19. Richardson's Romanesque

19a. Richardson's Romanesque (Woodstock)

The Romanesque Style dates back to Charlemagne and the 9th century. Its most prominent feature was the extensive use of the 'arch' form. In the 12th century it was used for magnificent churches in France.

Richardson , an architect from Chicago, fell in love with the style and brought it back to America with a few revisions. In particular, he used primarily a rough, stone finish instead of the original smooth(ashlar) stone found on Romanesque structures.

The Richardson Romanesque style created huge houses and there are quite a number of them scattered around the older sections of cities and towns in Ontario.

19b. Richardson's Romanesque (St. Marys)

What to look for (clues)

- a huge, asymmetrical style with a rough-stone exterior of various textures and/or colours.

- rounded, deep-set arches for doors, windows and decorative items.

- a single, usually round tower is fairly common. It may be topped by a 'witch's hat' roof.

- Windows are arched, square or rectangular with square or arched transoms above them.

- Smaller square windows sometimes appear in groups.

- Due to its imposing style (and cost) the Richardson's Romanesque style is frequently used for government buildings.

19c. Richardson's Ronanesque (Oxford County Courthouse, Woodstock)

The story goes that the county was not forthcoming when it came time to pay the builder. The builder in frustration carved a monkey into the top of the building. Apparently the money appeared quite soon after this!

19d. R.R. (Woodstock)

In case you didn't believe me, here's the monkey!

19e. R.R. (St. Marys City Hall)

Note the twisted spire.

Identification

Romanesque houses are rare.

The Richardson Romanesque building can sometimes be difficult to identify because of other styles that can overlap This includes Baronial Queen Annes and the Annex Homes of Toronto. These two styles will appear later and hopefully I can find some specific ways of separating them.

19f. Richardson Romanesque