Classicism, 1750-1830

ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT

The classicism that flourished in the period 1750-1830 is often known as Neoclassicism, in order to distinguish it, perhaps unnecessarily, from the classical architecture of ancient Rome or of the Renaissance. In the 18th century, modern classicism was described as the "true style," the word Neoclassical being then unknown. The search for intellectual and architectural truth characterized the period. Stylistically this began with an onslaught on Baroque architecture, which--with its emphasis on illusion and applied ornament--was felt to be manifestly untruthful. As early as the 1680s the French architect Claude Perrault had undermined the Renaissance concept of the absolute right of the orders. According to Perrault, the proportions of the orders had no basis in absolute truth but were the result of fancy and association. The consequent attempt to discover a new basis for architectural reality took many forms, from archaeology to theory.

Colonial architecture in the Americas

North America.

The colonial architecture of the United States and Canada was as diverse as the peoples who settled there: English, Dutch, French, Swedish, Spanish, German, Scots-Irish. Each group carried with it the style and building customs of the mother country, adapting them as best it could to the materials and conditions of a new land. Thus, there were several colonial styles. The earliest buildings of all but the Spanish colonists were medieval in style: not the elaborate Gothic of the great European cathedrals and manor houses but the simple late Gothic of village houses and barns. These practical structures were well adapted to the pioneer conditions that prevailed in the colonies until about 1700, and few changes were needed to adapt them to the more severe climate. The styles were frank expressions of functional and structural requirements, with only an occasional bit of ornament. So far as is known, no single new structural technique or architectural form was invented in the North American colonies.

POSTMODERNISM

The 1960s saw the rise of dissatisfaction with consequences of the Modern movement, especially in North America, where its failings were exposed in two influential books, Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) and Robert Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966). Jacobs highlighted the destruction of urban coherence wrought by the utopian iconoclasm of the Modern movement, whereas Venturi implied that Modern buildings were without meaning because they were designed in a simplistic and puritan way that lacked the irony and complexity which enrich historical architecture. This dissatisfaction was translated into direct action in 1972 with the demolition of several 14-story slab blocks that had been built only 20 years earlier from designs by Yamasaki as part of the award-winning Pruitt-Igoe housing development in St. Louis, Mo. Similar apartment blocks in Europe and North America were demolished in the following decades, but it was at St. Louis that the postmodernist era was begun. (see also Index: Saint Louis)

Few recreations require architecture until they become institutionalized and must provide for both active and passive participation (athletic events, dramatic, musical performances, etc.) or for communal participation in essentially private luxuries (baths, museums, libraries). Throughout history, recreational architecture has been the most consistent in form of any type. Diversions may change, but, as in domestic architecture, the physical makeup of the human being provides consistency. If his participation is passive he must be able to hear and to see in comfort. If his participation is active, he must be given spaces suited to the chosen activity. In most cultures, recreational institutions have their origins in religious rites, but they easily gain independence, and religious expression is reduced or eliminated in their architecture.