Why were architects of the period 1700-1910 interested in ancient

Greek architecture and what contributions did knowledge of it

make to the architecture of this period?

An insight into the origin and evolution of the Greek revival in Britain through analysis

of two museums designed during the period: The British Museum, R. Smirke 1823 and

The Ashmolean Museum, C.R. Cockerell 1839

Word Count: 1648

 The late eighteenth and nineteenth century saw the adoption of classic Greek design in

British architecture. With the end of the Baroque and discovery of the antiquities of Ancient

Greece, an analytic curiosity was awakened in architects to reproduce the new precedent in an

architectural revolution that became the Greek Revival. Initiated by the work of Stuart and

Revett, the period was led by Robert Smirke and William Wilkins: pure revivalists whose work

exemplified the classical Greek approach. Smirke and Wilkins were superseded by Charles

Robert Cockerell who pulled away from strict abidance of Greek precedent preferring

expression surrounding the style. The Greek Revival was an era of rediscovery and new

inspiration for architecture in Britain.

For hundreds of years, the borders of Greece were strictly guarded by Byzantines and

Turks, preventing knowledge of ancient Greek culture from reaching the rest of the world. It

wasn’t until the until the mid-seventeenth century, with the early stages of dissolvement of the

Ottoman Empire, that interest in Greece’s architecture was piqued. The first travellers returned

with decorative antique marbles, scavenged from ancient ruins which quickly became

fashionable with European aristocracy, spurring archaeological and architectural travellers to

extend their European tours to the Greek Isles which produced the first wide-spread imagery of

Greece’s architecture.

Figure 1: Section of the Elgin Marbles, taken from the Parthenon in the
eighteenth century.
Sourced: The British Museum
Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries/greece-

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 In 1751, architects James Stuart and Nicholas Revett departed to Greece, inspired by

the returning travellers, to survey the newly discovered classical architecture to an accuracy and

volume matching material produced during the Renaissance for Ancient Rome. Their

observations and illustrations were compiled in The Antiquities of Athens and Other Monuments

of Greece in 1762, which became heavily subscribed, creating an unprecedented interest in

Ancient Greek design, ultimately enabling Greek Revival in European architecture.

This age of rediscovery occurred simultaneously with the ending of the Baroque era, in

which the Romantic style pulled away from the strict rules of classical Roman design, exploiting

surface ornamentation and curving and twisting what were once rigid elements. Critics became

distasteful of this, referring to it as “a plague on good taste” (Francesco Milizia, in Boucher,

1998) and “not only bad, but also morally corrupt” (John Ruskin, in Boucher, 1998), and agreed

with by many architects, including Robert Smirke, who would later become a leader of the

Greek Revival, who would “disparage [Baroque architects] Palladio, Jones and Wren” in his

lectures. (Mignot, 1994).

The distaste for Baroque in the early-eighteenth century was an enabling factor for the

Greek Revival. The loss of classical integrity in Baroque architecture and the belief that good

architecture is rooted in ancient form prompted Neoclassicism and a Gothic Revival. Yet, the

simultaneous opportunity to examine Ancient Greek architecture allowed for a shift in

architectural expression from one rooted in Roman precedent to one embedded in classic

Greek ideology.

Figure 2: William Wilkin’s Downing College Chapel, Figure 3: Robert Smirke’s Theatre Royal in Covent
Oxford (1805) Garden (1808) Painted by William Daniel in 1809
Sourced: Wikimedia Commons Sourced: The Royal Collection Trust

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 Following in the footsteps of James ‘Athenian’ Stuart’s Grecian inspired designs in

Hagley (1758) and Shugborough (1760), considered the first buildings “of real Grecian

architecture” (Cast, 2007), it was William Wilkins and Robert Smirke who were truly

responsible for the “new language of architectural form, marked by a preference for the Greek

[order]” (Cast, 2007). The early 19th century saw the design of the purest examples in the Greek

Revival, including Downing College and The National Gallery by Wilkins and Covent Garden

Theatre and The British Museum by Smirke. This revolution, a second renaissance at the hands

of Smirke and Wilkins, culminated in “the replacement of Rome by Athens at the head of the

Neo-classical hierarchy” (Mourdant Crook, 1972).

Figure 4: Robert Smirke’s British Museum, South Front. Designed 1823

Sourced: Art News Magazine

Smirke’s British Museum, designed in 1823, was one of the “most considerable Grecian

edifice[s] of London” (Hitchcock, 1958) and displays this influence very clearly with the

pediment over the entrance, Ionic order portico, gable roof, rectangular windows and stepped

base (stylobate) - all typical of Ancient Greek temples. However, observation of the detailing

allows the Greek influence to be examined more accurately. The fluted colonnade lining South

façade has capitals of the Ionic order in referenc of the capitals at the Temple of Athena Polias

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at Priene (see Figure 5). The columns sit outside the building envelope in a peripterial manner

creating a portico around the façade, typical in Greek architecture and seen in the

Hephaesteum, the Temples at Paestum and the Erechtheum. Furthermore, the pediment atop

the entrance references the Parthenon, with its octastyle support system rather than the

traditional six column structure more commonly used in Greek precedent (see Figure 7).

Interestingly, Smirke chose to exchange the Doric order used at the Parthenon for an Ionic

order, perhaps reasoning that a museum, a place of learning, better suits the Ionic connotations

of “wisdom and learning” (Pollitt, 2016).

Figure 5: Etching of Ionic column capital Figure 6: Ionic column capital at the
at the Temple of Athena Polias at Priene. British Museum
Sourced: Ionian Antiquities Sourced: Wikimedia commons
Chandler, Revett and Pars Accessible at:

Figure 7: Etching of the Parthenon with Figure 8: Entrance to the British

pediment and frieze restored Museum
Sourced: The Antiquities of Athens Vol. 2 Sourced: The British Museum
Stuart & Revett Accessible at:

It is interesting to note that Grecian architecture was typically applied to scholarly and

governmental projects, and very few religious buildings were built in the Greek order. Unlike

Renaissance and Romanesque design, which strongly links with Christianity, Greek revival did

not have such pertinent religious undertones. Despite most Ancient Greek

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precedent being temples, their deities are symbolic of domains surrounding themes of

knowledge, marriage and power. Athena, the patron goddess of several cities across Greece, had

numerous temples devoted to her, including the Parthenon, the Erechtheion and the Temple of

Athena Nike, all of which were prime inspiration to eighteenth and nineteenth century

architects who were keen to justify the Greek style to their clients. For architects, such as C.R.

Cockerell, “the appeal of the architecture of the Greeks resided in how ‘[they] sought to

distribute their learning amongst the people […]’ ” (Bordeleau, 2014). He emphasised the

Athenian domain of wisdom in building types such as museums, galleries, universities and

libraries.

Charles Robert Cockerell studied under Smirke and would eventually surpass him to

become a leader in the second generation of architects working in the Grecian style in the mid-

to-late nineteenth century. Cockerell toured Greece from 1810 until 1815 and made a name for

himself on his return to England before joining William Playfair in 1824 to design the National

Monument of Scotland, inspired by the design of the Parthenon (Mourdant Crook, 1972) .

Cockerell’s next and greatest input to the Greek revival was the Ashmolean Museum

and Taylorian Institute in Oxford, which was designed in 1839.

Figure 9: C.R. Cockerell’s Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. South Entrance.

Designed 1839
Sourced: Wikimedia Commons

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 The Greek influence is undeniable, the pediment hosting the main entrance is supported

by four Ionic columns in a style reflective of the front façade at the Temple of Athena Nike (see

Figure 9). The columns here are of the Ionic order used at Bassae, in the Temple of Apollo

Epicurius, where the scrolls are shown on all four sides of the capital (see Figure 11) (Watkin,

1974). Further nods to Apollo can be seen across the building, in the sculpture of Apollo atop

the pediment and carvings of laurels wreaths symbolic of the god. Cockerell spent many months

at Bassae while touring Greece and produced several documents for Temple of Apollo

Epicurius, recording in his diary: “It is impossible […] to give an idea of the romantic beauty of

the situation of the temple” (Mourdant Crook, 1972) indicating his choice to replicate it was not

arbitrary.

Figure 10: Temple of Athena Nike Figure 11: Ashmolean museum entrance
Sourced: Thing Link Sourced: Wikimedia Commons

Figure 12: Bassae Ionic capital in Temple of Figure 13: Bassae Ionic capital in
Apollo Epicurius interior, Detail in Charles Ashmolean Museum
Cockerell etching, 1860
Sourced: Ashmolean Museum
Sourced: Wikimedia Commons Available at:

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 Despite the clear Grecian intentions, the effect of the passage of time through the

Greek revival period on design can also be observed through the Ashmolean. The nineteenth

century was not only a period of Greek revival, but of Romanesque and gothic revivals also,

bringing confusion between styles and resulted in the ‘purity’ of revival designs becoming

somewhat diminished. This comes too as a result of second-generation revivalists taking

inspiration from very recent revival-era buildings, rather than the original Greek, Roman and

Gothic precedent, establishing a lack of individuality in the art.

In the Ashmolean Museum, for example, Cockerell has placed arched windows along the east

and west wings of the building, a romantic design element rather than rectangular lintel

windows which would be used by the purest Greek revivalists. Cockerell’s original design

featured heavy swags of carved stone below the cornice as a continuous frieze, again drawing on

romantic and early Baroque influences by Wren or Palladio (Watkin, 1974). Their removal in

the final submission rendered Cockerell’s design a truer representation of Greek revival. The

ornamentation around the building also nods to Baroque and Gothic design: the entrance to the

Taylorian Institute is “capped by the wonderful posturing maidens” (Watkin, 1974), a statue to

Apollo sits on above the pediment, and carvings of laurel wreaths, embellished friezes and urns

decorate the facades. Though these elements are all rooted in Ancient Greek principles, without

the excess decoration, a more classically Greek design would have been executed. Finally,

Figure 14: Cockerell’s original Ashmolean Musuem design. Illustrates

swags on frieze and pilasters. Engraving by Orlando Jewitt
Sourced: C.R. Cockerell (Watkin, 1974)

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Cockerell’s use of smooth pilasters, though common in Grecian design to represent classical

columns, should be round and typically fluted, again shows him pulling away from the rules set

by the earlier masters of the era. However, it is impossible to say that The Ashmolean Museum

is not Greek in design, as confirmed by Smirke himself in his recommendation of Cockerell’s

design: “an excellent example of that style of Grecian Architecture” (Watkin, 1974).

The rediscovery of Greece and her wealth of ancient architecture throughout the

seventeenth and eighteenth centuries triggered architectural curiosity and desire to imitate,

resulting in a fully-fledged revival at the turn of the nineteenth century. Working from

foundations laid in the drawings published by Stuart and Revett, it was William Wilkins and

Robert Smirke, whose Grecian designs for Downing college and Covent Garden Theatre, who

truly founded the Greek Revival as an architectural era. Throughout the period, design evolved

from strict abidance with the rules of classic Greek principles: a recto-linear structure defining a

colonnade around the building envelope constructing a portico, often embellished with carved

friezes and a pediment, as seen in the work of Robert Smirke; to a more relaxed guideline that

allowed for stylistic variation, exemplified in C.R. Cockerell’s Ashmolean Museum. This work

established a new age in which the architecture of Greece replaced Rome at the head of the

classical hierarchy.

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Bibliography

Bordeleau, A., 2014. Charles Robert Cockerell, Architect in Time. s.l.:Ashgate.

Boucher, B., 1998. Italian Baroque Sculpture. s.l.:Thames & Hudson.

Cast, D., 2007. Review of: James "Athenian" Stuart: the Rediscovery of Antiquity by Susan Weber

Soros, 2006, Yale: New Haven: Yale University Pres.

Caygill, M., 1999. Building the British Museum. s.l.:The British Museum Press.

Hitchcock, H. R., 1958. Archtecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. 4th ed. New Haven &

London: Yale University Press.

Mignot, C., 1994. Architecture of the 19th Century. s.l.:Taschen.

Mourdant Crook, J., 1972. The British Museum. London: Allen Lane The Penguin Press.

Mourdant Crook, J., 1972. The Greek Revival: Neo Classical Attitudes in British Architecture 1760-

1870. London: John Murray.

Pollitt, B., 2016. Smirke, The British Museum. [Online]

Available at: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/victorian-art-

architecture/early-victorian/a/smirke-the-british-museum

[Accessed 05 01 2020].

Watkin, D., 1974. The Life and Work of C.R. Cockerell. London: A. Zwemmer Ltd.

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Table of Figures

Figure 1: William Wilkin’s Downing College Chapel, Oxford (1805) .............................................. 2

Figure 2: Robert Smirke’s Theatre Royal in Covent Garden (1808) Painted by William Daniel

in 1809 .................................................................................................................................................... 2

Figure 3: Robert Smirke’s British Museum, South Front. Designed 1823 ...................................... 2

Figure 4: Etching of Ionic column capital at the Temple of Athena Polias at Priene. ................... 2

Figure 5: Ionic column capital at the British Museum ...................................................................... 2

Figure 6: Etching of the Parthenon with pediment and frieze restored........................................... 2

Figure 7: Entrance to the British Museum ......................................................................................... 2

Figure 8: C.R. Cockerell’s Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. South Entrance. Designed 1839 ......... 2

Figure 9: Temple of Athena Nike ........................................................................................................ 2

Figure 10: Ashmolean museum entrance............................................................................................ 2

Figure 11: Bassae Ionic capital in Temple of Apollo Epicurius interior, Charles Cockerell

etching, 1860 .......................................................................................................................................... 2

Figure 12: Bassae Ionic capital in Ashmolean Museum ..................................................................... 2

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