Looking at Buildings

, printed from the Looking at Buildings website on Wednesday 16th April 2025

Mixed Styles and Other Traditions

ClassicalGlossary Term [1] architecture has its origin in structure, and often dramatizes buildings by applying the appearance of structure. But in the early years of their revival, classicalGlossary Term [2] forms were often used as fashionable ornament without much regard for structural logic, and overlaid on older forms such as square bayGlossary Term [3] windows and decorative gables. In England and Wales this period is commonly identified by the names of the monarchs, hence the style names ElizabethanGlossary Term [4] and Jacobean [5] (for James I, who reigned 1603-25).

Royal Holloway College
Baroque doorcase

These styles were revived by the Victorians, followed by other European variants, especially French, Dutch, Flemish and German. At the vast Royal Holloway College the style adopted was a version of early 16th-century French.

In the BaroqueGlossary Term [6] architecture of the later 17th and earlier 18th centuries, novel or exaggerated forms often took the place of the more straightforward details favoured in the RenaissanceGlossary Term [7] period. This English doorcase, of 1724, had upward-tapered shafts topped with brackets instead of the familiar columns or pilasters.

RomanesqueGlossary Term [8] and GothicGlossary Term [9] of medieval Europe, the ByzantineGlossary Term [10] architecture of Eastern Christianity, and the Islamic world are examples.

The Alhambra

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Last updated: Saturday, 25th April 2009