Modern History: 19th Century Architecture

Terms:
Revivalist Architecture
Gothic Revival
Neomedievalism
Arts and Crafts Movement
wainscoting
gesso
cast iron
girder
terracotta
base
cornice

Revivalists

Gothic Revival

In the U.S

James Renwick, St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, 1858

James Renwick, Smithsonian "Castle", Washington D.C., 1855

clear association with Amiens Cathedral

In England

Charles Berry and W.N. Pugin, House of Parlament, London, 1835

In France

Charles Gamier, The Opera, Paris, 1861-74

Arts and Crafts

Focused on hand-made objects and natural motifs

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Ladies' Luncheon Room Scotland, 1900-1912

Exoticism in West

John Nash, Royal Pavilion, England, 1815-1818

Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1889

Architecture of Louse Sullivan

Guaranty, Buffalo New York

Richard Morris Hunt

The Breakers, Newport Rhode Island

John Augusts Roebling

Brooklyn Bridge, 1883

William Morris, Green Dining Room, 1867

"bringing back historical styles"

"pushing architecture in new directions"

also "pushing architecture in new directions"

work reevaluated issues of space and decoration

New technology = used to ease challanges of urban life

first Suspension Bridge to use steel for its cable wire

first to also use explosives underwater (caisson)

Lot of fucking problems (John actually died, so his son had to take over, who was then bedridden with a disease called "the bends"

14 years to build

commemorated the French Revolution

World's tallest building at the time

finished early and under-budget

nicknamed "magician of iron"

wind-resistance

one of the first to have passenger elevators

French Scientists are inscribed on the sides of first platform

"Triumph of Technology"

Materials

engineering methods

monuments as National symbols

"Triumph of Technology"

Iron

So?

Well, it's Wrought Iron

SO?

it's a alloy of carbon and cast iron, and it's apparently easier to manipulate, but is also very sturdy and corrosion-resistant

endcap of Wrought Iron in architecture; replaced by steel by 1890

made using the Puddling process

so?

more efficient refining process for Iron = big step forward in Industrial Revolution

artists didn't like it - petition against it "Artists against the Eiffel Tower"

pretty radical, comparing the tower to a "black smokestack"

they basically had no effect (and no argument aside from extreme skepticism)

tied into contemporary politics (Guillaime Apollinaire's a calligram) as a political statement about the war in Germany

Eiffel countered - tower's size was an advantage to the aesthetic, comparable to the Pyramids of Giza

Caisson structure (Roebling's invention(?)) used to construct two legs closer to the Seine river

Caisson - basically makes a hug ditch that can keep water out and allow construction possible in areas of water

pre-assembled parts (designed by Eiffel and made in factories) were delivered on site and joined together with rivets

part of the fair celebrating anniversary of French Revolution, Eposition Universelle 1889

Why wasn't it torn down after the exposition?

because of it's use as a big ass radio station, and this became important for transmissions involved in WWI

Counter

COUNTER

Iron was not new. Like, at all. It was being used even before the Industrial Revolution. The earliest known evidence of iron was some beads around 3200 BC.

As far as it's use in architecture, there's not tremendous novelty there either. There are examples dating back to the late 1700's using cast-iron to make bridges. (Abraham Darby's grandson, Iron Bridge, 1779)

Dare you to name three more.

So, there's *The Crystal Palace* in 1851

But wait, is this engineering or architecture?

There's even a fucking period in history called "The Iron Age"

You could argue that the specific alloy and refinement process used to make the Eiffel tower, but this isn't a strong case either. The process (Pullinging? Puddled iron! Like puddle) was actually kinda on the decline as steel production became more refined.

What IS so triumphant about the tower's technology?

Triumph is not = new.

Combination of existing technology (puddled iron, caisson structure, scaffolding,) is what made this thing.

The actual mechanics of making this isn't whats technologically significant here, but more of Eiffel and his ambitious design choices. If he didn't make it as tall as he did, it wouldn't have been as impressive. It also probably wouldn't exist anymore.

Because of it's use in radio transmissions during the war.

His design choice in the lattice pattern was functional as a means to counter the wind resistance.

For cast iron, it goes back to ancient China.

Iron Pagoda, 1029 (Song Dynasty)

When was puddled iron first used?Well, it was invented in 1784 by Henry Cort.