Richardsonian Romanesque Architecture

Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque characteristics. Richardson first used elements of the style in his Richardson Olmsted Complex in Buffalo, New York, designed in 1870. Multiple architects followed in this style in the late 19th century; Richardsonian Romanesque later influenced modern styles of architecture as well.

History and development

This very free revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish and Italian Romanesque characteristics. It emphasizes clear, strong picturesque massing, round-headed "Romanesque" arches, often springing from clusters of short squat columns, recessed entrances, richly varied rustication, blank stretches of walling contrasting with bands of windows, and cylindrical towers with conical caps embedded in the walling.

Architects working in the style

The style includes work by the generation of architects practicing in the 1880s before the influence of the Beaux-Arts styles. It is epitomised by the American Museum of Natural History's original 77th Street building by J. Cleaveland Cady of Cady, Berg and See in New York City. It was seen in smaller communities in this time period such as in St. Thomas, Ontario's city hall and Menomonie, Wisconsin's Mabel Tainter Memorial Building, 1890.

Some of the practitioners who most faithfully followed Richardson's proportion, massing and detailing had worked in his office. These include:
*Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow and Frank Alden (Longfellow, Alden & Harlow of Boston & Pittsburgh);
*George Shepley and Charles Coolidge (Richardson's former employees, and his successor firm, Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge of Boston);
*Herbert C Burdett (Marling & Burdett of Buffalo).

Other architects who employed Richardson Romanesque elements in their designs include:
*Spier and Rohns and George D. Mason, both firms from Detroit;
* Edward J. Lennox and John Wellborn Root, Toronto-based architects who derived many of their designs from the Richardson Style;
*Harvey Ellis designed in this style in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
*Fenimore C. Bate designed the Grays Armory in this style in Cleveland, Ohio.
*Theodore Link designed in this style in St. Louis, Missouri and surrounding area.

The style also influenced the Chicago school of architecture and architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Overseas, Folke Zettervall was influenced by the Richardson style when he designed several railway stations in Sweden during this period. In Finland, Eliel Saarinen was influenced by Richardson.

Dispersion

Research is underway to try to document the westward movement of the artisans and craftsmen, many of whom were immigrant Italians and Irish, who built in the Richardsonian Romanesque tradition. The style began in the East, in and around Boston, where Richardson built the influential Trinity Church on Copley Square. As the style was losing favor in the East, it was gaining popularity further west. Stone carvers and masons trained in the Richardsonian manner appear to have taken the style west, until it died out in the early decades of the 20th century.

As an example, four small bank buildings were built in Richardsonian Romanesque style in Osage County, Oklahoma, during 1904–1911.

Gallery

: ''For pictures of H. H. Richardson’s own designs and some of the details, see Henry Hobson Richardson.''

With the exception of the Richardson Olmsted Complex, none of the following structures were designed by Richardson. They illustrate the strength of his architectural personality on progressive North American architecture from 1885 to 1905.

They are divided into categories denoting the various different uses of the buildings.

File:Minneapolis City Hall-Hennepin County Courthouse.jpg, Minneapolis City Hall, Franklin Bidwell Long and Frederick G. Kees, architects, finished 1906
File:CincinnatiCityHall.jpg, Cincinnati City Hall, Samuel Hannaford, architect, completed 1893
File:Allegheny County Courthouse in 2016.jpg, Allegheny County Courthouse, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, completed 1888
File:Ontario Legislative Assembly, Toronto, May 2006.jpg, Ontario Legislative Building, Toronto, Ontario, opened 1893
File:Salt lake city county bldg.jpg, Salt Lake City and County Building, Salt Lake City, Utah, Monheim, Bird, and Proudfoot architects, 1894
File:Brooklyn Post Office 0321071421a.jpg, Brooklyn General Post Office, Cadman Plaza. Mifflin E. Bell, 1885–91
File:Old Post Office Pavilion, Washington DC.jpg, Old Post Office Building in Washington, D.C. , designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke, completed in 1899
File:Landmark Center.jpg, Old Federal Courts Building, St. Paul MN (now Landmark Center), (Willoughby J. Edbrooke, designed 1892, completed 1901)
File:Milwaukee Federal Courthouse, Post Office, 1882-99.jpg, Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, Milwaukee, WI, designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke and built 1892–99
File:BarbourCountyCourthouse.jpg, The Barbour County Courthouse in Philippi, West Virginia, completed 1905
File:City Hall Ft W IN 1.jpg, Old City Hall in Fort Wayne, Indiana, completed in 1893
File:Dallas - Old Red Museum 01.jpg, Dallas County Courthouse, now Old Red Museum, designed & constructed by architect and contractor Max A. Orlopp Jr. in 1891
File:Mcculloch county courthouse 2010.jpg, McCulloch County Courthouse (Texas) in Brady, Texas, built by Martin & Moodie, completed in 1900
File:Salem Superior Court.JPG, Salem Superior Court, Salem, Massachusetts. Constructed in 1864 as an Italianate design, it was remodeled in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by 1889
File:FederalBuildingRochesterNewYorkFrontView.JPG, Rochester City Hall, NY Harvey Ellis and Mifflin E. Bell, completed in 1889

File:Science Hall, University of Wisconsin Madison.JPG, Science Hall at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin, designed by Milwaukee architect Henry C. Koch and completed in 1887
File:CentralHighPostcard.jpg, Central High School (Springfield, Missouri), Springfield, Missouri, built in 1894
File:Lincoln School RI IL.jpg, Lincoln School, Rock Island, Illinois, built 1893 by E.S. Hammatt, landmarked in 1984 and demolished in 2012
File:Victoria College.jpg, Old Vic, the main building of Victoria College, Toronto, built in 1892 by W. G. Storm
File:Altgeld Hall - UIUC - DSC09097.JPG, Altgeld Hall at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign; Nathan Ricker and James McLaren White, architects, 1896-7
File:Pillsbury Hall.jpg, Pillsbury Hall, on the University of Minnesota–Minneapolis campus; LeRoy Buffington, architect, Harvey Ellis, designer, 1887
File:Rutlo 3772831372 Southwestern.jpg, The Hugh Roy and Lillie Cullen Building on the campus of Southwestern University, built in 1898
File:Italian Renaissance Princeton, NJ.JPG, Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall at Princeton University;Princeton, New Jersey; William A. Potter, architect, 1894
File:Crouse College, Syracuse University.jpg, Crouse College built on the campus of Syracuse University in 1881
File:OrtonHall.JPG, Orton Hall, The Ohio State University, completed 1893
File:Durand Art Institute.jpg, Durand Art Institute, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois. Henry Ives Cobb architect, completed 1891
File:Williams Free Library front.jpg, Williams Free Library, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Opened 1891. Architect Walter Holbrook
File:ActonMemorialLibrary2.jpg, Acton Memorial Library, Acton, Massachusetts, Hartwell and Richardson, architects, completed 1891
File:Westminster Castle in Colorado.JPG, The Westminster Castle in Westminster, Colorado as it appeared on 29 May 2008
File:Thompson Hall, UNH Sunset.jpg, Thompson Hall at The University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
File:LadiesLiteraryClubGrandRapidsMI.jpg, Ladies' Literary Club, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Architect W.G. Robinson, Completed 1887
File:NewberryHall.jpg, Newberry Hall at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Architects Spier and Rohns, Completed 1888

File:Union Depot, Pueblo, CO.jpg, Pueblo Union Depot in Pueblo, Colorado, James A. McGonigle of Leavenworth, Kansas and Sprague and Newall of Chicago, Illinois, architects, 1889–90
File:High Service Pumping Station, Chestnut Hill, Sudbury Aqueduct.jpg, The High Service Building at Chestnut Hill Water Works, Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts; Arthur H. Vinal, architect, 1887
File:CRRNJ Terminal, Liberty State Park, Jersey City NJ.jpg, Communipaw Terminal, Jersey City, New Jersey, architects, 1889
File:The Professional Building.jpg, The City Bank Building (now The Professional Building) in Wheeling, West Virginia, in the Wheeling Historic District, completed in 1892, Edward Bates Franzheim, architect
File:Picture of old Ann Arbor train station.jpeg, Former Ann Arbor, Michigan train station, Spier & Rohns, architects, 1886

File:Starkweather Chapel.jpg, Starkweather Chapel, Ypsilanti, Michigan; George D. Mason, 1888
File:United Methodist Church, Washington, NJ - south view.jpg, First Methodist Episcopal Church, Washington, New Jersey, Hartwell and Richardson, 1882
File:Rollins-Chapel-Dartmouth-College-College-Street-Hanover-New-Hampshire-05-2018 (cropped).jpg, Rollins Chapel, Dartmouth College, John Lyman Faxon, 1884-85
File:OakwoodChapel.jpg, Gardner Earl Memorial Chapel, Fuller & Wheeler, 1887–89
File:Shadyside Presbyterian Church.jpg, Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, 1890

File:K.W. Smith Residence.jpg, K.W. Smith House Mason Maury, Architect, Louisville, Kentucky, 1886
File:Cupples house 1890.jpg, Cupples House on the campus of Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, 1888–1890
File:Frank House (Kearney, Nebraska) from NE 1.JPG, George W. Frank House, Kearney, NE, designed by Frank, Bailey and Farmer, completed in 1889
File:Oland House, Halifax, Nova Scotia.jpg, Oland House, 1890, Halifax, Nova Scotia
File:James J. Hill House.jpg, James J. Hill House, 240 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota. Peabody & Stearns; Mark Fitzpatrick, architects, completed 1891
File:JohnUriLloydHouse.jpg, John Uri Lloyd House near the campus of the University of Cincinnati was built for a Cincinnati pharmacist by James W. McLaughlin
File:Buhl Mansion (14748028152).jpg, Buhl Mansion in Sharon, Pennsylvania, designed by Charles Henry Owsley, completed in 1891.

See also

*H. H. Richardson Historic District of North Easton

References

Notes

Bibliography
*Kelsey, Mavis P. and Donald H. Dyal, ''The Courthouses of Texas: A Guide'', Texas A&M University Press, College Station Texas 1993
*Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, ''Architectural Sculpture in America'' unpublished manuscript
*Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, ''Starkweather Memorial Chapel, Highland Cemetery, Ypsilanti, Michigan'', Unpublished paper 1983
*Larson, Paul C., Editor, with Susan Brown, ''The Spirit of H. H. Richardson on the Midwest Prairies'', University Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and Iowa State University Press, Ames 1988
*Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ''H. H. Richardson: Complete Architectural Works'', MIT Press, Cambridge MA 1984
*Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, and Andersen, Dennis Alan, ''Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and the Legacy of H. H. Richardson'', University of Washington Press, Seattle WA 2003
*Van Rensselaer, Mariana Griswold, ''Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works'', Dover Publications, Inc. NY 1959 (Reprint of 1888 edition)

External links

Digital archive of American architecture:
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque described and illustrated by buildings in Buffalo, New York

{{Architecture in the United States

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Architectural styles
Revival architectural styles
American architectural styles
Victorian architectural styles
House styles
19th-century architectural styles