- Also called:
- Napoleon III, Second Empire Baroque
- Date:
- c. 1850 - 1900
Second Empire style
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What is the Second Empire style in architecture?
The Second Empire style, prominent internationally in the second half of the 19th century, evolved from architects using Italian Renaissance, Louis XIV, and Napoleon I schemes to add dignity to public buildings.
Solidified by Louis-Tullius-Joachim Visconti and Hector Lefuel's Louvre extension in Paris in the 1850s, its characteristics include large size, a square plan, classicistic detail, and a high mansard roof. Pavilions extend forward, often with higher mansards, and feature columns above a bow-shaped basement.
Examples include the Vienna Opera House, the Bank of Italy in Rome, and the Reichstag building in Berlin. In the United States, the Old City Hall in Boston and the State, War, and Navy Department Building in Washington, D.C., exemplify the style. The Napoleon III style is an important variation, especially in Paris’ urban planning.
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When and where did the Second Empire style become popular?
The Second Empire style became popular internationally during the second half of the 19th century. It developed from architects using Italian Renaissance, Louis XIV, and Napoleon I schemes to dignify public buildings.
The style solidified with Louis-Tullius-Joachim Visconti and Hector Lefuel's Louvre extension in Paris in the 1850s, gaining prestige and becoming an "official" style for new public buildings. Examples abound in Vienna, Italy, Germany, the United States, and England. An important variation of the Second Empire style was the Napoleon III style, which characterizes buildings constructed during the massive rebuilding of Paris administered by Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann between 1853 and 1870.
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What are the main features of buildings in the Second Empire style?
The Second Empire style of architecture, which gained international popularity in the latter half of the 19th century, is characterized by several features. Buildings are generally large and symmetrical, often with a square plan and rooms arranged axially. Exteriors display classical detailing, including columns and bow-shaped basements. A key feature is the high mansard roof, which has two slopes on each side, the lower steeper than the upper. Pavilions often project at the ends and center, frequently topped with higher mansards.
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Why is the mansard roof important to the Second Empire style?
The mansard roof is a key feature of the Second Empire style because its high, often concave or convex shape with two slopes (the lower steeper than the upper) visually defines the style. Second Empire buildings are large, often square, with classical detailing, and the mansard roof, frequently with pavilions, breaks the building's profile, adding to its grandeur. The style became popular in the mid-19th century, especially in France and the United States.
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How did the Second Empire style influence buildings in the United States?
The Second Empire style, prominent internationally in the second half of the 19th century, significantly influenced building design in the United States. This architectural style is characterized by classicistic detail, large structures, and square plans.
Representative examples in the United States include the Old City Hall in Boston and the State, War, and Navy Department Building in Washington, D.C.. Many mansions and county seats designed by American architects, such as Richard Morris Hunt, also reflect this style.
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Can you name some famous buildings designed in the Second Empire style?
The Second Empire style, which dominated internationally in the second half of the 19th century, is exemplified by several famous buildings.
Examples include:
- The Vienna Opera House (1861–69)
- The Bank of Italy in Rome (1885–92)
- The Reichstag building in Berlin (1884–94)
- The Old City Hall in Boston (1862–65)
- The State, War, and Navy Department Building in Washington, D.C. (1871–75)
- The Piccadilly Hotel in London (1905–08)
- The Paris Opera House (1861–74)
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Second Empire style, architectural style that was dominant internationally during the second half of the 19th century. Developing from a tendency of architects of the second quarter of the 19th century to use architectural schemes drawn from the periods of the Italian Renaissance, Louis XIV, and Napoleon I to give dignity to public buildings, the style was solidified into a recognizable compositional and decorative scheme by the extension designed for the Louvre in Paris by Louis-Tullius-Joachim Visconti and Hector Lefuel in the 1850s. Given prestige by this important setting, the classical style rapidly became an “official” one for many of the new public buildings demanded by the expanding cities and their national governments. Although great variations exist, general characteristics can be identified: the building is large and, when possible, stands free; it has a square or nearly square plan with rooms disposed axially; externally, there is a profusion of classicistic detail; usually a high, often concave or convex mansard roof (having two slopes on all sides with the lower slope steeper than the upper one) breaks the profile; pavilions extend forward at the ends and in the centre and usually carry higher mansards; there is generally an overlay of a file of columns standing above a bow-shaped basement or piled one on another in several stories.
Examples of the style abound. In Vienna it was used for many buildings constructed when the Ringstrasse was developed (after 1858), such as the Opera House (designed by van der Nüll and Eduard August Siccard von Siccardsburg, 1861–69). In Italy many of the public buildings constructed after that nation’s unification in 1870 followed the Second Empire pattern (e.g., Bank of Italy, Rome, designed by Gaetano Koch, 1885–92). In Germany the style characterizes most of the apartment and public buildings of the period, including the Reichstag building, Berlin (Paul Wollot, 1884–94). In the United States, representative buildings include the Old City Hall, Boston (G.F.J. Bryant and Arthur D. Gilman, 1862–65) and the State, War, and Navy Department Building, Washington, D.C. (Alfred B. Mullett with Gilman, consultant, 1871–75), as well as many mansions and county seats designed by American architects, such as Richard Morris Hunt, who followed the training of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In England the style appeared in hotels, railway stations, and warehouses, and it lingered on to underlie R. Norman Shaw’s design for the Piccadilly Hotel, London (1905–08).
An important variation of the Second Empire style was the Napoleon III style, which characterizes buildings constructed during the massive rebuilding of Paris administered by Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann between 1853 and 1870. In the scale of their conception, these buildings seem designed more on an urban than on an individual architectural plan; thus, the extension to the Louvre (mentioned earlier), the excellent Paris Opera House (Charles Garnier, 1861–74), the railway stations, Tribunal de Commerce, and other such public buildings, by their isolation, greater size, and richer ornamentation, dominate the miles of apartment-house facades with ground-floor shops that line the many streets cutting through the city. The facades of the public buildings have in common a high elevation with mansard roofs; only the most important buildings have pavilions. The designs show a crispness of line and a subdued diversity and richness of decorative detail that sets them apart from Second Empire style elsewhere, as does their tendency to maintain a general urban homogeneity, especially throughout central Paris.
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