A Brief History Of The Romanesque Revival Style In St. Louis Architecture™
One of the most influential styles of architecture found in St. Louis is probably the one least understood by the general public. The Romanesque Revival style has given us some of the most beautiful churches and mansions of the Gilded Age, but its very name churchdesignresources is deceptive. While the style’s name contains the word Roman, no one from that ancient civilization ever built in the original Romanesque, let alone in its later revival. Likewise, while the Romanesque Revival supposedly brought back to life a long-dead period of European architecture, in reality, the last decades of the 19th century saw some of the most inventive creations during this rebirth of the past. The original Romanesque style appeared in the 11th century in Europe, and it remained popular until the Gothic style began to evolve in the 12th century. Of course, the evolution was gradual, and many churches, where the Romanesque style dominated, were finished in the Gothic style. One of the most unfortunate aspects of how the Romanesque is viewed by art historians revolves around it somehow being an “imperfect” or “inadequate” style whose structural problems were “fixed” by the Gothic. But the Romanesque was anything but imperfect; it grew out of increasing wealth and commerce in the late Medieval period of European history. As monasteries and some cities grew in importance, they required larger churches to accommodate the increased crowds. Romanesque architecture sought to replicate the engineering feats of the ancient Roman world by replicating important structural aspects of the latter. However, Medieval architects did, in fact, lack the knowledge of their ancient Roman architects, and thus Romanesque buildings have a certain hulking, massive quality instead of the often soaring, weightless feeling achieved by classical engineering, particularly Medieval Europe’s lack of Roman concrete. Consequently, Romanesque vaults were narrower, windows were smaller, and, in general, the buildings were on a smaller scale. However, in the first decades of the 19th century, with the rise of nationalism and the Romantic Era in Europe, the fortunes of the Romanesque style of architecture saw a rebirth. No longer viewed as somehow backward or inferior, particularly in Northern Europe, the style was seen as particularly German, and harkening back to a time of political and cultural strength during the reign of the Hohenstaufen Holy Roman Emperors such as Frederick Barbarossa. Likewise, as tensions increased between France and Prussia, the dominant power in northern Germany, the Gothic style was now ironically seen as foreign and inferior. German concepts of gender also played a role: France was viewed as effeminate and weak, thus the Gothic was as well. Germany was viewed as masculine and strong, thus the Romanesque was viewed accordingly. But there are also nuances; the great German Gothic cathedral of Cologne was finally finished after being left incomplete for 500 years during this time of Teutonic nationalism. German nationalism certainly played a role in how industrialists in St. Louis viewed their home country. The Romanesque came to the Gateway City via a uniquely German import, the Rundbogenstil, which translates as “Round Arch Style.” The Rundbogenstil was not just simply Romanesque Revival, but rather a synthesis of several different European styles that all used the Roman rounded arch, so elements of the Renaissance also fused together with northern European influences. Perhaps the best examples of the Rundbogenstil appear in the breweries designed by Edmund von Jungenfeld, who created many of the earliest buildings for Anheuser-Busch. His successors in the firm of Widmann, Walsh and Boisselier continued on the tradition of fusing the Romanesque with the Renaissance. The third brewhouse on the grounds of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, of which portions survive as the Research Pilot Brewery, is an example of the Rundbogenstil, where architects adapt stylistic elements of the Romanesque for modern buildings types. But, certainly, the Romanesque Revival was used for worship, and interestingly, the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches tended to shy away from the style in St. Louis, preferring first the Neoclassical and then the Gothic Revival. But Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist, and other denominations built stunning examples around St. Louis, particularly in Midtown. Frequently, the churches were built asymmetrically to give a picturesque appearance, with one massive tower offset to one side. Technology now allowed for large spaces, and breaking with its archetype, Romanesque Revival churches frequently possess huge, monumental stained-glass windows to illuminate the nave. The Romanesque Revival proved to be popular among the wealthy, providing the style for the Samuel Cupples House, perhaps one of the best examples here in St. Louis. But the city was also graced with three domestic designs by the most influential architect of the style, Henry Hobson Richardson, whose Trinity Church in Boston heralded the beginning of the Romanesque Revival in America. The Richardsonian Romanesque even came to be known as his personal imprint on the style. The John Lionberger House, which stood at 27 Vandeventer Place, gives a great impression of the style; a large arched front portal, relatively small windows, rusticated masonry, and an overall hulking massing. His son’s house, the Isaac H. Lionberger House, perhaps designed by assistants in Richardson’s firm under their employer’s supervision, shows the beauty in the simplicity and clean lines of the red brick. The Henry Potter, the third of his designs, was a wood frame and shingle-clad suburban home in the West End set in a large wooded lot. The fate of the Romanesque Revival and its falling out of favor could not be better illustrated than in the bequest of Ernest J. Russell, the famed architect who had founded the firm of Mauran, Russell and Garden. In his will, Russell bequeathed his home, the Henry Potter House, to the City of St. Louis to be demolished for a park in 1960. This came from the architect who had publicly warned about the dangers of the “ultra-modernists.” Apparently, Russell felt his own home had fallen too far out of favor to be worth saving. The other Richardson design in Vandeventer Place would also be demolished, leaving only one left on Grandel Square. It would take several more decades for Americans to rediscover the beauty of the Romanesque Revival.
