Palladian Architecture - Decline of Palladianism

Decline of Palladianism

By the 1770s, in Britain, such architects as Robert Adam and Sir William Chambers were in huge popular demand, but they were now drawing on a great variety of classical sources, including ancient Greece, so much so that their forms of architecture were eventually defined as neoclassical rather than Palladian. In Europe, the Palladian revival ended by the end of the 18th century. In North America, Palladianism lingered a little longer; Thomas Jefferson's floor plans and elevations owe a great deal to Palladio's Quattro Libri. The term "Palladian" today is often misused, and tends to describe a building with any classical pretensions. There was, however, a revival of Palladian ideas amongst the colonial revivalist of the early 20th century, and the strain has been unbroken, even through the modernist period. Today there is a small but thriving school of practicing classical architects, bringing Palladio's ideas to the new century.