The Birth of Style
Art Nouveau architecture (from the French moderne, meaning modern) is also known as:
- Art Nouveau in France and Belgium,
- Jugendstil in Germany,
- Sezessionstil in Austria,
- Liberty in Italy,
- Modernismo in Spain.
Around the 1880s and 1890s, architects and artists sought to develop a new style that would express the spirit of the new era—the era of electricity, steel, speed, and psychoanalysis.
The birth of the style is often associated with Belgium, where in 1893, architect Victor Horta built the Hôtel Tassel in Brussels.
This house was the first to openly use metal structures resembling plant stems and the «whiplash» (ligne coup de fouet)—a dynamic, asymmetrical line that became the hallmark of Art Nouveau.
The idea was to create a synthesis of the arts: architecture, furniture, stained glass, wrought iron grilles, and murals worked together as a single entity.
Content:
Design features of the Art Nouveau style in architecture
A rejection of symmetry. Facades become asymmetrical, windows have different shapes and rhythms, and bay windows «grow» from the walls like mushrooms.
Frame system. Art Nouveau was the first in history to make metal a decorative rather than a hidden element. Cast iron and steel columns in shops and train stations lose their heaviness, transforming into branching trees.
«Breathing» facades. The wall ceases to be a blank panel. It seems to be broken by huge display windows (in retail buildings) or narrow ribbon windows, creating a play of light and shadow.
Organic roof form. Flat roofs give way to high, often concave or domed roofs, reminiscent of mushroom caps or waves.
Decorative features of Art Nouveau in architecture
The «whiplash» line. The main motif is a curving stem, a pulsating line that thickens and thins. It can be made of stone, wrought iron, stucco, or mosaic.
Natural ornamentation. No acanthus or palmettes from classical design. Only stylized water lilies, irises, dragonflies, peacock feathers, and female figures with flowing hair. Images of owls and bats often accompanied door decorations, symbolizing wise guardians of the night.
Majolica and glazed brick.
These materials, favored by Art Nouveau architects, made it possible to achieve bright, iridescent surfaces with an iridescent effect (Louis Tiffany’s rainbow glass).
Masks and female heads. Pediments and keystones are often topped with a female head with flowing strands of hair—a symbol of the sensual nature of the style.
The interior is an extension of the façade. The staircases curve, the door handles are molded to resemble plants, and the stained-glass windows of opaque glass (opaline) create a mysterious light.
The Geography of Art Nouveau Architecture
Russia: Moscow Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau found many admirers in Moscow.
There are early (decorative), late (rational), and neo-Russian variations.
Lev Kekushev is a master of elegant, «Brussels» Art Nouveau with an abundance of stucco and female masks.
The Mindovskaya Mansion (44 Povarskaya St., 1903) is an exquisite asymmetrical structure with a huge bay window and a bas-relief of a girl with poppies on the pediment.
Lev Kekushev’s private home (21 Ostozhenka St., 1901) features a huge lion sculpture on the mezzanine of the corner building («house under the lion»), a reference to the architect’s name, «Lev,» and is crowned with an elegant lantern turret.
Fyodor Shekhtel was a genius of symbolism and rational form.
The Ryabushinsky Mansion (6 Malaya Nikitskaya Street, 1903) is the pinnacle of Moscow Art Nouveau. Its undulating balcony, the «Dragonfly» mosaic designed by Vrubel, and the famous wave-shaped staircase in the lobby.
Yaroslavsky Station (1904) is a synthesis of Art Nouveau and Old Russian architecture: a northern fairytale tower with a carved white stone band.
Spain: Catalan Modernism and the Architect Antoni Gaudí
Spanish Art Nouveau is inextricably linked with Barcelona and the genius of Antoni Gaudí. His architecture transcends style, creating organic forms without right angles.
Casa Batlló (1906) — «House of Bones»: the façade resembles dragon scales, the balconies resemble skulls, and the roof resembles a dragon’s back.
Park Güell (1914) — a garden city with the famous «Hall of a Hundred Columns» and a winding serpentine bench covered in trenadis (broken tile) mosaics.
Casa Milà (1910) — «Quarry»: an undulating gray façade without a single straight line, with iron grilles resembling seaweed.
The famous Sagrada Familia, seemingly carved from sea foam, is a fusion of Gothic and Art Nouveau. At the time of writing, the cathedral is not yet completed, but it already impresses with the grandeur of its design.
Riga (Latvia)
Riga is rightly called the capital of Art Nouveau in Europe: it is home to approximately 800 buildings in this style, primarily on Alberta and Elizabetes Streets.
Mikhail Eisenstein (father of the famous director) created buildings in the expressive, «flamboyant» Art Nouveau style.
The building at 2a Alberta Street (1906) features pheasants, lion masks, blue majolica inlays, huge bay windows, and an abundance of stucco decoration.
8 Alberta Street (1903) features a blue and white façade with relief gorgon heads and female mascarons.
The House with the Green Frog (4a Strelnieku Street) features a figurine of a frog drinking beer on the corner (a humorous symbol of the homeowner).
Eizens Laube, a master of Latvian national romanticism, used rough granite and folk epic motifs (house at 11 Alberta Street).
Germany: Modernist architecture in Munich and Darmstadt
In Germany, Art Nouveau was distinguished by its graphic and straightforward style.
Munich. August Endel and Richard Riemerschmid worked here.
The facade of the Elvira photo studio (1906, August Endel) is a dynamic relief with seahorses in red and turquoise.
The interior of the theater workshop house (1900, Riemerschmid) is an example of expressive Art Nouveau with floral motifs and curved metal structures.
Darmstadt.The artists’ colony on Mathildenhöhe (1899–1901) was an experiment of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig.
The Wedding Tower (1908, designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich) features the hand of a wedding couple, clutching rings, raised into the sky like a concrete candle. One of the world’s first purely concrete structures.
The Ernst Ludwig House (1900, Olbrich) features austere cubes with a flat roof, but with a vibrant mosaic of «The Prince and the Frog.»
Prague (Czech Republic)
Czech Art Nouveau (Secession) is characterized by its picturesqueness and love of color.
The Central Hotel (Hibernská 15, 1899, architects Benedikt Procházka and Alfons Wertmüller) is famous for its «Dantzing» sculpture group on the cornice and its majolica frieze with female figures symbolizing crafts.
The Municipal House (1905–1912, architects Osvald Polivka and Antonín Balšánek) is a major masterpiece of Prague Art Nouveau. Above the entrance is a mosaic titled «Adoration of Prague,» and inside are stained glass windows, murals, and sculptures.
Smetanka Embankment (Masarykovo nábřeží). Here you will find the House of the Merchant Petřík (No. 22, 1902, architect Robert Göšl) with a shell-shaped bay window and bas-reliefs of birds, as well as the House of Slavia (No. 4, 1904) with a giant sculpture of a girl sitting on a wave.
Budapest (Hungary)
Hungarian Art Nouveau (Secession) is a riot of color and oriental motifs, elevated to the absolute by the work of Ödön Lechner (the «Hungarian Gaudi»).
The Institute of Geology (1896–1899, Lechner) — the façade is covered with golden majolica tiles with flowers and leaves reminiscent of the embroidery of Kalmyk and Hungarian costumes. The dome resembles a hill covered with petal-shaped tiles.
Török Bank (now the Museum of Applied Arts) (1893–1896, Lechner) — a green dome with peacock eyes, forged flowers.
The school at 10 Városliget Street (1910, Lechner) — a combination of red brick and green majolica tiles, bas-reliefs with children’s games.
The post office at 10 Városliget Street Hold (Royal Post Office) (1903, designed by Samuel Petz) — blue and yellow majolica, eye-shaped windows.
Glasgow (United Kingdom)
Scottish Art Nouveau gave the world the unique style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret Macdonald. Their style is tall, vertical, and mystical, anticipating Art Deco.
The Glasgow School of Art (1897–1909) is an iconic building: its emphasis on purity of line, proportion, and the expressiveness of the forms themselves. Various influences are evident in the details: motifs of Scottish fortified towers, as well as echoes of Japanese art and elements the architect encountered during his travels in England.
The Willow Tea Rooms (1903) feature interiors with high ladder chairs, white geometric panels, and leaded glass inserts with rosebuds.
Hill House (1902) is an austere Scottish building on the outside, but inside, Macdonald’s black-and-white graphics and flying figures in fireplace niches.
Italy: Turin and Rome
The Italian Stile Liberty (named after the London store Liberty & Co) was exuberant and colorful.
Turin is the capital of Italian Art Nouveau thanks to the 1902 World’s Fair.
Villa Scott (1902, architect Pietro Fenoglio) – an abundance of plant forms, loggias, bay windows, stained glass, and floral decor.
Rome. Here, Art Nouveau is more restrained and monumental.
The Palace of Justice (neoclassical, but with Liberty elements) and the Galleria Coccia (1910, architect Carlo Bussiri de’ Vici) – an arched passageway with mosaics and wrought iron.
Brussels (Belgium)
The cradle of Art Nouveau, home to masterpieces by Victor Horta and Paul Ancart.
The façade of the Chemiserie Niguet store (1899, Paul Ancart) is entirely composed of concave glass and cast iron with a floral motif.
The Solvay House (1898, Horta)—the architect balanced order, austerity, and organic, «living» forms.
The Tassel Mansion (1893, Horta) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A glass liana staircase sits at the center of the building.
The Hotel van Eetvelde (1897, Horta)—now the Horta Museum—is home to the original calla lily-shaped door handles.
France (Nancy and Paris)
France gave the world the «Ecole de Nancy» and the Parisian metro entrances.
Paris:
The metro entrances (1900, architect Hector Guimard) feature green cast-iron «seaweed» and «dragonflies,» which have become symbols of Paris (they remain at Porte Dauphine and Abbesses stations).
The Samaritaine department store (1928, architect Henri Sauvage) features a plastic, sculptural façade that contrasts with earlier department store buildings designed by Franz Jourdain.
The Castel Béranger building (1898, Guimard) is the first apartment building in Paris with an asymmetrical façade and orchid-shaped bay windows.
Nancy: Capital of the «Club des Six» (Armand Vallin, Émile Gallé, and others).
Villa Majorelle (1902, Henri Sauvage) features a soft green façade with pergolas and a wisteria-inspired interior.
The Excelsior Brasserie (1910) features a huge display case with a metal frame and a mosaic depicting the Four Seasons.
USA: New York and Chicago
The American version of Art Nouveau is called the Tiffany style and the Prairie style (Frank Lloyd Wright).
New York:
Decker Building (1893) – Moorish Revival motifs and Venetian elements.
Chicago: Wright created his «Prairie houses» here.
Winslow House (1893) – horizontal facade, wide cornices, balanced front facade contrasts with the dynamic rear.
Robie House (1910) – an absolute masterpiece: the building as a set of horizontal planes, hidden gutters, concrete ornamentation.
Finland: Helsinki
Finland’s National Romanticism is a severe Art Nouveau style made of granite and copper.
Helsinki Station (1909, architect Eliel Saarinen) is a granite giant with two pairs of Atlantean statues holding crystal lamps.
Pohjola Insurance House (1901, Saarinen, Lindgren, Gesellius) features a roughly hewn stone façade with reliefs of Kalevala monsters and copper scale-like shutters.
Atenaeum Museum (1887, but decorated in Art Nouveau) and Eira House (the courtyard of a residential building on Luotsu Street, 1908).
Portugal: Aveiro and Porto
Portuguese Art Nouveau is joyful, ceramic-inspired, and strongly influenced by Portuguese azolejos (tiles).
Aveiro (called the «Venice of Portugal»):
Museu de Arte Nova (1907) – the façade is decorated with stone carvings with floral motifs and wrought iron elements; the interior retains stained glass windows, wood trim, and a spiral staircase.
Porto:
Galerias Palladium (1921) – the façade’s signature feature is a mechanical clock with moving figurines of historical figures.
Café Majestic (1921) – Art Nouveau interior with leather sofas and elegant lamps.
Art Nouveau architecture in paintings by contemporary artists
On our website, you can purchase cityscapes featuring Art Nouveau mansions by artist Nadezhda Tsvetkova.
She has participated in Russian and international exhibitions.
The photograph shows a wonderful summer landscape, a watercolor painting titled «O. List’s Mansion in the Arbat Alleys.»