Architecture: A Very Short Introduction

Timeline

First pyramid: the Step Pyramid of Zoser at Saqqara, Egypt (2773 BC); architect: Imhotep

Great Pyramid of Khufu, Giza, near Cairo, Egypt (2723–2563 BC); architect: unknown (Figure 4)

First wheels with spokes (c.2000 BC)

First use of iron around the Mediterranean (c.1500 BC).

The Parthenon, Athens, Greece (447–436 BC); architects: Ictinus and Callicrates working with the sculptor Phidias (Figure 7)

Temple of Juno Sospita, Lanuvium, Etruscan temple (5th century BC) (Figure 17)

Invention of the compound pulley, attributed to Archimedes (born c.287 BC)

First wheeled vehicles steered by turning front axle (c.50 BC)

Maison Carrée, Nîmes, France (AD 1–10); architect: unknown (Figure 13)

The Pantheon, Rome, Italy (AD 118–25); architect: anonymous, but worked under the direction of the Emperor Hadrian (Figure 14)

Romanesque: first post-Roman stone-vaulted church, Tournus, Burgundy, France (c.950–1120); architect: unknown

First Gothic: rebuilding of the abbey church of Saint-Denis, Paris (begun 1137); under the direction of the Abbot Suger (1081–1151)

High Gothic: cathedral of St Etienne, Bourges, France (begun 1190) (Figure 8)

First production of crown glass in Rouen (1330)

Renaissance: dome of the cathedral at Florence, Italy (1420–34); architect: Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446)

First post-Roman façade using superimposed classical orders: Palazzo Rucella, Florence, Italy (c.1455); architect: Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72)

Villa Capra, Vicenza, Italy (1569); architect: Andrea Palladio (1508–80) (Figure 15)

Whitehall Banqueting House (1619–22); architect: Inigo Jones (1573–1652)

Mausoleum of the Taj Mahal, Agra, India (1630–53); architect: Ustad ‘Isa (dates unknown) (Figure 23)

St Paul’s Cathedral, London, England (1675–1710); architect: Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723)

Plate glass first produced in France (1688)

Chiswick Villa, London, England (1725); Lord Burlington (1694–1753) (Figure 16)

Wieskirche, Steinhausen, Bavaria, Germany (1745–54); architect: Dominikus Zimmerman (1681–1766) (Figure 11)

Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia (1796–1808); architect: Thomas Jefferson (1743–1836) (Figure 12)

Royal Pavilion, Brighton, England (1815–21); architect: John Nash (1752–1835) (Figure 3)

Gothic Revival: Palace of Westminster, London, England (1836–68); architect: Sir Charles Barry (1795–1860) with A. W. N. Pugin (1812–52) (Figure 5)

Early use of cast iron: Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London (1851); architect: Joseph Paxton (1803–65); designed as a temporary exhibition building

Steam-powered elevator patented by Elisha G. Otis (1861)

First electric elevator built by Werner von Siemens (1880)

Expiatory Church of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain (begun 1882); architect: Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) (Figure 22)

Early use of a cast-iron structural frame: Home Insurance Co. Office Building, Chicago, Illinois (1883–5); architects: William Le Baron Jenney (1832–1907) and William B. Mundie (1893–1939). This is a prominent ten-storey office building.

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France (1889); architect: Gustave Eiffel (1832–1923)

Steel-reinforced concrete devised in 1892 by the Belgian engineer François Hennebique (1842–1921)

Art Nouveau: Métro entrance surrounds, Paris, France (1899–1905), using prefabricated cast-iron panels; architect: Hector Guimard (1867–1942) (Figure 21)

Machine-drawn cylinder glass first produced in USA (1903)

First real skyscraper: Woolworth Building, New York (1910–13); architect: Cass Gilbert (1850–1934). This was the tallest building in the world until 1930.

Chicago Tribune Tower, Chicago, Illinois (1923–5); architects: John Mead Howells (1868–1959) and Raymond Hood (1881–1934) (Figure 20)

Schröder house, Utrecht, Netherlands (1924); architect: Gerrit Rietveld (1888–1964) (Figure 9)

Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau, Paris, France (1925); architect: Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, 1887–1965)

Villa Savoye, Poissy, France (1928–30); architect: Le Corbusier (1887–1965)

Empire State Building, New York (1929–31); architect: Shreve, Lamb and Harmon

Falling Water, Bear Run, Pennsylvania (1936–9); architect: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) (Figure 10)

Seagram Building, Manhattan, New York City (1954–8); architect: Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) and Philip Johnson (born 1906) (Figure 18)

Chandigarh, Punjab, India (1950–65); architect: Le Corbusier (1887–1965) (Figure 6)

Opera House, Sydney, Australia (1957–73); architect: Jorn Utson (born 1918) (Figure 19)

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (1977); architects: Renzo Piano (born 1937) and Richard Rogers (born 1933) (Figure 25)

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain (1997); architect: Frank Gehry (born 1929) (Figure 24)