Polychrome brickwork

Last updated
Menier Chocolate Factory, Noisiel, France, 1872, a particularly elaborate example of polychrome brickwork. Details de l'usine des Menier a Noisiel.jpg
Menier Chocolate Factory, Noisiel, France, 1872, a particularly elaborate example of polychrome brickwork.

Polychrome brickwork is a style of architectural brickwork wherein bricks of different colours are used to create decorative patterns or highlight architectural features in the walls of a building. Historically it was used in the late Gothic period in Europe, and the Tudor period in England, and was revived in Britain in the 1850s as a feature of Gothic Revival architecture. Later in the 19th century and into the early 20th century it was adopted in various forms in Europe for all manner of buildings such as French eclectic villas, Dutch row houses, and German railway stations, and as far away as Melbourne, Australia, where the technique reached heights of popularity and elaboration in the 1880s.

Contents

Beginnings in the British Gothic Revival

Porch of All Saints, Margaret Street, 1850-59, William Butterfield All Saints, Margaret Street, London W1 - Porch - geograph.org.uk - 1668262.jpg
Porch of All Saints, Margaret Street, 1850-59, William Butterfield

The revival of polychrome brickwork is generally thought to have been instigated by British critic and architectural theorist John Ruskin, in his 1849 book The Seven Lamps of Architecture , where he lauded not only Medieval and Gothic architecture as 'truer' than the Classical, but also the ‘honest’ medieval use of materials as both structure and decoration, above the use of applied colours or veneered materials. He gave as examples Tuscan and Venetian Romanesque and Gothic buildings such as the Doge's Palace in Venice, which has a facade of white stone and pink marble in a diaper pattern (which is in fact a veneer). Other theorists and architects at the same time were also exploring the medieval use of materials in this way, later described as ‘constructional polychromy’. [1] While some designers had already used more than one colour of brick, William Butterfield made lavish use of the technique in his All Saints Margaret Street, built between 1850–59, with an exterior of banded and diaper patterned brickwork in black and cream on a red brick background. [2] Butterfield went on to use polychrome brick in more projects, and other architects also adopted the new technique at the same time. For example George Edmund Street used black bricks on a red background in his 1858–61 St James the Less in Pimlico, considered one of his finest designs, and George Gilbert Scott used black brick stripes on a red background on the Sandbach Literary Institution in 1857.

The use of coloured brick effects became quite popular in Gothic Revival across the United Kingdom, often in combination with stone, usually with far less elaboration that Butterfield. Some architects in the 1870s-80s were more enthusiastic, such as in the work of Watson Fothergill in Nottingham, and in Bristol in the 1860s-80s it was often used is what is now known as 'Bristol Byzantine' style, for instance the 1869 Welsh Back Granary.

Use in Europe

Polychrome brickwork also became popular in Europe in the later 19th century as part of the various medieval and Romanesque revivals. In France the Menier Chocolate Factory in Noisiel, designed by Jules Saulnier and completed in 1872, is an early and very elaborate example, which is also noted for its early use of iron structure. Later the use of two tone brickwork was popular in eclectic picturesque villas, as well as other building types. Examples, again usually restrained use of two colours, can also be found in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany 'Gründerzeit' style buildings sometimes employed decorative brick.

Use in Australasia

St Michaels Church, Collins Street, 1866, doorway details. It is considered the first example of elaborate polychrome brick in Australia St Michael's Church Collins Street Melbourne doorway.jpg
St Michaels Church, Collins Street, 1866, doorway details. It is considered the first example of elaborate polychrome brick in Australia

In Australia, the first use of polychrome brickwork is generally attributed to architect Joseph Reed's Independent Church (now St Michaels) in Melbourne's Collins Street, completed in 1866, closely followed by St Jude's in Carlton. Crouch & Wilson followed with early examples such as the Victorian College for the Deaf. The style became immensely popular in Melbourne and is featured in many of the terrace houses from the 1870s and 1880s. Crouch & Wilson and Percy Oakden soon also employed it on church design, while Reed also applied it on houses, notably the Rippon Lea Estate. Following Crouch & Wilson's award winning primary school design Henry R. Bastow templated it and as a result majority of the State Schools in his commission during the 1870s-80s were in the gothic style with at least two colours. [3]

Rare examples of its use can be found in elsewhere, however it is most prevalent in Melbourne, where it began, and where it became increasingly popular, reaching a peak in the boom years of the 1880s when it was used extensively on all manner of buildings from terrace houses to villas, from shops to factories.

Examples

Naas Presbyterian Church, Ireland Naas Presbyterian Church.jpg
Naas Presbyterian Church, Ireland

Notable examples of its application include:

Historic examples

Nineteenth Century

Great Britain and Ireland

Europe

Australasia

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgian architecture</span> Architectural styles current in the English-speaking world between c. 1714 and 1830

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, George III, and George IV, who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Butterfield</span> British architect

William Butterfield was a British Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement. He is noted for his use of polychromy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle Park, Victoria</span> Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Middle Park is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. Middle Park recorded a population of 4,000 at the 2021 census.

<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">Joseph Reed (architect)</span>

Joseph Reed, a Cornishman by birth, was a prolific and influential Victorian era architect in Melbourne, Australia. He established his practice in 1853, which through various partnerships and name changes, continues today as Bates Smart, one of the oldest firms continually operating in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Pitt (architect)</span>

William Pitt was an Australian architect and politician. Pitt is best known as one of the outstanding architects of the "boom" era of the 1880s in Melbourne, designing some of the city's most elaborate High Victorian commercial buildings. He worked in a range of styles including Gothic Revival, Italianate, French Second Empire, and his own inventive eclectic compositions. He had a notable second career after the crash of the 1890s, becoming a specialist in theatres and industrial buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Melbourne</span> Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km (1.2 mi) east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italianate architecture</span> 19th-century phase of Classical architecture

The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, synthesising these with picturesque aesthetics. The style of architecture that was thus created, though also characterised as "Neo-Renaissance", was essentially of its own time. "The backward look transforms its object," Siegfried Giedion wrote of historicist architectural styles; "every spectator at every period—at every moment, indeed—inevitably transforms the past according to his own nature."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian residential architectural styles</span> Architectural styles

Australian residential architectural styles have evolved significantly over time, from the early days of structures made from relatively cheap and imported corrugated iron to more sophisticated styles borrowed from other countries, such as the California bungalow from the United States, the Georgian style from Europe and Northern America, and the Victorian style from the United Kingdom. A common feature of the Australian home is the use of fencing in front gardens, also common in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

Australian non-residential architectural styles are a set of Australian architectural styles that apply to buildings used for purposes other than residence and have been around only since the first colonial government buildings of early European settlement of Australia in 1788.

Frederick Thomas Pilkington (1832-1898), pupil of his father, was a "Rogue" British architect, practising in the Victorian High Gothic revival style. He designed mostly churches and institutional buildings in Scotland. Typical of his work is the Barclay Church in Edinburgh, a polychrome stone structure with early French Gothic details.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry R. Bastow</span> Australian architect (1839-1920)

Henry Robert Bastow was an Australian architect, known for overseeing the design and construction of over 600 schools for the new Victorian Department of Education in the 1870s and 1880s. He was also a leading member of the Plymouth Brethren in Melbourne, Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Liverpool</span> Overview of architecture of Liverpool, England

The architecture of Liverpool is rooted in the city's development into a major port of the British Empire. It encompasses a variety of architectural styles of the past 300 years, while next to nothing remains of its medieval structures which would have dated back as far as the 13th century. Erected 1716–18, Bluecoat Chambers is supposed to be the oldest surviving building in central Liverpool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Victorian Gothic</span> Eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century

High Victorian Gothic was an eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century. It is seen by architectural historians as either a sub-style of the broader Gothic Revival style, or a separate style in its own right.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Beswicke</span> Architect (1847–1925)

John Beswicke (1847–1925) was an architect who practiced in Melbourne between the 1870s and 1915.

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

The architecture of Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria and second most populous city in Australia, is characterised by a wide variety of styles in various structures dating from the early years of European settlement to the present day. The city is particularly noted for its mix of Victorian architecture and contemporary buildings, with 74 skyscrapers in the city centre, the most of any city in the Southern Hemisphere.

Albert Purchas was a prominent 19th century architect and surveyor in Melbourne, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St James Anglican Church, Toowoomba</span> Historic site in Queensland, Australia

St James Church is a heritage-listed Anglican church at 145 Mort Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Richard George Suter and built from 1869 to 1953. It is also known as St James Church of England. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 July 2000.

Augustus Andrew Fritsch (1866-1933), known as A. A. Fritsch, was an Australian architect best known for a series of Romanesque Revival style red brick Roman Catholic churches built across Victoria from the 1900s to the 1920s.

"Boom style" is a recognised architectural development of a late nineteenth-century period of prosperity in which domestic, commercial, public and ecclesiastical architecture burgeoned, particularly in Victoria, Australia, and in other east-coast Australian states. The phrase is sometimes used, uncapitalised, to designate similar opulent architecture of overlapping periods across the late British Empire, and to some extent in America.

References

  1. Chatterjee, Anuradha. "Between colour and pattern: Ruskin's ambivalent theory of constructional polychromy". Interstices: Journal of Architecture and Related Arts. ISSN   2537-9194.
  2. "All Saints, Margaret Street, London, by William Butterfield". www.victorianweb.org. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  3. "CASTLEMAINE NORTH PRIMARY SCHOOL NO. 2051". vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2020-06-08.