Ideas of Folk and Nation in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century European Architecture

Abstract

A rash of national and regional self-identification passed across Europe at the turn of the twentieth century right at the brink of what we call Modernism, but paradoxically this took place against a background of international cultural exchange that engendered this new kind of self-consciousness. This chapter examines how architectural historians came to terms with vernacular architecture in Britain, how this was connected with the Gothic Revival and the Arts and Crafts Movement, and how its reception tacitly informed the work of some Architectural Modernists. There has been a chorus of complaint about ‘modern architecture’ as ugly, inefficient, and alienating. Examples as given in the chapter show how sensitive and talented architects have been quietly drawing on vernacular traditions, the better to understand how architecture works, and to give their own productions some roots. Keywords:arts movement; crafts movement; European architecture; Gothic Revival; twentieth century; vernacular architecture