Second Empire.—Chief among the architectural memorials of the Second Empire (1852-70) are the completion of the Louvre and the Tuileries by Louis Visconti and Hector Lefuel; and the Paris Opera House by Charles Garnier. The Tuileries was destroyed by the Commune in 1871, but the two wings of the New Louvre, which occupy the western corners of the Place du Carrousel, worthily continue in a modern spirit the character of Pierre Lescot’s Renaissance façade. They represent, in fact, not Classicalism, but rather a reversion to Renaissance inspiration, as also does Garnier’s masterpiece, which is a brilliant adaptation of the Italian style to the sumptuous requirements of a modern ceremonial theatre and to the extravagant ostentation and somewhat meretricious taste of a society of nouveaux riches.
Paris Re-planned.—A memorable feature of this period is the extensive replanning of Paris, projected under Baron Haussmann. It involved the widening of streets, creation of new boulevards, and general improvements of sanitation, as well as increased magnificence—a scheme of such magnitude that it has been but recently completed. Meanwhile, this gradual development of an organised plan, regulated in its progress so as to reconcile the rights of private ownership with the interests of the community, has been an object lesson in the proper course of city reconstruction.
UNITED STATES CLASSICAL REVIVAL
The United States of America having won their independence as a nation, there was an immediate need for Government buildings. That they should be designed in the classical style naturally followed from the intimate relations which had grown up between the New Republic and France. When Washington had been selected as the seat of the National Government, it was a Frenchman, Major Pierre Charles l’Enfant, who laid out the city on a plan so convenient and ornamental, that it is strange no other city of America, with a similar chance of starting forth from the beginning, has emulated it. Instead, the general practice both with new cities and the extension of older ones, has been to adopt the gridiron plan of a repetition of parallel streets, cut at right angles by another repetition of parallels; a deadly monotonous system and far from convenient. For it makes no adequate provision for the gravitation of government, finance, and so forth to certain centres, which in consequence become inconveniently congested.
Plan of Washington.—The Washington plan, on the contrary, is logically designed about two foci: the Legislative centre, the Capitol, and the Executive centre, the Mansion of the President, The White House.
From these radiate broad avenues, called after the names of States, which in turn are cut by a repetition of streets, running east and west, and by another series, running north and south; the odd-shaped spaces, formed by the intersection of these streets with the avenues, being utilised as little public gardens. Thus Washington is a city of beautiful breathing spaces, its gardens, parks, and tree-bordered avenues comprising one-half of its total area.
The first official building was the Treasury, which was commenced in 1781 by Robert Mills, who held the position of United States Architect. The design, as completed, presents an imposing rectangular mass, the east side of which is masked with a colonnade of 38 Ionic columns, while Ionic porticoes decorate the other three façades. In 1792 work was started on the White House and a year later on the Capitol.
White House.—The Executive mansion, designed by James Hoban after the model, it is said, of a seat of the Duke of Leinster near Dublin, consisted of a two story house, surmounted by a balustrade and fronted by an Ionic portico. Even with the additions, made in recent years to serve as Executive offices, it is characterised by a dignified simplicity, befitting the residence of “the first gentleman of the land.”
The Capitol.—The Capitol is finely placed on a hill some 100 feet above the level of the Potomac River. Its central portion was designed by William Thornton with some modifications suggested by his collaborators, B. H. Latrobe and Charles Bulfinch. The wings and dome were added 1851 to 1865. The main façade is on the east, where three imposing flights of steps lead up to three Corinthian porticoes which indicate the special functions of the building. That on the left, with allegorical sculpture in the pediment by Thomas Crawford, forms the main entrance to the wing occupied by the Senate Chamber, while that on the right, to which sculpture by Paul W. Bartlett has just been added, distinguishes the Hall of Representatives.
The curtain building that connects this south wing with the central block, was formerly occupied by the Hall of Representatives, but now contains the National Hall of Statuary, to which each State may contribute two statues of her “chosen sons.” The corresponding building on the north, which until 1859 housed the Senate, is now devoted to the Supreme Court. The Central Portico is the ceremonial entrance to the whole and here the outgoing President hands over his functions to his successor. It leads into a rotunda which is decorated with the following historical paintings: “Landing of Columbus” by John Vanderlyn; “De Sota Discovering the Mississippi” by William Henry Powell; “Baptism of Pocahontas” by John Gadsby Chapman; “Embarkation of the Pilgrims from Delft Haven” by Robert Walter Weir; “Signing of the Declaration of Independence” by John Trumbull, who also painted the remainder: “Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga,” “Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown” and “Washington resigning his Commission at Annapolis.”