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.