1. Architecture for a New Nation: Classicism

2. Why does it seem that every entrance to a building on the Mary Washington campus has a classical portico and at the campus center there is a bell tower taller than anything else with arches, moldings, and pilasters? Why did colonial churches adapt this style? (We'll leave for another class why many churches would later abandon this style.)

3. Why did Thomas Jefferson emphasize classical building references for his University? So perhaps the short answer for why the buildings of the University of Mary Washington has classical forms is because the University of Virginia has classical forms. This is referential architecture.

4. Why were Roman and Greek forms compelling to northern Europeans who controlled access to power and authority? Which of the following played a role in achieving the new status for Roman architecture? Surviving Roman (and Greek) buildings were monumental. Buildings were more durable (emphasized stone over wood) Renaissance builders saw physical connection to advanced thinking. Italian trade was expansive, exporting both rare and exotic goods, and ideas. Architectural discovery followed path of cultural transfer in art, medicine, critical thinking. How did this surge in interest in ancient world serve political systems? The history of the past was controllable. Using ancient models represented a move to orthodoxy from a diversity of value systems. * Remember. The discourse on the value of the mechanical arts of the ancient world occurs in Europe, not in the immigrant communities in North and South America.

5. THE ANCIENT PAST OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION Between the 17th and the 19th century there existed a fondness for building in the Classical orders---those styles whose relationships and details were taken from Greece and Rome. These architectural forms were known through surviving buildings, surviving copies of a treatise by a Roman architect, and the writings of Renaissance writers such as Andrea Palladio, a 16 th century architect who had published a four volume work on classical architecture. When do classical forms begin to be used in America?

6. What were the forms? The architecture of Greece and Rome supported their roofs through the combination of two elements, beams and columns. A beam that spans the space between two walls, columns, or piers is called an architrave. Above the beam is usually a small bit of wall--called the frieze, which in Greek and Roman times was often decorated and caping the wall is either a low wall, called a parapet, a projecting cap-- called a cornice, or if the rafters overhang the wall the space is called --the eaves. This portion of the building between the topmost element of a column and the roof is called the entablature. The posts that support the roof can be a square pier or a round column. Columns have three distinct parts, the base, shaft, and the capital. Columns themselves may in turn rest on pedestals, or a plinth.

7. How the parts fit together

8. The Classical styles of Greece and Rome then are varieties of columns and entablature--These styles are called “the Classical orders.” Renaissance architects recognized that the parts of the classical orders were proportional to one another so that a given order could be designed consistently at any size. All the proportions of each classical order were determined from the diameter of the column shaft. Each classical order had its own proportional measurements The images included in this page are from William Ware's, The American Vignola first printed in 1902

9. The five classical orders Greek Doric Greek Ionic Corinthian Tuscan (simplified Roman Doric) Roman Doric Roman Ionic Composite (a 16 th century modification of Corinthian) Temple of the Winds (a cost effective substitute)

10. Greek Doric principally copied from the Grecian, Italian and Sicilian temples 1.The Doric order have features in the frieze and in the bed mold called triglyphs and Mutules which are derived from the ends of beams and rafters in wooden construction with large beams. Below the triglyphs and a fillet, called the Regula are six triangular or circular wedges called guttae. Guttae appear to be the remnants of wooden pins. 2. The Greek Doric column has no base, but stands on three large steps. Doric columns are fluted and have twenty channels without vertical filets between. The shaft does not have an astragal, but a sinkage in its place with necking above.

11. Greek Doric no base

12. Greek Ionic principally copied from the Grecian temples of Asia Minor 1.The Ionic style is most recognizable for the scrolls that form the middle element in the capital of the column. 2. The Greek Ionic columns are more slender than Doric, being between 7-10 diameters in height. The base is an Attic base but the upper torus is often larger than the lower torus and there is no plinth. The shaft is fluted with filets between the channels. 3. The cushion between the abacus and the echinus is very wide in comparison to the Roman scroll and its lower outline curves down, but do not cover the egg and darts motif.

13. Greek Ionic Cushion droops Attic base plinth

14. Roman Doric Roman Doric is easiest to separate from Greek by its base, consisting of a plinth and torus. If the entablature have triglyphs, metopes, and guttae, but the columns have a base, then it is Roman Doric. Two versions of Roman Doric occur, mutulary and denticulated. They are distinguished by either having dentils in the fascia above the triglyphs or mutules, each centered and exactly equal to the width of the triglyphs below.

15. Roman Doric

16. Tuscan a Roman order of simplified Doric Characterized by extreme simplicity. Columns are not fluted, capitals are unadorned. Look for simple forms with the astragal forming the only molding on the shaft.

17. Roman Ionic. The most prominent feature are the scrolls in the capital. Greek scrolls have a droop in their center while Roman scrolls are straight with egg and darts. The sides of the capital show the scrolls as balusters or bolsters.

18. Corinthian An elaborated form with brackets [modillions] in the cornice Tall bell shaped capital, a series of small brackets called modillions that support the cornice in addition to the dentils and a general richness of detail which is enhanced by the use of the acanthus leaf in both capitals and modillions. 3 ranks of acanthus leaves Small volute

19. Composite Order A Renaissance combination of the large volutes of Ionic order and the reduction from 3 ranks to 2 of the acanthus leaves and bell shape of the Corinthian column. 2 ranks of achanthus leaves Large volutes Blocks in place of modillions

20. What did the Romans invent? Superimposition The arch

21. Coliseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, Rome AD 80

22. Tower of the Winds James Stuart and Nicholas Revett measured ancient ruins in Athens, Greece from 1751 to 1754. They published their findings in The Antiquities of Athens in 1762.

23. Tower of the Winds Asher Benjamin first published theTower of the Winds capital in his third edition, published in April 1816. [Plate 22, No. 5]. VA Governor’s Mansion, 1813