European Architecture 1750-1890 (Oxford History of Art)

This comprehensive examination of eighteenth and nineteenth-century architecture explores its extreme diversity within the context of tremendous social, economic and political upheaval. Never before had the functional requirements and expressive capacities of architecture been tested so thoroughly and with such diversity of invention. Bergdoll traces this experimentation in a broad range of contexts, focusing in particular on the relation of architectural design to new theories of history, new categories of scientific inquiry, and the broadening audience for architecture in this period of transformation. Unlike traditional surveys with long lists of buildings and architects, the themes are elucidated by in-depth coverage of key buildings which in turn are situated in both their local and European context. "This book explores the innovative ways in which architects from Soufflot and Adam to Viollet-le-Duc and Semper responded to the new challenges of a rapidly changing modern world. A wide range of buildings were created to house railway stations, prisons, department stores, and museums; the entirely new products of the industrial, political and economic revolutions sweeping Europe." "Bergdoll argues that this period of constantly changing architecture, encompassing Neoclassicism and the Gothic Revival, constitutes one of the great experimental epochs in European architectural history. Famous cities and buildings such as the Houses of Parliament, the Eiffel Tower, and the Ringstrasse in Vienna are all covered in this indispensable guide to the exciting architectural developments of this period."--Jacket. it has an unrivalled consistency of argument... this book makes a substantial contribution to present knowledge and provides a clear window on the one art form you cannot ignore.