Beaux-Arts style

Beaux-Arts style

 or Second Empire style or Second Empire Baroque

Architectural style developed at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. It enjoyed international dominance in the late 19th century (see Second Empire) and rapidly became an official style for many of the new public buildings demanded by expanding cities and their national governments. Beaux-Arts buildings are typically massive and have a symmetrical plan with rooms arranged axially, profuse Classicist detail, and pavilions that extend forward at the ends and centre. Among the most admired Beaux-Arts structures is the Paris Opéra.

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Beaux-Arts style

A grandiose architectural style as taught at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris primarily in the 19th century, widely applied until 1930 to large public buildings such as courthouses, libraries, museums, railroads, and to some pretentious residences. Characteristics often include formalism in design, symmetrical plans, heavily rusticated arched masonry, ashlar stone bases with rusticated stonework, especially on the ground floor and raised basement levels; sculptured figures; a massive and symmetric façade, often with a projecting central pavilion; a monumental attic story; commonly decorated with dentils; enriched entablatures; monumental flights of stairs; classical columns often set in close pairs; banded columns, engaged columns, coupled pilasters; highly decorated pilastered parapets; balconies; sculptured spandrels; decorative brackets; sculptured figures; ornamental details such as cartouches, floral patterns, Greek key designs, ornamental keystones, medallions; elaborately decorated panels, and the like; the roof, commonly a flat or low-pitched, hipped, or a mansard roof; often, domes and rotundas; rectangular windows symmetrically placed, with lintels overhead; arched dormers, balustraded windows, pedimented windows, or windows with balconets; doors, commonly paneled with a glass-paneled canopy over the primary entry-way, flanked by columns or pilasters; a wrought-iron grille on the exterior side of the entry door. Also called Beaux-Arts Classicism.