4 Unit 4 History of British Architecture

4.1 Pretext exercises 4.1.1 Warming-up

1) How did the British architecture develop?

2) What ancient British towns do you know?

4.1.4 Read the following verbs. Mind their meaning. Pay attention to the principal forms

4.1.5 Find proper Russian words with the same roots as the following English words:

history, race, characteristic, monument, civilization, sort, circular, structure, form, horizontal, perpendicular, infant, balance, group, contact, system, occupation, primitive, hall, social, master, decorate

4.1.6 Choose the proper English word:

4.1.7 Find English equivalents for the following Russian words:

A примитивный; украшать узором; скромный; разбрасывать; непрочный; устанавливать; исконный; проводить; предполагать; крепкий; предназначать; вырезать; пополнять

В precarious; humble; to supplement; to establish; rude; to suppose; to cut; stout; to pattern; to scatter; primordial; to spend; to allot

4.1.8 Form all possible word combinations:

4.1.9 Read the following word combinations and translate them into Russian:

to pass several stages; to be closely connected with the history; the first inhabitants; dry caves of limestone; to form by a mere juxtaposition of slabs; perpendicular props; infant architects; precarious balance of the hanging stones; wattle-and-clay houses; fortificated fence; to bring into contact; major systems of fortification; scattered villages and townships; open hearth; in the middle of the earthen floor; low-roofed huts; to be protected by a stout fence; to cover with oiled linen; bright-patterned curtains; hall allotted for the master of house; flat broad stone; humble dwelling;

4.2 Read the text and tell about the early period of British architecture

Text 4 A

British Architecture in the Period of Ancient History

British architecture passed several main stages in its development. It is closely connected with the history of the country.

As far as historical research could establish, the first inhabitants of the British Isles were nomadic Stone Age hunters. They lived probably in the dry caves of limestone and chalk hills.

An Alpine race came to the British Isles about 1700 B.C.

A characteristic monument of this civilization, primordially rude and primordially majestic, is the so-called Stonehenge, a sort sanctuary erected on Salisbury Plain about 1100 B.C. or some-what earlier. This circular structure was formed by a mere juxtaposition of tall horizontal slabs, capping those perpendicular props for all the world like houses built by infant architects

reckless enough to disregard the seemingly precarious balance of the hanging stones-whence the name of the structure, the “Hanging Stones”, Stonehenge.

During the invasion of Celts tribes (8-th-1st cc B.C.) fortresses were built on hilltops, towns began to appear in the more wealthy south-east, true they were at first no more than large groups of wattle-and-clay houses enriched by a sort of fortificated fence.

The invasion by the Romans (1c. B.C.-5c. A.D.) brought the country into contact with the Roman civilization. Major systems of fortifications were constructed as a defense.

Then came the occupation of the country by Anglo-Saxon tribes. The Anglo-Saxon had no big cities, only scattered villages and townships, that is, arrangements of the lord’s house with the wattle-and-mud huts of the villagers grouped round it. The huts were primitive affairs, of wood and clay while timber was abundant with no chimney over the open hearth but a hole in the roof to let the smoke out and to let the light in. The hearth was usually nothing more complicated than just a large flat stone in the middle of the earthen floor. Much of the smoke supposed to escape through the hole in the roof remained in the low-roofed hut and blackened the beams of the roof with soot. The walls were bare; the narrow holes cut them to admit light, admitted much of the wind and the cold as well.

The lord’s house had a large yard where much of the housekeeping work was done with lots of auxiliary buildings like sheds and barns and the like inside it. It was protected by a stout fence supplemented by a sort of circular fortification, or mound. The interior arrangements were characteristic: there was always a spacious hall where most of the family’s social life was spent, where the lord had his meals with his family and his guests. The light came through narrow holes in the walls covered with oiled linen. The walls were hung with coarse but bright-patterned curtains, though quite often it was only the part of the hall allotted for the master of house and his most honoured guests that was thus decorated, the rest of the walls being bare. The hearth was nothing much more elaborate that a flat broad stone and the blackened roof beams were just as much the feature of the lord’s hall as they were of the humble dwelling.

4.3 Exercises to the text

4.3.1 Find the false sentences using the information from the text. Correct the false sentences:

1)The first inhabitants of the British Isles lived in the dry caves.

2)Towns appeared first in the more wealthy north-east.

3)During the Roman invasion no fortifications were constructed.

4)There were no big cities during the Anglo-Saxon period.

5)The huts of the villagers were made of wattle and clay.

6)The light came trough wide windows.

7)The walls of the lord’s house were painted.

4.3.3 Find the passage describing the Anglo-Saxon dwelling and translate it into Russian

4.3.4 Answer the following questions:

1) Where did the first inhabitants of the British Isles live? 2) What sort of monument it the so-called Stonehenge? 3) When did the first towns begin to appear?

4) How did the dwellings of the villagers look like?

5) What were the interior arrangements of the lord’s house?

4.4 Read the text and tell about different phases of English

Gothic

Text 4 B

Medieval British Architecture

At the end of the 9th century came the colonization by the Vikings who dominated England for two hundred years. A system of strongholds dates mainly from this period.

The construction of feudal castles first started in earnest, however, with the Norman conquest. To keep the Anglo-Saxons in subjection, the Norman built castles both for symbolic (like the Durham castle commanding a view of the burnt up villages of the North) and practical purposes (like the Tower of London meant to be William’s own fortified residence).

The thick-walled castles of the feudal nobility, with round or square towers rising the whole length of the building, pierced by narrow windows that served as shooting apertures, formed a conspicuous feature of the times. Christian ideology was predominant in feudal Europe, and England was no exception to the rule. The feudal establishment was vitally interested in instilling a belief in the infallibility of the faith, in the greatness of the church. Architecture flourished after the conquest became churchbuilding also. The majority of the cathedrals and monasteries were built late in the 11th and early in 12th cc. Primarily by French architects and craftsmen in the so-called Romanesque style. They were vast affairs, usually with a tall central part. The arches were round, with a lot of brickwork decoration, beak-head edges and chevron design. The building seemed to be weighed down to the ground by the solidity of its round-arched shape, though powerful-looking, as the cathedrals were meant to be by the abbots and bishops who organized the construction. They evoked mixed feelings, however, for one couldn’t help wondering at the might of human genius that went into the building.

Later on Gothic architecture was introduced, again from Romanic countries, France first of all. It was a style harmoniously blending architecture, sculpture and pictorial art. The western facade of the cathedral buildings was in fact a sculptured surface, mostly with symbolic biblical figures and later on realistic folk-lore features.

Art historians usually distinguish three periods of Gothic architecture in England. Early English, with pointed arches and arrow-like windows and tall tapering turrets and steeples and pinnacles that seem to uplift the whole structure. An early English cathedral produces an impression of soaring into the air; it seems to be ready to take off and leave the sinful earth bellow. Salisbury cathedral is usually shown as an example of pure Early English Gothic.

Later into 13th c. the so-called Perpendicular Gothic was introduced, with a lot of parallel-placed tall perpendicular shapes and lines emphasizing the upward-directed movement of the structural rhythm; King’s College Chapel in Cambridge is often taken as a typical instance. The 14th c. brought a deterioration of the Gothic style, the so-called “Decorated Gothic” where the purity of the Gothic outline is marred, or in any case obscured, by numerous decorations making the whole somewhat gaudy or at least florid. Stained glass with religious themes was an important ingredient of Gothic church architecture.

In the long run, the Norman kings did much to centralize power and unite England into a state. There were great changes in the material life of the population.

Life was already safer and consequently could be made more comfortable for the rich than in the early Norman period when the wealthy

families had to be crowded in the darkness of grim square Norman “keeps”, fortress-homes. Now palaces and castles were built with spacious banqueting halls illuminated by wide windows with lots of light pouring in. True, there were still towers at each end, with cannons and shooting apertures.

The farms and cottages of the poor were built of logs or planks, the floors were usually bare earth and the roof made of thatch: the walls might be made of mud and timber.

Notes to the text:

to pierce - пронзать aperture - отверстие beak - клюв

taper - конусообразный turret - башенка steeple - шпиль

pinnacle - остроконечная башенка, шпиц gaud - безвкусное украшение

keep - главная башня thatch - солома

4.4.1 Choose the sentences which correspond to the contents of the text

1)The construction of feudal castles began mostly during the Norman invasion.

2)Medieval architecture was also churchbuilding.

3)The majority of the monasteries and cathedrals were built by Anglo-Saxon architects.

4)Gothic architecture was brought from Romanic countries.

5)Art historians usually point out four periods of English Gothic.

6)Palaces and castles of the English nobility had big banqueting halls illuminated by wide windows.

7)The dwellings of the poor were made of logs and planks.

4.4.2Increase you vocabulary. Make some sentences of you own using the following phrases:

to date from this period to be characterized by to be subdivided into to be combined with to become popular

to be of great beauty (importance; complexity)

4.4.3Ask your partner the following questions:

1)When does the system of strongholds date back?

2)When did the construction of feudal castles begin?

3)Why did the architecture flourished after the Norman conquest become also churchbuilding?

4)Where was Gothic architecture introduced from?

5)What kind of style was Gothic?

6)What periods of English Gothic do art historians usually distinguish?

7)What are the major monuments of Gothic architecture in England?

4.5 Read the text to find answers to the questions

Text 4 C

English Renaissance

1) What are the main features of the 16th century?

The 16th century was the time when under the influence of radical changes in the basis of the English society, i.e. in the production of material values and in human relations in the process of production, in other words, with the advent of capitalism, radical changes occurred in the spiritual life of the newly-arising nation and its new-born culture that was taking an unmistakably national shape. The process can be referred to as English Renaissance.

2) How did Renaissance change in England?

Renaissance, the epoch of Humanism and the Revival of Learning, born and nursed in Italy, after revolutionizing the culture and science of Italy and the whole Western world, finally penetrated the insular detachment of England and came softened by the distance with less shock to bring new learning, new religious issues and new art. The human being, the beauty and the joy of this life were now the center of attention.

3) What are the main phases of English Renaissance?

In England one easily distinguishes three main phases of the process: the early phase of the end of the 15th and the first half of the 16th c. and the later phase coinciding with the reign of queen Elizabeth and the life-span of Shakespeare’s death and to the beginning of the puritan revolution was the time marked by a decline of the Renaissance and crisis of Humanism.

4) What are the finest examples of English Renaissance?

The earlier Tudor period was a time of transition from late medieval to Renaissance culture. The new architecture imported from Italy had little in common with the Gothic pointed type. With the revival of classical interest in all of the art there came a tendency to return to the ancient models in building. It was only early in the 16th c. that the influence of the Italian Renaissance architecture was really felt in England in the pure classical lines of Inigo Jones (the Whitehall palace is an example) and in the prodigious fertility,

talent and inventiveness of Sir Christopher Wren who used the classic forms with great purity and correctness. After the Great fire of London he rebuilt a great number of churches and dwellings of the wealthy citizens. St. Paul’s which according to art specialists is the finest protestant cathedral in the world, is a good example of it, as well as the west towers of Westminster Abbey. Both the outstanding architects managed to profit by the new movement in architecture leaving the national foundation of English architecture intact. Most of the English early Renaissance structures are hybrid in style, often retaining Norman or Gothic features. The buildings of Oxford show this quite clearly: they are to a large extent Gothic but the gateways and parts of the building themselves abound in Renaissance decoration.

4.6 Read the text and write the summary of it in Russian

Text 4 D

English Classicism

The 18th century is the age of classicism both in art and in architecture. The English court and nobility had cultivated a fancy for the “antique” which in their belief was a sign of wealth and power. The Adam brothers, the eminent architects of the time, proved particularly ingenious in applying the principles off classicism both in town-planning and country house design. Though they followed the traditions of their predecessor Wren, they, nevertheless, contrived to make the solid and bulky exteriors go beautifully with the elegance and graceful ease of the interiors, which, too, were strictly classical in shape. Sentimentalism was then in vogue and it was a custom with the aristocracy to spend their leisure hours at home with their own folks. This consequently heightened their interest in furniture and decorative art. The Chippendale chairs shortly found their way first to the mansions of the aristocracy and then to those of the bourgeoisie, affecting the tastes of the latter accordingly. Thomas Chippendale was a celebrated cabinet-maker who made his mark producing beautiful, elegant and remarkably comfortable furniture.

4.7 Audial practice

4.7.1 Listen to the text and render it either in English or in Russian

Text 4 E

English Architecture of the 19th Century

In architecture the 19th century was that of Charles Barry, William Railton and Edward Baily. It was a period of romanticism, of industrial and social revolution, of the

railway. The eminent Victorians were looking back from the Middle Ages. Gothic was considered the true national style, and Tudor that of the century of England’s great glory. So when the Houses of Parliament were destroyed by fire, Charles Barry rebuilt them in 1837-1867 in the Tudor Gothic style. He also built the Gothic St. Peter’s Church in Brighton. A Gothic architect William Railton built the Nelson Memorial in 1843. He had designed it as a Corinthian column with bas-reliefs of Nelson’s victories as its base, and the statue of Nelson which crowns the column was done by Edward Baily. It was only in 1867 that Landseer put his bronze lions at the foot of the column. As Barry’s later work was in the manner of the Italian Renaissance the decoration of the New Houses of Parliament was a compromise: classical in their symmetry and construction, but Gothic in appearance. Oddly enough, the Albert Hall which was being built at same time by a Royal Engineer, Captain Fowke, was classical in inspiration and simplicity, A huge cylindrical building with a terracotta frieze of the Triumph of the Arts, and a glass and iron dome.

4.8 Read the text and tell about modern English architects

Text 4 F

Modern English Architecture

Architecture in the beginning of the 20th c. failed to adapt new designs to new technique and material, to steel, glass and reinforced concrete though the architects of the Edwardian decade of 1901-1910 Webb, Norman Shaw, Voysey and Mackintosh had been the most influential in Europe. In the 1930-ies the situation was reversed: the new functional architecture of the continent began to influence Britain, the new structures were stripped of ornament to emphasize the essential qualities of proportion and relation of parts to one another and the whole. It was particularly felt in Charles Holden’s designs for London underground stations and the early works of Owen Williams.

A new architectural group known as the Tecton group, founded by Berthold Lubetkin built the Highpoint Flats at Highgate a vertical garden city and Finsbury Health Center with its curved and tiled facade. Another architectural group which favored structural abstract art or formal relationship known as Unit One strove to give structural purpose to British art. Leslie Martin, C. H. Aslin, Maxwell Fry, Jane Drew and Basil Spence are the distinguished architects of post-war Britain. They, sort of, relaxed the austerities of the pre-war architecture. Their disposition of buildings was aesthetically satisfying. The Royal Festival Hall designed by Mathew and Leslie and Martin comes closest in its spirit to the first modern building the Crystal Palace.

4.9With your partner make up a dialogue about one of the periods in the history of British architecture

4.10Summarize your knowledge of the question under consideration. Speak about history of British architecture