Romanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) 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 ...
named after the American
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
revival style
Revivalism in architecture is the use of visual styles that consciously echo the style of a previous architectural era. Notable revival styles include Neoclassical architecture (a revival of Classical architecture), and Gothic Revival (a revi ...
incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque characteristics. Richardson first used elements of the style in his Richardson Olmsted Complex in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, designed in 1870. Multiple architects followed in this style in the late 19th century; Richardsonian Romanesque later influenced modern styles of architecture as well.
History and development
This very free
revival style
Revivalism in architecture is the use of visual styles that consciously echo the style of a previous architectural era. Notable revival styles include Neoclassical architecture (a revival of Classical architecture), and Gothic Revival (a revi ...
incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish and Italian Romanesque characteristics. It emphasizes clear, strong picturesque massing, round-headed "Romanesque" arches, often springing from clusters of short squat columns, recessed entrances, richly varied rustication, blank stretches of walling contrasting with bands of windows, and cylindrical towers with conical caps embedded in the walling.
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. It was seen in smaller communities in this time period such as in
St. Thomas, Ontario
St. Thomas is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It gained its city charter on March 4, 1881. The city is also the seat for Elgin County, although it is independent of the county.
At the time of the 2021 Census, the population of the city wa ...
Mabel Tainter Memorial Building
The Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts, originally named the Mabel Tainter Memorial Building and also known as the Mabel Tainter Theater, is a historic landmark in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and is registered on the U.S. National Register of Historic P ...
, 1890.
Some of the practitioners who most faithfully followed Richardson's proportion, massing and detailing had worked in his office. These include:
*
Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow
Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. (August 18, 1854, Portland, Maine – February 16, 1934, Portland) was an American architect and nephew of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Biography
Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. was the son of Alexa ...
Herbert C Burdett
Herbert Channing Burdett (1855–1891) was an American architect trained in the office of Henry Hobson Richardson who, in a brief career, established himself as a successful designer of Shingle Style and Richardsonian Romanesque buildings in ...
(Marling & Burdett of Buffalo).
Other architects who employed Richardson Romanesque elements in their designs include:
*
Spier and Rohns
Spier, Rohns & Gehrke was a noted Detroit, Michigan architectural firm operated by Frederick H. Spier and William C. Rohns, best remembered for designs of churches and railroad stations. These were frequently executed in the Richardson Romanesqu ...
and
George D. Mason
George DeWitt Mason (July 4, 1856 – June 3, 1948) was an American architect who practiced in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, in the latter part of the 19th and early decades of the 20th centuries.
Biography
George Mason was born in Syracuse, New Yo ...
, both firms from
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
;
*
Edward J. Lennox
Edward James Lennox (September 12, 1854 – April 15, 1933) was a Toronto-based architect who designed several of the city's most notable landmarks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including Old City Hall and Casa Loma. He d ...
and
John Wellborn Root
John Wellborn Root (January 10, 1850 – January 15, 1891) was an American architect who was based in Chicago with Daniel Burnham. He was one of the founders of the Chicago School style. Two of his buildings have been designated a National ...
, Toronto-based architects who derived many of their designs from the Richardson Style;
*
Harvey Ellis
Harvey Ellis (October 17, 1852, Rochester, New York – January 2, 1904, Syracuse, New York) was an architect, perspective renderer, painter and furniture designer. He worked in Rochester, New York; Utica, New York; St. Paul, Minnesota; Minneapo ...
Grays Armory
Grays Armory is a historic building in Cleveland, Ohio. It was built by the Cleveland Grays, a private military company which was founded in 1837.Cleveland, Ohio.
*
Theodore Link
Theodore C. Link, FAIA, (March 17, 1850 – November 12, 1923) was a German-born American architect and newspaper publisher. He designed buildings for the 1904 World's Fair, Louisiana State University, and the Mississippi State Capitol.
Early ...
designed in this style in St. Louis, Missouri and surrounding area.
The style also influenced the Chicago school of architecture and architects
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...
and
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
.
Overseas, Folke Zettervall was influenced by the Richardson style when he designed several railway stations in Sweden during this period. In Finland, Eliel Saarinen was influenced by Richardson.
Dispersion
Research is underway to try to document the westward movement of the artisans and craftsmen, many of whom were immigrant
Italians
, flag =
, flag_caption = Flag of Italy, The national flag of Italy
, population =
, regions = Italy 55,551,000
, region1 = Brazil
, pop1 = 25–33 million
, ref1 =
, ...
and Irish, who built in the Richardsonian Romanesque tradition. The style began in the East, in and around Boston, where Richardson built the influential Trinity Church on Copley Square. As the style was losing favor in the East, it was gaining popularity further west. Stone carvers and masons trained in the Richardsonian manner appear to have taken the style west, until it died out in the early decades of the 20th century.
As an example, four small bank buildings were built in Richardsonian Romanesque style in
Osage County, Oklahoma
Osage County is the largest county by area in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Created in 1907 when Oklahoma was admitted as a state, the county is named for and is home to the federally recognized Osage Nation. The county is coextensive with the ...
, during 1904–1911.
Gallery
: ''For pictures of H. H. Richardson’s own designs and some of the details, see Henry Hobson Richardson.''
With the exception of the Richardson Olmsted Complex, none of the following structures were designed by Richardson. They illustrate the strength of his architectural personality on progressive North American architecture from 1885 to 1905.
They are divided into categories denoting the various different uses of the buildings.
File:Minneapolis City Hall-Hennepin County Courthouse.jpg, Minneapolis City Hall, Franklin Bidwell Long and
Frederick G. Kees
Long and Kees was an architecture firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota active for a twelve-year period starting in 1885 and ending in 1897. Named for its two proprietors, Franklin B. Long (1842–1912) and Frederick Kees (1852-1927), the firm ...
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby James Edbrooke (1843–1896) was an American architect and a bureaucrat who remained faithful to a Richardsonian Romanesque style into the era of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, supported by commissions from conservative ...
, completed in 1899
File:Landmark Center.jpg, Old Federal Courts Building, St. Paul MN (now Landmark Center), (
Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby James Edbrooke (1843–1896) was an American architect and a bureaucrat who remained faithful to a Richardsonian Romanesque style into the era of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, supported by commissions from conservative ...
, designed 1892, completed 1901)
File:Milwaukee Federal Courthouse, Post Office, 1882-99.jpg, Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, Milwaukee, WI, designed by
Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby James Edbrooke (1843–1896) was an American architect and a bureaucrat who remained faithful to a Richardsonian Romanesque style into the era of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, supported by commissions from conservative ...
Old City Hall Old City Hall may refer to:
Asia
In Hong Kong
* Old City Hall (Hong Kong)
Europe
In Croatia
*Old City Hall (Zagreb)
In Denmark
* Old City Hall (1479–1728), in Copenhagen
* Old City Hall (1728–1795), in Copenhagen
* Old City Hall (Aalborg)
...
in
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, completed in 1893
File:Dallas - Old Red Museum 01.jpg, Dallas County Courthouse, now Old Red Museum, designed & constructed by architect and contractor Max A. Orlopp Jr. in 1891
File:Mcculloch county courthouse 2010.jpg, McCulloch County Courthouse (Texas) in Brady, Texas, built by Martin & Moodie, completed in 1900
File:Salem Superior Court.JPG, Salem Superior Court, Salem, Massachusetts. Constructed in 1864 as an Italianate design, it was remodeled in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by 1889
File:FederalBuildingRochesterNewYorkFrontView.JPG, Rochester City Hall, NY Harvey Ellis and Mifflin E. Bell, completed in 1889
File:Science Hall, University of Wisconsin Madison.JPG, Science Hall at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...
in
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the county seat of Dane County, Wisconsin, Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin b ...
, designed by
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estima ...
, built in 1894
File:Lincoln School RI IL.jpg, Lincoln School,
Rock Island, Illinois
Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Arsenal Island. The population was 37,108 at the 2020 census. Located on ...
, built 1893 by E.S. Hammatt, landmarked in 1984 and demolished in 2012
File:Victoria College.jpg, Old Vic, the main building of Victoria College, Toronto, built in 1892 by W. G. Storm
File:Altgeld Hall - UIUC - DSC09097.JPG, Altgeld Hall at the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Unive ...
;
Nathan Ricker
Nathan Clifford Ricker, D.Arch (June 24, 1843 – March 19, 1924) was a professor and architect known for his work at the University of Illinois. He was born on a farm near Acton, Maine June 24, 1843. In 1875, he was married to Mary Carter ...
and James McLaren White, architects, 1896-7
File:Pillsbury Hall.jpg, Pillsbury Hall, on the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
–
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...
campus; LeRoy Buffington, architect,
Harvey Ellis
Harvey Ellis (October 17, 1852, Rochester, New York – January 2, 1904, Syracuse, New York) was an architect, perspective renderer, painter and furniture designer. He worked in Rochester, New York; Utica, New York; St. Paul, Minnesota; Minneapo ...
Southwestern University
Southwestern University (Southwestern or SU) is a private liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. Formed in 1873 from a revival of collegiate charters granted in 1840, Southwestern is the oldest college or university in Texas. Southwester ...
, built in 1898
File:Italian Renaissance Princeton, NJ.JPG, Richardson Auditorium in
Alexander Hall
Alexander Hall (January 11, 1894 – July 30, 1968) was an American film director, film editor and theatre actor.
Biography
Hall acted in the theatre from the age of four through 1914, when he began to work in silent movies. Following his milit ...
at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...
;
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
in 1881
File:OrtonHall.JPG, Orton Hall, The Ohio State University, completed 1893
File:Durand Art Institute.jpg, Durand Art Institute,
Lake Forest College
Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts ins ...
, Lake Forest, Illinois. Henry Ives Cobb architect, completed 1891
File:Williams Free Library front.jpg,
Williams Free Library
The Williams Free Library is a public building in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. It was the first public library in the United States to have open stacks. In 1985 the building was abandoned and the library was relocated and renamed the Beaver Dam Communi ...
, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Opened 1891. Architect Walter Holbrook
File:ActonMemorialLibrary2.jpg, Acton Memorial Library, Acton, Massachusetts,
Hartwell and Richardson
Hartwell and Richardson was a Boston, Massachusetts architectural firm established in 1881, by Henry Walker Hartwell (1833–1919) and William Cummings Richardson (1854–1935). The firm contributed significantly to the current building stock and ...
, architects, completed 1891
File:Westminster Castle in Colorado.JPG, The Westminster Castle in Westminster, Colorado as it appeared on 29 May 2008
File:Thompson Hall, UNH Sunset.jpg, Thompson Hall at The University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
File:LadiesLiteraryClubGrandRapidsMI.jpg,
Ladies' Literary Club
The Ladies' Literary Club also known as Wednesday Literary Club was built as a social club building located at 61 Sheldon Street SE in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. As of 2019, the b ...
,
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...
Newberry Hall The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology is a museum of archaeology located on the University of Michigan central campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the United States. The museum is a unit of the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and t ...
at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
Spier and Rohns
Spier, Rohns & Gehrke was a noted Detroit, Michigan architectural firm operated by Frederick H. Spier and William C. Rohns, best remembered for designs of churches and railroad stations. These were frequently executed in the Richardson Romanesqu ...
Pueblo Union Depot
Pueblo Union Depot is the historic railroad station in Pueblo, Colorado. It was built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style in 1889–1890 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It is located within the Union Avenue Histori ...
in
Pueblo, Colorado
Pueblo () is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 111,876 at the 2020 United States Census, making Pueblo the ninth most popu ...
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
Wheeling Historic District
Wheeling Historic District, also known as the Wheeling Central Business District, is a national historic district located at Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. The district includes 205 contributing buildings in the central business district ...
, completed in 1892, Edward Bates Franzheim, architect
File:Picture of old Ann Arbor train station.jpeg, Former Ann Arbor, Michigan train station, Spier & Rohns, architects, 1886
File:Starkweather Chapel.jpg, Starkweather Chapel, Ypsilanti, Michigan; George D. Mason, 1888
File:United Methodist Church, Washington, NJ - south view.jpg, First Methodist Episcopal Church,
Washington, New Jersey
Washington is a borough in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 6,461,Andover, MA,
Hartwell and Richardson
Hartwell and Richardson was a Boston, Massachusetts architectural firm established in 1881, by Henry Walker Hartwell (1833–1919) and William Cummings Richardson (1854–1935). The firm contributed significantly to the current building stock and ...
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
,
John Lyman Faxon
John Lyman Faxon (1851-1918) was an American architect practicing in Boston, Massachusetts, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Three of his buildings, the First Baptist Church of Newton (1888), the First Congregational C ...
Fuller & Wheeler
Albert W. Fuller (1854-1934) was an American architect practicing in Albany, New York.
Life and career
Fuller was born in the town of Clinton, New York. From 1873 to 1879 he trained as a draftsman in the office of Albany archit ...
K.W. Smith House
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...
George W. Frank House
The George W. Frank House is a historic mansion located in Kearney, Nebraska, United States. The house was built in 1889 by George W. Frank. Since 1971 the property has been owned by Kearney State College, now the University of Nebraska at Kea ...
, Kearney, NE, designed by Frank, Bailey and Farmer, completed in 1889
File:Oland House, Halifax, Nova Scotia.jpg, Oland House, 1890,
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...
File:James J. Hill House.jpg,
James J. Hill House
The James J. Hill House in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, was built by railroad magnate James J. Hill. The house, completed in 1891, is near the eastern end of Summit Avenue near the Cathedral of Saint Paul. The house, for its time, was ...
St. Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...
Notes
Bibliography
*Kelsey, Mavis P. and Donald H. Dyal, ''The Courthouses of Texas: A Guide'', Texas A&M University Press, College Station Texas 1993
*Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, ''Architectural Sculpture in America'' unpublished manuscript
*Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, ''Starkweather Memorial Chapel, Highland Cemetery, Ypsilanti, Michigan'', Unpublished paper 1983
*Larson, Paul C., Editor, with Susan Brown, ''The Spirit of H. H. Richardson on the Midwest Prairies'', University Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and Iowa State University Press, Ames 1988
*Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ''H. H. Richardson: Complete Architectural Works'', MIT Press, Cambridge MA 1984
*Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, and Andersen, Dennis Alan, ''Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and the Legacy of H. H. Richardson'', University of Washington Press, Seattle WA 2003
*Van Rensselaer, Mariana Griswold, ''Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works'', Dover Publications, Inc. NY 1959 (Reprint of 1888 edition)