Login
Login

Edwardian architecture

{{Short description|Style of world architecture}}

File:Belfast City Hall 2.jpg, an example of Edwardian Baroque architecture or "Wrenaissance", in Northern Ireland]]

Edwardian architecture usually refers to a Neo-Baroque architectural style that was popular for public buildings in the British Empire during the Edwardian era (1901–1910). Architecture up to 1914 is commonly included in this style.{{Citation |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/23580585?selectedversion=NBD9817605 |last=Long |first=Helen C. |year=1993|title=The Edwardian House: The Middle-class Home in Britain, 1880-1914 |publisher=Manchester University Press |publication-place= Manchester}}

It can also be used to mean various styles in middle-class housing, including relaxed versions of Arts and Crafts architecture.

Description

Edwardian architecture is generally less ornate than high or late Victorian architecture,{{cite web |url=http://www.bricksandbrass.co.uk/design_history/edwardian/edwardian_style.php |title=Bricks & Brass: Edwardian Style |website=Bricksandbrass.co.uk |access-date=2016-10-25}} apart from a subset – used for major buildings – known as Edwardian Baroque architecture.

File:Masonic Temple, Crown Street, Aberdeen, first floor detail main facade, Harbourne Maclennan, Jenkins and Marr, 1910.jpg, Scotland built in 1910.]]

The Victorian Society campaigns to preserve architecture built between 1837 and 1914, and so includes Edwardian as well as Victorian architecture within its remit.{{cite web|url=http://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/about/ |title=What we do |publisher=The Victorian Society |access-date=2016-10-25}}

= Characteristics =

The characteristic features of the Edwardian Baroque style were drawn from two main sources: the architecture of France during the 18th century and that of Sir Christopher Wren in England during the 17th—part of the English Baroque (for this reason Edwardian Baroque is sometimes referred to as "Wrenaissance"). Sir Edwin Lutyens was a major exponent, designing many commercial buildings in what he termed 'the Grand Style' during the later 1910s and 1920s. This period of British architectural history is considered a particularly retrospective one, since it is contemporary with Art Nouveau.

Typical details of Edwardian Baroque architecture include extensive rustication, usually more extreme at ground level, often running into and exaggerating the voussoirs of arched openings (derived from French models); domed corner rooftop pavilions and a central taller tower-like element creating a lively rooftop silhouette; revived Italian Baroque elements such as exaggerated keystones, segmental arched pediments, columns with engaged blocks, attached block-like rustication to window surrounds; colonnades of (sometimes paired) columns in the Ionic order and domed towers modelled closely on Wren's for the Royal Naval College in Greenwich. Some Edwardian Baroque buildings include details from other sources, such as the Dutch gables of Norman Shaw's Piccadilly Hotel in London.

File:Bridgefield Road Sutton Surrey Greater London.JPG, Greater London, England]]

File:Catts Farm, Kingsclere, Newbury, design by H. Launcelot Fedden, in The Building News, July 31, 1908.jpg, Newbury, design by H. Launcelot Fedden (1869–1910), as seen in The Building News, July 31, 1908.]]

Other characteristics include:

  • Colour: lighter colours were used; the use of gas and later electric lights caused designers to be less concerned about the need to disguise soot buildup on walls compared to Victorian era architecture.
  • Patterns: "Decorative patterns were less complex; both wallpaper and curtain designs were more plain."
  • Clutter: "There was less clutter than in the Victorian era. Ornaments were perhaps grouped rather than everywhere."

Architectural influences

Notable examples

File:Lloyds Bank Manchester.jpg, built for Lloyds Bank during 1915.]]

File:67 Whitworth Street.jpg, built during 1910.]]

=United Kingdom=

=Argentina=

File:(1) Department of Education.JPG, Sydney]]

File:Flinders Street Station Melbourne March 2021.jpg, Melbourne]]

File:Federation style mansion in domain street south yarra.jpg, Melbourne]]

=Australia=

=Canada=

File:Hotel-Macdonald-Edmonton-Alberta-1A.jpg

File:Fairmont Empress, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 08.jpg

=Hong Kong=

;Victoria City

;Kowloon

File:Kolkata Victoria Memorial South side.JPG]]

File:Standard Chartered Bank Building (Grindlays Bank).jpg]]

File:The Doon School.jpg]]

File:Ripon Building panorama.jpg]]

File:Detail of Standard Chartered Bank 23-25 M G Road branch.jpg

=India=

India has the largest collection of Edwardian architecture buildings outside of the United Kingdom.

=Ireland=

File:Government Buildings, Dublin, Ireland.jpg, Dublin]]

=Malaysia=

File:Penang City Hall (I).jpg]]

=New Zealand=

=Singapore=

=South Africa=

=Sri Lanka=

=Taiwan=

See also

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • Gray, A. S., Edwardian Architecture: a Biographical Dictionary (1985).
  • Long, H., The Edwardian House: the Middle-Class Home in Britain 1880–1914 (1993).
  • Hockman, H.,{{clarify|date=October 2016}}
  • Service, A., Edwardian Architecture: Edwardian House Style Handbook (2007) David & Charles {{ISBN|0-7153-2780-1}} (1977) Thames & Hudson {{ISBN|0-500-18158-6}}

External links

{{Commons category|Edwardian architecture}}

  • [http://www.buildinghistory.org/style/edwardian.shtml Edwardian Architecture (1901-14)]
  • [https://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/design/period_edwardian.shtml Period Style: Edwardian (1901 to 1910)]
  • [http://www.scotcities.com/carnegie/baroque.htm Edwardian Baroque Carnegie Libraries in Glasgow, Scotland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906225835/http://www.scotcities.com/carnegie/baroque.htm |date=2017-09-06 }}

{{Edward VII}}

{{Architecture of England}}

{{Revivals}}

{{Housing in the United Kingdom}}

Category:Colonnades

Category:Baroque Revival architecture

architecture

Category:20th-century architectural styles

Category:British architectural styles

Category:Architecture in England by period or style

Category:1900s in the United Kingdom

Category:1910s in the United Kingdom