Transcript Late 19c Urbanization & Architecture

With Help from Susan M. Pojer
Characteristics of Urbanization
During the Gilded Age
1. Megalopolis.
2. Mass Transit.
3. Magnet for economic and social
opportunities.
4. Pronounced class distinctions.
- Inner & outer core
5. New frontier of opportunity for women.
6. Squalid living conditions for many.
7. Political machines.
8. Ethnic neighborhoods.
New
Architectural
Style
New
Symbols of
Change &
Progress
Make
a New
Start
New
Use of
Space
New
Class
Diversity
New Energy
The City as a
New “Frontier?”
New Levels
of Crime,
Violence, &
Corruption
New Culture
(“Melting Pot”)
New Form of
Classic “Rugged
Individualism”
William Le Baron
Jenney

1832 – 1907

“Father of
the Modern
Skyscraper”
W. Le
Baron
Jenney:
Central
Y.M.C.A.,
Chicago,
1891
Louis Sullivan

1856 – 1924

The Chicago
School of
Architecture

Form follows
function!
Louis Sullivan:
Bayard Bldg.,
NYC,
1897
Louis Sullivan: Carson, Pirie,
Scott Dept. Store, Chicago, 1899
Frank Lloyd Wright

1869 – 1959

“Prairie
House”
School of
Architecture

“Organic
Architecture”

Function
follows form!
Frank Lloyd Wright:
Allen-Lamb House, 1915
Frank Lloyd Wright:
“Falling Waters”, 1936
F. L. Wright Glass Screens
Prairie wheat
patterns.
Frank Lloyd Wright:
Guggenheim Museum, NYC 1959
New York City Architectural
Style: 1870s-1910s
1. The style was less innovative than
in Chicago.
2. NYC was the source of the capital for
Chicago.
3. Most major business firms had their
headquarters in NYC  their bldgs.
became “logos” for their companies.
4. NYC buildings and skyscrapers were
taller than in Chicago.
Western
Union
Bldg,.
NYC 1875
Manhattan
Life
Insurance
Bldg.
NYC 1893
Singer
Building
NYC 1902
Woolworth
Bldg.
NYC 1911
Flatiron
Building
NYC –
1902
D. H.
Burnham
Grand Central Station,
1913
St.
Patrick’s
Cathedral
John A. Roebling:
The Brooklyn Bridge, 1883
John A. Roebling:
The Brooklyn Bridge, 1913
Statue of Liberty, 1876
(Frederic Auguste Bartholdi)
“Dumbell “ Tenement
“Dumbell “ Tenement,
NYC
Jacob
Riis:
How the
Other Half
Lived
(1890)
Tenement Slum Living
Lodgers Huddled Together
Tenement Slum Living
Struggling Immigrant
Families
Mulberry Street –
“Little Italy”
Hester
Street –
Jewish
Section
1900
Rosh
Hashanah
Greeting
Card
Pell St. - Chinatown, NYC
Urban Growth: 1870 - 1900
Immigration
•
Changes in Immigration
The years between Patterns
1870 and 1920 saw
one of the greatest
surges of
immigrants to
America. Until 1890,
most of these
immigrants came
from Northern and
Western Europe,
just like many of the
original European
immigrants to
America.
Changes in Immigration
Patterns
• On the west coast,
immigrants from
China began arriving
for the Gold Rush in
1849, but many
ended up working on
the railroads or
starting farms; after
1882 Congress
limited Chinese
immigration.
Changes in Immigration
Patterns
• After 1890, the immigrating population changed to
people coming from Southern and Eastern Europe,
countries such as Italy, Austria-Hungary, and
Russia. During this time almost a million people also
immigrated from Mexico and the West Indies.
Why the New Immigration?
• Rapidly growing population in the Old
World
• Industrialization in Europe and the
importation of American food
disturbed the position of the peasant
• “America Fever”
• Persecutions of minorities in Europe
• Birds of Passage
Being a New Immigrant
•
•
•
•
Discrimination at work
Generation Gap
Struggle to assimilate
Bintel Brief
Taking Care of the New
Immigrants
• Originally taken care of by city
“bosses”
• “Christian Socialist” preachers
• Jane Addams and Hull House
– Settlement Houses
• Florence Kelley – Socialism, Rights,
and the Henry Street Settlement
(founded by Lillian Wald)
Changes Brought by the New
Immigration
• Women in the work force
– Mostly single
– Helped family and still had some pocket
money
• Brought more economic and social
independence
Nativism
• Nativism: Preferential treatment
towards native born Americans
– Especially Anglo Saxon, Protestants
– The American Protective Association
(1887)
• Organized labor fought new
immigration because poor immigrants
were willing to take lower wages
Government Sponsored
Nativism
• 1882: Close gates to all paupers,
criminals, and convicts + Chinese
Exclusion Act
• 1885: Prohibited the importation of
foreign workers under contract
• 1890’s: Expanded list of undesirables to
include: insane, polygamists,
prostitutes, alcoholics, anarchists, and
people with contagious diseases
• 1917: Literacy Test