Victorian Building Styles, 1880-1910
Beaux Arts Classicism, 1890-1910
One of the most famous of all schools of architecture, the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, lent its name to this style. Numerous American architects either attended this institution themselves or learned the style from graduates of the Ecole teaching in American schools of architecture. The style achieved fame by way of exhibitions, most notable the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where monumental designs eclectically incorporated the classical vocabulary of Greek, Roman, and Renaissance architecture.
Beaux Arts Classicism was favored for large public buildings such as libraries, schools, state capitols, courthouses, and post offices, and for commercial structures like hotels, railroad depots, banks, and office buildings. Many American examples—including most of those in Utah—do not actually use Beaux Arts planning principles either in their floor plans or in the building’s relationship to its site and surrounding buildings. They do maintain a diversity of Beaux Arts qualities: large volumes of space (e.g. railroad depot waiting rooms), exuberant decorative elements, and interrelated façade components.
One of the earliest examples of this style in the state was architect Richard K. A. Kletting’s design for the original Salt Palace, which was built in 1899.
Characteristics:
--use of Classical orders in combination with exuberant decorative elements
--pavilions projecting from the main structure, with Classical ornamentation sometimes topped by a pediment
--balustraded parapet broken by projecting pediments, wall dormers or sculpture
--raised basement level, often rusticated y emphasizing masonry joints, exposing mortar, and using rough-hewn stone
--round arch and/or segmental arch openings
Click on images to view full-size image
 |
 |
 |