The construction of Cologne Cathedral, the largest Gothic cathedral, lasted from 1248 to 1880, i.e. 632 years. An interesting detail: around 1360, a crane made of oak wood was erected to build the towers. Around 1410, construction of the towers was stopped due to a lack of funds. The construction crane remained on the tower and was not dismantled until 1868. Not only was the construction quality very good, even the construction machinery has survived 500 years.
That is pretty incredible, to say the least. Of course the wood used to build the crane was old growth timber. I don't know what the climate really is in Cologne, but it seems to have a fairly high humidity being on the Rhine, and seeing less sunny days than any other German city. The fact that the crane survived so long in a humid, exterior environment is stunning in itself. Now you would be doing good to get the same material to last 100 years outdoors without constant maintenance !
Where have you been all of my life! I consider myself a craftsman (with multiple grad degrees), and while everything I’ve built has been mechanically sound, high quality, and long lasting, every house has been somewhere between average and ugly. After binge watching your channel and buying and reading a half dozen books you recommend, I now understand. I feel blinders have been removed, and now understand architectural beauty is (widely) contained in mathematics….something I do understand. I even just took a weekend in Williamsburg and Yorktown to see for myself what a classic house should look like. I thought I was retired…now I think I have one or two more builds in me. Such is the impact of your teaching.
Fun fact: those old churches were designed from the roof down. For example the hammer beam trusses were the best looking but are one of the weakest trusses they built at the time- therefore they needed the flying buttresses. And the bell towers were built with so much attention to detail, its amazing. Thanks for the videos Brent 🍻
Loved some of the Brentisms anout the bad: Xerox of a xerox of a xerox. Building inside out. Use them [design elements] like stickers. The built environment matters and we are slowly eroding everything around us. Our residential neighborhoods, public spaces... no one is going to look back to our time and celebrate what we have done. It is tragic. Thank you for continuing to shine a bright light on this subject!
When asking "what happened?" I really think the answer is top down. The universities don't produce classical architects, and so the architects don't produce public beauty to reference, or pattern books, house plans, and building products for builders to source from. That void is filled by Home Depot. Because builders' standards are lower, so then are home buyers. I really think we can fix the problem by reforming things higher up the cascade.
I also think we can work bottom up. Be the sucker that builds the best house in the neighborhood. We live in a "I want that too" society, and when people see something different, that's beautiful, they will try to figure out how they can have it too. People don't know what they want until they see it, and we just need people to bite the bullet and build beautiful houses despite the fact that it's not the best "return on investment". Do it for the love of craft.
Precisely. We need both top-down (institutional) _and_ bottom-up (grassroots) movement back toward these traditional styles and attention to beauty. The Aesthetic City (a channel here on RUclips) has recently released a video chronicling what went wrong in schools of architecture, but also shining light on some schools of architecture that have returned to teaching classical and traditional styles. Notre Dame is one, The Catholic University of America is another, and Benedictine College is yet another; but he also mentioned Utah Valley University and the Miami School of Architecture. It's pobably not a coincidence that most of them are Catholic schools, but they're graduates (especially out of Notre Dame) are in extremely high demand because they're trained they way they ought to be. A team of students from Notre Dame even designed one of the first blocks of the new Dutch town of Brandevoort, which was designed according to old styles and old city planning techniques. It is incredibly beautiful and looks like a genuinely old city that has been very well kept. (Sadly, the ruling delegation hasn't learned a single blessed thing from all their successes and so, for the newest planned block, they have opted for a WEF-approved, "futuristic" surveillance state hellscape.)
I'm very far from religious but I love gothic and gothic revival churches. So beautiful. Really appreciate you educating us on what makes them beautiful. Keep up the great work!
In 1975 the church that my family was active in merged with another church. The plan was to sell the two church buildings and build a new church halfway between. Plans for a very traditional looking New England style building were drawn and the cost would have been a stretch but one we could meet. Then the town looked at the plans and figured that a building that could seat that many people would need a septic system, ( no city sewer yet ) large enough that at maximum capacity everyone could flush the water closet. The new estimate for the septic system was about six times what a reasonable system would have cost everything was put on hold for almost ten years.
I love Gothic and Gothic Revival architecture. It's probably my favorite. I especially love the fan vaults that originated in ans are unique to England. They're truly spectacular.
There may have been a responsibility to the neighborhood or community to build something that improved the society, but for the last ~40yrs, 'we' (some groups/people) have been telling us that we individuals are all that matter. Current US society has moved to the 'me' and away from the 'we', and this is another result. Ugly, but functional (mostly) buildings. Just my opinion of part of the reason we are where we are.
Beautifully stated. It's really interesting the consequences of designing from the inside out. I think some of the most beautiful homes are the colonial era homes in Pennsylvania. There is beauty in simplicity!
Falls Church Anglican near D.C. in Virginia is a perfect analog to the modern church cited in the video. Reads “church,” but in the most half-hearted way-its spirit seems to derive mainly from the generic office building to which it is connected. A historicist “machine for praying,” and a broken one at that. Makes me sad, and I’m not even a churchgoer.
Great video and you mention ideas that folks RARELY consider. I have a question and don't see any info in your bio. Were you originally working in the Boston area? The reason I ask is, I found your channel shortly before my son Colin went to heaven. He was formerly (he was ill for quite some time) an historical finisher in the greater Boston area (mainly south/west Dedham, Needham, Newton, Dover, etc). He worked on many fine Victorian homes. He was part of the Junior League of Boston Designers in that he was not a joined member, but worked on homes that were presented. Anyway, I 'thought' I heard him talk about you. He was also a wealth of information in New England historic building. I will give you more information if you remember a young man named Colin (my last name of course). Thank you kindly. ❤
Thanks, I was in Boston for 2 years, 91-93 at North Bennett St. School. I wasn't working out in the community. I was in my late 20's. Thanks for sharing.
Brent just discovered your site, well done. As a current restorer and maintainer of a 1880’s gothic revival I can attest to your discussion, lancet windows and trifolds. When you look up it is way up, the closer you get to the home and look up the taller it seems.
Our church built in 1924 is late gothic revival. It is impressive to see the entrance towers high above you. And seeing the stained-glass windows glow is amazing. Have you ever heard of church architect William C Jones of Chicago? He did our church, is there a way I can send you some pictures to get your opinion of some of the architecture?
Excellent video , as always Brent. I think you would very much enjoy visiting the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus In Knoxville, TN. It is a beautiful Church built in 2018, but it looks like it was built in 1918, or even older. It draws heavy inspiration from the Cathedral of St. Mary the Flower in Florence, Italy. Thanks again!
@@BrentHull Great vid Thx! A fast growing town in the county has a new Catholic Church. You know how the locations of: Govt building, Mason's Hall, and R.C. Church form a triangle normally. When I map it there is no pyramid formed (that I could find). Maybe the other buildings will follow. If that layout is even followed today? 🤔
Don’t overlook Collegiate Gothic, where the asymmetry is a benefit… and allows you to build from the inside out. One of the best unknown architects of that type was James Oscar Betelle. Gothic churches are often symmetrical, but Collegiate Gothic was, according to Betelle, perfect for its ability to contain subject specific size and shape school rooms in a pleasing and asymmetrical format. Sure enough, visit the true medieval colleges of Cambridge and Oxford, you will see they were built over time and were not symmetrical like cathedrals. Betelle’s best work was Columbia High School in Maplewood NJ which is not only Gothic, it is vaguely Deco as well. Sure enough Collegiate Gothic was applied “as stickers” to flat roofed, cost-engineered, 1920’s school building as well but Betelle did it right.
The 1939 house I'm has 2 stories and was designed inside-out. There's a logic to it and an overall usefulness to it inside, even though it's nothing like how new homes are designed. This does mean that yes, windows on the sides in particular do appear placed somewhat randomly.
WOW outstanding video of yours 😁. Hopefully people in the trades and aspiring architects learn from you. My husband and I know two true craftsman who do impeccable work. That being said they don't have 1/4 of your knowledge. You're a rarity in the world of a truly knowledge builder / craftsman. Our lower building standards are brought on by greed and laziness. We're in an era where a handyman is called a carpenter. They are able to hide many building flaws with modern materials. True European craftsmanship is rare in the USA. Thank you for your integrity. A person's word should be meaningful, yours definitely is. My husband and I thank you again for sharing your outstanding videos. God bless 🙏
Brent, many of the traditional barns in this country also tell a story and are structures of beauty. However, along your thinking we can observe the same deterioration of the story as with the passage of time. As the tradition of building has become commodified all the beauty and meaning has been eliminated. Or so I am thinking.
The problem isn't that people have no taste in choosing the appearance of their dwellings, it's that we are confronted with the stark reality of what we can afford to spend on our dwelling. I'm sure if you were to ask anyone how they would like their homes to look, and what materials they would choose to build their home from, that they would choose what you are talking about over one of the cookie cutter subdivision houses everyone winds up in. It's not a mystery why we don't build homes like we did in the pre-war era, its because the majority of us can not afford to build a home like that. The labor alone would be more than the total cost of one of these boxes we live in today !
I’ve always been curious as to how Gothic design was developed? Do they have any foundation on the classical designs and proportions or do they have a different set of rules that is followed?
You really found a great example with that modern take on the gothic church. I wouldn't have looked twice before, but after this series it feels like an abomination.
A church made of glass is a mistake. The parishioner must enter the church and move towards the altar from the shadow to the light. Windows at the entrance is an error. The church "tells" the parishioner biblical stories, but they are not on the windows.
The construction of Cologne Cathedral, the largest Gothic cathedral, lasted from 1248 to 1880, i.e. 632 years. An interesting detail: around 1360, a crane made of oak wood was erected to build the towers. Around 1410, construction of the towers was stopped due to a lack of funds. The construction crane remained on the tower and was not dismantled until 1868. Not only was the construction quality very good, even the construction machinery has survived 500 years.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
That is pretty incredible, to say the least. Of course the wood used to build the crane was old growth timber. I don't know what the climate really is in Cologne, but it seems to have a fairly high humidity being on the Rhine, and seeing less sunny days than any other German city. The fact that the crane survived so long in a humid, exterior environment is stunning in itself. Now you would be doing good to get the same material to last 100 years outdoors without constant maintenance !
Where have you been all of my life! I consider myself a craftsman (with multiple grad degrees), and while everything I’ve built has been mechanically sound, high quality, and long lasting, every house has been somewhere between average and ugly. After binge watching your channel and buying and reading a half dozen books you recommend, I now understand. I feel blinders have been removed, and now understand architectural beauty is (widely) contained in mathematics….something I do understand. I even just took a weekend in Williamsburg and Yorktown to see for myself what a classic house should look like. I thought I was retired…now I think I have one or two more builds in me.
Such is the impact of your teaching.
Wow, I'm so glad to hear it. Makes my day. Have fun!
Fun fact: those old churches were designed from the roof down. For example the hammer beam trusses were the best looking but are one of the weakest trusses they built at the time- therefore they needed the flying buttresses. And the bell towers were built with so much attention to detail, its amazing. Thanks for the videos Brent 🍻
Nice. thanks for sharing.
the concern for the golden-ratio has been replaced by the concern for the ratio of gold...
Well said. Thx.
And we know what the Apostle Paul said about "the love of money." It's the root to all kinds of evil.
Loved some of the Brentisms anout the bad:
Xerox of a xerox of a xerox.
Building inside out.
Use them [design elements] like stickers.
The built environment matters and we are slowly eroding everything around us. Our residential neighborhoods, public spaces... no one is going to look back to our time and celebrate what we have done.
It is tragic.
Thank you for continuing to shine a bright light on this subject!
Thx for watching.
When asking "what happened?" I really think the answer is top down. The universities don't produce classical architects, and so the architects don't produce public beauty to reference, or pattern books, house plans, and building products for builders to source from. That void is filled by Home Depot. Because builders' standards are lower, so then are home buyers.
I really think we can fix the problem by reforming things higher up the cascade.
I love it. Yes, lets start.
I also think we can work bottom up. Be the sucker that builds the best house in the neighborhood. We live in a "I want that too" society, and when people see something different, that's beautiful, they will try to figure out how they can have it too. People don't know what they want until they see it, and we just need people to bite the bullet and build beautiful houses despite the fact that it's not the best "return on investment". Do it for the love of craft.
Natural beauty has been rejected.
Precisely. We need both top-down (institutional) _and_ bottom-up (grassroots) movement back toward these traditional styles and attention to beauty.
The Aesthetic City (a channel here on RUclips) has recently released a video chronicling what went wrong in schools of architecture, but also shining light on some schools of architecture that have returned to teaching classical and traditional styles. Notre Dame is one, The Catholic University of America is another, and Benedictine College is yet another; but he also mentioned Utah Valley University and the Miami School of Architecture.
It's pobably not a coincidence that most of them are Catholic schools, but they're graduates (especially out of Notre Dame) are in extremely high demand because they're trained they way they ought to be. A team of students from Notre Dame even designed one of the first blocks of the new Dutch town of Brandevoort, which was designed according to old styles and old city planning techniques. It is incredibly beautiful and looks like a genuinely old city that has been very well kept. (Sadly, the ruling delegation hasn't learned a single blessed thing from all their successes and so, for the newest planned block, they have opted for a WEF-approved, "futuristic" surveillance state hellscape.)
I'm very far from religious but I love gothic and gothic revival churches. So beautiful. Really appreciate you educating us on what makes them beautiful. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for watching. Cheers.
Awesome series, really informative, Loving the content. That church is incredible!! So intricate, wow.
Agreed. Thx.
In 1975 the church that my family was active in merged with another church. The plan was to sell the two church buildings and build a new church halfway between. Plans for a very traditional looking New England style building were drawn and the cost would have been a stretch but one we could meet. Then the town looked at the plans and figured that a building that could seat that many people would need a septic system, ( no city sewer yet ) large enough that at maximum capacity everyone could flush the water closet. The new estimate for the septic system was about six times what a reasonable system would have cost everything was put on hold for almost ten years.
Thanks for sharing.
I love Gothic and Gothic Revival architecture. It's probably my favorite. I especially love the fan vaults that originated in ans are unique to England. They're truly spectacular.
agreed. Thx.
There may have been a responsibility to the neighborhood or community to build something that improved the society, but for the last ~40yrs, 'we' (some groups/people) have been telling us that we individuals are all that matter. Current US society has moved to the 'me' and away from the 'we', and this is another result. Ugly, but functional (mostly) buildings. Just my opinion of part of the reason we are where we are.
Interesting. Good thoughts. Thanks for sharing.
All planning and design has been about we.
Beautifully stated. It's really interesting the consequences of designing from the inside out. I think some of the most beautiful homes are the colonial era homes in Pennsylvania. There is beauty in simplicity!
I totally agree! Thx.
Falls Church Anglican near D.C. in Virginia is a perfect analog to the modern church cited in the video. Reads “church,” but in the most half-hearted way-its spirit seems to derive mainly from the generic office building to which it is connected. A historicist “machine for praying,” and a broken one at that. Makes me sad, and I’m not even a churchgoer.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing .
Great video and you mention ideas that folks RARELY consider. I have a question and don't see any info in your bio. Were you originally working in the Boston area? The reason I ask is, I found your channel shortly before my son Colin went to heaven. He was formerly (he was ill for quite some time) an historical finisher in the greater Boston area (mainly south/west Dedham, Needham, Newton, Dover, etc). He worked on many fine Victorian homes. He was part of the Junior League of Boston Designers in that he was not a joined member, but worked on homes that were presented. Anyway, I 'thought' I heard him talk about you. He was also a wealth of information in New England historic building. I will give you more information if you remember a young man named Colin (my last name of course). Thank you kindly. ❤
Thanks, I was in Boston for 2 years, 91-93 at North Bennett St. School. I wasn't working out in the community. I was in my late 20's. Thanks for sharing.
@@BrentHull thank you for answering. Colin would have been a child at that time 💕
Brent just discovered your site, well done. As a current restorer and maintainer of a 1880’s gothic revival I can attest to your discussion, lancet windows and trifolds. When you look up it is way up, the closer you get to the home and look up the taller it seems.
Our church built in 1924 is late gothic revival. It is impressive to see the entrance towers high above you. And seeing the stained-glass windows glow is amazing. Have you ever heard of church architect William C Jones of Chicago? He did our church, is there a way I can send you some pictures to get your opinion of some of the architecture?
Sure. sounds good. Info@brenthull.com Thx
Excellent video , as always Brent.
I think you would very much enjoy visiting the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus In Knoxville, TN. It is a beautiful Church built in 2018, but it looks like it was built in 1918, or even older. It draws heavy inspiration from the Cathedral of St. Mary the Flower in Florence, Italy.
Thanks again!
Thx for sharing. I find the catholic churches are unique today in that they are still built with the same reverence and care as you noted.
@@BrentHull Great vid Thx!
A fast growing town in the county has a new Catholic Church.
You know how the locations of: Govt building, Mason's Hall, and R.C. Church form a triangle normally. When I map it there is no pyramid formed (that I could find). Maybe the other buildings will follow. If that layout is even followed today? 🤔
Don’t overlook Collegiate Gothic, where the asymmetry is a benefit… and allows you to build from the inside out. One of the best unknown architects of that type was James Oscar Betelle. Gothic churches are often symmetrical, but Collegiate Gothic was, according to Betelle, perfect for its ability to contain subject specific size and shape school rooms in a pleasing and asymmetrical format. Sure enough, visit the true medieval colleges of Cambridge and Oxford, you will see they were built over time and were not symmetrical like cathedrals. Betelle’s best work was Columbia High School in Maplewood NJ which is not only Gothic, it is vaguely Deco as well. Sure enough Collegiate Gothic was applied “as stickers” to flat roofed, cost-engineered, 1920’s school building as well but Betelle did it right.
Also James Gamble Rogers, excellent architect that made a genius use of gothic.
Thanks for sharing. I'll check him out.
i will be reaching out in a few years when i start my house
Sounds good. Thx.
The 1939 house I'm has 2 stories and was designed inside-out. There's a logic to it and an overall usefulness to it inside, even though it's nothing like how new homes are designed. This does mean that yes, windows on the sides in particular do appear placed somewhat randomly.
Ok. Thanks for confirming.
WOW outstanding video of yours 😁. Hopefully people in the trades and aspiring architects learn from you. My husband and I know two true craftsman who do impeccable work. That being said they don't have 1/4 of your knowledge.
You're a rarity in the world of a truly knowledge builder / craftsman.
Our lower building standards are brought on by greed and laziness. We're in an era where a handyman is called a carpenter. They are able to hide many building flaws with modern materials.
True European craftsmanship is rare in the USA.
Thank you for your integrity. A person's word should be meaningful, yours definitely is.
My husband and I thank you again for sharing your outstanding videos. God bless 🙏
Thanks for sharing.
Brent, many of the traditional barns in this country also tell a story and are structures of beauty. However, along your thinking we can observe the same deterioration of the story as with the passage of time. As the tradition of building has become commodified all the beauty and meaning has been eliminated. Or so I am thinking.
Yes, 100%. We've gone from great barns to metal buildings. Cheaper, faster, uglier.
The problem isn't that people have no taste in choosing the appearance of their dwellings, it's that we are confronted with the stark reality of what we can afford to spend on our dwelling. I'm sure if you were to ask anyone how they would like their homes to look, and what materials they would choose to build their home from, that they would choose what you are talking about over one of the cookie cutter subdivision houses everyone winds up in.
It's not a mystery why we don't build homes like we did in the pre-war era, its because the majority of us can not afford to build a home like that. The labor alone would be more than the total cost of one of these boxes we live in today !
Ok. Thx for sharing.
I’ve always been curious as to how Gothic design was developed? Do they have any foundation on the classical designs and proportions or do they have a different set of rules that is followed?
That is a whole other video, quick answer is yes, there was a proportioning system, religious symmetry as well as math that drove the designs.
You really found a great example with that modern take on the gothic church. I wouldn't have looked twice before, but after this series it feels like an abomination.
Thanks for watching.
A church made of glass is a mistake. The parishioner must enter the church and move towards the altar from the shadow to the light. Windows at the entrance is an error. The church "tells" the parishioner biblical stories, but they are not on the windows.
Thanks for sharing.
Can’t help but think maximising profit is chiefly to blame. Any embellishment or decoration is deemed unnecessary ☹️
Agreed. Thx.
Are colleges still teaching architectural majors stuff like this? Or does this guy need to start his own academy?
Notre Dame and a few others still teach this. It is sadly rare.
Beauty raises your mind to God. Throughout the centuries people put God first. Now people put money firstm
Hmm. Thx