Post 6: Historical Context

Post 6: Historical Context

Two aspects of nineteenth-century American history shaped H.H. Richardson's development and deeds as an architect and so are relevant to Austin Hall. For one, Richardson’s family circumstances and studies were heavily influenced by cultural changes taking place before, during, and succeeding the American Civil War. Additionally, the progression of the architect’s unique stylistic contributions was shaped in large part by the overall theme of the United States’ changing relationship with the Old World– both culturally and politically.

            Richardson was born into a class of wealthy antebellum Southern planter elite, a status that conferred upon him opportunities unknown to most Americans at the time. From this social status, he developed his talents through advanced education and architectural training abroad, and was a trailblazer in terms of being an American studying Architecture in Europe. The American Civil War changed this opportunity, but also irrevocably influenced the path that both the nation's economic climate and the rest of his life would take. The War reduced his family’s position and standing, forcing Richardson’s withdrawal from architectural training. This same force was responsible for making the North the center of commerce and industry and the South one the nation's poorest regions (even up through the present). At the same time, Richardson felt reluctant to return to his life and family in the South. In part due to Harvard being his alma mater, he chose to settle in the northeast. From an office in New York, Richardson presided over an architectural firm perfectly positioned take advantage of the postwar growth and industrialization of the economy and construction business. Such a climate enabled his later experimentation with a new style, Richardsonian Romanesque.

            For this new style, Richardson would draw upon both foreign and ancient elements to shape works designed to project wealth and power. Such a choice reflected the feeling of the upper echelon of Victorian American society that anything old and European was somewhere better, more refined, and reflected sophistication. Such sentiments in fact paralleled the state of the American scholarly and higher education apparatus. Just like Richardson, many Americans who could afford it would often secured their higher education in Europe, since it was not until World War II that American Universities unequivocally attained pride of place in the academic community. As a result, Austin Hall’s representations of European ideals reflected the central project of the premier American universities of Richardson’s time: Europeanization, or playing catch-up with the respected centers of learning in the UK, Germany, France, and Italy. And that goal was part of what drove Harvard towards expansion in the late 19^th Century, beyond just the same industrializing influences that enabled Richardson’s numerous structures. To be sure, just as this new generation in America would need new and grand buildings, many more Americans would also need to learn in the European model without ever leaving home.

            Ultimately, Richardson’s contributions can be seen as part of an era that attempted to replicate the opulence of Europe in the United States. Such an effort took the form of education and architectural expansion that would bring many of the successes of Europe to the States, but not without significant modification and variation– experimentation that would attain fame in its own right, such as in the case of H.H. Richardson’s architectural masterpieces.

References:

- Hitchcock, Henry Russell. The Architecture of H.H. Richardson and His Times. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1961.

-http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=282
-Background knowledge learned in Niall Ferguson’s Harvard Course Western Ascendancy

            

#5: Questions and Print Sources

Key Questions-

1.     How much of a say did Austin Hall’s commissioners (i.e. Harvard Law School) have a say in the aesthetic form of the building? In other words, to what extent did function and purpose dictate what Richardson’s designs were?

2.     What was Richardson’s own impression of Austin in the context of his other works? Was he proud of the job he did?

3.     What did the landscape surrounding Austin look like at the time of construction?

4.     Can we find any indication as to why the tower-like feature on the façade of Austin faces away from the rest of what is now the Law School campus?

5.     What were the trends in Richardson’s work that are evident in features of Austin (i.e. what sorts of patterns can we see as epitomized in Austin?)?

Key Sources-

1.     H.H. Richardson: the architect, his peers, and their era

2.     H.H. Richardson’s youth: some unpublished documents.

3.     H.H. Richardson, complete architectural works

4.     Austin Hall after a century

5.     Austin Hall: fund for restoration and preservation

6.     Austin Hall feasibility study the second century

7.     Austin Hall graphic: connecting stairs to tunnel

8.     Graphics and initial plans from Richardson and Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson, and Abbott. At least ten of these exist.

Primary Source-derived Historical Context

Post # 4: Primary Source-derived Historical Context

10/14/12

An examination of two news articles– one a Washington Post obituary eulogizing architect H.H. Richardson upon his death in 1886 and the other a New York Times account of a Law School Association meeting that was part of Harvard’s 250^th anniversary celebration– reveals just how critical a role Austin Hall played in this nation’s architectural and legal history. Moreover, what perhaps comes as a surprise is that journalists at the time were already aware of the lasting legacy of the events that they had witnessed. Such precious insight speaks to the immensity of the importance of the buildings Richardson created. It also reminded me that the effect of restoration of Austin to the point that it resembles what must have been its appearance post construction is that I feel connected to this celebration in experiencing Austin- a connection whose specifics I now understand. To think that the luminaries of the 1880s were on hand before this very building is a reminder of the building's interaction with its environment that is more extensive than meets the eye. I now have difficulty look at Austin without immediately recalling its History in my mind.

            Richardson’s “pupils may be found among the rising men of his profession almost everywhere in America,” opined the Post, “his name will always be inseparably associated with the architectural development of art in America.” This widely circulated statement can only be read as reflecting the near-universal spirit of common amity towards Richardson’s achievements. The fact that his “creations grace and dignify Washington among other principal cities of the Republic” was not the only thing to render Richardson so notable. The Post argues that it was his ability to achieve such widespread acclaim precisely by channeling foreign architecture to create an entirely new style that makes him so remarkable. It is this context– that of a public awareness that this genius in life would retain or even grow in meaning after death–  in which Austin Hall must be considered. As a late life creation for Richardson, the building could not disappoint such high expectations and yet also had to prove to be something that its user, Harvard, could be proud of as a symbol of its nascent law school.

            The meeting described by the Times reflects Austin Hall’s near immediate status as a source of pride for Harvard. It was a setting in which the University and Law School sought fit to host numerous luminaries of the day, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. As a centerpiece of the celebration of the University’s past two centuries and a half, the building, much like its architect, recalled a tradition in order to look towards the future. It should be noted, however, that the principal portion of the day’s festivities were relocated to Sander’s Theatre, probably out of space considerations but perhaps also signaling that the building, as an innovation, was too young to be the backdrop for the main event of the day. Something about an event commemorating the founding of the oldest higher education institution in America demanded a building that was not quite so new; establishments of that time would seem to prefer celebrating their heritage by looking backward rather than forward. In spite of this reality, this article shows Austin Hall’s role in the development of the Law School as a separate entity in American education.

            Though we now know that Austin Hall represents some of the best of Richardson’s contributions to architectural traditions in this country as well as the development of the educational system, it is reassuring to know that this reading is not just the bias of hindsight. Richardson’s contemporaries felt so too, making his work, as embodied in Austin Hall, all the more special.

References

"An American Architect." The Washington Post (1877-1922), Apr 30, 1886. http://search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/docview/138056241?accountid=11311; http://sfx.hul.harvard.edu/hvd?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=article&sid=ProQ:ProQ%3Ahnpwashingtonpost&atitle=An+American+Architect.&title=The+Washington+Post+%281877-1922%29&issn=&date=1886-04-30&volume=&issue=&spage=2&au=&isbn=&jtitle=The+Washington+Post+%281877-1922%29&btitle=.

"Harvard's Celebration." New York Times (1857-1922), Nov 06, 1886. http://search.proquest.com.ezp-
       prod1.hul.harvard.edu/docview/94355820?accountid=11311; http://sfx.hul.harvard.edu         /hvd?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=article&sid=ProQ:ProQ%3Ahnpnewyorktimes&atitle=HARVARD%27S+CELEBRATION%3A+INAUGURATED+BY+THE+LAW+SCHOOL+ASSOCIATION.+AN+ELOQUENT+ADDRESS+BY+OLIVER+WENDELL+HOLMES%2C+JR.%2C+A+BUSINESS+MEETING%2C+AND+A+BANQUET.&title=New+York+Times+%281857-1922%29&issn=&date=1886-11-06&volume=&issue=&spage=3&au=&isbn=&jtitle=New+York+Times+%281857-1922%29&btitle

3. Architectural Context

Post #3: Architectural Context

10/7/12

Though built near the end of H.H. Richardson’s life and career, Austin Hall came about at the beginning of a paradigm-shifting American architectural movement. This narrative places Austin Hall in a context of tremendous influence. Emblematic of what would come to be known as Richardsonian Romanesque, and as part of the greater Romanesque Revival that occurred in Victorian era North America, Austin Hall is an example of a style that drew upon the way buildings were constructed in the past to alter how they would be built for generations to come.

            This style was based proximally upon Richardson’s Beaux Arts training and more distantly upon French and Spanish elements of the 11^th century, particularly the Romanesque that style preceded the great Gothic cathedrals and churches of western and northern European cities. Richardson’s channeling of these influences resulted in a pattern of work that gave Austin Hall and its sister structures overbearing stone facades, replete with smooth, circular arches, vaulting ceilings, and exterior towers- all hallmark characteristics of the French and Spanish works that had influenced him. As such, it is these characteristics of Austin Hall that automatically render it reminiscent of Richardsonian Romanesque. Though perhaps less well known than its relative in Boston, Trinity Church, the Buffalo Psychiatric Center, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Austin Hall nonetheless bears all the same hallmarks as its peers.

            Beyond great stone arches and towers, all of Austin Hall’s prominent features can be seen as exemplifying a style that would come to influence American architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, both in municipal/ecclesiastical structures and private homes. The deepness of window settings and overhangs to protect recessed door openings as well as monochromatic but two-tone stone works and grouped windows help to indicate that Austin is about as typical of Richardsonian Romanesque as a building can get.

            Though travel and subsequent exposure to European traditions certainly influenced Richardson’s channeling of Romanesque adaptation– many of the most popular public buildings of the time had come to epitomize Romanesque Revival– two facets of Austin Hall reveal exactly what made his style decidedly Richardsonian. As art historian John Wilmerding recently wrote, Richardson often took into account Labrouste’s guidance “that the function and nature of a building ‘might be grasped by a glance at its exterior.’” Certainly, Austin Hall matches this wisdom. As discussed in a previous post, the simultaneous ornate and imposing qualities of the building’s façade belie its heady purpose. Likewise, its form that is decidedly different from surrounding buildings to the south in the undergraduate campus help the viewer to make the transition from buildings that are purposed for the college and those that are devoted to the Law School.

Such a contrast also matches the difference in the land immediately facing each side. On the dark side is the moist, soft earthwork of pine needles and sod adjacent to the Langdell Library. On the light side, a non-descript parking lot and an alabaster Littauer Center accentuate this barren quality. Even without regard to its history, the Hall is sharply distinct from the law school buildings and quadrangle it both faces and guards. The viewer, if approaching from the South, sees Austin as perhaps the first representative of the shift away from the modern/Georgian mixture that embodies Harvard yard and the faculty of arts and sciences. While faintly resembling its Richardson-designed sibling to the southeast, Sever Hall, Austin Hall denotes a clean break with the architectural traditions expressed to its immediate South. And yet, it is the desert through which one enters this structure, further suggesting that Austin Hall has become a guardian of sorts for itself and its siblings of the law school, as if to welcome the viewer to a distinct locale. The elaborate portico add to this character, especially given their shading effect. Once up the stairs and under their protection, the viewer becomes immediately insulated from the parking lot wasteland. Of course, being the first building expressly purposed for the Law School, Richardson likely did not have this quality in mind in his original design. It is a feature that his work has acquired over time, yet it is no less significant, given the structures (or lack thereof) that have arisen around it.

            The second of Wilmerding’s remarks– made primarily in reference to Richardson’s public library project in North Easton, MA– is also applicable to Austin Hall. Though his Beaux Arts training dictates a certain symmetry and adherence to the regular patterns of classical geometry, Richardson embellished this repetition with some personalized characteristics, namely in coloration, unique statue figures, and in lack of radial, axial, or longitudinal symmetry. Perhaps it is this personalization– this adaptation of a building’s façade in a way that gives it the viewer a feeling for its uniqueness and a sense of insight into its purpose– that rendered Romanesque Revival so influential upon the work of future generations of American architects.

References:

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/hhr.html

http://www.buffaloah.com/a/archsty/rom/index.html#rr

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443884104577647754028760674.html?mod=googlenews_wsj