Class08ColonialArchitecture

ARCH 416

Spring ‘15

Class 08 Colonial Architecture

First Hour Test

a week from today, Monday, Feb. 23rd

at regular class time, but not in regular class room

on Compass

an opportunity to synthesize material from class, textbook and readings; begin to form a picture US architecture

precontact (c.1100)

colonial (Massachusetts and Virginia) c. 1700

after Revolution (Jefferson) c. 1800

what is on the test?

Roth, pp. 13-149 (Chapters 1 to 4) baseline history: what

happened when; history as “one damn thing after another”

Class lectures 1-9 (PPTs on Compass for review)

hermeneutic conception of history: the concerns of the

present draw relevance out of the past

Readings:

Stewart Brand: concepts that will help us think about the

realities of architecture

Roth Chapter 1

Figures 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 (see also on Compass the more

detailed color climate maps I posted)

be aware of the wide range of climates and conditions that

are present in the USA

read all of “The First Americans” text, but for monuments,

only 1.10, 1.11, and 1.12

We did not study the second section, “The Historical or

Postcontact Cultures,” (exception of 1.16) and this

material is not on the test. (Adobe construction will appear

later on.)

The First American Architecture, 12th century

Additional Reading

Jared DIAMOND, “The Ancient Ones: The Anasazi and

Their Neighbors,” in Collapse: How Societies Choose to

Fail or Succeed (New York: Penguin Books, 2005): 136-

56.

Much more detailed account of the rises and falls of

Chaco Canyon than is available in Roth, with particular

attention to the role of climate.

Roth, Chapter 2

Spanish Settlements [no]

French Settlements [no]

Swedish Settlements [yes; pp. 45-6] the log cabin

Dutch Settlements [no]

English Settlements [only pp. 54-6 on town planning in New England]

Town Planning in 17th Century [yes; pp. 61-5]

2.38 Town of Boston, 1630

2.39 Plan of New Haven, 1638

2.40 Plan of Philadelphia, 1682

Europeans in the New World, 17th century: Transplanted Vernaculars

John Michael Vlach, Plantation Landscapes of the

Antebellum South”

Roth, Chapter 3

pp. 69-84

Georgian Colonial Town Planning [yes]

Early Georgian Architecture, 1690-1750 [yes]

3.10 and 3.11 George Wythe House, 1755

3.24 Wren Hall, College of William and Mary, 1702

3.25 Massachusetts Hall, Harvard College, 1720

Late Georgian Architecture [no] except

Peter Harrison [pp. 98-101]

3.51 Redwood Library, Newport, RI 1750

3.52 Touro Synagogue, Newport, RI 1763

Georgian Architecture 1690 to 1785 (early 18th c.)

Roth, Chapter 4

pp. 107-137

Eclecticism [yes]

Planning the National Capitol [yes]

Samuel McIntire [no]

Charles Bulfinch [yes]

Asher Benjamin [yes]

Benjamin Henry Latrobe [yes]

Other Influences [yes]

Thomas Jefferson [yes]**

New Architecture for a New Nation, 1785-1820

agenda

test preparation

Georgian architecture

building types

architectural specialization today:

residential vs. commercial

what kind of residential?

what kind of commercial?

we would expect these to get more complex and more

differentiated over time

building types

this is one reason we regard the cities at Cahokia, IL and

Chaco Canyon, NM as sophisticated

differentiated building types

houses, storage rooms, kivas, great kiva (Chaco Canyon)

dwellings, temples, ceremonial plaza, tombs (Cahokia)

differentiation, specialization, social stratification all

accompany one another as social wealth increases

building types

colonial period, there is not a lot of differentiation

for example, the “meeting house” in colonial New England

served for every kind of gathering: civil, religious, juridical,

etc.

view of Plimoth, MA

earliest settlement in NE

Plimoth Meetinghouse: a multitude of uses, including defense

New Haven, 1768

postcard, 1955

typology by function

private vs. public buildings

by private I mean anything pertaining to individuals.

by public I mean resources held in common for the good

of the whole society.

the ratio between these has changed.

private useprivate

religious structures [are often the oldest remaining structures on some of most expensive, centrally located land within the city]

church

synagogue

mosque

housing [more and more population in absolute terms, also density]

single family

multifamily

apartment building

workplace [dedicated workplaces replace ‘”cottage industries” and quarters]

factories

mills

office buildings

financial institutions

postcard, 1955

public use

government buildings

legal (such as state house, courthouse)

punitive (jails, poorhouses, workhouses)

medical (asylums, hospitals)

educational (schools, colleges, universities)

transport/communication (post offices, rail stations)

later on:

cultural

museums

libraries

theaters

parks

symbolically these are different

structures as well

they can also borrow symbolically from each other,

e.g., (department store as temple of shopping)

banks using the classical vocabulary to indicate solidity and

permanence

as Roth points out, “Architectural associationalism first

appeared about 1730 in 18th century Europe, in

landscaped gardens where freestanding isolated pavilions

recalled Roman gates, Chinese pagodas, Greek Temples,

or ruined Gothic abbeys as objects of contemplation.” (p.

107)

Stourhead, Wiltshire, England, c. 1735

So, think about types in functional terms (purpose-built

structures) but also in symbolic terms (as representing

different ideas and values within a society). The overlaps

can also speak to shifting values and priorities (for

example, similarities between schools and prisons).

Both will contribute to the program of a given building.

Jefferson was one of the first in the US to think

consciously about the symbolic choices.

“Around 1785 this generalized associationalist phase led to

more complex references to specific styles whose images

were historically and symbolically associated with the

function of a proposed new building—Gothic for churches,

Roman for governmental structures, Egyptian for mortuary

structures, for example.” (p. 107)

So, if you consider the architecture of Williamsburg (second

state capital after Jamestown and before Richmond)

Note: this was where Jefferson himself was educated, at William

and Mary.

What you find is Georgian architecture (this was also the choice

at Harvard, as you remember from last time)

It makes sense that the colonies would build in the style that

prevailed in their mother country.

But Jefferson wanted to declare independence in more ways

than one.

The “Georgian” in Williamsburg

Governor’s Palace, Williamsburg, VA 1706-1722

Capitol Building, Williamsburg, VA, begun 1704

George Wythe House (illustrated in Roth)

The Georgian

in Boston

The Massachusetts Town House: seat of colony government 1713–1776

The Massachusetts State House: seat of state government 1776–1798

Boston’s City Hall 1830–1841

Period of commercial use 1841–1881

The Bostonian Society and the museum 1881–present

State House as it was in 1801 on State Street, Boston

Plan of Faneuil Hall area

1827 etching

Interior, showing second floor

galleries added in Charles Bulfinch’s

renovation

1873, building used for community events

Quincy Market, The Rouse Corporation, 1979

The Georgian in Philadelphia

Virginia State Capitol

In 1785, while in France, Jefferson received a letter from the

Virginia Board of Public Buildings requesting a plan for the Capitol.

Jefferson hired French architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau to make

drawings based upon the Maison Carrée and had them sent back

to the USA.

In Jefferson’s opinion, the Maison Carrée was “one of the most

beautiful, if not the most beautiful and precious morsel of

architecture left us by antiquity.”

Jean-Pierre Fouquet, scale model of the Virginia State Capitol, 1786

JEAN–PIERRE FOUQUET (1752-1829)

French artisan who specialized in architectural modelmaking.

Plaster of Paris at a scale of 1:60(one inch to every five feet).

Reinforced with internal iron rods, precise rendering of architectural details.

Virginia State Capitol

In 1787, Jefferson visited the Maison Carrée in Nîmes, a

temple dating to the Roman era.

In Jefferson’s opinion, the Maison Carrée was “one of the

most beautiful, if not the most beautiful and precious morsel

of architecture left us by antiquity.”

Early photograph of the Virginia State Capitol. Note Jefferson’s substitution

of Ionic for Corinthian columns.

The Maison Carrée, Nîmes, France

built by Augustus’s closest lieutenant during his reign

completed 16 BCE and dedicated to Augustus’s sons

In continuous use, it’s the Roman structure in the best repair anywhere in the world.

Richmond, VA after the Civil War. The Virginia State Capitol was not destroyed.

Virginia State Capitol with two wings added in 1904.

Thomas Jefferson & Charles-Louis Clérisseau, Virginia State Capitol, Richmond VA

(original central portion, 1780-1801)

Virginia State Capitol, as it appears today, with new entrance to accommodate

contemporary security procedures.

choice of classical architecture

rejection of authoritarian English motherland (Gothic)

embrace of “democratic” Greece and Rome

attention to architecture as a symbolic practice, not just a

functional one

public buildings should represent our aspirations as a

democratic public

improving taste of US public

“But how is a taste in this beautiful art to be formed in our

countrymen, unless we avail ourselves of every occasion

when public buildings are to be erected, of presenting to

them models for their study and imitation?”

—Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison

how do we create government buildings appropriate to the

unique mission of this new country?

Jefferson’s answer: look to Classical models which are the best

suited to democratic virtue