Spire
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What is a spire in architecture?
In architecture, a spire is a slender, steeply pointed termination to a tower, typically pyramidal or conical. Originating in the 12th century as a simple, four-sided pyramidal roof, the spire evolved in Gothic architecture into an elongated, slender form.
The spire visually culminates a building and symbolizes heavenly aspirations. Spire designs vary, from the broach spire, which coordinates an octagonal spire with a square base, to those integrated with towers using dormers or pinnacles. The spire is found most often in England, France, and Germany.
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Why are spires often built on top of buildings?
Spires are frequently incorporated into buildings as a visual highlight and to symbolize religious aspirations. Originating in the 12th century as simple, four-sided pyramidal roofs on church towers, spires evolved into taller, more slender forms.
In Gothic architecture, the spire represented a visual culmination of the building and symbolized heavenly aspirations. Over time, architects experimented with different designs to harmonize spires with the towers beneath them, including the development of broach spires and the addition of dormers and pinnacles.
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What materials are commonly used to construct spires?
Spires are steeply pointed terminations to a tower. The materials used to construct spires evolved through time, starting with simple, four-sided pyramidal roofs in the 12th century and developing into slimmer, higher forms in the Gothic period. In Germany, timber spires evolved into Gothic stone spires. During the 17th century, imaginative spire-like forms were designed with profiles of broken concave and convex lines. Colonial American spires often featured a small, octagonal, arcaded lantern crowning a square tower and carrying a simple, slim, white spire.
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How do spires differ from towers or steeples?
A spire is a slender, steeply pointed termination to a tower. It is a visual culmination of a building and a symbol of heavenly aspirations. A steeple is a tall ornamental tower, sometimes a belfry, usually attached to an ecclesiastical or public building and topped by a spire, cupola, or pyramid. The term steeple often refers to the entire structure, including the tower and spire. Spires can also be described as the upper, tapering part of something, such as a tree.
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What are some famous buildings known for their spires?
A spire in architecture is a slender, steeply pointed termination to a tower, often seen as a symbol of heavenly aspiration. Originating in the 12th century, spires evolved into more slender and taller forms, harmoniously integrated with the tower below.
Some famous buildings known for their spires:
- Chartres Cathedral The southwest tower showcases gabled dormers that integrate the spires with their towers.
- Coutances Cathedral Features rich spire dormers and corner pinnacles that emphasize height and slenderness.
- Fribourg Cathedral Its openwork spire with ornamented edges gives a delicate effect.
- Lichfield Cathedral Features slender, needle spires set in from the tower's edge with corner pinnacles.
- Notre-Dame de Paris The central spire was added during the 19th-century restoration but was destroyed in a 2019 fire and rebuilt for the 2024 reopening.
- Salisbury Cathedral Its spire is a composite structure of stone cladding over a timber frame.
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How have spire designs changed throughout history and across cultures?
The spire, a slender, steeply pointed termination to a tower, symbolizes heavenly aspirations. Originating in the 12th century as a simple, four-sided pyramidal roof, it evolved towards slimmer, higher forms.
In coordinating an octagonal spire with a square base, the broach spire was developed, and dormers and pinnacles were added to integrate spires with towers. German timber spires evolved into refined Gothic stone spires, like the openwork spire at Fribourg Cathedral. English Decorated spires featured a slender, needle spire set in from the tower's edge with corner pinnacles.
Though rejected by the Renaissance and in Spain and Italy, spires developed in England, France, and Germany, influenced by Baroque forms. Simplified colonial American spires, based on Christopher Wren's designs, led to the attenuated proportions of the Park Street Church spire in Boston. Nineteenth-century architects used spires during the Gothic Revival, while 20th-century architects favored elementary geometric shapes.
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Spire, in architecture, steeply pointed pyramidal or conical termination to a tower. In its mature Gothic development, the spire was an elongated, slender form that was a spectacular visual culmination of the building as well as a symbol of the heavenly aspirations of pious medieval men.
The spire originated in the 12th century as a simple, four-sided pyramidal roof, generally abrupt and stunted, capping a church tower. Its history is a development toward slimmer, higher forms and a more organic relationship with the tower below. In the attempt to coordinate harmoniously an octagonal spire with a square base, the broach spire was developed: sloping, triangular sections of masonry, or broaches, were added to the bottom of the four spire faces that did not coincide with the tower sides, as in the 12th-century Church of St. Columba at Cologne. In the later 12th and 13th centuries, spires were also integrated with their towers by adding high, gabled dormers (q.v.) to the faces of the spire, over the centres of the tower faces—a scheme that can be seen on the southwest tower of Chartres cathedral. On many French cathedrals, steep pinnacles (q.v.; vertical ornaments of pyramidal or conical shape) were added to the four corners of the tower to effect the transition between quadrilateral base and octagonal spire. A fine example is a group of spires at Coutances cathedral (13th century), in which the rich treatment of the spire dormers and corner pinnacles emphasizes the sense of height and slimness in every possible way.
In Germany the timber spires of the Romanesque era evolved into Gothic stone spires of great refinement. At Fribourg (Switz.) cathedral (spire, 1270–88), a low, square tower with corner pinnacles carries a gabled, octagonal lantern that supports the spire of 385 feet (117 metres), a mere skeleton of openwork tracery with ornamented edges giving an amazingly light and delicate effect. This type of openwork spire became the model for later churches in Germany.
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In the 14th century, during the Decorated period in England, a slender, needle spire was set in from the edge of the tower, broaches disappeared, corner pinnacles became customary, and a low parapet was added around the tower’s edge, as seen in the two western spires of Lichfield cathedral.
The spire was never thoroughly accepted by the Renaissance, and it failed to become a native form in Spain or Italy. In England, France, and Germany, however, its development continued, influenced to some degree by Italian Baroque forms. During the 17th century in Germany, fantastic, spirelike forms were designed with profiles of broken concave and convex lines, crowned at the top with a sort of onionlike dome; they rose to a considerable height and, in imaginative quality, far surpassed any of the Italian examples. At the same time in England, the spire received a simpler, more straightforward treatment in the designs of Sir Christopher Wren, particularly in churches built after the Great Fire in London (1666), such as St. Martin, Ludgate, and St. Bride’s on Fleet Street (only spire and steeple [1701–03] remain).
Noteworthy also are many simplified colonial American spires that were originally based upon the work of Wren and his followers. Characteristic is the type in which a small, octagonal, arcaded lantern crowns a square tower and carries, usually above an attic, a simple, slim, white spire, as in the Old South Meeting House, Boston (1729). This trend toward slender and attenuated proportions reached its climax in the exquisitely light spire of Park Street Church, Boston (1819), by Peter Banner.
Nineteenth-century architects made extravagant use of spires, particularly during the Gothic Revival period of the 1840s, ’50s, and ’60s. Perhaps because spires were so closely associated with picturesque eclecticism, 20th-century architects have tended to limit them to rather elementary geometric shapes, such as the truncated, octagonal spire of St. Mary’s Cathedral (c. 1970) in San Francisco.
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