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04 · Classical & Gothic Revivals

Baroque Revival

c. 1860–1915

The 1800s turning the volume up: domes, paired columns, sculpture crowding the roofline, and staircases built for grand entrances.

Look for

Dome Monumental stairway Carved stone relief
Palais Garnier, Paris, France: an example of Baroque Revival architecture
Palais Garnier, Paris, France. Photo: Peter Rivera, CC BY 2.0
Hungarian State Opera House, Budapest, Hungary
Hungarian State Opera House Budapest, Hungary · Snóbli Iván, CC BY-SA 3.0
Old Bailey, London, England
Old Bailey London, England · Nevilley at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Belfast City Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Belfast City Hall Belfast, Northern Ireland · Giorgio Galeotti, CC BY 4.0
Semperoper, Dresden, Germany
Semperoper Dresden, Germany · Avda, CC BY-SA 3.0

what it is

Baroque Revival, also called Neo-Baroque, reused the forms of 17th- and 18th-century Baroque architecture for large public buildings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Facades have paired or grouped columns, pavilions that project at the center and corners, curved and broken pediments, and rustication (stone blocks cut with deep joints) on the ground floor. Domes, rows of statues along the roofline and cartouches, carved oval or shield-shaped frames, are common. Inside, ceremonial staircases, gilded plaster and painted ceilings fill the public rooms.

Charles Garnier's Palais Garnier in Paris (1861-1875) has a facade of paired columns topped by gilded statues and a grand staircase in white marble with red and green marble balustrades. Other examples are the Burgtheater in Vienna (1888) by Gottfried Semper and Karl von Hasenauer, Belfast City Hall (1898-1906), and London's Old Bailey (1902-1907) by Edward William Mountford. Original Baroque was used mainly for churches and palaces; the revival was used for opera houses, city halls, courts and banks.

how to spot one

Dome A rounded roof shaped as half a sphere, often raised on a drum (a circular wall). Domes cover large central spaces on Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, Renaissance and Neoclassical buildings. Monumental stairway A wide outdoor staircase leading up to a building's main entrance, often spanning much of the front. It is common on classical temples, government buildings and museums. Carved stone relief Figures or patterns carved into stone so they project from a flat background, called low relief when shallow and high relief when deep. It appears on ancient temples and Gothic churches.

Also look for

PedimentColonnadeBalustradeRustication

history

The style began in France under Napoleon III, where it is called Second Empire architecture. At the urging of Prefect Georges-Eugene Haussmann, Napoleon III commissioned a new opera house for Paris. Charles Garnier won the competition announced in December 1860, construction began in August 1861, and the Palais Garnier opened on January 5, 1875. The Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris made Baroque composition central to its teaching, and its students carried the approach to other countries.

In Germany the style is associated with the reign of Wilhelm II, and in Vienna it shaped buildings on the Ringstrasse such as the Burgtheater, opened in 1888. Budapest's Hungarian State Opera (1875-1884) and Berlin Cathedral (1894-1905) followed. In Britain, Edwardian Baroque drew on Christopher Wren's 17th-century buildings and was used for Belfast and Cardiff city halls (both completed in 1906) and the Old Bailey, opened in 1907. Versions were also built outside Europe, including the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo and the Gran Teatro de La Habana in Havana. The style went out of use with the First World War and the rise of modernism.

where to find it

The Palais Garnier in Paris, Vienna's Ringstrasse monuments, Budapest's opera house and baths, and London's Old Bailey.

architects

Charles Garnier

easy to confuse with

St Peter's Basilica, an example of Baroque Baroque Theatrical classicism: curved facades, giant columns rising through several stories, and dramatic staged light. Palais Garnier, an example of Beaux-Arts Beaux-Arts Gilded Age grandeur: paired giant columns, rough-cut stone bases, rooftop sculpture, and monumental stairs. Philadelphia City Hall, an example of Second Empire Second Empire Steep boxy mansard roofs with dormer windows, over heavily bracketed cornices and paired columns.