Moorish Revival architecture

{{Short description|Revival architectural style}}

{{more citations needed|date=December 2007}}

File:Sarajevo, knihovna.jpg in Sarajevo, 1894, building of the National Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina.]]

Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th century, part of a widening vocabulary of articulated decorative ornament drawn from historical sources beyond familiar classical and Gothic modes. Neo-Moorish architecture drew on elements from classic Moorish architecture and, as a result, from the wider Islamic architecture.{{Cite journal|last1=Giese|first1=Francine|last2=Varela Braga|first2=Ariane|last3=Lahoz Kopiske|first3=Helena|last4=Kaufmann|first4=Katrin|last5=Castro Royo|first5=Laura|last6=Keller|first6=Sarah|date=2016|title=Resplendence of al-Andalus: Exchange and Transfer Processes in Mudéjar and Neo-Moorish Architecture|journal=Asiatische Studien – Études Asiatiques|volume=70|issue=4|pages=1307–1353|doi=10.1515/asia-2016-0499|s2cid=99943973|url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/134280/1/%5B%5D_Resplendence_of_al-Andalus_.pdf}}

In Europe

{{multiple image

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| image1 = Комплекс споруд Воронцовського палацу.jpg

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| caption1 = Southern garden façade of Alupka Palace with a massive central exedra forming an open iwan-like vestibule

| image2 = Jama Masjid, Delhi, morning view.jpg

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| caption2 = The Jama Masjid was the inspiration for Blore's design.{{Cite book|last=Brett|first=C.E.B.|title=Towers of Crim Tartary : English and Scottish architects and craftsmen in the Crimea, 1762–1853|publisher=Shaun Tyas|year=2005|page=65|location=Donington, Lincolnshire|isbn=978-1-900289-73-3}}}}

The "Moorish" garden structures built at Sheringham Park in Norfolk, ca. 1812, were an unusual touch at the time, a parallel to chinoiserie, as a dream vision of fanciful whimsy, not meant to be taken seriously; however, as early as 1826, Edward Blore used Islamic arches, domes of various size and shapes and other details of Near Eastern Islamic architecture to great effect in his design for Alupka Palace in Crimea, a cultural setting that had already been penetrated by Ottoman architecture.

By the mid-19th century, the style was adopted by the Jews of Central Europe, who associated Moorish and Mudéjar architectural forms with the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain.{{Cite web|url=https://www.eldridgestreet.org/art-architecture/moorish-revival-synagogues/|title=Why Moorish? Synagogues and the Moorish Revival|date=2017-04-27|website=Museum at Eldridge Street|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-17}} It has also been argued{{by whom|date=August 2021}} that Jewish communities adopted this architecture (which in Western eyes was seen as stereotypical of "Islamic" or "Oriental" culture more broadly) for more complex reasons; mainly, as an affirmation or reclamation of the Middle Eastern roots of their history and thus as a way of setting themselves apart from the surrounding Western or Christian society.{{Cite journal|last=Kalmar|first=Ivan Davidson|date=2001|title=Moorish Style: Orientalism, the Jews, and Synagogue Architecture|journal=Jewish Social Studies|volume=7|issue=3|pages=68–100|doi=10.2979/JSS.2001.7.3.68|hdl=1807/35319|s2cid=162229425|hdl-access=free}} This came at time when Jews were gaining more freedoms in some European societies and the construction of ostentatious synagogues was possible for the first time, thus provoking a search for a new distinct style of architecture. Historian John M. Efron of the University of California at Berkeley regards the popularity of Moorish revival architecture among builders of synagogues as a counterpoint to Edward Said's Orientalism, which criticizes European orientalism as inherently imperialist and racist, since the builders chose the style as an expression of admiration for the culture of the Muslim world.{{cite journal|author1-link=David Biale|last1=Biale|first1=David|date=June 2017|title=German Jewry and the Allure of the Sephardic (book review)|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=122|issue=3|page=942|doi=10.1093/ahr/122.3.942}} As a consequence, Moorish Revival spread around the globe as a preferred style of synagogue architecture for a long period until the early 20th century.

Image:Gran teatro falla.jpg, Cádiz, Spain]]

In Spain, the country was conceived as the place of origin of Moorish ornamentation, and the interest in this sort of architecture fluctuated from province to province. The mainstream was called Neo-Mudéjar. In Catalonia, Antoni Gaudí's profound interest in Mudéjar heritage governed the design of his early works, such as Casa Vicens or Astorga Palace. In Andalusia, the Neo-Mudéjar style gained belated popularity in connection with the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It was epitomized by Plaza de España of Seville and the Gran Teatro Falla in Cádiz. In Madrid, the Neo-Mudéjar was a characteristic style of housing and public buildings at the turn of the century. In contrast, the 1920s return of interest to the style resulted in such buildings as the bullring of Las Ventas and Diario ABC office. A Spanish nobleman built the Sammezzano, one of Europe's largest and most elaborate Moorish Revival structures, in Tuscany between 1853 and 1889.

File:Alhambra Frederiksberg 2.jpg, a theater built in Moorish Architecture. Location was Frederiksberg, Denmark]]

Although Carlo Bugatti employed Moorish arcading among the exotic features of his furniture, shown at the 1902 exhibition at Turin, by that time the Moorish Revival was very much on the wane almost everywhere. A notable exception was Imperial Russia, where the shell-encrusted Morozov House in Moscow (a stylisation of the Pena Palace in Sintra), the Neo-Mamluk Dulber palace in Koreiz, and the palace in Likani exemplified the continuing development of the style.

=In Hungary=

{{main|:hu:Neomór építészet Magyarországon}}

=In the Balkans=

{{main|Moorish Revival architecture in Bosnia and Herzegovina}}

Another exception was Bosnia, where, after its occupation by Austria-Hungary, the new authorities commissioned a range of Neo-Moorish structures. The aim was to promote Bosnian national identity while avoiding its association with either the Ottoman Empire or the growing pan-Slavic movement by creating an "Islamic architecture of European fantasy".{{cite book|publisher=Brill Publishers|title=Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures: Economics, education, mobility, and space|last1=Joseph|first1=Suad|last2=Najmabadi|first2=Afsaneh |year=2003|isbn=9004128204}} This included application of ornamentations and other Moorish design strategies neither of which had much to do with prior architectural direction of indigenous Bosnian architecture. The central post office in Sarajevo, for example, follows distinct formal characteristics of design like clarity of form, symmetry, and proportion while the interior followed the same doctrine. The National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo is an example of Pseudo Moorish architectural language using decorations and pointed arches while still integrating other formal elements into the design.

Other notable example in the region is the building of the Regional historical museum in Kardzhali, Bulgaria build in the 1920s, combining also Central Asian styles.

File:Регионален исторически музей - Кърджали.jpg

In the United States

File:Yeshiva University Zysman Hall and Gottesmann Library.jpg]]

In the United States, Washington Irving's fanciful travel sketch, Tales of the Alhambra (1832), first brought Moorish Andalusia into readers' imaginations; one of the first neo-Moorish structures was Iranistan, a mansion of P. T. Barnum in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Constructed in 1848 and destroyed by fire ten years later, this architectural extravaganza "sprouted bulbous domes and horseshoe arches".John C. Poppeliers, S. Allen Chambers Jr. What Style Is It: A Guide to American Architecture, p. 63. {{ISBN|0-471-25036-8}} . In the 1860s, the style spread across America, with Olana, the painter Frederic Edwin Church's house overlooking the Hudson River, Castle Garden in Jacksonville and Longwood in Natchez, Mississippi usually cited among the more prominent examples. After the American Civil War, Moorish or Turkish smoking rooms achieved some popularity. There were Moorish details in the interiors created for the Henry Osborne Havemeyer residence on Fifth Avenue by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The most thorough example of Moorish Revival architecture was Villa Zorayda in St. Augustine, Florida, built in 1883 by Franklin W. Smith as a winter home and showplace for the Boston businessman and architectural enthusiast. Today it is a museum, open for tourists. In 1893, The Great Saltair was built on the southern shores of The Great Salt Lake, adjacent to Salt Lake City. Under dozens of Moorish domes and lambrequin, polylobed, and keyhole arches, Saltair housed popular clubs, restaurants, bowling alleys, a hippodrome, rollercoaster, observation deck for the surrounding desert, and what was marketed as the largest dance hall in the world.{{cite web|author=Utah Division of State History|title=Saltair: A Photographic Exhibit|date=19 May 2016 |url=https://historytogo.utah.gov/saltair-photographic-exhibit/|accessdate=16 January 2023}} Like Iranistan before it, Saltair was destroyed by fire in 1925 and again in 1970; the first of which, less than 30 years after opening.

The trend continued into the early 1900s, for example in the 1909 Murat Shrine Temple in Indianapolis, Indiana. The 1914 Pittock Mansion in Portland, Oregon incorporates Turkish design features, as well as French, English, and Italian ones; the smoking room in particular has notable Moorish revival elements. In 1937, the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota added unusual minarets and Moorish domes, unusual because the polychrome decorations are made out of corn cobs of various colors assembled like mosaic tiles to create patterns. The 1891 Tampa Bay Hotel, whose minarets and Moorish domes are now the pride of the University of Tampa, was a particularly extravagant example of the style. Other schools with Moorish Revival buildings include David H. Zysman Hall at Yeshiva University in New York City. George Washington Smith used the style in his design for the 1920s Isham Beach Estate in Santa Barbara, California.Gebhard, David. Santa Barbara Architecture, from Spanish Colonial to Modern. Capra Press. Santa Barbara. 1980. (later editions avail.) p. 109

In India

In Saudi Arabia

Theaters

=In the United States=

Image:Side and elevated view of Fabulous Fox Threater.JPG]]

Image:Alhambra Theatre El Paso TX ca1915.jpg]]

class="wikitable"
Theater

! City and State

! Architect

! Date

Alhambra Theatre

| El Paso, Texas

| Henry C. Trost

| 1914

Alhambra Theatre

| Evansville, Indiana

| Frank J. Schlotter

| 1913

Alhambra Theatre

| Birmingham, Alabama

| Graven & Maygar

| 1927

Alhambra Theatre

| Hopkinsville, Kentucky

| John Walker

| 1928

Alhambra Theatre

| San Francisco, California

| Miller and Pflueger

| 1925

Altria Theater

| Richmond, Virginia

| Marcellus E. Wright Sr., Charles M. Robinson

| 1927

Bagdad Theatre

| Portland, Oregon

| Thomas & Mercier

| 1927

The Carpenter Center

| Richmond, Virginia

| John Eberson

| 1928

Civic Theatre

| Akron, Ohio

| John Eberson

| 1929

Corn Palace

| Mitchell, South Dakota

| Rapp and Rapp

| 1921

Emporia Granada Theatre

| Emporia, Kansas

| Boller Brothers

| 1929

Fox Theatre

| Atlanta, Georgia

| Mayre, Alger & Vinour

| 1929

Fox Theatre

| North Platte, Nebraska

| Elmer F. Behrens

| 1929

Granada Theater

| The Dalles, Oregon

| William Cutts

| 1929

Irem Temple

|Wilkes-Barre, PA

|Olds, Fred & Puckey, Willard F.

|1907

Keith's Flushing Theater

| Queens, New York

| Thomas Lamb

| 1928

Olympia Theater

| Miami, Florida

| John Eberson

| 1926

Liberty Theatre

| North Bend, Oregon

| Tourtellotte & Hummel

| 1924

Lincoln Theater

| Los Angeles, California

| John Paxton Perrine

| 1927

Loew's 72nd Street Theatre

| New York City

| Thomas W. Lamb

| 1932 (dem.)

The Majestic Theatre

| San Antonio, Texas

| John Eberson

| 1929

Mount Baker Theatre

| Bellingham, Washington

| Robert Reamer

| 1927

Murat Theatre at Old National Centre

|Indianapolis, Indiana

|Oscar D. Bohlen

|1910

Music Box Theatre

| Chicago, Illinois

| Louis J. Simon

| 1929

New York City Center

|Manhattan, New York City

|Harry P. Knowles and Clinton & Russell

|1922

Palace Theatre

| Canton, Ohio

| John Eberson

| 1926

Paramount Theater

|Abilene, Texas

|David S. Castle & Co.

|1930

Plaza Theatre

| El Paso, Texas

| W. Scott Donne

| 1930

Saenger Theater

| Hattiesburg, Mississippi

| Emile Weil

| 1929

Shrine Auditorium

| Los Angeles, California

| Lansburgh, Austin and Edelman

| 1926

Sooner Theatre

| Norman, Oklahoma

| Harold Gimeno

| 1929

Temple Theatre

| Meridian, Mississippi

| Emile Weil

| 1927

Tennessee Theatre

| Knoxville, Tennessee

| Graven & Mayger

| 1928

Tower Theatre

| Los Angeles, California

| S. Charles Lee

| 1927

Village East Cinema

|Manhattan, New York City

| Harrison Wiseman; Willy Pogany (interior)

| 1926

=Around the world=

class="wikitable"
Theater

! Photo

! City and State

! Country

! Architect

! Date

Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre

| 100px

| Tbilisi

| Georgia

| Victor schröter

| 1851, rebuilt 1896

Bains Dunkerquois

| 100px

| Dunkerque

| France

| Louis Gilquin

| 1896

Odesa Philharmonic Theater

| 100px

| Odesa

| Ukraine

| Alexander Bernardazzi

| 1898

State/Forum Theatre

| 100px

| Melbourne, Victoria

| Australia

| Bohringer, Taylor & Johnson

| 1929

Civic Theatre

|100px

|Auckland

|New Zealand

|Charles Bohringer and William T. Leighton

|1929

Synagogues

=Europe=

=United States=

Image:Plum Street Temple.JPG, Cincinnati, Ohio]]

File:Central Synagogue Lex jeh.jpg in New York City]]

=Latin America=

Churches and cathedrals

File:Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.jpg]]

File:Church of St Andrew, Tangier.jpg]]

  • The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Gibraltar (1825–1832) an early example of Moorish revival architecture is located in Gibraltar, which formed part of Moorish Al-Andalus between 711 and 1462 AD.
  • Immaculate Conception Church (New Orleans), (a.k.a. Jesuit Church) is a striking example of Moorish Revival Architecture. Across the street was the College of the Immaculate Conception, housing a chapel with two stained glass domes. The chapel was disassembled and about half of it (one of the stained glass domes, eleven of the windows) was installed in the present Jesuit High School.
  • St Andrew's Church, is an Anglican church in Tangier, Morocco. Consecrated in 1905, the church is within the Archdeaconry of Gibraltar. The building is constructed in a Moorish revival architectural style.{{Cite web|url=https://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/LMA_OPAC/web_detail/REFD+CLC~2F386?SESSIONSEARCH|title=St Andrew's Church, Tangier|publisher=London Metropolitan Archives|accessdate=3 January 2021}}

Shrines and temples

File:Murat Centre 2.JPG, Indianapolis, Indiana]]

Image:Tripoli Shrine Temple.jpg, Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]

The Shriners, a fraternal organization, often chose a Moorish Revival style for their Temples. Architecturally notable Shriners Temples include:

Other buildings

Gallery

{{see also|Neo-Mudéjar#Gallery}}

File:BarroneImmaculateOct07Lowfasc.jpg|Immaculate Conception Church (New Orleans), 1851, rebuilt 1930

File:Leopoldstädter Tempel 1858.jpg|Leopoldstädter Tempel, Vienna, Austria, 1858

File:Spanish Synagogue.jpg|Spanish Synagogue (Prague), Czech Republic, 1868

File:Firenze synagoga 2009.JPG|Florence synagogue, Italy, 1882

File:Turin Synagogue 1.JPG|Turin synagogue, Italy, 1884

File:Fabric Synagogue in Timisoara Romania.jpg|Fabric New Synagogue in Timişoara, Romania, 1889

File:Old Tampa Bay Hotel.jpg|Tampa Bay Hotel, Tampa, Florida, 1891

File:Grand Choral Synagogue of SPB.jpg|The Grand Choral Synagogue, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1893

File:PilsenSynagogue.JPG|Great Synagogue, Plzeň, Czech Republic, 1893

File:Church of Our Lady of Victory of Tétouan.jpg|Tétouan Catholic Church, built during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, and still active today{{cite book|title=Lonely Planet Morocco| first= Lorna |last=Parkes|year= 2017| isbn=9781787010093| page =111 |publisher=Lonely Planet|quote=Nuestra Señora de las Victorias Church: This Roman Catholic church was built in 1926 and is still active. We can't think of another place in Morocco where church bells sound the hour.}}{{cite web|url=https://diocesistanger.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Memoria-Tetuan.pdf|title=Iglesia Parroquial Ntra. Sra. de las Victorias Tetuán - Marruecos|date=20 January 2017|publisher=DiocesisTanger.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.insightguides.com/destinations/africa-middle-east/morocco/the-rif/tetouan|title=Tetouan travel guide|date=20 January 2017|publisher=insightguides.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.tangerport.com/en/excursions-at-tetouan/|title=Excursions from Tangier: Tetouan|date=20 January 2017|publisher=tangerport}}

Image:Castelo fiocruz panoramico (cropped).jpg|The Palace of Manguinhos in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

File:Likani Palace.JPG|Likani Palace, Georgia, 1895

File:Dulber Palace.JPG|Dulber, Koreiz, Crimea, 1897

File:Moscow Vozdvizhenka Morozov House 08-2016.jpg|Arseny Morozov House, Moscow, Russia, 1899

File:Šeherezada.jpg|Karlo Helmbold's House (Šeherezada) by Ištvan Bart in Zrenjanin, Serbia, 1900

File:Former Jewish Hospital in Lviv, Ukraine.jpg|Former Jewish Hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, 1901

File:Gimnazija Mostar.jpg|Mostar Gymnasium, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1902

File:Dresden Yenidze2.jpg|Yenidze Tobacco Factory, Dresden, Germany, 1907

File:Sinagoga Bet Israel.jpg|Bet Israel Synagogue, Belgrade, Serbia, 1908

File:Синагога Ужгород.jpg|Uzhhorod Synagogue, 1910

File:MoorishSantaFe2.jpg|Scottish Rite Temple, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1912

File:Синагога Смоленск.jpg|Choral Synagogue (Smolensk), 1917

File:Arapska kukja 2015 (5).JPG|Hotel Jadran (Arabian house) in Skopje, North Macedonia, 1938

File:Praça de Touros do Campo Pequeno September 2014.jpg|Campo Pequeno bullring in Lisbon, Portugal,1892.

File:655070 muzeum w zamku Kórnik (1).jpg|Kórnik Castle, Poland

File:Scroll and Key Society building, Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut). Front and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors. Elevation and plans LCCN2013648230.jpg|Scroll and Key Hall; New Haven, Connecticut (Yale senior society building). This is a proposed plan of ca. 1867. Only far left structure was built.

File:Kardzhali History Museum, Историчеки музей Кърджали.jpg|History Museum, Kardzhali, Bulgaria

See also

Notes

{{reflist|2}}

Sources

  • {{Cite book |author=Naylor, David |title=Great American Movie Theaters |publisher=The Preservation Press |location=Washington, D.C. |year=1987 |isbn=9780891331278}}
  • {{Cite book |author=Thorne, Ross |title=Picture Palace Architecture in Australia |publisher=Sun Books Pty. Ltd. |location=South Melbourne, Australia |year=1976 |isbn=072510225X }}