III.

Architecture

Before the discoveries at Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Athens, had been made, the only classical architecture generally known was that of Rome, largely through architectural etchings of Classical Roman buildings by the Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi. The new archaeological finds extended classical architecture's formal vocabulary, and architects began advocating a style based on Graeco-Roman models.

The work of the Scottish architect and designer Robert Adam, who in the 1750s and 1760s redesigned a number of English country houses (among which were, Sion House, 1762-1769, and Osterley Park, 1761-1780), introduced the Neo-Classical style to Great Britain. The Adam style, as it became known, remained somewhat Rococo in its emphasis on surface ornamentation and refinement of scale, even as it adopted the motifs of antiquity.

In France, Claude Nicholas Ledoux designed a pavilion (1771) for the Comtesse du Barry at Louveciennes and a series of city gates (1785-1789) for Paris. Both exemplify the earlier phase of Neo-Classical architecture; his later works, however, consisted of projects (never executed) for an ideal city in which the designs for buildings are frequently reduced to unadorned geometric shapes. After Napoleon became emperor in 1804, his official architects Charles Percier and Pierre François Fontaine worked to realize his wish to transform Paris into the foremost capital of Europe by adopting the intimidating opulence of Roman imperial architecture. The Empire style in architecture is epitomized by such imposing public works as the triumphal arches at the Carrousel du Louvre, designed by Percier and Fontaine and the Champs-Élysées, designed by Fontaine and begun the same year. These works, begun in 1806, were far different in spirit from the visionary work of Ledoux.

Greek-inspired architecture in England is exemplified by such constructions, in London, as the Bank of England rotunda (1796) by Sir John Soane and the British Museum portico (1823-1847) by Sir Robert Smirke. The Greek Revival was modified by the Regency style, notable architectural examples of which are the façades for Regent Street, in London designed by John Nash and begun in 1812 and his Royal Pavilion in Brighton (1815-1823). The Neo-Classical architecture of Edinburgh, Scotland, remained pristine, however, and earned that city the name the Athens of the North. Elsewhere, Neo-Classical architecture is exemplified in such work by the German Karl Friedrich Schinkel, as the Royal Theatre (1819-1821) in Berlin.

In the United States, one aspect of Neo-Classicism, the Federal style, flourished between 1780 and 1820. Based on the work of Robert Adam, it is exemplified in the work of Charles Bulfinch (Massachusetts State House, Boston, completed 1798). The model for Thomas Jefferson's State Capitol Building in Richmond, Virginia (1785-1789) was the Maison-Carrée, a 1st-century Roman temple in Nîmes, France. Through his readings and travels, Jefferson developed a profound understanding of Roman architecture and applied his knowledge to the designs for his own home, Monticello; for the University of Virginia campus; and for preliminary contributions to plans for the new national capital of Washington, D.C. Jefferson's work exemplifies Neo-Classical style in the United States.

The Greek revival style, based on 5th-century bc Greek temples and inspired by the Elgin Marbles, flourished during the first half of the 19th century in the United States. Both the Federal and Greek revival styles helped a young United States define its own architectural ethos.