How Is St Patricks Catherdral Similar to Art From Histry
Carlos Mo Wu
Professor Gilded
ENG 1101
18 December 2012
Saint Patrick's Cathedral: A Gothic Revival Building
Photographed by writer.
Saint Patrick'due south Cathedral is a Neo- Gothic church designed by the builder, James Renwick Junior. This cathedral is located at 5th Avenue and 50th Street, Manhattan, New York City. The construction of this church lasted from 1858 to 1878. The reason of this project was to replace the old Saint Patrick's. The cathedral is currently active and undergoing a major restoration (First and final photographs). Some classic architectural features can be found at Saint Patrick's which are stained spectacles, ribbed arches, cluster columns, etc. In 1976, information technology was alleged National Historic Landmark ("St. Patrick'due south Cathedral, Lady Chapel, Rectory, and Cardinal's Residence".).
In this text, I will draw, narrate and, importantly, criticize St. Patrick'due south Cathedral in the following arroyo: (a) Formal, a visual description of the building; (b) Experiential, how this church makes me feel well-nigh it and my thoughts on it; (c) Historical, a contrast between buildings that were constructed in unlike menstruation of time and the influence of the architect's career in the buildings; and (d) Activist, is the edifice successful? This approach primarily targets how successful the building is in terms of purpose and, of course, apply.
Formal approach:
Photographed by author.
Normally, passengers or visitors volition read a building from the façade to the rear elevation. Unfortunately, I was not able to do so considering of the contempo restoration of the cathedral that pretty much obstructed my reading of it. Yet I was able to have a view of the façade after walking upwards to the 5thavenue. 1 strange feature of this ancient architecture piece is the elevator-looking front door. Despite of it, as my eyes move upwards I managed to experience more Gothic style features such every bit the pointed arches, buttress piers, and more than details of ribbed arches and likewise the spires which are hard to have a articulate view, especially the pinnacles, because of the cathedral's height. In the back summit, I noticed a semi-circular dome that resembles a Roman dome (circular).
Photographed past author.
As I witness the interior design of the church, my first priority was to find Gothic style features. First, I stood in the middle of nave to have a articulate picture of what I was looking for. On both sides of the nave, I could see sculptures of Saints. From the point I was reading left to right, I could encounter most of the fancy Gothic designs. The ribbed vault was absolutely beautiful. The vault design blends perfectly with the pointed arches because every detail of it is spiky. Since the ribbed arches are design in a way that each course goes a flake beyond the others, the columns are a perfect touch because they are composed of several small-scale ones put together. This is the reason they are called Cluster Columns. There is i more feature and cannot be missed that is the stained glasses. As I walked through the cathedral, my optics could not motion off from those colorful and painted glasses. They were so sharply produced and maintained that always can get 1's attention.
Photographed by author.
According to History of St. Patrick's cathedral by John Murphy Farley, he states "The interior of the Cathedral, like its exterior, is cruciform…." (p.161, 2). I really agree with him because the cruciform is a feature that I was also looking for when I was having a tour in the cathedral. I have to be honest that information technology was a feature that I noticed with extreme attention. I believe that a normal tourist would not even notice information technology because he/she will exist more often than not focused on attractive cluster columns, ribbed vaults and stained spectacles. Also, Farley greatly emphasizes on the cluster columns equally "ornamented with beautiful foliated capitals" (p.162, 1). It is undeniable that St. Patrick'south Cathedral is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture.
Experiential approach:
I always like the ancient architecture. It is not because of inspiration but the design and corporeality of work and years to construct a building. St. Patrick'due south Cathedral makes me experience similar witnessing a lost art. Nowadays, buildings or structures such as St. Patrick's are becoming scarce. That's the reason it gives me the notion of excitement and accomplishment when I stood in front of its façade.
Photographed by author.
Before I went to visit the cathedral, I already have seen a couple of photographs of it. The moment I saw the photos, I was amazed how beautifully it was congenital and the way it was blueprint. From I have studied well-nigh history of architecture, the Gothic is one of the most complex looking styles in history. The symmetry of it with the amount of details and decorations, I can feel the difficult work that workers put on it.
From the façade, I have a feeling that this aboriginal designed building can be described equally modernism because of its static look. Not only that, but the summit is also a contribution to this concept. It is as well mutual sense that the height is related God that it tries to reach His glory. If yous accept non realized, the ribbed arches and whatsoever spiky details are pointing upwards to the sky to emphasize and make the believers feel closer to God.
The moment I entered the cathedral, I felt I was being transported to the past because I never witnessed such a design and decorations. The sizes of the columns and spectacles near fabricated me think as a mini guy. The scale of this cathedral tin can really brand people feel being dominated. But my near meaningful feel with this edifice is the high quality level of abstract art it presents and how it makes me translate that architecture tin exist more than just shape and proportion.
Historical arroyo:
Photographed by author.
According to Smithsonian Institution Archives, James Renwick style was influenced by his engineering groundwork. Having a good agreement of structural back up is a key to build a massive scaled edifice. Renwick has won a couple of blueprint competitions and worked on Gothic way buildings using past his noesis of architectural history. St. Patrick's Cathedral is the finest achievement of Renwick. Since he had so much feel on Gothic style, Renwick tweaked the cathedral'due south design a bit past using a mixture of German, French and English Gothic compages(http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/documents/renwickdrawing.htm, 4).
St. Patrick's cathedral is a dandy inspiration for skyscraper designers at the time it was synthetic. In the late eighteenth century, in that location were not and then many buildings at the scale of St. Patrick's. If you compare those modern skyscrapers around the cathedral, you lot can tell that they seem to take about the aforementioned peak. Especially the commercial building side by side to the church is a perfect instance of scale comparing (left skyscraper, looking at the façade).
Photographed by author.
If we compare modernism and aboriginal compages, there is no doubt that the ancient styled buildings are more artistic and decorated. As time goes past, compages has suffered a big evolution from complex decorations to simple-looking buildings. The difference that I take noticed betwixt the two is, designers from the past focused more on decorating every single piece of the house from the very entry fashion to the roof. Meanwhile, modern architects express their blueprint by the overall shape of the business firm.
Activist arroyo:
Photographed by author.
Equally the National Historic Landmark Program states, St. Patrick is "is the start big-calibration Medieval-style church in America. Begun in 1858, its spires were completed in 1888"(1). This cathedral is a great importance for The United States and mostly for the believers. This church served its purpose providing homes for those lost souls and also became a place for tourists.
It will be insulting to remove such a church building that was "paid for not merely past the contributions of thousands of poor immigrants but also by the largesse of 103 prominent citizens who pledged $1,000 each"(http://www.saintpatrickscathedral.org/about_history.php, 1). This is a projection where many people with different background contributed to create this landmark. I, sometimes, consider this cathedral every bit the people's house.
According to Farley, St. Patrick's appeared in paper with the following tittle "the noblest temple e'er rose in any land to the memory of Saint Patrick, and as the glory of Catholic America"(P.131, 1). Not and then many brand-new buildings are published and exalted in this fashion. Especially the tone of it is completely unseen and unheard. The tone of this tittle is victorious and patriotic.
In essence, St. Patrick's cathedral is a wonderful place that represents the Gothic compages. Information technology revives the virtually precious and fundamental elements such as the ribbed arches and buttress piers. Without the invention of these features, people would not understand the significance of how to scale a building past using ideas extracted from them. This is because the ribbed arches can accomplish significant height while the buttress piers hold the edifice up. What if these Gothic features never existed? Would the people be very concerned almost it?
Annotated bibliography
"The History of St. Patrick's Cathedral." N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. <http://http://www.saintpatrickscathedral.org/about_history.php>.
This inquiry uses data from an organization that belongs to the church itself. It is as well the official website of Saint Patrick's Cathedral. This information describes the history of Saint Patrick's and how contributions were a factor that information technology exists.
Farley, John Murphy. History of St. Patrick's Cathedral. New York: Society for the Propagation of the Religion, n.d. Print.
This book uses information from the "Order for the propagation of the Faith" which is an international association for prayers, cosmic priests, etc. This book describes in total details of the design and history of the church building along with the builder'southward biography.
St. Patrick'due south Cathedral Prepare To Undergo $177 1000000 Restoration [New York] 7 July 2012: n. pag. Print.
This is a CBS News source which is truly reliable because of its popularity. The news describes a plan that will put Saint Patrick'southward Cathedral in major restoration. Not only that, but several architectural features will be added as well.
Smithsonian Establishment Archives, northward.d. Web. five Dec. 2012. <http://http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/documents/renwickdrawing.htm>.
This is an educational source that fully describes in details of James Renwick's life and career. Information technology also has a sketch of a castle fabricated by Renwick.
Pitts, Carolyn. "St. Patrick'south Cathedral, Lady Chapel, Rectory, and Cardinal's Residence". National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination. August 1976. National Park Service.
This is a document proving that St. Patrick'south Cathedral is declared as a History Landmark.
St. Patrick'southward Cathedral, Lady Chapel, Rectory and Cardinal'south Residence. N.p., north.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2012. <http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/particular.cfm?ResourceId=1646&ResourceType=Building>.
This is a governmental website proving information about St. Patrick'due south significance to America.
Source: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/abstractions/2012/12/17/st-patricks-cathedral-a-gothic-revival-building/
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