Georgian
architecture is the name given in English-speaking countries to the
classic architectural styles current between about 1720 and 1840, named
after the four British monarchs named George. The Georgian styles
succeeded the English Baroque of Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John
Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. Among the first architects to promote
the change in direction from baroque were Colen Campbell and the
engravings in Vitruvius Britannicus, Lord Burlington and his protegé
William Kent, Thomas Archer and the Venetian Giacomo Leoni, who passed
his career in England.
The styles that resulted fall within the broad categories of Palladian—
and its whimsical alternatives, Gothic and Chinoiserie that were the
English-speaking world's equivalent of European Rococo styles— and,
from the mid-1760s, the range of Neoclassical modes associated with the
British architects Robert Adam, Sir William Chambers, James Wyatt,
Henry Holland and Sir John Soane. Greek Revival was added to the design
repertory, after about 1800. See also: Adam style, Georgian Dublin.
In the American colonies, the neo-Palladian style is associated with
'colonial Georgian' and the neo-classical styles broadly with 'Federal'
building styles.
Georgian architecture was disseminated as much through the medium of
engravings as it was through the direct experiences of the
apprenticeship system. The Georgian styles were also assimilated into
an architectural vernacular.
After about 1840, a wider repertory of design alternatives, including
Gothic revival, enlarged the repertory, and the Georgian conventions
were slowly abandoned, in a welter of Revival styles. |
