Trinity Church Essay Research Paper Henry Hobson — страница 2

Trinity Church’s lower part is dark and the top is red. Chevrons highlight the front protrusion of the church. A continuous band of checkerboard is like a belt and circles the chapel bringing the lower and upper sections of the church together. Richardson was influenced by many different styles but always disciplined his architecture. Form serves function. His designs were usually based on ratios and symmetrical balance. Overall, the use of massive walls and piers as supports for the heavy stone vaults resulted in a typical building plan that treated the entire structure as an additive complex composed of semi-independent units. These units are called bays, the square or rectangular spaces enclosed by groin vaults. Trinity’s general vertical massing and polychromy reveal

traces of High Victorian Gothic style, but the strong geometric order and the French Romanesque ornaments are all new developments. Trinity’s tower would have been taller and more inventive, but structural problems due to the spongy soil made a shorter tower necessary. The lantern of the tower was modeled after the tower of the Old Cathedral of Salamanca, another prime example of Romanesque architecture. Trinity Church is a building fronting on three streets; therefore, Richardson wanted the tower to be central. He wanted the tower to equally belong to each front instead of locating it in a corner where it would not be visible from at least one side. The tower became the main feature of the church instead of looking like an unnecessary addition. So supporting systems would not

get in the way in the interior of the church, a large tower was compensated with a magnified church making Trinity into the size it is today. The tower of the Old Cathedral of Salamanca was also a central tower known as the Tower of Cock because of the weather vane that crowned it and because it was covered by scales of slate. The towers of both churches are partitioned into equal sections with slightly extruding “seem-like” lines on the roof of the tower. From the “seem-like” lines, there are vertical spike-like shapes that come out of the roof. The bottom half of both towers is a fa?ade with clerestory windows, windows framed with archways. And both towers have front side towers in each of its four corners. Richardson did not directly copy the tower of the Old Cathedral

but the style and layout is the same; he modified Trinity’s tower to have an unparalleled resemblance. Richardson’s Trinity Church also has great similarities to St.-Jouin-des-Marnes in Poitou, France. The fa?ade of both churches have a distinct likeness. Both facades are generally divided into two halves, the tower for the Trinity Church or the triangular roof for the St.-Jouin-des-Marnes and the bottom entrance of both churches. The overall fa?ades of the fronts of the churches are framed on each end by towers or piers or separate cone-toped structures, and so, visually there seems to be three overall vertical sections to the churches. The whole fa?ade of both churches is ornamented with windows that are framed by arches and lintels. The strongest similar element is that

both churches have three entrances that are also framed by stone arches. St.-Jouin-des-Marnes was built with concrete blocks, and Trinity church is made of brick. Although they are made of different materials, both are constructed with block structures. Both facades have periods of “empty spaces” and decorated areas. Originally his design only consisted of a flat fa?ade and simpler front towers that would make Trinity more similar to St.-Jouin-des-Marnes, but after visiting St. Trophime in Arles, France, he designed an additional porch area which was completed after his death along with the towers. Henry Hobson Richardson continued the trend of three entrances, towers, and sectioning the fa?ade of the church. However, the more recent renovations to the classical designs

include the use of different construction materials. Pink granite was used for the main building with red Longmeadow sandstone for the trim. The plan and interior space is hidden by the strong fa?ade of Trinity such as St.-Jouin-des-Marnes. If one walks around Trinity, he will discover more defining outer structures that describe the interior space. The backside of Trinity shows the apse with buttresses ending in colonnettes between the windows and the Parish House with an attached cloister and exterior staircase. Trinity’s nave grew higher and longer from the naves of the Medieval St.-Jouin-des-Marnes and the Old Cathedral because Romanesque churches wanted to make room for more clerestory windows. The Old Cathedral gives far more definitions on its exterior to its interior