Reviving the Past: Buildings That Borrow From History

Though modest, this building was based on careful drawings by David Roberts in Egypt of The Temple of Dendur (now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) and published in 1848— just twelve years before the hall was begun.

The sloping facade, columns with palmettes, and the winged sun with snakes, come directly from the Temple of Dendur. The inscription translates: “In the 23rd year of Her Majesty’s reign, Royal Daughter Victoria, Lady Most Gracious, this building was erected. May it prosper.”

The style is Neoclassical, a revival of ancient Roman forms (specifically the much more modestly scaled Maison Carrée in Nîmes, France). After Napoleon was deposed his “Temple to the Glory of the Great Army,” was sanctified and became a church under the restored monarchy.

Classical forms include 65 foot tall columns. These are Corinthian in style, with elaborate capitals and deep vertical cuts called fluting. At the top is a vast pediment, the triangular gable, filled with relief sculpture depicting the Last Judgment, a post-Napoleonic addition.

Look even more closely and note that the front side has a double row of free standing columns as well as flat, decorative columns attached to the wall called pilasters. A single row of free standing columns run the length of the building.

The most famous example being Hagia Sophia, a sixth century church in what is now Istanbul, Turkey but what then Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire and the center of the Eastern Christian Church. Westminster Cathedral is the main Catholic church for England and Wales.

The church is red brick with layered stone. Domes and round arches dominate making the church feel especially solid and firmly rooted. The domed interior recalls the Byzantine San Marco in Venice and is elaborately decorated with mosaics.

The £20,000 cost was borne by the Russian-born Dowager Countess of Pembroke and her son. Ancient and medieval elements were incorporated, including 2nd century B.C.E. marble columns and French stained glass from the 12th century.

Romanesque masons looked to ancient Roman buildings. We can see round Roman arches and the facade reveals an interior with a high central hall (nave) and lower side aisles (based on a Roman basilica plan). The plain surface is typical of the Romanesque style.

The church front can be entered through three portals, a reference to the trinity. The portals are flanked by short decorative jamb columns on each side and connected above by carved archivolts (the decorative molding around the arch).

Romanesque churches typically have small windows. This ensured heavy stone ceiling was well supported. The rose window is surrounded by symbols of the four Evangelists. The narrow arches below align with the 2nd story gallery (walkway) within.

The campanile (bell tower) is a separate structure as is typical for early Italian churches. It is connected by short covered passage with arches supported by small decorative columns—all reminiscent of a cloister.

Ruskin was particularly interested in the architecture of Venice and we see here a style that is sometimes called Ruskin, or Victorian Gothic.

The architect, William Butterfield, welcomes visitors from the busy street under a narrow brick arch and into a secluded courtyard. Inside, the red and black brickwork is further enhanced with bands of limestone recalling the polychrome (multicolored) exteriors of Gothic Venice.

William Butterfield, the architect, chose an expensive “pink” brick that was reportedly more expensive than stone. The addition of black brick and limestone in what is called “structural polychromy” was an effort to restore the dignity of this humble material.

The square tower soars upward from the densely packed church below. It rises 227 feet—higher than the bell towers of the much larger and more famous Westminster Abbey. It is said to be the second tallest in London.

Moorish Revival was derived from the architecture of the Islamic occupation of Spain (al-Andalus) from the 8th to the 15th century, a golden age for European Jews.

The decorative style seen here, heavily patterned stucco and terracotta surfaces decorated with geometric forms without any figural representation conformed to the needs of both Muslims and Jews alike. The golden ribbed domes and much of what is visible has recently been reconstructed.

Berlin’s New Synagogue escaped destruction during the Nazi riots of 1938 but the vast prayer hall, with its stenciled patterns and slender iron columns were destroyed by Allied bombs. Behind the shallow front, the building’s original outline is traced on the bare ground.

The style is sometime termed Jacobethan —a blend of architectural styles from the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James. The large grids of glass panes and showy roofline with high rounded gables are easy ways to spot this patriotic revival style.

The facade’s heavily articulated ornament is meant to delight but also to remind passersby of England’s noble history. This style derives largely from the enormous manor houses built by the wealthy courtiers of Queen Elizabeth I.

The ostentatious gables with engaged columns, fans, arches, scallop shells, diamonds, and more were carved by William Aumonier and are derived from simpler examples found at Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan manor house.