The world doesn't need architects to make buildings. The world needs architects to make architecture.
Expanding on the medieval mantra of let's make really ornate stuff, Early Modern architects created some truly impressive structures using pre-modern construction tools before settling down with simpler and more practical designs; here are some of the more note-worthy.
an Italian architect of the Baroque period, one of the leading architects of 17th century Rome, known for a certain grandeur in his designs. Beyond his work as an architect in stone, Rainaldi also designed stage sets for religious rituals and events.
a French architect, interior designer, and landscape architect working within the neoclassicist idiom. He also published books on landscaping with his own numerous garden designs as examples.
aka: José Ramírez de Arellano, José Ramírez Benavides
born
active
died
1705
1740-1770
1770, Mar 27
a Spanish Baroque architect and sculptor. He was the son of the sculptor Juan Ramírez Mejandre, and brother of sculptor Manuel Ramírez de Arellano and painter Juan Ramírez de Arellano.
an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and more
an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.
an Italian architect whose entire career was spent in Russia. He developed an easily recognizable style of Late Baroque, both sumptuous and majestic. His major works, including the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg and the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, are famed for extravagant luxury and opulence of decoration.
an English architect, designing villas and estate. In addition to designing buildings locally, Reed also carried out works further afield, including in North Wales, the Lake District, and Lytham, Lancashire. He was a commissioner of Birkenhead for many years.
an American architect in the 19th century, called one of the most successful American architects of his time. Renwick was not formally trained as an architect. His ability and interest in building design were nurtured through his cultivated background, which granted him early exposure to travel, and through a broad cultural education that included architectu...
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an American architect in the 19th century, called one of the most successful American architects of his time. Renwick was not formally trained as an architect. His ability and interest in building design were nurtured through his cultivated background, which granted him early exposure to travel, and through a broad cultural education that included architectural history.
an 18th-century French architect. In 1758, he planned an addition to the Champs-Élysées in Paris, to be constructed where the Arc de Triomphe now stands. It consisted of three levels, to be built in the shape of an elephant, with entry via a spiral staircase in the underbelly. The building was to have a form of air conditioning, and furniture that folded i...
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an 18th-century French architect. In 1758, he planned an addition to the Champs-Élysées in Paris, to be constructed where the Arc de Triomphe now stands. It consisted of three levels, to be built in the shape of an elephant, with entry via a spiral staircase in the underbelly. The building was to have a form of air conditioning, and furniture that folded into the walls. A drainage system was to be incorporated into the elephant's trunk. The French Government, however, was not amused and turned him down. Napoleon would later conceive a similar construction, the Elephant of the Bastille. Little of his work now survives.
an Austrian architect of the 19th century. He is mainly known for the design of the Károlyi palais in Budapest Hungary (now housing the Petofi Museum of Literature - Petofi Irodalmi Múzeum) and of the mansion of Dolná Krupá in Slovakia.
an Italian architect, trained by Luigi Vanvitelli, who worked mainly in Russia. His first important secular commission was the Novoznamenka chateau of Chancellor Woronzow. In 1754, he was appointed chief architect of the young court, i.e., the future Peter II...
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an Italian architect, trained by Luigi Vanvitelli, who worked mainly in Russia. His first important secular commission was the Novoznamenka chateau of Chancellor Woronzow. In 1754, he was appointed chief architect of the young court, i.e., the future Peter III and Catherine II, who resided at Oranienbaum.
a US architect who practiced in Mobile, Alabama, Boston, Massachusetts, New York City, New York, Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio. He designed the Burnett House in Cincinnati, then the largest and most elegant hotel in the Midwest. He also designed New York's Astor Opera House.
an Italian painter and architect. A pupil of Raphael, his stylistic deviations from high Renaissance classicism help define the 16th-century style known as Mannerism. Giulio's drawings have long been treasured by collectors; contemporary prints of them engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi were a significant contribution to the spread of 16th-century Italian styl...
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an Italian painter and architect. A pupil of Raphael, his stylistic deviations from high Renaissance classicism help define the 16th-century style known as Mannerism. Giulio's drawings have long been treasured by collectors; contemporary prints of them engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi were a significant contribution to the spread of 16th-century Italian style throughout Europe.
an Italian architect, who worked the major portion of his life in Russia. He was the author of many classical buildings and architectural ensembles in Saint Petersburg and its environments. In his lifetime, he built a theater on the Arbat Square (later destroyed by the fire of 1812) and was rewarded with the Order of St. Vladimir of IV degree.
the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, as well as an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and political economy. His writing styles and literary forms were equally varied. Ruskin also penne...
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the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, as well as an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and political economy. His writing styles and literary forms were equally varied. Ruskin also penned essays and treatises, poetry and lectures, travel guides and manuals, letters and even a fairy tale. The elaborate style that characterised his earliest writing on art was later superseded by a preference for plainer language designed to communicate his ideas more effectively. In all of his writing, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society. He also made detailed sketches and paintings of rocks, plants, birds, landscapes, and architectural structures and ornamentation.
