Châteauesque

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Châteauesque is an architectural style based on French château style used in the 1400s to the 1600s in the Loire Valley. It was popularized in the United States by Richard Morris Hunt during the 1880s. The style frequently features vernacular buildings incongruously ornamented by the elaborate towers, spires, and mansard roofs of the 16th century châteaux of the Loire Valley, themselves influenced by late Gothic and Italian Renaissance architecture. Despite their French ornamentation, buildings in the châteauesque style do not attempt to completely emulate a French château. This is exemplified by Massandra (illustrated right) which, although having renaissance features, is painted ochre and has contrasting quoining, both of which are features of the Crimean aristocratic villa rather than the Loire valley.

As a revival style, Châteauesque buildings are typically built on an asymmetrical plan with an exceedingly broken roof-line and a facade composed of advancing and receding planes. The style was mostly employed in the United States for residences of the extremely wealthy, though was occasionally used for public buildings. Many of Canada's grand railway hotels were built in the Châteauesque style. The style began to fade after the 1900s.

[edit] See also

• Faux château

[edit] Examples

Halton House, Buckinghamshire (1883 country house)	Massandra, Yalta (1889 palace)	Euxinograd, Bulgaria (1880s palace)	Sunnyside Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand (1891-1999 asylum)
Belcourt Castle, Newport, Rhode Island (1894 summer villa)	Kimberly Crest, Redlands, California (1897 mansion)	Charles H. Patten House, Palatine, Illinois (1898 home)	Carey Mansion, Newport, Rhode Island
Vernon Court, Newport, Rhode Island (1893 mansion)	Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina (1890-1895 mansion)

v • d • e Revival styles in 19th-century architecture and decorative arts Neo-Classicism Directoire · Empire · Regency · Egyptian Revival · Greek Revival and Neo-Grec Neo-Romanesque and Byzantine Revival Richardsonian Romanesque · Neo-Byzantine · Russo-Byzantine · Muscovite Revival Gothic Revival Carpenter Gothic · Scottish Baronial · Tudorbethan · Moorish Revival · Indo-Saracenic Neo-Renaissance Italianate · Second Empire · Châteauesque · Jacobethan Neo-Baroque and 18th century Beaux-Arts · Edwardian Baroque · Queen Anne · Georgian Revival · Colonial Revival

[edit] External links

• Pictures of Châteauesque architecture
• Châteauesque pictures from Chicago
• Row of Châteauesque homes in Louisville, KY