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C 2010 selectoon and edItonal mauer, An<lew Ballantyne. IfldivIdUiII
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Libra/}' of Coogress CSfMoglng I{I PublICSfll)(l DafB
Rural and urbar>: Ifchllecture between two Cultures/edited by
AnCllew Ballantyne
p.cm.
Includes bJbliO\llllphlCllI reforoflCOS and Index.
1. Archlteclu"" and SOClllty, I. Bsllantyne. Andrew
NA2543.S6RB7 2009
720 1'03-o'c22 2009020433
ISBN10: 0-415-55212-5 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-415552133 (pllk)
ISBNlO: 0-203-86547-2 (ebk)
ISBN' 3' 978.().415-552127 (hbkl
ISBN13 978.().415-55213-4 (pbkl
ISBN13: 978-0203-86547-7 (ebkl
To Julie Tnce and Alastair Ballantyne, who between them know a thing or tw<:
about the countl'f and the city.
Chapler 1
Rural and urban
milieux
Andrew Ballantyne and Gillian Inee
Bucolics
There is nothing good to be had In the country: said William Hazlrtt, 'or, rf
there IS. they will nol lei you have 1t.'1 For Hazlitt the urbanite, the countryside
was outside. It was outside of SOCIety - a place where everyone hated one
another - and outside of C1Vlhzation. 'Their common mode of life is a system of
wretchedness and self-denial. like what we read of among barbarous tribes.
You live out of the world.' Part of Hazlin's motivation for saying such things
was the pervasive sentimentality WIth which the urban world has treated the
countryside, Since ancient 'Imes. The shepherds who sing to one another in
Virgil's Eclogues. lovelorn in an Atcad18 dripping with honey and bathed In
golden light. are as remote from everyday encounters with agricultural workers
as the shepherds in Brokeback Mountain - a SIOry that was originally published
in the ultimate urbane environment of the New Yorker magazine, and which
was then further Iyricized by Hollywood actors and cinematographic glamour.:
The countryside is repeatedly presented as the place to go for true feeling. At
least that is how it is presented to the urban population that eats food that
comes in packets and tins, has no songs to sing, and that thinks there is a
problem when it is hit by the smell of cow manure. These days the 'urban
population' is most of us. and the countryside is less clearly separate than it
was in Hazliu's day. There are still different worlds. which have different value
systems and patterns of behaviour. but they can overlap and erupt unexpect-
edly. One's study, In a house in a small village, may be filled with books and
ideas that have passed through cities, and a broadband connection might olten
make the actual location seem insignificant, so long as one can connect to the
world outside. But - to take a personal example - in Asquins. where this book
w,", ,,,ht,,,I, tl"'I" 1' , ,I",,,, "nly 01 ',I"'lt w"n "W,.y, 11',1110.,', 1",11 ",j"/<III '1111,,11
,10,1,1"1111."" hl"'v,". 1.,,10,,110 It II"",,, tlt'llllIl", 1"'1,11"1 10"" ,,11'01,,111,11 I"',,,',
UHIII<l\'IIU' 01', ,t <I I:lly. lillie:>:; It rtpplOollChes Ill,' "1'1111 ..1<1,,11,"1' ".
the Coul1llysldo Alhance's rally when Ihe British tllblll MI",
abolished hunling WIth hounds. or the French larmers who drove a convoy of
tlactorS up the Champs Elysees The cultural differences here are greater than
those that stem Irom needmg 10 negotl3te the presence of mud and small
anrmals Things lhat look chic In the city can look absurd in the country, while
COUntry manners can look unpolished in the city, where nonetheless tokens 01
'nature' are admired, and where a shepherd's naJveM can be taken to be an
assuranci! that he is more in touch wtth real emotIOn than the more SOCially
adept urbanite will ever be. There are ddferenl decorums in an urban and a
rural milieu. Once these decorums have been established and leari'll. we can
SWitch between them quickly enough. and we know intuitively whIch one
applies.
3
Contrary to Hazlitt's impression, everything comes Irom the country,
All our food IS grown there, and all our building materials are quarried or grown
there, Once upon a time, 01 course, everyone lived in the countryside. The
oldest ctties seem to go back no more than 8,000 years (<;:atal Haylik) and It is
only in recent generations that urban populations have outnumbered those 01
the countrySide, as industrial production methods have made it poSSible for
lood production to be maintamed whtle rural areas depopulate. Once upon a
time nearly everyone must have subSIsted on what they or their neIghbours
grew 10 eat. and would have budt their dwellings from local matenals' tImbers
from the lorest, stones from the fielcls, bflcks of baked mud and straw. Even
the small elite of feudal overlords would have known the places from where
their sustenance came. Befote rndustrializatlOn no more than 10 per cent of the
populatIOn lived In urban enVlfonments. even In the Roman Empire. whICh
spread towns Into places like Bntain where they had previously been unknown.
Even In the post-industnal United Kingdom, everything stili comes from the
country, but tt IS very likely that the countrysIde IS not adjacent. Even fresh fruit
and vegetables are routinely brought to the supermarket shell from Kenya,
South Africa, Israel or Peru, while nce from the foothills 01 the Himalayas. from
Piedmont, the Camargue and China tS in packets that sit beside one another lor
the shopper to select. Tea and coffee, which are so thoroughly ingrained in the
habits of everyday life in the United Kingdom, are never grown locally. but have
tlavelled Irom India and China, Indonesia, MalaYSia, South Amenca and East
Afnca, A packet that is branded 'Yorkshire Tea', and that shows a picture 01
roiling dales wtth dry-stone walls. is a blend of dried leaves that grew tn Alflca,
India and Srt lanka. We still need farmland, and we depend on the countryside
as much as we always did, but where It IS is anyone's guess. II we go there,
whether to the Yorkshrre Dales or Sri lanka. most 01 us will be on holiday, and
2
11,11", Ihlll,,,1 Itll' """IIIY'."I., """,1 tit Ih 11IlJIll'y l'\J111 IOWI",
,,' hW.IIII' .11 "vII"", hi 1'00 I ,t,uro ,H\ oull)rtW"- ot lool-andmouth disease
III the UlIIltxl KII1odomlhe disease IS very contagious, and was dealt With by
culling ,nfected animals and those on surrounding larms. Humans do not con-
tract the disease. but they can carry II from one farm to another, so movement
In the counirySlde was actually restricted 10 ,nfected areas. and was generally
cautK>ned against. Farmers were paid compensatlOf'l for the anImals they lost
but the rural economy was devastated because a much greater pan of ,t was
based on \ookJng alter VIsitors, who were suddenly no longer around. In these
CIrcumstances the food productIOn, wt'llch was wlnerabJe to disease. had
become a liability to the countryside's pnoclpal economic actMty. which turns
out 10 be the management of scenery, and catering for those who come to see
It. Recent figures pot the proportion of people ,nvolved in agriculture, huntIng
and forestry In rural areas at 4.5 per cent, so the proportIon di,ectly affected by
the threat to livestock would be significantly less than that, maybe 2 per cent,
while those Involved in hotels, restaurant and trade might be 15 per cent."
Where building matenals are concerned, we have gone through a
similar process of disconnection. Before industrialization local building materials
made for regional traditions. but now If we have regional variations It is more
likely to be because of local by-laws, designed to preserve an appearance of
tradition in the teeth of alternatives to I\. The maintenance of tradition In bUild-
ings has moved from the realm of necessity and practicality to the realm of
taste and culture. In places where the local by-laws do not specify local mater-
ials, the direct connection With the region's Immedl3te resources has long
gone, The steel girders that structure Manhattan's skyscrapers were made by
smeltmg Iron ore that came out 01 the ground In a rural area. but whether It
was somewhere In the United States. UkraIne or China is difficult to say It
would depend 00 who could offer the best pnce, and the provenance would
not Inflect the design. The engineer and the architect would woO: together to
determine the form and would Specify the steel's performance charactenstlCs.
and leave It at that. Plate glass was once sand, but from what desert did It
come? The glass carnes with it no memory of the place, and even when the
glass is cladding skyscrapers in Dubal, there IS little likelihood that it IS a local
matenal. MDF, the basis of much mass-produced furniture, was once timber,
but treated in such a way that it has lost its grain and idiosyncrasies. Even
when we make use 01 relatively natural timber, we expect to be able to specify
dimenSions and anticipate a regular, predictable product that has been stand-
ardized by a sawmill, and that will be straight and true. We are no longer in the
position olleeling a need fOf timber and then gOing Into the forest to look for a
SUitable tfee to lell in order to meet our need. Nature and the countrys,de arrive
on the urban buildIng site as geometric shahs and sheets, or as heaps of
cement and gravel.
3
1\( ,I 111111 11'.ullov"llh" Illlll,HlI 11101' ily I', ',1111 ,1"1"""tt",1 "1"'"
Iho (:OUlllly:,nlu, hili (;IIltl1l,llIy 11 luuls C I "W", MllIlJl""1
descllbod the CITy as a lhealre, where wo see oUlel people on Ihu plll1ll< ',tllllo.
and where we act out our Identities. panly to establish our place In Iho 5Chemo
of things, and partly so as to show ourselves who we In Ihe United
Kingdom today we expect a place that styles Itself a CIty 10 be the centre of
local government, have a university, a series of shopping centres and cinemas,
at least one lheatre, an abundance of restaurants offenng cuisine from aU over
the world and more than one hospItal. These features do not qurte amount to a
definition, but they are how we would generally recognize a city if we found
ourselves In one. People living in the Roman Empire or medieval Europe had,
withIn the context of theIr own lime, expectations of what a 'city' should offer.
In a much quoted passage, Pausanias dismissed the claims of urban status for
a settlement in second-century Greece:
the city of Panopeus in Phokis: if you can call it a city when it has no state
buildings, no training-ground, no theatre, and no market-square, when it
has no running water at a water-head and they live on the edge of a torrent
In hovels like mountain huts.
ti
DiSCUSSing this description of Panopeus. Moses Finley explained thai Pausa-
nias' 'audience would have understood. The aesthetic-architectural definlllon
was a shorthand for a political and SOCIal defiOition'.l The buildings mean that
we readily recognize the city, but they are nol what makes the city. The socIOl-
ogISt Phlhp Abrams warns us about what happens when we do nol pay atten-
tion to our tendency to 'reity' - to turn fluid and complex actiVities Into simpler
and more solid-seeming things. With reference 10 the modern context he
writes:
The material and especially the VIsual presence of towns seems to have
impelled a reification in whIch the town as a phySical object IS lurned into
a taken-lor-granted social obJecl and a captivating focus of analysis in its
own flghl. Thus Harris and Pullman began an influential paper on the
nalure of the city by reacting in just that way to the immediately given
urban phenomenon. 'As one approaches a city and notices its tall buildings
rising above the surrounding land and one continues into the city and
observes the crowds of people hurrying to and fro past stores, theatres,
banks and other establishments, one is naturally struck by the contrast
With the rural countryside'.
BUI the town and country were antithetical in the minds of ancient peeples too.
A Roman rehef sculpture Juxtaposes the town of Aveuano. houses packed

111'",10, II'. w"lh "1l"'1"11 tI,,, CJ!",1I1:0I1I11Iy:"du dl"ln', 01 v,lI.ls" 1\

1",lw, "I "t ,'ual "',III''''llll,tS Slllll)(llloo lho lHlClonl clly ,,' Ihe ul!>1m settlement
'.11'. ,II Illll ,11111.0: 01 II contInuum 01 development which leads us back 10 Ihe
hmnlul ,m{l tho lsolaled cOllage. Clearly the city IS nollhe same as the country-
side. but II IS lInked to It, and the edge IS not necessanly c1earty defmed. The
search lor a umversal definition of urbanism has left many academic fields lit-
tered with the vanquished. We could try saying, for example, that cities are
larger than villages, and most of the tIme thIS IS true; but there were villages In
nineteenth-century RUSSIa which were btgger than some European towns. Fre-
deric Maitland declared that the 'borough community was corporate; the village
communIty is nol', II and it is true that a charter was a feature of many medieval
settlements In England. However, there were settlements in medieval England
which were economically vibrant and whICh were urban 001 did not have a
charter: Birmingham, for example.'l MedIeval Nottingham, well-known as the
stage where perhaps the most famous medieval romance, Robin Hood, was
played oul, had a sheriff but no charter until one was signed by Queen Vicloria
in 1897.
The analyses of politicaladministrative functions, social stratificatIOn
and economic functions of urban settlements have led many scholars across
disciplines 10 say that urban settlements can only be defined in political, social
and economIC terms. In such a view the 00111 form of the urban settlement is a
physical manifestation of these dynamic generative forces. For example, Paul
Whealley said that It is 'impossible to do more Ihan characterize Ihe concept of
urbanism as compounded of a series of Ideal types, SOCIal, political and ec0-
nomIC and other Instilutions whICh have combined In different ways In different
cultures at different limes'.'l
'Central-place' theory
Urban settlements play the role of a 'central place' for the surroundIng country-
side. The current interest in cIty-systems is the direct result of Walter Christall-
er's central-place theory of 1933, whIch claSSifies places accordIng to what
they do. rather than what they look like - a pragmatist move.' Christaller's
theoretical assumption is that a town acts as a central place for the countryside
and, although population size is important. it is not a measure of centrality; cen-
trality can be measured only in terms of the goods and services offered. This
fits the model of the ancient city with ItS network of rural settlements support-
ing an urban centre. From this premise Chnstaller derived two concepts, The
first is 'threshold population' which is the minimum population that is required
to bring about the good or service being offered. For example. a settlement
would need to be a certain size belore it could sustaIn a bakery or a school. The
5
'"" "1111 '''110 "1'1 I', 1111, '111I111'" "I ," '"'IVI<;.,, Willdil', It", 11'''_1''""'' ,Ii ..
liltll" IIlllJplo ,II" 1I1I'l'oIluli III holv,1 10 ohtdlll sorvu;u:. ,11,01 ql""l'. I,ot
p{,oplo will Ilo1vol only shorl distances 10 obtanl a loal 01 1)IU,III. 1'111
IIlily he PIOI)(lIlXI10 tl1lvel to a national capital or abroad to obtain speclalllUlJ
hospital treatment. Chflstaller proposed a theoretically flat landscape for hiS
settlement hierarchy where terrain played no part In the accessibility of settle-
ments. He then divided hiS landscape Into hexagonal service areas (geometri-
cally, Clrctes do nOt 'stack' -the hexagon 15 the regular figure closest to a Circle
that does stack). AI ItS simplest. a central place sat at the centre of a hexagon
and served thlee settlements, Coocomltantly another German scholar, August
losch, was working on a SimIlar theol)' and arrived at Similar conclusions. He
analysed the location of economic activity, and particularly studied how eco-
nomIC regions came IntO belng,'S like Chnstaller, he used hexagonal service
areas as the basic uOllS In hiS theoretical landscape, but he allowed various
overfappmg hexagonal systems to e<>-eXISl. gIVIng a continuum of towns and
citIes of vaned sizes lOsch's model postulates an 'ideal' arrangement of
service centres that appears to represent reality more closely than ChristalJer's,
but Chnsralier'S model IS more readIly grasped and therefore more useful In
interdiSCIplinary dlscusslOf'l of the economiC relationship between different
orders of settlement,"
There are three dIfficultIes In applying the theory historically, The
first is the ICIentJflcatlon and evalualloo of the functions 10 be used; the second
is that there may be little avaIlable information to determine the functIons' pres
ence at a particular time and place: and the third is to find appropnate methods
to establish the rank and grades of towns The crux of the matter IS to Identify
the functions that acted as indicators of urban status, and these may vary
through time, space and cullure. Geographers have been able to use statistIcal
analysis only when applying central-place theory to modern societies, where
the eVidence of a function IS abundant, because it is continUing," We rarely
have reliable statistics before the nineteenth century, though literary and
archaeological material does give us some Information about urban functions,
Most Importantly the conceptual framework of central-place and urban hier-
archy is an essential paradigm In which to think about urban settlements, The
settlements were never isolated from one another: the town is the correlate of
the road,'8 Various models have been derived from central-place theory. includ-
ing 'dendritic central-places' where the network links a major centre to local
market systems, This theory has been suggested as an explanation for urban
systems in Roman Italy,'8
As a rule of thumb, It IS generally recognized that the presence of an
urban elite IS crUCial in the development of urban settlements, particularly in a
pre-industnal context. 'We rClterate that throughout the preindustnal CIVilized
world the upper class and above all the society's rUling stratum IS urban In
6
11,11(1('1 "," 11il1 1111\<111 <11110 11IIil 1I1(! SIH..llllhnU PC>Wtll lind (;onslllll10d tho
1l1<l11l 101 ItolllS and mllsanal producllon," lIS presence was
essenllalll1 telms 01 lhe explesslon 01 political power at an urban settlement
as 1\ would likely Include leading figures on a town council. The unwillingness
of the urban elite to participate in municipal activities such as funding building
programmes and festivals IS seen as one of lhe key factors causing the decline
of urban settlements in the lale Roman Empire,22
One of the malor impednnents to the stody of urban settlemenls in
the Byzantine Empire IS ConstantInoPle which stood at the apex of the empire,
many times greater than ItS nearest nval. Other Cities are lost In Constantino-
ple's shadow: its monuments were more splendid, its lifestyle more opulent
and much of the empIre's surviVIng lIterary material was written there,n Mem-
bership of the Byzanllne ruling elite and CItizenship of Constantinople were
regarded as SyoooymouS,loO and Inevitably the history of the Byzantine Empire
has a Constanlloopolitan slant. The CIty'S sheer scale has emphaSIzed the
dichotomy between the urban and the rural In the empire, not only to contem-
poraries but also to modern scholars The POSitIOn of Constantinople in relatIOn
to the economy of the Mlcklle Byzantine EmpIre has generated a great deal of
modern Itterature: the provISioning of the capItal drove mIlCh mercantile acllVlty
In the empne.
1S
Constantinople was what geographers call a 'pnmate' City - a
very large City that has a retinue of smaller satellite settlements,llI But ItS dorm
nant positIOn WIthin ItS empire IS not unprecedented in the pre4nduswal world;
Rome had a SImilar position WIthin ItS empire. There IS a debate about whether
such large settlements wele parasItic upon the,r empires or whether they
acted as a stimulus to the outlying regIOns. The conclusion seems to be that
they were both?' MIChael Angold tells us that Constantinople had a detrimental
effect on settlements in Anatolia, whose economic growth was retarded
because of their close proximity to the capitaL7lI
A problem settlement: Paliochora on Kythera
The importance of an elite in pre-industrial cities is highlighted at the senle-
ment of Paliochora on Kythera (1180-1537). Fragments of historical texts give
an impression of the social structure of the place, which finds expression also
in the settlement's buildings.
2Il
Most of the houses here were lillie more than
hovels, The general type, which was sometimes made irregular by a difficult
site, aimed to be a simple rectangular building (Figures 1,1-1.4). The walls were
solid, made of rough stones and lime mortar, and many of them survive, though
the roofs collapsed long ago, Often the only source of light and ventilation was
the door, and there were no individual domestic cooking facilities, so the build-
ings appear to have been used only for sleeping. These were the dwellings of
,
',,,11', wllh 111110 (,I Ill) <.<lIIIIUllIVIJl 111011 IIvlJ;. Uy "It! TW" 111"'11'-'
(,j ,It tllo II,al sllOw 11 nlllcli gloater dl:l9ree 01 IUXllly II,.,
Idl90S1 house at all has lwO slOleys. niches bUilt InlO the walls. windows. it
door on each storey and a stone fireplace with a chimney.lO Pottery found here
Includes fragments of amphorae and pifhoi - vessels lhat were used for storing
produce - in marked contrast to the smaller houses at the settlement where
they are hardly found at all. More significantly. there is also fine imported Italian
pottery. mainly bowls and jugs?' The tork was unknown when the settlement
was inhabited: food was eaten with fingers, and the bowls and jugs (for drink-
ing) were used communally.J1 The two groups of more substantial dwellings
housed two relatively prosperous extended tamilies. This correlates with what
we know about other house groups in Greece. where extended-family living
arrangements are evident throughout the Middle Ages. For example. in the
fourteenth-century will ot Theodore Karavas (1314) we learn that he. one ot his
nephews, and the husband of his god-daughter. owned six houses sharing a
courlYard.
33
So the remains of domestic architecture and pottery at Paliochora
show that two extended families controlled the settlement. and they were
wealthy enough to buy fine Italian pottery. However, the elite at Paliochora, or
on the island. was not lar99 enough to sustain the local production ot fine
pottery. One of the hallmarks ot urban settlements is economic diversification
and specialization, and that is not evident at Paliochora, so if we had been able
to visit the place in its heyday. we would not intuitively have felt that we were
visiting a town.
8
U
Perspective
reconstruction of
Paiiocho'll on
Kytherll, acrylic
Kastron wall S<I.. n
from within the
, ..ttlement.
PlIlio<:hora on
Kyther,
U
PllIn showing
Illyout of
dwellings mad..
irregular bV a
,t....p slope on a
spur of rock with
prllCipitous drops,
Pilliochora on
Kythe'll
'1-
:1
Ii
"
"
':
c}J
This socio-economic structure is again evident in the church-building
programme at Paliochora. There are 22 churches here. Most are small single-
storey buildings, in a better state of preservation than the houses, but not
much larger than them. They were roofed with stone barrel vaults: some of
them have blind arcades: sometimes there is a narthex. There are two excep-
tions to this type: one is a cross-in-square plan church dedicated to Agia
Barbara and the other looks like a three-aisled basilica in plan, but it was never
completed. Had it been completed it could have been finished as a basilica, or,
with a different interior subdivision, it could have turned out to have been a
cross-in-square plan. Tradition on Kythera assigns the church building at Palio-
chora to the local families - each had its own church. But as we have seen,
9
there were only two family groups at Paliochora capable of financing church
building. The churches. constructed between the fourteenth and sixteenth cen-
turies. represent successive generations of just the two families building
churches at the settlement. The churches were demonstrations not only of
piety but also of status.3< In the church-building programme at Paliochora we
see economic expression of wealth and diversification which would call into
"
'-'
Sketch
rllCOnltr\>Ctlon of
church group It
the highest point
of the ..ttlement,
Pillochor. on
kyther.
'111"'.II,,n III" Illloll '.111111'. 'I! h')I.1 ,I', ,I :.1111101110111 II snttlelllQI11 with 27
dOlO', nol h'u1llko a VIII[l!ju
Networks
Pallochora and Its generation of settlements belong to an era when the Aegean
was politically fragmented following Ihe events of the Fourth Crusade and the
sack of COnSlanlinople In 1204. They do not settle into our usual categories of
the rural and Ihe urban, and make us suspend our laxonomy.35 In the perIOd
Immediately before the Fourth Crusade, central and southern Greece had been
highly urbanIzed WIth a network of urban senlements linked to the trade routes
In the Aegean. and In particular oriented towards Constantinople. The disrup.
lions of the Fourth Crusade made thiS network collapse. Urban hierarchies
reqUire a large geographical area 10 develop into a network, as well as peaceful
conditions and politICal cohesion. In the pre-modem context they have
developed best WIthIn tile boundaries of empires that have established peace
within their lemtlOrY. Tile urban settlements of the High Roman Empire are a
good case In polnt, where hIerarchieS developed in the regIOns and where
Rome acted as a 'pflmate' City.
In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade some parts of central and
southern Greece were conquered by French Crusaders, and most of the rest
by Venetians. PolitIcal fragmentallOn and aggression meant that defence
became Important in the region for the first time in centuries. and settlements
migrated up hills to sItes that provided natural defences. These settlements
were not hnked Into a developed hierarchy in Ihe same ways as the senle-
ments before the events of the Fourth Crusade had been; and many of them
operated by controlling only their own hinterland.
JI
The political fragmentatton
caused the urban settlements in effect to regress to an earlier stage in urban
evolution.
There are four factors, or combinations of factors which can cause
the development of a settlement (its preurban nucleus) - military/defence. reli-
gion/cult centre, agnculture and trade. Cult centres can act as a stimulus to the
development of urban settlements. This was the case with many classical
cities in Greece and it has also been a feature of medieval Christianity.J7 Agri-
culture or irrigation is seen as the principal generator in the so--called 'hydraulic
cultures' such as those of the Fertile Crescent and in particular Mesopotamia.-
Local trade can result in an urban settlement acting as a redistribution centre
for its hinterland even in a barter culture. In studies of the medieval period,
long-distance trade IS associated With the work of the Belgian historian Henri
Pirenne. who saw the flow of trade as the most important generator of cities,
and smaller settlementS,JlI The Pirenne theSIS accounts for many Scandinavian
"
Ildolll1Ol 1'(",1', III til" Mulillo 1\1'1" ,11111 I:, .I:.:"X:lnluO Willi V'"11l111I1I Itnolllill
,,,;1<1',:, tlllli VVdllt III 11m; Old llio tuwn IS lile cOllelate 01 tllu 1001d. HIIlI'll'.!III"t
1110 1I1e 'lOtld' to be a trade rouie over land or sea - a condUit along which OOlI\J.
and wealth will flow, Long-distance trade was clearly the underlying reason for
the rebuilding of the capital of Kythera in the sixteenth century, It was part of
Venice's string of trading stations across the Levant."" The port (called Kapsalil
was defended by a citadel (Chora) which towers over the bay on a natural rock
formation. There are sites like this around the eastern Mediterranean, chosen
for their natural defensiveness, enhanced by watls with restricted gateways.
Their streets are narrow, and often lined with two-storey dwellings that have a
vaulted lower floor. In the modern era these sixteenth-century settlements
have become iconic in the Greek islands' tourism. The dwellings convert into
bars, shops and hotels, and are photographed for calendars and postcards.
They occur with a frequency that makes them characteristic.
Pirates of the Aegean
There are numerous examples across history where defence has acted as a
pre-urban nucleus for a settlement. The cities ot classical Greece for the most
part had an acropolis lor defence. The castles of Europe and the Levant stand
as testimony to defence and military expansion in the Middle Ages.
o
, Paliochora
was c1earty developed with detence in mind. There can be no other reason for
locating a settlement at this otherwise inconvenient crag with precipitous drops
on three sides into the Ligadi gorge. Moreover Paliochora was founded to cope
with a particular threat: pirates.
'Agro-town' is the term used to describe settlements which occur for
a number of reasons when agricultural workers choose to live together because
of defence, scarcity of water or because they are working on a large estate.
02
This term is apt to describe some of the settlements which formed in the six-
teenth century and earlier in the Aegean. Their purpose was to protect the
peasant population from being captured and carried off into slavery, which both
Muslim and Christian corsairs nevertheless managed to do from time to time in
their wars to control the Mediterranean in the sixteenth century.43 A common
type of settlement. built across the Aegean islands in the sixteenth century by
Venice to protect the peasant population, is made up of a uniform house. The
lower storey is usually barrel-vaulted and used to store agricultural produce. The
upper storey is used as a living quarter, normally reached by an external stone
staircase, which joins the two functionally separate parts of the building."
The backs of the walls of the houses themselves formed the defen-
sive wall which normally formed a square plan: we see this configuration at
Kastrisianika on Kythera, and it is also evident at the villages of Aloizianika and
"
(hi 1111, 1',1,11111 ,"t 1\,1111",1111:; 11111 nrthollOllill :;0Itl"1111)I11 it
'''II'' III 11011',1]:; IIIIIII .I1011l1(] II CUlllr,,1 luwel nl(.! sDttternent on the Island 01
KlI1Iolu$ IS blO(Jol wllh lWO rlnos of houses alound the central area, which
Included a lalge house and c11urch. A tower occupied the central position at the
settlement at Mesta on Chios, but here at the largest of this type of settle-
ment, there were concentric rings of houses. The central tower may have been
occupied by the dominant family.4s There are similarities here with the two
ruling families at Paliochora. The rest of the domestic architecture is the same
and indicates that the inhabitants had a similar social status. The difference
between these houses and those at Paliochora is that they represent a free
peasantry who stored and controlled their own produce.
Definition
The settlements on Kythera between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries
present us with issues that highlight some of the problems of defining urban
settlements in the pre-industrial context. They show us that political and eco-
nomic cohesion and peace are needed over a wide geographical area for an
urban hierarchy to develop. The need tor defence during times of turbulence
not only fractured the urban hierarchy but produced settlements that function-
ally belong to neither an urban nor rural category: they are a hybrid, not so
much by showing a mixed inheritance, but by seeming to have been formed
without reference to the usual socio-economic models. Once pirates seemed
to be less threatening to daily life, nucleated villages started to reappear and
towns developed separately.46 On Kythera the Chora and its port Kapsali are
such a town. The island's elite lived here and the economy was linked into the
larger Aegean world of Venice's colonies, so the town was part of an interna-
tional network in a way that Paliochora and the island's villages never were. Its
socio-economic diversity makes the Chora more truly urban, but this status
cannot be understood by looking inland on the island of Kythera for an explana-
tion. It is a correlate of the route, and the island's winding roads are only part of
its network, which also reached out from the island, from one Venetian port to
another, lending a hand and gaining modest sustenance in sustaining the com-
merce that paid for the palaces along the Grand Canal with the profits from
pepper and cinnamon, silks and fragrances from the east.
47
Intensity
Nowadays there are fewer backwaters beyond the reach of trade. It is possible
to be on a Greek island and order recherche academic books tor delivery a few
ddy::' talul, dllllill 11111 LJIIII!!I] 1\1I1[jdUIII IIIult) I::' ::'1IIpI 1:;lIlyly IItllu 11111"1'"'''' II' III"
proportion ot the pOpUIallOl1 lhal IS engi:lged III a surprrSlngly Slll)[I,1I r,,,o\I" "I
occupations In lown and coul11ry - rncluding servrce sectors, such as letdll,
health and education.
48
The countryside depends on money that comes in trom
the towns, whether from visitors or from people who live in the countryside
but who make their living through a town-based business. These people can be
a mixed blessing, because although their money helps to sustain local services,
they are absent much of the time and cannot pull their weight in sustaining the
local culture, They also drive up house prices, perhaps beyond the level that
people earning a local wage can afford, and we can be faced with charming,
well-maintained dormitory villages that are picture-perfect images of country
living but which function entirely as satellites of the town. A house could look
like an isolated outpost, but could nevertheless function in ways that have a
significantly more urban character than the dwellings at Paliochora.
The great distinction between the town and the country is not so
much the types of objects that we find there, as the intensity in which they are
to be found. The great qualitative difference is in the distances between
people, which are much greater in the countryside than in the town. The con-
sequences of that have repercussions in the provision of local services: bigger
hospitals and schools in cities, because more people are within easy reach of
them, closer proximity to a wider range of shops, dentists and swimming
pools. In the country one has space, and facilities that are a drive away. In
Europe we have dense city centres, often based round a medieval core, but
whereas the medieval city would have had a defensive wall, our cities have
blurred edges that fade away gradually, unless local legislation protects a 'green
belt' to preserve an illusion of countryside that is nevertheless within easy com-
muting distance
There is an essay by Michel Serres that envisages the city in terms
of the dense packing of its inhabitants. It is a study of the foundation of Rome,
as described by Livy.9 The various actions of crowds, which culminate in
Rome's foundation, are described in Livy's text. and summarized by Serres,
who sees the individuals in the crowds as molecules in matter, and as the
crowd becomes volatile or consolidates itself, it undergoes behavioural changes
that correspond with the phase transitions in matter. A 'phase transition' is the
change that happens when a substance turns from a gas to a liquid, or from a
liquid to a solid, and vice versa. There is no chemical change, but the material
behaves differently. We know it best from water, which is a liquid at room tem-
perature, but turns to steam when we heat it up, and to ice when we cool it
down In steam the water is H
2
0, just as it is H
2
0 when it is ice. But in the ice
the molecules are closely packed and arrange themselves in crystals, whereas
in steam there is much more space between the water molecules, with the
various elements of air interspersed between them The difference is a matter
"
III 1IIltm',Ity 1)11 IIOf'. ',1;,,10 01 11I1""w,rll. IIlu rlorll<lrJll; Irou spnrt wOllld 110 tin
1I1l011UiIUl,,1 wild 1I0001II;lu 01 wdlOl vapoul whrle lhe monumental 11eart 01 a
UrEtal city would bo ICO well below Iloeling pOint, which would tend to chill and
urbanize anything that came directly into contact with it. If we move the
analogy on from water to rock, which is solid at room temperature, then we
can use the terms of geology - sedimentation, stratification - in ways that bring
out their already metaphorical content.
50
A densely compacted city like Con-
stantinople, with its complex history and its concentration of resources from
around its empire, suggests multiple heterogeneous strata, figured marbles,
veins of gold, while Paliochora is in a pre-metamorphic stage, while the ele-
ments of urbanism are loosely associated, beginning to sediment, but still
unconsolidated. The intensification of energy and skill that finds its way into
fine ceramics makes them necessarily costly. They are therelore tokens of
affluence, and their distribution is intensified in areas like Constantinople where
wealth accumulated. Fine ceramics are to be found in the countryside, but they
are more like isolated particles, tokens of a more urban sophistication that
seem uncharacteristic of the place It is the same with fine buildings. We
expect the public buildings on prominent urban sites to be designed by good
architects and to be able to act as the focus of civic pride. Decorum demands
that the administrative offices of even the humblest borough are better than a
rustic shack Moving in the opposite direction, if we find a building in the coun-
tryside that has the architectural accomplishment of a town hall, then we
immediately suppose that the building is part of a great estate, at the heart of
which will be a grand house of some sort In each case it betokens an intensifi-
cation of resources but the precise means of intensification will vary with time
and place, with the opportunities that can be seen by the people with the
means to act and with the legal systems that (egulate them.
Pastoral
The city consumes not only resources from the countryside, but also images of
it. They are calming, and are often seen as a means of soothing the urbanite's
city-induced s t r e s s ~ Images of flowers, landscapes, farm animals and shep-
herdesses can be found very readily on the fine crockery, fabrics and artworks
in an urban dwelling. An image such as John Constable's Cornfield seems to
be as purely rural an image as one could hope to lind, but if we examine it as a
material object it looks to be as urban as can be (Figure 1.5). It was painted in
Constable's London studio, was exhibited at the Royal Academy at Somerset
House on the Strand, but failed to find a buyer during Constable's lifetime. At
his death it was bought by public subscription, and ever since has lodged at the
National Gallery, now in Trafalgar Square, a short walk from Somerset House. It
"
makes a very clear illustration of the difference between 'art history' and
'material culture', The picture's 'content' from the point of view of art history is
absolutely rural, but from the point of view of making and consuming it is a
metropolitan artefact through and through. Exactly the same therapeutic effect
is expected from buildings in the countryside when they act as a retreat from
the town. A cottage that houses a rural worker's family has a range of demands
made 01 it that includes security and shelter as the most important. A cottage
orne might be much the same building so far as its physical fabric is concerned.
but it will be used completely differently. It is likely to be used seasonally, and
instantly becomes a villa rather than a house. Its inhabitants will not need to
spend the long winter evenings confined in it, so they make less exacting
demands for shelter, On the other hand, since the point of it is to put them in a
contemplative and aesthetically reflective state of mind, tokens of rusticity
"
L5
John Constable,
Th. Cornfield
118261. oil on
canvas
,;, 1111\ I 11\1 v,lli "" I 1111 tll\111 OVlK;, ItIV,) !1011J111,,"1 1110 'IOIIUiI1 10$I(I0I1COS (!lscllssed
by SIOW,III AblJoll III ChaplOi !;J lallinle Ihls category of bUildings 111atiook like
cottages, but which lunctlon as very small villas Their main purpose seems to
have been the cultivation of a poetic sensibility. Dana Arnold, who has herself
studied Georgian villas, here in Chapter 3 makes the point that the owners of
retreats and country seats who occupied houses in the squares of London's
West End when they were new and fashionable could enjoy a country-style
view from their urban windows. The landscaping of the London squares was
quite different from the allees and clipped geometries of continental equival-
ents, and seems to have been calculated to make the residents feel at home in
evoking their parklands, It is something that might be expected on the outskirts
of the city, where the town and the country meet. Ebenezer Howard pointed
out in 1902 that a 'garden city' would give access to city facilities while pre-
serving the good health of country l i f ~ l l n a settlement like Paliochora there is
doubt about whether it produces a rural or an urban milieu inside its defensive
wall. There are elements of both, but whether the urban elements have
reached a threshold of intensity that would make it 'solidify' as urban, is open
to doubt. It remains pre-urban, perhaps incipiently urban, and might have turned
conclusively urban given a location that favoured more external links, or a
system of governance that encouraged prosperous settlers. The Garden City is
altogether different, in that it is built with knowledge of, and probably on the
edge of, a thriving city. There were already reasons to take advantage of this
liminal location well before Howard's time, as Philippe Gresset explains with
reference to the edge of nineteenth-century Paris in Chapter 6. The strategy
would seem to be to maintain a rural milieu as close as possible to the city, so
as to be able to connect with the earning power and spending power of the
urban population, Where the city has a well-defined edge, as Paris did, because
the passage of goods into the city was controlled and taxed, there is a 'duty-
free' zone just outside, where the citizens go to unwind, and where the archi-
tecture seems similarly unbuttoned and picturesque. In Chapter 11 Emma
Dummett reflects on Howard's influence on Le Corbusier, and the Garden City
movement that Howard set in motion also found its way to New York, first at
Sunnyside Gardens in Queens, as Bruce Thomas explains in Chapter 8. Man-
hattan is not far away, 20 minutes on the train, but a house with a garden here
will cost less than a pokey Manhattan apartment. which has made Queens
especially attractive to young families. In the Garden City we readily recognize
a suburban milieu, which is not at all the same as Paliochora's pre-urban milieu.
To be in touch with the countryside is to be in touch with something
fundamental, and Antonella De Michelis in Chapter 2 finds ruralist gestures in
Papal palaces within the ancient walls of Rome. The city was so depopulated
during the Middle Ages that during the fifteenth century one could take a rural
retreat in the shade of the ruins of great imperial urban structures. The milieu is
"
(1!',IIIIl:lly IIl1d illlll',U,llly 110:,tllll),1I1 11010 II,.} IllilllllJh 01 11.11111" I>VOI "vou thu
WO,llost monumonts ot rmmklncl plompts the melancholic retlocllOl1 Ihnt londs
moral character to a scene, It remained much that way into the nll1eteenth
century, when the unification of Italy and the adoption of Rome as its capital
brought property developers who banished the pastures, ruins and vineyards in
favour of 'ugly new streets in imitation of Paris and New York.'.S3 The mood of
living among ruins would seem to be elegiac, but there are moments when the
bathos of everyday life being conducted among the fragments of ancient gran-
deur seems to take on the air of a surrealist collage. A grandiloquent monu-
ment looks out confidently and still seems 10 preside over unparalleled
magnificence. unaware of the conversation of the washerwomen folding up
the laundry that has been drymg ,n the sun. The same Juxtaposition. but WIth
the terms reversed and used In a deliberate rather than an accidental way. IS to
be found at the Cartier Foundahon in the 14th arrondissement of Pans. It IS on
the Boulevard Raspail. a straight street, as urban as can be. lined with continu-
ous buIlding. The CartJer FoundatIOn's buildmg is unique in the street in being
deSigned as freestanding object set in parkland. There is something complex
and sophisticated 90mg on. The f ~ of the budding, made of glass and steel,
prOjects some way beyond the building. gMng framed views of sky that leave
one wondering if the building has been made magically transparent (Figure 1.6).
The boundary fence at the back edge of the pavement IS a storey-high screen
of plate glass. which ()(le takes at first glance to be a run of shop display
windows. which would be characteristic In the area. However. what is on
display IS the garden. deSIgned by Lothar Baumgarten, which is a carefully nur-
tured and heightened fragment of an idea of Arcadian nature, with undulating
land, trees. tussocky grass and, variously according to the season. daiSES,
violets, bluebells. cheny blossom. It is. M:e Constable's Cornfield, an urban
artWork. It goes by the name Thearrum Boranicum, and Its insouciance is care-
fully maintained {Figure 1. 7}. The building, designed by Jean Nouvel, has seven
storeys above ground, which seems normal enough in this location, and eight
storeys below ground, which is exceptional. This is an absolutely urban milieu,
in which little oasis-gardens flourish in confined spaces {the French word for
them is squares'}. The Theatrum Botanicum IS not elegiac but surreal, and,
being presented partly veiled by reflective glass. could be taken for a mirage.
There is a sense 111 these examples that, so far as the urbanite is
concerned, the role of the countryside is palliative. Business is done in the city,
and it wears one down. One goes to the countryside in order to recuperate, not
to escape the city altogether, but to relax the pace before rejoining the attrac-
tions of the city. One always expects to return to the giddy intoxications of
hard, relauvely well-paid work and the fashionable throng. which can be so
exhausting. Taking these stimulations too seriously makes one into a fashion
victim. Once one has acquired some meaningful experience of the countryside,
"
...
....n Nouvel.
fond.lion Cenier
.nd lolher
8aumgen....
~ t r u m
Bor.nkum. 1994
(d.Uil!. The end
of the building
dem.terialized
h.... in doud of
ell...,., blossom
..,
Primroses and
rocks. in Loth.
e'umglln.n.
Thutrum
Bo'.nicum
(d.l_ilI
19
1(1 ,I! ,t '''IIIIIIII\l'1. sr/llnlOS, avorl i1 pottolll,I,II'1 'Ill' IllIv"
tho POWOI to 5001110 111 l!iI:; 1110<111 tllO IOle of the countrySide IS to 11,,11' III'" ,Iy
to function,
Reform
An alternative view is to see the city as corrupt. Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylon
and Rome, especially Rome under the later Caesars, have been emblems of
decadence, as has Constantinople - in current English one hears of 'Byzantine
conspiracies' The darkest popular depiction of the city from recent years was
in David Fincher's film Selen, in which elaborately contrived murders enact
lurid punishments for supposed commissions of the seven deadly sins
M
The
decor is unremitting gloom. Even lamps do not seem to give out light. The
police search with torches in a room where we can see the wall-lamps glowing.
If it is not dark outside, then it is overcast and pouring with rain. In a rare wistful
moment. the young couple who are being drawn into lhe drama recall a happier
time, before they moved to the city. In their naivete when they lived in the
country it had seemed that the future might be good, but in the city hope
seems to leech away like the colour that has drained from the images on the
screen. We locate some of our fears in the countryside, from the child-eating
witch in the forest who takes an interest in Hansel and Gretel, to the events
that unfold in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre,55 There, though, the menaces
seem to be remote from society, and one is protected by being with other
people, in the village, in daylight. If one lives in the countryside then the people
one meets are often not strangers. The menace in the city is different because
one passes strangers all the time, and one learns to avoid acknowledging their
presence. In the anonymity of the city one is not engaged with one's neigh-
bours, and degrees of depravity, luxury and excess seem to be possible there
in ways that are apparently unknown in the countryside, where a certain
amount of practical work is required that calls one back to sobriety, At least,
that is the story. It may not match with actual facts, but versions of it reappear
in the narratives that underpin several of the studies collected here. They gravi-
tate around the idea of making the countryside the place to begin with the
general reform of society. This might be because there is innate goodness in
the countryside, and it would be good to harness this native virtue. It might, on
the other hand, just be that the city seems too complex and intractable to
reform, so it is necessary to begin with a small settlement, removed from the
current retrograde order of things, if one is ever to stand a chance of setting
things on the right footing.
This form of argument came to prominence with lhe Enlightenment,
for example with Rousseau's discourses and Marc-Antoine Laugier's essay on
20
01111111111.111111 '., I dllllr'lt '."11'1111 I" 1"lllIlrl .. 1dll:lllluclll'll hUIII 1110 IXlloquo
',UlIlJ III wllll;h 110 tOilful II, ilild lio lip a theoretical Ideal ,Igalilst which to
comp,lIe leallJulldmUs, This model was a supposed primitive hut, made of four
columns - tree trunks, still growrng in the ground - and an entablature of
roughly hewn branches. It was a rustic version of a Greek temple, and of
course it was a rural building. The countryside is where things begin, and if one
tries to argue for a change to current practice by saying that architecture has
lost touch with its roots, then one begins with a proposition about architectural
fundamentals in a rural setting. Leen Meganck and Linda Van Santvoort in
Chapter 7 show this form of argument being used in nineteenth--century
Belgium, newly established as an independent state. The desire for architec-
ture that could be seen to be characteristic of the nation led some comment-
ators to take an interest in vernacular architecture and the rural buildings that
were represented as growing up more or less naturally, away from the artifice
and pretension of the studio. There is direct continuity here from the culture
that attributes fine feelings to shepherds. ancient and modern, and also to the
unknowing virtue of Adam and Eve before their fall from grace.
Innocent virtue was often projected onto a contemporary peasant
population in a way that was probably sustainable only from the distance of a
town. A prolonged encounter with the actuality of peasant life might leave one
as disillusioned with it as Hazlitt was. What he saw as 'a system of wretched-
ness and self-denial" could be redescribed by Rousseau or Wordsworth as a
practical demonstration of Stoic virtue. The fact of their managing on scandal-
ously scant means could be conflated with a philosopher's voluntary poverty
and be made to look high-minded. Country folk were in touch with the funda-
mentals of life, in this view, while the fashionable elite squandered wealth for
little real gain. The severe and influential buildings by the German Enlighten-
ment architect Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff in Marc Brabant's Chapter
4 embody an architecture that was designed to reform more than just building
style, The anti-urban stance, directly influenced by Rousseau, was calculated to
imbue the Prussian gentry with the natural vigour of the ancient Greeks The
modern tendency was to lapse into idleness and decadent over-refined tastes,
but the Greeks had been in touch with their noble-savage side, cultivating an
athletic warrior class alongside the sculptors who glorified them. So this reform
of architecture was tied to a reform of social mores, moving away from the
perceived decadence and over-refinement of modern fashion victims, towards
the forthright self-reliance of the ancient Greeks. This view of the ancient
Greeks had been formulated by another Prussian, Winckelmann, but it was Erd-
mannsdorfl's generation - inspired by Winckelmann - that tried to realize the
consequences of the idea and which saw the wave of Neoclassicism break
across Europe, culminating in the foundation of the modern Greek state, with a
Bavarian king in the 1830s.
"
Morality
ThiS Prusslan Circle's aspiration was to set socIety on a proper fOOtlO9, and
architecture was part of that prOlect. BUildings are always symptoms of the
society that produces them, as any archaeologist Will confirm, but on occasion
they can be built in the hope that they WIll act so as to bring into being the
society of the future, or at least to act as an instrument that can be used to that
end. One might call such a programme 'utoptan'. or, I' it has been completely
successful, It mIght be saId in retrospect that the buildings were 'ahead of lhelf
time'. For Winckelmann the perfectton of Greek art had been possible because
of the perfectIon of Greek society, and because of the unaffected natural grace
with which Ideas found their way to expressIon. For Fnednch Ntetzsche, wrttlng
in the 1860s and 1870s, the anCIent Greeks embodied the ideal of the free
sptrit. By birth Ntetzsche was Prusslan, but he repudiated his cttizenshlp when
he moved to Switzerland in his twenties, and preferred to think of himself as
European, or even as Polish.
S
) In Nietzsche's expression of his ideas, he made
use of various positive and negative stereotypes with which he made sweep-
ing generalizations that helped him to get his point across, at the expense of
some injured sensibilities. His negative stereotypes included religious believers,
whom he portrayed as being in the grip of a 'herd' mentality, and Germans,
who were designated emblematically as complacent and self-satisfied - the
embodIment of common sense. He saw life as a process of continUIng devel-
opment. In our youth we acquire the concepts and habits that we will use to
make ourselves the adults we become, and we continue in our development,
acqUifing new conceptual tools and discarding those that we have outgrown. In
a process of development like thiS, one mUSI have the elementary tools In
order to forge the more sophIsticated ones. And WIth the development of a
society some such progressIOn must be antiCipated If we accept the common
sense of the day, then everything stays much as It is, or continues in the same
directIon. In order to bnng about change one must do something radical, s0me-
thing utoptan, somethtng that steps outSIde of socIety as It IS currently ordered.
Hence the appeal of the countrySide for utopian activists. One does not have
the comforts of the sociable crowd, afftrming one's worth, and, as Hazlitt
found, it can be dispiriting to do without that; but given a limited amount of
support and a group of like-minded souls, it is possible in the country to estab-
lish the nucleus for a new way of life. Such was the kibbutz. In Chapter 10
Marina Epstein-Pllouchtch and Tzafrir Fainholtz explain how Theodor Herzl, the
founder of Zionism, embraced the idea of a co-operative rural community as
the baSIS fOf the generation of a new society and a new Jewish identity that
was deliberalely removed from the Eastern EUlopean Jewish expenence of
the urban ghetto. Le Corbusier's engagement In thiS rural context is perhaps
unexpected, as hiS reputation was established by promoting ideas about lhe
22
11"101111/'11"'11,,1 1111l", w,lI, ""1110",, ill 11I1I"l'II"1I1'" hilI Iho 01 lho
klj,/'llt.' would ,1".IIIV """l' ,II'I/II,Ilocl to 11111\ I (l CoilJUSlef'S use at 'garden City'
,dods OYOIl !HOlD surprlsu19. gIVen his Inclination 10 do away with traditional
CllV centles and suburbs, but Chapter 11 demonstrates that the Influence was
Indeed thele The bnks here make It clear Ihal there can be an idealism ,n Ihe
suburbs, whICh goes beyond making a pragmatic fix. ThaI much IS already
evident from Chapter 8: SunnYSide Gardens had utopian aspirations alongSide a
commitment to real practicality. And while La Corbusier might have been
deSlgOlng urban blocks In the 1920s. his most important commissIOns were
suburban and rural villas. There is il tenslOfl between the overheated urban
culture of Ihe avant-garde and the places where one can actually try out uncon-
ventional new ideas that might unnefVe the neIghbours. Carmen Popescu's
account of the arrival of Modern Movement Ideas 10 Romama in Chapter 9
makes It clear that the countryside can be a place where new ideas can take
root and flourish, despite urbanites' preconceptions,
Witnessing change
Things are in flux. The countryside is in criSIS. Everything is gOtng to have to
change. In fact it is already changillQ around us. If we are old enough then we
can remember that things used to be different, but it is when one pieces
together a longer history that the change becomes dramatic. In the ancient
world Rome was uniquely large, its populatIOn reaching one million about 5 Be,
but at that sIze It overstretched even the Romans' technologies, and WIth the
foundatlOfl of Constantinople its prestlQe waned. The next city to grow to that
size was London c.18011 Now there are hundreds of them. Ankara was
adopted as the capttal CIty of modem Turkey In 1923, and it has been growing
ever since, from about 50,000 to over four mlUIOfl tnhabitants. In Chapter 12 Ali
Cenglzkan and Dtdem Klhckiran present an account of the transformallon of
Temelli, which was once a rural settlement but has now been absorbed In the
immense City. There are people who slill live there who have witnessed the
change, and Cengizkan and Kilickiran's presentation of their view reminds us
that the apparently abstract logic of 'central-place' theory is an Olympian view
of regions that aggregates human action so that the humans look like mol-
ecules in a fluid that is forming crystals, Cengizkan and Klhckiran go down
among the humans and report on the complex feelings and dilemmas that face
them and determine the properties of the fluid of which they are a tiny part,
23
Nostalgie de la boue
It IS clear Ihat the human world IS gOing to be Increasingly urban in the decado!>
to come. The inhabltanlS of villages will find thai Ihey have become suburban,
and the leafier suburbs will grow more dense. A grown-up will wistfully remem-
ber the unconsidered vitality of childhood, and will connect that innocence with
the more-rural place that sustained it, running about on tussocky grass in the
dappled light of a now-vanished orchard that produced only less-than-perfect
fruit. Or remember the smell of scorched ewe's milk, warmed by a red--hot
poker, being fed to a new-born lamb rescued from the snow, being petted by
the fireside. For many of us, grOWing up IS a process of gradual urbanization,
with the rural expenences seeming more vivid and fundamental in part because
they were experienced at a more Impressionable age, and traditional bucolics
continue to work effectIVely on urban audiences, as narratives and as Images.
SIgnificant numbers of the urban population enjoy viSiting the countryside, and
may even live there despite being employed In the city. Our food is grown In
the countryside somewhere In the world, even rf we have never seen the
place. Sustaining current levels 01 mobility may be problematic In the decades
ahead, but telecommuOIcatlOns WIll ensure the contmuing flows of informatJOO,
goods and servICes between the urban and rural realms, regionally and interna-
tionally. The different architectural decorums for the city and the country may
be eroded. Many businesses seem to operate from steel-framed sheds Ihal
could indifferently be In a '.elel or on an industrral estate, so long as the land is
cheap and there IS a suitable workforce with.n reach. Many a former market
town has a prosperous-looking high Street WIth the same smart shops as In
the big cities, and teleVISions stream identical aspirations indifferently into
urban and rural homes. BUI history shows us that the countryside is a Viable
place for experiment, where we can try new ways of configurrng dally life, so
as better to prepare us for the future, by cultivating people 01 good character,
immune to the depraVities of the city. The bUildings are left as traces of those
aims, maybe mute and inglorious In themselves, but once harnessed in a
noble cause. And mud, which was once ubiquitous in town and country alike,
is now the defining trait of the profound countryside; both actual mud, as it
finds its way IOtO the house, and its symbolic aspect as it acts as the concrete
embodiment of a nostalgia for the origins we have left far behind between the
Tigris and Euphrates: a cultural half,memory of the sun-baked bricks of early
cities, and the human clay,
"
Notes
I W,III,,,,, 11,111"', 'II" M< lxcu,s,on', III Ihe Rou"'d fable llondon, 18171; see
W,II,,,., WOfAs.lld'lcd by P P Howe. 21 voIs ILondon. Denl, 19321 vol 4,
p 111
2 Annie Pfoulx. '8fol:eback Mounlllln', ,n The New Yorl:9r, 13 Octobe, 1997, pp. 74fl., Ano
lee, Brokeb:k MotitltllJn (AJbefta Film Emenu nmenl. 2005l
3 RlIVffiO"'(l WII",ms, The Counrr,o IIlCJ rile City Iill/le Modem Nove/(New York.; Oxford UnMll-
sny Press, 19731; Town (J{l(j COOllfr,o, ed led by Anthony Same:t and Roger Sa'uton (london
Jonathan Cepe, 19981. Oxtntr,o /.Jfe DIsptJ/ches From Left of It edillld by Ian Jad:
(london: GfiIIlla. 20051. The C,ry Reader, edoled by RIChard T LeGales and F,edenc SlOUI
{london: Routledge, 19961; The Dry Culrures RNdtN, edi:ed by Maleolm M.les, La,n Borden
and T"" Han (london. Routledge, 20001, S:ephen GflIham and SKnon Marvlll, SpIInrenng
Nerworked /nfrasrructutes, MobMtes and the Urtwl ConditltXl
(london: Rout'edge, 20011; Teny Marsclen and Jonathl MurOOCh. Reronsntutl1lp Rura4rr
CounI1)'Slde ., an lJrln Con/ext Restrur;tutrlg Rural Areas (london: Routledge.
19941, f'tl,hp lowe, TeffV Marsden and Jon81h11n Murdoch. The Dtfferen1Jated Counrl}'Sde'
(london: Routledge, 20031, People WI tile Countrys.ocle. Studies 01 Scc>aI Change III RUflII
Bnt..." edited by Tonv Chemooon .-.d a...- es Walkins (london: Paul Otaprnan, 19911.
4 Mallhew Trytor, l.rwlg Wofblg CounI1)'Slde The RevIew of RUflII Economy lind
AJford8tble Hou:slI"lg- (lonoorL Oepaftmenl lOt Commurutl6$ and local Govemment 2ClO8l
p 123 The liguf8$'" 4.9 pef cent lOt hotels and lestaufan15, 158 pel' cent lor wholesale
and retail trade, lepaol of 100101 vehicles
5 lewIS MumfOtd. "Nhat IS a utyt, III Ardrttecrllli R;ad, 1937; .. The Orr R8W,
leGales and Stout. op CIt, pp 92-96
6 PausaNM, translated by Peter l ....., Gt.ode 10 Gt8'lK:tl, 2 voI$ (Ha11'l'1(ll1(lswo Pengwn,
197111101-1,104.1
7 Moses r-IIlIey, The Ancottnt Economy12nd rev edIl London; Hogarth. 1985) p. 124
8 PhIlip AbriIITI$, "TOWII$ and Economoc GrOWltL Some Theones and Problems', in Towns ",
Soaerr ESSlfY$ In ECOf'OfflIC HlSfOty lind HJs/oncai Soc/okIgy, ell ted by Phr!ip Abrams and
EA Wlgev (Cambridge C8mblidge UrwefSlly Pl'ess, 19781 p. 9.
9 And,ew Waflace.HadI.1. 'InlloducliOn', ,n Orr lind Countryside in the Arcent World, ed, led
by John Rd'!and Andrew W8lLace-Had..lll.onclon. Routledge, 19911 p. x.
10 T.E. R'hl and A.G Wlson, 'Modelhng end Seltlement SUllClures ... Anclent Greece NtIw
Approaches to the Pol s', ,n Rd'! and Wallace-Hadnll, op. CIt.. pp. 59-96
" FW Maitland, TOWfl$h/p and Borough (Cambridge Cambrldge UnM!fSl1V P'ess, 1898l
p.18
12 RIChard Holl and GlIrvase Ross8l, 'Inlrociucllon: The English T()WI'l in Ihe Midd!e Ages, ,n
The Medieval Town; A Reader III Engi'$Il Urban HIStory ed,led by Rocllard Holt
and Gervase Rosser Ilondon Longman, \990) p. 3
13 Paul 'Nhealley, The Plvor 01 the Four Ouarters: A Pre/,m'Mr,o Enq,-,,'Y mto the OriginS and
Character of the Ancltlnt Chinese C,ty IEdlnburgh: Ed''''burgh Un""ersity Press, 19711 p. 372
14 Follow,ng the eJ<llmple of Charles Sanders P'l<Ice and W,lliam James from lhe 1870s and
188Os. See Andrew Ballantyne. Archm,cture Theory Ilondon: Continuum, 2oo5l.
15 Harold Carter, The Study of Urban Geography, 3rd edn (london: Edward Arnold, 1ge1l
pp.59-70,
16 B.J.l. Berry, Geography of Mark6t Centers and Rerail Dist,ibution (Englewood Cliffs Pren
!Ice Hall, 1967l 'S the bilsl summary of the fUlures of cenlral places.
17 For Ihe problems assocratQd w,th apply,ng theory 10 past h'erarchies, see
Halold Caaer, An !ntroouctlOfl to Urban Hls/orical Geography(london: Edwa,d Arnold, 1983l
pp,96-97.
1B G,lles Deleul6 and Gual1an, ClIPltalisme at Sdllzophr8nltl 2: Mille plateaux (Pans: Edi,
tions de M,nuil, 19801, translated by 8nan Massum', C8p1tallsm and Sc/'lIzophrenia 2. A
Thousand Plateaus IMrnf\llapohs M,nnesota Unlv6fs,lV P,ess, 1987) p. 322: see Andrew
BallMtyfle, Del6uZe and GUlll/ari felt ArcMects (london: Routledge, 2007) p. 81.
19 N8IIil!e MOIIey, 'C'I,es In Urban Systems in Roman Italy', in Roman Urbanism
25
II",,"", "", 1,"",,,,,,,,, '11\ ..01""" IIV Ilnl .." M I',or'", II , .... ", II"""... I'r"l
'01 ',',
III II,, II, !'"h"l"lI Oly 110.,11'",1",....
I' IIJ
:n IlJOtJ f.l 111
22 A.H M Jones. The Larer RtJf1l81l Emptte 204-602 A SocuI. ECOf/OlTIIC and AdmIntstrarrve
Sunoe\;. 2 vots lOx1ord; Blackwell. 19(4) vol 1. pp 112-166
2'3 There was lIIlso a seedy SlIde 10 Constant nopIe. see Mchael Angold. The ByUl1r".,., Empre
/025-/204 A PrJIlru HlSrory (london: Longman, 1984) po 244-245, Great CIt'"
oIten prompled an ambivalent atlltude towafds them The dichotomy between Rome and
O".heI CltJeS and the '(fysWpB' WI all tudes lowards Rome are oommeoted on bv Ray
Laurence. 'Wr>1ItIQ the Roman MelropoU. WI Heen M Paron. op CIt. pp 1-20
24 Pau' Magdal.no. The Empire of Manuel / KotrVl8flO:S 1143-80 (Cambridge c.mbndge Uno-
....s.:y P:ess. 19921 p. 111
25 Ttas PlftlCUlal aspect 01 Cooslaonlonople'S role IS the subtect 01 a seoes 01 papers on Con-
sranru'l<lple lind lIs Ilimerfand: Pllpers of the TWMty-5<tventh Spnng Symposwm of 8rz"".
IIt'ltl SIudies. Oxfotd 1993. edited by Cynl Mango, Gubel1 D.1groo Wlth aSSIS:ance hom
Geoff,ey Gfe.!Jlfex lAldershot: VarlOnJm. 1995/
26 MIChael Angold. 'The shapJog of the Medlflval Byzanllne C11Y. In 8YZolntln,sche Forschungen
1I9901 p 2
21 EA Wngley. 'ParaMe or Stimulus: The TOWf1 in a Pr....nduslnal Economy'. In Towns in Soc..
8116S: EsSllys In Economic History and H,stoneal SocIoio9Y. ed,ted by PhIlip Abrams and E.A
Wrigley lCambndge: Cambrfdge University P,ess. 19781 pp, 295-309,
28 AnOOld. 'Medieval 8yzantLne City', op, cit.
29 Gllran Ince 8rld Arldrew 8allarltyne, Pallochorll on Kylllerll: Survey Bnd ImarprelllllOl'l,
Studies", Med,avlli aOO PostMedleVllI Selllements, BAR Irlta,natlonal $cries 1701l10Klord
Archaeopress, 2007).
30 Ibid. pp. 16-18
31 Ibid. pp, 28-32
32 NICOlas Olkonom,des. 'The Coments ot me ByZanllne Hoose from Ihe EIe...nth 10 lhe f,f.
leenth Century'. In Dumb.trron OoIks Papers, vol 44 (19901 pp. 211-212, Joanota Vloom.
Aflet Atlr/Qtll/Y CeramK:5 and 5ocJe.ty In the AeglNn from rile Seventh 10lhe TWfI(II.elh
CentUfYACIL8IOen: letden lh'lNerSJty. 20031 p 321
3J PMII Magd,hno. 'The 8yzant ne Answaatc O,kO$, ,n The ByziNllJfIe Anstoo'BCy Xl-XIII Cern-
tunes, eared bv Moch3el Angold, BAR InternatlOOBl Senes 221 10000ld. Archaeopress. 19841
pp 99-100
34 lnoeandBallantyne.CIP_Clt.PIJ 10-14
J5 'bid. pp 1-9
36bd,pl
37 nus lheory 1$ champoned by P/tUI V'Jtteatiey. 'ProleptlC Obse!vauons on the Ongln of l/lbIn-
ISm'. WI /.NerpooI Essays IfI A.JubIIee CoI9ct.o.:lrl. ed'ted by Robe<t W Steel illId
ROChald l.lIWlon lLondon: loogman. 19671 pP 315-345 for Greece. see A.M. Snodg!ass.
'Archaeology aOO lhe S1udy of the Gteek City', In RICh ,00 Wa'Laoo-tladrill, OJ) CIt.. pp, 1-24
38 leonard Wooley. 'The UrOOrlilatlOll of Socoety, ,n The H.srory of Mifnkind. Culrural and Set-
emlflC Deveiopmem, 6 vols, vol. 1: Preh'Slory and rile 8egm",ngs 01 ClVilizifllOll. cd ted by
Jacquetta Hawkes and Leonard Wooey (New York: Harper and Row, 1963) p 414
39 Henr, P,reMe, Les Vllms au rl'l<IYtlfhJgI: eSSllI a'lllslClre 6c0n0mrque el socl8le ISrussels
Lem8lM, 19271. translated by F,D. Halsey, M8dleval CII/es: Tile Origms Bnd Ille ReVival of
Trad,,(Prmeeton: P,incetorl University Press, 1952)
40 See Femand Braudel, La M(KMerranC8 el Ie mendo mBdllerrarli!en 6 l'f!Jpoquo de Philippe fl.
2 vots ("ans: Colirl, 1949l, l,anslated by Sl8rl Reynolds, The Medilerraneiln lind llle Mediter.
ranean World mIlle Age of Pf!jl,p II, 2 vols (london: Collf\S, 1972): arld Pm6l/lLne Horocn
eOO N eholas Purcell, The Cor-rupMg Sea. A Siudy in MtJdIrerranean HISlory (Oxford Wley
Blackwell. 20001. The baSIC concept 15 lhat fhe Med,t8f.anearl Sea l!SeH LS carllre-stage and
the lend SUfrOl..lflO'rtg the sea LS lhe marg n or the Innge Ti'Ie sea was the most eflectrve
meaM of transport. especIa'ly lor ,mernat onalt.ade
26
,I' 1111', "." I,,' . II.'HI.. H,,,'k'", II,, ,\1.,1".,,,, I I {,010.".,1,,.".1
I ")I",,,r. /I,,,.,,, 'I'"I I, III""."." j',w,,1I1o I ,II.', l'
,11 ILII., III'" I.k." 1"., 1bl,";', l'u,spoc;lIvu', "1 U,ba!, Lllo III MedJ
I,.'.H.'.' 'I"'.'" AIIIIl,VjJV/<xyc.lI etJiled bY M.chael leeJVly and David l
1e,"I;I." {Ull)illli" II l/tweos>Iy 01 Ilhfl()ls Press. 19631 pp 135---136
43 lnee and Ba Iantyne. op ClI. P 7; FredrIC C Lane. Veruce A MarlfllTle RepublIc lBa11 more,
MD Johns Hopk.ns lkwer$l.ty Press. 19731 pp 61.63
44 lnee and Ballantyne. op CIt. pp
45 bd. pp 34...J5
46 lbod, pp 37-38
47 ibid. PIJ 33-34
48 Taylor repoll op. CIt.. p 12'3
MlChel Serres. Rome Ie livre de tondlIlJOfIS lPllrl$ Edll>Ol"lS GfiI;Sset e: Fasquclle. 19831,
translated by Fe'lC>ll McCarren. In lhe CIty AgItated Mu'tIOIICltY. m Rome The 80ck of
FoundlIII(l(IS (P,1o Allo. CA- Stan'ord UrtJYefSlty Press. 1991l: see Ba!lanryne. Arctllrecture
Theoiy. OP CI1 pp, 169-202
50 Se8 ,Iso 'The GeoIollv of Morals'. chapler 3 01 Deleuze ,nd Gualllln, op. ot. pp
51 Joyce Hen" Roboll$Ol'l. '"H, Honey. I'm Home" Weary lNeuf8Slhemcl Bus",essmen and
the ForflllftlOll 01 , Serenely Modern AesthetIC', m Andrew Ballantyne, What lS NeMec-
lure? lLondon: Routledge, 2002) pp. 112-128
52 Eberlezer HOWllld, Gl!rden GilleS of Tomorrow(londoo Swan SoMenschelrl, 19021
53 Christopher Woodward, In Rums (london: C!'latto eOO WiOOus, 20011 p. 25, quolir\9 Augus-
tuS Hare.
54 DaVid flrlCher, Se7en (New Line Cinema, 1995).
55 Tobe Hooper, Tlla Texlls C/>amsaw Massacre (Vollex, 1974)
56 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, D,scovrs sur tes SCIences er res lIns lo.)On' 1750): Idem o.SCOUIS
sur l'orlf}lne el los fondemenfs de I'm6guiJlJt6 parmi res hommes (Amsterdam 1755); '"
Oeuvres cornpI6tes, etJoted by B Gagneb'rl aOO M. Raymond. 4 vols IParls, Galhflllfrd. 1959-
1969) vol 3, MtlrcAnlo,ne Laugle'. ESS8I SIN I'lIrC/lJleclure IPans: 1753). translated bv Wolf-
gang aOO AnN HermaM. Essay on ArchItectvre (Los Angeles. CAe Hennessey aOO Ingal:s.
19771
57 Fnedneh Neusche. Ecce Homo' Wie Man Wi<t:I Was Man fSI IWJluen 1886. pubhshed
le.pzIg Inset 19081. translated by Walter l(aufmann. 'Ecce Homo: How O-.e Becomes
What One Is'. n On the Genealogy of MonIJs Id Ecce Homo (New York: Vntage. 1989)
pp 225. 262-263
Chapter 3
Rural urbanism
London's West End
Dana Arnold
I want 10 think about the spaces of the metropolis. specifically, how the
shaping of urban environments - the landscapes and IOpographles of a City -
has a kind of endurance and mutability. My locus IS London, speClhcalty the
area known as the West End. during the long eighteenth century. Here I look at
the ways in which patterns of landownership and Land development show how
the deciSionS of the past still Influence the present. The modernity of these
developments has now become history. We see them as part of the past rather
than as a strand that runs from the past Into the present. This viewpoint gives
urban spaces a volatility of meaning through our separation of the past and the
present. In this chapter I want to try to explore the continuities of space and
time 10 see how notions of modernity in country and city in the long eighteenth
century can endure. In this way I aim to begin to develop our understanding of
the porous relationship between urban and rural.'
My enqu.ry stans with issues surrounding land, landownership and
use of landscapes, and my Intention IS [0 explore the ways In whIch methods
of land management and development and the assoaative values of landscape
usually connected with rural environments, were In fact portable between
country and City and formed essential components in the rEHmaging of the
metropolis. The eighteenth-eentury country house provides a starting point as
this was an essential vehicle through which a patrician culture expressed indi-
Vidual and national identity through the complex interactions of architecture and
landscape. The aesthetiC vocabularies of antiquity and arcadia were appropri-
ated and a new syntax formulated to create an effective national visual lan-
guage with encoded meanings for the educated classes. This is manifest both
in lhe style of country-house architecture, which drew heaVily on ancient
Roman and Palladian models, and in the deSign and layout of landscape
gardens where referel'lCes to antique buildings and literature were frequently
made, The practice of country4'Jouse viSitlng meant the viewing public experi-
'.1
JNrt Rocque,
m.p of London's
WK1 End, c:.113O,
priYltl QOIlection
1111' 01,1 111"',11 .ultlll,,1 pi 11'11011 1('11.1 ,II tUSl IMlid And lhose OilCUUlll0rs were
rll..tllu moro VIVid through lhe Illcreased InteleSlln and knowledge of the arch...
tschlle and lileralure 01 antIQuity al thiS time,
Yet dumlQ the long 8Ighteenth century, society became lOCreaSlngly
urban, and the ulllforrmty and domeslJC scale of town planning might have stifled
the use of thIS aesthetIC language. Instead, however, we flfld that thIS dfstll'lCt set
of Intellectual systems and conventions IS brought into the metropolis and used
both In the funheral'lCe of the SOCIal and cultural hegemony of the ruling elite, and
conversely In the creation of a modern metropolitan Infrastructure which repre-
sented new sets of SOCial and political values. Here London's landscapes, as man-
Ifest In the laying out of a garden square or a royal park, could be 'read' by a
viewing public whose senses were already trained to understand the meanrngs of
self-consciously constructed rural spaces which explored the resonance between
nature and antiquity. This senSibility to landscape moved between country and
city and London became an evocative arena for the public display of taste, wealth
and status, social intercourse and the economIC systems of urban Ide.
House building and estate development were a core part of
architectural production In England, If not the Bntlsh Isles, over thIS penod.
Together they encapsulated the social, econormc and lXlIitlcal system where
I,II11lllWIIIJI',IlIp W,j', ,III 0',',('1111.11 p,IIt ut 111'.1 dolulIllUIl 01 ',(k 1,,1,1.1',', IIlu 1111',
IQClacy owned land III the country as well as In London - these IMI(,ols of whan
land were known collect,vely as 'the great estates'. The nomenclature of these
areas of London, for instance the Bedford, Cavendish and Grosvenor Estates,
supplies a lexicon of the names of the landowning families whose estates were
concentrated 111 the West End (Figure 3.1). Burlington House is a typical
example of an urban 'country' house or palace. The original seventeenth-
century house was bUilt on PICCadilly and surrounded by the open fields of the
yet undeveloped West End of London (Figure 3.2). In the opening decades of
the eighteenth century the house, Its landscaped gardens and Immediate envi-
rons, underwent substanual development. The house was transformed Into a
modern, classically deSigned metropolitan dwelling by Lady Juliana Burlington
and her son Richard, third Earl of The land owned by the Burlington
family to the north of the house, kllOwn as the 'ten acres', became a network
of reSldentLClI streets that yl6lded conSiderable income from leases and rents
(Figure 3.31
The drive to realize the full econormc of lhe land was mir-
rored throughout the eighteenth century in the country estates of the elite.
3
Country houses, eIther through extensive rellOvalJon or new build, became
showpl9Ces of taste, wealth and power. The productIVrty, profitability and
..
32
J. K't'PP -..d J,
Knyff, 8w1i"91:on
House, Piccadilly,
Nouvel Th..lr.
de Ie Gtende
8ret_9n., ",1698,
privele
'.3
JNnRocq....,
mep of london's
W"I End,
..1731-1746,
deteil showing
etee eround
lurtington House.
prlvele
acreage of the working land was a status symbol in itseH and generated the
wealth required adequately to effect the necessary aesthellc of house and land-
scapes garden. There is no doubt that the new farming techniques employed
on large estates such as Woburn in the laller part of the eighteenth century
were admired for their ingenuity. efficacy and yield. Moreover, picturesque
systems of viewing landscape, including an appreciation of the romantic
sublime, were based on working landscapes such as those at Richard Payne
Knight's Downton and Uvedale Price's Foxley.' Alongside this, the creation of
country-house landscapes with distinct ideological and political meanings
helped create and augment the status of the ruling elite. But for this formula to
work, the viewing public had to want to engage with this aesthetic To this end
picturesque systems of viewing disseminated througn touristic literature, and
the desirability of adequate education and ergo 'class' to appreciate references
to antique architecture were powerful forces in the shaping of an appreciat,on
"
ul Illu COlilitl y Ilouse ,111(1 t ~ 'Istalu II,U:,U ,llllludllS low, III I', II", I,ll" j,,, I '1'111I1,m
of 111e elite helped engender the IllUSion 01 inclUSion Into an excluslUlldlY :,\.t:luty
that bound together different classes through a feeling of unity. But we tend to
forget that these houses and their estates were seen as modern by contempo-
raries. For instance Jane Austen, a vivid commentator through her novels on
social life in early nineteenth-century England, describes Mansfield Park (a
house from the novel of the same name) as 'a spacious modern-built house' a
phrase she uses again to describe Cleveland - the grand country house in
Sense and Sensibi/ity.5 But for Austen modern meant Georgian, yet we see
Georgian as an historical style that relates to the past. Perhaps, then, we need
to rethink our view of notions of modern and modernity specifically here in rela-
tion to past and present urban environments.
The 'great estates'
Mapped against this rapid expansion in new country-house building is the emer-
gence of London as an increasingly important metropolitan centre and core part
of the evolving notion of nationalism and national consciousness. And there is a
strong relationship between country-house building and the urban development
of London and its West End in particular. At the beginning of the eighteenth
century, country-house building ran far ahead of the development of London,
but as this peaked towards the end of the century the pace of growth in London
caught up and overtook it. Yet there were similar players involved: the landed
classes, who had consolidated their power through landownership during the
eighteenth century, now made their imprint on the capital (Figure 3.1).6 The
'great estates', owned by the landed elite, became the subject of the same
intensive development as their country-house landscapes. Just as antiquity was
vital for the aesthetics of country houses and landscape theory, so it became a
driving force in the shaping of the modern metropolis and the visual expression
of the importance of London as a centre for national government. This pattern
of landownership and the decisions made about how to develop the great
estates at this time formed the topography of modern London that endures to
the present day. The market gardens and small farms situated on the urban land
belonging to the elite gave way to garden squares and rows of terrace houses
that gave the West End its enduring low-rise, domestic character. Here I am
thinking about the metropolis as a site of economic activity through speculative
development in order to explore the continuities between past and present, how
these help formulate both an urban and a national identity, and not least how
urban and rural interacted in the construction of these.
Rather like a country house and its landscape the city can, then, be
seen as a signifier of the complex social-cultural and political forces that had
'dl,II""III, .11111 ,I', ,III <tIIII,lnll'loi IIII! '.llIlt II' h/t;u', Irllllllilloilio Ilrbdll OIIVIIOII
IIIUIII:, III IIlu 1,,11111 poll 1'll IIlu IOIl!J Dightconth century, 'll1e aesthetiC operated
III tllo same way tlwt the plctulesque In country-house landscape design had
smoottled and levelled the SOCial and economic iniquities of landownership.
enclosure and sharp farming practices.' Just as an appreciation of the pictur-
esque aesthetic, to which the middle- and upper-class eye was trained,
reflected the social status and taste of the viewer, so an appreciation of the
new urban aesthetic, which borrowed from antiquity, did the same. In both
cases, aesthetics represented a new kind of modernity and progress and
helped to formulate an identity.s This raises questions about the use of these
practices in the metropolis and how London can be seen as a self-consciously
constructed artefact: and that its re-imaging at this time was part of the process
which transformed it from a modest largely domestic environment into a world-
class city and first city of empire. This introduction of rural into urban in London
can be traced in the move from the domestic landscape of the garden square
to the public landscape of the royal urban park; and from the anonymous, func-
tional Georgian terrace house to the regency villa.
As the aristocracy and the nobility deserted their increasingly
grand and opulent country estates for their relatively modest town accommo-
dation, their landed estates in London were subject to considerable social,
economic and topographical change. This demographic shift in the favoured
location of the ruling elite precipitated a huge expansion of London in the
period and the fabrication of a new urban domestic environment to meet the
need of these residents in the previously undeveloped or green-field site of
the West End of London. The westward growth of London refocused the
metropolis around the court and parliament. which were becoming increas-
ingly important aspects of the social and political map of the country as a
whole. In the same way as the interests of the landed aristocracy had refash-
ioned the rural landscape, so they also impacted on the fabric of the capital
city. Garden squares, usually built on land that formed part of a family estate
in London, are the predominant feature of these new metropolitan environ-
ments. The careful economic management of these lands through the build-
ing of leasehold terraces of houses by speculative developers, and the
aesthetic management of this dense urban living areas through the enclosure
of land to form garden squares, can be seen as drawing on the principles of
country-house estate development.
9
That is to say the emphasis lay on long-
term strategies for sustained yield and profit. In the case of the country these
were manifest in ventures such as the planting of woodland for future use as
fuel or the leasing of land to gentlemen or tenant farmers. In the city these
practices were translated into the sale of leases for plots of land, usually for a
term of 60 or 90 years, which were bought by speculative developers who
built townhouses and then sold them. In turn the landowner received ground
1"111 1111 liul dllldllUIl "I III" I"",,,, III,iI lI,u I'IOl'l'lly IIlV"II,'iI t .. II ,,,It I "I"" 1i"1
IU<lsus toll III
The strlpped-down aesthetic of the Georgian terrace hou:.iu<, 1i",1
was the hallmark of thiS kind of venture IS often associated with rationality. Yet
the more upmarket versions of these houses were often ranged around garden
squares that were landscaped, so providing a picturesque feature in the urban
topography. Residents could both look out on and walk in these patches of
green Ihat also provIded a caesura in the rows of brick and stucco for those
passing thlOugh the area. The cachet of a pre-exlsting metropolitan palace or
grand town house belonging to the family could also help to lift the aesthetIC
qualities of a garden square.'o We have already seen the spatial relationship
between Burlington House and the streets of terraces built on the ten acres to
the north of It. SimIlar configurations eXisted further east in the layout of
Bloomsbury House and Square (FIgure 3.41. The location of Bloomsbury made
11 an increasingly unfashionable area as london spread westwards during the
late eighteenth century: so much so, that the Bedfords chose to vacate their
urban palace and rent a house further west. Perhaps in an attempt to add
ca<:het to thiS area. Russell Square, which was laid out in the oPening decades
of the nineteenth century In Bloomsbury. was landscaped by Ihe well-known
country-house landscape desIQner Humphry Repton. Although the country was
brought into the City In the form of garden squares and patterns of land devel-
opment and management. the architectural form of the palace or great house
..
-- -..
'.
3.'
Sutton Nif;kM,
vi_of
....m.....,
Squ.r. c.U2l.
priv.t. collKtion
1111<11,0111'11:1) 111 1Ilil tltJW 1'lultopoIlWI1II'll(IS(;[IpO Iho 01110. itS In Iho caso of 11'0
Duko of Bodford tor 1I1S1wlCO, profOirod to abandon then great houses In favour
01 ordll1[lty townhouses In the heart of Ihe West End. as in London location
was everything. Rural bUilding-types did, however, appear in the city in the
form of the urban villa. These formed part of the ambitious speculative develop-
ment that became known as the Regent's Park undertaken by the crown. Here
we find a heady mix of urban and rural in the aesthetics of the architecture and
landscape, as well as the busrness model on which the project was based.
Regent Street and Park
The Regent's Park and Street protect fe.18l2-1830l induded the first substan-
tial Intervention in lhe established urban fabric of London {Figure 3.51. Regent
Streel bisected the City wrth a north-south axis that carved through the eXisting
street-plan providing access to the park and a barrier between the fashIOnable
West End and the rest of london. The project can also be seen as the start of
the delIberate creation of urban enVIronments by the state, rather than anstc>-
cratic landowners, to shape residents' and visitors' experience of the metropo-
lis as {unlike most of the rest of londonl the crown owned the land, 01 acquired
land through compulsory purchase. Both street and park were realized by the
same building process of speculative leasehold development that had been
established for Ihe constructIon of the great estates. But the architecture of
each was more decorative and stylistically complex than the neighbouring bnck-
built terraces. The vast terraces thai girdled the Regent's Park and flanked
Regenl Street were grandiOse versions of the urban terrace but this ttme
dressed up With the aesthetic trappings of the authority of antiquity. Stucco-
covered facades and detailing both in the colour of Bath stone gave a veneer of
opulence to thiS speculative venlUre. This was so much so that the park
appeared to be encircled by palaces. The Regent's Park took the idea of ideal
communities beyond the urban frame of reference to include elements of
countryhouse estate planning. Of specific interest here is the creation of dis
tinctive villa residences in a 'picturesque setting', or perhaps the beginnings of
the garden city - a potent sub-theme in this volume. Previously, the villa had
been a suburban dwelling of the upper echelons of society, now it became an
urban species. The Regent's Park villas. the inheritors of both this tradition and
the great mansions of the restoration period - large freestanding town houses
set in their own grounds, were all'anrica confections equal to their rural
cousins, whom they echoed in architectural style and prospect. As the project
evolved the number of villas was reduced which meant thaI each enjoyed unin-
terrupted views across the park as if It were all parI of thaI villa's estate
(Figures 3.6 and 3.7). Yet Regent's Park became increasingly open to the
..
general public who could enjoy its open spaces as they would the landscape of
a country estate. Just as Regent Street gave definition to the eastern and
northern edge of the West End. the Royal Parks delineated its border to the
west. Once again we find the coofluence of urban and rural at play.
'.5
Plan 01 Ragent',
Park and Regenl
Slreet as laid out
c.1812-1830
...
John Nash, plan
lor the Regent's
'ark c:.1809-1812.
pnval. coliKtion
'.1
John Nash, map
of Rat...t's Pa.k
project c:. 1826.
p.tnt. colIec:Iion
"
The Royal Parks
The relationship between urban and rural landscapes comes full cncle In lho
improvements carried out In the Royal Parks in west London in the opening
years of the nineteenth century: Hyde, 51 James's and Green Parks were an
important part of the project to re-lmage London. These were nOt new parks,
but the spread of the city westwards. and Increasing awareness of Ihe social
and political importance of landscape. raised new design questions and
addressed significant ideological Issues concernmg Ihese urban spaces. The
shapu"lg and codifyIng of Ihe London landscape had begun almost uncon-
sciously WIth the formation of garden squares as part of the eighteenth-<:enwlV
bUilding boom. Moreover, the posItIVe reactions to Regent's Park as a publIC
open space show the general appreciatIon of this caesura in the lerraces of
houses which were spreading all over london. The Royal Parks follow on from
thiS. Hyde Park and Green Park bordered, and halted, the development of fash-
ionable west london but they were not part of any speculative development_
Hyde. 5t James's and Green Parks surrounded Buckingham Palace.
the new royal residence, and formed part of its grounds. As such they collec-
tIVely constrtuted the kmd of landscape similar to those that surrounded country
houses. The landscape of country houses had already been identified as c0n-
taining a vanety of meanings. And although these parks were in an urban
seltlng lhe landscaping Issues surrounding their improvement had resonance
with the wider debates about landscape in the early nineteenth century. The
use of these design princIples to shape urban space offered a subtler readIng
of the cityscape than that presented by the abrupt c1ass-consciousoess of
developmems like Regent Street. The parks were owned by the crown and
were laid out to enhance lhe image of the monarch and the state and provide
effective commUnication between important public buildings. Indeed, the
penod covered in this chapter is a disllnct momem in the history of London
when the push towards modernity harnessed methods developed by the elite
for their country estates. The report of the Commissioners of Public Walks
summarized the aims and achievements of the development of the Royal Parks
and their status within the urban fabric:
St James's Park, Green Park and Hyde Park ... afford to the inhabitants of
thiS Western portion of the Metropolis inestimable advantages as Public
Walks ... for Ihis accommodation it is understood the Public are indebted
to HIS present Majesty.ll
The importance of the principles of landscape design and all'anrica architecture,
together with palterns of landownership and building development. confirm the
continuing dialogue between country and city. Here, the urban landscape,
wtlqlli", 11 1>0 01 Iloyoll 10 '.01 PIULU IJI \111),111 plalliling Of II (j(lr(iOrl sqll1110.
coliid Ilu 'IU(lCI" by /I VIUWIII(j pllbhc whose senses were alfeady trained to
undersland the mC<lI1lngs 01 these sell-consclously constructed spaces. This
analySIS 01 the InleraCllon of rural and urban In London offers a new reading of
the metropolis as the aesthetIC management of its landscapes charts the shift
in control from landed ehte to crown and state, and a shift in emphaSIS from
gated, enclosed private garden SQuares 10 the public open space, which Me
the country-house landscape) appeared to offer benefit for all. And these parks
remaIn one of lhe dominant features of present-day London - vast areas of
green open space for use by the public for recreation. Hyde, St James's and
Green Parks were ideal locatIons fOf lhe practice of modern life as noted In the
guidebook The PIcture of London 'numbers of people of fashion mingled With a
great multitude of well dressed people of vanous ranks' .'t The volume of vis-
itors to the parks was considerable, up to 100,000 took the air in KenSington
Palace Gardens and Hyde Park al anyone time. The most panicular displays 01
opulence took place betwiJen 2 and 5 p.m. (FlQUre 3.8).
Conclusion
Much of what I have deSCribed here remains the character of London - the
rows of terrace houses: the garden SQuares and the Royal Parks are essential
3.8
Smith's New Plan of London. Westminster and Southwark, 1816. This map shows the Cities of London and
Westminster and the Borough of Southwatk on the south side of the Thames. The West End is dafined at its
western edge bV the Roval Parh, but at the time of this map Street, which formed its eastern
boundary, had vet to btl constructed
53
"hHlI0111', III 1110 1IIIl.lII hlj1<1I1I.1phy 1111111 1,,11111;111,11 111111011.1110" h'l It",! V"hl"'"
1$ 1110 SlrOl1g connection to the IlIl<ll <IS manlfesl III lhe coulilry 11011',," "lid 11'0
landscape either through the patterns of landownership Of practices 01 1,1I1t!
developmenl and landscape deSign. Here by asking different questions about
the counlry house and integrallng It into the social and cultural history of Britain,
rather than leaving it as an Isolated example of patrician culture, we can see
how It connects With the present day and can contribute to our understanding
of our environment - not least to our appreciation of rural urbanism.
Notes
Thos chllplet dr1iws 00 and dlNeIop$ Q..esuons '''Ised on Dana Arnold, RIJTIJI Urb.MIsm
London /..JIndscaptn In rile Efy MnefefK1rh CenlUfY (Manct>es:er Mitoc:hester U'-$Ity
Press, 2006)
2 I OlSCUSS the won: 00 S1,Ill,ngtoo House In my chapter It's" WonderfulLJfe', on B8bv'd by
Every Muse RdId Bce /l694-1753J 3J Earl of 8urlJngron. 4m Earl of Ctxk. edi:ed bv
0MlI Arnold (london Gfouo, 19941
3 Thos IS discussed II'! my book The GeorQIan CQunrry House' ArdwlecrVf6, IIIId
Soaery(Stroud, Ala'" Sunon, 1998l
4 Or! !his poont see ArIdIew BaIJitMyre. RIChd P6yne I::noghl. Archttecture. IIIId
Ubeny (Camb"dge Carnl::onOge l.InrYefSity Press, 199n; Stephen Danoels, Hump/Ify ReprOl'l,
t.ndscape GlIrcifNwlg IIIId rile G1tppIty of Georgwl Engl$>d (New Haven: Ville Unoversrty
Press, 19991: The Iconograpiry of Uor1c.f5:ape ESS6yS 0I'l /he S)fl'lbo'ic RepresetltatJort.
DesIgn IIIId Use of EnVfl'OlYl'l8flts. edited bv Oems Cosgn:we (lr'l(! Stephen DaroeIs
(Cambndge Cambndge U.-SIty Press, 19891
5 jaM Aus:en. Ptttk (london 18141 ChapUlf 5: Sense and Senslbiliry (london
181l! Chaprer 42
6 HA. M<Jrrl&fl8, o.,or IIIId rhe EsUJte System, English Undownersh", 1650-1950
(OxlorCl Clarendon. 19941
7 thIS IS CllSCUssed In Ann Setfl'lll'lllham. lAndscape IJfld Ideology: The Er>gIish RUSllC TradillOfl
or Callforrua Press, 1987),
8 On th,s POint. see Tom Willl!lmsor'l, Pohte I.8ndscapes: Gardens MId Soc1ery in Ef6fffltf>.
Century Ef'I{)/6nd tStroud AliI", Sunon, 1995)
9 Dallil Arnold, 'liv,,'''O off the Land,l",oovatlOflS In Farming Praclloos and Farm Des,,,,,,', I'" The
Geotglan Count!)' House, pp, I 52-166,
10 MIChael Port, 'Tow", House and Country House; Their InteracflOl'l', In The Georgian Country
House,PtJ 117-138
11 Repon f,om rhe Sefect Commmee on PublIC W.lks (Lontlo",: 1833),
12 John Felth<lm, ThfI PlcfU,e 01 London (Londori: 1802),
Chapter 4
Anti-urban utopia
the Aufklarung
The ideological background
of Friedrich Wilhelm von
Erdmannsdorff's architecture
Marc Brabant
Thete are some lessons we can lake from the architectural experience of the
Aufktarung, the German Enlcghtenment, lor our modern architecture in a liberal
and suburban context, The VIolent Ideological change, which happened in lhe
period between the all-encompassing order of the old regime, and our indIVIdu.-
alistic modern times, led to social and architectural experiments, Belore, archi-
tecture 'of orders and order' was mainly holistic, In a time of radical
individualism and of global rejecting of any kind of overarching social structure,
architecture had to be reinvented on a new baSIS: What might individualistic
architecture be about?
Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff 11736-1800) designed rooms
for the King of Prussia in Berlin and Potsdam, and he taught the most promis-
ing artists and architects like Friedrich Gilly and Gottfried Shadow, So through
his personality and work he had great influence, and effectively set the course
for the German tradition straight to the great neoclassical architect Karl Frie-
drich Schinkel (1781-1841), Erdmannsdorff gave this tradition its specific them-
atic character and aesthetic, His work is concentrated mainly in Anhalt Dessau,
where he was among those who led the way in social. economic and educa,
tional reforms, Together with Duke Leopold Friedrich Franz (174Q-18171.
he transformed Anhalt Dessau, the most liberal region of the time, into a vast
landscape garden, harmonizing 'utility and beauty'. This landscape situated
55
Chapter 7
'Such a magnificent
farmstead in my
opinion asks for a
muddy pool'
Rural buildings and the
search for a 'regional'
architecture in Belgium
Leen Meganck and Linda Van Santvoort
The concept of 'regionalism'
Although the later - modernlsl - historiography minimized regionalism'S role
and presence in architectural debate and production, it was an important theme
in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century architecture.
'
The roots of the
regionalist concept go back to the Jast decades of the nineteenth century.l The
many changes in society due to industrialrzation formed the soil in which
regionalism germinated as a cultural strategy to counter alienation. As a move-
ment, regionalism manifested itself in literature as well as art and architecture.
It can be dissociated neither from the Arts and Crafts movement, which
stressed craftsmanship versus the uniformity and loss of quality in industrial
production, nor from the heritage movement, which reacted against the fast
disappearance of traditional landscapes and the familiar environment. The
essential feature of regionalism is the focus on regional and local character-
istics, which in architecture translated as the use of local building matenals and
n'
,,1,,1,11,.,1 ,1I . I'II'H.lll1,,1 v'II.,IIJlII,'ly UVUI tl,U CUIII\IlIU: . Il,u IWIll l,dU ImUl1 5Y5
hJIII.lliL:itlly lull Olll 011hu ,lIcllllocluHlI ,!I::;CQlll$O,' bUllrl the last decades of the
1I111OteOllih Cenlll1y, tho study of vernacular ardllleClure and more specifically
01 Iural architecture seemed to offer new possibililles in escaping from the
'empty formulae' of revivalist styles. The local 'architecture without architects'
was rediscovered and invested with almost platonic qualities of sobriety. ration-
ality and Rusklnlan 'Iruth' and 'honesty':
In our region the naive beauty of a rural house consists of sincerity and of
harmony With the surrounding nalUle. II has such an intimate bond WIth
the soil, that It seems to have grown from it together with the vege!&-
tlon.... There seems to be an Innate goodness, a mystenous aesthetic
sentiment present In the people, as long as It stays loyal to its ancestral
traditions, based on acQUired knowledge, tOClt conventions and some sort
of artIstic instinct.
There IS a striking emphasIs on authentlCltv and the deliberate and spontane-
ous union of form and fUr"ICtlOl"l In thIS Interest In rural architecture. llleen
Montljn traces thls concern to the fact that 'the farm was an ideal model of the
link between moralitY and architecture' and that 'ItS beautY was not the result
of an artistIC architect but of a healthy spmt'.5 The crucial question that CQ(ltinu-
ally arose here, whether or not It was articulated, was whether modern man
had been distorted by a matenallstlC SOCletv and was thus no longer able to
achieve the 'Innocence' of hIS forefathers, with its attendant simplicitv and
harmony. The many studies conSidered necessary 10 explain precisely what a
farm was, would seem to confIrm that what for centuries had been guaranteed
by traditIon was now no longer self-eVIdent.
The flig ht from the cities
Nineteenth-century painting offers tangible evidence of the transformation
undergone by town and country alike under the influence of industrialization.
Some artists were highly sensitive to this metamorphosis and its influence on
people; this is, for example, a constantly recurring theme in the work of the
adherents of plein-airisme and natura/lsme The return to nature was one of the
aspirations that breathed fresh Irle into nineteenth-century art. The celebrated
Barbizon (France) is just one of the many places to which artists went in search
of 'unspoilt' nature. while at the same time fleeing the artistic-urban milieu that
was increasingly felt to be 'unnatural'. PJein-airisme not only inspired artists to
represent landscapes, it also meant a confrontation with life in the countryside
and the traditions that still thrived there. Some artists became real chroniqueurs
'"
of counlry 1110 RwtllllldlllOct\IIH W,I:; otlon lopiosonlo(! wilio ,I 1"1111' 011,11 fl' ':11111
011 ItS picturesque characteristiCS and an almost RusklnrWl onopl'''',I', "" Ilfll181
ence, thus incorporating Ihe message of the loss of rural hie ane! Its wehllnc
ture into this art.
The rise of regionalism in the last decade of the nineteenth century
coincided with the development of cities' peripheries, with the construction of
residential neighbourhoods and with the urbanization of coastal areas. Artists
would playa significant role in this development. In their quesl for unspoilt
nature, they were the first (already early in the nineteenth centurylto discover
the coastal areas and to promote them in their art,6 In their wake, tourism
slowly but surely began to take off. The leisure-architecture, as developed in
the last quarter of the ninetenth century, had particular characteristics which
corresponded to its specific objectives. Turrets, bow windows, balconies,
loggias and 'panoramic' windows guaranteed the necessary supply of fresh air
and provided highly prized views. The organization of the interior was character-
ized by a 'picturesque' atmosphere, although this was by no means the main
concern, as so often claimed. The interaction between the interior and exterior
also formed the basis of a flexible use: the inhabitants could experience the
house in different ways depending on the position of the sun or the wind direc-
tion. This architecture made a virtue of the climatic characteristics of a location,
an important consideration in the architecture of the day as emphasized by
Viollet-Ie-Duc in Habitations modernes (1875). At the same time, Viollet-Ie-Duc
expressed his reservations concerning the very beautiful but hardly
maintenance-friendly finishing touches on such dwellings. He said of a typical
coastal vitia in Deauville (France) that: 'It is one of those typical coastal villas
that has to be preserved under glass for the winter if you want to be sure it will
still be there in July'7
Interest in the history of rural housing culture
and architecture
The growing interest in the countryside was clearly reflected in a number of
publications by Armand Heins,S a key figure in Flemish regionalism. This artist-
classicist published dozens of works that focused attention on regional archi-
tecture, both in an urban and a rural context. The prominent representation of
(often endangered) picturesque towns and villages would at first seem to have
had a purely artistic aim, but it appears also to have been part of a larger aca-
demic endeavour. Heins was clear about his objectives: his drawings resume
'the systematic studies of the "country home" and its regional or local charac-
teristic features in our regions'.9 He also went a step further: in a series of
'concepts', he introduced a tYPOlogy of the contemporary farm (Figure 7.1). In
7.1
A,mand Heinl,
prototype ola
,uri' houle of the
fllmllh
lyplcllllo, thl
"ilion southent
01 Ghent, in
Armend Heins,
""Isons rurales
.. "po

'Iamand: receuil
dnplllnches
IGhent: A. Heinl,
1915) plate 11
F
his book Landelijke woningen naar traditioneel Vlaamsch type ('Rural dwellings
from the traditional Flemish style', 1916l, Heins sets his drawings of rural
dwellings against a series of photographs from Stijn Streuvels' De landsche
waning in Vlaanderen ('The rural dwelling in Flanders', 1913, Figure 7,2). in
which Streuvels had sketched the ideological background to regionalism. In this
ode to rural life and rural dwellings, we can also recognize the basic principles
of an honest architecture built on tradition, a vernacular architecture based on
an aesthetic of simplicity and efficiency, the result of practices handed down
over many centurres:
The simple country house. like the great farmsteads, stands on its own, is
a unity, forms the embodiment of life outside the city and meets the
needs of the country family that lives, works. and toils happily and safely
in it. There is nothing useless, nothing superfluous, in the height or the
breadth of it, but all necessities have been provided for in the simplest
manner possible However, on closer examination, no single house is
identical with another, for each house is built according to the particular
insights of the inhabitant. according to the needs of the family and the cir-
cumstances of the location and the lie of the land The countryman who
builds his house has something of the medieval builder's talents. In all
things he uses his judgement and common sense and he strives to
achieve the greatest possible result with the least possible means, He
cares not for grandeur and splendour ... For his building materials, he uses
elements from his immediate surroundings ... He remains faithful to one
basic rule: build from the inside out. not from the outside in As long as
the country builder follows his natural disposition and his simple intuition,
113
(Fl 0,)
d'.p,"; d. L."dooh. Wcn;n(,
d. Sty.. 8' ......1..
7.2
Photograph of a rural building. as published in Stijn Streuvels. The Rural Dwelling in FllInders 119131. and
reused in Armand Heins. Rural Dwellings from The Tradirional Flemish Style 11916) plate 23
as long as he trusts his infallible genius, the house will be good, sound and
beautiful. It was only with the coming of opulence and pride that men
thought to build a tower of Babel, and with arrogance ugliness was intro-
duced into architecture, since the superfluous and the artificial mars the
dwellings of men; for this reason, too, the city-dweller has lost his good
sense in buildi ng.1O
The ethics of simplicity in architecture and the
example of arts and crafts
Stijn Streuvels' appeal may be seen as part of a significant, international dis-
course that had begun as early as the third quarter of the nineteenth century.
Motivated by his rationalism. Viollet-Ie-Duc drew attention to regionalism,"
calling for building in the best possible manner, in accordance with local cli-
matic conditions. These same principles are also clearly present in The True
Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture (1846) by AW.N. Pugin.
11
and
form the point of departure of the Arts and Cralts movement in England, In
actual architectural practice. these principles were applied in the work of archi-
tects such as M.H. Baillie-Scott and C,F.A. Voysey, whose work greatly influ-
enced architecture on the continent by way of the magazine The Studio
(1893-19641.
A similar documentation of the English regional rural building types
was undertaken for example by W, Galsworthy Davie and E. Guy Dawber in
Old Cottages in Kent and Sussex, Illustrated in One Hundred Plates, \19001.
(1I,III'l. IlullllO' 110 ()fIll "liIISII CUllllrl emIt/flus (190/) iIIld Sidney H. JOlles In
I IldlJ,ruuons villngOOlsos Oil Allglererre (1912). Tllese studies parallel HeinS'
aspllatlons to document the tllreatened herllage of rural building traditions. and
attribute the same 'transcendent' values to these buildings'
Many unpretentious examples of quiet and homely taste are to be found
in all parts of the country, erected by native craftsmen of a sturdy and vig-
orous peasantI)'. These buildings are fraught with an appeal to the mind
and have a significance deeper than is conveyed by mere terms of stone,
of brick, of timber. They stand for much that is peculiarly and characteristi-
cally English. They are records of lives well spent: they tell of contented
possession, of love of home, and country. and memory With them are
associated those ideas of order. of security and comfort. that result from
the observance of long-established custom and usage: they bear witness
to beliefs transmitted from father to son.
13
The cottage: a 'universal' regionalism?
In the spirit of the Arts and Crafts movement. cottages were built with special
attention to the client's specific requirements and careful consideration of the
location. The architecture and the interior expressed the great concern for fin-
ishing in the spirit of 'gesamtkunst'
In 1904, Maurice B. Adams published a richly illustrated album,
Modern Cottage Architecture. which presented mainly the authors own archi-
tectural projects, but also cottages by such contemporaries as Voysey.14 The
introduction provides a clear explanation of what a cottage actually is. The
author approached the tYpology from a strongly social perspective. describing
the cottage as an economically attainable model. At the same time, Adams
hoped to preserve the aesthetic element and show that the cliche of 'cheap
and nasty' did not apply to the cottage:
The main essential is the charm of artistic fitness by which alone a building
can be harmonized with its site and surroundings, making it as it were part
of the ground on which it stands. restful and unobtrusive, comfortable and
suitable Picturesqueness comes from simplicity of form and good pro-
portion, producing pleasant groupings. giving graceful skylines and casting
telling shadows. so essential for contrast and colour.'5
Adams recommended the use of local materials, as the cottage was meant to
be in harmony with the 'countrified spirit of the neighbourhood' The same
social emphasis was also adopted by Le Cottage. a co-operative established in
Blw;sels III 1903, wtllch publlshuu fllllOlithly lllag,1I111U 1IlidUI till' ',111110 1I1l111l)
Many cottages, however, had lillie (0 do With this soclo-ldoolQ!:III:IIII>1"JUllHlllfl
Cottages were becoming the favourite building-type of the a1tl\lont Ilucldls
class, who found in them the ideal expression of their bourgeois ideals. The
cottage opened up the possibility of combining a predilection for 'architecture
based on tradition' with a desire for modern comfort.,e The result was cottages
that showed off their wealth and tended to dominate the surrounding land-
scape. This sort of cottage even earned itself a name: 'La villa ostentatoire'
(Figure 7.3),'1 Because of its eccentricity it was, needless to say, hardly an
expression of the above definition of the cottage. The mushrooming success of
cottages throughout the countryside met with a mixed reception. The adoption
,fllf6um de fa 3rtaison 8Itoderne
Villas" Pimponnette" at " Las C\ochatons ", !I. Duinbergen slmar
M, F"., IIEMElSOU. ""'_""'10
".
,.,
Atypical example
01 the
'ostentatious
lIilla': Frans
Hemelsoet
architect, Villa
'les Clochetons'
('the Turrets')
built at the
Flemish coast
IDuinbe,genl in
1907, in Altwm
dll la Maison
Modflrnfl
(1908-19101
1101. 2, plate 80
,.-
Jozel Vin,in
architect, the
'Thrush's Nesl',
built for the
writer Stijn
8treullflis in
1903-1904 liS II
manifesto of Ihe
flemiSh house, in
Bullerin dH
Metiers d'ArfS
1190711101. 7,
no. 2, p. 62
01 1 I 1 l l l I l I l C I J ~ 110111 IIIUI,III1I 01 NQllllIlIIcJy - dlsleg<ll(lou Ihe ImpOltallce of
ruspuctll1g local lJulkling tradltlollS, In France, as Vigato demonstrated, there
was Increasing oppOSltron to this domination of the English cottage. Ie In
Belgium, too, the success of the cottage was looked upon with mixed feelings,
Open criticism was offered by Armand Heins, who resisted the importation of
other 'regionalisms' such as 'cottage Anglais, chalet Suisse' '9 With his
research into the characteristics of rural architecture (see p. 112 above), he
aimed to go on the offensive against this trend.
The 'Thrush's Nest' as a manifesto
The most principled expression of the pursuit of vernacular architecture in Flan-
ders was an initiative by the writer Stijn Streuvels, with the realization of his own
house, the 'Thrush's Nest' (Lijsternest! in Ingooigem, built in 1903-1904 to
designs by the architect Jozef Vierin (Figure 7.4), From 1896 Streuvels was
intensely involved with the literary movement Van Nu en Straks ('of today and
tomorrow') that tended towards anarchist ideas. Streuvels' participation in the
movement not only laid the foundation for his wider reputation, but also opened
up his world. His contacts with the Netherlands became intensive, and in 1896
he travelled through the Netherlands with his friend, the artist Emanuel Vierin
Streuvels had contact with Jan Albert Verwey - who had played an important role
in the realization of Berlage's Stock Exchange in Amsterdam - and saw his work
increasingly published in Dutch periodicals, including the Tweemaandelijksch
1"dsdi/tll, Do MOIIWO Girls, 1),' (;1(1:;, dl.d /)" /JOWI'JIIII'I'" II I', 11111 (,I'jlll
whether Streuvels ever vlsltod the Dutch writers' and mllsts' LohllllO):, 11111 til ot
Hilversum, In the last decade of the nineteenth and the beglllnll1g of lIIe twen-
tieth century, the area of Bussum, Laren and Blaricum became an experimental
zone for social utopias that also found expression in their own 'building style',
with clear affinities to both the Arts and Crafts philosophy and the vernacular
architecture of the 'Land van Gooi' area.
21
The houses that were built there by
artists, writers and intellectuals had a number of characteristics in common:
simple main forms, plain materials and thatched roofs.
n
Streuvels and his architect Vierin met at the Kortrijk Artists' Guild -
an artists' group that, inspired by the English Arts and Crafts movement, aimed
to unite all branches of art in a total concept. An additional concern and empha-
sis was the desire to maintain a link to the artists' own Flemish tradition. Stijn
Streuvels' 'Thrush's Nest' may be seen as a manifesto for this movement
There has never been a house which so completely encapsulated the essence
of the 'Flemish house' For Streuvels, author of De landsche waning in Vlaan-
deren, the realization of this house was the result of a fundamental, deliberate
and much-considered choice. In the years preceding the building of the house,
Streuvels studied the rural architecture of the area, which he knew well, as his
parents' house was at Avelgem, only a few kilometres from Ingooigem, He
assembled a collection of photographs of houses and farmsteads in the area.
23
Representing much more than the concern for an architectural style (or the
absence thereof), this was a statement about a way of life that continued the
line of his native Flemish tradition. Streuvels was even prepared to set aside
the by then already standard modern comforts: there was, for example, an
outdoor lavatory. Vierin assiduously met his client's demands:
24
the basic form
of the dwelling was square, under a 'tent' roof. The important rooms were
articulated: the living room, which originally served as the writer's study, was
pivotal in the concept. The baker's oven (next to the kitchen) and the
vourekamer (upstairs room). followed a more traditional type of plan. All the
windows were shuttered and painted green and white, according to custom
and the descriptions set down by Streuvels. An open loggia (veranda) offered
the indispensable contact with nature, The walls - of locally produced brick -
were whitewashed, the plinth painted with black tar. Buttresses accentuated
the corners.
The Flemish beguinages and the search for
simplification
Closely related to the Kortrijk Artists' Guild, an interest in a home-grown tradi-
tion of craftsmanship also developed in Antwerp. The artistic circle Streven
l"IIIIVllltO Wei:> tOllll,Jud dlUlll1d lunb Willi tile oblecllvo 'to 1I11tl<ll0 illl artistic
IIIOVOIllOIlI olltsl(le tile cilies and thus to IIlstll In the people a feel1l19 for
boauty'.'" Streven did not limit Itself to the mounting of exhibitions, but helped
to set up a 'people's library' and a vocational craft school. Flor Van Reeth, an
artist-architect, was one of the group's most active members. His design for a
country house named Hier is't stil ('it's quiet here', 1906, Streven exhibition)
was noticed by the writer Felix Timmermans, who recognized in it a personal
architectural style which he described as 'conceived trom the inside out' 26 Tim-
mermans sought out Van Reeth, and the two embarked on a tour ot Flemish
beguinages over the summer of 1906. For Van Reeth, begUinages also formed
an ideal source of inspiration, not only in their art but also in their architecture.
The mystical, quiet and subdued atmosphere found in the Flemish beguinages
was also the common thread running through the design of a series of three
houses produced by Van Reeth for himself and his artist friends in Boechout
(Antwerp) in 1908-1909. Their formal language incorporates both Flemish rural
ingredients (painted-brick facing, rustic barge-boards, corner buttresses) more
British-inspired elements (interiors strongly reminiscent of Mackintosh) and
even German touches (a link can be made to Olbrich's Mathildenh5he in Darm-
stadt). So international inspiration is interwoven with Flemish tradition. This
formed an essential point of departure for Flor van Reeth, propagated in the
magazine he founded in 1908 - De Bouwgids ('The Building Guide') - in which
he stressed his preference lor eigenlandaardstijl ('homeland style'). The desire
for simplicity took precedence, not only in matters of form, but also especially
with socia-economic considerations - trying to keep architecture affordable.
The Ghent World's Fair of 1913: regionalism at
the crossroads
The Ghent World's Fair of 1913 rounded olf a period of pre-war world fairs
These events serve as barometers for developments and innovations as well as
for the incongruities that form an integral part of industrialized society.27 At first
-led by London's Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851 -they took tech-
nical innovation and industrialization as their theme. As time went by, however,
world fairs grew into large-scale events that tried to attract the general public. In
order to do this they gave more attention to cultural diversity and human activ-
ity. Ghent's long-term preparation for the World Fair of 1913 enabled it to deliver
a well-founded programme that was strong on content. The supervising archi-
tect Oscar Van de Voorde took the Chicago Fair of 1893 as the inspiration for his
basic plan and opted for homogeneous Beaux-Arts-inspired architecture with
Wiener-Secession elements. Urban vernacular architecture held a prominent
place in the city pavilions (Antwerp, Brussels, Liege and Ghent).
FollowlIlg tllo provlou:, world I,HlS III BolglIlIll "lid lIu, '.II" ')'\'101
'Old Antwerp' (1894), 'Brussels,KermlS' (1897 and 19101 and 'Old IIUI)O' (l!)()!J1.
the Ghent World's Fair included an exhibit entitled 'Old Flanders', Old FlalldOls,
with its six hectares and separate entrance, was an exhibition within the exhlbl-
tion.
2I
The design was by architect Valentiin Vaerwyck, assisted by Armand
Heins. The fac;ades, made in plaster on a timber structure, offered a kaleido-
SCOPiC image of the architectural, typological and stylistic richness of Flanders'
building heritage, grouped by region and presented as an organically evolved
urban neighbourhood. The Old Flanders exhibit was a true regionalist 'environ-
ment': the use of dioramas, l1ags, costumes (all designed by Heins) and
parades, as well as mUSical and theatrical periormances, made a VISit to Old
Flanders a 'total expenence'.21 From the 'folklore' perspective, a parallel can be
made with the successful InitIation In that period of many folklore museums,
which made much of situatIng human actMty In a proper historical settlOg.
JCI
Those receptIVe to the regIonalist programme took a positive view of thiS
exhibIt, recognIZing In It evidence of the COlllJOuity of their own traditioo. The
regIonalists felt strengthened In their COllvictlOn through the cOllsiderabie publIC
Interest. For opponents, Old Flanders was little more than 'fairground decor'
and popular amusement.
Documenting the vernacular during the First
World War (1914-1918)
The necessity of documentlOg local and vernacular architecture was made
mOle clearly apparent by ItS WIdespread destruetioo in the First World War.
Publications varied from romantic sketches to precise technical draWIngs,
photos of damaged bUIldings and well-<focumented typOlogical studies of
regional buildings and their details.3
1
The stress lay very clearly on the archilec-
tUfa minor (small-scale architecturel such as domestic arChitecture, farms,
begumages. Most of the architects being out of work, these preparatory works
for the reconstruction of the architectural heritage provided a worthy pastime
for those who were not fighting in the army. Belgian identity and unity - now
under physical attack by the German invasion - required preservation and res-
toration. The acknowledgement of regional diversity did not by any means form
a contradiction to patriotic aspirations. The respect for the genius loci was
omnipresent: 'The art of bUilding in our country should be inspired by our soil,
our climate and our temperament; it should respond to the expectations of one
and the same heart: the Belgian heart. '32
'"
The reconstruction of devastated cities
In lhe reconstruction of devastated Cities and city-parts there was the well
documented discussion between the adherents of 'Ia reconstruction iI
I'identique' ithose who wanted the destroyed cities to rise from their ashes
possibly even more 'historic' than they had ever beei'll. and the modernists
who hoped for a complete and modernized redrawing of the city fabric.
Xl
Regionalism won the argument as the main principle and oHiclil1 guideline for
reconstruction, and its great success at the expense of modernism brought it
into disrepute in architectural Circles. Although it was reiterated that regional-
ism was not a matter of copying the past, the style's wide use often meant a
loss of quality, resullJOg In uninspIred buildings WIth formalistic regional ele-
ments 'glued' to them. The style became deprived of its ideological backgrOllnd
and degenerated in an empty formal language. ThiS was far from where the
style had onginated. Henry Vaes In 1919 had said:
regionalism IS essenually the battle of the picturesque against unrformlty;
It IS the essence of traditlOO, contlOued In the mIdst of changing ideas and
lifestyle, that feeds OlIr sense of beauty from the Inexhaustible sources of
local geOlus.... Future reglOflalist coosttuetions should not look like trans-
vestites. What one has to apply IS not the decoratrve element, but the c0n-
structIonal features: the things to learn from the study of regiooal
architecture are the sincerity and sobriety, tact and rhythm, grace and stur-
diness that come from employing local matenals.)<
Farmstead architecture and the embellishment
of rural life
In the reconstruction of the devastated farms, regionalists and the movement
for farming reform worked together to provide new farms that met the most
up-to-date standards of hygiene and economiCS, while staying faithful to the
local building traditions, This marriage between regionalism and reformers
began as a pre-war phenomenon. Already in 1913, in the context of the World's
Fair in Ghent. the National Committee for Embellishment of Rural life had been
founded to guide the modernization of the countryside with respect to the
genius loci of the environment During the Great War. this committee started
an inventory of characteristic rural buildings. With standardized report cards,
volunteers all over the country were encouraged to document 'ancrent con-
structions able to inspire the architects and contractors in their plans' ,35 A
course on rural architecture was created, taught in the town hall of Schaarbeek
(Brussels) by Alex PUissant. G. Bouckaen, J. Giele, Henry Vaes and Buyssens,
'"
Imitation farmsteads
I can see our king, with clogs, in a blue cotton overall, a velvet cap on his
head and a clay pipe in his mouth, spading the garden with a crooked back.
And the queen in similar clothing gathering eggs in the henhouse Such a
magnificent farmstead in my opinion asks for a muddy pool with geese
and pigs, and we shouldn't forget the dunghill.
39
Eysselinck denounced the deceit of the architectural concept: clearly the house
was not meant for farming, so the use of an architectural language that might
be apt for a farmstead was, in this case, absolutely inappropriate. And as for
the 'local style', adapted to the landscape of Le Zoute, Huib Hoste, another
important modernist, asked himself which villa style could be considered as
'local' in this small fishing village that in the late nineteenth century evolved
into a mundane holiday resort:
In this seaside resort there is a series of pathways, with a French name,
and for each pathway another style is compulsory in order to harmonize
with one and the same landscape: here you have the sentier flamand
[Flemish pathway] where one is obliged to build in farmstead style, there
you have the sentier anglais [English pathway[ where the cottage-style is
compulsory... All these very different styles are considered to be 'local'!<l(I
\11".1\ hOllor ,\IChIIOt:ls <t wave ot leSldelllklluul(dll1g 111 tile style ot
1111111111011 tarmSleads was bOln - a tashlol1 that stili survives today. RegIonalism, or
at least its formal language, became a huge commercial success with the con-
servative public. Modernists sneered in vain at the 'deceitful' and 'archaic' villas
that arose throughout the country. One of the fiercest verbal battles broke out in
1934, when the regionalist architect Jozef Vierin built a holiday home at the coast
(Knokke-Le Zoute) lor the Belgian monarch, Leopold III. Vierin modelled the build-
ing as a grandiose royal farmstead, with whitewashed walls, small shuttered
windows, red-tiled roofs, impressive chimneys and pronounced buttresses - all
elements evoking regional Flemish building traditions of old. The reaction of
Gaston Eysselinck, one of the leading modernists in Belgium, was sharply critical:
Even so, this regionalist villa became a much-copied work of reference, as illus-
trated by the pattern-book Fermettes, bungalows et villas rustlques au gout du
jour, genre 'Ie zaure' rSmal1 farmhouses, bungalows and COllages in con-
temporary Flemish style'). This book with building models was published by the
Belgian firm Salmain, renowned (or notorious) for this kind of publication (Figure
7.6) The royal villa established Jozef Vierin's fame, and that of his son Luc, as
regionalist builders for the rich Flemish bourgeoisie. In Kortrijk, Bruges and at
the coast (Le Zoute) they built several impressive 'rustic' villas, which were
elaborately documented in contemporary building magazines.
"
EdouBrd LeonBrd,
oxample of how
10 and how not
to build on the
counlr.,side. in
Edouard Leonard,
Souwen in het
Dorp en op het
Platte/and
(Antwerp, 1928)
plate 65
w"..,,,........,, ,
,
Slecht Goed
AI Tol'_"";.' " .._._
....1 _ .
................ v .. " l ( .... "')
By contrast it is very clear that domestic architecture in the inter-war years was
greatly influenced by the vocabulary offered by these regionalist studies. To the
III tlVl! OVOllI11!j . Illo clllVlllO WI 'i" Ii'. VII " lilll'lldun\
Albert Dutry and Paul De Vuyst who worked fOI the ut IHlullldl Allmls
and Agriculture. In lectures and publications they fulminated agwnsl lhe coun-
tryside's urbanization, which spoiled the honesty and purity of both the rural
environment and its inhabitants, From 1900, Dutry, at De Vuyst's invitation,
taught students at several Flemish farming schools and household schools and
gave lectures for the Union of Farmers' Wives. Dutry's published lecture on the
'First Congress for the Embellishment of Rural Life' (1913) and his educational
booklet 'Art of the Countryside - Draft for a Rural Aesthetic Theory', which
appeared in 1915, sketch an aesthetic theory which incorporates the main prin-
ciples of regionalism. This quest for a rural revival gained many adherents and
resulted in a series of publications which sought to educate the broader public
(Figure 75)37 At malor exhibitions, model villages and model farms were
erected to persuade the general public of the importance of well-studied design
for new rural buildings.
311
To what extent the reconstructed or newly erected
farm buildings actually incorporated these architectural guidelines and technical
reforms remains to be studied.


rt
4

",
"1,,,.1110; llO>lI',lJll"hl (1,!V(q!', M,lIly "I(;illl(It:C!.; :;WIIt:!lUd IJUlwOen clOSI!JllIllg
1I10l1u(n vllla5 III ,111 uli);an alld more reglonalist-msp(red Villas In a rural
by altering some of the external features of the house. such as roofs
covered with blue glazed tiles versus thatched roofs. So both the moderrllst
and the regionalist appearance of a bUilding could well be a 'deSigner dress'
draped over archttectural programmes that did not differ that much from one
anotheL
U
The flexibility with which architects used both the modernist and
regionalist vocabulary shows theif thorough mastery of these architectural Ian-
guages as well as their senSItIVity and willingness to adapt to the gemus loci
The architect AntOine Pompe compares thiS flexibility of style with 'modern'
clothing habits: one needs different styles In architecture just as the modern
man needs different sets of clothes for different occasions: a three-plece SUIt
sportswear or travelling clothes."
RegIOnalists at tlmes also deSigned very sober houses. Probably the
best marnage of regIOnalism and modernrty IS to be found In 19205 projects for
affordable houSing. The main model was the garden City, and archllects and
urban planners also Imported the concept of regionalism that had Influenced
English cottage architecture. In addltlOO the archItecture of the begulflages and
farmsteads became an Important source. But theIr language was combmed
with a search for standardizatIOn and cheap building techniques. ThiS led to
some interesting ensembles in whICh local tradItIon and progressIVe elements
were intertWIned Into a very dIstInctIVe style (Figure 7.7).

.....
"
Ouignby
Anto;ne Pompe
lor thagarden
city Kapelleveld
near Brussels
09221. The
houses show a
distinct milrture
between regional
and 'modern'
leatures, in
RythmeU96S1
no.41,p.14
,.
Patt.,n book:
Small
FarmhouH"
Bungalo_ and
'FMmish
5tyl,', publishlKl
by the 8-'glen
firm Selmain in
th' late' 930.
nl FACES _ I'IMI
-_.
_DE...
_....!p..i!.. MrS."-':
P. SAL.A"
---
--,..
21 PElSPECTM IlIA_
nlllllETTIS .IIIGAI.OWI
.1 YIII.AS .ISTIQ_II
GOU' au JOllA,.1.IUlUl La aOlTil.
SMAll FARMHOUSES,
BUNGALOWS AND COTTAGES
FLEMISH STYLE
_.
............
.-
.=- ...... _....
_.-
IfoCADCIrrl'U..'<$ _.r_
.'- ... -
,,.
The rich nuances of inter-war building
practice
41
Even though the separation between modernism and regionalism is very sharp
in the theoretical debates of the inter-war period. an analysis of the architec-
tural realizations shows there are many common factors and many degrees of
possibility in belween.
1
The internal distribution of both regionalist and mod-
ernist buildings was often based on very functional spatial arrangements. And
of course the owner of a regionalist villa would not do without the latest forms
of domestic comfort. such as a weH-equipped kitchen, a modern bathroom, and
ASldo Irom D low 01 1t'\()lIldtIOildl :,ryl". III l:luljjllllil
one tmds a wide range of progressive architecture that shows 11 lJdldlll.:U<!1I1tor-
pretation ot modernist premises. which resulted in a formal contu)ulty with tra
dition. Most Belgian modernists clung to brick. as a building material that In the
rainy climate had proven merits: Henry van de Velde. Gaston Srunfaut, Paul
Smekens, Gaston Eysselinck.. leon Stynen. etc. Inclined roofs are to be found
on many modern bUIldings - again as a practical solutIon for the local dimate.
When looking at the Belgian modernist architecture of the inter-war period. a
remark of Antoine Pompa comes to mind. According to him, regIonal differ-
ences eventually would occur In the International Style since ItS functional pro-
gramme could not negate cbmatologlc Influences that differed regionally.
Inevitably thIS would lead to a 'modern regIonalist architecture' that would
incorporate what he called 'Ie parfum du terroir' (the perfume of the
The race question and German influences in
regionalism
"11",,. 10 tilll "II"" Wlll(;!l 1m:, lu 1m IIlddo 10 jJIOSClV{) 'tho tradilions and
IoJ..ow.ol Oll! tub<: and n;lllltc' In 1929 lhe nOlonous book Kunst und Rasse
bV Paul Schullze-Naumburg received a poSitive cflllqueY In this book. Schullze-
Naumburg puts the blame for 'degenerate' modern art on the racial impUrity of
the Untermenschen. The Buildmg Guide quoted him: 'Ueberlatszt man ihm
t= den untermensch! die Aufgabe, die kunlt,ge Welt aufzubauen, so wird Irh
aussehen dem seiner Bilder glelchen' til we leave the task 10 build the future
world to the Unrermensch, It will resemble his [artistic! imagesl. In the same
year, The Bus/ding Guide applauded the creatiOft of Heimat-musea In Germany
and again promoted the concept 01 'Helmal', as described in Wilhelm Peszler's
Dos Heimatmuseum In Deutschen Sprachgeblot als Spiegel deufscher Kultur:
The author correctly argues that 'Helmat is the soil, out of which we grow
and In which our departed rest, Helmat is the air that we and our children
breathe; Helmal IS the house In which we were born . it is the commun-
ity of people In which we work. Helmal is the history of our forefathers
With their work and theIr struggles, but Helmat is also the future of our
Volk [peoplel. to whICh we belong and which we are bound to serve.
S2
Projel prime.
V. ROUSSEAU et de lESTRE.
: Vivre (wp;nl.
Vile d'en!mble.
At tImes there was only a thin line between the regIOnalist search for Iocallden-
tily and the glorrflcatlOO of traditions. based around a framework. of raclCll the0-
ries. The first raclCIl theories can be traced back to eighteenth<entury France,
but It was the nineteenlh century. with lIS slrong locus on nallonalism, thaI
saw their real prop&gatlon allover Europe..ot Closely connected with il was the
study of folk cullure, which was also rooted in the Romantic movement and In
grOWIng nallonalist senslllVlty.n The focus shrfted from classical antiquity as
the cradle of civilization 10 an idealized concept of folk culture as an important
elemenl In the conStruCllon of a nalional identity and the promotion of a
national SPIrit." In the Inter-war period in Germany a significant shift of conlent
took place. Under the Weimar Republic 11919-1933) racial theories flourished
abundantly and were picked up by several associations and political move-
ments. out of which the Nazis arose as Ihe most powerful in the early 1930s.
9
In Hiller's Third Reich racial theories became official state doctrine and were
connected With anti-Semitic theories.
5O
Instead of stressing and
celebrating diverSity within the uOlly of one cultural (European) space. racial
theOries were exploited to argue the superiority of one race above all olhers,
and to motivate xenophobic feelings and actions.
References to race in Belgium appear early in the inter-war years,
not only due to specific German influences. but also to the general zeitgeist.
This was especially the case In the magazine The Building Guide, which - as
mentioned earlier - had been promOling the use of the 'homelandstyle' since
1908, and where references to German examples are to be found. In 1914 Frits
de Mont in The Building GUide treats the German concepl of 'Heimschutz' and
7.8
Tha winning
project of the
'938 contest lor
youth hostel
d..r1y shows the
G..m.n
ln$plr.tion.
typical tor this
r.'.tively new
building type, in
LeDocument
11938) no. 5
The Influence of German models IS also 10 be found In !he designs and arch...
tectural realizatlOOs of some very specific building types. Cafes and youth
hostels In partICUlar seem to have been Ihought to suit a German style in the
1930s.
S3
The yOUth hostel was a new bUIlding Iype in the lnter-War penod. and
was clearly inspired by German example (FIQure 7.8).$01 It is no coincidence lhal
both bUilding types lvouth hostel and cale) are linked with tOUrism and leisure.
With the reduction of workIng hours and the creation of annual leave. in comb,-
nalion with Improved mob,lily (cars, buses. trains), tounsm became an Increas-
ingly importanl (economicl factor In the Inter-war period. And the discovery of
local peculiaflties and charming siles formed one of Ihe main components of
'" '"
toullsm."" In alchneClu!O tills 'IOCDI colow' was to Ilu fOIJJI(! JJI rOljrOJlill 1Inrl
regionalist architecture,
In general the architecture of the late 1930s is characterized by a
new traditionalism, be it in a 'modern classical' style for more official buildings
(offices, government buildings) or in a traditional style (which does not neces-
sarily imply a regionalist concept) for domestic architecture. The climate of eco-
nomic malaise and political instability provoked reactionary reflexes in the social
sphere. In times of doubt and anxiety, one longs for a sense of security. of
'belonging', which the familiar vocabulary of traditional styles was well placed
to provide.!5e This harking back to the past and its 'safe' traditions is clearly
present in the architecture and interior design of the late 1930s. as it was in the
arts and applied arts of that period.5' It is also to be found in Germany, as well
as in Italy and France.!5e
Regionalism and the Flemish struggle for
emancipation
Allover Europe the rural building became par excellence the type where the
true 'spirit of the people' (Volksgeisd was to be found. As mentioned before,
starting in the nineteenth century. the study of farmsteads and regional archi-
tecture in Belgium had become a thriving field of research, in both Wallonia and
Flanders. Regionalism in the 1930s was promoted as a new approach to scient-
ific research in the broad cultural field.
59
Human geography. topology, anthro-
pology. dialectology, folklore, regional history and art history - the support of all
these sciences was summoned to refine the 'great historical narratives' (Grand
histoire) that had been written in the nineteenth century. It was in Wallonia (in
Ath) that in 1937 the First International Conference on Regionalism was organ-
ized, with a limited number of participants from the Netherlands, Switzerland
and Canada, but more from France, including Jean Charles-Brun. chairman of
the French Regionalist Federation.
tlO
Out 01 the study of local architectural
characteristics came the search lor a 'modern regionalist architecture', exam-
ples of which can be found jUst as much in the Walloon as in the Flemish part
of the country.
So regionalism as a general concept and as an architectural trend in
the inter-war years was by no means exclusive to the Flemish-speaking part of
Belgium, But in Flanders. regionalism became associated with the increasing
struggle for recognition of the Flemish language and culture. And under
German occupation during the Second World War. the Flemish search for polit-
ical, cultural and social emancipation through various measures in the cultural,
educational and linguistic fields was misused in order to encourage collabora-
tion. This resulted in a very negative perception of regionalism both as a
'"
COTIl:hpT lIml as ,til lIIc!lltoCtUI[l1 lilllljUillje. Clomens Vlcor Tretols was the
10[l(lIng researcher on lural arcllitecture In the inter-war years,GI But as several
of hrs studies were published dUring the occupation, this cast a cloud of suspi-
cion over hrs very character and, what is more, also over the study of rural
architecture itself.
G7
Another interesting figure in this respect is the architect-engineer
Stan Leurs (1893-1973) who conveyed his love of Flanders in an impressive
writlen work on the Flemish regions and heritage.
63
His popular book series
Steden en Landschappen ('Towns and Landscapes') is well known. and treats
buildings and sites that can be seen as icons of regionalism in Flanders: the
beguinages. the Flemish coast region, or 'The face of the Flemish cities' These
small books were published in co-operation with the Flemish Tourist Club, an
organization with which Leurs was involved from its inception in the early post-
war years. Leurs saw tourism as a means of 'civilizing' all classes in society. of
'culturally uplifting' the Flemish, and of creating international mutual understand-
ing. For Leurs, the focus on one's own region was not a way of complacently
secluding oneself, but- on the contrary - of developing a sense of self-esteem
and self-knowledge that allowed one to move forward to other cultures with
openness and interest. With unflagging zeal Leurs devoted himself to educating
the Flemish people through publications, lectures, guided tours for the Flemish
Tourist Club, and - from 1925 onwards - as a professor at the Institute for
Archaeology and Art History of Ghent University, where he stayed on during the
occupation. Alter the end of the war, when everyone with Flemish sympathies
was stigmatized as a possible collaborator, Leurs was discharged from office.
Conclusion
The concept of regionalism follows a complex line of evolution, starting in the
last decades of the nineteenth century. and influencing architecture up till
today. In this chapter only the period up to the Second World War is discussed.
Before the First World War. regionalism had been pan of a modern reform
movement that sought to escape from the dead-end of ninteenth-eentury reviv-
alist styles. It was rooted in the romantic and nationalist movement that shifted
the focus 01 cultural research and grounding from classical antiquity to the rich
diversity of national and regional folk cultures. This diversity still incorporated
the notion of equality between the different nations, regions and people up
until the 1920s.
The study of regional architecture, as well as the search for a
modern regionalism was, to a large extent. driven by aesthetic concerns: how
to adapt the rural and urban fabric and buildings to modern needs, without
'damaging' their historical and visual essence.
".
Regionalism alld modullllly dUlIllU Ihe IIlWr Wdl yll,lI', <11111101 111Ul(I
ally exclude each other; on the contrary, regionalism was even used ilS a means
to facilitate progress, for example In the field of farming reform But m the
1930s, the underlying theories of reglOftalism changed in a subTle but meanmg-
ful way, A first transformation was the infiltration of racist notiOfts Into the
culture - Internationally, but importantly In Germany - that valued regIonalist
architecture because It saw it as an emanatIOn of the Volksgeist, the people's
spmt BUilding In the traditional style was not merely a question of respecting
the eXisting enVIronment. but It became an Imperative in or-der to be 'loyal' to
the race Some of these raCIst Ideas filtered through into the debate Oft region--
ahst architecture In Belgium. In the architecture of the late 19305 there was a
VISible mcrease of regionalist and Iradlllonal elements. This was linked to a
general Increase In traditionalizatton In SOCiety, In answer to the uncertain and
confUSing socio-economic climate. In Flanders, cultural regionalism also formed
a component of the Flemish struggle for emancipation, which in the Second
World War was partly exploited during the German occupation. This association
With racial theories and German influence resulted in the concept of regional.
ism being viewed in a bad light in the post-war years.
A second development in regionalism was the changing relationship
between adherents of the regionalist and modernist movements in the mter-
war penod, Reconstruction had canonized regionalism as a general guideline In
'restoring the homeland's beloved face' - to the great disappointment of mod-
ernist architects. In addition. the Study of rural architecture in the 19305 was
adopted by speculatIve builders who used It WIth continued commercial
success In the architecture of villas, shaped as imitation farmsteads. Hence the
schism WIth the modernists, who vehemently opposed regionalism and tradi-
tJooabsm In their discourse. The concrete praXIS nevertheless shows a much
more vanegated picture of inter-war bUIlding. But In the post-war years - as
modernIst architecture won the debate - the general dislike of modernist arch..
tects and histOriographers lor all traclltlonahst styles resulted in the negative
and biased perception of regionalism In the twentieth century.
Notes
ThiS offers a syntheSIS of the research resulls 011 regionalism m Belgium, as pub-
lished In two cont,but;ons: l,nda Van SlIntvool"l, to Nature" f,om Cottage to Farm
stead', In SoufceS of ReglOfl8l,sm In Ihe Nlneteenrh Century.' ArcMoctule, Art ,nd
Llfer,tule, ed,ted by Linda Van $anlvoort, Jan de Maeye, and Tom Verschalfel (Lawen:
leo.oven UniverSIty Press, 200Bl pfl 100-121. and leen Meganck. 'Of P'tllot,sm, GCOIuS
LOCI AuthentIC BUildings and Iml1atoon Farmsteads - R!I9lOI\illism on Interwar Belg um', on
Rt1O'Ofl#hsm find Modemlty 1914-1940, edited by leen Meganclo:. linda VfIr'I SanlVOOf1 and
Jan de MMye.- (Leuven: leuven Umverslty Press. 2010)
2 ThIS analysIS 01 the nmeteen:h<enturv concept ot reglOMl sm IS based on the OlSCUSSIOf"IS
".
'" ii,,, ,,,',",'" Ii ,,,,,,,,,,,,,'lv, ''',1.' I.rUV "t II", 'fl'''IH"','''','''', by I <lid" V,rIO
',II""'"HlltilH'''tl),u"",,",''y,lloI<J''",'1
Momlfl', 'Nil do lO'ldval, 01 100 leodt _tvllan lot wansmaak. H. V&n de< Kloot
MoyIJu,g. tie boerdelll en de fYlOfaal 1906-t940', ,n lo'OCWTgang en
btJhoud, edited by E F KoldeWlj (Zwolle WetenschappellJk,. 2003) p. 2A7
4 LoUls Cloquet Les m.J<SOOS iIf108ntl9S en &/gIque {Ghent. Imp"melle Van Ooosselllere,
1907) pp 6-7. loors Cloouetl1848-19201 was one 01 the Iead.ng arcMectufallheofetlClllfls
III nonet8ef11!H;:er1tury 8eIgIum. and played an IrlPOlUnl role If> the spl'ead 01 the flllOfIaI:st
Ideas 01 VioIet*Oue.
5 Mon1olfl. op crt. PI) 247.251.
6 Oomtnq...e Roul' ...rd. Le Sire ILege-Brus$81$ M3rdaga. 1984) po 39-64
7 Eug6ne VooIIet-Le-Oue. H:Irtanons MtxJemes, ptflltltiJre fWT.'IJ (Pans 18751 pllIte 41 .....1Ia.
ONUVllle lCetvadosl plate 179. " HouJga:e le.tv.dosl
8 Mane-Chnstlll8 laleman and Pauo Raeschol. Sreen V(Jl;W" steen her ondet2oek tllI8r hel
/lUIS" Gem en de bdr1lglJ van ArrnMld (Ghent Ul'IIW!l'S ty 01 Ghent,
"..,
9 Armand Herns, Les M/OfHIIIes habl/lltlons rurales dllns nove pays el dans les conrrees /omI-
rroplles (Antwerp: Vromant, 19121 p A
10 SIIJn Sireuvels, De /andsche worung In VlaanderoM !Am.sterdam: l.J Veen, 19131 pp 16-23
11 VlOIlella-Due, OIl. c,t.
12 Principles that. thanks to a French translatron pubhshed ,n Bruges ,n 1850, enioved w,de diS-
tributIOn on the contment.
13 Sidney R. Jones, Les IlaMattons en Angleterre (PariS: Editions 'Ou StudiO',
19121 p, 3
14 Mauroce B Adams, Modem Cottage Archltecrure, lIIustfared from Works of WellKnawn
ArCholOCfSILondon Batsford,19(4)
15 lbod., P 3
16 Atvle Van loo, 'De Ildll1ectuur van BelgIj Vln 1830 tOt f1eden: een overz>eht'. In Repeno-
nom van de "d>tteewur UI BelgJ6 VolIn 1830 rOl heden. edited by Anne V<lIn loo (Brussels
Prlsme, 20031 p 43
17 Marc Dubors. 'Kunstafchltectu",', In Te kl/flSr en re kUlK. en kUlKcxxden III
BeJpIiJ, /6de B1120sle eeuw (Brussels De Bataalsche leeuw, 1987) p. 230
18 .Jun.ClIude Vlga:o, L'lJrChItectlJ(e Ff1C8 1890-1950 iP<lIns: Norma. 1994) P 46
19 ArmandHe.ns.1912.op.ert.
20 Hedwtg SpeIoers, Dag Strewels. '/k k8r'l den Wll9 aJ/een' (Antwefp. Kroak. 1994)
pp 266-267
21 lien Hey'rrng. De wereId III een dorp. sc:hnJv8'rs en WI oM
B0rrcu'n I88()..I920lAmsterdam: Meutenho'f, 20021
22 E. Van Der KJe 1 AiT;htrecftNl" en sredabouw N<xxrJ.HoIJand /850--/940 rNtanderS/rlJksd
enst voor de Mooumentenzorg, n.d 1pp 85-a9
23 Hedwig op CIt.. pp. 266-267
24 Herman Stynen. 'Jozet Vienn I1B72-1949r, Mot!UfTI6(lten en LIJfIdschappen. vol 1, no 3.
pp 49-54
25 Marc Browaeys <lind Ronald De Preler, F/of Van Reeth (/884-/975J en 11ln vrrenden
(Antwerp O,strrcthulS, 1997) p. 23
26 Ibid, p, 29: rehllllng to Felix Timme,mans, 'Miln vnend Flor Van Aeeth', Ons voIk onlwukl.
1926, pp. 705-706.
27 Thomas Coom8ns, 'Wereldtentoonsteliingen', in Reperroflum van de afchl1ectuul In BeigJ'
van 1830 rOI hlX/cn, OIl cit.. p. 570
2B In orgam181lOr\fII terms, Oud Vlaend,1Jr'I formed an 1r'Kl,vldual prOject wllh its own organ,z,ng
committee, and alimited company was formed sPIJ'Clfically to mount 1.
29 Tim Dtckel, Wereldtentoonsrelling Gent 1913 Dud V/aendfen en her Modem Dotp
ba,e legenpo/fNI. unpubhshed mastef's ltlesos, Ghent UmverSlty, Art HIStory OeQ<Iltment
,...
30 Ad De Jong, De r;lrngentan van de henrJrIenng Museallserrng en naroonelrsenng wn de 0I0Ik
scu/Wuf ... Nederf"nd /815-1940iAtnhem 1'1. jl'llIJg8I"l. 20011.
'"
;1I II., ".r,t ""I"""'"V" ,,,.1 "1, ..1,,,', 1<0 n,,, ... d I ",.1
C Itl.l<lll. Les ,,'IC.tmflu,; ,,,t,,,,-,,; ,., Itf,; IJfIIIU'S .. ,.... ,. /"".1''''"'9''''
en BelgIque ('Anc,ent tU1l11 OOflSt'UCIIons and slT\811 OOflSt,uctOOflS ,n tJelllmoagus HI Belgouflll.
4 vols (Brussels llllTlltl1 n. 1914-19191. Armand HeIns and Aller! Dulry. M<Nsons
fIXlIIes du I)pe trlldft-' fIMr8IId R9ClJW d6 pIanc/lfJs ('Rural hooses of lhe tradI\lonall
Flemish type, Book of p1ates'llGl'1ent: A. Hems, 19151; Lou s CloQuet. l'dlJfllCtlJlll tndf.
flOt>OlllJe et Jes sf)'/es /lustre de 30 grr.otUs - pocx swvr ,tv des
flMllIS de notre PBYS 1'TrlldilJOf\ll! arctHtec1Ufll &nd the regoonal sl'yles Illustrated by 30
engravngs - 10 be used when resurrect,ng the ruNlS of our country'l lu.ge and Pans:
SoCIe:e Sa nlAuguSlNl Descl. De Brouwer et C... 19191. A1f.ed Ronse and Th60 Ranson.
Fermestypes el con.strlJC!1Ofl M8!es en WesIFllIndre fFarmslea(Hypes and ru.al construe
t,Offl In weSl Flandersl. 2 vols (Bruges: Charles 8eyaer!, 19181:.Ios Vierln. Over
Jke wonmg aan de \l'la8msche kUSI Kefllookons der L:H:luwvvIjl8 van de streek 1'01 rural
houses lit the Flem'sh coast Characte,is!lcs of the bu,ldln9 style ,n the reg,on'l (Brussels:
Vromant, 1921),
32 Clemenl Huar!. ,n 1. Clement GOOben and C. Huart. OIl, Cit" P 119.
33 See the ,nlernallOnel RestoratIOn Symposrum 'L,vrn9 w'th Hoslory 1914-1960: Aebuolding
Eu'ope aflef Ihe Frrst and Second Woricl WillS and lhe Role 01 He<rtage Preservat'Ofl.
lewen-leper. 1-5 September 2004 (pape<s to be publrs!l8d III 20091
34 Henry Vaes. 'Le sens du 14IgIOf\llifSme. Lll Cmf. 19t9. no, 6. PI), 103-105
35 'NoIes sur I"ExposI\lon de III R'"lauratlOl'l Agncole et de I'EmbelllSSerTleftl de Ie VMI .urale.
l.CM.1919.00 4JS,p 83
36 ReconstrueflOf\ runJle, Brussels. Comm'ssoon NlJOf\lIle pou, rEmbeI'ssement de II VI8
rurlllelf6deratlOll de$ Soo61es d'Nchl1ectas de Be,gIl:fJ8S. 1916. pp. 3-4
37 Such as ilfct"lecl August Hoe nI mt!Iff op dIlrl bIIIten bouwenl fHow should one
build '" tf.oe countrysode?'. 19161. aorchotect and lheonst Edwilfd Leonard. Lend en dorp, AM-
reek(ffWlfJefl en wenken ler ovetWegIng bq her bouwen en heropbouwen op her /and
rCountrysKle and VIllage Remarks and suggeshons 10 be taken into account wl'Ien Dullding
or tebullding rn the countrysK!e. 1916); Idem,. 80uwen m !leI dorp en op het p/llrreland
I'Buildlng In v,ILages and ,n the country'. 192BI,
38 Brussels (191 0) lind Ghent 11913) World's Fa,rs, exhlb,t,on of rural restoratron and embelliSh-
ment 01 rurall<!e In 81ussels In t919, Antwerp and L16ge World Exhrbr1>on In 1930. Brussels
World Exhibltlon In 1935 and Water Exhlb'hOll In 1939 'La forme dans III v,e rurale'.
LeDocument, 1948, no 1, p, 6
39 GaSlon Eysselrncl<.. 'HIlpert er ..tsr. Opbouwefl. 1934, no, 10. pp, 149-150
40 Hu b fioste, 'Een 'konrnklol<e' Yil'.al', Opbouwen. 1934, no, 10. p. 149
41 See also leen MegatlCk.. 'Redefinlng the relllllonsh,p between modemrsm &nd r8glOl18llSfTl
If\ rwenootlKentury BeIQlUfll', H'l Other IntematJOl\aI DOCOMOMO
Con'erence. Ankara rTUft.eyl. 27-29 September 2006
42 In hos 'Introducuon' to 'DIe Ivch tel:tur. d<e TflllfrtlOf\ und del Orl_ RegKlOlllismen H'l de
EU/tlp5;sdlen Stadt, V 1101'10 Magnano lllmpognerll llIso ,ema,!<s 'Dabe1 bestan<1en
ZWtSChen den schembar geo8Matzlichen unci bald unverSOhn fChen Tendenzen F'ataMerotalen
und BeriJchrungspunkle. Olll nochl setten truchtbar waren'
43 ExpresslOfl borrowed from Mark Wigley. Whlre Wails, DeSl{/fle'Dresses: The FMh/Ot'llllg of
Modern Arc/'lIleclure (Cembndge. MA: MIT Press. 1995)
44 Anlo,ne Pompe, 'L'Archttecture du beton et du beton arme', L'Emulal'on. 1931. p, 110,
45 Ibrd,. p 110,
46 Patrick Von Zur Miihien, RBssenrdoologren: GeschlChre und Hinre,glunde (Berhn, Varlag
J H W. Orell Nach( GmbH. 1977) pp 32-51
47 See Ad De .long. Tile CQnducrOl'$ 01 Mef7'lOf'y: 'MuseurrusstlOfl' anC 'NallOnlll,ssrlOfl' of Folk
Culrure mlhe NIlthetlands (1815---1940/ (NijfTleghen: SUN. 20011.
48 Ibid
49 Von lu' Mijh en. op 01. PI) 235-236
50 IbId_. p, 236
51 Out De vos and Flits De Mont, 'aoekeoo;euws Kunst und Rasse. De 8ouwp<ds. 1929. no
4, PI) 97-98,
',J 1,,,1 I k, V,,,, .,,"It "I'. I k, M, .,1 It, .,1 ,,''''"'''W', II,,. 11"'''k,t,,,,,,... ,,,,, '" I k'"l'.d.'" I,
1\"lt",'. Il" 1:kocM!Jf'I:>, ml'J,'1O 4, II 9tl
'"I I" .1,:, tho h...,klulg tViIO 01 tho youth hostol., lwallt'ell).Qffilu'y 6elgoum I>8s nOl been the
10l)lC 01 II thofough sludy II ,mght be Nlterestmg lO anatvse the ardwlectural des'O" of youth
hostels lh<oughoul the COUntry to see how lhey were lor were not.I itdaple<1 to kx:at 01
regoonal charllC!e0511CS
54 The first Beiglan youth hostel """ opened on May 1931 If\ Gitnshoren. neal Brussels
Already by 1938. 31 youth hostels had been built. 17 If\ the Walloon and 14 '" tnB Flemlsh
part 01 the coun:ry, lfl C" 'ExposolJOn du CclocouB Rene GIlion 1938 - 4me ann6e Un SU/Ill
de concours Ie IOUIIsme des ,eunes - les auberges de It'Unesse'. La Document 1936. no,
5. pp 79-81.1
55 Leon Petrt. 'Le ri!goorwlhsme en archr:8C\ure; son a....nJf. LIt Tec/lfllqU6 des 1926,
00. 10, p 465,
56 See Leen Meganck, Boowen Ie Gont ,n hel Inrcrbellum {/919-19401. ('Archrtecture and
urbanism In Ghen: In the Interwar period'). PhO thasis, Ghent Unlvers'ty, 2002
57 Vitgin,a Devillel analysed tha ,avlval ot ornament and crahsmansh;p ,n lha ans and applred
atls lor Ihe penod t918-t945 ,n her excellenl study Kunsr de oroo' Kunst en PoImek m
Be/t;lii 1918-1945 (Brussels SnoecklDeXla, 20021
58 See Bertrand letnOlno and Phdoppe Rrvonard.. L 'ArchlttICtUfe des ann8eS 3O(Lyon III Man....
laclure. 1987),
59 See. among others. Pit... Rolland, saent,'lQUII. Revue du Cerde des A1umfIt
FondiJrlOl1 Univf1rStllllfe. 1934. no, 3: and PatA RolLand. l.Organl$il\lon soentr/;que des
etudes d'hostOlfe ro!goonllle. BibIioIheque des 6/t.fdes SOlIS" ewlJCflOf\ de
F6IIoen no 1 fBruxelles, Georges Van Campenhout, 19381.
60 The conference was OIg&nlled by ttle Cerde alctoeologoque d'Al/l el de 18 R,6Q.on. for IS
rwenty-frfth bnhday (the Cer'cle was founded Irl 19111 Febaen Leundant. the *,elalfe-
g'n6ral. seems to have been the dfMng force See Q]mple rendlJ des tr.J\/llWl du Premter
Congr6s Alh. 1937. publIShed by F4Ilioen LeundanllBrussels:
Set:r'tanat-general ctu Cangtes. t937l. The lectures of the conference were pubhshed in lhe
serras 8ibllOl!leque d'eludes ,eglOflllles, publi6 SOlIS ill dllecl"'" de FellCl6n L6U"danl. 22
vols (Brussels: Georges Van CampenhOOl, 1938),
61 See Blorn RZQska, 'Farm, trrbe, soil and sp<nl 01 the people"' Clemans Victor a
self-made Flemrsh researcher on rural arch,tecture', In Rcgiooillism and Modemiry
1914-1940.011. CIt.
62 The el/Oft of documentrng flemISh rural and arcMecture alter the Second WOIId War
WIIS COfltlnued by Jolaf Weyns (who publIShed the monumental study on .Vo/ksfWtsrlllld III
Vlol8ncIerenl. and led to the foundatlO/l Irl 1953 of 6oIu"lk. the firSl operWtllt museum on
Belgium lot n.ral bu Id.ng types, Thos rs re:a!Nely I8le on Eurooean scale Al'eady 10 the
fmal decade of the nneleenth centu'Y, the Ii.st open-au mtJseums weflI estebllShed Ifl
ScanO_. e g. Sunsen nNf StoelchoIm. founded In 1891 (see WWW.skansenSll)
63 P,JA Nuyens. leurs. H'l NatJonNl &ograhsch woordenboek 18russe.s PaIf!fS dar
AoadftlTuin. 1977) vol. 7. P 517. and An lur;en. SIMI LlIt.ffS t1893-1973J. unpubloshed mas-
lel"S diSS8f1alion a: Ghent UnrverSlty. 2003,
Notes
1 leWIs Mumford. 'The Fate ot the Garden C I 1 ~ Joumal of /116 Anu1I/c"" '''"mul'' 01 A/GIl'
reers. FebfUlllY 1927, p. 38.
2 Weller l. Clellse, The Sureh tOf EnVIronment: The Garden Ciry. 8el0/8 and Alrer (New
Haven: Yale Umverslty Press, 1966) p. 302.
3 C1Il'e<1ce Stein. Towafd New TO\NIl$ IOf America (Cambridge. MA: MIT Pless. 1957) p. 24.
4 Ibid., P 28
5 lbld. p. 22.
6 leWIS MumlOl'd, Green Memotl6s (New Yorio;: Harooort Brace. 19471 pp. 30-31.
7 518.... cp. CII. P 34
8 lbod. pp. 34-35.
".
CI1spler 9
Rurality as a locus of
modernity
Romanian inter-war
architecture
Carmen Popescu
This might be seen as a paradox: how could rurality, naturally associated WIth
rooted tradition {if nol with backwardness as well) become an operative factor
of modernity? For a predomlnanlly agranan country. like Romania used to be,
tile paradox was only in superficial appearances_ Modernity could not have
been achieved wIthout conceptualizing and integrating the rural dimension. For
a young state, situated off the European stage In the nineteenth century. this
process was necessary for defining a new identity: it entailed political and eco-
nomic apprehension of the multiple layers of the complex 'agrarian question','
but it signified also the sublimation of the concept of tradition in establishing a
modern Romanian culture. Architecture played an imponant rote in shifting
rurality into an element of local modernity. employed both as an instrument of
modernization of the countryside and as a vehicle of a cultural renewa!. This
chapter focuses only on this latter, namely on the impact of the inter-war archi-
tecture in shaping a new Romanian urbanity.
Rurality: at the core of Romanianness
The Romanian state appeared on the European map in 1859 as a result of
the union of the Danubian PrinCipalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. With a
large majority of peasant population and an economy based on agricultural
production, it was considered - for a long period - to be an eminently agrarian
,,,
COlllllly So II Ie 1:,:.lltJ:. Iddlud lu Illu 1111011 WOIIIJ WUII'" <;I'" 1.,1, "',, ",'I loll ~ I
the politicians. whose numerous deliberations culinlll<lled II' Iw" 1"h"I". (I!lUIl
and 1921). and the rdeologues. who saw the countryside as iI lund<llllentlll
element in the discourse of nationhood. In arts, literature and mUSIC. the Image
of the peasant - With his entire universe - came to embody the very Idea of
Romanlanness; folk motlls. collected by the passionate adepts of a 'national
art', nurtured the 'awakening' of local creatiVItY. The peasant vernacular was
also enviSIOned as the baSIS of a new archltecturallanguage, responding to the
spirit of the new Romania If the folk tradition remained hardly exploited on a
larger scale until the beginning of the twentieth century, its use was urged as
early as 1851, in a founding discourse by the histonan and nationalist Ideologue
Alexandru Odobescu, who said that architects.
should observe not only the general laws of nature, they should also
make local observations; they should penetrate the architectural Spirit of
life, they should capture frorn the folk culture the idea of a new architec-
ture; . the Romanian architect should adopt the shape of the peasant
hut Only then, wdl the edifice be approved by the whole natIon, only
then will Romanians recognize in public palaces the shape of their little
houses, only then w l ~ architecture be natIOnal and endOfsed by all the
people.
l
Although the IntelligentSia's interest In the rural milieu is indisputable, the
village was depicted, until the early years of the twentieth century, as a roman-
ticized place of picturesqueness and genulneness'. Its idealized Image, con-
veyed by strong cultural movements With political Implications.] served as a
marker In the ideological disputes OPPOSlrlg culture (associated with the Idea of
state and nationhood} and civilizatIon (understood In terms of technical and so-
entific progress}.
The Violent peasant uprising of 1907. as well as the development of
the first racist theories (hosted, by the way, by the same populist publications
promoting the idyllic depiction of the Romanian village)' brought a shift in the
representation of tradition. From the 1910s onwards the search was no longer
for folklore's picturesqueness, but lor its access into the 'true essence' of eth
nicity. Moreover, in the context of an active modernization of Romanian societY,
the village was no longer seen as a peaceful timeless idyll. but as an element
contributing to the wider world's dynamics. From politicians to scholars, rurality
was analysed and apprehended as an operative force
Prepared since 1914, a new agrarian reform was promulgated In
1921-1922. completely changing rural Romania's face: not only was the land
redistributed. but the traditional Structure of the village was rethought in
modern terms. In 1919. In preparation for thiS reform, the Ministry of Agrrcul-
,..
1111" l'lIlllll,)\IIIIU C()IIII,II Souo!y tOl Anrdll1ll1 Co 01J011l110n. which ollfJflged 111 fl
.y.IOITla!lc analySIS 01 Gleatel Homanla, ThiS study was Intended to prOVide
lhe necessary rnformatlon tor economiC and political purposes, concerning the
Integrallon of the population ot the provinces annexed at the end of the war -
Transylvania, Bukovlna and Bessarabla, It was led by a team of young archi-
tects. who produced reports analyzing the general features of the localities and
the typologies of the peasant farms.$ At the same time, the concept of ethni-
city became an object of theoretIcal meditation for scholars. Among them, Dim-
itrie Gusti. founder of the Romaman School of Sociology, exercised the most
direct and concrete Influence. He aimed to elaborate a 'science of the nation'
through an extenSive study of the entire country, plaCIng the VIllage at the core
of hiS approach' GUStl'S onglnal method, the 'soclologlcal monograph'. was
based on thorough research of the rural world. performed by multidiSCiplinary
teams, Including archltects. In philosophy, the theory of a cultural spallal matnx
- developed by the pOet and phIlosopher lUCian Blaga - durably marked archt-
tectural thinking. by IndUCIng a new VISIOn of space. Under the influence of
Riegl, Frobenrus and Spengler, Blaga developed a philosophy of Romanian eth-
nicity: describing the rural universe on a metaphYSICal level, and fOCUSIng on
the importance of the spatial dimensIOn, he created a theory based on the
concept of 'horizon' as a cultural matnx.' For decades his 'infinitely undulating
landscape' haunted the lmagmatlon of Romanran arctmects.
Not only were these changes aSSImilated in the field of architecture.
but architects themselves also took an active part in the process. The profes-
Sion's shift was announced by the methodical approach to rural topics The pio-
neering studies of a lew architects were followed, alter 1918, by the
introduction of a new curriculum al the school of architecture in Bucharest,
including a course on industrral and agricultural buildings. Meanwhile. the
Department for Architecture, established by the Ministry of Agriculture in Ofder
to support the 1921 reform, had elaborated between 1921 and 1928 over 150
plans for new villages. and had built thousands of houses and farms.' The
importance gained by the concepts of race and ethnicity also had a resonant
echo in urban architecture. Not only did the use of folk motifs Increase from its
late-nineteenth-century levels, but also tradition became more involved, In a
conceptualized manner, in the construction of a new image of the city. In their
quest for a balance between the new and the old, architects adopted two
approaches: they used tradition as a foundation for a renewed architectural
image, and in folk culture they sought the very essence of architectural
thinking,
,.,
01 tho lwbll,lliOIlS, hUlllU tile SIt1lpliclty 01 tl,o ,"c!lIlul;tllllJ, WIIH I, Wn',' 1"',,,, 10
peasant vernaculal
Social housing developed significantly after lhe Fllst World Wm,
stimulated by a series of laws (1921, 1930, 1931) as well as by lhe preparation
of a master-plan for the capital, eventually established in 1934. But before this
urban plan imposed the principles of the 'Garden City', Bucharest was already a
'city in a garden',l3 because of the numerous subdivisions developed in order to
allow the rapid growth of the capital. By 1931. the Bucharest Communal Society
had built 1,117 habitations for private individuals and 1,073 for institutional
clients.
l
The principles elaborated in the 191 Os were still operating. contributing
to a rational planning of the urban fabric while giving the impression of an
organic growth. Without being imposed, the tradition-inspired 'National Style'
was strongly recommended as the architecture of the new subdivisions. IS SO
except in the centre, which adopted the dynamic aesthetics of modernism, the
new urban image of the capital proposed a modernity nurtured by tradition:
regularly designed plots. with family dwellings, giving nature an important place.
During the inter-war years the first collective dwellings were built.
thus completing the typologies of the individual housing system. Most of them
were connected with more or less developed patronage operations, and con-
sisting of single edifices or ensembles. Regardless of their size or cost, they
were often designed by important figures of the inter-war Romanian architec-
ture. such as Petre Antonescu for the National Bank (1930s), Statie Ciortan for
the Finance Ministry (1929) (Figure 92L Ion Pompilian for the Factory of
Matches (designed in 1920). Florea Stanculescu for the 'Victoria' Construction
Society (1928). Lucian Teodosiu for the State Monopoly Administration
'"
"
Stat;e Ciortan,
housing units lor
the employees of
the Ministry of
Finance,
Bucharest, 1929
'.3
Inauguration of
the Village
Museum, at the
occasion 01 the
'Month of
Bucharest', 1936.
Young prince
Mihai, in the
centre, is
surrounded by
ladies lrom high
sociaty dressed in
peasant costumes
II't:l!\ I!JLlJ) ll,u 11'''101 pill I ul II,u::;c O!llJldtIO'I$ WilS plOYI(led wllh SlJlJslillltlal
ql'!lJll aroas It large courtyard Ilhe Stale Monopoly Administration). a garden
(lhe Factory of Matches), a square delimited by the perimeter of the edifices
ahe Finance Ministry and the 'Victoria' Society} or the luxury of a park (National
Bank). Moreover. however different their typology, these collective dwellings
systematically employed - like the individual dwellings of the housing opera-
tions - emblematic elements of the rural vernacular. Pitched roofs and pictur-
esque porch canopies, as well as carved decorative timber elements (columns,
balustrades, etc. I were used in a expressive manner (for example by Ciortan
and Pomipilianl or more 'economically', like Antonescu's use of red brick as a
subtle allusion to traditional roots, or Stanculescu's stylized porches adorning
the sober geometry of functionalist buildings.
Residential and housing areas thus became 'spaces of conjunction',
where traditional dwelling principles were integrated into a modern vision of
the city. Another such 'space of conjunction', in its own way, is the Village
Museum, which was created as an exhibition piece in 1936 for the second
edition of the 'Month of Bucharest' (Figure 9.3). The museum reflected the
assiduous work of the multidisciplinary teams organized by the sociologist
(,iu:.lr Oll{lll11ll1y, the 'vl",19u' 1)\IIIIIrIl{l', I",,,,,,,,, 11I1l!. hllfCho:.
descrrbed as 'monuments of peasant arcllllecturc' 'L ot thu O:dl,b,!'s
tremendous success among the populace and Intellectuals. the munlClpalrty
decided to make It a regular event. Hence, the museum continued to gradually
develop in the middle of a vast park., facing the residential estate designed fOf
the employees of the MiOlstry of Agriculture. MOfe than evel, rurality and
urbanity were blended in the same concept.
Appropriating the essence of tradition:
modernist essays
There was another approach to turning traditIOn Into a factor of modemlty,
whICh concerned mostly - but not solely - the adepts of modernism. Romanran
modernists were less radical than their Western colleagues in rejecting the
burden of the past, and developed a particular relation With local vernacular.
Feeling somewhat provisional rn their relatively new-forged national identity,
they could not afford to throw off the entire charge of history. Also, by retaining
the lesson of folk architecture, they believed they followed Ihe natural evolu-
tion of architectural thinking. On the one hand, emulating the example of their
fellow architects elsewhere, and on the other, willing to integrate the recent
local experience, Romanian architects aspired to extract the 'authenticity' of
vernacular and to transpose it Into modernist Structures. 'Folk ans'. wrote
GeOfge Mate, Cantacuzino, the pre-eminent theoretician of architectural Ihink-
ing of the time, 'define the very characteristics of the race. since they are not
subiect either to transitory fashions, nor to intellectual currents.
17
Their
approach was twofold: both in the theoretical writings of the time (which dis
cussed how principles drawn from the peasant vernacular could be used to
reform modern architecture) and also in practical experiments that tried to
translate the theory Into buildings.
The Romania architectural profession reached matunty during the
interwar years - hence the importance of theoretical debate fOf architectural
design. One of the most discussed maners turned around the opposition
modernity versus tradition, with a particular focus on the existence of a
'national specificity'. Periodicals of the time published enquiries on this topic. in
order to help their readers to find their path. Radical or moderate. the adepts of
a modern Romanian architecture were sceptical about, if not overtly opposed
to, the use of tradition. Responding to such an enquiry, Horia Creanga, leader
of Romanian modernists. affIrmed:
There is no specificity In Romanian architecture . We have a troubled
past and we were often under foreign rule ... The peasants were slaves
'"
I hoy Ill,IUt! 1IIIIilhio huIS, wIllet I could hardly 00 called housos BUl In
Ihls COnlexl, are we allOWing OUlselves to revIve these huts, according to
our nch patnotlc ,maginatl()(l, thereby conflat,ng the quality of nallonal style
with an Image that is nothing more ... than the Image of our millennial
slavery]"
The reference to tradition appeared as a predicament even for the architects
who cherished its virtues. Whatever its qualities, Cantacuzino warned. its
attraction could turn into a trap for those looking for a sense of specificity: 'folk
art is a dead-end.". Folk art could nurture a whole civilization, but it cannot be
levlVed."i What the supporters of modem architecture reieeted was actually
the direct use of traditional elements in the conception of a supposedly 'new'
architecture. 'One should know', argued Cantacuzlno:
that folk an is a school and not a quany where everyone comes to steal
whatever elements he needs, The way in which we copied the foreign
trends at a certain moment, in the same way we later copied our past [in
the sense of historic monuments) and our folk art.
70
Hence, folk culture was to be considered a lesson and not a model, and - as Le
Corousrer later emphasized, summanzing the debates of two generations of
modernists _ ItS aSSimilation seemed Ihe unique soIutlOO to this pledicament.
JI
Several Romanran architects operated such a subtle assimilatioo In therr works
dunng the inter-war period. They favoured the pulest examples, formally speak
rng, of kx:a! vernacular, which they found in the cula and the Balkan house. The
reference to folk culture, in general, was undersiood not only in terms of inter-
preting land distilling) its forms and volumes, but also by extracting the essence
of its functionality.
The cula
The cula was an established type of fonified rural residence, developed in
south-west Romania especially In the eighteenth century under the influence of
a model that spread throughout the Balkans.
22
Its Simplicity and pure geometry
made it appealing to even the most radical Romanian Modernists. Creanga
himself was fascinated by its essential conception, He thought that the expres-
sion of Romanran identity was not to be found in ambitious historic monu-
ments. but 'must be sought elsewhere, where many do not think of seeing It
_ in the modest Romanian cula, with its simple geometric form'.n If the cula
served to epitomize local traditlon in Romanran modem architecture. it was
its precise geometric composition that allowed ItS easy assrmllalion With
'"
pllllClplw. 1110 lilll1\,IIII,11I "'llllll',I,",!" '" IIIN,,1 11"'11
Turkish colleagues' research, wilen they legilimaled AloIlllIl'"
agenda by assimilating traditional building types, including whal lhcy called
'cubiC
Florea Stimculescu was perhaps most successful in his Integration
of lessons from folklore in a modernist agenda. A well-established researcher
of the rural world, head of the Architectural Service of the Ministry of Agncul-
lure, close collaborator of O.mltrie GUStl and architect of the Village Museum,
Stanculescu translated hiS long experience into the deSign of several of hiS
works. The most accomplished example was his own house, situated on the
new residenttal estate for employees of the Ministry of Agriculture in Bucha-
rest (1929). The house plan IS based on what the archItect called the 'matrix
house' - the essence of the rural vernacular2!i - while the facades are InSpired
by the volumes of the cula Stanculescu published the project in the architec-
tural magazine that he edited, CAmmu/ ('The Home'). under the title 'A square
house', a deSignation connected WIth the aesthetic conceptlOO of cubist archi-
tecture (Figure 9 4), The house Influenced some of the architect's coilaboratOfS
at the Mintstry of Agnculture: Radu Udroiu published a prOject of 'house shaped
as a eula' In CAmmu/092e). while Stefan Peterneli Interpreted the same archI-
tectural motrf In deslgflll'19 hiS personal villa in Bucharest {nelghbourlllQ Stancu-
Iescu'sl. Nooe of these examples entIrely eschews the narrative element of
local speClflclty: the PitChed roof, the open gallery, the arcades - all recall, even
If much Simplified. the pICturesque of the folk architecture. That was not the
case with Horea Creanga's radical interpretation of the cu/a. which inspired
some of hiS cubist works, such as the Miclescu villa (Bucharest. 1930J and the
ViCIOf Manu Street estate (Bucharest, 1937) (Figure 9-5J_ The leader of Roma-
nian Modern Movement adopted an austere viSion, translated solely In terms
of rhythm and volumes, His colleague Cantacuzino compared Creanga's
approach to the Romantan sculptor Brancust's:
The ... common point between Creang<J and Brancusi is the root of lheir
being. This root is the Romanian race. By affirming themselves, neither of
the two produced a folkish aesthetiCS or culture They depart from the
general toward the particular and always try to express themselves in uni-
versal values.
2t
Whether 'radical' (as In Creangirs case) or 'lyrical' (like Slanculescu's) both
approaches attempted to particulartze Romanian modern architecture.
27
Some-
times they co-e)(lsted, as at the Vatra Luminoasa estate (Bucharest.
1933-1939; architect Nicolae ApnMneanu), where the two approaches were
e)(pressed through two dillerent typologies: the terraced houses, which pre-
serve more 'spe<:ific' elements (such as tiled roofs, projecting volumes covered
".
,..
R..
Sdnallesc:u
architect. 'Squar.
House', in
CSminu/119291
110,2....
by canopies. brick) while the semi-detached houses display severe geometric
facades, remindIng one of Creanga's nelghbounng estate.
The 'Salkan' house
The 'Balkan' house - in its version developed in the Bulgarian town Velika
Turnovo - had stirred young Le Corbusier's vivid imagination dUring his Voyage
d'Orienr in 1911, HIS rapid sketches of fac;:ades and interiors reveal the poetics
of its simple geometry. which the architect, years later, would e)(ploit in hiS
work, In the inter-war period, the same generic house became an object of
study and inspiration for the architects of the Balkan peninsula, who saw in it
the embodiment of a 'specific' vernacular. considered (and claimed) to be
Turkish by the Turks, Greek by the Greeks, Bosnian by the Bosnians, etc. In
Romania as well, this typology attracted a number 01 architects, who appreci-
ated its functionalism and e)(presslvlty. Their inlerest in the Balkan house, which
could have been perceived as rather alien to Romanian peasant architecture,
'"
had a double justification. On the one hand, the Balkan house was directly
related to the Ottoman vernacular, which had once been widespread in
Romania, but was later banned from the 'official' vocabulary of the 'National
Style', as being too 'oriental' (and reminiscent of servitude 10 the Ottoman
Empire). Thus the revival of Its simple geometric composition meant the recu
peratlon of a lost part of Romaman culture, On the other hand, the reappraisal
01 the Balkan house was closely connected WIth a growing Internationalloter-
est in traditIOnal Mediterranean architecture, which exhorted - along With the
retour I fordre - a reconsideratloo (and, Implicitly. valorization) of onglOs, espe-
ClaHy common ooglns. VVhere Western architects saw the traditional Mediterra-
nean architecture as being In contact WIth 'primitive'. unSpOIled forces,
Romanl8ns saw it as another way to express their Identity. while synchroniZing
their work with the OCCIdent.
The finest reinterpretation of the Balkan house was made by two of
the young architects of the time. Delav Doicescu and Henrielte Delavrancea-
Gibory. who designed a number of Villas situated In Bucharest and its surround-
Ings. Doicescu's architecture revisited the concept of Balkan vernacular in a
house that could be considered as the most consummate example in terms of
variations developed on this theme, The Bucharest Central Plants estate
(1937-1939) located in an elegant residential area, reinvented modern urbanity
with traditional elements: the size of the houses, the narrowness of the streets
lwhlch were paved with cubic stone sens disposed in traditional arch-shaped
patterns), the low fences that did not block the view - everything contributed
to create an intimate ambiance (Figure 9.6). The architecture of the little Villas
interpreted the genenc model of Balkan vernacular in a soberly pictureSQue
manner. Delavrancea-Gibory's reading of the theme was more abstract,
,,.
9.'
Horia c...angii
architect. VlCto.
Manu Street
ntat", Bucharest.
1937
9.6
Octav Doicescu
Irchitect, house
of the architKt in
the Centrll Plants
Estate, Bucharest.
1937-1939
6.'
Henriette
D.lavranc:ea-
Giborv archite<:t,
Grlgore Arapu
apanment
building,
Buchar"st,
1938-1939
combining Corbusian geometry - for example in Eustatle Stoenescu vilia
tDraghiceni. 1939l - with a more functionalist approach. as in the Grigore Arapu
building (Bucharest, 1938--1939) (Figure 9.71. Her compositions inSist Ofl forms'
PUrity, emphasizing each volume as a separate unit to be brought together In a
Unified powerful composition.
Outside the city
The architectural expenments outside the City, where another facet of Roma-
nian modernity was built, were most often Inspired by the same two typologies
- the cuJa and the Balkan house. Resort bUildings. whether in the mountams or
beside the sea, extended the Clty'S architectural culture, transposing folk
lessons into modem language, but here gaining an added expresslVlty through
the use 01 local materials. This approach can be seen In Olga $tefanescu's villa
at Cump.tu by DuBiu Marcu (1934l, which covered a Simple, geometric struc.
ture With blocks of stone, And it is particularly evident in the numerous villas
designed by the Black Sea by DelavranceaGibory, in whose hands the rigorous
composillons become emotionally expresSive through their pertect dialogue
with the site.
It is difficult to apprehend at a SIngle glance Ihe compleXity of the
role played by the interpretation and the assimilation of the rural heritage into
an Image of modem Romania. Whether It was offering the reassurance of
'famlll3l' forms in a raptdly modernizirtg city, nurtunng modern archItectural
thinking with the lesson of rts long and gradual evofutlOn. or whether sImply
'humaniZing' the structure of Ihe townscape - the contribution of fural tradition
was rich and Intricate. If local architects, be they adepts of the 'National Style'
or convinced defenders of the Modem Movement. succeeded in turning it into
a new progressive vision, that was possible due to their common concern to
create an architecture which would be both modern and Romanian. The words
wrllten in 1934 by Cantacuzino - in an article Significantly entitled 'Traditional-
ism and Modernism' - perfectly summarize this approach: 'Our problem IS not
to reduce the general trends 10 local aesthetics; Oft the contrary, we have 10
valorise our old regional herllage, raising it to general interest on the level of
eternal art:
Z8
Hence, transforming rurality into a factor of moderntty was not
only about particulanzlOg Romanian cultule. but principally about foundIng it on
the eternal truth of art.
Notes
AS 'I was des,gnated in Iho politICal debates of tho tlma, start,"'g wilh tho instllu\lOrlal refor.
maHan of modem Roman,an state in early 1860s and up to the Inter-war yea,s
2 Discourse ent,tled 'The Future of lhe Arts on Ramen",', held at lhe Roma"'lan C,rcle In Pa';s;
quoled in MoraCll MarlllncanU.(;alstOlU, Roman/iSmul Tn erh,lecfuf8 1990) p. 210.
Unless mentIOned otherWIse, tile trans!aliQns a,e by lhe author.
3 The most WIdespread and COf1Sll11SUllI W/iS the Slmln.tIOrlSm. whose name derved from
the rnapame s.tmanaIOtul CThe Sower). founded on 1901 See ZIQu 0'0831, Slm.tn,tlonsmul'
19711.
4 The lone was gven by" seoes at aItIdes enlltled 'NalOONlltatea in ani' lNatl(l(llJkty on Attl,
bv Alexno::ru C COla in F'r-Ffumos, on 1905

'. ' H' II., 1",1,." I", ...L"t , ...., " 1<. I k..... "I, ........ (,"'I,J/}olll!"o ,.1""'''1'.' /lIIII/L'{;I"'H
19!1l)j) la
I, {JIII.IIIll Gusto. 'La 'llOr'lOg,aph-e 01 rael!OOl r1"I()I'l()Qfaphoque en Ao<.-'nanMl', on COfiterences
/935 par 0 Gusf,&F EnydlodaSi/l4IPa'l$c 19351
7 Among In most sogno"C<lnt work$ are Tri/ogIa culrunr (The Trilogy 01 CuIl""el. 1Ja!herlng hts
ml)$l omportaJlt sludoes Oruotl!!p 561. SpafU rrllOfltlf;.. Geneza melafontl $I seiI$U/ cu/n.n
lBucure$lr 1944)
8 See N Lascu. rural lit rarcl'u:ectlJfll 1'\ll11Ol'lll1e durant remre-d8'ux..guerres", in
NtloonaIlIf>d Regron#I ., Atchtf8CIUte: Between HIStory Illd PntctICS. ed'1e<l by c.rmen
Pope$a.l IBlJCUr6$11 20(2) pp 16&-173.
9 For II hIStory of the 'NalJOn1l1 Style', see C. Popescu. La sl)'/e narlONI fOt/I7l4IfI conslroue
une narKKl Atravers /'4rChHecture /881-/945 2(04)
10 Concerning the bUildIng regul/l\lons. see N, Las.cu. dezvolf8" \J,o"n,li 8UCVfO$tJ
183/-1952 (Leg'slalton arid Urban Development) PhD dissertallOn, Instllute of ArchItecture
'Ion Mincu', Bucharest. 1997.
11 See C,ncinat Sfin\estu, 'Soc;etatea comunalA de Iocu,n\e ,efMe s' rllal,zAnle o,' [The Com,
munal Sooely for Econom,c HabltatlOns and lIs ReahzlltlOflsl, m Urbanlsmul, 1933, no. 5-6,
pp 269-288
12 lbld, p, 225.
13 Lum,n.., Machedon and Erme Scoffhllfll. Modem1sm. me Arr;Jutecfure of Bue:tJ;t.
fllSt 1920--f940lLondon lind Cambndge, MA.. MIT Pless. 19991, p 87
14 C Shn\eSClJ. 'Socoetat811 comunalA de IocuIn\e left.ne $I reall73l'iIe Ill'. p 280
15 C SfinlllSO.1, Pen"U B....eurll$fl. Nor sl'Udo t.rtr.m.sllCll lBucharest: New Urt.rl Studles)
19321 p 44
16 FIor811 SlinctJlescu. 'Muzeul SIltului' IMuseun of the Villlgel, ArhIlecnn. 1936, no. 6, p <I
17 G M Cantaeu7lnO, 'ClISa prAneasci' !The PeM&nl Housel, '" Arcade. filJde $' !eSPfU' 119321,
reproduced ,n G.M c.v.l3CUltno. hYoilfe $i pop,uun llll$! 19771 pp. 155-158 (55)
18 'RAsounsul domnulu' IIrMecl Honll Creanga' tArchotect Houa An_rl, Ana $I
Omul, 1935, vol. 3, no. 19-22. pp. 333-337 (3361
19 G M. Cantacuzlno. 'CreslAturole In Iemn' [The Wooden CaNlngs), in IZVOiI'll $1 popasun
119341, reproduced In G M, CantacuzlIlo, IZVCMfll $' pp. 97-101 (100).
20 G.M Cantacuzino, 'CaSlllArAneascll', pp, 156, 157
21 Le CorbuSler, 'Le folklore eSl l'expreSSlOn f1eur,e des lr&dlllOns'. ,n VOId 18 Fr/lnce de ce
rTI(ljS, 1941, June, no 16, pp, 27-32.
22 The lerm cuIa IS an of the Turlusto /liule, hlllfa'ty 'towe( The 'tower
houses' started to spread on the peninsula IfO the Middle Ages.
23 H. Cleangi. 'Aflamlll stolunlor $I ana VIl:orulu( !The Anarchy at the S!YIe and the Ar! of
Futurel, In Marcellancu, Hona Clungil and Ociav DoIcescu. Qllte 0 .mrrecrur.t I Bucurll$ti-
e.193!jJ PI). l30l
24 See Sibel 80100gan. Modenvsm and Naron Buidtng TUfbs/l Afch,rllCl'/,/fe 11'I the Early
Republicl'Seattie and London. Urwers tyof Washington Pl'ess, 20011.
25 For Stlincu'escu the 'matn" house' was !he besot uM of ontlabotabOn. formed by two foams

26 G M Can!aCUnrlO. 'Hor.. CfungA', StmelfliJ, 1943, no 5, pp, 33-35135) Engl,sh translatIOn
Irom Machedon and Seallhem, Romanian Modeml$f7l.
27 We "'ve borro-wed the lerm 'lyncal' from Le Co'bl!s,er, who used on !-evelal occasions,
for example in 'La folklo'e eSll'ewression flaurle des Irlld'tlOfls': op. Clt.
28 G,M, Canlacuz,no, 'Trlldll,ona1lsm modernism', In IZVOllre pop.1surin934) reproduced In
G,M, Cant3Cuz,no, IZVOll,e $' popasuri. pp, 69-71.
'"