Arts & Crafts
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(Arts & Crafts Introductory Essay)
Architecture, Mysticism and Myth William Lethaby, Symbolism and
the Arts and Crafts Movement
Harriet Edquist, School of Architecture
and Design RMIT University
With some exceptions, the Arts and Crafts movement of the 1890s and
early twentieth century is understood to be in direct line of succession
to Morris and the revivalist Guilds of the 1880s. While this is obviously
true, what has been lost from view is the legacy of Symbolism, deriving
from the Pre-Raphaelites, that clung to the movement and was augmented
by later European developments. This session will open up new avenues
for understanding Arts and Crafts architecture by examining ideas to
do with spirituality, belief and eclecticism.
The Architecture of James Chapman-Taylor: colonial inflections of the golden dawn
Sarah Treadwell, School of Architecture
University of Auckland
James Chapman-Taylor (1913-1958), working at the turn of the twentieth
century, was one of relatively few Arts & Crafts architects in New
Zealand. He described himself as architect, craftsman, builder and photographer
and was also an active member of the New Zealand branch of the Order
of the Golden Dawn, a fin de siècle occult society founded in
London. As well as designing houses for middle class New Zealanders
Chapman-Taylor supervised and at times participated in the building
of a house/temple, Whare Ra, for the Order of the Golden Dawn in New
Zealand.
While Chapman-Taylor’s buildings have been discussed in prominent
local architectural histories this paper deals with his practice through
a less frequently considered part of his architectural production; a
series of small handmade books. These books fabricated by Chapman-Taylor
represent his architectural designs through photographs and text and
convey his architectural standpoints on seemingly diverse issues of
materiality, colonial occupation, gender and modernism. Small polemical
pieces they may also be seen as evidence of architectural tendencies
implicit in the magical practices of the Golden Dawn order. This paper
traces the relationships, in a colonial context, between the handmade
books, buildings, and occult practices of Chapman-Taylor focusing in
particular on the house-book for C. A. Wilkinson which is an exaggerated
condition of architectural inclinations exhibited in his designs
An Enlightened Freedom: the architectural magazines Revue Générale
and L’Emulation as a scientific framework for an eclectic
designer-practice
Yves Schoonjans, Department of
Architecture St-Lucas Institute of Architecture and Department of Architecture.
Free University of Brussels.
This paper concentrates on the French-Belgian public discourse (1850-1890)
on the eclectic practice and their reference to ‘its scientific
aspect’ presented in the architectural magazines Le Revue Générale
and L’Emulation. I examine how this practice is interpreted theoretically.
I want to make plausible that, in contrast to the idea that eclectic
architecture is justified by an individual standpoint, there is a discourse
present on the meaning and the stake of eclecticism.
The essence of Allards and Daly’s approach of eclecticism is
not focussed on the way how the ultimate image is constructed; but on
an attitude towards architecture. In their texts they concentrate on
the presence of multiplicity and diversity. For them it was important
to determine for he who chooses (the eclectic) a strategy to cope with
the multiplicity and diversity.
In this text I focus on what I consider to be an essential characteristic
of Allards/Daly’s interpretation: the ‘share of knowledge’,
or the importance of referring to the ‘scientific character as
the principle of ‘enlightened choice’. Eclecticism endorses
the 19th century view and the faith that social problems –in this
case the problem of multiplicity and diversity of cultural traditions,
architectural styles, … - can be solved in a ‘scientific’
way.
A Great and Noble Labour: the architecture and asceticism of John
Hawes, 1915-1938
William Taylor,
John Cyril Hawes, architect, priest and hermit, arrived in the goldfields
of Western Australia in 1915. Having acquired his profession in the
milieu of the London architectural scene of the 1890's, a heady mix
of Arts & Crafts handicraft, medieval revivalism and the mysticism
of William Lethaby, Hawes expressed his true vocation as religious ascetic
through a number of idiosyncratic building projects in England, the
Bahamas and Australia. Hawes expressed great admiration for the architecture
of Celtic and early Christian Europe. His regard for the past not only
informed the design and detail of his later works, but punctuate a now
familiar reading of pre-industrial landscapes as places of noble labour
and spiritual syncretism. This paper argues that Hawes's finely scaled
chapels and hermitages make manifest an ascetic ideal, one entailing
a unique view of human nature associated with colonial enterprise and
missionary impulses and which relates the experience of hardship and
deprivation with spiritual transcendence. The paper seeks to re-evaluate
issues arising from the study of Arts & Crafts ideas and theories
by placing them within an Australian context so that the moral concerns
of the movement are evinced in Hawes's commitment to handcrafting works
that drew upon the resources of the past and the unique characteristics
of sites and locales.
St Brigid's Church Red Hill, Brisbane: the origins of its architectural
style
Robert Riddel, The University of
Queensland
St Brigid's parish church in Red Hill, Brisbane has iconic status.
Unlike Brisbane's Story Bridge and City Hall, it has achieved this as
much for its unorthodox and powerful form as for its spectacular siting
on a ridge overlooking the city. When opened in 1914, it was claimed
to be the finest parish church in Australia and it must be one of the
best works of its architect, R.S. Dods.
So what is the explanation for this building, seemingly too large for
its working class parish and without peer in Australia? The paper will
explore the origins of its style both from Southern French Gothic, Romanesque
and modern British churches of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The combination of its energetic Irish trained priest Fr Macarthy, the
future archbishop Dr Duhig, known as 'James the Builder', and Brisbane
architect Robin Dods, formed a three sided partnership which made this
remarkable building so much a part of the Brisbane experience.
The paper will draw on examination of the church archives by the author
as well as Buchanan's recent conservation plan and Richard Sundt's (University
of Oregon) 1998 paper throwing doubt on St Brigid's link to St Cécile
at Albi which was the claim of Neville Lund in his 1954 thesis (University
of Queensland).
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