Architecture of the United Kingdom

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

30 St Mary Axe and St Andrew Undershaft
Centre right: Rochdale Town Hall
Bottom left: Balmoral Hotel
Bottom right: Pembroke Castle

The architecture of the United Kingdom, or British architecture, consists of a combination of

Roman architecture, to the present day 21st century contemporary. England has seen the most influential developments,[1] though Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have each fostered unique styles and played leading roles in the international history of architecture.[1] Although there are prehistoric and classical structures in the United Kingdom, British architectural history effectively begins with the first Anglo-Saxon Christian churches, built soon after Augustine of Canterbury arrived in Great Britain in 597.[1] Norman architecture was built on a vast scale throughout Great Britain and Ireland from the 11th century onwards in the form of castles and churches to help impose Norman authority upon their dominions.[1] English Gothic architecture, which flourished between 1180 until around 1520, was initially imported from France, but quickly developed its own unique qualities.[1]

Throughout the United Kingdom, secular

Charles, Prince of Wales.[3]

Beyond the United Kingdom, the influence of British architecture is evident in most of its former colonies and current territories across the globe. The influence is particularly strong in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan[4] the result of British rule in India in the 19th and 20th centuries. The cities of Lahore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Dhaka and Chittagong have courts, administrative buildings and railway stations designed in British architectural styles.[4] In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a "nationally important" archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. A listed building is a building or other structure decreed as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance; it is a widely used status, applied to around half a million buildings in the UK, enacted by provisions in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 and the Town and Country Planning Act (Scotland) 1947.

Background

The Roman Baths complex in Bath, Somerset, is a well-preserved Roman site.[5]

Within the United Kingdom are the ruins of

architecture of ancient Rome penetrated Roman Britain with "elegant villas, carefully planned towns and engineering marvels like Hadrian's Wall".[6] After the Roman departure from Britain in around the year 400, Romano-British culture flourished but left few architectural remnants, partly because many buildings were made of wood, and partly because the society had passed into the Dark Ages. Similarly, Anglo-Saxons brought a "sophisticated building style of their own" to Britain, but little physical evidence survives because the principal building material was wood.[6]

The

St. Magnus Cathedral.[7]

Throughout Britain and Ireland, simplicity and functionality prevailed in building styles. Castles, such as

Tudor style architecture.[6]

Castle Howard in North Yorkshire, an example of an English country house

Between 1500 and 1660 Britain experienced a social, cultural and political change owing to the

William Harrison noted in his Description of England (1577), "Each one desireth to set his house aloft on the hill, to be seen afar off, and cast forth his beams of stately and curious workmanship into every quarter of the country."[6]

A greater sense of security led to "more outward-looking buildings", as opposed to the Medieval, inward facing buildings constructed for defence.

Banqueting House, both in London. For the majority of the people of Great Britain however, domestic buildings were of poor design and materials, meaning few examples from the early modern period have survived.[8] Most buildings remained tied to the locality, and local materials shaped buildings.[8] Furthermore, the buildings of the 16th century were also governed by fitness for purpose.[6] However, more stable and sophisticated houses for those lower down the social scale gradually appeared, replacing timber with stone and, later, brick.[6] The arrival of Flemish people in the 16th and 17th centuries introduced Protestant craftsmen and pattern-books from the Low Countries that also prompted the multiplication of weavers' cottages.[6]

Augustus Welby Pugin, Sir Charles Barry, and Anja Van Der Watt it is "the building that most enshrines Britain's national and imperial pretensions".[9]

The 18th century has been described as "a great period in British Architecture".

English initiatives combined with the Scottish Enlightenment to create innovations in the arts, sciences and engineering.[13] This paved the way for the establishment of the British Empire, which became the largest in history. Domestically it drove the Industrial Revolution, a period of profound change in the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of Britain, with architecture adapted to industrial use
.

Augustus Welby Pugin and Sir Charles Barry, it is described by Linda Colley as "the building that most enshrines Britain's national and imperial pre-tensions".[9]

England

Main article: Architecture of England

Many ancient

Castles in England were created so law lords could uphold their authority and in the north to protect from invasion. Some of the best known medieval castles include the Tower of London, Warwick Castle, Durham Castle and Windsor Castle amongst others.[17]

English Baroque and a Red telephone box

Throughout the Plantagenet era an

modernist forms have appeared whose reception is often controversial, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support in influential places.[note 1]

Northern Ireland

See also: Architecture of Ireland

The first known dwelling in Northern Ireland are found at the Mount Sandel Mesolithic site in County Londonderry and date to 7000 BC.[19] Counties Fermanagh and Tyrone are especially rich in Stone Age archaeology. Early Christian art and architecture is found throughout Northern Ireland, as well as monastic sites, gravestones, abbeys, round towers and Celtic crosses.[19]

Edwardian Baroque
style.

Northern Ireland has some of the largest and finest

St. Columb's Cathedral
....

Northern Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries produced two varieties of architecture, constructed along the divide of societal privilege; "sumptuous" manor houses of the

Presidents of the United States who have Ulster ancestry.[20] The city of Armagh has Georgian architecture by way of the Armagh Observatory and the city's Georgian quarter; the Catholic St Patrick's Cathedral and Anglican St Patrick's Cathedral are two landmarks in Armagh.[20]

During the

Belfast Botanic Gardens, Albert Memorial Clock, and the ornate Crown Liquor Saloon.[20] Early 20th century landmarks include a number of schools built for Belfast Corporation in the 1930s by R S Wilshere.[21] Notables include the severe, sturdy, 1936 brick built Belfast School of Music on Donegall Pass and the Whitla Hall at Queen's University Belfast, designed by John McGeagh.[22] Belfast has examples of art deco architecture such a such as the Bank of Ireland and Sinclair's department store on Royal Avenue and the Floral Hall at Bellevue.[22] Many of Belfast's oldest buildings are found in the Cathedral Quarter. Prominent Northern Irish architects include R S Wilshere and McGeogh, cinema architect James McBride Neil, and Dennis O’D Hanna, part of the "Ulster Unit" group of self-consciously modern artists and craftspeople, promoted by poet and curator John Hewitt.[22]

Scotland

Main article: Architecture of Scotland

Prehistoric architecture is found throughout Scotland.

Roman forts at Trimontium and Inchtuthil.[citation needed
]

Castle Stalker is one of Scotland's most iconic buildings, and amongst the best-preserved examples of medieval tower houses in Britain.

Scotland is known for its "dramatically placed castles, fused onto defensive ridges and rocky islands".

Scots Baronial Style architecture has an emphasis on turrets and strong vertical lines drawn from tower houses, and constitutes one of Scotland's "most distinctive contributions to British architecture".[6]

The new political stability, made possible by the Act of Union,[10] allowed for renewed prosperity in Scotland, which led to a spate of new building, both public and private, during the 18th century. Scotland produced "the most important British architects of this age": Colen Campbell, James Gibbs and Robert Adam were Scots interpreting the first phase of Classical forms of ancient Greece and Rome in Palladian architecture.[10] Edinburgh's New Town was the focus of this classical building boom, resulting in the city being nicknamed "The Athens of the North" on account both of its intellectual output from the Scottish Enlightenment and the city's neo-classical architecture.[25] Together with Edinburgh's Old Town, it constitutes one of the United Kingdom's World Heritage Sites.[26]

idiosyncratic of architects such as James, John and Robert Adam, Alexander Thomson and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which all relate to popular trends in Scottish architecture; all however created Scottish stylistic interpretations and often deliberately injecting traditional Scottish forms into their work.[28] The Adam brothers were leaders of the first phase of the classical revival in the Kingdom of Great Britain.[29]

Wales

Main article: Architecture of Wales

Isle of Anglesey, and Parc Cwm long cairn on the Gower Peninsula
.

As stated by Sir Simon Jenkins, "Wales has a very long and porous border with England", which had a major influence upon the architecture of Wales.[30] Many Welsh landmark buildings were designed and built by Englishmen, such as the Romanesque-revival Penrhyn Castle near Bangor, a design by Thomas Hopper that blended Norman, Regency and early-Victorian architecture for an English MP who had inherited a vast Welsh estate.[30]

Contemporary architecture has appeared in Wales from Cardiff Bay to Caernarfon, and has a tradition of mixing traditional Welsh materials in to modern construction techniques.[31]

Gallery

See also

Notes

  1. Prince Charles since the 1980s has voiced strong views against it in favour of traditional architecture and put his ideas into practice at his Poundbury development in Dorset.[3] Architects like Raymond Erith, Francis Johnson and Quinlan Terry
    continued to practice in the classical style.

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f "British Architecture > page 1", Encarta, uk.encarta.msn.com, archived from the original on 31 October 2009, retrieved 18 June 2009
  2. ^ a b "British Architecture > page 2", Encarta, uk.encarta.msn.com, archived from the original on 31 October 2009, retrieved 18 June 2009
  3. ^ a b "Architects to hear Prince appeal". BBC News. news.bbc.co.uk. 12 May 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  4. ^ a b Singh et al 2007, p. 69.
  5. ^ a b c d "Ancient Roman architecture in England and Wales". Castles.me.uk. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Tinniswood, Adrian (5 November 2009), A History of British Architecture, bbc.co.uk, archived from the original on 15 January 2010, retrieved 13 January 2010
  7. ^ MacGibbon et al 1896, p. 191.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Royal Institute of British Architects, Tudors and Stuarts, architecture.com, archived from the original on 27 February 2010, retrieved 14 January 2010
  9. ^ a b Colley 1992, pp. 324–325.
  10. ^ a b c d "About Scotland Edinburgh New Town 18th century Architects". Aboutscotland.co.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  11. ^ The Treaty or Act of the Union at scotshistoryonline.co.uk, accessed 1 February 2011
  12. ^ William E. Burns, A Brief History of Great Britain, p. xxi
  13. ^ a b c Georgian in Britain, ontarioarchitecture.com, retrieved 10 February 2010
  14. ^ "The Prehistoric Sites of Great Britain". Stone-Circles.org.uk. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  15. ^ Colgrave 1985, p. 326.
  16. ^ Pevsner 1942, p. 14.
  17. ^ a b Atkinson 2008, p. 189.
  18. ^ Downes 2007, p. 17.
  19. ^
    Northern Ireland Tourist Board. "Castles, Monuments & Monasteries". discovernorthernireland.com. Archived
    from the original on 27 January 2010. Retrieved 27 January 2010.
  20. ^
    Northern Ireland Tourist Board. "From Castles to City Hall". discovernorthernireland.com. Archived from the original
    on 15 January 2010. Retrieved 27 January 2010.
  21. ^ Nettlefield Primary School | Ulster Architectural Heritage Society Archived July 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Uahs.org.uk. Retrieved on 2013-07-29.
  22. ^ a b c "The Contemporary Architecture of Northern Ireland". culturenorthernireland.org. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  23. ^ Hawkes 1986, p. 262.
  24. ^ a b c Royal Institute of British Architects, Castles and tower houses, architecture.com, archived from the original on 25 February 2012, retrieved 13 January 2010
  25. ^ "Enlightenment :: Act of Union 1707". Parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 25 September 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  26. ^ "Old and New Towns of Edinburgh – UNESCO World Heritage Centre". Whc.unesco.org. 20 November 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  27. ^ Royal Institute of British Architects, Scottish buildings, architecture.com, archived from the original on 26 May 2009, retrieved 13 January 2010
  28. ^ a b c Royal Institute of British Architects, Kirks throughout the ages, architecture.com, archived from the original on 14 October 2007, retrieved 13 January 2010
  29. ^ Pevsner 1951, p. 237.
  30. ^ a b Pearman, Hugh (14 December 2008). "How Welsh is Welsh architecture? And why aren't the English bothered?". hughpearman.com. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  31. ^ "Living in Wales". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 January 2010.

Bibliography

External links

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