Lexie Lehmann

Introduction to Architecture

Professor Michael Waters, TA Hasbrouck Miller

Henry van de Velde’s Modern Architectural Theory

According to Henry van de Velde, a member of the German Werkbund, one of the most

important aspects of modern architecture is its expression of the architect as a “free spontaneous

creator”. The creator distrusts anything that might “sterilize his actions” or who “preaches a rule

that might prevent him from thinking his thoughts” (29). Further, while the architect “unconsciously

and consciously” absorbs the influences of the current age, he/she does not forcefully try to impose

these forms as “standards” of the architectural craft (29). As a second fundamental point, van de

Velde believes that architecture should not be created to achieve international acclaim, and rather

that works should be created for a narrower, national clientele. While afterwards the work may catch

the attention of foreign countries and the outside world, van de Velde concludes that “quality will

not be created out of the spirit of export” (30).

With these tenets in mind, Henry van de Velde would celebrate a technologically innovative

building like Joseph Paxton’s Great Conservatory and Lily House, built as part of the Chatsworth

House complex around 1837. The Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century brought the

opportunity for architects to use the era’s developing technologies to serve new functions, allowing

for the creation of a more modern form of architecture. Absorbing the century’s revolutionary spirit,

architect Joseph Paxton designed an unprecedented greenhouse known as Great Conservatory and

Lily House. Thanks to innovative technologies like ridge-and-furrow glazing, Paxton was able to

create an artificial ecosystem with a controlled environment to preserve and grow Amazonian lilies.
While Paxton was inspired by the natural world, his Great Conservatory ultimately served as a

promotion of British industry and architectural might.

Henry van de Velde would complement Paxton’s innovative spirit as well as his desire to satisfy

the local clientele of the Chatsworth estate. Van de Velde writes that quality is “always first created

exclusively for quite a limited circle of connoisseurs and those who commission the work”, in this

case the Duke of Devonshire who controlled the estate. Further, Van de Velde would respect

Paxton’s intention to cultivate the “gifts of invention” by following his “creative impulse” (30). For

example, Paxton utilized an unprecedented rail track system to install the conservatory’s roof

glazing. I would argue that the “creative impulse” of an architect is also aligned with the conception

of the architect as an artist, which was a fundamental argument made by Vitruvius and Alberti in the

Renaissance area.

In contrast, van de Velde’s style diverges from Enlightenment theorists like Laugier, who

believed that architecture should be confined to the fundamental components of the classical

cannon: columns, pediment, and entablature. Laugier would critique the abnormality of Paxton’s

structure, which does not utilize any of the classical cannon’s most characteristic structures. In the

same vein, Modern theorists like Hermann Mutheus in van de Velde’s own age would disagree with

van de Velde’s disregard of the foundations laid by previous architects. Like Laugier, Muthesius also

argued that architecture should strive towards “standardization” in order to recover “universal

significance” (28).

I agree with van de Velde’s emphasis on innovation and cultivating an unprecedented

architectural spirit. In my opinion, it is because of an openness to change that some of the greatest

works of architecture have come about. Were it not for the unconventional thinking of architects

like Joseph Paxton and Gustave Eiffel, some of the most astonishing works of the modern era

would not have been created. Innovation invites creativity that intentionally challenges the status
quo, and architects of the modern era were wise to pursue modernization in their creation of a new

architectural form.