Prairie
houses (1905-1915) may be viewed in a larger context as one type of Arts and
Crafts (Craftsman) style architecture.The prairie house is one of the few
indigenous American styles. The name is key to the style. The stereotypical
image of the Midwest prairie is that of a wide, flat, horizontal, treeless
expanse that meets the horizon. To translate this scene into architecture,
Wright designed a horizontal building that was low to the ground. Wright
himself claimed that the interior of the prairie house held the greatest
significance. With his "open plan" (minimum number of separating
walls on the first floor) he sought to "beat the box," to escape the
Victorian compartmentalization which he claimed was stifling the American
family. The archetypal vision of the Victorian home, with mother entertaining
the ladies over tea in the parlor, the father smoking cigars in the study, and
the children banished to the nursery upstairs, was Wright's nemesis. To avoid
this subdivision of space, Wright did away with the conventional divisions
between spaces on the lower floors of his prairie homes. Rather than setting
rooms in the house apart in its space and function, he unified them into one
common space (Martin House example).
The
style originated in Chicago and landmark examples are concentrated in that
city's early 20th-century suburbs, particularly Oak Park and River Forest.
Many
of the architects in the Prairie School worked with Wright himself or with his
earlier employer and teacher, Louis Sullivan. Others absorbed Wright's and
Sullivan's influence simply by being in Chicago Among the most important were
George W. Maher, Robert C. Spencer, Jr., Thomas E. Tallmadge, John S. Bergen,
Vernon S. Watson, Charles E. White, Jr., Eben E. Roberts, Walter Burley
Griffin, William Drummond, F. Barry Byrne, George E. Elmslie, and William G.
Purcell.
The
style in its vernacular form was spread throughout the country by pattern books
published in the Midwest. Buffalo boasts the Darwin Martin House - Wright's
best Prairie House, as well as four others.
Victorian
Style
"Victorian"
refers to the reign of England's Queen Victoria, 1837-1901. More generally, it
refers to the the second half of the nineteenth century. In the U.S., some
historians use the term to describe the period after the Civil war until World
war I in 1914.
During
the second half of the 19th century, architects in the United States began to
lose interest in Greco-Roman Classicism, and to adopt new domestic styles based
loosely on medieval and other non-classical forms of building. One of the most
important technological developments was the advent of balloon framing, whereby
the framework of a house could be made out of uniform lumber; this was becoming
increasingly available from commercial mills.
Advanced
manufacturing techniques were also employed to mass produce finished windows,
doors,brackets and decorative turnings, often more elaborate and sometimes less
expensive than their handmade counterparts.
Along
with plentiful building materials, there was also access to an increasing
variety of publications on house building: trade catalogues, pattern books and
architectural periodicals.
Industrialization
meant that for the first time in the United States, very large houses could be
built on a wide scale. Tenements and, later, apartment houses went up in
increasing numbers, as the population shifted from country to town and newly
arrived foreign immigrants sought accommodation.
For
many, "bric-a-brac" or "gingerbread" summarize the the
style.At least eight distinct architectural styles developed, along with
numerous secondary styles and movements, all of which are now incorporated
under the broad heading of 'Victorian." These styles overlapped in date
and none had a specific beginning or end.The first post-classical styles, beginning
in the 1830s, were the Gothic Revival and the Italianate.
Shingle
Style
The
term "shingle style" was popularized by Vincent Scully in the 1950s.
It is sometimes referred to as the "seaside style." The shingle style
is basically the Queen Anne style wrapped in shingles.
Like
the Queen Anne style, the Shingle style was influenced initially by the work of
the architect Richard Norman Shaw, but replacing his tile-hanging (PHOTO) by
shingle-hanging.
Henry
Hobson Richardson (1836-86) is credited with developing the style and used it
for most of his country and suburban houses, as did many prominent architects.
The pioneer building is the Sherman House at Newport, Rhode Island, by Henry
Hobson Richardson (1874). McKim, Mead & White also participated. The
masterpiece is Richardson's Stoughton House at Cambridge, Massachusetts
(1882-3).
Georgian
Revival
Georgian
Style 1714-1820
In
Great Britain, the parallel term is "Georgian," named after the
reigns of the three King Georges from 1714 to 1820, but commonly not including
George IV. In Europe, the dominant style of architecture during the 18th
century is known as "Neoclassical."
In
Britain, in the first half of the 18th century, the ideals of Andrea Palladio
(1508-80) were dominant. In the second half of the century, Roman precedents
(inspired by archeological discoveries in Pompeii and Herculaneum) were
popularized by Robert Adam (1728-1792). See, for example, Adam's Portland
Place, in London, and Charlotte Square, in Edinburgh.
In
the U. S., Neoclassicism is referred to as "Colonial" (until the
Revolution), and then "Federal." In New England, the English Georgian
style came to America by way of British pattern books and an ever-swelling wave
of masons, carpenters, and joiners who emigrated from England. In New England,
Colonial architecture is also referred to as "Georgian."
For
an example of Georgian architecture, see Governor's Palace, Williamsburg
Georgian
Revival 1900-1940 (U. S.)"Georgian Revival" is sometimes referred to
as "Colonial Revival" (1870-1920). The English Georgian style was the
most prevalent type of Colonial buildings, but certainly not the only one. Two
obvious exceptions are styles that were used by the Dutch and French.Early
examples of Colonial Revival were rarely historically correct copies but were
instead free interpretations with details inspired by colonial precedents.
During the first decade of this century, Colonial Revival fashion shifted
toward carefully researched copies with more correct proportions and details.
This was encouraged by new methods of printing that permitted wide
dissemination of photographs in books and periodicals.
In
1898 The American Architect and Building News began an extensive series called
"The Georgian Period: Being photographs and measured drawings of Colonial
Work with text." This was joined in 1915 by the White Pine Series of
Architectural Monographs, which was dominated by photographs of colonial
buildings. These and similar ventures led to a wide understanding of the
prototypes on which the Revival was based. Colonial Revival houses built in the
years between 1915 and 193 5 reflect these influences by more closely
resembling early prototypes than did those built earlier or later.
