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