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An Architectural Analysis of Hogwarts Castle

Conference Paper · October 2018

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 AN ARCHITECTURAL ANALYSIS OF HOGWARTS CASTLE

Ceren Cindioglu1
1 Res. Assist., Atilim University, ceren.cindioglu@atilim.edu.tr

ABSTRACT

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is known with the eight movies, and the
seven books of Harry Potter written by J. K. Rowling. The architecture of Hogwarts Castle has
a novel style, considering the power of magic that displayed in the movies and the books.
Hogwarts Castle consists of many parts and some of these parts are inspired from some real
places mainly built in England. This study focuses on the comparison between some of these
real places and the fictional ones with an architectural perspective. Hogwarts Castle is
presented as a case study to clarify the connection between real and fictional worlds in
terms of the spirited relation between literature, cinema, and architecture. Alternative plans
and models, which were utilized in the movies, are analysed and discussed to comprehend
the essential architectural ideas generated in the fantastic world of Harry Potter. In the
discussion part, it would be emphasized that the mission of the architects and their effects
on their society remain regardless of the variety of living worlds. Also, it becomes a
conclusion that the real designs have a significant role as inspiration for creators of the
fictional spaces.

Keywords: Fictional spaces, Hogwarts, secondary world architecture, Harry Potter, literature
and architecture.

1 INTRODUCTION

Hogwarts Castle belongs to one of the most favoured secondary world literature. The
author of the Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling presents Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry as a traditional great British Victorian public school with magic and its background.
According to Eccleshare, the combination of towers and turrets, the leaded windows, the
cliff-top settings are all familiar physical characteristics of such schools (Eccleshare, 2002). In
the second book of the series, Professor Binns, the teacher of History of Magic, explains the
foundation story of the Hogwarts School as follows.
“…Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago – the precise date is uncertain –
by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four schoolhouses are named after
them: Godric Gryffinfor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. They
built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic feared
by common people, and witched and wizards suffered much persecution.”(Harry Potter and
the Chamber of Secrets, chap.9, p.10)
Hogwarts Castle as a fictional construction comprises not only some of magical
production techniques, but also, many different structural elements such as trusses, turrets,

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bartizans, arches, cloisters etc. that are also observable in reality. In the movies, the castle
introduces itself with a Medieval Gothic style mainly. However, some of the real
constructions, which had used for the movie shooting, have different styles from classic
medieval gothic architecture. Therefore, this research focuses on some of these existing
buildings such as Durham Cathedral and Gloucester Cathedral, which were utilized in many
parts of the movie shooting. The paper attempts to evaluate the similarities of these real and
secondary world architectures and emphasize the idea that reality forms the basis for fiction
(Weisberg & Goodstein, 2009).

2 ARCHITECTURE OF HOGWARTS CASTLE

The journey of Hogwarts begins from the viaduct, viaduct courtyard and, at the end of
it; of course, the Entrance Hall that leads to the Great Hall, which is one the most frequently
used space in the whole story, since it is a multi-purpose hall. On the other hand, moving
staircases supply access between the towers, dungeons and the Entrance Hall. Clock-tower
courtyard, hospital wing, covered bridge, suspension bridge, stone bridge, transfiguration
courtyard, north towers, training ground, and the secret passages are the other significant
parts of the Hogwarts Castle. Because of its ever-changing plan and the additional magical
adaptations, examination of the all parts could be impossible for even expert architects
(Figure 1). Therefore, this study could cover only a brief analysis of architecture of Hogwarts.

Figure 1: Hogwarts model used in movies, Leavesden Warner Bros. Studio (Photo. by Seda
Kanoglu, 2017).

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2.1 The Entrance Hall and the Great Hall

The main entrance of Hogwarts is supplied with the Entrance Hall, which has an
impressive Gothic style with the pointed arches, vaulted roof, buttresses, large-scale
windows, and spires. Especially, façade of the entrance hall presents a common Gothic
impression inconsideration of the statuettes, which came alive to defence the school with a
spell by Professor McGonagall in the scene of Hogwarts War in the final movie of the series.
The Entrance Hall leads to the Great Hall. The Great Hall is one of the most utilized space in
both movies and the books, consequently is one of the first set of Leavesden Warner Bros.
Studio in London [1]. The Great Hall in Harry Potter movie series has observable inspirations
from Westminster Hall in London. The hall of Westminster Palace is an example of the
advance level technology that has been utilized in Late Gothic architecture. The hammer
beam roof, designed by Hugh Herland, covers 20.7 m. between the masonry walls of the hall
(Roth, 2007).
As a part of magic, magnificence of the roof only depends on the timber truss
technology (Figure 2); but also it was always under of a specific spell that reflects the instant
image of the sky to the ceiling. The vision of the ceiling also depends on the mood of the
events in the Great Hall. Eccleshare (2002) also emphasize that the design of the Great Hall
has a value as an emotional indicator in the fantasy world of Harry Potter.

Figure 2: The Great Hall set in Leavesden Warner Bros. Studio (Photo. by Seda Kanoglu, 2017).
Other magical structural elements of the roof are the small-scale towers that should
have been supported by the timber-trusses. However, there is nothing to observe from the
views of inside of the Great Hall, as an indication for these towers’ joints. They can visible
solely from the outside views of the castle. It is not explicit if they are utilizing or not in
terms of functionality, which seems obviously inconvenient. Nevertheless, they are
succeeded to provide more enchanted and structurally impossible impression for the
audience.

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2.2 Transfiguration Courtyard and the Bell Towers

Durham Cathedral is another existing building that used by the production team of
Harry Potter movies. The cloister of the cathedral appears in many scenes of the movies as
Transfiguration Courtyard in Hogwarts. Durham Cathedral is a Norman building constructed
between 1093 and 1133 in the Romanesque style in England. Since, it is the earliest example
of using stone ribs forming pointed arches to support the ceiling of the nave; it has a
significant place in structural progress of architecture. Durham Cathedral was not used only
for the courtyard scenes, but also the scenes in the transfiguration classroom were made in
Chapter House in the cathedral [2]. As another fact, Hogwarts’ bell towers are almost the
exact replicas of Durham Cathedral’s twin square towers. As distinct from Durham, Hogwarts
bell towers have spires.

2.3 Magical Bartizans and the Headmaster’s Office

Articulated bartizans could be the most magical structures in Hogwarts. In terms of a

masonry construction, they do not have any sufficient support and the joints between each
other are requiring a miraculous technique to build. They are not even connected with
towers; instead, they connect with spires. Albus Dumbledore’s office as the headmaster of
the school consists of three articulated bartizans. First entrance of Harry to the headmaster’s
room placed in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Harry access to the room with a
moving spiral staircase, which is behind a wall and the staircase moves upwards, like an
escalator with her terms (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, chap. 11). Rowling
describes the room as a large and beautiful circular room.

2.4 Hogwarts’ Corridors and the Moving Staircases

Hogwarts has a hundred and forty-two staircases according to the description of the
author in the first book of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The
staircases varies in multiple ways; wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led
somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to
remember to jump (Rowling, 2014, p. 98). The staircases lead to the different corridors of
Hogwarts. The Cloister of Gloucester Cathedral was used in the movies as Hogwarts’ main
corridors. Gloucester Cathedral is the earliest example of English Perpendicular Architecture,
which is recognized with the emphasis of the vertical in closely spaced, repeated lines (Roth,
2007). The Cathedral has a great reputation because of its fan vaulting [3]. A fan vault is
usually formed by multiple conoids that placed side by side. They intersect at the
longitudinal and crosswise crest, where there will be a rib or a horizontal element, known as
a spandrel (Muttoni, 2011).

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3 CONCLUSION

Hogwarts design gives some specific references to the different medieval architectural
styles such as Romanesque, Late Gothic or Perpendicular style. Even though, Hogwarts
School is a combination of the abovementioned significant parts, it could not be able to gain
its novel architectural style without Rowling’s magical details. To illustrate, there is no
possibility for associating the moving staircases or poorly connected bridge trusses of
Hogwarts Castle in a kind of architectural movement. On the other hand, Hogwarts could be
considered as a sustainable school campus with its flexibility and the undiscovered passages,
moving staircases regarding to the magical power of the construction. Also, it has a key role
in connecting the present and the past. This significant role may provide it a vision of a living
museum. As a living structure, the castle has its own rules and reactions in the presence of
the students, masters, ghosts and all other magical creations that living in the castle. It is not
clear that if architects have any specialize magical power or not in the fantastic world of
Harry Potter. Nevertheless, it can be observed that wizards and witches have the authority
to construct and transform their own spaces.

REFERENCES

Muttoni, A. (2011) The Art of Structures: Introduction to the Functioning of Structures

in Architecture. Front Cover. EPFL Press.
Eccleshare, J. (2002) A guide to the Harry Potter novels. London : Continuum.
Roth, L. M. (2007) Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning.
Boulder, Colo: Westview Press.
Rowling, J. K. (2014). Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone. London : Bloomsbury,
2014
Rowling, J. (1998). Harry Potter and the Chamber of secret. London: Bloomsbury
Publishing..
Rowling, J. K. (1999). Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. London: Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Rowling, J. K. (2001). Harry Potter and the goblet of fire. London : Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Rowling, J. K. (2007). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. London : Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Rowling, J. K., & GrandPré, M. (2006). Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. New
York : Scholastic.
Rowling, J. K. (2007). Harry Potter and the deathly hallows. London : Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Weisberg, D., & Goodstein, J. (2009). What belongs in a fictional world? Journal Of
Cognition And Culture, 9(1), 69-78.

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 William V. Thompson (2016) Finding a Place on the Literary Map: Harry Potter,
Secondary Worlds, and Post-Potter Fantasy, New Review of Children's Literature and
Librarianship, 22:1, 36-52.

WEB REFERENCES

[1] https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/our-history (Last Access: 29.07.2018)

[2] https://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/whats-on/hod-15-sept (Last Access: 29.07.2018)
[3] http://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk/history-heritage/architecture (Last Access:
29.07.2018)

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