Expressionist architecture

Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement that developed in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts that especially developed and dominated in Germany. (wiki)

Art and Architecture

Connected Sites

Site Rationale Link
Amsterdam Canal Ring The Carlton Hotel at Vijzelstraat, De Bazel (often considered as Art Deco as well) at Vijzelstraat 32 and the former pharmacy at Keizersgracht 660. A number of bridges such as the Aalmoezeniersbrug also qualify. All were built when in the late 19th, early 20th century when access to the city centre had to be improved. Roads needed to be widened to allow for trams and ‘selective demolition’ took place.
Berlin Modernism Housing Estates Bruno Taut is one of the style's main architects. He was responsible for the design of several of the Berlin Modernism Housing Estates. The nomination file clearly mentions the Siedlung Schillerpark ("The architecture with its red brick walls, the flat roofs and the plastic shapes of the façades with loggias and balconies particularly reflects the Amsterdam school with its traditional, strong brick buildings.") and the Hufeneisensiedlung as having expressionist features.
Centennial Hall Labelled as Expressionist Architecture as well by Wikipedia. In the nomination file and the ICOMOS evaluation it is considered an early forerunner: “The comparative analysis has shown that the pioneering role of the Centennial Hall consisted also in its anticipation of the ideas informing architecture in the Expressionist style.” and “the Centennial Hall anticipated the later Expressionist and Organic Architecture.”
Church of Atlántida Brick Expressionism
Lübeck St. Catherine's Church in Lübeck dates from the early 14th centry, but its brick facade was decorated with expressionist clinker brick sculptures by Ernst Barlach and Gerhard Marcks in the 20th century. "A striking feature of Brick Expressionism is the liveliness of its facades, achieved purely through the deliberate setting of bricks in patterns. ...The facade designs were enhanced by the use of architectural sculpture, made of clinker bricks or ceramics. Ernst Barlach also created clinker statues, such as the frieze Gemeinschaft der Heiligen ("community of saints") on St. Catherine's in Lübeck (completed by Gerhard Marcks)."
Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt "With the Wedding Tower, Olbrich succeeded in the development of a proto-expressionist architecture which refers far into the future and anticipates the repertoire of forms of the architectonic expressionism and the new building philosophy of the 1920s. (...) The design of the tower (...) suggest the architectural forms of architectonic expressionism, which were manifested in the architectonic new beginnings of European architectural history after the First World War." (Nomination file, p. 67-68)
Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District Kontorhaus District: The streetscape is characterised by large office buildings in the style of Brick Expressionism of the early 20th century. (wiki)
Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia is one of the most iconic buildings in the world and one of the most recognisable examples of Expressionist architecture (wiki)
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier The Notre-Dame du Haut is considered "the first building of the movement Expressionist architecture after World War II." (wiki)
Works of Antoni Gaudí Gaudí’s work is an exceptional creative synthesis of several 19th-century artistic schools, such as the Arts and Crafts movement, Symbolism, Expressionism, and Rationalism, and is directly associated with the cultural apogee of Catalonia. - Unesco
Zollverein It was “created at the end of a phase of political and economic upheaval and change in Germany, which was represented aesthetically in the transition from Expressionism to Cubism and Functionalism.” Wiki however categorizes it under New Objectivity, part of the International Style.

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