This paper looks at monographs and villas and concentrates on the design of the White House as a villa. The idea of villas in based on ancient Roman culture and traditions and specifically on the upper class country house in ancient Roman Empire. Since the origin of this ideology, the idea of villa and its function have considerable evolved over the years. After the Roman Republic fell, villa developed to become small farming compounds. These small farming compounds increasingly fortified later in the Late Antiquity. They were sometimes moved to the Church in order to be reused as a monastery. Through the middle ages, villas re-evolved once again into country homes for the upper class. Today villas are attributed to different types as well as sizes of residences, which range from suburban to urban constructions and residential building. The architect and design of the White House are considered to have taken the idea of villas.
The White House in Washington D.C. is both the official residence as well as the workplace of the US President. The house is located at Pennsylvania Avenue NW within the city of Washington D.C.
Description of the Building
The White House was particularly designed by James Hoban who is an Irish-born architect. It was built between the year 1792 and 1800. The main material used to construct it were Aquia Creek sandstones that were painted in white. The design was mainly the neoclassical style. Neoclassical style is an architectural style that was produced by neoclassical movement mainly after the mid-eighteenth century. This style is principally derived from Classical Greece and Roman architecture. A clear term to describe the style here is the idea of villas, which has a strong historical root from Ro...
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...by most other ancient villas, especially those served as palaces. The building has remained to be the symbol of power for the US government since the country became independent.
Works Cited
Ackerman, James S. The Villa: Form and Ideology of Country Houses. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
Dal Lago, Adalbert. Villas and Palaces of Europe. Paul Hamlyn, ISBN 600012352. 1969.
Skurman, Andrew. Contemporary Classical: The Architecture of Andrew Skurman. Princeton : Princeton Architectural Press, 2012.
Thacker, Christopher. The History of Gardens. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation. White House Grounds. 2014. http://tclf.org/landscapes/white-house-grounds (accessed May 9, 2014).
The White House Museum. The White House Residence. 2014. http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/residence.htm (accessed May 14, 2014).
Andrea Palladio was born in 1508A.D. in Italy. At a very young age he became a stone mason, however his journey into architecture began when he met Gian Giorgio Trissino who immediately saw ability in him and decided to mentor Palladio. Trissino combined a study of classical architecture with architecture of the time, all the while allowing Palladio room to develop a style of his own. In time Palladio was constructing villas through out the country side of Italy, in all he constructed 30 villas, 18 of which are still standing today. Perhaps Palladio’s most famous work was the Villa Rotondra or La Rotondra which was started around 1565 and took approximately 4 years to build and was greatly inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. It is interesting to note that la Rotondra is different from Palladio’s other villas in a number of ways, and it is evident that these differences help distinguish it from the rest. The main differences between Palladio’s Rotondra and his other work are, The Rotonda is set on a hilltop, it is located near a...
The house was built in 1917 by William Bowers Bourn, a San Francisco millionaire whose wealth came from gold mining . Construction of the large property took 2 years, while it took 12 years to build the formal gardens, which were completed in 1929. Its name was created by Bourn, using the first 2 letters from the key words of his credo: “Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life.” After the deaths of Bourn and his wife in 1936, it was purchased by William Roth, another prominent San Franciscan, who pr...
Dell Upton is a historian and renowned professor of architecture and Urbanism at the University of California. He has published several books on architecture; one of them is “Architecture in the United States”, published in 1998. In this book, Upton analyzes the architecture of the United States in different aspects, such as nature, money and art, thus depicting the great variety in architectural forms, and how throughout the decades, different interests have lead communities to different ways of building, different purposes and materials, thus reflecting their way of thinking and their relationship with the environment. By exploring so many different architectural styles, Upton reveals the great diversity and richness that has always, and continues to characterize American architecture.
The Washington Square Arch is a semi-circular arch and contains all of the characteristic parts of an arch: keystone, voussoir, impost, and an abutment. It also contains an entablature with a frieze and is highly decorated. The keystone on both the north and south sides sits at the apex on the arch and holds a pedestal with an eagle perched at the top. The voussoirs on both sides are also flanked by angels. The abutment surrounding the arch contains shields at the center and two crossed swords below it. The frieze above it and behind the eagle contains alternating wreaths with stars in the center, totalling in 13 stars, and “W’s” flanked by what I believe to be olive branches. The entablature continues upwards with a cornice showing dentils and then a quote at the center top. It says, “Let us raise a stand to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God,” quoted from George Washington himself. On the north face of the arch, there are two statues of George Washington. The statue on the left shows him as the commander-in-chief and and the statue on the right shows a statue of George Washington as the president. In both statues, there representations of Fame, Valor, Justice, and Wisdom surrounding
Slowly but surely Jefferson finished a small brick building, which was the south pavilion, in 1770. Later the north pavilion was finished and served as a study for his son-in-law.
when the second president of the United States, John Adams, arrived in Washington City and went immediately to the "President’s House." This residence was the outgrowth of George Washington’s dream for a capital city, though it would not be completed during his presidency. Pierre Charles L’Enfant had designed the city, but Washington himself sited the location of the White House. When John Adams moved in that November day, the house, designed by the Dublin builder James Hoban, was as yet unfinished. Only half of its thirty-six rooms had been plastered, just one of the three planned staircases was completed, and the watchman was keeping all of the fireplaces burning to dry the plaster. Still, the president’s baggage was unloaded, his office
Influenced by his readings of ancient and modern architectural writings, Jefferson gleaned the best from both his readings and from his observations in Europe, creating his own personal style of architecture, a mix of Neoclassicism’s Roman temples, and Palladian villa. Partly, because of Jefferson’s influence, our federal buildings set an American precedent for the neoclassical style. Jefferson’s admiration for neoclassical style went so far as to design candlesticks based on the Corinthian order.
Our nation's revolution was a great achievement in U.S History. With the dawn of a new nation, there would have to be a central location to make the new decisions of our country. Our capitol has stood as the heart of our country since the late 1700s. The United States capitol is among the most architecturally impressive and symbolically important buildings in the world. For almost two centuries it has housed the meeting chambers of the senate and the House of Representatives. Begun in 1793, the capitol building has been built, burnt, rebuilt, extended, and restored. Today our capitol stands as a monument to the American people and their government. (AOC.gov)
---. Roman Villas: A Study in Social Structure. London: Routledge, 1997. Questia School. Web. 5 May 2014.
“Classical” is not necessarily a style of Architecture; however modern dialect people often believe it to be. Classical is rather a way of designing that would reflect balance, harmony and symmetry. Scale, mass and proportion are also key elements of classical design. If a building is not scaled or proportioned properly, it will not look or feel right.
The Palace Of Versailles In order to understand the Palace at Versailles, one should be aware of the Architectural Analysis, the History of the Chateau, the Main Palace Buildings and Rooms, and the purpose of the Palace of Versailles. The Palace of Versailles is located in Versailles, France, and was built in 1631 on the order of Louis XIII. It has served as the royal palace and numerous other purposes. It now serves as a museum of French history.
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, serves as the meeting place for the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Old Palace was a medieval building that was destroyed by fire in 1834. After the fire, a competition was held for architects to submit plans for the new building that should be in a Gothic or Elizabethan style hoping to embody the conservative values of England. A Royal commission chose Charles Barry’s designs for a Perpendicular Gothic palace. Barry’s own style was more classical than Gothic which is why Augustus Pugin’s involvement was so crucial in Barry winning the competition. Barry’s plans reflected more of his knowledge of the neo-classical style through its symmetry. Pugin was the leading authority on Gothic architecture at the time. Almost all of the remains of the Old Palace were incorporated into the new design. Their work on the Palace began in 1840 and, while most of the work was finished by 1860, the New Palace of Westminster was not complete until a decade later. One of the most identifiable features of the Palace is the Elizabeth Tower, commonly identified by its main bell, “Big Ben”. The building is also known for two main spaces; the Lord’s Chamber and the Common’s Chamber. It is well identified by its main façade which runs parallel to the River Thames. The Palace, as it stands today, has been conserved very well to best display the designs as Charles Barry and Pugin intended them to be displayed. The Palace was, and remains, the center for political life in the United Kingdom, just as it remains a major iconic landmark of London. Many articles and books have been written discussing and disputing the history and design of the New Palace of Westminster, as well as the...
Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier are two very prominent names in the field of architecture. Both architects had different ideas concerning the relationship between humans and the environment. Their architectural styles were a reflection of how each could facilitate the person and the physical environment. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, is considered one of the most important buildings in the history of American architecture and Le Corbusier s Villa Savoye helped define the progression that modern architecture was to take in the 20th Century. Both men are very fascinating and have strongly influenced my personal taste for modern architecture. Although Wright and Corbusier each had different views on how to design a house, they also had similar beliefs. This paper is a comparison of Frank Lloyd Wright‘s and Le Corbusier ‘s viewpoints exhibited through their two prominent houses, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye.
Vidler, Anthony. The writing of the walls: Architectural theory in the late enlightenment. Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1987.
The book as a description of modern architecture, its styles and influence succeeds but falls short as a prescriptive methodology. His work is still recalled for the need by modernists to categorize everything into neat little boxes, not necessarily for the sake of uniformity, but for sake of some ambiguity. The ambiguity may be the triumph of this book as post modern architecture era is supposed to create more questions than the answers.