Chateauesque Architecture

Ukranian Institute, New York	The Jewish Museum, New York	CPW @ W72nd –Dakota Apartments, NY
The Schinasi Mansion UWS, New York	Engine Company No. 31, New York	Consulate General of Poland , New York
Charles M. Schwab mansion (NY- demolished)	Cornelius Vanderbilt mansion, George B. Post, 1882. Fifth Avenue at 57th Street. (NY- demolished)	Biltmore Estates/Vanderbilt Residence, N. Carolina
Halton House, Buckinghamshire (1883 country house)	Massandra, Yalta (1889 palace)	Massandra, Yalta
Euxinograd, Bulgaria (1880s palace)	Sunnyside Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand (1891-1999 asylum)	Belcourt Castle, Newport, Rhode Island (1894 summer villa)
Kimberly Crest, Redlands, California (1897 mansion)	Charles H. Patten House, Palatine, Illinois, 1898	Carey Mansion, Newport, Rhode Island
Vernon Court, Newport, Rhode Island (1893 mansion)	Charles G. Dawes House, 1894, 225 Greenwood St., Evanston, IL. H. Edwards Ficken, architect	Place Viger, Montreal
Châteauesque is an architectural style based on French château style used in the 1400s to the 1600s in the Loire Valley. It was popularized in the United States by Richard Morris Hunt during the 1880s. The style frequently features vernacular buildings incongruously ornamented by the elaborate towers, spires, and mansard roofs of the 16th century châteaux of the Loire Valley, themselves influenced by late Gothic and Italian Renaissance architecture. Despite their French ornamentation, buildings in the châteauesque style do not attempt to completely emulate a French château. This is exemplified by Massandra which, although having renaissance features, is painted ochre and has contrasting quoining, both of which are features of the Crimean aristocratic villa rather than the Loire valley. As a revival style, Châteauesque buildings are typically built on an asymmetrical plan with an exceedingly broken roof-line and a facade composed of advancing and receding planes. The style was mostly employed in the United States for residences of the extremely wealthy, though was occasionally used for public buildings. Many of Canada’s grand railway hotels were built in the Châteauesque style. The style began to fade after the 1900s. In Hungary Arthur Meinig built some nice country houses in the Loire Valley style. The earliest is Andrássy Castle in Tiszadob, 1885-1890. The grandest is Károlyi Castle in Nagykároly (Carei), 1893-1895.
For two generations, the old Society families of New York snubbed the Vanderbilts. Alva Vanderbilt, the wife of Commodore Vanderbilt’s son William, was determined to change that. She commissioned a mansion so grand that the bluebloods would have no choice but to accept her. The Vanderbilt chateau at 52nd Street, designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, represents the first influential grafting of European history on unseasoned American wealth. It was grand and gaudy, inspired by great mansions of 15th-century France. It literally dripped with Europe, instantly becoming the standard for the mansions of Fifth Avenue and the palatial homes of Newport. To some, however, it seemed a bit much. Critic Louis H. Sullivan called it “a contradiction, an absurdity, a characteristically New York absurdity.”
Biltmore Estate, 1890-1895, Asheville, North Carolina, Richard Morris Hunt, architect
The Chateauesque style became fashionable in the 1880s due to the influence of New York City’s famed Vanderbilt mansion (1879, Richard Morris Hunt). The style, which was based on 16th century French Renaissance French chateaux, was initially used in America for the mansions of the city’s social elite. It later became popular for smaller houses. Kimball House, Chicago Common characteristics are: -vertical proportions -massive-looking masonry walls -mix of “Gothic” and “Renaissance” ornament -high-peaked hipped roofs, elaborate dormers, and tall chimneys