Second Empire style

also: Napoleon III style · Haussmann style

style c. 1852-1880 France Europe

Second Empire style, also called the Napoleon III style, is the highly eclectic architecture and decorative-arts style of the Second French Empire. Flourishing under Napoleon III (1852-1870), it drew freely on Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical forms while making innovative use of modern materials such as iron frameworks and glass skylights. It was closely tied to Haussmann's renovation of Paris: grand new buildings like the Opéra Garnier were placed as focal points at the ends of the new boulevards. From France the style spread across Europe and North America, where its tall mansard-roofed public buildings became the signature of civic ambition - from Philadelphia City Hall to the State, War, and Navy Building in Washington. Its blend of historicist splendor and modern engineering made it the defining official style of the mid-nineteenth century.

Defining characteristics

  • Steep mansard roofs with dormer windows and iron cresting
  • Tall pavilioned rooflines giving an emphatic vertical silhouette
  • Eclectic historicist ornament mixing Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical motifs
  • Polychrome masonry with lavish stone carving, columns, and statuary
  • Iron frameworks and glass skylights modernizing grand interiors
  • Urban facades sited to terminate boulevards and squares

Key figures

  • Napoleon III (1808-1873) — Emperor whose reign defined the style and sponsored the rebuilding of Paris
  • Georges-Eugène Haussmann (1809-1891) — Prefect of the Seine whose new boulevards gave Second Empire buildings their ceremonial sites
  • Charles Garnier (1825-1898) — Architect of the Paris Opéra, the style's most celebrated monument
  • Alfred B. Mullett (1834-1890) — US Supervising Architect who brought the style to American federal buildings

Example works

Sources

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