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Fantastic Architecture
Fantastic architecture is an architectural style featuring attention-grabbing buildings. Such buildings can be considered as works of art, and are normally built purely for the amusement of its owner. Architects that employed this style include Antoni Gaudí, Bruno Taut, and Hans Poelzig.Curl and Wilson, ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture'', '' s.v.'' "Fantastic architecture," n.p. Fantastic architecture should not be confused with novelty architecture. While both styles have unusual, attention-grabbing designs, novelty architecture is meant to be an advertisement for the business inside, such as buildings with a giant donut on the roof. Fantastic architecture, on the other hand, serves no other purpose than the personal amusement of its builder. Selected fantastic-style structures * Martin Castle in Versailles, Kentucky * Sauer Buildings Historic District by Frederick C. Sauer, Aspinwall, Pennsylvania * Watts Towers by Simon Rodia, Watts district of Los Angeles, California * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Architectural Style
An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely to a wider contemporary artistic style. A style may include such elements as form, method of construction, building materials, and regional character. Most architecture can be classified within a chronology of styles which changes over time, reflecting changing fashions, beliefs and religions, or the emergence of new ideas, technology, or materials which make new styles possible. Styles therefore emerge from the history of a society. They are documented in the subject of architectural history. At any time several styles may be fashionable, and when a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects learn and adapt to new ideas. The new style is sometimes only a rebellion against an existing style, such as post-modernism (meaning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, ''sui generis'' style. Most are located in Barcelona, including his main work, the church of the Sagrada Família. Gaudí's work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion. He considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture such crafts as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as ''trencadís'' which used waste ceramic pieces. Under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of the ''Modernista'' movement which was reaching its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work transcended mainstream ''Modernisme'', culminating in an organic style inspired by natural forms. Gaudí rarely dre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is known for his theoretical works as well as his building designs. Early life and career Taut was born in Königsberg in 1880. After secondary school, he studied at the Baugewerkschule. In the following years, Taut worked in the offices of various architects in Hamburg and Wiesbaden. In 1903, he was employed by Bruno Möhring in Berlin, where he acquainted himself with ''Jugendstil'' and new building methods combining steel with masonry. From 1904 to 1908, Taut worked in Stuttgart for Theodor Fischer and studied urban planning. He received his first commission through Fischer in 1906, which involved the renovation of the village church in Unterriexingen. In 1908, he returned to Berlin to study art history and construction at the ''Royal Te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer. Life Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncertain of his paternity, Ames refused to acknowledge Hans as his son and consequently he was brought up by a local choirmaster and his wife. In 1899 he married Maria Voss with whom he had four children.Dawson, p.96 His mother was the daughter of Alexander von Hanstein, Count of Pölzig and Beiersdorf who married Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in 1826. Because of this, Clara was the step-sister to Albert, Prince Consort making Hans a step-cousin to Albert's children. Education In 1903 he became a teacher and director at the Breslau Academy of Art and Design (german: Kunst- und Gewerbeschule Breslau; today in Wrocław, Poland). From 1920–1935 he taught at the Technical University of Berlin (). Career After finishing his architect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novelty Architecture
Novelty architecture, also called programmatic architecture or mimetic architecture, is a type of architecture in which buildings and other structures are given unusual shapes for purposes such as advertising or to copy other famous buildings without any intention of being authentic. Their size and novelty means that they often serve as landmarks. They are distinct from architectural follies, in that novelty architecture is essentially usable buildings in eccentric form whereas follies are non-usable, ornamental buildings often in eccentric form. Overview Although earlier examples exist, such as the planned but never completed Parisian Elephant of the Bastille, the style generally became popular in the United States, and later to some other countries, as travel by automobile increased in the 1930s. The Statue of Liberty in New York is a statue that is part sculpture and part monument, which like many subsequent examples of novelty architecture, has an accessible interior and be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Randy's Donuts
Randy's Donuts is a bakery and a landmark building in Inglewood, California which is near Los Angeles International Airport. It is built in a style that dates to a period in the early 20th century that saw a proliferation of programmatic architecture throughout Southern California. This style had its heyday from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s. By the 1950s however, the trend of designing structures in the shape of the product sold there had changed to focus on signs rather than architecture itself. Randy's is represented by a giant doughnut on the roof of an otherwise ordinary drive-in that is a dedicated doughnut bakery. The building was designed by Henry J. Goodwin. Colossal donut signs atop Randy's stores vary in size. Most locations use a diameter version that sits atop the building and faces an intersection. In ''Roadside Giant'' by Brian and Sarah Butko, the Weintraubs climbed on top of the doughnut with a tape measure and confirmed the measurements for the authors. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Castle
The Kentucky Castle, also known as Castle Post, Martin Castle and Versailles Castle, is a castle in Kentucky, located in Versailles, Kentucky, near Lexington, Kentucky, 201 Pisgah Pike near the Woodford County line, part of a estate. It is visually situated off Lexington (Versailles) road. The Kentucky Castle overlooks the Elkhorn Creek watershed on the Woodford/ Fayette county line. Construction began in 1969 by its original owners, and has since changed hands undergoing a major renovation in 2004. Today it operates as a bed and breakfast and special functions facility. As of 2017, new owners have focused on revitalization and remodels of the castle. The castle hosts special events, weddings, and has an operational farm-to-table restaurant inside. History Construction on the castle was started by real estate developer Rex Martin and his wife Caroline Bogaert Martin in 1969, after they had returned from a trip to Germany and were inspired by the architecture and many famou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Versailles, Kentucky
Versailles () is a home rule-class city in Woodford County, Kentucky, United States. It lies by road west of Lexington and is part of the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. Versailles has a population of 9,316 according to 2017 census estimates. It is the county seat of Woodford County. The city's name is pronounced , an anglicization different from the French pronunciation of the royal city of the same name near Paris. History Versailles was founded on June 23, 1792, on of land owned by Hezekiah Briscoe, at the time only a child. His guardian, Marquis Calmes, named the town after Versailles, France, in honor of General Lafayette, a family friend and hero of the American Revolution. Located in what became known as the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky, where farmers also raised thoroughbred horses and other high-quality livestock, the city was officially incorporated on February 13, 1837. It was briefly occupied during the American Civil War by both Confederate and U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauer Buildings Historic District
Sauer Buildings Historic District, located between 607 and 717 Center Avenue in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, consists of a group of buildings designed and built by Frederick C. Sauer from 1898 until his death in 1942. This historic district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 11, 1985. History In 1898, Frederick Sauer bought a hillside tract of land in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, and built a home for himself and his family. This house was designed in "conventional fashion out of ordinary Kittanning brick on a four-square Colonial Revival footprint."''Pittsburgh: A New Portrait'' by Franklin Toker, pages 435-436 (2009, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Sauer was an architect by trade, and he designed about a dozen Catholic churches in the Pittsburgh area, most of which were fashioned in some variation of Romanesque Revival style. After many years of designing buildings to suit the wants and needs of his public, Sauer constructe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick C
Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick II, Duke of Austria (1219–1246), last Duke of Austria from the Babenberg dynasty * Frederick the Fair (Frederick I of Austria (Habsburg), 1286–1330), Duke of Austria and King of the Romans Baden * Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden (1826–1907), Grand Duke of Baden * Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden (1857–1928), Grand Duke of Baden Bohemia * Frederick, Duke of Bohemia (died 1189), Duke of Olomouc and Bohemia Britain * Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707–1751), eldest son of King George II of Great Britain Brandenburg/Prussia * Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg (1371–1440), also known as Frederick VI, Burgrave of Nuremberg * Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg (1413–1470), Margrave of Brandenburg * Frederick William, Elector ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watts Towers
The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or ''Nuestro Pueblo'' ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the artist's original residential property in Watts, Los Angeles. The entire site of towers, structures, sculptures, pavement and walls were designed and built solely by Sabato ("Simon" or "Sam") Rodia (1879 or 1886 to 1965), an Italian immigrant construction worker and tile mason, over a period of 33 years from 1921 to 1954. The tallest of the towers is . The work is an example of outsider art (or Art Brut) and Italian-American naïve art. The Watts Towers were designated a National Historic Landmark and a California Historical Landmark in 1990. They are also a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and one of nine folk art sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles. The Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Rodia
The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or ''Nuestro Pueblo'' ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the artist's original residential property in Watts, Los Angeles. The entire site of towers, structures, sculptures, pavement and walls were designed and built solely by Sabato ("Simon" or "Sam") Rodia (1879 or 1886 to 1965), an Italian immigrant construction worker and tile mason, over a period of 33 years from 1921 to 1954. The tallest of the towers is . The work is an example of outsider art (or Art Brut) and Italian-American naïve art. The Watts Towers were designated a National Historic Landmark and a California Historical Landmark in 1990. They are also a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and one of nine folk art sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles. The Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
