Mr. Breuckman mentioned Georgian architecture, and he showed an |
|
Adams-style and England and Georgian in America building, and said |
|
that not many of those existed today. It inspired Federalist architecture, |
|
which was America’s first adaptation in home grown style. Five over four |
|
and a door was the standard Federalist building pattern. That is, there |
|
were five windows on top and four and a door on the bottom. It was |
|
simple, but there was a classical influence to it. In the 18th century, they |
|
moved to Revival styles, but there were still classical elements to those |
|
buildings, such as posts holding up porch coverings, and the eaves work |
|
was reminiscent of the pediments on classical temples. Tudors were |
|
romantic style, which hearkened back to the old English times. That led |
|
into the very late Arts and Crafts style, which started to get more horizontal |
|
as building materials opened up new possibilities. There was also Prairie |
|
style, which was very horizontal in its lines and started to use modern |
|
materials, but it still conformed with a lot of the traditional patterns. The |
|
International style started in the 1920’s. He felt that was fine, but it |
|
celebrated the possibility of the newer building materials. There were |
|
horizontal windows instead of vertical ones. There were non-traditional |
|
materials, including concrete. There were unsupported masses using |
|
steel. That was true to the materials. Then came mid-century Modern. |
|
He showed some Lafayette, Detroit buildings and typical modern houses, |
|
which did not have much privacy. He showed some contemporary and |
|
LEED architecture, which infused wood and softer elements along with the |
|
colder metal and steel. Those houses did not have a lot of brick, and |
|
there was a post and beam style of construction, and it blended Modern |
|
and Classical, right down to a statue with no arms. |
|
Mr. Breuckman noted a Louis Sullivan project in Chicago. He showed |
|
the first building that Frank Lloyd Wright worked on. It was where modern |
|
materials, steel and elevators came into play to support the possibility of |
|
building taller buildings, but there were still a lot of classical elements, |
|
down to the implied pilasters or columns with arches all supporting the |
|
weight of the building. There was very large stone supporting smaller |
|
stone supporting more refined limestone going up. It was still styled to |
|
conform with traditional styles, even though modern materials were very |
|
much used. He showed a train station which was probably the last really |
|
expressive Classical style before things moved on to Modernism, which |
|
began in the 1950’s and took over most of the commercial architecture, |
|
particularly for bigger buildings. |
|