It is woven and conditioned into our imaginations that “different” is synonymous with the “new.” To be unique requires no precedent. The field of architecture is no different in that respect – architectural movements and schools have continuously evolved, changed, and been invented because architects prefer to leave their mark and remove themselves from the mundane. That is precisely why neoclassical architecture stands in stark counterpoint. As the name of it suggests, it embraces the tried; the true; the old. The neoclassical style of architecture was conceived as a direct response to its disenchantment with the “new”, particularly Rococo and Baroque architecture that enjoyed popularity in the early 18th century when the neoclassical period began to gather its momentum.
The Rococo movement focused particular attention to the interior design of buildings and developed in France in the early 18th century. The Rococo style sought to display individual rooms as art itself, and consequently paintings were prevalent and furniture was intentionally highlighted as its own lavish form of art. As one would expect, Rococo style signified wealth and status as it was the monarch of France who initially embraced the style in its nascent stages. The end of Rococo style however came, not coincidentally, with the increased disenchantment with the French monarchs superficiality and excess. In a sense, the style embodied this excess alongside the institution of the Crown itself.
Similarly, the Baroque style was inextricably intertwined with another powerful European institution that became challenged in the 18th-19th century: the Catholic Church. Originating in Italy, the Baroque style can still be seen standing in many cathedrals and Churches in Europe. In short, Baroque was an attempt by the Church to combine modesty with assertion; a strange combination of humble imagery to appeal to the common person is characteristic of buildings in Baroque style , yet it maintains the opulent and extravagant elements (e.g. staircases, large paintings, ornaments) that made the Church so imposing. Builders in France, Spain, Latin America, and England found individual permutations and combinations between extravagant holy splendor and humble appeal, so the Baroque was never a uniform school. However, subscribers of neoclassicism rejected it because it remained a degeneracy in art and excessive in design.
As a result, the neoclassical movement focused on ‘less being more.’ In doing so, they harked back to classical Greek and Roman societies, who had accomplished much with much fewer resources and technology than the schools contemporaries. Neoclassical period was a return to a distant world: one that while simple, was effective and imposing. Symmetry, columns, and domed roofs were characteristic of neoclassical architecture. Neoclassical architecture became predominant as a movement that today it is categorized as “traditional architecture.”