Architecture of Greece and Trends in American Architecture

Experts in Greek and American architecture comment on the similarities and differences of the two nations modern architecture trends. Series: Voices [12/2009] [Humanities] [Show ID: 14706]

Antique American - Washington, D.C. - Created From The Plan By Wren To Rebuild 1680 London

Sir Christopher Wren had displayed his genius in astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. But after the the Great Fire of 1660, the King turned to Wren in despair: London was in ruins; the mostly wooden buildings were in tatters or gone, there were smoking ruins everywhere. The King needed to be able to bring the people of London some hope, living in their tattered rags amidst ruins.

At first, the King had his own estates made good again, and Wren was then able to impose his desire to build London up again, like a phoenix it could arise from the ashes of the ruins and become greater than Rome. The King was enthusiastic, and while encouraging plans on how to first tear down the ancient remaining walls of St. Paul's Cathedral to rebuild, kept receiving delegations from the merchants and citizens of downtown London. They liked the old London better. The narrow, winding alleys that no fire wagons could get down, the dangerous overhangs of wooden buildings that almost touched, it was what London was all about. Wren saw a rebuilt Rome or Athens, with great columns, wide avenues for parades.

Even by 1680, the King of England did not have the authority, or the funds, to push this magnificent plan to create the most grand city the world had ever seen. But by 1800 a French Emperor named Napoleon Bonaparte saw those plans and rebuilt Paris with wide boulevards and parks and magnificence intended for London. The Champs and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, everything but the Tomb of Napoleon, was the work of Wren. And another French man was received with great honor in the new District of Columbia to a great new city capital design. He had one, which he had thought up all by himself. What a genius. Calm, Sir Christopher. God knows. And now so do all the rest of us. French genius my knickers.

But if you compare the old French Norman Gothic influence of Westminster Abbey, to the grand columns that Wren began to emulate the more open, welcoming look of ancient Greek and Roman buildings, you see that this influence changed just as America was being founded, and within the century men such as Thomas Jefferson were proudly carrying the columns and democratic ideals of Greece, rather than the harsh buildings and tyranny that had been the standard during the early Norman ruled years after William in 1066. English architecture became great just as America was being created, and wisely followed the plans first set forward, and rejected for London, in 1680.

Derek Dashwood has rebuilt many old mansions, so knows how Great was Sir Christopher Wren. He went away from Gothic and brought back Greek and Roman classical. You look in here, you see Rome or Athens, in America.

Greek antiques.

Roman Antiques [http://www.romanantiqueshop.com].

American Antiques.

American Battle Monument Cemetery in Ardennes, Belgium

This video presents a brief narrated tour of Ardennes American Cemetery's landscaped grounds, architecture, and works of art. The approach drive at Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium leads to the memorial, a stone structure bearing on its façade a massive American eagle and other sculptures. Within are the chapel, three large wall maps composed of inlaid marbles, marble panels depicting combat and supply activities and other ornamental features. Along the outside of the memorial, 462 names are inscribed on the granite Tablets of the Missing. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. The façade on the far (north) end that overlooks the burial area bears the insignia, in mosaic, of the major US units that operated in northwest Europe in World War II. The 90-acre cemetery contains the graves of 5329 of our military dead, many of whom died in the 1944 Ardennes winter offensive (Battle of the Bulge). The headstones are aligned in straight rows that form a Greek cross on the lawns and are framed by tree masses. The cemetery served as the location of the Central Identification Point for the American Graves Registration Service of the War Department during much of the life of the Service. The cemetery is open daily to the public from 9 am to 5 pm except December 25 and January 1. It is open on host country holidays. When the cemetery is open to the public, a staff member is on duty in the Visitor Building to answer questions and escort ...

American Colonial Homeplans

Colonial architecture in the United States embraces several styles of building design associated with the American colonial period, including late Medieval English, Georgian Colonial, French Colonial, Dutch Colonial, Spanish Colonial and German Colonial, and represent a period of architectural history ranging from 1600 to about 1850. Colonial homeplans building styles were influenced principally by English architecture, but also by traditions which were brought by settlers from other areas of Europe. In New England, seventeenth century homes were usually constructed of wood, following the style found in England's southeastern counties. In New York and northern New Jersey Dutch colonial styles reflected construction techniques from Holland, and used more stone and brick than New England's buildings. Swedish settlers in Pennsylvania introduced log cabin building to America; later (after the English arrived in the 1680's) Pennsylvanian architecture reflected Georgian influences; and outside of Philadelphia German settlers created a Pennsylvania Dutch style. The Southern Colonial style of Maryland, Virginia, and North and South Carolina was characterized by 1 ½ story brick homes with large chimneys at the ends of the houses. Louisiana and French Canadian Colonial architecture reflected Medieval French influences; and in the Southwest and Florida Spanish Colonial architecture evoked the Renaissance and Baroque styles of Spain.

The earliest English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts are known as First Period (early 1600's), and this style was followed in other English Colonies along the Atlantic seaboard. These 2 story colonial house plans usually included such Medieval details as steep roofs, massive central chimneys, small windows (due to the scarcity of glass in the colonies), and rich ornamentation in the wealthier homes. In the areas of North America settled by the French (Quebec in the early 1600's and New Orleans in the early 1700's), as well as along the Mississippi River valley, poteaux-en-terre homes were constructed of massive cedar logs set upright into the ground, and featured galleries (porches) and hipped, double-pitched roofs to fend off the hot summer weather. In areas which were prone to flooding, a raised cottage style was developed in which homes were built on top of raised brick walls up to eight feet tall in order to protect them from flood waters. In drier times the basements were used for storage and cooking. By the late eighteenth century a briquette entre poteaux style of small bricks between posts with double-louvred doors and flared hip roofs with dormers and shutters appeared in New Orleans (and are still visible there).

Where Northern Colonial architecture featured low ceilings to hold in warmth, Southern architecture, particularly Southern plantation style house plans, reflected Greek Revival influences, featuring high ceilings to keep cool. President Thomas Jefferson's appointment of Benjamin Latrobe as surveyor of public buildings led to the design of a number of important public buildings in Greek Revival style, such as the Bank of Pennsylvania and the United States Capitol. The Southern style of home building featured symmetrical rows of windows in the lower and upper stories and a wide front porches flanked by massive white columns whose entrances opened upon a central hallways and large staircases to the second floor.

American Colonial homeplans embraced a number of different architectural styles reflecting the traditions of the settlers who came from different areas of Europe. From Medieval French architecture of Quebec and Louisiana to the 2 story colonial house plans typical of the Greek Revival style found in Southern plantation style house plans the different architectural traditions adapted themselves to the particular environments found in the New World.