Richardsonian Romanesque

Following the Queen Anne, we looked at a series of buildings of the Richardsonian Romanesque style of the late 19th century.  These buildings were very visually, and physically for that matter, heavy.  The exhibited heavy stone facades with huge columns and archways.

Henry Hobson Richardson, for whom the style is named, saw Romanesque as a holding the best qualities of each Roman and Gothic styles.  Combining the two, utilizing more of the details of Gothic style, but using the massing and form of Roman style.  The combination was a simple and direct compromise between the two.

The Romanesque was a move away from the verticality seen often in Gothic structures towards a much flatter elevation, emphasizing the horizontal.  In the residential examples of Richardsonian looked at, the Queen Anne like asymmetrical  plans and elevations were continued, whereas the commercial buildings of the style were much more symmetrical.  Like the Federal Building in downtown Milwaukee (At Right).

The Horizonal quality is exhibited below in the John J. Glessner House in Chicago.