ALEXANDRE-GUSTAVE EIFFEL In the later 19th century,
new technologies and the changing needs of urbanized, industrialized
society affected architecture throughout the Western world. Since
the 18th century, bridges had been built of cast iron (FIG. 29-11),
which permitted engineering advancements in the construction of
larger, stronger, and more fire-resistant structures. Steel, available af-
ter 1860, allowed architects to enclose ever larger spaces, such as
those found in railroad stations (FIG. 31-4) and exposition halls. The
Realist impulse also encouraged architectural designs that honestly
expressed a building’s purpose, rather than elaborately disguising
its function. The elegant metal skeleton structures of the French
engineer-architect Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel(1832–1923) con-
stituted responses to this idea and were an important contribution
to the development of the 20th-century skyscraper. A native of Bur-
gundy, Eiffel trained in Paris before beginning a distinguished career
designing exhibition halls, bridges, and the interior armature for
France’s anniversary gift to the United States—Frédéric Auguste
Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty.
Eiffel designed his best-known work, the Eiffel Tower (FIG.
31-1), for a great exhibition in Paris in 1889. Originally seen as a
symbol of modern Paris and still considered a symbol of 19th-
century civilization, the elegant iron tower thrusts its needle shaft
984 feet above the city, making it at the time of its construction (and
for some time thereafter) the world’s tallest structure. The tower
rests on four giant supports connected by gracefully arching open-
frame skirts that provide a pleasing mask for the heavy horizontal
girders needed to strengthen the legs. Visitors can take two elevators
to the top, or they can use the internal staircase. Either way, the view
of Paris and the Seine from the tower is incomparable, as is the de-
sign of the tower itself. The transparency of Eiffel’s structure blurs
the distinction between interior and exterior to an extent never
before achieved or even attempted. This interpenetration of inner
and outer space became a hallmark of 20th-century art and architec-
ture. Eiffel’s tower and the earlier iron skeletal frames designed
by Labrouste (FIG. 30-47) and Paxton (FIG. 30-48) jolted the archi-
tectural profession into a realization that modern materials and
processes could germinate a completely new style and a radically in-
novative approach to architectural design.
AMERICAN SKYSCRAPERSThe desire for greater speed
and economy in building, as well as for a reduction in fire hazards,
prompted the use of cast and wrought iron for many building pro-
grams, especially commercial ones. Designers in both England and
the United States enthusiastically developed cast-iron architecture
until a series of disastrous fires in the early 1870s in New York, Bos-
ton, and Chicago demonstrated that cast iron by itself was far from
impervious to fire. This discovery led to encasing the metal in ma-
sonry, combining the first material’s strength with the second’s fire
resistance.
In cities, convenience required closely grouped buildings, and
increased property values forced architects literally to raise the roof.
Even an attic could command high rentals if the builders installed
one of the new elevators, used for the first time in the Equitable
Building in New York (1868–1871). Metal, which could support
these towering structures, gave birth to the American skyscraper.
HENRY HOBSON RICHARDSONOne of the pioneers in
designing these modern commercial structures was Henry Hobson
Richardson(1838–1886), but he also had profound respect for ear-
lier architectural styles. Because Richardson had a special fondness
for the Romanesque architecture of the Auvergne area in France, he
frequently used heavy round arches and massive masonry walls.
Architectural historians sometimes consider his work to constitute a
Romanesque revival related to the Neo-Gothic style (FIG. 30-44), but
this designation does not do credit to the originality and quality of
most of the buildings Richardson designed during his brief 18-year
practice. Trinity Church in Boston and his smaller public libraries,
residences, railroad stations, and courthouses in New England and
elsewhere best demonstrate his vivid imagination and the solidity
(the sense of enclosure and permanence) so characteristic of his
style. However, his most important and influential building was the
Marshall Field wholesale store (FIG. 31-39) in Chicago, begun in
1885 and later demolished. This vast building, occupying a city
block and designed for the most practical of purposes, recalled his-
torical styles without imitating them at all. The tripartite elevation
of a Renaissance palace (FIG. 21-36) or of the Roman aqueduct
(FIG. 10-33) near Nîmes, France, may have been close to Richard-
son’s mind. Yet he used no classical ornament, made much of the
massive courses of masonry, and, in the strong horizontality of the
windowsills and the interrupted courses that defined the levels,
stressed the long sweep of the building’s lines as well as its ponder-
ous weight. Although the structural frame still lay behind and in
conjunction with the masonry screen, the great glazed arcades
opened up the walls of the monumental store. They pointed the way
to the modern total penetration of walls and the transformation of
them into mere screens or curtains that serve both to echo the un-
derlying structural grid and to protect it from the weather.
LOUIS HENRY SULLIVANAs skyscrapers proliferated, ar-
chitects refined the visual vocabulary of these buildings.Louis
Henry Sullivan(1856–1924), whom many architectural historians
call the first truly modern architect, arrived at a synthesis of indus-
trial structure and ornamentation that perfectly expressed the spiritArchitecture and Decorative Arts 84931-39Henry Hobson Richardson,Marshall Field wholesale store,
Chicago, 1885–1887 (demolished 1930).
Richardson was a pioneer in designing commercial structures using a
cast-iron skeleton encased in fire-resistant masonry. This construction
technique permitted him to open up the walls with large windows.