cast-iron architecture (redirected from Cast iron architecture)

cast-iron architecture, a term used to designate buildings that incorporate cast iron for structural and/or decorative purposes. After 1800 cast-iron supports were exploited as an alternative to masonry, and with the introduction of wrought-iron beams at mid-century, an efficient, prefabricated method of skeletal construction was possible, of which the most notable example was Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace (1851) in London. Iron and glass canopies were used to cover such diverse structures as shopping arcades, library reading rooms, and the vast new railway terminals. In the United States, James Bogardus pioneered the use of cast-iron commercial facades, which combined utility with the easy replication of attenuated classical orders in repeated bays.

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cast-iron architecture

In building construction, cast iron used in combination with wrought iron for the framing of commercial buildings and for the components of cast-iron fronts; used primarily before the advent of steel-frame construction. Usually characterized by: prefabricated cast-iron components, repetitive modules, and large windows, in contrast to earlier masonry façades in which large windows were impractical because they weakened the wall into which they were set.