Arcade (architecture)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Arcade (disambiguation).
Norman blind arcade, Ely Cathedral

An arcade is a succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by a colonnade of columns or piers. Exterior arcades are designed to provide a sheltered walkway for pedestrians; they include many loggias, but here arches are not an essential element. An arcade may feature arches on both sides of the walkway. Alternatively, a blind arcade superimposes arcading against a solid wall.[1]

Blind arcades are a feature of

cloisters
.

A different, related meaning is "a covered passage with shops on one or both sides".

architectural form
.

The word "arcade" comes from French arcade from Provençal arcada or Italian arcata, based on Latin arcus, ‘bow’ (see arc and arch).[4]

A related but ambiguous term is arcature, which is either a small arcade or a blind arcade.[5][6]

History

Arcades go back to at least the

Palazzo Bardi, both by Filippo Brunelleschi in Florence
.

Shopping arcades

Arcade with shops behind, running along a row of originally High Medieval houses in Metz, France.
Loggia del Mercato Nuovo, Florence, Italy
Adelaide, South Australia
, c. 1886.
Tabriz Bazaar, Iran
, devoted to carpet selling.
souq
Sydney CBD
, Australia, opened 1892

The French architect, Bertrand Lemoine, described the period, 1786 to 1935, as l’Ère des passages couverts (the Arcade Era).[7] He was referring to the grand shopping "arcades" that flourished across Europe during that period. A shopping arcade refers to a multiple-vendor space, operating under a covered roof. Typically, the roof was constructed of glass to allow for natural light and to reduce the need for candles or electric lighting.[8] The 18th and 19th century arcades were designed to attract the genteel middle classes. In time, these arcades came to be the place to shop and to be seen. Arcades offered shoppers the promise of an enclosed space away from the chaos that characterised the noisy, dirty streets; a warm, dry space away from the harsh elements, and a safe haven where people could socialise and spend their leisure time. As thousands of glass covered arcades spread across Europe, they became grander and more ornately decorated. By the mid-nineteenth century, they had become prominent centres of fashion and social life. Promenading in these arcades became a popular nineteenth-century pastime for the emerging middle classes.[9]

The inspiration for the grand shopping arcades may have derived from the fashionable open

colonnades in British and North European marketplaces; examples remain for example in Totnes and Dartmouth in Devon. During the 16th-century, a pattern of market trading using mobile stalls under covered arcades was established in Florence, from where it spread throughout Italy. Examples of the earliest open loggias include: Mercato Nuovo (1547) by Giovanni Battista del Tasso (and funded by the Medici family); Mercato Vecchio, Florence by Giorgio Vasari (1567) and Loggia del Grano (1619) by Giulio Parigi.[10]

Arcades soon spread across Europe, North America and the antipodes. Examples of these grand shopping arcades include:

Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert in Brussels which was inaugurated in 1847 and Istanbul's Çiçek Pasajı opened in 1870. Shopping arcades were the precursor to the modern shopping mall, and the word "arcade" is now often used for malls which do not use the architectural form at all.[citation needed
]

The Palais-Royal, which opened in 1784 and became one of the most important marketplaces in Paris, is generally regarded as the earliest example of the grand shopping arcades.[13] Originally, a royal palace, the complex consisted of gardens, shops and entertainment venues situated under the original colonnades. The area boasted some 145 boutiques, cafés, salons, hair salons, bookshops, museums, and numerous refreshment kiosks as well as two theatres. The retail outlets specialised in luxury goods such as fine jewellery, furs, paintings and furniture designed to appeal to the wealthy elite. Retailers operating out of the Palais complex were among the first in Europe to abandon the system of bartering, and adopt fixed-prices thereby sparing their clientele the hassle of bartering. Stores were fitted with long glass exterior windows which allowed the emerging middle-classes to window shop and indulge in fantasies, even when they may not have been able to afford the high retail prices. Thus, the Palais-Royal became one of the first examples of a new style of shopping arcade, frequented by both the aristocracy and the middle classes. It developed a reputation as being a site of sophisticated conversation, revolving around the salons, cafés, and bookshops, but also became a place frequented by off-duty soldiers and was a favourite haunt of prostitutes, many of whom rented apartments in the building.[14]

One of the earliest British examples of a shopping arcade, the Covered Market, Oxford, England was officially opened on 1 November 1774 and is still active today. The Covered Market was started in response to a general wish to clear "untidy, messy and unsavoury stalls" from the main streets of central Oxford. John Gwynn, the architect of Magdalen Bridge, drew up the plans and designed the High Street front with its four entrances. In 1772, the newly formed Market committee, half of whose members came from the town and half from the university, accepted an estimate of nine hundred and sixteen pounds ten shillings, for the building of twenty butchers' shops. Twenty more soon followed, and after 1773 meat was allowed to be sold only inside the market. From this nucleus the market grew, with stalls for garden produce, pig meat, dairy products and fish.[citation needed]

Bartolomeo Rastrelli, but that subsequently was discarded in favour of a less expensive and more functional Neoclassical design submitted by Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe (1729–1800).[citation needed
]

Throughout the following century, Gostiny Dvor was augmented, resulting in ten indoor streets and as many as 178 shops by the 20th century. During the post-World War II reconstructions, its inner walls were demolished and a huge shopping mall came into being. This massive 18th-century structure got a face-lift recently and entered the 21st century as one of the most fashionable shopping centres in Eastern Europe.[15]

An early French arcade is the Passage du Caire created in 1798 as a tribute to the French campaign in Egypt and Syria. It was appreciated by the public for its protection from the weather, noise and filth of the streets.[16] A year later American architect William Thayer created the Passage des Panoramas with a row of shops passing between two panorama paintings. Shopping arcades increasingly were built in the second Bourbon Restoration.[17] Upper levels of arcades often contained apartments[18] and sometimes brothels.[19]

  • Inside the Covered Market, Oxford, England. Curved roof trusses imitate the form of a stone arcade.
    Inside the Covered Market,
    roof trusses
    imitate the form of a stone arcade.
  • Royal Arcade in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, opened 1870
    Royal Arcade in
    Melbourne, Victoria
    , Australia, opened 1870
  • The Cleveland Arcade in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, built 1890
    The
    Cleveland, Ohio
    , United States, built 1890
  • The Passage des Panoramas, Paris, France
    The Passage des Panoramas, Paris, France
  • The Párizsi udvar in Budapest
    The Párizsi udvar in Budapest
  • An orientalist painting of a bazaar arcade in Istanbul in 1840, showing longitudinal and traverse arcades
    An orientalist painting of a bazaar arcade in Istanbul in 1840, showing longitudinal and traverse arcades

Notable arcades

Religious buildings

Shopping "arcades"

Gallery

  • Arcade of Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, Bologna, Italy. 2016
    Arcade of Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, Bologna, Italy. 2016
  • Arcades inside the Bonne-Espérance Abbey.
    Arcades inside the Bonne-Espérance Abbey.
  • Courtyard of the Great Mosque of Damascus
    Courtyard of the
    Great Mosque of Damascus

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arcades.

References

  1. ^ James Bettley and Nikolaus Pevsner (2007), Essex. The buildings of England, Yale University Press, page 865
  2. ^ William Chambers (1973), Chambers's encyclopaedia, Volume 1, International Learning Systems Corp, p. 534
  3. ^
  4. ^ New Oxford American Dictionary
  5. ^ "arcature". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. "1. a small arcade (as in a balustrade). 2. a blind arcade, especially one that is decorative rather than structural."
  6. ^ Lockwood, Luke Vincent (1913). The Furniture Collectors' Glossary. Walpole Society. ARCATURE . — A small arcade formed by a series of little arches. It may be blind or open.
  7. ISBN 9782905118219
    .
  8. ^ Mitchell, I., Tradition and Innovation in English Retailing, 1700 to 1850, Routledge, Oxon, p. 140
  9. ^ Byrne-Paquet, L., The Urge to Splurge: A Social History of Shopping, ECW Press, Toronto, Canada, pp. 92–95
  10. ^ Pevsner, N., A History of Building Types, Princeton University Press, 1979, p. 235; Goy, R.J., Florence: A Walking Guide to Its Architecture, Yale University Press, 2015; Codini, E.K. (ed), Architettura a Pisa nel Primo Periodo Mediceo, Gangemi, 2003, p.213
  11. ^ Sassatelli, R., Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics, Sage, 2007, p. 27; Although the author specifically names Piccadilly Arcade, it is possible that she intended Burlington Arcade in Piccadilly.
  12. ^ "Part 1: 1880-1913". arcade. 2019-02-22. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  13. ^ Mitchell, I., Tradition and Innovation in English Retailing, 1700 to 1850, Routledge, Oxon, p. 140
  14. ^ Byrne-Paquet, L., The Urge to Splurge: A Social History of Shopping, ECW Press, Toronto, Canada, pp. 90–93
  15. ^ Bogdanov, I.A. , Bolshoi Gostiny dvor v Peterburge. SPb, 2001
  16. ^ p. 174 Desmons, Gilles Walking Paris New Holland Publishers, 2008
  17. ^ p. 386 Ayers, Andrew The Architecture of Paris: An Architectural Guide Edition Axel Menges, 2004
  18. ^ p. 32 Benjamin, Walter & Tiedemann, Rolf The Arcades Project Harvard University Press, 1999
  19. ^ p. 88 Rabaté, Jean-Michel Given: 10 Art 20 Crime : Modernity, Murder and Mass Culture Sussex Academic Press, 2007
  20. ^ "Market Arcade". Visit Buffalo Niagara. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  21. ^ Sommer, Mark (18 February 2017). "European-like Market Arcade is a 'show stopper'". Buffalo News. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
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