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For those who fantasize about time traveling to witness the Gilded Age’s most sumptuous spectacles, Beaux-Arts architecture offers a tangible glimpse. The style originated in 19th-century France and eventually rose to prominence in the United States in metropolitan areas such as New York City and San Francisco. It s a fantasia of classicism and grandeur, swirling together the symmetry and proportions from ancient Roman and Greek architecture with the elaborate ornamentation of French and Italian Renaissance and Baroque. Beaux-Arts became a particular favorite architectural style for government and civic buildings, such as museums and libraries, but also of private mansions for the elite few tycoons who could afford such an extravagance. Beaux-Arts eventually waned in popularity by the time the Great Depression struck, but its lasting impact can be felt in masterpieces like Opéra Garnier in Paris and Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal.
With the Gilded Age season 3 premiere on June 22, take the opportunity to brush up on the architectural style that became synonymous with the epoch’s unapologetic grandiosity.
- What Is Beaux-Arts Architecture?
- History of Beaux-Arts
- Key Characteristics
- Beaux-Arts and The Gilded Age
- The Vanderbilt Mansion
- Examples of Beaux-Arts Buildings
What is Beaux-Arts Architecture?
Beaux-Arts architecture is a classical, opulent style that emerged in Paris during the 19th century and later spread to the United States and other parts of the world. Exacting in principles such as symmetry, and elaborate in areas of ornamentation, Beaux-Arts draws influences from ancient Greek and Roman structures as well as the grandeur of French and Italian Renaissance and Baroque.
History of Beaux-Arts
Beaux-Arts architecture takes its name from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, an academy where four ambitious students—Félix Duban, Joseph-Louis Duc, Henri Labrouste and Léon Vaudoyer—challenged the status quo of a centuries-old institution and paved the way for a new architectural style to rise in France by the mid-1800s. Weaving together elements of Romanesque, Renaissance, Baroque, and occasionally Gothic architecture, Beaux-Arts was both adopted and praised, with important commissions coming from high-ranking members of society like King Louis Philippe.
Among the chief goals of this new style was to create a national character through architecture. But Beaux-Arts eventually made its way across the Atlantic, sweeping across the United States and embodying what is now known as the American Renaissance. The reason for this is largely the US students who attended École des Beaux-Arts, with Richard Morris Hunt as the first American admitted to the academy in 1846.
Nearly a decade later when he returned home, Hunt introduced Beaux-Arts to the States—but it wasn’t until 1893 at Chicago’s World Columbian Exposition that the architectural style truly took off. Designs shown at the exposition (nicknamed ‘The White City’ for their whitewashed facades painted to resemble marble) helped set the stage for the City Beautiful movement and for various American cities to reimagine their architecture to align with Beaux-Arts principles.
Key Characteristics
Pulling directly from ancient Greece and Rome, symmetry in design laid the foundation for Beaux-Arts compositions. Other classical revival elements include columns, triangular pediments, friezes, and rows of arches (also known as arcades).
Equal in importance to these symmetrical proportions was the opulent ornamentation. A strong emphasis was placed upon the decorative details, which drew influence from French and Italian Renaissance and Baroque.
In line with the extravagant scale and silhouette of these Beaux-Arts buildings, the materials used reflected that richness in full. Luxurious marble and limestone were employed in tandem with modern materials of the time, like cast iron and large sheets of glass.
Raised first stories are a common characteristic of many Beaux-Arts buildings, adding to their impressive appearance.
Beaux-Arts buildings incorporated arched windows and doorways to create a sense of balance. These harmonious shapes also draw the eye upward, accentuating that sense of grandeur.
Extravagant entrances are part and parcel of a quintessential Beaux-Arts building, with theatrical staircases often serving as the entry point to the building. (Just look to the Opéra Garnier in Paris for proof.)
Decorative detail was used to communicate the building’s purpose and identity, whether it was through sculpture on the facades or through mythological references portrayed in elaborate murals and mosaics.
Beaux-Arts and The Gilded Age
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Though Beaux-Arts architecture originated in Paris, examples of the style were widespread in the United States and came to embody the untamed extravagance of the Gilded Age. “The struggle for social dominance between the old money and the new money has always been a central theme of the show,” says Bob Shaw, the Emmy-award-winning production designer for the HBO series. “The contrast between the Van Rhijn’s unassuming brownstone and the Russell’s ostentatious Beaux-Arts mansion is the best illustration of this. The old money thought it was tasteless to display your wealth, which is precisely what the Russells do with exuberance.”
To bring this opulence to life for the series, Shaw began by creating a sense of scale. “Walking through the elaborate wrought iron doors of the Russell’s foyer (which was inspired by Marble House in Newport) had to make the jaw drop,” he says, adding that the ceiling’s height is in excess of 30 feet. “The keen observer can find influences from many famous Beaux-Arts mansions.” Need a few cues? The enormous fireplaces in the great hall are reminiscent of those in the dining room of The Breakers, and the treatment of the limestone walls was inspired by those found in Ochre Court, Shaw shares. “Research showed that virtually every mansion had at least one room in an 18th-century French style, which is the direction we took with the Russell’s drawing room.”
The Vanderbilt Mansion
It’s no secret that The Gilded Age’s Mr. And Mrs. Russell are inspired by the real-life Vanderbilts, including that mansion, which was designed by none other than Richard Morris Hunt. “The house you’re talking about was No. 660 Fifth Avenue, the home of William K Vanderbilt and his wife Alva,” says historian and author Keith Taillon, who recently published Walking New York: Manhattan History on Foot. (Side note: don’t miss the chapter on the Upper East Side that takes readers past some of the most gorgeous surviving Beaux-Arts mansions in New York.)
“The rise of industry (especially rail and steamships) helped aesthetic trends in Europe reach the United States much more quickly as the time required to cross the Atlantic shrank exponentially,” says Taillon of Beaux-Arts’ relationship with the Second Industrial Revolution. For the nouveau riche of the time, who were “less beholden to more conservative ways of the city’s older families,” adopting European styles was done with little regard for the old guard.
“The William K Vanderbilt home was not the first French-inflected building in New York, but it was easily the most eye-catching and extravagant up to that point (it was completed in 1883), and helped shift the city’s streetscape away from dour brownstone and toward lighter materials like limestone and marble,” Taillon explains. Prior to the emergence of Beaux-Arts, he notes that less ostentatious styles such as Italianate, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Federal—wrought in brick, brownstone, and sometimes marble—were the norm. When prompted to share his favorite detail of 660 Fifth Avenue, Alva s grand housewarming party in 1883 comes to mind. “It was so over-the-top that it forever cemented the Vanderbilts as the unquestioned rulers of Gilded Age society (one guest, whose nickname was ‘Puss,’ arrived in a dress made of real white cat furs).”
Examples of Beaux-Arts Buildings
Originally designed as a railway station for the 1900 Paris Exposition, Musée d’Orsay is a Beaux-Arts icon, beloved for its grand clock and large arched windows that look out over the flowing river Seine. Admirers of this Victor Laloux building should also be on the lookout for details like stone garlands and classical pediments.
Grand Central Terminal, as it stands today, was built in 1913 to replace a previous structure, and is considered one of the most magnificent examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in New York City. Details such as Corinthian columns and symmetry cement the classical elements, while flourishes like the ornate facade with a Tiffany stained glass clock and the celestial ceiling in the main concourse drive home the extravagance.
Also referred to as Palais Garnier, the Opéra Garnier is widely regarded as the most beautiful Beaux-Arts building in the world. The masterpiece was designed by Charles Garnier and is a visual feast, rich in Baroque and Renaissance ornamentation. Among its countless highlights is the marvelous staircase crafted in marble, which divides into two impressive flights of stairs.
When pressed to share his favorite Beaux-Arts structure still standing in New York City, Taillon nods to the main New York Public Library building on Fifth Avenue. “Not only for its stunning design by the firm of Carrere Hastings, but for its embodiment of civic ideals: it is a stunningly grand structure built for the use and edification of the public, to represent the importance of a free exchange of knowledge.”
