In The 19th Century Which Style Best Represented B

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorCollege, Undergraduate February 2008

download word file, 6 pages 0.0

In the 19th century which style best represented Britain- the gothic or the classical During the 18th century the knowledge of ancient architecture widened and deepened. 17th century travelers had brought back accounts of Egypt and Greece, but these were replaced by the detailed academic studies by Stuart and Revett who wrote the Antiquities of Athens and the unedited antiquities of Attica. By 1800 lots of well-illustrated books with measured drawings were available on the Middle East and on the Greek and Roman remains. Architects used these books and the information therein considerably affected the focus of their theories. As the availability of information increased peoples perceptions and attitudes changed.

Britain was on a high after a long and arduous battle with Napoleon and the French finally resulted in a home victory. At the same time the industrial revolution was rapidly expanding, Prince Regent was a 'super-fly guy with money to spend' and to move with the times the architect John Nash (1753-1835) provided a remarkable plan for building individual villas and terraces in Marylebone Park, this was over 500 acres and needed redeveloping.

He linked this with Prince Regent's palace by creating a new street known as Regent Street, which ran north to south. The prince was delighted with the scheme, largely built in the 10 years following 1815, it signified the success of Picturesque ideals for the first time on such a large scale brought to an urban setting. Nash had described how the villas were to be carefully positioned in relation to each other and to the groves of trees in such a way 'that no villa should see any other but each should appear to possess the whole of the park'.

The first hurdle to overcome when building a building during this period was too choose...