Edwardian Baroque Architecture

Edwardian Baroque Architecture

The term Edwardian Baroque refers to the Neo-Baroque architectural style of many public buildings built in the British Empire during the Edwardian era (1901–1910).

The characteristic features of the Edwardian Baroque style were drawn from two main sources: the architecture of France in the 18th century and that of Sir Christopher Wren in England in the 17th. Some of the architecture that borrowed more heavily from the English Baroque architects was known by the term Wrenaissance. Sir Edwin Lutyens was a leading exponent, designing many commercial buildings in what he termed 'the Grand Style' in the later 1910s and 20s. This period of British architectural history is considered a particularly retrospective one, since it is contemporary with Art Nouveau.

Typical details of Edwardian Baroque architecture include extensive rustication, usually heavier at ground level, often running into and exaggerating the voissours of arched openings (derived from French models); domed corner rooftop pavilions and a central taller tower-like element creating a lively rooftop silhouette; revived Italian Baroque elements such as exaggerated keystones, segmental arched pediments, columns with engaged blocks, attached block-like rustication to window surrounds; colonnades of (sometimes paired) columns in the Ionic order and domed towers modelled closely on Wren's for the Royal Naval College in Greenwich. Some Edwardian Baroque buildings include details from other sources, such as the Dutch gables of Norman Shaw's Piccadilly Hotel in London.