Sample Essay on Andrea Palladio Structures

Andrea Palladio was an influential architect during the Late Renaissance and the Baroque period. He was a dominant figure in this field, not only of his lifetime, not just in the lifetime of those who knew him, but now – 400 years later (Source 2). Palladio’s architecture was based on symmetry, perspective, and proportions. His architectural style became known as Palladianism. Palladian Architecture is seen through out America today.

Thomas Jefferson appreciated the architectural concepts of Palladio, and his designs for The Rotunda at the University of Virginia, Monticello Estate, the James Barbour Barboursville estate, and the University of Virginia, were based on drawings from Palladio’s book.

Other modern-day American architecture influenced by Andrea Palladio are the Hammond-Harwood House and Drayton Hall. Palladianism can be described as Palladio’s interpretation of classical architecture. It began in the 17th century and developed until the end of the 18th century.

Palladianism was popular in Britain for a short period and when it began to fall out of favor in Europe it became popular in North America, prominently in buildings designed by Thomas Jefferson.

The style continued to be popular through the 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe, where it frequently employed in the design of public and municipal buildings. From the latter half of the 19th century it was rivaled by the Gothic Revival, whose champions, such as Augustus Pugin, remembering the ancient temple roots of the style, deemed it too pagan for Protestant and Anglo-Catholic worship.

However, as an architectural style it has continued to be, not only popular, but too evolve – its pediments, symmetry and proportions clearly evident in the design of many modern buildings today (Source 3).

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In Palladio’s architectural treatises he followed the principles defined by the Roman architect Vitruvius and his 15th-century disciple Leon Battista Alberti, who adhered to principles of classical Roman architecture based on mathematical proportions rather than the rich ornamental style also characteristic of the Renaissance (Source 3). Palladio also took into account where his villa would be located.

If it was on a hill he designed facades to be of equal value so fine views could be seen in all directions. Most of his villa’s were located in the countryside so he designed them with porticos on all sides so that the countryside could be appreciated by the occupants while being protected from the harsh elements such as the sun. Portico’s are known as porches in modern day America. Palladio would often model his villa elevations on Roman temple facades. The temple influence, often in a cruciform design, later became a trademark of his work (Source 3).

Palladian villas are usually built with three floors: a basement or ground floor, containing the service and minor rooms. Above this, the piano nobile accessed through a portico reached by a flight of external steps, containing the principal reception and bedrooms, and above it is a low mezzanine floor with secondary bedrooms and accommodation (Source 3). The proportions of each room within the villa were calculated on simple mathematical ratios like 3:4 and 4:5, and the different rooms within the house were interrelated by these ratios.

Earlier architects had used these formulas for balancing a single symmetrical facade; however, Palladio’s designs related to the whole, usually square, villa (Source 3). Another trademark of Palladio’s was the Palladian Window. It consists of a central light with semicircular arch over, carried on an impost consisting of a small entablature, under which, and enclosing two other lights, one on each side, are pilasters (Source 3). Palladio’s influence in North America is evident almost from the beginning of architect designed building there.

The amateur architect Thomas Jefferson once referred to Palladio’s “I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura” as his bible. Jefferson acquired an intense appreciation of Palladio’s architectural concepts, and his designs for the Jefferson Monticello estate, the James Barbour Barboursville estate, and the University of Virginia were based on drawings from Palladio’s book (Source 3). Realizing the powerful political significance pertaining to ancient Roman buildings, Jefferson designed many of his civic buildings in the Palladian style.

Monticello is clearly based on Palladio’s Villa Capra, however, with modifications, in a style which is described in America today as Colonial Georgian. Jefferson’s Pantheon, or Rotunda, at the University of Virginia is undeniably Palladian in concept and style (Source 3). The Harmmond-Harwood House built by William Buckland in 1773 is just one of the homes in America influenced by Palladian architecture. It is the only existing work of colonial academic architecture that was principally designed from a plate in Andrea Palladio’s, The Four Books of Architecture (Source 4).

The house was designed for a wealthy farmer Matthias Hammond in Annapolis, Maryland (Source 4). It was modeled after the Villa Pisani in Montagnana, Italy. The house ranks architecturally with many of the great mansions built in the late Colonial period. It is one of the most exquisite homes remaining from the Colonial period in America (Source 4). He worked around Palladio’s designs to satisfy the tastes of colonial Annapolis. Buckland re-designed the plan to accommodate for asymmetrical regional preferences and modified the hyphens from Palladio’s arched entries to more practical single story connecting links (Source 4).

He also incorporated a fashionable urban design by sinking the windows in which provided better protection against fire and gave the overall design a greater degree of visual solidity and three-dimensionality (Source 4). Hammond-Harwood House (Md. Ave. Facade), 9/18/2007, Wilkipedia The Villa Pisani at Montagnana from The Four Books of Architecture by Andrea Palladio, Giacomo Leoni, 1742 Drayton Hall is perhaps one of the most handsome example of Palladian architecture in North America. It is located in the “Low Country” near Charleston, South Carolina. The architect of the house is unknown, but the house was built for John Drayton.

The construction began in 1738 and was completed in 1742, using free and slave labor. The seven-bay double pile plantation house stands in a 630-acre site that is part of the plantation based on indigo and rice. The house has a deep recessed double portico on the west “front”, shading the home from afternoon sun and offering open-air summer living space. The floor plan is Palladian, with a central entrance stair hall, containing a symmetrical divided staircase, backed by a large saloon, flanked by square and rectangular chambers (Source 5). Pedimented chimneypieces in the house are in the tectonic manner popularized by William Kent.

There is fine plasterwork in several of the rooms of the main floor, which is raised above a half-basement, which is also true to Palladian architecture. Materials used on the outside of the house are brick, limestone and sandstone. The brick is used for the main structure of the home, the limestone was used on stairs and the sandstone formed pavers on the portico. Another feature of Palladian architecture is the use of flanker buildings. Many Palladian villas incorporated flankers and colonnades to form courtyards. A difference in Drayton Hall and Palladian Villas is the difference in ceiling height with each succeeding floor level.

Palladio recommended the ceiling height recede as the building grew taller. The ceiling heights get progressively taller from the basement to the first floor and on up. Palladio might have been more concerned with structural strength, whereas John Drayton may have been more concerned with comfort in a hot, humid climate and with the theatricality of a grand hall of the upper floor (Source 6). Drayton Hall might be one of the earliest Palladian buildings in America. It is considered a Georgian Palladian home, but only because it was a Palladian building built in the Georgian Era.

Drayton Hall (Front), Kellie Thorne, Nat’l Scenic Byways Online, Wilkipedia Drayton Hall (Floor Plan), www. draytonhall. org Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello is also a representation of Palladianism architecture in America. Work on the Monticello began in 1768. Jefferson based the design on the classical style of Palladian architecture. Jefferson left Monticello for an extended stay in Europe. When Jefferson returned he expanded his vision for Monticello based on the Palladian buildings and ruins he admired overseas (Source 8). The building materials were made at Monticello, as were the nails for the remodeled house.

Most of the structural timber came from Jefferson’s own land, while most of the window sashes were made of imported mahogany (Source 9). The window glass came from Europe. Stone for the cellars and the East Front columns, and limestone for making mortar, were quarried on Jefferson’s land. The stone and brick work were done by local white masons, Local carpenters assisted by Monticello slaves provided the rough structural woodwork. Jefferson, influenced by new architecture in France, added a dome in 1800 (Source 9). The floor plan of Monticello is still symmetrical with perfect proportions used for each room.

An external staircase leading to the main entrance is an original Palladian design or a feature of neoclassical style that followed Palladianism (Source 3). Monticello, Christopher Hollis, Wilkipedia Monticello (Floor Plan), www. Monticello. org Andrea Palladio is one of the most known and influential architects during his time and there after. His ideas are still carried on in architecture today. His palladian window is perhaps the most known and most used form of palladian architecture in America. There are only two true Palladian architecture is based on symmetry, perspective and perfect proportions.

It has been used in America since the 18th century. While it is not the prominent source of architecture in modern-day America it still stands its own ground. Palladian windows are probably the most used today when it comes to American architecture. The external staircase often seen on the outside of homes is also true to Palladianism. There are only two houses in the United States that can be definitively attributed to designs from the Four Books of Architecture. These are the Hammond-Harwood House, by William Buckland and the first Monticello by Thomas Jefferson.