Day 91

1. Watch the documentary “People’s Palaces: The Gothic Revival.”

Day 92

1. Read about Neogothic architecture and how it differs from Gothic.
2. Take a look at some examples.

Day 93

1. Watch the documentary “Britain’s Best Buildings – The Palace of Westminster.”

Day 94

1. Read more about Neogothic Architecture.
2. Watch the video “When Skyscrapers Looked Like Cathedrals.”

Day 95

1. Read the Britannica article about the Gothic Revival.
2. Look at this list of cathedrals in New York. See if you can pick out the Neogothic architecture and take a closer look.

Day 96

1. The 19th century (the 1800s) was a period of dramatic change, marked by the Industrial Revolution, the rise of new nations, and a widespread romantic fascination with the past. In architecture, this manifested as historicism: a conscious turn away from creating a single new style and instead, a deliberate borrowing and reinterpretation of historical styles. Architects and their clients looked to the past for inspiration, seeking to evoke specific ideals, emotions, or national identities. This led to a “battle of the styles,” where numerous revival movements competed for prominence, often existing at the same time.

The Greek Revival
Early in the 19th century, the Greek Revival became immensely popular, especially in the United States, Britain, and Germany. Fueled by new archaeological discoveries and a romantic admiration for ancient Greece as the birthplace of democracy and philosophy, this style was seen as rational, noble, and pure.
Key Features: Buildings were designed to resemble classical Greek temples. They featured prominent columns (often of the Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian orders), triangular pediments (the gabled roof-front), and a strong, symmetrical, and often imposing appearance.
Common Uses: This style was considered ideal for public and government buildings (like banks, state capitols, and courthouses) as well as grand private homes, projecting an air of stability and democratic virtue.
(Example 1, Example 2)

Gothic Revival
As a direct reaction to the rational, pagan-associated classicism of the Greek Revival, the Gothic Revival movement surged in popularity, beginning in the 1830s and dominating the mid-to-late century. This movement was driven by Romanticism, which celebrated emotion, nature, and the medieval past. It was championed as a more “Christian” and “natural” style of building.
Key Features: The style is easily identified by its use of the pointed arch. Other elements include steep, gabled roofs, towers and spires, large stained-glass windows (often with intricate tracery), and decorative carvings. In America, a popular wooden variation known as Carpenter Gothic used elaborate “gingerbread” trim to mimic the stone carvings of European cathedrals.
Common Uses: The Gothic Revival was the overwhelming choice for churches and universities (like Yale and Harvard) but was also used for grand public buildings (like the Houses of Parliament in London) and romantic, asymmetrical houses.
(Example 1, Example 2)

The Egyptian Revival
A more niche but highly distinct movement, the Egyptian Revival drew inspiration from the monuments of ancient Egypt. This fascination was sparked by Napoleon’s campaigns in Egypt in the 1790s and fueled by ongoing archaeological discoveries throughout the 1800s. The style was used to evoke a sense of permanence, exoticism, and eternity.
Key Features: This style is characterized by massive, heavy forms. Walls were often “battered,” meaning they sloped inward as they rose. Entrances resembled giant pylons (monumental gateways), and columns were carved to look like bundles of papyrus or lotus plants. Other common motifs included obelisks, sphinxes, and winged sun disks.
Common Uses: Because of its association with eternity and the afterlife, the Egyptian Revival was most famously used for cemetery gates, mausoleums, and public monuments (like the Washington Monument, which is a giant obelisk). It was also occasionally used for prisons, libraries, and museums.
(Example 1, Example 2)

Exoticism and Other Major Revivals
The 19th-century fascination with history was not limited to Europe. This interest in faraway lands, often through a romanticized lens known as “Orientalism,” led to other revival styles.

Moorish Revival: Inspired by the intricate Islamic architecture of Spain (like the Alhambra palace) and North Africa, this style was used to create buildings of fantasy and leisure. Its key features include the distinctive horseshoe arch, intricate geometric patterns, colorful tilework, and decorative domes. It was often used for theaters, social clubs (especially by the Shriners), and, significantly, many synagogues, as it was associated with the “Golden Age” of Jewish culture in medieval Spain.
(Example 1, Example 2)

Other Styles: The 19th century was truly eclectic. Architects also frequently used Romanesque Revival (based on pre-Gothic medieval churches with heavy, round arches) and Renaissance Revival (based on the grand, symmetrical palaces of 15th and 16th-century Italy).

By the end of the century, it was common for a single building to mix elements from several of these historical styles, a practice known as Eclecticism. This set the stage for modern architecture, which would eventually reject this direct copying of the past in favor of creating entirely new forms.

Day 97

1. While many 19th-century architects looked to the past, a powerful new force was causing others to look to the future: the Industrial Revolution. This period was not defined by a historical “style,” but by groundbreaking materials and new types of buildings it made possible. The mid-1800s saw the rise of mass-produced iron and large panes of glass, which would fundamentally change architecture forever. Before the Industrial Revolution, large buildings were defined by their masonry: massive, heavy walls of stone or brick that supported the structure’s weight. This was a slow, expensive, and labor-intensive process. The new industrial processes changed everything.

• Mass-Produced Iron: New smelting techniques made it possible to cast strong, reliable iron columns, beams, and trusses in factories. A single, slender iron column could support the same weight as a massive stone pier.
• Large Panes of Glass: Advances in glass-making technology allowed for the production of large, strong, and relatively cheap sheets of glass, something that was previously an expensive luxury.

These materials were not just substitutes for stone and wood; they allowed for an entirely new way of building. Structures could now be lightweight, transparent, and built at a speed never before imagined.
2. The most dramatic and famous example of this new technology was the Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The exhibition committee needed a massive, temporary hall to showcase new technologies from around the world, and they needed it built in under a year. Paxton, who was known as a gardener and greenhouse designer, proposed a revolutionary idea: a building made entirely of a prefabricated iron frame holding nearly one million square feet of glass. This worked for several reasons.

• Prefabricated and Modular: The Crystal Palace was not so much “built” as “assembled.” Every single piece—the iron columns, the girders, the 300,000 panes of glass—was mass-produced in a factory and shipped to the site. The entire structure was a modular system of repeating, interchangeable parts.
• Speed and Efficiency: Because of this system, the 1,851-foot-long building (over a third of a mile) was erected in just nine months.

3. The result was a new kind of space. The effect was breathtaking. It was a building with no solid walls, only a thin, transparent “skin” of glass. The interior was flooded with natural light, vast and open, and was even built around several large elm trees that were kept on the site. To the public, the Crystal Palace was a miracle, a “Palace of Light.” To many traditional architects, however, it was a horror. They were shocked because it had no historical style. It wasn’t Gothic, Greek, or Romanesque. It had no grand stone facade, no classical ornaments, and no thick walls. To them, it looked like a giant piece of engineering or a railway shed, not “architecture.” It was naked structure, with its iron skeleton visible for all to see.
Despite this initial shock, the Crystal Palace proved the power of industrial technology. It paved the way for modern building, influencing the design of train stations, department stores, and, eventually, the 20th-century skyscraper. It was the first major building to demonstrate a key principle of modern architecture: the separation of the structural “skeleton” (the iron frame) from the non-structural “skin” (the glass).
4. Take a virtual tour of the Great Exhibition.

Day 98

1. Watch part one of the lecture about construction with iron and glass.

Day 99

1. Watch part two of the lecture about construction with iron and glass.

Day 100

1. Read about the rise of iron, glass and steel in construction.
2. Then take a look at “The Development of Modern Architecture.” You will need to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Day 101

1. One of the most visible signs of the effect of the Industrial Revolution on daily live was the railway. As trains began to crisscross the continent, the need arose for a new type of building to serve as a hub for passengers and freight: the railway station. These stations had to be large, open, and functional, capable of sheltering long train platforms and crowds of travelers. Early buildings were made of stone and wood, but they were soon not enough for the crowds of passengers. Enter two revolutionary materials: iron and glass.

Iron, once used mainly for tools and bridges, became a key material in architecture thanks to new smelting technologies. Strong yet flexible, cast iron and wrought iron allowed architects to create much wider and taller structures than ever before. Glass, now cheaper and easier to produce in large panes, brought in natural light and gave buildings a bright, airy feeling. Together, iron and glass allowed architects to think in new ways. Buildings didn’t have to be heavy to be strong. They could be transparent, modern, and incredibly spacious.

2. One of the most famous examples is the Gare de l’Est in Paris (1849), followed by the Gare du Nord (1864), and London’s St. Pancras Station (opened in 1868). These buildings mixed traditional stone façades with enormous iron-and-glass train sheds behind them.

Railway stations influenced later styles, including Modernism, by showing that a building could be beautiful not in spite of its function, but because of it. Light, steel, and space became new symbols of progress.
3. Read about the golden age of railway stations.

Day 102

1. Watch the video about St. Pancras station.

Day 103

1. For centuries, architecture and engineering were considered separate disciplines. Architects focused on beauty, symmetry, and historical styles, while engineers dealt with practical concerns like bridges and machines. But with iron construction, these roles began to overlap. Structures like railway stations, bridges, and exhibition halls required both artistic vision and complex technical planning. As iron made it possible to build taller, wider, and more daring structures, architects and engineers had to collaborate closely. In some cases, engineers became the architects, designing buildings that were functional but also stunning in form. One famous example is Gustave Eiffel, whose work on bridges and towers combined elegance with mathematical precision.
2. Watch the video about Eiffel’s megastructures.

Day 104

1. The rise of industrialized architecture in the 19th century sparked a powerful reaction in the form of the Arts and Crafts Movement, also known as the Craftsman style in the United States. As factories began producing standardized building components and ornate machine-made decorations, many architects and designers grew concerned that the soul of architecture (handcraftsmanship, human touch, and harmony with nature) was being lost. The Arts and Crafts Movement, led by figures such as William Morris in Britain, championed a return to traditional building techniques, local materials, and honest, simple design. In contrast to the impersonal scale and often superficial ornamentation of industrial architecture, Craftsman buildings emphasized visible joinery, built-in furnishings, and integration with the surrounding environment. This movement was a moral and social statement that architecture should uplift the human spirit and reflect the dignity of labor. Ultimately, it helped lay the foundation for modern architectural thought by emphasizing integrity in materials, functional beauty, and a human-centered approach to design.
2. Watch the video about the origin of the Arts and Crafts movement.
3. Also watch “Introducing Arts and Crafts.”

Day 105

1. Read more about the Arts & Crafts movement.
2. Look at some examples.
3. Watch the video about William Morris’s “Red House.” What are the 4 elements they list that embody the philosophy of Arts & Crafts?

Day 106

1. You may have noticed that the early part of the 19th century, historicism was wildly popular. Revival styles imitated the past without much in the way of innovation. The Art Nouveau movement, meaning “New Art” in French, emerged partially in response to this. Flourishing between 1890 and 1910, Art Nouveau tried to break away from the historical imitations of earlier eras (like Neo-Gothic) and instead create something truly original: an art form that embraced the beauty of the natural world and celebrated craftsmanship.

Art Nouveau was also a reaction against the soullessness of industrialization. While iron and glass were still used in Art Nouveau designs, they were treated not just as structural tools but as aesthetic elements, shaped into delicate curves, vines, and flowing forms. This movement emphasized that architecture should not only be functional but also sensual and expressive, fusing fine art and everyday objects into a total design experience.
2. Read about Art Nouveau.

Day 107

1. Watch the video “Discovering the Origins of Art Nouveau Architecture.”
2. Read more about Art Nouveau.

Day 108

1. Art Nouveau may have started in France, but it quickly spread to other countries. Watch “Art Nouveau Without Borders.”