Architectural style

For the US register of architectural styles, see National revivals and re-interpretations. For instance, classicism
Register of Historic Places architectural style categories. has been revived many times and found new life as
An architectural style is characterized by the features neoclassicism. Each time it is revived, it is dierent. The
Spanish mission style was revived 100 years later as the
Mission Revival, and that soon evolved into the Spanish
Colonial Revival.
Vernacular architecture works slightly dierently and is
listed separately. It is the native method of construction
used by local people, usually using labour-intensive methods and local materials, and usually for small structures
such as rural cottages. It varies from region to region
even within a country, and takes little account of national
styles or technology. As western society has developed,
vernacular styles have mostly become outmoded by new
technology and national building standards.
The Architects Dream by Thomas Cole (1840) shows a vision
of buildings in the historical styles of the Western tradition, from
Ancient Egypt through to Classical Revival

1 History of the concept of architectural style

that make a building or other structure notable and historically identiable. A style may include such elements
as form, method of construction, building materials, and
regional character. Most architecture can be classied as
a chronology of styles which changes over time reecting
changing fashions, beliefs and religions, or the emergence
of new ideas, technology, or materials which make new
styles possible.

Constructing schemes of the period styles of historic art

and architecture was a major concern of 19th century
scholars in the new and initially mostly German-speaking
eld of art history, with important writers on the broad
theory of style including Carl Friedrich von Rumohr,
Gottfried Semper, and Alois Riegl in his Stilfragen of
1893, with Heinrich Wlin and Paul Frankl continuing the debate in the 20th century.[1] Paul Jacobsthal
and Josef Strzygowski are among the art historians who
followed Riegl in proposing grand schemes tracing the
transmission of elements of styles across great ranges in
time and space. This type of art history is also known as
formalism, or the study of forms or shapes in art.

Styles therefore emerge from the history of a society and

are documented in the subject of architectural history.
At any time several styles may be fashionable, and when
a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects
learn and adapt to new ideas. The new style is sometimes
only a rebellion against an existing style, such as postmodernism (means after modernism) which has in recent years found its own language and split into a number
Semper, Wlin, and Frankl, and later Ackerman, had
of styles with other names.
backgrounds in the history of architecture, and like
Styles often spread to other places, so that the style at many other terms for period styles, Romanesque and
its source continues to develop in new ways while other Gothic were initially coined to describe architectural
countries follow with their own twist. For instance, the styles, where major changes between styles can be clearer
Renaissance began in Italy around 1425 and spread to all and more easy to dene, not least because style in archiof Europe over the next 200 years, with the French, Bel- tecture is easier to replicate by following a set of rules
gian, German, English, and Spanish Renaissance being than style in gurative art such as painting. Terms origrecognisably the same style, but with unique characteris- inated to describe architectural periods were often subtics. A style may also spread through colonialism, either sequently applied to other areas of the visual arts, and
by foreign colonies learning from their home country, or then more widely still to music, literature and the general
by settlers moving to a new land. One example is the culture.[2] In architecture stylistic change often follows,
Spanish missions in California, brought by Spanish priests and is made possible by, the discovery of new techniques
in the late 18th century and built in a unique style.
or materials, from the Gothic rib vault to modern metal
After a style has gone out of fashion, there are often and reinforced concrete construction. A major area of
1

4 NOTES

debate in both art history and archaeology has been the

extent to which stylistic change in other elds like painting or pottery is also a response to new technical possibilities, or has its own impetus to develop (the kunstwollen of
Riegl), or changes in response to social and economic factors aecting patronage and the conditions of the artist,
as current thinking tends to emphasize, using less rigid
versions of Marxist art history.[3]
Although style was well-established as a central component of art historical analysis, seeing it as the over-riding
factor in art history had fallen out of fashion by World
War II, as other ways of looking at art were developing,[4]
and a reaction against the emphasis on style developing;
for Svetlana Alpers, the normal invocation of style in
art history is a depressing aair indeed.[5] According to
James Elkins In the later 20th century criticisms of style
were aimed at further reducing the Hegelian elements of
the concept while retaining it in a form that could be more
easily controlled.[6]

Town Hall of Zamo by Bernardo Morando.

the 16th century spread Mannerist styles more quickly

than any previous styles. A center of Mannerist design
was Antwerp during its 16th-century boom. Through
Antwerp, Renaissance and Mannerist styles were widely
introduced in England, Germany, and northern and eastern Europe in general. Dense with ornament of Ro2 Mannerism
man detailing, the display doorway at Colditz Castle exMain articles: Mannerism, Renaissance architecture emplies this northern style, characteristically applied as
Mannerism and Mannerist architecture and sculpture in an isolated set piece against unpretentious vernacular
walling. During the Mannerist Renaissance period, archiPoland
While many architectural styles explore harmonious ide- tects experimented with using architectural forms to emphasize solid and spatial relationships. The Renaissance
ideal of harmony gave way to freer and more imaginative rhythms. The best known architect associated with
the Mannerist style was Michelangelo (14751564), who
is credited with inventing the giant order, a large pilaster
that stretches from the bottom to the top of a faade.[11]
He used this in his design for the Campidoglio in Rome.
Prior to the 20th century, the term Mannerism had negative connotations, but it is now used to describe the historical period in more general non-judgemental terms.[12]

3 See also
The rhyolitic tu portal of the church house at Colditz Castle,
Saxony, designed by Andreas Walther II (1584), is an example
of the exuberance of Antwerp Mannerism.

als, Mannerism wants to take style a step further and

explores the aesthetics of hyperbole and exaggeration.[7]
Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as
well as its articial (as opposed to naturalistic) qualities.[8]
Mannerism favours compositional tension and instability
rather than balance and clarity.[9] The denition of Mannerism, and the phases within it, continues to be the subject of debate among art historians.
An example of mannerist architecture is the Villa Farnese at Caprarola.[10] in the rugged country side outside of Rome. The proliferation of engravers during

List of architectural styles

History of architecture
Revivalism (architecture)
Historicism (architecture)

4 Notes
[1] Elkins, s. 2, 3
[2] Gombrich, 129; Elsner, 104
[3] Gombrich, 131-136; Elkins, s. 2
[4] Kubler in Lang, 163

[5] Alpers in Lang, 137

[6] Elkins, s. 2 (quoted); see also Gombrich, 135-136
[7] Gombrich, E H. The Story of Art London:Phaidon Press
Ltd, ISBN 0-7148-3247-2
[8] Mannerism: Bronzino (15031572) and his Contemporaries. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 201305-19.
[9] Art and Illusion, E. H. Gombrich, ISBN 9780691070001
[10] Con David, The Villa in the Life of Renaissance Rome,
Princeton University Press, 1979: 281-5
[11] Mark Jarzombek, Pilaster Play, Thresholds, 28 (Winter
2005): 3441
[12] Arnold Hauser. Mannerism: The Crisis of the Renaissance
and the Origins of Modern Art. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,1965).

References
Alpers in Lang": Alpers, Svetlana, Style is What
You Make It, in The Concept of Style, ed. Berel
Lang, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987), 137162, google books.
Elkins, James, Style in Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online, Oxford University Press, accessed
March 6, 2013, subscriber link
Elsner, Jas, Style in Critical Terms for Art History, Nelson, Robert S. and Shi, Richard, 2nd
Edn. 2010, University of Chicago Press, ISBN
0226571696, 9780226571690, google books
Gombrich, E. Style (1968), orig. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. D. L. Sills, xv
(New York, 1968), reprinted in Preziosi, D. (ed.)
The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology (see below), whose page numbers are used.
Kubler in Lang": Kubler, George, Towards a Reductive Theory of Style, in Lang
Lang, Berel (ed.), The Concept of Style,
1987, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, ISBN
0801494397, 9780801494390, google books;
includes essays by Alpers and Kubler
Preziosi, D. (ed.) The Art of Art History: A Critical
Anthology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998,
ISBN 9780714829913

6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

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Architectural style Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architectural%20style?oldid=637749787 Contributors: Yobot, Melody Lavender

and Anonymous: 2

6.2

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File:Cole_Thomas_The_dream_of_the_architect_210_Sun_Unedited.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/

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