I've always been fascinated by classical elevations; I've spent hours geeking out over old engravings of façades and floorplans of buildings I'll never visit, buildings that have often never even been built. There's something about the way interior space is configured, especially, that I find captivating. How does the exterior architecture free or hinder those interior spaces? And what of the circulation, how do the rooms connect, how is function balanced with comfort and grace? Scanning old plans, my imagination has wandered endlessly through those real and unrealized buildings, nerdy little wanderings that I find delightfully distracting, even fairly hypnotic. But then - me being me - an elegant stair hall or a really terrific enfilade has been known to make me downright giddy!
The following plans are selections from the Recueil elementaire d'architecture, the eight folio volumes of architectural engravings by Jean-François de Neufforge (1 April 1714, Comblain-au-Pont - 19 December 1791, Paris) the Belgian architect and engraver. (Five more of these plans are featured above.)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
Is the 12th building from the from the top Thomas Jefferson's Monticello or did he dramatically derive from his house's final incarnation from this by a plan previously published by someone else?
ReplyDeleteI wondered about that myself. I just did a little quick research in response to your question, and it appears this plan relates to Jefferson's remodel of Monticello that commenced in 1794.
DeleteCasitas et villas luxueuses, petit palais et palazzetti, frivolites pour une vie serieuse.
ReplyDeleteJean-Francois de Neufforge dans son element d'architecte residentiel.
Though the homes are beautiful, they are very impractical due to the high costs of maintaining them.
In Britain and Europe, homes like these are converted into B&B's and museums by their owners, so they can stay in the family. -Rj
Great beauty is so often "impractical"... eh? ; )
DeleteI love this
ReplyDeleteWow, what a post! This 18th-19th century architecture looks so cool: the sometimes bland and almost hidden beauty, the emptiness that surrounds the buildings, even if on the plans and drawings only. Kind of a time travel. I'm not interested in the future, just bring me back to 1960's or 1760's would be amazing. Pictures like these help doing that.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing related to all this. Buildings like these were also built later, in 1940's and 1950's (maybe this is called historicism in architecture, I don't know). There is a small town in East Estonia called Sillamäe. It is one of the two towns that were closed during the Soviet time: it was used only for military purposes (the other such town was Paldiski). It has its old part and that is full of similar-looking Stalinist buildings from 1950's. A haunting short movie was made there in 1988, called Vernanda, here with English subtitles, obviously digitalised from a VHS tape: https://youtu.be/pk2tIz9rfOk It's been my all time favourite since I first saw it during my high school years or even earlier. It is very allegorical, it is made after a short story by Arvo Valton in 1972. The movie expands the story a lot and the author A. Valton himself was also part of the movie-making. Anyway, the connection with this post is that it shows the emptiness of streets, empty city, almost abandoned, but the buildings are of the Stalinist style similar to these in this post so the haunting emptiness is so evident and, at least in my case, captivating too. Such areas are present in many cities in Estonia, even in Tallinn (Pelguranna). I think this movie was almost prophetic about the collapse of the SU only 3 years later and the end part was exactly about leaving it, leaving all that madness and absurdity that used to be part of everyday life back then.
Wow, what a wonderful and haunting film; thank you for sharing it! Fascinating, on so many levels. As to the architecture, I'd call it historicism, yes. The influences look to be varied, although a few buildings/interiors clearly reflect the neoclassicism to be seen in St. Petersburg and the surrounding imperial ensembles, Tsarskoe Selo, Pavlovsk, etc.
DeleteI am searching for the source of one of the images above, the 12th image down after the sentence: "...an elegant stair hall or a really terrific enfilade has been known to make me downright giddy!"
ReplyDeleteThe top of the drawing says: 'Elevation of the Principal Front of a Villa' Pt. 1, followed by the same title in Italian. Do you have any recollection of the source of this image? I am seeking permission to publish it, and want to find out if it is still copyright protected. I would be enormously appreciative of your help!
I'm so sorry but, at this remove, I don't recall where I found that image. I just did a reverse search on this and only Pinterest pages are called up, all of them leading to a certain Tumblr post from 2015; I can only assume one of those was my source. I don't know if you'll be able to connect with the Tumblr poster, but here is the link to that page:
Deletehttps://archimaps.tumblr.com/post/107277625992/elevation-and-plans-of-a-villa-1779
Good luck!