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 11th 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.
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