Philip Scattergood
Serena Potter
ART 100
16 May 2016
Past Conservative Dignity of Few to a Present Modern Flair of Many
Neoclassical residential architecture was mainly evident in the homes of only a few members of society that displayed the dignity of the lives of their owners, a product of Social History. Since then progress in the Arts and modern technology has led to postmodern residential architecture that has flair that many members of society can share in by actually being able to reside there without any particular social standing. New modern thinking and the strength of numbers can facilitate the actualization of architectural projects that may have only been considered by a rare few in the past.
Jefferson’s Monticello
The third president of the United States Thomas Jefferson was a man of many talents besides being a man of the people. We would usually expect that a man of such prominence would have a home unlike the average working class man. So how did Jefferson decide what type of home he wanted and how to go about getting it built? “As a profession, architecture in the American colonies was virtually a monopoly of carpenter craftsmen, masons, and related building tradesmen (Adams, p. 3)”. In 1760 the study of architecture did not exist in the colonies when Jefferson went to college. In 1771 Jefferson wrote a letter to a business correspondent Thomas Adams, saying “I desired the favor of you to procure and architect. I must repeat the request earnestly, that you will send him as soon as you can”. Jefferson ended up getting minimal help and turned to books in developing his own skills as an architect.
“Thomas Jefferson was largely responsible for the adoption of Neoclassicism as more or less the official style of the USA. It was familiar, yet not too English (i.e. not Georgian, and impossible term in view of recent events). His own Palladian villa, Monticello, was the most distinguished of the colonnaded mansions of eminent American gentlemen (Field, p. 204) “. Jefferson actually built a first and a second design for Monticello by the time he was done with the project. “Taking his clues and inspirations wherever he could find them in history or in contemporary experience, he stove to build a house harmonious with human dignity, the same ideal he followed in formulating the philosophy of the government (Adams, p. ix) “. He probably completed his first plans for building in 1767. The mountaintop were the house was planned was cleared and leveled in 1768 and Jefferson was able to move into the completed South Pavilion in 1770. Jefferson traveled to Europe in 1784 and after returning he had his ideas for the second design that ended up being completed from between 1801 and 1808. Chronological information was obtained from the Monticello (House) FAQ section of the Monticello.org website http://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/monticello-house-faq#when .
The final estate was in the Neo classical style of architecture from what Jefferson ended up choosing from all of the places he had seen in his time in Europe. “The Hôtel de Salm, which Jefferson watched under construction in Paris, was one of the many new buildings that fascinated the architect-statesman. He wrote the Comtesse de Tessé that he was “violently smitten” with it. The Roman style of its French Neoclassicism in rationality of plan and innate dignity appealed to him very much (Adams, p. 90) The estate although completed was not paid for so after Jefferson’s death 1826 his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph and her son and financial manager, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, ended up selling the entire estate. This was especially sad considering what Adams has said about Monticello, “In its design, history, symbolism, and metaphor, Monticello is the quintessential example of the autobiographical house (Adams, p. 2)”.
Arrival of Postmodern Architecture and New Building Techniques
The United States being a fairly young county in the world has seen a relatively few architectural styles compared much older countries such France, Spain, and Great Britain. It did however end up having schools for architecture and a vast number of successful architects after Jefferson’s time at Monticello. The US and the rest of the world now had postmodern architecture to choose from. With this new style came ideas that needed new technologies and skilled builders to fulfill the designs but we are not as limited in resources as Jefferson was in his time. Architect Frank Gehry used digital computer aided design programs but needed a way to relay the design to a contractor that could actually build it and he found a three-dimensional modeling program called CATIA, which had been developed for the French aerospace industry (Getlein, p. 307).
Extraordinary Fanciful Buildings for Many
With more than three centuries passing since the first settlers came to colonize what is now the United States of America it has become a country where almost anything is possible, and we are also part of a global economy now where architects from the US can practice in other countries. “Life is chaotic, dangerous, and surprising. Buildings should reflect that” Frank O. Gehry (Miller, p. 6). Gehry went to Harvard to study urban development and interestingly left because he was not able to pursue his innovative designs for affordable housing as he wished and after a falling out with one of his professors (Miller, p. 7). After working with different architectural firms in the US and France he eventually ended up starting his own firm Frank O. Gehry and Associates in Santa Monica, CA.
Gehry achieved worldwide success after his work on the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 1991-97, Bilbao, Spain, which he used the new CATIA program on. His project Der Neue Zollhof, 1994-99, Düsseldorf, Germany, consists of three separate different looking buildings and the one in the middle with a wavy fanciful shape and polished stainless steel exterior is the one that I like and happens to be a multiple tenant building. The flashy exterior of the building coupled with the shiny look would make it almost impossible to be built as a single family home in a lot of cities that have architectural guidelines that are far from such designs.
I work in the City of Oceanside Development Services Department in the Building Division and a couple of my co-workers used to work for the City of San Juan Capistrano. San Juan Capistrano like a lot of cities in southern CA has Architectural Design Guidelines which are followed very closely http://www.sanjuancapistrano.org/Index.aspx?page=643 . So when I showed them an image of Frank Gehry’s Norton Residence in Venice, CA they said that a larger project would have a better chance of going through all of the necessary approvals than the just a single family residence that could disrupt the look of an entire area. So while Jefferson was able to build his Monticello it was not actually paid for and his family had to sell it after his death but a multitenant building such as Gehry’s Der Neue Zollhof was able to be built and both occupied and paid for by many people and that is more than likely be the trend for the future as well. Source of photo http://www.architravel.com/architravel/city/dusseldorf/ * Works Cited
Adams, W. H. (1983). Jefferson's Monticello. New York: Abbeville Press, Inc.
Field, D. (2002). The World's Greatest Architecture Past & Present. New York: Barnes & Noble.
Getlein, M. (2013). Living wtih Art. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Miller, J. (2002). Frank Gehry. New York: Barnes & Noble.