The British Style

Talking about Britain/London, I like three things: the parks, the harmony of the landscape and the architecture.
"THE HARMONY OF THE LANDSCAPE".
I make an example:
the first time that I arrived In Britain, watching outside the window of the airplane, I was impressed.
It was night. It was the end of october.
The plane was approaching Gatwick airport.
So the plane was overflying the Sussex.
I was impressed by watching the streets from above.
I thought: "in this country, all the streets are bow-streets".
To me, these streets looked like long illuminated "snakes" (because it was night).
On my opinion, these "bow-streets" are a feature of harmony.
Also if you look at a London map, you can see how many "bow-streets".
An example ?
Regent Street, for example.
I have travelled to Moscow too.
Moscow is the opposite thing.
In Moscow there are long wide straight streets bordered by the big grey monolite buildings of the communism era.
The architects have used the ruler... :hehe:
From Minsk (Belarus capital-city) to Moscow there is a great long straight street joining the two cities together.
Also in this case, the architects have used the ruler.
They have took a map out and they have joined Minsk to Moscow, by using the ruler...:hehe:
On my opinion, that is NOT an harmonious style.
"THE ARCHITECTURE".
As I said, I like the architecture style that you can find in Britain.
I Particularly love the architecture style of some "terraced houses".
MY QUESTION IS: WHAT IS THE NAME OF THIS ARCHITECT SYLE ???
VICTORIAN TERRACED HOUSES ???
See the picture in attachment.
Which style are the houses of the picture ???
VICTORIAN TERRACED HOUSESE ???

Bye to everybody ! :wink:

 

The point you make about the rule is very valid. Many American cities have the same feature. Unfortunately, since WW2 British Architects seem to have gone a similar way.

I think things are changing, in Cambourne, Cambridgeshire (who the hell decided on that name, duplicating the phonetic name with Camborne, Cornwall), there are curved roads and a number of different styles of house (not like the monotonous housing estates of previous years).

 

Absolutely.
Look at this: see what "straight streets" - in Moscow - are like

 

More

 

...and more

 

...and talking about "housing estates" in Moscow:

 

...more

 

...and more:

 

London evolved over centuries so many of the streets follow ancient routes that have always been like that. Even after the Great Fire in 1666 there were plans (by Sir Christopher Wren, architect of St Paul's Cathedral) to rebuild the city (then concentrated around the City of London) along the lines of a grand European city with piazzas, boulevards and wide, wide and straight roads. The plans came to nothing as the residents of the city started to rebuild their houses almost immediately...along the same routes and streets as before.

Add to that, London has always been a 'free' city, not ruled by the Monarch, but by the people. Most cities in Europe were ruled by autocratic governments - a lot of medieval Paris was levelled on the orders of Napoleon III to rebuild it, Moscow likewise (by various Tsars), St Petersburg was a new city and of course Milan was 're-designed' on the orders of Mussolini!

The Georgian terraces and squares of London were all planned and built as private enterprise, mostly by wealthy aristocrats as a money making venture, so they evolved rather haphazardly. The city was not planned, it developed over time.

 

I see.
I have read with great interest what you have written.
By reading that and by looking at the London map, I think that the London streets seem to me like such "paths" as those in a countryside, for example.
Probably also due to the fact that, as you have written, London developed in a "free way" (not ruled by anything or anyone).
So, those "countryside paths" kept on being the same over the ages because none and/or nothing replace them with streets according to a "city plan".
The city developed, the countyside paths became streets but their shape kept on being a "countryside-path-like shape".
As far as Milan (my native city) is concerned, sure enough got some architecture refurbishment during the fascist era under the rule of Benito Mussolini.
Actually, Benito Mussolini wanted Italy to relive the glory of the ancient Roman Empire.
That got reflected in architecture, as well.
Under Mussolini, massive buildings were built.
Their style is called by someone: "Razionalismo Italiano" (Italian rationalism). Those buildings are massive because they should remind the Empire greatness.
The main Hospital, the Justice Palace and the main railway station in Milan were built in that style under Mussolini.
Also in Moscow we find many massive buildings built under Stalin in the same age of Mussolini. To me, they remind a little the style of the buildings built in Italy under Mussolini. Not much. Just a little. They are as massive the same...
And maybe, as ugly the same :D (according to someone's taste).
Among them, in Moscow, we find the "Stalinski doma" ("Stalin-style buildings). "Doma" is the plural russian word for "house" / "home".
I was born in Milan, I lived many years there as all my relatives are from Milan. I have travelled to Moscow. To me Milan and Moscow share many features. Milan and London are totally different, instead.
I can say that Milan is a little Moscow without a river that split it into two sides. (actually Milan is the example of a big town that is not split by any river. London is, Paris is, Rome is, Moscow is, Milan IS NOT).
Coming back on topic, I cannot classify the two styles of the pictures in attachment. If the first one displays some "Victorian terraced houses" (namely the houses in the picture are also called "Painted ladies"), which style displays the second picture ?
They are still "Victorian terraced houses" ? Or maybe "Georgian terraced houses" ???

 

The second picture looks like late Victorian (1890's) but could also be Edwardian (first decade of the 20th century, ish). The latter was a more refined and lofty.

Georgian is a lot earlier - 18th century and beginning of the 19th.

Britain has it's own 'experiments' with proper urban planning, back in the 1950's when the 'New Towns' were developed. Go and visit Crawley in West Sussex (next to Gatwick) or Milton Keynes (north of London) to see what they tried to do - wide roads, boulevards and lots of roundabouts, in an attempt to cater for the increased use of cars.

But yes, most urban areas here just evolved over time, some following old roads, some based on the remains of Roman settlements and towns (Chichester is a good example).

 

Thank you very much indeed. I am really interested in such a subject.
Furthermore I am going to focus on the different architecture styles (e.g.
georgian architecture, victorian architecture, edwardian architecture, etc.) in an attempt to get the differences and the analogies among them and to "classify" the various architecture samples.
I have noticed an architectural feature that, if I am not wrong, is not always present in the victorian houses.
In the attached picture, I have highlighted this feature by bordering one like it in red and another like it in blue.
WHAT IS THE NAME OF SUCH AN ARCHITECTURAL FEATURE / ELEMENT ?
I'm going to use THIS NAME as a key-word to do a further internet-search about georgian / victorian / edwardian terraced houses.
Thaaaanksssssssss ! :wink:

 

The styles merge with no definite boundary when one starts and the other stops.

When you have finished looking up the above building styles, you can move on to Queen Anne, Jacobean and even Tudor:D

The feature you highlight is a bay window. They were used in the more important Reception rooms and principal bedrooms - in Italian the Piano Nobile. The further up the house you look, the less ornate and decorative the windows (and rooms inside) become.

Georgian architecture is still seen as the epitome of classical and clean lines by many here - ironic considering that the Georgian terraces were built en masse, quickly and to a simple plan in order to make money, but also to provide townhouses for the new rich of the manufacturing classes, although the larger ones were used by the aristocracy as well.

If you like that style, google the New Town in Edinburgh which is possibly the best example, although Dublin also has many fine Georgian squares and terraces.

 

Take "If" off: I DO LIKE THAT STYLE. (Victorian terraces. Georgian are much too "dull").
An Example, in Warwick Avenue in London (districts of Paddington / Maida Vale).



If I were an architect, I would "clone" it here in Italy...
I also like those "Bay Windows".
In Italy we have not a technical word for it.
Someone call them "finestre a golfo". ("gulf windows").
When it comes to use a technical word, we "borrow" the german word "Erker" ("Bay")... (according to Wikipedia).
Sure enough, the germans are more familiar with this architectural feature since it is used in their "Timber framing" / "Half-Timbering" houses, as well. "Fachwerkhäuser" in german.

 

Ahhh...but some of Warwick Avenue (and Maida Vale) would be considered 'late Georgian' or 'Regency':D

As I said already, architectural styles can be rather fluid...