Why Do So Many Public Buildings in the U.S. Look Like Greek Temples?

zocalpublicsquare ^ | 20SEP18 | Robert Russell

[RegulatorCountry]

It’s easy to catch in syndication here, I’d think MeTV or similar should have it in your area.

[Pelham]

The Other Jefferson Davis

But Davis’s most lasting legacy as a nation-builder, both figuratively and literally, was as a prime mover in the mammoth project to expand the United States Capitol from a small, cramped, statehouse-like building with an attractive central rotunda into a sprawling, magisterial seat of government with separate, marble-faced wings for the Senate and House, and a soaring new dome made of cast iron. The U.S. Capitol, as we know it today, would never have existed without Jefferson Davis. In many ways, it is his building.

[MinorityRepublican]

If I ever became a President and I ended up accomplishing important things, I would want people to build a Greek temple because they last forever and that I was really important! Lincoln and Jefferson both got their Greek temples and they’re awesome!

[Vendome]

We are indebted to the Greeks, not the Roman’s, for what is great, judicious and “distinct” in arcitechteure....

[Vendome]

LOL!

[Rebelbase]

The indoctrinated school grads of today more than likely have no clue about Greek/Roman columns and classical architecture.

[Rockingham]

The Greco-Roman architectural style was highly adaptable, finding ready use in all manner of public, commercial, and private structures made from a wide range of materials, from lavish plantation manor houses and solid banks to simple shotgun cottages. The South especially embraced what is broadly known as the Federal style, and one can easily find prime examples from Virginia to Charleston to Tallahassee to New Orleans.

Although unknown at the time, the use of the classic Greek temple style for banks and Treasury buildings was historically apt in that the Parthenon and other Greek temples were originally used in part as municipal treasuries.

[PUGACHEV]

It’s easy to accept that American architects in the 18th and 19th centuries found the neo-classical style ideally suited for federal buildings because it reflected the liberating Greek and Roman virtues upon which our government was based and which the French Revolution championed. It’s harder to see why so many neo-classical federal buildings were built in the Roosevelt era to the point that they seem to float along both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue like a massive pack of icebergs. Instead of liberating, they are meant be oppressive.

Look at the gargantuan horses being restrained by muscular figures that cap the Eastern end of the Federal Trade Comission building — a choice neo-classical iceberg. They represent government control over the wild horses of unrestrained capitalism. What they actually and unintentionally reflect (aside from kitsch) is an oppressive government scaled up to up in the size of The Incredible Hulk. I think this is the key to understanding why the neo-classical style was so popular for federal buildings back then, its massive forms were intended to belittle and awe the individual and stress the strength of the state as a collective.

[BTerclinger]

No drinking till the last one is down.

[DoodleBob]

Ouzo goes well with Chanukah, Christmas, or Tuesday.

[Jeff Chandler]

The Capt. Kirk version, not that wimpy Shakespearean Frenchie.

STAR TREK TNG: COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD MEETINGS IN SPACE

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks vannrox.

[Pietro]

We can thank the Romans for the arch and the dome as well as the wonderful plasticity of concrete.

Greek sculpture and design has never been surpassed but the Romans were superior engineers.

[Fresh Wind]

Obama's temple...

[litehaus]

“Why Do So Many Public Buildings in the U.S. Look Like Greek Temples?”
Good sense and good taste ?

[bert]

Greek = Stone = structural efficiency

There was no structural steel or concrete.

Greek and stone was the way to go for monumental buildings

[Mr. Jeeves]

Read “The Fountainhead” - it explains why.

[Lovely-Day-For-A-Guinness]

It's because the Greeks, and, later, the Romans understood scale and proportion, both of which they took from observations in nature. They believed the natural beauty found in nature could be transferred to architecture and other arts. They linked architecture, music, and math together (the number 3 was special to them as is odd number columns on a facade).

For example, properly designed columns don't have a consistent taper from their base to capital. They have a slight bulge roughly 1/3rd up from the base and then taper. If they didn't have this, columns would appear concave to the eye.

Everything they did was based on the diameter of the column. Even the height of the column is based upon its diameter. The diameter is then broken up into minutes and seconds and with these increments the base, capital, architrave, fascia, soffit, moldings, etc. are determined.

When Athens, Rome, etc. were being 'discovered' by the English and others, their architecture was brought to western Europe and later to America.

Architects like Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren, both English, and Charles Bulfinch and Asher Benjamin, both American, popularized the ancient designs. America was keen to adopt this architecture due to it being fashionable during America's birth with its foundation on ancient governments.

[Baynative]

... indoctrinated school grads of today more than likely have no clue about Greek/Roman columns and classical architecture."

A neighbor of mine had a son who was written up as being an outstanding student a few years ago. He was a popular 4.0 student, played several instruments had competed in Judo competitions at the national level since he was in 8th grade.

In the interview he was asked what he thought the greatest challenge facing his generation would turn out to be and his answer was, "global warming".

[YogicCowboy]

Celebration of classicism: the foundation if Western Civilization. It was also done in painting and composing.