RECENT ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE:MODERN CONDITIONS, FRANCE

<< THE CLASSIC REVIVALS IN EUROPE:THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

ARCHITECTURE IN THE UNITED STATES:GENERAL REMARKS, DWELLINGS >>

CHAPTER XXVI.

RECENT ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE.

BOOKS RECOMMENDED: As before, Chateau, Fergusson. Also Barqui, L'Architecture

moderne en France.--Berlin und seine Bauten (and a series of similar works on the

modern buildings of other German cities). Daly, Architecture privée du XIXe siècle.

Garnier, Le nouvel Opéra. Gourlier, Choix d'édifices publics. Licht, Architektur

Deutschlands. Lübke, Denkmäler der Kunst. Lützow und Tischler, Wiener Neubauten.

Narjoux, Monuments élevés par la ville de Paris, 18501880. Rückwardt, Façaden

und Details modernen Bauten.--Sammelmappe hervorragenden Concurrenz-Entwurfen.

Sédille, L'Architecture moderne. Selfridge, Modern French Architecture. Statham,

Modern Architecture. Villars, England, Scotland, and Ireland (tr. Henry Frith). Consult

also Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and the leading

architectural journals of recent years.

MODERN CONDITIONS. The nineteenth century has been pre-eminently an age of

industrial progress. Its most striking advances have been along mechanical, scientific,

and commercial lines. As a result of this material progress the general conditions of

mankind in civilized countries have undoubtedly been greatly bettered. Popular

education and the printing-press have also raised the intellectual level of society,

making learning the privilege of even the poorest. Intellectual, scientific, and

commercial pursuits have thus largely absorbed those energies which in other ages

found exercise in the creation of artistic forms and objects. The critical and sceptical

spirit, the spirit of utilitarianism and realism, has checked the free and general

development of the creative imagination, at least in the plastic arts. While in poetry

and music there have been great and noble achievements, the plastic arts, including

architecture, have only of late years attained a position at all worthy of the

intellectual advancement of the times.

Nevertheless the artistic spirit has never been wholly crushed out by the untoward

pressure of realism and commercialism. Unfortunately it has repeatedly been directed

in wrong channels. Modern archæology and the publication of the forms of historic

art by books and photographs have too exclusively fastened attention upon the

details of extinct styles as a source of inspiration in design. The whole range of

historic art is brought within our survey, and while this has on the one hand tended

toward the confusion and multiplication of styles in modern work, it has on the other

led to a slavish adherence to historic precedent or a literal copying of historic forms.

Modern architecture has thus oscillated between the extremes of archæological

servitude and of an unreasoning eclecticism. In the hands of men of inferior training

the results have been deplorable travesties of all styles, or meaningless aggregations

of ill-assorted forms.

An important factor in this demoralization of architectural design has been the

development of new constructive methods, especially in the use of iron and steel. It

has been impossible for modern designers, in their treatment of style, to keep pace

with the rapid changes in the structural use of metal in architecture. The roofs of

vast span, largely composed of glass, which modern methods of trussing have made

possible for railway stations, armories, and exhibition buildings; the immense

unencumbered spaces which may be covered by them; the introduction and

development, especially in the United States, of the post-and-girder system of

construction for high buildings, in which the external walls are a mere screen or

filling-in; these have revolutionized architecture so rapidly and completely that

architects are still struggling and groping to find the solution of many of the

problems of style, scale, and composition which they have brought forward.

Within the last thirty years, however, architecture has, despite these new conditions,

made notable advances. The artistic emulation of repeated international exhibitions,

the multiplication of museums and schools of art, the general advance in intelligence

and enlightenment, have all contributed to this artistic progress. There appears to be

more of the artistic and intellectual quality in the average architecture of the present

time, on both sides of the Atlantic, than at any previous period in this century. The

futility of the archæological revival of extinct styles is generally recognized. New

conditions are gradually procuring the solution of the very problems they raise.

Historic precedent sits more lightly on the architect than formerly, and the essential

unity of principle underlying all good design is coming to be better understood.26

FIG. 208.--PLAN OF LOUVRE AND TUILERIES, PARIS.

A, A, the Old Louvre, so called; B, B, the New Louvre.

FRANCE. It is in France, Germany (including Austria), and England that the

architectural progress of this period in Europe has been most marked. We have

already noticed the results of the classic revivals in these three countries. Speaking

broadly, it may be said that in France the influence of the École des Beaux-Arts, while

it has tended to give greater unity and consistency to the national architecture, and

has exerted a powerful influence in behalf of refinement of taste and correctness of

style, has also stood in the way of a free development of new ideas. French

architecture has throughout adhered to the principles of the Renaissance, though the

style has during this century been modified by various influences. The first of these

was the Néo-Grec movement, alluded to in the last chapter, which broke the grip of

Roman tradition in matters of detail and gave greater elasticity to the national style.

Next should be mentioned the Gothic movement represented by Viollet-le-Duc,

Lassus, Ballu, and their followers. Beginning about 1845, it produced comparatively

few notable buildings, but gave a great impulse to the study of mediæval archæology

and the restoration of mediæval monuments. The churches of Ste. Clothilde and of

St. Jean de Belleville, at Paris, and the reconstruction of the Château de Pierrefonds,

were among its direct results. Indirectly it led to a freer and more rational treatment

of constructive forms and materials than had prevailed with the academic designers.

The church of St. Augustin, by Baltard, at Paris, illustrates this in its use of iron and

brick for the dome and vaulting, and the College Chaptal, by E. Train, in its

decorative treatment of brick and tile externally. The general adoption of iron for

roof-trusses and for the construction of markets and similar buildings tended further

in the same direction, the Halles Centrales at Paris, by Baltard, being a notable

example.

FIG. 209.--PAVILION OF RICHELIEU, LOUVRE.

THE SECOND EMPIRE. The reign of Napoleon III. (185270) was a period of

exceptional activity, especially in Paris. The greatest monument of his reign was the

completion of the Louvre and Tuileries, under Visconti and Lefuel, including the

remodelling of the pavilions de Flore and de Marsan. The new portions constitute the

most notable example of modern French architecture, and the manner in which the

two palaces were united deserves high praise. In spite of certain defects, this work is

marked by a combination of dignity, richness, and refinement, such as are rarely

found in palace architecture (Figs. 208, 209). The New Opera (186375), by

Garnier (d. 1898), stands next to the Louvre in importance as a national monument.

It is by far the most sumptuous building for amusement in existence, but in purity of

detail and in the balance and restraint of its design it is inferior to the work of

Visconti and Lefuel (Fig. 210). To this reign belong the Palais de l'Industrie, by Viel,

built for the exhibition of 1855, and several great railway stations (Gare du Nord, by

Hitorff, Gare de l'Est, Gare d'Orléans, etc.), in which the modern French version of

the Renaissance was applied with considerable skill to buildings largely constructed

of iron and glass. Town halls and theatres were erected in great numbers, and in

decorative works like fountains and monuments the French were particularly

successful. The fountains of St. Michel, Cuvier, and Molière, at Paris, and of

Longchamps, at Marseilles (Fig. 211), illustrate the fertility of resource and elegance

of detailed treatment of the French in this department. Mention should also here be

made of the extensive enterprises carried out by Napoleon III., in rectifying and

embellishing the street-plan of Paris by new avenues and squares on a vast scale,

adding greatly to the monumental splendor of the city.

FIG. 210.--GRAND STAIRCASE OF THE OPERA, PARIS.

THE REPUBLIC. Since the disasters of 1870 a number of important structures have

been erected, and French architecture has shown a remarkable vitality and flexibility

under new conditions. Its productions have in general been marked by a refined taste

and a conspicuous absence of eccentricity and excess; but it has for the most part

trodden in well-worn paths. The most notable recent monuments are, in church

architecture, the Sacré-Coeur, at Montmartre, by Abadie, a votive church inspired

from the Franco-Byzantine style of Aquitania; in civil architecture the new Hôtel de

Ville, at Paris, by Ballu and Déperthes, recalling the original structure destroyed by

the Commune, but in reality an original creation of great merit; in scholastic

architecture the new École de Médecine, and the new Sorbonne, by Nénot, and in

other branches of the art the metal-and-glass exhibition buildings of 1878, 1889,

and 1900. In the last of these the striving for originality and the effort to discard

traditional forms reached the extreme, although accompanied by much very clever

detail and a masterly use of color-decoration. To these should be added many

noteworthy theatres, town-halls, court-houses, and préfectures in provincial cities,

and commemorative columns and monuments almost without number. In street

architecture there is now much more variety and originality than formerly, especially

in private houses, and the reaction against the orders and against traditional methods

of design has of late been growing stronger. The chief excellence of modern French

architecture lies in its rational planning, monumental spirit, and refinement of detail

(Fig. 212).

FIG. 211.--FOUNTAIN OF LONGCHAMPS, MARSEILLES.

GERMANY AND AUSTRIA. German architecture has been more affected during the

past fifty years by the archæological spirit than has the French. A pronounced

mediæval revival partly accompanied, partly followed the Greek revival in Germany,

and produced a number of churches and a few secular buildings in the basilican,

Romanesque, and Gothic styles. These are less interesting than those in the Greek

style, because mediæval forms are even more foreign to modern needs than the

classic, being compatible only with systems of design and construction which are no

longer practicable. At Munich the Auekirche, by Ohlmuller, in an attenuated Gothic

style; the Byzantine Ludwigskirche, and Ziebland's Basilica following Early Christian

models; the Basilica by Hübsch, at Bulach, and the Votive Church at Vienna (1856)

by H. Von Ferstel (18281883) are notable neo-mediæval monuments. The last-

named church may be classed with Ste. Clothilde at Paris, and St. Patrick's Cathedral

at New York, all three being of approximately the same size and general style,

recalling St. Ouen at Rouen. They are correct and elaborate, but more or less cold

and artificial.

FIG. 212.--MUSÉE GALLIÉRA, PARIS.

More successful are many of the German theatres and concert halls, in which

Renaissance and classic forms have been freely used. In several of these the attempt

has been made to express by the external form the curvilinear plan of the auditorium,

as in the Dresden Theatre, by Semper (1841; Fig. 213), the theatre at Carlsruhe, by

Hübsch, and the double winter-summer Victoria Theatre, at Berlin, by Titz. But the

practical and æsthetic difficulties involved in this treatment have caused its general

abandonment. The Opera House at Vienna, by Siccardsburg and Van der Null

(186169), is rectangular in its masses, and but for a certain triviality of detail

would rank among the most successful buildings of its kind. The new Burgtheater in

the same city is a more elaborately ornate structure in Renaissance style, somewhat

florid and overdone.

Modern German architecture is at its best in academic and residential buildings. The

Bauschule, at Berlin, by Schinkel, in which brick is used in a rational and dignified

design without the orders; the Polytechnic School, at Zürich, by Semper; university

buildings, and especially buildings for technical instruction, at Carlsruhe, Stuttgart,

Strasburg, Vienna, and other cities, show a monumental treatment of the exterior and

of the general distribution, combined with a careful study of practical requirements.

In administrative buildings the Germans have hardly been as successful; and the new

Parliament House, at Berlin, by Wallot, in spite of its splendor and costliness, is

heavy and unsatisfactory in detail. The larger cities, especially Berlin, contain many

excellent examples of house architecture, mostly in the Renaissance style, sufficiently

monumental in design, though usually, like most German work, inclined to heaviness

of detail. The too free use of stucco in imitation of stone is also open to criticism.

FIG. 213.--THEATRE AT DRESDEN.

FIG. 214.--BLOCK OF DWELLINGS (MARIE-THERESIENHOF), VIENNA.

VIENNA. During the last thirty years Vienna has undergone a transformation which

has made it the rival of Paris as a stately capital. The remodelling of the central

portion, the creation of a series of magnificent boulevards and squares, and the

grouping of the chief state and municipal buildings about these upon a monumental

scheme of arrangement, have given the city an unusual aspect of splendor. Among

the most important monuments in this group are the Parliament House, by Hansen,

and the Town Hall, by Schmidt. This latter is a Neo-Gothic edifice of great size and

pretentiousness, but strangely thin and meagre in detail, and quite out of harmony

with its surroundings. The university and museums are massive piles in Renaissance

style; and it is the Renaissance rather than the classic or Gothic revival which

prevails throughout the new city. The great blocks of residences and apartments (Fig.

214) which line its streets are highly ornate in their architecture, but for the most

part done in stucco, which fails after all to give the aspect of solidity and durability

which it seeks to counterfeit.

The city of Buda-Pesth has also in recent years undergone a phenomenal

transformation of a similar nature to that effected in Vienna, but it possesses fewer

monuments of conspicuous architectural interest. The Synagogue is the most noted

of these, a rich and pleasing edifice of brick in a modified Hispano-Moresque style.

FIG. 215.--HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, WESTMINSTER, LONDON.

GREAT BRITAIN. During the closing years of the Anglo-Greek style a coterie of

enthusiastic students of British mediæval monuments--archæologists rather than

architects--initiated a movement for the revival of the national Gothic architecture.

The first fruits of this movement, led by Pugin, Brandon, Rickman, and others (about

183040), were seen in countless pseudo-Gothic structures in which the pointed

arches, buttresses, and clustered shafts of mediæval architecture were imitated or

parodied according to the designer's ability, with frequent misapprehension of their

proper use or significance. This unintelligent misapplication of Gothic forms was,

however, confined to the earlier stages of the movement. With increasing light and

experience came a more correct and consistent use of the mediæval styles, dominated

by the same spirit of archæological correctness which had produced the classicismo

of the Late Renaissance in Italy. This spirit, stimulated by extensive enterprises in

the restoration of the great mediæval monuments of the United Kingdom, was fatal

to any free and original development of the style along new lines. But it rescued

church architecture from the utter meanness and debasement into which it had

fallen, and established a standard of taste which reacted on all other branches of

design.

FIG. 216.--ASSIZE COURTS, MANCHESTER. DETAIL.

THE VICTORIAN GOTHIC. Between 1850 and 1870 the striving after

archæological correctness gave place to the more rational effort to adapt Gothic

principles to modern requirements, instead of merely copying extinct styles. This

effort, prosecuted by a number of architects of great intelligence, culture, and

earnestness (Sir Gilbert Scott, George Edmund Street, William Burges, and others),

resulted in a number of extremely interesting buildings. Chief among these in size

and cost stand the Parliament Houses at Westminster, by Sir Charles Barry (begun

1839), in the Perpendicular style. This immense structure (Fig. 215), imposing in its

simple masses and refined in its carefully studied detail, is the most successful

monument of the Victorian Gothic style. It suffers, however, from the want of proper

relation of scale between its decorative elements and the vast proportions of the

edifice, which belittle its component elements. It cannot, on the whole, be claimed as

a successful vindication of the claims of the promoters of the style as to the

adaptability of Gothic forms to structures planned and built after the modern

fashion. The Assize Courts at Manchester (Fig. 216), the New Museum at Oxford,

the gorgeous Albert Memorial at London, by Scott, and the New Law Courts at

London, by Street, are all conspicuous illustrations of the same truth. They are

conscientious, carefully studied designs in good taste, and yet wholly unsuited in

style to their purpose. They are like labored and scholarly verse in a foreign tongue,

correct in form and language, but lacking the naturalness and charm of true and

unfettered inspiration. A later essay of the same sort in a slightly different field is the

Natural History Museum at South Kensington, by Waterhouse (1879), an imposing

building in a modified Romanesque style (Fig. 217).

FIG. 217.--NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON.

OTHER WORKS. The Victorian Gothic style responded to no deep and general

movement of the popular taste, and, like the Anglo-Greek style, was doomed to

failure from the inherent incongruity between modern needs and mediæval forms.

Within the last twenty years there has been a quite general return to Renaissance

principles, and the result is seen in a large number of town-halls, exchanges,

museums, and colleges, in which Renaissance forms, with and without the orders,

have been treated with increasing freedom and skilful adaptation to the materials and

special requirements of each case. The Albert Memorial Hall (1863, by General

Scott) may be taken as an early instance of this movement, and the Imperial

Institute (Colonial offices), by Collcutt, and Oxford Town Hall, by Aston Webb, as

among its latest manifestations. In domestic architecture the so-called Queen Anne

style has been much in vogue, as practised by Norman Shaw, Ernest George, and

others. It is really a modern style, originating in the imitation of the modified

Palladian style as used in the brick architecture of Queen Anne's time, but freely and

often artistically altered to meet modern tastes and needs.

In its emancipation from the mistaken principles of archæological revivals, and in its

evidences of improved taste and awakened originality, contemporary British

architecture shows promise of good things to come. It is still inferior to the French in

the monumental quality, in technical resource and refinement of decorative detail.

ELSEWHERE IN EUROPE. In other European countries recent architecture shows in

general increasing freedom and improved good taste, but both its opportunities and

its performance have been nowhere else as conspicuous as in France, Germany, and

England. The costly Bourse and the vast but overloaded Palais de Justice at Brussels,

by Polaert, are neither of them conspicuous for refined and cultivated taste. A few

buildings of note in Switzerland, Russia, and Greece might find mention in a more

extended review of architecture, but cannot here even be enumerated. In Italy,

especially at Rome, Milan, Naples, and Turin, there has been a great activity in

building since 1870, but with the exception of the Monument to Victor Emmanuel

and the National Museum at Rome, monumental arcades and passages at Milan and

Naples, and Campi Santi or monumental cemeteries at Bologna, Genoa, and one or

two other places, there has been almost nothing of real importance built in Italy of

late years.

26. See Appendix D.

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