AMERICAHistory & Architecture

AMERICA: PRE-REVOLUTION• The East-India Company ruled over America in

the Early 18th century.• During the Pre-Revolutionary period, the native

Americans were governed by Representatives of East-India Company.

• The American revolutionary era began in 1763, after a series of victories by British forces at the conclusion of the French and Indian War ended the French military threat to British North American colonies.

AMERICA: THE REVOLUTION BEGINS…• The British started introducing new taxes like

the Townshend Act, the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, etc.

• This resulted in unrest among the natives which broke out in form of Boston Massacre in 5th March 1770.

• The Boston Tea Party in 16th December 1773 was also a revolt against the unjust tax systems of the British.

• The natives laid siege to Boston under the leadership of George Washington and forced the British out in March 1776. The British quelled Washington’s colonial army and recaptured Boston.

AMERICA: POST REVOLUTION• After the Revolutionary War, the first attempt to create

a style expressive of the new republic was made by Thomas Jefferson.

• He based the design of the new capitol building at Richmond, Va., on that of a Roman temple, the Maison Carree at Nimes, France. In so doing he laid down an American precedent of modifying an ancient building style for modern use.

• The Virginia State Capitol (1785-96), both building and symbol, was meant to house the kind of government envisioned by Jefferson, and the Maison Carree became a paradigm for American public structures.

AMERICA: THE INDUSTRIAL AGE (1880-1910)

• Transition from agriculture; beginning of the age of materialism (theory of socioeconomic development where material conditions (technology and productive capacity) influence human society and the economy). and consumerism (“a social and economic order that encourages the purchase of goods and services in ever-greater amounts”).

• Radio broadcasts and transportation, especially automobiles, ships, and trains, changed the way people viewed their world.

• Realism and Impressionism in art.

AMERICA: THE SKYSCRAPPER• The early skyscrapers were a range of tall, commercial buildings built

predominantly in the American cities of New York and Chicago.• Louis Sullivan is considered to be the “father of skyscrappers” and

coined the phrase “form ever follows function”. Famous for Wainwright Building, Missouri , and Guaranty Building, Buffalo.

• Reliance Building, Chicago,  John Root and Charles Atwood, 1895

• First skyscraper to have large plate glass windows make up the majority of its surface area,  set within the terra-cotta-tiled façade.

• Been called "proto-Modernist" in its lack of the hierarchy found in Classical facades. 

• Flatiron Building, New York,  Daniel Burnham , 1902

• An iconic building and a Ney York city landmark.

• One of the tallest buildings in the city upon completion.

AMERICA: 1920s (Prohibition Era) – 1930s (The Great Depression)

• The post-World War I era was a period of ”intolerance, gangsters, and crime”, followed by the Great Depression.

• There were racial tensions and a limit was set on the intake of immigrants coming into America. The Ku Klux Klan was very active during this period.

•  On October 24, 1929 the stock market crashed and the depression began.

• Art movements included the Modernist Movement and Surrealism.

AMERICA: ART DECO• An “eclectic” style that combines traditional craft motifs with Machine

Age imagery.• Represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological

progress• It emerged from the period in between wars, when rapid industrialization was

transforming culture. • Emphasizes geometric forms: spheres, polygons, rectangles, trapezoids,

zigzags, chevrons, and sunburst motifs.   Elements are often arranged in symmetrical patterns.

• Modern materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, Bakelite, chrome, and plastics are frequently used. Stained glass, inlays, and lacquer are also common.

• Chrysler Building, New York, William Van Alen, 1930.

• Tallest brick building in the world although with an internal steel skeleton.

• The “crown” of the building uses the sunburst motif and features triangular vaulted windows.

• Empire State Building, New York,  William F. Lamb, 1931,

• It is said to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

• “The modernistic stainless steel canopies of the entrances  lead to two story-high corridors around the elevator core crossed by stainless steel and glass-enclosed bridges at the second-floor level. ”

AMERICA: THE PRAIRIE SCHOOL• A late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural

style.• Incorporates horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with

broad overhanging eaves and discipline in the use of ornament. 

• Frank Lloyd Wright was part of this movement.

Darwin D. Martin House, Buffalo, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1905

AMERICA: “THE AMERICAN FOURSQUARE”•  American house style

popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s.

• Said to be “plain, often incorporating handcrafted ‘honest’ woodwork”.

• Houses have a “square, boxy design, two-and-one-half stories high, usually with four large, boxy rooms to a floor, a center dormer, and a large front porch with wide stairs.” 

AMERICA: POST WAR• War production pulled America out of depression.

Women came into the workforce as they were needed to replace men who had gone off to war. The successful use of the antibiotic ”penicillin” revolutionized medicine. Television made its debut and computers were developed.

• European artists, architects and intellectuals fled to the United States from Hitler and the Holocaust.

• “The center of the western art world shifted from Paris to New York.” 

AMERICA: THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE• A part of Modernism, the architectural movement.• Principles: the expression of volume rather than mass, the emphasis on balance

rather than preconceived symmetry, and the expulsion of applied ornament.•  Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe all fled Germany

and came to America and became a part of this movement.

• Lever House, New York, Gordon Bunshaft, 1952

• Built according to the design principles of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

• The building's plaza and lobby are used as a art gallery.

• Farnsworth House, Chicago,  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1951• Extensive use of clear floor-to-ceiling glass • Two distinctly expressed horizontal slabs, which form the roof and the floor, sandwich an open space for living.  • The slab edges are defined by exposed steel structural members painted pure white.

Bibliography•www.wikipedia.org•http://www.american-architecture.info/A-

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