The Empire State Building's art deco design is typical of pre–World War II architecture in New York. The modernistic, stainless steel canopies of the entrances on 33rd and 34th Streets lead to two-story-high corridors around the elevator core, crossed by stainless steel and glass-enclosed bridges at the second-floor level. The riveted steel frame of the building was originally designed to handle all of the building's gravitational stresses and wind loads. The exterior of the building is clad in Indiana limestone panels sourced from the Empire Mill in Sanders, Indiana, which give the building its signature blonde color. The amount of material used in the building's construction resulted in a very stiff structure when compared to other skyscrapers, with a structural stiffness of versus the Willis Tower's and the John Hancock Center's .
Exterior
Empire State Building
Empire State Building | Exterior
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context. On November 11, 1981, Veterans Day, high-rise firefighting and rescue advocate Dan Goodwin, for the purpose of calling attention to the inability to rescue people trapped in the upper floors of skyscrapers, successfully climbed the building's exterior wall. On November 11, 1981, Veterans Day, high-rise firefighting and rescue advocate Dan Goodwin, for the purpose of calling attention to the inability to rescue people trapped in the upper floors of skyscrapers, successfully climbed the building's exterior wall. The project, which would become the world's second tallest building at opening, was conceived and owned by Jerry Wolman in late 1964
how many floors is the empire state building observation deck
user
3 floors.
assistant
where is it located?
user
Midtown Manhattan in New York City.
assistant
what is the earlier mentioned building used for?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
what kind of architecture does it follow?
user
Pre–World War II architecture.
assistant
did the design have any kind of change?
user
Yes, it was later increased to 60 and then 80 stories.
assistant
the place where you mentioned it is located, what is it's economics?
user
It, along with Lower Manhattan, is one of the world's leading financial centers.
assistant
does it have any kind of headquarters?
user
Midtown contains the headquarters of major companies, including 4Kids Entertainment (formerly), Barnes & Noble, Bloomberg L.P. to name a few.
assistant
the kind of architecture mentioned, does any other structure have the same?
user
Yes, the Willis Tower's and the John Hancock Center's.
assistant
what's the historical importance of the second structure?
user
While not all Second Empire buildings feature pavilions, a significant number, particularly those built by wealthy clients or as public buildings, do. The Second Empire style frequently includes a rectangular (sometimes octagonal) tower as well. This tower element may be of equal height to the highest floor, or may exceed the height of the rest of the structure by a story or two. A third feature is massing. Second Empire buildings, because of their height, tend to convey a sense of largeness. Additionally, the facades are typically solid and flat, rather than pierced by open porches or angled and curved facade bays.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Key Features
The Empire State Building's art deco design is typical of pre–World War II architecture in New York. The modernistic, stainless steel canopies of the entrances on 33rd and 34th Streets lead to two-story-high corridors around the elevator core, crossed by stainless steel and glass-enclosed bridges at the second-floor level. The riveted steel frame of the building was originally designed to handle all of the building's gravitational stresses and wind loads. The exterior of the building is clad in Indiana limestone panels sourced from the Empire Mill in Sanders, Indiana, which give the building its signature blonde color. The amount of material used in the building's construction resulted in a very stiff structure when compared to other skyscrapers, with a structural stiffness of versus the Willis Tower's and the John Hancock Center's .
Empire State Building | Exterior
Renwick's gallery was one of the first major public buildings in the style, and its favorable reception furthered interest in Second Empire design. These early buildings display a close affinity to the high-style designs found in the new Louvre construction, with quoins, stone detailing, carved elements and sculpture, a strong division between base and piano nobile, pavilioned roofs, and pilasters.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | History
The European born and trained architect Detlef Lienau, who studied architecture in Paris and emigrated to the US in 1848, is credited with designing the first Second Empire house in the US, the Hart M. Schiff house in New York City, built in 1850. Lienau remained a prime designer of Second Empire houses, designing the Lockwood-Matthews Mansion in Norwalk, Connecticut (designed 1860). Despite Lienau's work, Second Empire did not displace dominant styles of the 1850s, Italianate and Gothic Revival and remained associated with only particularly wealthy patrons. The first major Second Empire structure designed by an American architect was James Renwick's gallery, now the Renwick Gallery designed for William Wilson Corcoran (1859-1860).
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | History
Viewed as out-of-date and emblematic of the excesses of the 19th century, Second Empire architecture was derided in the 20th century, particularly starting in the 1930s. Of Mullet's State, War, and Navy Building, for instance, Woodrow Wilson commented negatively on the building for displaying "every architectural style known to man" and made plans to remodel it, stripping the structure of its Second Empire features. Expensive to maintain, many Second Empire structures fell into decay and were demolished. Philadelphia's City Hall (1871–1901) was narrowly saved from demolition in the 1950s because of the expense of demolishing it, but New York's City Hall Post Office and Courthouse (1869–1880), termed "Mullett's Monstrosity", was demolished in 1939.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Reception in the twentieth century
Public buildings constructed in the Second Empire style were especially built on a massive scale, such as the Philadelphia City Hall and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and held records for the largest buildings in their day. Prior to the construction of the Pentagon during the 1940s, for example, the Second Empire–style Ohio State Asylum for the Insane in Columbus, Ohio, was reported to be the largest building under one roof in the U.S., though the title may actually belong to Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, another Kirkbride Second Empire asylum.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Key Features
Among the smaller details, yet still prominent, is the railing surrounding the top of the tower. Together, these elements produce the appearance of a Second Empire residence.
Samuel N. Brown House | Introduction
Nationally renowned architect Horatio Nelson White was the designer of this French Second Empire structure. Peck died May 17, 1883, in Syracuse and is buried there in the Oakwood Cemetery.
Jesse Truesdell Peck | Syracuse University
Sometimes mansards with different profiles are superimposed upon one another, especially on towers. For most Second Empire buildings, the mansard roof is the primary stylistic feature and the most commonly recognised link to the style's French roots. A secondary feature is the use of pavilions, a segment of the facade that is differentiated from surrounding segments by a change in height, stylistic features, or roof design and are typically advanced from the main plane of the facade. Pavilions are usually located at emphatic points in a building such as the center or ends and allow the monotony of the roof to be broken for dramatic effect.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Key Features
Elements such as the Romanesque entry arch, which is part of the landscaped plaza on Second Avenue, represent a compromise that, though not prevalent today, was often employed in the early years of the historic preservation movement. The footprint of the monolithic building is square; however, the corners are all clipped, resulting in a less angular form on the skyline. The steel-frame building is clad in pre-cast concrete with prominent vertical members and recessed windows that emphasize the height of the structure. Arched entrance arcades on the federal building allude to the Romanesque entry of the Burke Building. The building's elevations are symmetrical and maintain a consistent geometric rhythm.
Henry M. Jackson Federal Building | Architecture
The canonical example of Second Empire style is the Opera Garnier (formerly known as the "Paris Opera") in Paris. In the United States, the Second Empire style usually includes a steep, mansard roof; the roof being the most noteworthy link to the style's French roots. This tower element could be of equal height of the top most floor. As was done with the Hutchinson House. The mansard roof crest was often topped with an iron trim, sometimes referred to as "cresting". The Hutchinson Mansion also prominently displays 3 separate chimneys extending 10 feet above the roof top. These chimneys service the 5 fireplaces, and stove.
Hutchinson House (Tampa, Florida) | Architecture
By the 21st century, the remaining Second Empire architecture in the United states was once again greatly appreciated and valued by most for its sense of beauty, grandeur, and quirkiness while ironically the work of architects who originally chastised the style saw even greater criticism.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Reception in the twentieth century
This development allowed Second Empire domestic architecture to assume a new role in the American imagination, that of the haunted house. This may have been prompted by changes in aesthetics in the 1930s, in favor of cold austere functional buildings, the opposite of elaborate, but decaying Second Empire houses. For much of the early and mid-20th century, Second Empire design would be popularly associated with the sinister and haunted houses. Cartoonist Charles Addams, for example, designed a typical Second Empire mansion as the home of his macabre Addams Family, and the similarly spooky family, the Munsters, lived in a Second Empire house during their series.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Reception in the twentieth century
Second Empire plans for public buildings are almost entirely cubic or rectangular, adapted from formal French architectural ensembles, such as the Louvre. Sometimes they include interior courts. Most Second Empire domestic plans are adapted from prevailing plan types developed for Italianate designs by authors such as Alexander Jackson Davis and Samuel Sloan. The prime distinction between the designs is a preference for a central focus rather than a diffusion of forms. Floor plans for Second Empire residences can be symmetrical, with the tower (or tower-like element) in the center, or asymmetrical, with the tower or tower-like element to one side.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Plans
The monumental William O. Douglas Federal Building is an excellent example of Second Renaissance Revival architecture, a classically inspired and dignified style that conveyed the stability of the federal government. The nearly square, three-story structure features concrete spread footings, a steel frame, reinforced concrete floors, and exterior brick walls that are faced in high-quality granite and limestone. The symmetrical facade faces west onto South Third Street and first story is clad with deeply incised rusticated New Hampshire granite. This first-story articulation is a character-defining feature of Second Renaissance Revival architecture. A belt course divides the first and second levels. Smooth Indiana limestone panels clad the upper stories.
William O. Douglas Federal Building | Architecture
The Second Brazer Building is an historic office building at 25-29 State Street in Boston, Massachusetts, with a locally significant early Beaux Arts design. The eleven-story skycraper was designed by Cass Gilbert and built in 1897. It is the only Gilbert work in Boston, and was built in the same year he won the commission for the Minnesota State Capitol. The building is an early local example of a steel frame structure with curtain walls. It has a trapezoidal plan and is 125 feet in height, with identical fenestration patterns on the northern, eastern, and southern facades. The exterior walls are made of limestone for the first three stories and terra cotta for the upper floors.
Second Brazer Building | Introduction
The Second Leiter Building, also known as the Leiter II Building, the Sears Building, One Congress Center, and Robert Morris Center, is located at the northeast corner of South State Street and East Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, Illinois. The building is not to be confused with the present Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower, constructed and owned by the famous nationwide mail-order firm Sears, Roebuck & Company. This landmark of the Chicago school of architecture gained fame for being one of the earliest commercial buildings constructed with a metal skeleton frame remaining in the United States. Built in 1891 by Levi Z.
Second Leiter Building | Introduction
The mansard roof became popular once again during Haussmann's renovation of Paris beginning in the 1850s, in an architectural movement known as Second Empire style. Second Empire influence spread throughout the world, frequently adopted for large civic structures such as government administration buildings and city halls, as well as hotels and railway stations. In the United States and Canada, and especially in New England, the Second Empire influence spread to family residences and mansions, often corrupted with Italianate and Gothic Revival elements. A mansard-topped tower became a popular element incorporated into many designs, such as Main Building (Vassar College), Poughkeepsie, New York, which shows a large mansard-roofed structure with two towers.
Mansard roof | Second Empire
Second Empire, in the United States and Canada, is an architectural style most popular between 1865 and 1900. Second Empire architecture developed from the redevelopment of Paris under Napoleon III's Second Empire and looked to French Renaissance precedents. It was characterized by a mansard roof, elaborate ornament, and strong massing and was notably used for public buildings as well as commercial and residential design.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Introduction
High-style Second Empire buildings took their ornamental cue from the Louvre expansion. Typical features include quoins at the corners to define elements, elaborate dormer windows, pediments, brackets, and strong entablatures. There is a clear preference for a variation between rectangular and segmental arched windows; these are frequently enclosed in heavy frames (either arched or rectangular) with sculpted details. Another frequent feature is a strong horizontal definition of the facade, with a strong string course. Particularly high-style examples follow the Louvre precedent by breaking up the facade with superimposed columns and pilasters that typically vary their order between stories. Vernacular buildings typically employed less and more eclectic ornament than high-style specimens that generally followed the vernacular development in other styles.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Ornament
Since the bank's closing in 1841, the edifice has performed a variety of functions. Today, it is part of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. The structure is open to the public free of charge and serves as an art gallery, housing a large collection of portraits of prominent early Americans painted by Charles Willson Peale and many others. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 for its architectural and historic significance. The Wall Street branch in New York City was converted into the United States Assay Office before it was demolished in 1915. The federal-style façade was saved and installed in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1924.
Second Bank of the United States | Current building use
Where larger openings like garage doors are required, the tube frame must be interrupted, with transfer girders used to maintain structural integrity. The first building to apply the tube-frame construction was the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building, which Khan designed and was completed in Chicago by 1963. This laid the foundations for the tube structures of many other later skyscrapers, including his own John Hancock Center and Willis Tower.
Chicago school (architecture) | Second Chicago School
It was also referred to as "the counting house." It was 16 by 8 feet wide. It appears to have been a model for the Second Meeting House, constructed 1834-1842. The Second Meeting House was 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, and two storeys high. Its exterior was similar to the study. The interior auditorium was an open space supported by 20 pillars and a 20-foot-high ceiling. The second floor was reached by a circular staircase leading to a 20-by-20-foot room used as a school. The Second Meeting House was demolished in 1912, leading the York Pioneer & Historical Society to preserve the temple as a museum in 1917.
Ebenezer Doan | Buildings
The mansard roof ridge was frequently topped with a decorative iron trim, known as "cresting". Often, lightning rods were integrated into the cresting, as pinnacles.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Ornament
Henry Austin, the primary architect for the building, is known for his revivalist mansions and public buildings in central New Haven and other New England towns. Betts House, one of his later works, is considered the best example of Second Empire architecture in New Haven. The mansion is a three-story brick structure with a mansard roof and tower. Its massing was substantially similar to Austin's adjoining mansion for Oliver Winchester, though the buildings' interiors and ornamentation differed. The interior of the home was finished with black walnut and carved plaster ceilings, some of which were lost in the 1990 fire.
Betts House (Yale University) | Building
During the mid-19th century when Napoleon III established the Second Empire, Paris became a glamorous city of tall, imposing buildings. Many homes were embellished with details such as paired columns and elaborate wrought iron cresting appeared along rooftops. But the most striking feature borrowed from this period is the steep, boxy mansard roof. You can recognize a mansard roof by its trapezoid shape. Unlike a triangular gable, a mansard roof is almost vertical until the very top, when it abruptly flattens. This singular roofline creates a sense of majesty, and also allows more usable living space in the attic. In the United States, Second Empire is a Victorian style.
French architecture | Second Empire
The Second Empire style building was constructed in 1868 by Isaac Hersam, and is one of three such buildings dating to the mid-19th century that give the town's Central Square its character. It was acquired by a consortium of related Oddfellows organizations in 1878, and housed retail operations on the ground floor, and the Oddfellows meeting space above.
Oddfellows Building | Description and history
T. Visconti and Hector Martin Lefuel; the Paris Expositions of 1855 and 1867 spread the style". The Second Empire style is characterized by mansard roofs, "richly enframed dormers", roofs crowned by heavy ornate, and non-traditional pediments, as well as extensive use of iron railings and balustrades". It was a new fashion of architecture in which traditional elements such as arches, brackets, pediments were given a "free, often exotic" treatment. The picture of the McClung mansion in Knoxville, designed by Peter J. Williamson, exemplifies the Second Empire style.
Peter J. Williamson | Works
Second Empire is an architectural style most popular in the latter half of the 19th century and early years of the 20th century. It was so named for the architectural elements in vogue during the era of the Second French Empire. As the Second Empire style evolved from its 17th-century Renaissance foundations, it acquired a mix of earlier European styles, most notably the Baroque, often combined with mansard roofs and/or low, square-based domes. The style quickly spread and evolved as Baroque Revival architecture throughout Europe and across the Atlantic. Its suitability for super-scaling allowed it to be widely used in the design of municipal and corporate buildings.
Napoleon III style | Architecture
It often featured a low dome, a once complex architectural feat rendered less difficult through the use of iron and reinforced concrete.
Second Empire architecture in Europe | Development
The Second Empire architectural design, as seen in the Élysée Palace, played a key role in his later designs. He began informal training with fellow Boston architect Alexander Parris, who introduced him to neoclassical design and the use of Second Empire architectural templates. His training under Parris, grounded in neoclassicism, played an important role in his first building drafts. Working primarily as a student in his early days, he quickly a member of Parris' newly opened architectural firm at the corner of Court and Washington Streets. His first achievement was the design for the Broadway Savings Bank, South Boston, in the early 1830s.
Gridley J. F. Bryant | Early career
Virginia and Lee McAlester divided the style into five subtypes:
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Plans
The Second Empire style, which this house also resembles, would not become popular until after the American Civil War. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Sylvanus Johnson House | Introduction
They were either built or they had a new facade added from 1903 to 1930. Eight of the buildings are free-standing, and two of them are set back on their lots. For the most part the buildings housed professional offices and leisure activities. A few of them housed retail business. The Benson Block, the Benson Building, and the J.W. Garner Building are all individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Another building is the headquarters of the local newspaper, the "Ottumwa Courier".
Greater Second Street Historic District | Introduction
There are two variations of Second Empire ornamentation: the high style, which followed French precedents closely and employed rich ornamentation, and the more vernacular styles, which lack a strongly distinctive ornamental vocabulary. The high style is mostly seen in expensive public buildings and the houses of the wealthy, while the vernacular form is more common in typical domestic architecture. The exterior style could be expressed in either wood, brick or stone, though high style examples on the whole prefer stone facades or brick facades with stone details (a brick and brownstone combination seems to be particularly common). Some Second Empire buildings have cast iron facades and elements.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Ornament
One of the most interesting things about the Historical Hutchinson house is the architecture style. It is of the "Second Empire" style, which is reflected in the third Floor exterior walls. The third floor is contained inside the mansard roof. The mansard roof is made of slate. Each slate shingle was cut by hand, and has lasted over a century. The Hutchinson house has been through 100 years of hurricanes, heat and cold, and still remains in excellent condition. Second Empire is an architectural style popular during the Victorian era, reaching its zenith between 1865 and 1880, and so named for the "French" elements in vogue during the era of the Second French Empire.
Hutchinson House (Tampa, Florida) | Architecture
The stairway is necessary for entry because of the house's elevated design: although it stands three stories tall, the first story is elevated high above the ground, and the basement is raised high enough that it can be entered from the street. Topping the building is a steep mansard roof featuring a trio of dormer windows, which are significant contributors to the house's general plan: like the sandstone facade, the roof and windows together are a critical component of the house's appearance, and the windows help to define the facade's three bays. Although the house's overall style is clearly Second Empire, the first and second story possess obvious Italianate influences.
S. C. Mayer House | Introduction
The official National Register documentation for the Ivory McKusick House gives a construction date of 1868. However more recent research from the Washington County Historical Society states that the house began as a one-story structure in 1866 and was enlarged in 1872 with the two-story wing that now serves as the main façade. Second Empire architectural elements include the mansard roof with round-arched dormers, and numerous ornate brackets. These brackets adorn the window hoods on the dormers and the first floor, while even larger brackets with pendants support the wide eaves and the hood over the front door. The heavy mansard roof was highly fashionable at the time.
Ivory McKusick House | Description
The haunted house where the bats emerge from in the opening of "Scooby-Doo, Where Are you?" is a Second Empire house. The house in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" was also in the Second Empire style, as was the decaying house in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life". There were positive representations as well, however: the nostalgic film "Meet Me in St. Louis" features a large Second Empire mansion beloved by the family. Charles Addams himself also admitted that while his houses were in a rundown state, he “liked Victorian Architecture” and was “not trying to make fun of it”. In the latter part of the 20th century with the rise of the preservation movement, there has been a reevaluation of Second Empire houses and many have chosen to renovate rather than destroy Second Empire properties.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Reception in the twentieth century
The building is a two-story free standing brick structure with a brick foundation. It features an overhanging bracketed metal cornice and a centralized broken pediment above. The windows on the second floor have stone lintels with keystones. The two original storefronts are indicated by iron columns. Access to the second floor is located between the two storefronts. The different coloration of the brick on the main façade of the building differentiates the two sections of the building.
Charles F. Ranzow and Sons Building | Architecture
The east and west sides of the first large room are each pierced by large arched fan window. The building's exterior uses Pennsylvania blue marble, which, due to the manner in which it was cut, has begun to deteriorate due to weak parts of the stone being exposed to the elements. This phenomenon is most visible on the Doric columns of the south façade. Construction lasted from 1819 to 1824. The Greek Revival style used for the Second Bank contrasts with the earlier, Federal style in architecture used for the First Bank of the United States, which also still stands and is located nearby in Philadelphia.
Second Bank of the United States | Architecture
In the 19th century, the standard way to refer to this style of architecture was simply "French" or "Modern French", but later authors came up with the term "Second Empire". Currently, the style is most widely known as Second Empire, Second Empire Baroque, or French Baroque Revival; Leland M. Roth refers to it as "Second Empire Baroque." Mullett-Smith terms it the "Second Empire or General Grant style" due to its popularity in designing government buildings during the Grant administration.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Terminology
The exterior architectural style of Morrill Hall has been alternatively described as Second Empire and Italian Renaissance. The structure was originally divided into three distinct sections: a southern wing containing student residential suites with room for sixty students; a central academic wing for classrooms, the library, and an auditorium; and a northern wing containing offices. Originally, the sections were not interconnected, and moving from one to the other required exiting and re-entering the building. This segmented structure was designed as a safety feature, as a fire in one wing of the building would be less likely to spread to the other two sections of the structure.
Morrill Hall (Cornell University) | Architecture
The Second Empire style was widely used for hotels at the time, one of which, the Towsley House Hotel in Waterloo, New York was extremely similar in design and layout to the Brooks House Hotel, raising the possibility that Boyden might have plagiarized it. The interior of the building was significantly changed in 1970–72 to make it commercially viable and prevent the building from being demolished. The 50-foot x 50-foot ballroom, which originally occupied the second and third floors of the High Street side of the building and was clear of any columns, posts or other obstructions, was divided into office spaces, as was the remainder of those two floors, and the next three floors were turned into 59 modern apartments.
Brooks House (Brattleboro, Vermont) | Description and history
Second Empire architecture in Europe is an architectural style rooted in the 16th century Renaissance, which grew to its greatest popularity in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century and early years of the twentieth century. As the style evolved from its origins, it acquired a mix of European styles, most notably the Baroque, often combined with mansard roofs and low, square based domes. It derived its name from the era of the Second French Empire.
Second Empire architecture in Europe | Introduction
The Burtis House is an excellent example of Second Empire architecture. It is a two-story solid brick structure sitting on a stone-and-concrete foundation. It measures 65 feet by 40 feet, and has a slate mansard roof supported with Italianate-style brackets and a multi-sided, turret-type gable. The sash windows have hood moldings of various types. A wooden front porch is supported by delicate columns with features intricate crest-like carvings. An iron railing that once topped the second story has been removed. On the interior, the Burtis House has rich ornamentation, with large and high-ceilinged rooms. The front parlor has intricate, multi-colored scrollwork on the ceiling edge, and has a large fireplace of emerald marble.
Richard C. Burtis House | Description
Above the second floor, all columns were reinforced concrete. The bases of all the columns consisted of cast iron-and-two-way reinforced concrete. All column caps were reinforced with shelf angles attached to the flanges and core reinforcement plates, and all columns were topped with octagonal plates reinforced with stiffeners. Above the second floor, all column tops were flared to help support the floor slab above. Due to complications created by the William Edwards building next to it, there were fewer exterior and interior columns in the structure's southwest corner. Instead, cantilevers supported the exterior walls above the third floor.
Bingham Company Warehouse | About the building
The building's primary significance lies in its architecture rather than its history. Of particular note is the use of poured monolithic concrete as a building material. The use of poured monolithic concrete is common for plain, linear types of buildings (such as warehouses), however it was (and is) unusual for a structure of complex style and detailing to be constructed in this manner. The building is of the Renaissance Revival style, and has a basement, first, second, and third stories, a partial fourth level on the east and west sides and a partial fifth story with mirador rising from the center of the building.
J. Bratton Davis United States Bankruptcy Courthouse | Architectural description
There are also elements of the Second Renaissance Revival style, such as the rusticated first story (performed in brick), a raised first floor with stone base, the lack of front door ornamentation, second level door height casement windows, and wrought iron window ornamentation. These elements give the overall composition a sense of larger scale that is more befitting a federal building. The Oregon State Historic Preservation Office classifies the building as American Renaissance Revival. The courthouse played an important role in the development and growth of Medford. In the early 1880s the Oregon and California Railroad, which was setting tracks south from Portland, began making surveys in southern Oregon.
James A. Redden Federal Courthouse | Significance
An eclectic combination of Victorian styles can be seen in the Vassar Institute building: the decorative cornices of Italianate buildings, the heaviness of Victorian Gothic and the mansard roof common on Second Empire buildings. Many features are similar to designs by James Renwick, Jr., for the early buildings of Vassar College in the 1860s. The colorful exterior recalls the polychrome brick buildings of the preceding decades as well.
Vassar Institute | Aesthetics
The current structure was designed by architect Thomas Silloway (1828–1910) amplifying the design of an earlier structure designed by Ammi B. Young, (1798–1874) later supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury. The first State House built in 1808 by Sylvanus Baldwin was replaced by the current Vermont Supreme Court Building completed in 1918. The prior edifice, known as the "Second State House", was constructed on the same site between 1833 and 1838. Young's structure was of a more reserved Greek Revival design based upon the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens. Gray Barre granite is used for the two-story cruciform design with a Doric portico and a low saucer dome echoing William Thornton's earliest design for the United States Capitol.
Vermont State House | Exterior facade and dome
The painted brick Second Empire building has wood porches and a tin plated steel roof. It contains 4 Italian marble fireplaces and 2 slate fireplaces, painted to look like marble. It was one of the first houses in the region to have indoor plumbing, including a rainwater cistern.
Henry DeLand House | Description
The Second Empire structure is an example of post-Civil War architecture known as "General Grant Gothic." It is surrounded by a
Davis County Courthouse (Iowa) | Architecture
The second building complex is a brick warehouse structure built from 1923 to 1927. The architect was Jackson C. Gott (1829-1909), a Baltimore-based architect who is survived by eight buildings currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places maintained by the United States Department of the Interior and its National Park Service. In the same year that the Jonestown cable-car powerhouse was built, Gott also designed in the northern area of the expanding city, the currently named Charles Theatre building on North Charles Street by East Lanvale Street (few blocks south of North Avenue, previously named Boundary Avenue as the old northern city limits from 1818 to 1888), also for the B.C.P.R..
Hendler Creamery | Construction and architect
On the secondary entrances, Lee Lawrie placed decorations signifying symbols of the empire's power, such as Tudor roses, gilded passant guardant lions, and the wing-footed god of commerce, Mercury. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission added landmark status to the exteriors of all the original Rockefeller Center's buildings in 1985. In its approval of the complex's status, the commission wrote, "Rockefeller Center ranks among the grandest architectural projects ever undertaken in the United States". The roof gardens of the wings were restored in 1986 for $48,000 each.
British Empire Building | Description
The mansard roof, a defining feature of Second Empire design, had evolved since the 16th century in France and Germany and was often employed in 18th and 19th century European architecture. Its appearance in the US was comparatively uncommon in the 18th and early 19th century (Mount Pleasant in Philadelphia has an example of early mansard roofs on its side pavilions). In Canada, because of French influence in Quebec and Montreal, the mansard roof was more commonly seen in the 18th century and used as a design feature and never entirely fell out of favor. It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the origin of Second Empire architecture in the United States can be found.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | History
The Lawrence & Chapin Building is a massive four-story, brick Second Empire structure topped with a mansard roof with a central tower. Dormers pierce the roof. The building measures 68 feet in width and 188 feet in depth. Piers divide the facade into bays; the piers are topped with paired cornice brackets. Windows have round heads.
Lawrence and Chapin Building | Description
The of steel ordered for the project was the largest-ever single order of steel at the time, comprising more steel than was ordered for the Chrysler Building and 40 Wall Street combined. According to historian John Tauranac, building materials were sourced from numerous, and distant, sources with "limestone from Indiana, steel girders from Pittsburgh, cement and mortar from upper New York State, marble from Italy, France, and England, wood from northern and Pacific Coast forests, [and] hardware from New England." The facade, too, used a variety of material, most prominently Indiana limestone but also Swedish black granite, terracotta, and brick.
Empire State Building | Steel structure
The Main Building of Vassar College is the oldest surviving building on its campus in Poughkeepsie, New York, and the center of academic life. It was built by James Renwick, Jr. in the Second Empire style in 1861, the second building in the history of what was one of America's first women's colleges. It is one of the earliest, largest, and most important examples of Second Empire architecture in the United States and is a National Historic Landmark for its architecture and educational significance. At the time of its completion, the structure contained the most interior space of any building in the United States, and housed the entire college, including dormitories, libraries, classrooms, and dining halls.
Main Building (Vassar College) | Introduction
Finally, the Exposition Universelle of 1855 drew tourists and visitors to Paris and displayed the new architecture and urbanism of the city, an event that brought the style to international attention. These developments worked together to excite interest in design under the Second Empire in the US, particularly among francophiles and those interested in French fashion, then under the sway of Empress Eugenie whose tastes influenced clothing, furniture, and interior decoration. Despite the historicism of the ornamentation, Second Empire architecture was generally viewed as "modern" and hygienic as opposed to the revival styles of Italianate and Gothic Revival which hearkened to the Renaissance and Middle Ages.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | History
With the destruction of the World Trade Center in the September 11 attacks, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York City, and the second-tallest building in the Americas, surpassed only by the Willis Tower in Chicago. The Empire State Building remained the tallest building in New York until the new One World Trade Center reached a greater height in April 2012. , it is the fourth-tallest building in New York City after One World Trade Center, 432 Park Avenue, and 30 Hudson Yards. It is the fifth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States behind the two other tallest buildings in New York City, as well as the Willis Tower and Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.
Empire State Building | Height records
However, two round structures can be seen here as well, but they are smaller and there is no second wall in front. The floors, on the other hand, were formed by carefully placed sandstone blocks.
Hallan Çemi Tepesi | Architecture
The building was constructed of brick, sheathed on the front with sandstone. A cast iron cornice and flat roof topped the structure. Belt courses were located above and below windows, and additional decoration consisted of bas relief carvings and cast iron entablatures.
Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings | Second Williams Block (16-30 Monroe Avenue)
The original structure on the site was built as New York's second City Hall in 1699 - 1703, on Wall Street, in what is today the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. In 1735, John Peter Zenger, an American newspaper publisher, was arrested for committing libel against the British royal governor and was imprisoned and tried there. His acquittal on the grounds that the material he had printed was true established freedom of the press as it was later defined in the Bill of Rights. In October 1765, delegates from nine of the 13 colonies met as the Stamp Act Congress in response to the levying of the Stamp Act by the Parliament of Great Britain.
Federal Hall | First structure
The building was designed in the eclectic High Victorian Gothic architectural style, with a Second Empire roof, Gothic Revival windows, and Queen Anne wall trims. Jill E. Dolberg of the Nebraska State Historical Society said, "In many ways, this commercial building is unique for Nebraska commercial architecture. Most commercial architecture of this era in Nebraska is far more austere, perhaps displaying some decorative brickwork or round arches. An effusive facade such as this one is a rarity indeed." The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since July 2, 2008.
J. Schmuck Block | Architectural significance
The second elliptical building was built on top foundations of the first, and although the architect must have been aware of the exact layout of the previous building, the design of the second was slightly modified. Although the it looks very similar to the first, it used different diameters of arc to achieve a slightly 'fatter' design. The second 'elliptical' building was not constructed until about AD 220, and this was confirmed by a coin of Emperor Elagabalus under one of the pavement slabs. It is thought that the second building may have survived until the end of Roman rule and influence in Britain.
Deva Victrix | Elliptical building
The central feature of the Second Empire style is the mansard roof, a four-sided gambrel roof with a shallow or flat top usually pierced by dormer windows. This roof type originated in 16th century France and was fully developed in the 17th century by Francois Mansart, after whom it is named. The greatest virtue of the mansard is that it can allow an extra full story of space without raising the height of the formal facade, which stops at the entablature. The mansard roof can assume many different profiles, with some being steeply angled, while others are concave, convex, or s-shaped.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | Key Features
This can be seen in the more Roman-influenced Federal structure's ornate, colossal Corinthian columns of its façade, which is also embellished by Corinthian pilasters and a symmetric arrangement of sash windows piercing the two stories of the façade. The roofline is also topped by a balustrade and the heavy modillions adorning the pediment give the First Bank an appearance much more like a Roman villa than a Greek temple.
Second Bank of the United States | Architecture
For 30 years the converted State Hall served the needs of judges and lawyers alike. But by the late 1940s its age was catching up to it. The state's Department of Public Works reported that the portico was in danger of collapsing, the interior was looking shabby, and the electrical wiring and heating needed to be replaced. Nothing would be done about this situation until Governor Averell Harriman made a surprise inspection of the building in 1956. Two years later another renovation began under state architect Carl Larson and Judge Charles W. Froessel. The work had been delayed while the judges considered, and rejected, building an entirely new courthouse, as their predecessors had in 1917.
New York Court of Appeals Building | 1918–1959: Second renovation
The second bank building, opened in April 1887, was described as being fireproof, with brick floors, iron structural beams, fire-clay partitions, and marble ceilings and walls. The facade was made of granite, rusticated at the base, and was topped by a mansard roof.
49 Chambers | Previous structures
In 2013, Ardis LLP developed the initial global building reconstruction project, which was subsequently revised. The reconstruction lasted from 1 April 2013 to September 2014. During its course, the external and internal appearance of the second building was radically changed, the previously glazed facade from the 2nd to 4th floor was replaced by deaf colored plastic panels, on which places for placing advertising banners were arranged. The basement was partially rebuilt for retail space, which housed a branch of the Magnum ATAK retail and a chain. The facade of the first department store building and its internal marble staircases were partially preserved in their original form.
TsUM (Almaty) | Modern period
The original foundations of rubble on clay were replaced with concrete.
New York Court of Appeals Building | 1918–1959: Second renovation
The superstructure consists of of steel. The second floor does not contain any columns because of the elaborate network of heavy trusses used to support the outer walls. "Unusually heavy bracing" is also used to support the fourth floor. Otherwise, a standard girder-and-column steel structure is utilized within the building. Some of the largest columns are tall and carry loads of up to .
14 Wall Street | Structural features
The Empire State Building's setbacks are actually a result of the building code at the time (1916 Zoning Resolution), and were not structurally required. On the other hand, John Hancock Center's shape is uniquely the result of how it supports loads. Vertical supports can come in several types, among which the most common for skyscrapers can be categorized as steel frames, concrete cores, tube within tube design, and shear walls. The wind loading on a skyscraper is also considerable. In fact, the lateral wind load imposed on supertall structures is generally the governing factor in the structural design. Wind pressure increases with height, so for very tall buildings, the loads associated with wind are larger than dead or live loads.
Skyscraper | Loading and vibration
Around this time, Lamb held a press conference on the building plans. He described the reflective steel panels parallel to the windows, the large-block Indiana Limestone facade that was slightly more expensive than smaller bricks, and the tower's lines and rise. Four colossal columns, intended for installation in the center of the building site, were delivered; they would support a combined when the building was finished. The structural steel was pre-ordered and pre-fabricated in anticipation of a revision to the city's building code that would have allowed the Empire State Building's structural steel to carry , up from , thus reducing the amount of steel needed for the building.
Empire State Building | Steel structure
Baltard also used a steel frame in building the largest new church built in Paris during the Empire, the Church of Saint Augustine (1860-1871). While the structure was supported by cast-iron columns, the facade was eclectic. Henri Labrouste (1801-1875) also used iron and glass to create a dramatic cathedral-like reading room for the National Library, Richelieu site (1854-1875).
Paris during the Second Empire | Architecture of the Second Empire
Also on the top floor was a viewing gallery for the House. On the exterior were ornamental pilasters and two-story porticos on the east and west ends. The building included a lunch counter. Additionally, the building had mullion-windowed wings. The large copper-clad dome was constructed with an iron and steel framework. This dome rose above the rest of the building and was tall. The building was of Renaissance style with Corinthian columns on the front entrance and was patterned after the United States Capitol. At that time, the capitol faced west toward the Willamette River. The government began using the building in August 1876, before the dome was built.
Oregon State Capitol | Second capitol
Both buildings, at 74 and 76 West Central Street respectively, represent coherent examples of the Second Empire style. The house at 76 West Central Street is a three-story, T-plan Second Empire structure set on a granite foundation. The main rectangle is three bays wide by two bays deep. The hip roofed ell attached to the rear elevation is two bays wide by two bays deep. The house is sheathed in beaded clapboards painted beige. Cornerboards and water-table are plain. The wide entablature is ornamented by irregularly placed paired brackets beneath the widely overhanging eaves. The high mansard roof is covered by fish scale slate tiles.
Clark Houses | Architecture
A decorative cornice is topped by a low parapet and flat roof. When built in the mid-1880s, the building was in the then-popular Second Empire style, with clapboarded exterior and mansarded tower at the corner. It was built by Guy Garland, and provided stores on the ground floor, offices on the second, and an auditorium on the third. The building went through a succession of names, taken from the succession of owners between its construction and the 1920s, when it was purchased by Abe and Samuel Garbose, who ran a clothing store as tenants. Its transformation from Second Empire to Colonial Revival styling took place during the ownership of the Ryan Brothers, sometime between 1907 and 1921.
Garbose Building | Description and history
The Empire State Building's setbacks are actually a result of the building code at the time, and were not structurally required. On the other hand, John Hancock Center's shape is uniquely the result of how it supports loads. Vertical supports can come in several types, among which the most common for skyscrapers can be categorized as steel frames, concrete cores, tube within tube design, and shear walls. The wind loading on a skyscraper should also be considered. In fact, the lateral wind load imposed on super-tall structures is generally the governing factor in the structural design. Wind pressure increases with height, so for very tall buildings, the loads associated with wind are larger than dead or live loads.
Skyscraper design and construction | Loading and vibration
The three center bays on the front and back project from the main structure. Separating the bays are brick buttresses with chimney traces. Above the second floor windows, the walls of the bays extend out to the face of the parapet, which is flush with the buttresses. The whole structure rests on a low, masonry pedestal which marks the line of the first floor. The pattern of window repetition on the College Avenue side is broken by the arched, double doorway in the center of the building. Originally decorated by a simple masonry arch like the windows that surround it, the central doorway was remodeled with a Georgian styled frame and lintel in 1939.
Heritage Hall (Valparaiso University) | History
The house was designed in the Second Empire architectural style. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since May 17, 2006.
Balie P. Waggener House | Architectural significance
The Edward T. Gignoux U.S. Courthouse's Italian Renaissance Revival style reflects its architect's belief that classicism was well suited for federal buildings. Entirely faced with New England granite, the building is composed of two stories above a raised stone base. Each level is articulated on the exterior through the use of subtle variations in ornamentation and textures. The first story is characterized by channeled stone. It is distinguished from the second story by a stringcourse and by the second story's smooth masonry. Differentiation also occurs in the fenestration. While the first floor has recessed, rectangular windows with simple moldings, the second-story windows are larger and elaborately detailed with classical moldings, balcony balustrades, and crowning triangular and segmented pediments, some of which are set within large arched niches with keystones.
Edward T. Gignoux United States Courthouse | Architecture
A series of major projects and events in French urban planning and design provided the inspiration for Second Empire architecture. Haussmann's renovation of Paris under Napoleon III in the 1850s and the creation of baroque architectural ensembles employing mansard roofs and elaborate ornament provided the impetus for the development and emulation of the style in the US. Haussmann's work was targeted to renovating the decaying Medieval neighborhoods of Paris by wholesale demolition and new construction of streetscapes with uniform cornice lines and stylistic consistency, an urban ensemble that impressed 19th century architects and designers. Additionally, the reconstruction of the Louvre Palace between 1852–1857 by architects Louis Visconti and Hector Lefuel was widely publicized and served to provide a vocabulary of elaborate baroque architectural ornament for the new style.
Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada | History
In the World Architecture Survey of 2010, by Vanity Fair magazine, the building was ranked as second in the rankings of the top structures built in the twenty-first century, receiving four votes. American deconstructionist architect Peter Eisenman asserted in his response that this building is the most important structure built since 1980.
Saint-Pierre, Firminy | Impact on architecture
The building's second floor was the work of Thomas Rowe in 1877. The building represents the transition in architectural taste which took place in the second half of the 19th century with the lower two floors on the western facade exhibiting the Regency style, and elsewhere the more flamboyant asymmetrical characteristics of the 19th century Italianate villa. The building also has a relationship with other 19th century marine villas of Bomera and Tarana and Elizabeth Bay House. The precinct is also potentially important in terms of historical archaeology both in the building fabric and remnant formal garden settings.
Jenner House | Heritage listing
It is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, with a mansard roof. Dormers piercing the roof are topped either by shallow gables or segmented-arch roofs. Modillions line the main roof eave, and windows are topped by over-length projecting lintels. The house has also retained its elaborately decorated porch. Built in the mid-1860s, this Second Empire house is one of just a few such houses to survive along Massachusetts Avenue, which was once lined with handsome and well-spaced houses. Its first documented owner was Alpheus Mead, a butcher. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Alpheus Mead House | Description
A special, reinforced, extra-thick "protection slab" existed beneath the second floor to help protect the building from street-level explosions. A gravel-filled dry moat ran along the building on E Street NW. The building's corner piers contained the mechanical services (elevators, HVAC, etc.). A dual elevator system was installed, one for use by the public and one for use by staff. A dual set of hallways also existed in portions of the buildings. The smaller set of dual hallways was for public use. The public elevators connected only to the public hallways, isolating the public from FBI workers. Several portions of the public hallway contained glass partitions through which the public could see FBI personnel at work.
J. Edgar Hoover Building | Architecture
The second floor is divided by two wide piers, with two multi-light casement windows in the outer bays and three in the middle. The simple cornice and piers extending above it are a by-product of the intended five-story design being cut short. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Mason Building | Introduction
The Second Empire style quickly spread throughout Europe and evolved as a loose form of Baroque Revival architecture, where its suitability for super-scaling allowed it to be widely used in the design of municipal and corporate buildings The style is particularly prominent in Paris and Vienna, both of which were both heavily redeveloped on the late 19th century. Rome also saw a huge expansion after the Risorgimento, where the designed by Gaetano Koch is a notable example. Second Empire became popular in Britain at the end of the nineteenth century, where it emerged as a fusion of the architecture of the classical Renaissance exemplified by Christopher Wren and the solid mass Baroque of John Vanbrugh, decorated with some of the more ornate Baroque motifs previously found only on mainland Europe.
Second Empire architecture in Europe | Development
The second Christiansborg was designed in a French Empire style. It was built on the foundations and remaining walls of its predecessor but the wing with the tower and Grand Hall was not rebuilt but replaced by a colonnade.
Christiansborg Palace (2nd) | Architecture
The Isaac Pollack House is a historic structure now located at 208 West Monument Avenue in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Built in 1876, this Second Empire house was originally home to the family of Isaac Pollack, a prominent Dayton businessman involved in the liquour trade. The walls are composed of a mixture of stone and brick with some wooden elements, resting on a stone foundation and covered with a slate roof. The house ceased to be used primarily as a residence in 1913. In that year, Fenton T. Bott purchased the house and began using it as the home of his Bott Dancing Academy, as well as his residence; he remained in business until 1941.
Isaac Pollack House | Introduction
Previously, the Place du Carrousel had been swept clear of the old houses that had encroached on it. The prominent roof-lines of the palace and especially its squared central dome were influential prototypes in the Second Empire style adopted for hotels and commercial buildings as well as residences in the United Kingdom and North America.
Tuileries Palace | The Second Empire
For this important building he chose an elegant style, suggestive of ancient Rome. The limestone front of his building is in Beaux-Arts Classical style, symmetric with Ionic columns flanking each door. Above the second-story windows are an entablature and cornice decorated with relief sculptures of leaves, a garland, and the name "J W BENN". (The NRHP nomination form linked below gives a more detailed architectural description.) Inside, the first floor housed the post office and the second floor was living quarters.
J. W. Benn Building | Introduction
The building's architectural styling is Second Empire, with bracketed window surrounds, bracketed eaves, and round-arch dormers in the roof. Most of these parts are cast iron; the interior chambers are framed in wood.
Southwest Ledge Light | Description
Semi-circular projections called tourelles protrude from the building. Each level is articulated in a slightly different way and distinguished by belt courses that encircle the building. Round arches of polished granite, which feature rosettes and cable moldings, dominate the first story. The arches spring from carved posts with foliated motifs. Rectangular windows surrounded by contrasting trim are on the second floor, while round-arch openings are on the third floor. The fourth story contains steeply pitched dormers with round-arch windows. A slate-covered mansard roof is topped with ornamental ironwork cresting. The square corner tower rises above the roofline of the original building.
Federal Building and Post Office (Brooklyn) | Architecture
Leiter, (1834-1904), the Second Leiter Building was designed by architect William Le Baron Jenney, who implemented the skeletal frame made of steel to make the design fireproof. The building was leased by Levi Leiter to the department store of Siegel, Cooper and Company who occupied it for approximately seven years. After Siegel Cooper closed, the building hosted various tenants until it became the downtown flagship store of Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1931. Sears occupied the space the until 1986 when it decided to close the store and the space was leased to other tenants. The structure is eight floors and occupies the entire block of State Street between Ida B.
Second Leiter Building | Introduction
The second floor generally has a ceiling that is tall. It consists of the former office spaces in the front and rear; the transverse lobby; and the rotunda. Gilbert planned the Custom House's interior so "all entrances, corridors, stairways and passages [were] arranged on the most direct and simple axial lines". The second-floor space, including the former offices, is almost entirely occupied by the Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian. The transverse lobby crosses the northern end of the second floor, from west to east. Generally, the more important offices were positioned north of the lobby, while divisions dealing in more routine work were relegated to the south.
Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House | Second floor
According to the official fact sheets the building rises 1,860 steps from the first to the 102nd floor, weighs , has an internal volume of , and an exterior with of limestone and granite. Construction of the tower's exterior required ten million bricks and of aluminum and stainless steel, and the interior required of elevator cable and of electrical wires. The building has a capacity for 20,000 tenants and 15,000 visitors. The building has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the New York City Board of Estimate.
Empire State Building | Architecture
However, you can also find the practical and the decidedly French mansard roof on many contemporary homes.
French architecture | Second Empire