Colonial architecture in modern days Colonial architecture in modern days Colonial architecture in modern days

1. Colonial Revival: 1880-1955
Early Colonial Revival examples were rarely
Typical Features:
 Accentuated front door with decorative pediment supported by pilasters or extended forward and
supported by slendercolumns to form entry porch
 Fanlights and sidelights common; Palladian windows common
 Façade symmetry; centered door; aligned windows
 Double-hung sash windows usually with multi-pane glazing; frequently in adjacent pairs; multi-pane
upper sash with single pane lower sash and bay windows (not historically accurate) were popular
 One-story wings, usually with a flat roof and commonly embellished with a balustrade
 Broken pediments, rare on original colonial structures popularin Colonial Revival examples
 Door surrounds tend to be shallow (less deep) than originals and exhibit machine-planed smoothness
 Dormers, often with exaggerated, eclectic pediments
 Masonry cladding grew in popularity as technology for using brick or stone veneer improved after 1920
 Gable, Hipped, or Gambrel roofs
 Details tend to be exaggerated with larger proportions than original elements
 Details from two or more types of Colonial styles often combined so pure replicas of a particular style are
far less common than eclectic mixtures
 Interior floor plans are not symmetrical and are more open than historic examples

2. ColonialRevival architecture
Memorial City Hall, Auburn, New York, built in1929-30 inthe Colonial Revival style
Historic Robinson Hall on theLouisiana Tech University campusin Ruston, Louisiana, isnamed for the second president of the
institution, William Claiborne Robinson.
Colonial Revival (also Neocolonial, Georgian Revival or Neo-Georgian) architecture was and
is a nationalistic design movement in the United States. Part of a broader Colonial Revival
Movementembracing Georgian and Neoclassical styles, it seeks to revive elements
of architectural style, garden design, and interior design of American colonial architecture. (There
may have been more than one such movement over the decades, each with the goal of reviving
Georgian/Neoclassical architecture.)
The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 reawakened Americans to their colonial past. This movement
gained momentum in the 1890s and was accelerated by the early 20th century advent of the
automobile, which allowed ordinary Americans to visit sites connected with their heritage more
easily than was possible than when travelling by rail.[citation needed]
Contents

3. [hide]
 1History
 2Defining characteristics
 3See also
 4Further reading
 5External links
History[edit]
Colonial Revival post officeinHyattsville, Maryland
Successive waves of revivals of British colonial architecture have swept the United States since
1876. In the 19th century, Colonial Revival took a formal style. Public interest in the Colonial
Revival style in the early 20th century helped popularize books and atmospheric photographs
of Wallace Nutting showing scenes of New England. Historical attractions such as Colonial
Williamsburg helped broaden exposure in the 1930s.
In the post-WWII era, Colonial design elements were merged with the then popular ranch-style
house design. In the early part of the 21st century, certain regions of the United States embraced
aspects ofAnglo-Caribbean and British Empire styles.[citation needed]
Defining characteristics[edit]
Colonial Revival home ofHenry M. Jackson in Everett, Washington.
Colonial Revival sought to follow American colonial architecture of the period around
the Revolutionary War, which drew strongly from Georgian architecture of Great Britain.
Structures are typically two stories with the ridge pole running parallel to the street, have a
symmetrical front facade with an accented doorway, and evenly spaced windows on either side
of it.
Features borrowed from colonial period houses of the early 19th century include elaborate front
doors, often with decorative crown pediments, fanlights, and sidelights, symmetrical windows
flanking the front entrance, often in pairs or threes, and columned porches.

4. Brown and Sypherd Residence Halls, University of Delaware.Much of thecentral campusisbuilt in Colonial Revival style.
See also[edit]
 Dutch Colonial Revival architecture
 Mission Revival Style architecture
 Spanish Colonial Revival architecture
 Colonial Revival garden
 New Classical architecture
Further reading[edit]
 A. Axelrod, The Colonial Revival in America 1985.
 William Butler, Another City Upon a Hill: Litchfield, Connecticut, and the Colonial Revival
 Karal Ann Marling, George Washington Slept Here: Colonial Revivals and American Culture,
1876–1986 1988.
 Richard Guy Wilson and Noah Sheldon, The Colonial Revival House 2004.
 Richard Guy Wilson, Shaun Eyring and Kenny Marotta, Re-creating the American Past:
Essays on the Colonial Revival 2006.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Colonial
Revival architecture.
 Photo Gallery of Colonial Revival houses
 Examples of Colonial Revival in Buffalo, New York
 1876 Centennial Information
 Colonial Revival architecture at Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut
 Colonial Style Homes Exude Tradition - Patriotic

5. BritishColonial Styleof 1801-1850. BritishColonial style of architecture wasintroducedinthe city
fromthe time of establishmentof amilitarystationatVisakhapatnam.Gothicarchitecture along
withnewbuildingmaterials(atthattime) likeglassandironwere introduced.Planninganddesign
techniquesusedinthe constructionof large religiousgatheringplacesandschoolsintheirhome
landwere adoptedinthe city.Thiskindof architectural style wasfollowedinthe initial stagesof
developmentinconstructionssuchasSt. Paul‟sChurch,St.John‟s Churchand St. AloysiusChurch.
Indo-SaracenicStyle of 1875-1917. A synthesisof IslamicdesignsandIndianmaterialscarriedoutby
the BritishengineersinIndiaduringlate 19thand early20th centuriesistermedasIndo-Saracenic
style of architecture.Thishybridstyle combineddiverseelementsof the Hinduwiththatof the
Mughal architecture ina playful mannergivingrise topointedarches,domes,spires,tracery,
minarets,openpavilionsanduse of stainedglass.Thisstyleisdominantinpublicbuildingssuchas
Mrs. AnkitamVenkataNarsingaRowCollege,QueenVictoriaPavilionandMaharajaSirGajapathi
Row HinduReadingRoom.BritishColonial Styleof 1890-1947. Assimilationof vernacular/native
skillsanddesignsintoBritishstyle hadledtothe evolutionof anew school of architecture during
1890-1947. Introductionof bungalowtype residentialformswithcolonnadedverandahs,hexagonal
or octagonal bays,stainglassfanlights,Venetianshutterstodoors/windows,carvedbargeboards,
monkey-tops(pointedhoodsoverwindows),partiallyglazedandpaneleddoors,sashventilators,
ashlarmasonryfor elevations,porches,etc.markedthisperiod.Developmentof clocktowers,light
houses,turrets,conical/crossgable/Jackarch/pitched/pyramidal roofs,Sateri roofs (bell shaped
domes),circulararches,crenellatedparapet,buttresses,finales,reinforcedcementconcrete and
prefabricatedmembersare the highlightsof thisperiod.

6. Colonial Architecture – Modern India
 Portuguese established impressive churches in Iberian style of architecture for ex. churches of Goa
 Francis Church at Cochin( 1510) is believed to be the first church built by the Europeans in India
 Portuguese used bricks as the main building material along with wooden roofs & stairs
 British followed various architectural styles viz. Gothic, Imperial, Christian, Palladian and
Victorian being prominent
 Britishers used Red sandstone & coarse limestone as the main building material
 Constantia, a building erected by General Martin (British) at Lucknow, is the best specimen of
Palladian Style in India
 Wittet designed the Gateway of India in Mumbai, borrowing severalelements of Mughal style
 Sardar Ram Singh, a master builder of Punjab, designed the CentralMuseum and the Senate House
at Lahore (in Pakistan)
Constantia Lucknow
Gateway of India, Mumbai
Victoria Terminus Station (Chhatrapati Shivaji station), Mumbai
 Designed by the British architect F. W. Stevens,the structure became the symbol of Bombay
 Based on late medieval Italian models, the terminal was built over 10 years, starting in 1878
 An outstanding example of Victorian Gothic revival architecture in India

7.  Blended with themes deriving from Indian traditional architecture
 Bombay city was labelled as the ‘Gothic City’
Victoria Terminus Station
Victoria Memorial Hall (Kolkata)
 Designed by William Emerson in late 19th
century
 To perpetuate the memory of Queen Victoria in India
 Drew elements from the indigenous & Indo-Islamic architecture combined with the Gothic revival
& Neo-Classical styles

8. Victoria Memorial
Revival ofDelhi
 1911 → Transfer of capital from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to Delhi
 Sir Edward Lutyens was made responsible for the overall plan of Delhi
 He constructed India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhawan (Vice Regal Place)
 Vice regal palace appeared with a huge dome on the lines of a Buddhist stupa,
 Represent some elements of Hindu ornamentation & Islamic symmetry
 Herbert Baker added South Block and North Block, which flank the RashtrapatiBhawan.
 Englishman Robert Tor Tussell built the Connaught Place.
Rashtrapati Bhawan

9. India Gate
Some Famous Architects of Modern India
Laurie Baker
 Was called as the architect of the poor and the conscience keeper of India.
 He merged the buildings with the environment and utilized locally available materials.
 To reduce the consumption of steeland cement, he introduced filler slab construction.
 While designing he gave more importance to ventilation & thermal comfort.
 Revolutionized mass housing in Kerala.
Karl Heinz
 He was a German Architect and was commissioned with instructions to stay clear of elements of
British or Mughal Architecture
 Heinz used local materials like red sand stone and lime which were easily available.
 Prominent Feature → Red sandstone buildings with white domes, with big courtyards and
windows
 Architecture by him is known as modern style of architecture as it resembles today’s style
buildings
Le-Corbusier
 He was a French Architect
 He designed the city of Chandigarh on the pattern of well-ordered matrix
 He conceived the Idea of sector as self-sufficient green belt
 Designed regular grid system for fast moving traffic
Charles-Correa
 He was a Goan Architect & played pivotal role past independence.
 He placed special emphasis on prevailing resources,energy and climate as major determinants in
the ordering of space.
 He did pioneer work in urban issues and low cost shelter in the third world.

10.  Example: Planning of Navi Mumbai, Kanchenjunga apartment, Mumbai, British Council building,
New Delhi, etc.

11. ARCHITECTURE of MODERN INDIA
TAKEO KAMIYA
The delivery of New Delhi to the viceroy
BACK________NEXT
The miniature shown above is painted in the Indian traditional style,
bordered with flowers and foliage, but actually the depicted scene is not
the Mughal Court. The dignitaries wearing courtiers’ costumes at the
audience are all British.
This picture, painted in 1931 by a British woman, Marjorie Shoosmith,
symbolizes the last brilliance of the ancient regime and the final days
before the advent of new architecture, in the mid-19th century. Here I will
concisely describe what sort of end it was, through the vicissitudes of
architecture before and after the scene of this miniature.
INDIAN ARCHITECTURE
in the LAST HALF of the 19th CENTURY
Colonizing most of India, the British Empire attained to its golden age in
the last half of the 19th century. Its colonial capital Calcutta (now
Kolkata) was embellished with edifices in the style of European Neo
Classicism (the tendency to design new buildings in ancient Greco-Roman
styles), such as the huge Government House.

12. However, as the summer in Calcutta is so hot and was not considered
hygienic enough, the summer resort town Shimla in the north became the
summer capital in 1865, where the English country-house-like Rashtrapati
Niwas (Viceregal Lodge) was constructed in 1888 based on Henry Irwin’s
design.
____
Rashtrapati Niwas (Viceregal Lodge), Henry Irwin, Shimla
As this typically shows, the designs of main edifices during the British
rule were almost exclusively by the hands of British architects. They were
‘colonial architecture’, for which Indians were not entrusted, and
moreover there were no institutions to bring up architects in colonial
India. Therefore, there would have hardly emerged nationalist architects,
equivalent to Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951) in the field of painting
in modern India.
On the other hand in Bombay (now Mumbai), in concert with the Gothic
Revival movement in the suzerain, not only Christian churches but also
commercial buildings were magnificently built in Gothic style,
manifesting the opulent strength of the Empire. The Library and
Convocation Hall of Bombay University designed by George Gilbert
Scott are its best representatives.
University Library by George Gilbert Scott, 1878, Bombay
However, recognizing that these unilateral compulsions of Western
civilization helped engender the Indian Mutiny against the British army
during 1857-59, the colonial government turned its cultural policy in the

13. direction of adopting Indian traditional factors into colonial buildings. The
result is the thriving of the ‘Indo-Saracenic style’, which made a
compromise between Western and Mughal architectures, from the 1880s.
The style, which provided stone eaves in precaution against the rainy
season and erected small embellishing Chhatris on roofs around main
domes, caught on swiftly all over the Indian subcontinent, and was
received amicably by the Indians too. It can be interpreted that British
architects represented Indian nationalism in architecture on behalf of
Indians.
Old Town Hall by Vincent Esch, 1913, Hyderabad
NEW DELHI, THE END of COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE
In the 20th century the anti-British and independence movements grew
rapidly, based mainly in Calcutta. The British government, experiencing a
sense of crisis, declared in 1911 that it would construct a new city south of
Delhi, located in central India, and transfer the capital from Calcutta in the
west.
Thus the British leading architects Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) and
Herbert Baker (1862-1946) were invited to design the city of New Delhi
and its important edifices such as the Viceroy’s House (Government
House) and the Secretariats. Here they diluted the character of Indo-
Saracenic style, inclining toward European Classicism, in accordance with
the policy of the government.

14. Secretariats by Herbert Baker, 1931, New Delhi
It is the miniature at the beginning of this article that humorously depicts
the delivery of these last large-scale colonial buildings to the viceroy,
Lord Irwin, in 1931. The man presenting the model of Viceroy House is
Lutyens, the next holding the model of Parliament House is Baker, and
the last with a drawing of the city plan in his hand is the chief engineer,
Alexander Rouse. The Viceroy’s House and Mughal garden designed by
Lutyens are seen in the background.
In Europe in this period the movement of modern architecture, which
rejected 19th century architecture based on classical styles, had attained to
its high watermark.
Lutyens’ assistant, who supervised the construction of New Delhi in situ,
was the young architect Arthur Gordon Shoosmith (1888-1974). His wife
was Marjorie Cartwright Shoosmith who painted the above-mentioned
miniature. She may have learned traditional Mughal painting while her
husband commuted to the construction sites.
A.G. Shoosmith was only one year younger than the champion of modern
architecture, Le Corbusier (1887-1965), being likely dissatisfied with
Lutyens’ old styles. When he was given an opportunity to design the
Garrison Church of St. Martin (1930) during the supervision of the
construction of New Delhi, he adopted a constructivist-like style with
almost no embellishment, but a powerful mass of brick. It is the first piece
of modern architecture in India.

15. St. Martin’s Garrison Church by A.G. Shoosmith, New Delhi
ARCHITECTURE AFTER THE INDEPENDENCE
Seventeen years after the construction of St Martin’s Garrison Church,
India became independent from the British Empire in 1947, and Indian
architecture immediately parted from European classical styles and rushed
into modernism. The leading light who determined its direction was the
French architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965), who planned the new capital
city of Punjab state, Chandigarh, and designed its capital complex and
principal facilities.
____
Left: Secretariat by Le Corbusier, 1953, Chandigarh
Right: Sangath (Doshi’s Atlier) by Barkrishna Doshi, 1980, Ahmadabad
Barkrishna Doshi, who had trained at Le Corbusier’s atelier in Paris, made
this direction take root, working energetically in Ahmadabad in western
India and boosted this city into a mecca of Indian modern design.
While successive Indian architects developed new architecture, Raj Rewal
especially modernized symbolically Indian traditional housing styles and
forms, freely using the techniques of Western modern architecture.
STC Building by Raj Rewal, 1989, New Delhi
On the other hand there was an alternative tendency of a vernacular
method of contemporary architecture, intending to adopt indigenous

16. technologies suitable for the local climate rather than manipulate
architectural forms.
The architect who most greatly influenced this current was the British
architect Laurie Baker (1917-2007). He lived in the Kerala region in
southern India, pursuing low-tech architecture for the common people,
suitable to the tropical climate.
____
Left: St. John’s Cathedral by Laurie Baker, 1973, Tiruvalla
Right: University Lecture Hall by Uttam C. Jain, 1979, Jodhpur
Uttam C. Jain who succeeded to this trend is developing an architecture
taking root on arid land in the desert district in western India.
Indian contemporary architecture spreads between these two reaches:
globalism tightly connected with Europe and the U.S.A. and regionalism
deeply based on the Indian earth.