Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporated Renaissance and Baroque elements, and used modern materials, such as iron and glass, and later, steel. It was an important style and enormous influence in Europe and the Americas through the end of the 19th century and into the 20th, particularly for institutional and public buildings.

History

The Beaux-Arts style evolved from the French classicism of the Louis XIV style, and then French neoclassicism beginning with the Louis XV style and Louis XVI style. French architectural styles before the French Revolution were governed by (1671–1793), then, following the French Revolution, by the Architecture section of the . The academy held the competition for the Grand Prix de Rome in architecture, which offered prize winners a chance to study the classical architecture of antiquity in Rome.

The formal neoclassicism of the old regime was challenged by four teachers at the academy, Joseph-Louis Duc, Félix Duban, Henri Labrouste, and Léon Vaudoyer, who had studied at the French Academy in Rome at the end of the 1820s. They wanted to break away from the strict formality of the old style by introducing new models of architecture from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Their goal was to create an authentic French style based on French models. Their work was aided beginning in 1837 by the creation of the Commission of Historic Monuments, headed by the writer and historian Prosper Mérimée, and by the great interest in the Middle Ages caused by the publication in 1831 of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo.

Their declared intention was to "imprint upon our architecture a truly national character."

The style referred to as Beaux-Arts in English reached the apex of its development during the Second Empire (1852–1870)

and the Third Republic that followed. The style of instruction that produced Beaux-Arts architecture continued without major interruption until 1968. In contrast, many European architects of the period 1860–1914 outside France gravitated away from Beaux-Arts and towards their own national academic centers. Owing to the cultural politics of the late 19th century, British architects of Imperial classicism followed a somewhat more independent course, a development culminating in Sir Edwin Lutyens's New Delhi government buildings.

Training

The Beaux-Arts training emphasized the mainstream examples of Imperial Roman architecture between Augustus and the Severan emperors, Italian Renaissance, French and Italian Baroque models especially, but the training could then be applied to a broader range of models: Quattrocento Florentine palace fronts or French late Gothic. American architects of the Beaux-Arts generation often returned to Greek models, which had a strong local history in the American Greek Revival of the early 19th century. For the first time, repertories of photographs supplemented meticulous scale drawings and on-site renderings of details.

Beaux-Arts training made great use of agrafes, clasps that link one architectural detail to another; to interpenetration of forms, a Baroque habit; to "speaking architecture" (architecture parlante) in which the appropriateness of symbolism was paid particularly close attention.

Beaux-Arts training emphasized the production of quick conceptual sketches, highly finished perspective presentation drawings, close attention to the program, and knowledgeable detailing. Site considerations included the social and urban context.

All architects-in-training passed through the obligatory stages—studying antique models, constructing , analyses reproducing Greek or Roman models, "pocket" studies and other conventional steps—in the long competition for the few desirable places at the (housed in the Villa Medici) with traditional requirements of sending at intervals the presentation drawings called envois de Rome.

Characteristics

thumb|Beaux-Arts building decoration presenting images of the Roman [[goddesses Pomona and Diana. Note the naturalism of the postures and the channeled rustication of the stonework.]]

thumb|Alternating male and female [[Mascaron (architecture)|mascarons decorate keystones on the San Francisco City Hall]]

Beaux-Arts architecture depended on sculptural decoration along conservative modern lines, employing French and Italian Baroque and Rococo formulas combined with an impressionistic finish and realism. In the façade shown above, Diana grasps the cornice she sits on in a natural action typical of Beaux-Arts integration of sculpture with architecture.

Slightly overscaled details, bold sculptural supporting consoles, rich deep cornices, swags, and sculptural enrichments in the most bravura finish the client could afford gave employment to several generations of architectural modellers and carvers of Italian and Central European backgrounds. A sense of appropriate idiom at the craftsman level supported the design teams of the first truly modern architectural offices.

Characteristics of Beaux-Arts architecture included:

  • Flat roof Having studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he aimed to incorporate and adapt its teachings to the Mexican context.

United States

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">

Flickr - USCapitol - Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building (1).jpg|The Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., by John L. Smithmeyer, Paul J. Pelz, and Edward Pearce Casey (1897)

View of the Willard Hotel from Pershing Park, Washington, D.C LCCN2011634832.tif|The Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C., by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh (1901)

Metropolitan Museum of Art entrance NYC.JPG|Facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, by Richard Morris Hunt (1902)

Image-Grand central Station Outside Night 2.jpg|Grand Central Terminal (1913), New York City

NewYorkPublicLibrary.jpg|The New York Public Library Main Branch in Bryant Park, New York City, by architects Carrère and Hastings (1911)

SFOperaHouse.jpg|The San Francisco War Memorial Opera House by Arthur Brown Jr. (1932)

Palace horticulture 01.jpg|The Palace of Horticulture from the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco by Arthur Brown Jr. (1915 demolished in 1916)

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Beaux-Arts architecture had a strong influence on architecture in the United States because of the many prominent American architects who studied at the , including Henry Hobson Richardson, John Galen Howard, Daniel Burnham, and Louis Sullivan.

The first American architect to attend the was Richard Morris Hunt, between 1846 and 1855, followed by Henry Hobson Richardson in 1860. They were followed by an entire generation. Richardson absorbed Beaux-Arts lessons in massing and spatial planning, then applied them to Romanesque architectural models that were not characteristic of the Beaux-Arts repertory. His Beaux-Arts training taught him to transcend slavish copying and recreate in the essential fully digested and idiomatic manner of his models. Richardson evolved a highly personal style (Richardsonian Romanesque) freed of historicism that was influential in early Modernism.

The "White City" of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago was a triumph of the movement and a major impetus for the short-lived City Beautiful movement in the United States. Beaux-Arts city planning, with its Baroque insistence on vistas punctuated by symmetry, eye-catching monuments, axial avenues, uniform cornice heights, a harmonious "ensemble", and a somewhat theatrical nobility and accessible charm, embraced ideals that the ensuing Modernist movement decried or just dismissed. The first American university to institute a Beaux-Arts curriculum is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1893, when the French architect Constant-Désiré Despradelle was brought to MIT to teach. The Beaux-Arts curriculum was subsequently begun at Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. From 1916, the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York City schooled architects, painters, and sculptors to work as active collaborators.

Beaux-Arts buildings in the United States

Numerous American university campuses were designed in the Beaux-Arts, notably: Columbia University (commissioned in 1896), designed by McKim, Mead & White; the University of California, Berkeley (commissioned in 1898), designed by John Galen Howard; the United States Naval Academy (built 1901–1908), designed by Ernest Flagg; the campus of MIT (commissioned in 1913), designed by William W. Bosworth; Emory University and Carnegie Mellon University (commissioned in 1908 and 1904, respectively), both designed by Henry Hornbostel; and the University of Texas (commissioned in 1931), designed by Paul Philippe Cret.

While the style of Beaux-Art buildings was adapted from historical models, the construction used the most modern available technology. The Grand Palais in Paris (1897–1900) had a modern iron frame inside; the classical columns were purely for decoration. The 1914–1916 construction of the Carolands Chateau south of San Francisco was built to withstand earthquakes, following the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The noted Spanish structural engineer Rafael Guastavino (1842–1908), famous for his vaultings, known as Guastavino tile work, designed vaults in dozens of Beaux-Arts buildings in Boston, New York, and elsewhere.

Beaux-Arts architecture also brought a civic face to railroads. Chicago's Union Station, Detroit's Michigan Central Station, Jacksonville's Union Terminal, Grand Central Terminal and the original Pennsylvania Station in New York, and Washington, D.C.'s Union Station are famous American examples of this style. Cincinnati has a number of notable Beaux-Arts style buildings, including the Hamilton County Memorial Building in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, and the former East End Carnegie library in the Columbia-Tusculum neighborhood.

Two notable ecclesiastical variants on the Beaux-Arts style—both serving the same archdiocese, and both designed by the same architect—stand in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota. Minneapolis' Basilica of St. Mary, the first basilica constructed and consecrated in the United States, was designed by Franco-American architect Emmanuel Louis Masqueray (1861–1917) and opened in 1914. A year later in neighboring Saint Paul, construction of the massive Masqueray-designed Cathedral of Saint Paul (also known as National Shrine Cathedral of the Apostle Paul) was completed. The third-largest Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States, its architecture predominantly reflects Beaux-Arts principles, into which Masqueray integrated stylistic elements of other celebrated French churches.

Other examples include the main branch of the New York Public Library; Bancroft Hall at the Naval Academy, the largest academic dormitory in the world; and Michigan Central Station in Detroit, the tallest railway station in the world at the time of completion.

Beaux-Arts architects in the United States

In the late 1800s, during the years when Beaux-Arts architecture was at a peak in France, Americans were one of the largest groups of foreigners in Paris. Many of them were architects and students of architecture who brought this style back to America. The following individuals, students of the , are identified as creating work characteristic of the Beaux-Arts style within the United States:

  • Otto Eugene Adams
  • William A. Boring
  • William W. Bosworth
  • Arthur Brown Jr.
  • Daniel Burnham
  • Carrère and Hastings
  • James Edwin Ruthven Carpenter Jr.
  • Paul Philippe Cret
  • Edward Emmett Dougherty
  • James Francis Dunn
  • Douglas Ellington
  • Ernest Flagg
  • Robert W. Gibson
  • C. P. H. Gilbert
  • Cass Gilbert
  • Philip L. Goodwin
  • Thomas Hastings
  • Raymond Hood
  • Henry Hornbostel
  • John Galen Howard
  • Richard Morris Hunt
  • Albert Kahn
  • Charles Klauder
  • Ellamae Ellis League
  • Electus D. Litchfield
  • Austin W. Lord
  • Emmanuel Louis Masqueray
  • William Rutherford Mead
  • Julia Morgan
  • Charles Follen McKim
  • Harry B. Mulliken
  • Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison
  • Henry Orth
  • Theodore Wells Pietsch I
  • Willis Polk
  • John Russell Pope
  • Reed and Stem
  • Arthur Wallace Rice
  • Henry Hobson Richardson
  • Francis Palmer Smith
  • Louis Sullivan
  • Edward Lippincott Tilton
  • Evarts Tracy of Tracy and Swartwout
  • Horace Trumbauer
  • Enock Hill Turnock
  • Whitney Warren
  • Stanford White

Charles McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White would ultimately become partners in the prominent architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, which designed many well-known Beaux-Arts buildings.

South America

Argentina

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File:Aguas Corrientes-2011-TM.jpg|Palace of Running Waters, Buenos Aires

File:Fachada_del_Teatro_Colón_en_Buenos_Aires,_Argentina.jpg|Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires

File:Congreso Nacional Buenos Aires.jpg|Palace of the Argentine National Congress, Buenos Aires

File:Buenos_Aires_Centrum_Kirchner.jpg|Libertad Palace, Buenos Aires

File:J31_597_Bf_Retiro_Mitre.jpg|Retiro Mitre railway station, Buenos Aires

File:Casa de gobierno - panoramio (1).jpg|Tucumán Government Palace, San Miguel de Tucumán

File:Casa de la Cultura, Buenos Aires.jpg|Buenos Aires House of Culture, Buenos Aires

File:Bolsa_de_Comercio_Rosario.jpg|Rosario Board of Trade, Rosario

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From 1880 the so-called Generation of '80 came to power in Argentine politics. These were admirers of France as a model republic, particularly with regard to culture and aesthetic tastes. Buenos Aires is a center of Beaux-Arts architecture which continued to be built as late as the 1950s.

Beaux-Arts buildings in Argentina
  • 1877–1894: Palace of Running Waters, Buenos Aires
  • 1883–1887: Unzué Palace, Buenos Aires
  • 1889–1908: Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires
  • 1889: (Argentine pavilion from the 1889 Paris ), taken down and reconstructed in Buenos Aires (demolished in 1932)
  • 1890: , Mar del Plata (the train station was closed in 1949, and was later damaged by fire. Although it was renovated, it is today much less adorned)
  • 1894–1898: Buenos Aires House of Culture, Buenos Aires
  • 1898–1906: Palace of the Argentine National Congress, Buenos Aires
  • 1908–1910: , Mar del Plata (burned down in 1961)
  • 1908–1928: Libertad Palace, Buenos Aires
  • 1908–1910: Tucumán Government Palace, San Miguel de Tucumán
  • 1924–1929: Estrugamou Building, Buenos Aires
  • 1926–1931: Buenos Aires City Legislature Palace, Buenos Aires
Beaux-Arts architects in Argentina
  • Alejandro Bustillo
  • Julio Dormal
  • Gainza y Agote
  • Alejandro Christophersen
  • Eduardo Le Monnier
  • (later an exponent of rationalism)
  • Paul Pater
  • Carlos Thays (landscape architect)

Brazil

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File:Casa Lebre - Vincenzo Pastore.jpg|Casa Lebre, São Paulo

File:Casa Caetano de Campos, 02.JPG|Caetano de Campos House, São Paulo

File:101 2886-RK-Palácio Campos Eliseos- jardim -SP.jpg|Palace of the Champs Elysees, São Paulo

File:Teatro Municipal de São Paulo 8.jpg|Municipal Theater of São Paulo

File:At Santos, Brazil 2017 380.jpg|Coliseu Santista Theater, Santos

File:Palacete Tereza Toledo Lara 09.jpg|Tereza Toledo Lara Palace, São Paulo

File:Image001 Anhangabau.jpg|Prates Mansions, São Paulo

File:Palácio Tiradentes 2.JPG|Tiradentes Palace, Rio de Janeiro

File:Palacete Helvetia 11.jpg|Helvetia Palace, São Paulo

File:Edifício Alexandre Mackenzie 34.jpg|Alexandre Mackenzie Building, São Paulo

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Beaux-Arts buildings in Brazil
  • 1858: , São Paulo
  • 1890–1894: , São Paulo
  • 1896–1899:
  • 1903–1911: Municipal Theater of São Paulo
  • 1909: , Santos, São Paulo
  • 1910: , São Paulo
  • 1911:
  • 1922–1926: Tiradentes Palace, Rio de Janeiro
  • 1923: , São Paulo
  • 1926–1929: Alexandre Mackenzie Building, São Paulo
  • Artemis Hotel, São Paulo
  • Banco de São Paulo Building, São Paulo
  • Hôtel de La Rotisserie Sportsman, São Paulo
  • Mococa Building, São Paulo

Colombia

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File:Av. Jiménez Palacio de San Francisco.JPG|Palacio de San Francisco, Bogotá

File:CapitolioNacionalDeColombia2004-7.jpg|Capitolio nacional, Bogotá

File:Palacio Echeverry 1.jpg|Palacio Echeverri, Bogotá

File:Nariño BOGOTÁ - COLOMBIA.jpg|Casa de Nariño, Bogotá

File:Bogotá Museo de la Policía.JPG|Museo de la Policía, Bogotá

File:TeatroColon.jpg|Teatro Colón, Bogotá

File:Bquilla - 17 ago 2007 200.jpg|Banco Dugand, Barranquilla

File:Barranquilla Edificio Administración Aduana.jpg|Antigua Aduana, Barranquilla

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Peru

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File:Club Nacional en Lima.JPG|Club Nacional, Lima

File:Casa Roosevelt o Edificio Rímac.jpg| Edificio Rímac, Lima

File:Palacio Legislativo of Peru.jpg|Palacio Legislativo del Perú, Lima

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Beaux-Arts buildings in Peru
  • 1855: Club Nacional, Lima
  • 1906–1939: Legislative Palace, Lima
  • 1919–1924: Edificio Rímac, Lima

Africa

Mozambique

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File:Mercado Municipal (4107187974).jpg|Mercado Municipal, Maputo

File:TT CMZ-AF-GT E 2-1 8 6 - Casa Benoliel.jpg|Banco da Beira

File:TT CMZ-AF-GT E 2-1 14 11 - Casa Infante de Sagres vista do Chiveve.jpg|Casa Infante de Sagres, Beira

File:TT CMZ-AF-GT E 2-1 4 55 - Edificio do Almoxarifado.jpg|Edifício do Almoxarifado, Beira

File:TT CMZ-AF-GT E 2-1 9 34 - Escola de Artes e Ofícios.jpg|Escola de Artes e Ofícios, Beira

File:TT CMZ-AF-GT E 2-1 10 46 - Grémio dos Empregados da Companhia de Moçambique.jpg|Palácio dos Desportos, Beira

File:TT CMZ-AF-GT E 2-1 10 50 - Edifício do Standard Bank.jpg|Standard Bank Building, Beira

File:TT CMZ-AF-GT E 2-1 9 22 - Edifício do Tribunal.jpg|Tribunal da Beira

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Beaux-Arts buildings in Mozambique
  • 1901?: Municipal Market, Maputo
  • 1933: Gil Vicente Theater, Maputo
  • Banco da Beira, Beira
  • Casa Ana, Beira
  • Casa Infante de Sagres, Beira
  • Edifício do Almoxarifado, Beira
  • Escola de Artes e Ofícios, Beira
  • Palácio dos Desportos, Beira
  • Standard Bank Building, Beira
  • Tribunal da Beira

Asia

Japan

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File:Kobe yusen bld02 1920.jpg|Kobe Yusen Building, Kobe

File:Mitsui Main Building 2009.jpg|Mitsui Main Building, Tokyo

File:Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company Head Office 2016.jpg|Meiji Life Insurance Building, Tokyo

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Beaux-Arts buildings in Japan
  • 1918: Kobe Yusen Building, Kobe
  • 1926–1929: Mitsui Main Building, Tokyo
  • 1930–1934: Meiji Life Insurance Building, Tokyo
  • Yokohama Yusen Building

Philippines

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File:Central facade of the Legislative Building.jpg|Legislative building

File:China Banking Corporation Building (Binondo).jpg|China bank Manila

File:Regina Building Main Corner Facade.jpg|Regina Building, Manila

File:Thomasian.jpg|University of Santo Tomas Main Building, Manila

File:Nelly Garden.jpg|Lopez Mansion Iloilo

File:0235jfSanta Cruz Escolta Binondo Streets Manila Heritage Landmarksfvf 02.JPG|Calvo Building, Manila

File:Cebu Capitol Compund.jpg|Cebu Capitol

File:El Hogar building Manila.jpg|El Hogar

File:Mailajf9457 26.JPG|Don Roman Santos Building

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Beaux-Arts buildings in Philippines
  • 1911: Nurse's home, Philippine General Hospital
  • 1914: El Hogar Filipino Building, Escolta, Manila
  • 1915: Regina Building, Escolta, Manila
  • 1916: Aduana de Iloilo
  • 1919: Jones Bridge, Ermita and Binondo, Manila
  • 1919: Grand Cafe building Manila
  • 1919: Luneta Hotel, Ermita, Manila
  • 1920: St. La Salle Hall
  • 1924–1927: University of Santo Tomas Main Building, Sampaloc, Manila
  • 1928: Lopez Mansion, Jaro, Iloilo City
  • 1928: Natividad Building, Escolta, Manila
  • 1937: Lizares Mansion, Jaro, Iloilo City
  • 1938: Calvo Building, Escolta, Manila
  • Juan Luna Building
  • Natalio Enriquez Mansion, Sariaya, Quezon
  • Filipinas Insurance co. building
  • National Museum of Anthropology (Manila)
  • National Museum of Natural History (Manila)
  • Manila City Hall
  • Manila Post office
  • Lingayen capitol
  • Negros Occidental capitol
  • Philippine General Hospital
  • Philippine Women's University
  • Batangas capitol
  • Sorsogon provincial capitol
  • Rizal Hall Manila
  • Casa Boix, Quiapo, Manila
  • Trinidad ancestral house, Iba, Zambales
  • Gawas harigi house, Carigara, Leyte

Oceania

Australia

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File:Melbourne Flinders St. Station.jpg|Flinders Street railway station, Melbourne

File:Perth CBD 200520 gnangarra-111.jpg|General Post Office, Perth

File:(1)Commonwealth Bank Sydney-1.jpg|State Savings Bank building, Sydney

File:Bank of New South Wales building seen from Reddacliff Place, Brisbane.jpg|Bank of New South Wales building, Brisbane

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Several Australian cities have some significant examples of the style. It was typically applied to large, solid-looking public office buildings and banks, particularly during the 1920s.

Beaux-Arts buildings in Australia
  • 1900–1910: Flinders Street railway station, Melbourne
  • 1914–1923: General Post Office building, Forrest Place, Perth
  • 1916: Perpetual Trustee Company Limited, Hunter Street, Sydney
  • 1917: Former Mail Exchange Building, Melbourne
  • 1920: National Theatre, Melbourne
  • 1925–1928: Commonwealth Bank building, Martin Place, Sydney
  • 1926: Argus Building, La Trobe Street, Melbourne
  • 1927: Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy, Melbourne
  • 1928–1930: Bank of New South Wales building, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane
  • 1928: Port Authority building, Melbourne
  • 1928: Herald & Weekly Times Building, Flinders Street, Melbourne
  • 1933: Commonwealth Bank building, Forrest Place, Perth

New Zealand

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File:Auckland Old Railway Station.jpg|Former Auckland railway station, Auckland

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Beaux-Arts buildings in New Zealand
  • 1928–1930: Auckland railway station, Auckland

See also

  • Academic art
  • Second Empire architecture
  • Beaux Arts Village, Washington

References

Bibliography

  • a ddi

Further reading

  • Reed, Henry Hope; Gillon Jr. Edmund V. (1988). Beaux-Arts Architecture in New York: A Photographic Guide. Dover Publications: Mineola NY.
  • United States. Commission of Fine Arts. 1978, 1988 (2 vols.). Sixteenth Street Architecture (The Commission of Fine Arts: Washington, D.C.: The commission)&nbsp;– profiles of Beaux-Arts architecture in Washington D.C. SuDoc FA 1.2: AR 2.
  • Advertisement film about the usage of the Beaux Arts style as a reference in kitchen design
  • Hallidie Building