Reading Response 11: 4/6/11

Beaux-Arts Style

This style sprouted from the teachings of Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, France. Buildings created off of the ideas from this school created buildings with grader interiors and a conservative style that were inspired by French Classical Architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries. Such buildings could be recognized based on:

• elaborate interior decoration
• grand carvings
• gilding
• luxurious marble
• opulent lighting

All of these details in one created an atmosphere of magnificence inside the buildings in which they were contained such as:

• large hotels
• department stores
• opera houses
• extravagant houses for the wealthy

One of their own

Jean Louis Charles Garnier, a graduate of the Ecole School, created the most well-known example of this style with his design of the foyer of the Paris Opera. He crated it with a wide sweeping staircase, caryatids, polychrome marble, and gloriously carved ornamentation in an over the top Baroque Style.  The vast number of candelabras in the space magnified the lavish design and quite literally made it dazzling.

Interior

Staircase

Bottom of staircase

 From the front facade of the building it does not seem as though this building holds the wonders that it contains.

View of exterior

Influence on America

Both of these greatly influenced architecture in America.  For example, Richard Morris Hunt was the first American to join the Ecole in 1846.  He graduated and returned in 1855 and upon his return he designed French Renaissance Revival mansions for millionaires such as W.K. Vanderbilt and J.J. Astor. 

W.K. Vanderbilt house designed by Richard Morris Hunt

J.J. Astor house designed by Richard Morris Hunt

More famously he also designed George W. Vanderbilt's house also known as the Biltmore house in Asheville, NC. This building reflects that of the Paris Opera with its relatively simple exterior but then extraordinary interiors within.

External view of Vanderbilt mansion (Biltmore)

Interior

Interior

Interior

Interior

Information from Massey article

Images from Google Images