List of architectural styles

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Frederick C. Robie House, an example of Prairie School architecture Frederick C. Robie House.JPG
Frederick C. Robie House, an example of Prairie School architecture

An architectural style is characterized by the features that make a building or other structure notable and historically identifiable. A style may include such elements as form, method of construction, building materials, and regional character. Most architecture can be classified as a chronology of styles which change over time reflecting changing fashions, beliefs and religions, or the emergence of new ideas, technology, or materials which make new styles possible.

Contents

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. Styles often spread to other places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist. A style may also spread through colonialism, either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, or by settlers moving to a new land. After a style has gone out of fashion, there are often revivals and re-interpretations. For instance, classicism has been revived many times and found new life as neoclassicism. Each time it is revived, it is different.

Vernacular architecture works slightly differently 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.

Chronology of styles

Prehistoric

Early civilizations developed, often independently, in scattered locations around the globe. The architecture was often a mixture of styles in timber cut from local forests and stone hewn from local rocks. Most of the timber has gone, although the earthworks remain. Impressively, massive stone structures have survived for years.

Ancient Americas

Mediterranean and Middle-East civilizations

Ancient Asian

Classical Antiquity

The architecture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, derived from the ancient Mediterranean civilizations such as at Knossos on Crete. They developed highly refined systems for proportions and style, using mathematics and geometry.

Middle Ages

The European Early Middle Ages are generally taken to run from the end of the Roman Empire, around 400 AD, to around 1000 AD. During this period, Christianity made a significant impact on European culture.

Early Medieval Europe

Medieval Europe

The dominance of the Church over everyday life was expressed in grand spiritual designs which emphasized piety and sobriety. The Romanesque style was simple and austere. The Gothic style heightened the effect with heavenly spires, pointed arches and religious carvings. [2]

Asian architecture contemporary with the Dark Ages and medieval Europe

Islamic Architecture 620–1918

  • Central Styles (Multi-Regional)
  • Regional Styles
    • Egypt
    • North Africa (Maghrib)
      • The Umayyads (705–750)
      • The Abbasid Era (750–909)
      • The Fatimids (909–1048)
      • The Amazigh Dynasties (1048–1550)
        • Zirids 1048–1148 (Middle Maghreb)
        • Almoravids 1040–1147 (Far Maghreb)
        • Almohads 1121–1269 (Far Maghreb)
        • Hafsids 1229–1574 (Near and Middle Maghreb)
        • Marinids 1244–1465 (Middle and Far Maghreb)
        • Zayyanids 1235–1550 (Middle Maghreb)
      • Ottoman Rule 1550–1830 (Near and Middle Maghreb)
      • Local Dynasties 1549–present (Far Maghreb)
    • Islamic Spain
      • Umayyad architecture (756–1031)
      • Taifa Kingdoms-1 (1031–1090)
      • Almoravid architecture (1090–1147)
      • Taifa Kingdoms-2 (1140–1203)
      • Almohad architecture (1147–1238),
      • Taifa Kingdoms-3 (1232–1492)
        • Granada architecture (1287–1492)
    • Persia and Central Asia
      • Khurasani architecture (Late 7th–10th century)
      • Razi Style (10th–13th century)
        • Samanid Period (10th c.)
        • Ghaznawid Period (11th c.)
        • Saljuk Period (11th–12th c.)
        • Mongol Period (13th c.)
      • Timurid Style (14th–16th c.)
      • Isfahani Style (17th–19th c.)
    • Indian subcontinent
    • Turkey

Pre-Columbian Indigenous American Styles

Early Modern Period and European Colonialism

1425–1660. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread through Europe, rebelling against the all-powerful Church, by placing Man at the centre of his world instead of God. [5] The Gothic spires and pointed arches were replaced by classical domes and rounded arches, with comfortable spaces and entertaining details, in a celebration of humanity. The Baroque style was a florid development of this 200 years later, largely by the Catholic Church to restate its religious values. [6]

Asian architecture contemporary with Renaissance and post-Renaissance Europe

Japanese
Indian

Late Modern Period and the Industrial Revolution

Neoclassicism

1720–1837 and onward. A time often depicted as a rural idyll by the great painters, but in fact was a hive of early industrial activity, with small kilns and workshops springing up wherever materials could be mined or manufactured. After the Renaissance, neoclassical forms were developed and refined into new styles for public buildings and the gentry.

New Cooperism

Neoclassical

Revivalism and Orientalism

Late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Victorian Era was a time of giant leaps forward in technology and society, such as iron bridges, aqueducts, sewer systems, roads, canals, trains, and factories. As engineers, inventors, and businessmen they reshaped much of the British Empire, including the UK, India, Australia, South Africa, and Canada, and influenced Europe and the United States. Architecturally, they were revivalists who modified old styles to suit new purposes.

Rural styles

Reactions to the Industrial Revolution

Industrial

Modernism and other styles contemporary with modernism

1880 onwards. The Industrial Revolution had brought steel, plate glass, and mass-produced components. These enabled a brave new world of bold structural frames, with clean lines and plain or shiny surfaces. In the early stages, a popular motto was "decoration is a crime". In the Eastern Bloc the Communists rejected the Western Bloc's 'decadent' ways, and modernism developed in a markedly more bureaucratic, sombre, and monumental fashion.

Postmodernism and early 21st century styles

Fortified styles

Vernacular styles

Generic methods

European

North American

Native American

South American

African

Asian

Australasian

  • Australia, New Zealand – slab hut
  • Australia – Aborigine humpy

Alphabetical listing

Examples of styles

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medieval architecture</span> Architecture during the Middle Ages

Medieval architecture was the art of designing and constructing buildings in the Middle Ages. Major styles of the period include pre-Romanesque, Romanesque, and Gothic. The Renaissance marked the end of the medieval period, when architects began to favour classical forms. While most surviving medieval constructions are churches and military fortifications, examples of civic and domestic architecture can be found throughout Europe, including in manor houses, town halls, almshouses, bridges, and residential houses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victorian architecture</span> Series of architectural revival styles

Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. Victorian refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian were used in construction. However, many elements of what is typically termed "Victorian" architecture did not become popular until later in Victoria's reign, roughly from 1850 and later. The styles often included interpretations and eclectic revivals of historic styles (see Historicism). The name represents the British and French custom of naming architectural styles for a reigning monarch. Within this naming and classification scheme, it followed Georgian architecture and later Regency architecture and was succeeded by Edwardian architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of England</span>

The architecture of England is the architecture of modern England and in the historic Kingdom of England. It often includes buildings created under English influence or by English architects in other parts of the world, particularly in the English and later British colonies and Empire, which developed into the Commonwealth of Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Europe</span>

The culture of Europe is diverse, and rooted in its art, architecture, traditions, cuisines, music, folklore, embroidery, film, literature, economics, philosophy and religious customs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neo-Byzantine architecture</span> Late-19th-century architectural revival movement

Neo-Byzantine architecture was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Orthodox Christian architecture dating from the 5th through 11th centuries, notably that of Constantinople and the Exarchate of Ravenna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romanesque Revival architecture</span> Style of building in 19th century

Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to feature more simplified arches and windows than their historic counterparts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of architecture</span>

The history of architecture traces the changes in architecture through various traditions, regions, overarching stylistic trends, and dates. The beginnings of all these traditions is thought to be humans satisfying the very basic need of shelter and protection. The term "architecture" generally refers to buildings, but in its essence is much broader, including fields we now consider specialized forms of practice, such as urbanism, civil engineering, naval, military, and landscape architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renaissance Revival architecture</span> Group of 19th-century architectural revival styles

Renaissance Revival architecture is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes. Under the broad designation Renaissance architecture 19th-century architects and critics went beyond the architectural style which began in Florence and Central Italy in the early 15th century as an expression of Renaissance humanism; they also included styles that can be identified as Mannerist or Baroque. Self-applied style designations were rife in the mid- and later 19th century: "Neo-Renaissance" might be applied by contemporaries to structures that others called "Italianate", or when many French Baroque features are present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish architecture</span>

Spanish architecture refers to architecture in any area of what is now Spain, and by Spanish architects worldwide. The term includes buildings which were constructed within the current borders of Spain prior to its existence as a nation, when the land was called Iberia, Hispania, or was divided between several Christian and Muslim kingdoms. Spanish architecture demonstrates great historical and geographical diversity, depending on the historical period. It developed along similar lines as other architectural styles around the Mediterranean and from Central and Northern Europe, although some Spanish constructions are unique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gothic Revival architecture in Canada</span>

Gothic Revival architecture in Canada is an historically influential style, with many prominent examples. The Gothic Revival style was imported to Canada from Britain and the United States in the early 19th century, and it rose to become the most popular style for major projects throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese architecture</span>

Portuguese architecture refers to both the architecture of Portugal's modern-day territory in Continental Portugal, the Azores and Madeira, as well as the architectural heritage/patrimony of Portuguese architects and styles throughout the world, particularly in countries formerly part of the Portuguese Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian architecture</span>

Italy has a very broad and diverse architectural style, which cannot be simply classified by period or region, due to Italy's division into various small states until 1861. This has created a highly diverse and eclectic range in architectural designs. Italy is known for its considerable architectural achievements, such as the construction of aqueducts, temples and similar structures during ancient Rome, the founding of the Renaissance architectural movement in the late-14th to 16th century, and being the homeland of Palladianism, a style of construction which inspired movements such as that of Neoclassical architecture, and influenced the designs which noblemen built their country houses all over the world, notably in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States of America during the late-17th to early 20th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Germany</span>

The architecture of Germany has a long, rich and diverse history. Every major European style from Roman to Postmodern is represented, including renowned examples of Carolingian, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Modern and International Style architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historicism (art)</span> Art and architecture inspired by historic styles

Historicism or historism comprises artistic styles that draw their inspiration from recreating historic styles or imitating the work of historic artists and artisans. This is especially common in architecture, where there are many different styles of Revival architecture, which dominated large buildings in the 19th century. Through a combination of different styles or the implementation of new elements, historicism can create completely different aesthetics than former styles. Thus, it offers a great variety of possible designs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revivalism (architecture)</span> Architectural styles that echo the style of a previous architectural era

Architectural revivalism is the use of elements that echo the style of a previous architectural era that have or had fallen into disuse or abeyance between their heyday and period of revival. Revivalism, in a narrower sense, refers to the period of and movement within Western architectural history during which a succession of antecedent and reminiscent styles were taken to by architects, roughly from the mid-18th century, and which was itself succeeded by Modernism around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Notable revival styles include Neoclassical architecture, and Gothic Revival. Revivalism is related to historicism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teruel Cathedral</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site

Teruel Cathedral or Catedral de Santa María de Mediavilla de Teruel is a Roman Catholic church in Teruel, Aragon, Spain. Dedicated to St. Mary, it is a notable example of Mudéjar architecture. Together with other churches in the town and in the province of Zaragoza, it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romanesque Revival architecture in the United Kingdom</span> 18th to 19th century architectural style

Romanesque Revival, Norman Revival or Neo-Norman styles of building in the United Kingdom were inspired by the Romanesque architecture of the 11th and 12th centuries AD.

The architecture of Switzerland was influenced by its location astride major trade routes, along with diverse architectural traditions of the four national languages. Romans and later Italians brought their monumental and vernacular architecture north over the Alps, meeting the Germanic and German styles coming south and French influences coming east. Additionally, Swiss mercenary service brought architectural elements from other lands back to Switzerland. All the major styles including ancient Roman, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, Modern architecture and Post Modern are well represented throughout the country. The founding of the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne in La Sarraz and the work of Swiss-born modern architects such as Le Corbusier helped spread Modern architecture throughout the world.

This is an alphabetical index of articles related to architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Washington, D.C.</span>

Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, has a unique and diverse architectural history. Encompassing government, monumental, commercial, and residential buildings, D.C. is home to some of the country's most famous and popular structures designed by some of the leading architects of their time. The popularity of the city's buildings is reflected in the findings of a 2007 poll of Americans by the American Institute of Architects, which found that six of the top 10 most popular U.S. structures were located in Washington, D.C. Overall, the poll found, 17 of the top 150 most popular structures were located in the capital.

References

  1. Hans Erich Kubach. Architektur der Romanik, 1973/1974, 3-7630-1705-7, p. 63–144 Die erste Romanische Kunst – Frühromanische Architektur
  2. Robert Stuart (1854), Cyclopedia of architecture: historical, descriptive, typographical, decorative, theoretical and mechanical, alphabetically arranged, familiarly explained, and adapted to the comprehension of workmen, A. S. Barnes & Co, p. 75
  3. 1 2 Gebaut, Burgundische Romanik – Pontigny – Zisterziensergotik
  4. 1 2 Really, Mudéjar style had phases according to the general European styles, there was Romanesque Mudéjar, Gothic Mudéjar and even Renaissance Mudéjar.
  5. Gerald Leinwand, The pageant of world history, Prentice-Hall, 1990, page 330
  6. Jackson J. Spielvogel (2010), Western Civilization: A Brief History. Cengage Learning. page 333 ISBN   0495571474

Further reading