Venue: The Southampton City Art Gallery and Lecture Theatre
Time: 10.30am – 3:30pm (approx)
Cost: £125 for 5 days or £25 per day (coffee included)
Thanks to Victorian Historicism, architects and designers looked back to the past for inspiration. The Gothic was reformed and reinterpreted for the modern age. Even railway stations could be built to resemble Gothic cathedrals (St Pancras). However, many claimed this was a false, even dishonest precept. Rather than aping a style inappropriate to the modern age, many argued it would be better to study medieval domestic building practices that were based on practical needs. Architects turned to timber-framed barns and houses where the emphasis lay on construction rather than style. The "vernacular" meaning building in local, regional styles and materials appeared to offer a solution. In Surrey builders used brick and thatch or tiles, while in the Cotswolds it was local stone and slates. Regional variations included tile-hanging in the home counties and "pargeting", decorative plaster work, in Essex and Suffolk. Tudor and Elizabethan domestic buildings offered the best prototypes as many had survived. Architect Philip Webb led the way, building Red House for William Morris in 1859. As the demand for suburban housing soared, vernacular practices and motifs evolved into a quintessentially English style known rather romantically as the Queen Anne style; Bedford Park and Hampstead are still awash with red brick houses ornamented with terracotta panels, tile hanging and half-timbering. Much of this detailing is merely ornamental; the half-timbering was to be structural as seen in the work of Edwardian architect Sir Edward Lutyens. We will look at the original ancient buildings that inspired 19th century architects and how these buildings shaped modern domestic architecture.
Session 1 - Tudor and Elizabethan architecture
Session 2 - Inventing an English style: Gothic to Queen Anne
Session 3 - Arts and Crafts Authenticity
Bookings are open now:
Southampton Study Course Booking Form