Moorish Revival architecture

Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of the Romanticist fascination with all things oriental. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th century, part of a widening vocabulary of articulated decorative ornament drawn from historical sources beyond familiar classical and Gothic modes.

In Europe
The “Moorish” garden structures built at Sheringham Hall, Norfolk, ca. 1812, were an unusual touch at the time, a parallel to chinoiserie, as a dream vision of fanciful whimsy, not meant to be taken seriously; however, as early as 1826, Edward Blore used Islamic arches, domes of various size and shapes and other details of Near Eastern Islamic architecture to great effect in his design for Alupka Palace in Crimea, a cultural setting that had already been penetrated by authentic Ottoman styles. By the mid-19th century, the style was adopted by the Jews of Central Europe, who associated Moorish and Mudéjar architectural forms with the golden age of Jewry in medieval Muslim Spain. As a consequence, Moorish Revival spread around the globe as a preferred style of synagogue architecture.

In Spain, the country conceived as the place of origin of Moorish ornamentation, the interest in this sort of architecture fluctuated from province to province. The mainstream was called Neo-Mudéjar. In Catalonia, Antoni Gaudí’s profound interest in Mudéjar heritage governed the design of his early works, such as Casa Vicens or Astorga Palace. In Andalusia, the Neo-Mudéjar style gained belated popularity in connection with the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 and was epitomized by Plaza de España (Seville) and Gran Teatro Falla in Cádiz. In Madrid, the Neo-Mudéjar was a characteristic style of housing and public buildings at the turn of the century, while the 1920s return of interest to the style resulted in such buildings as Las Ventas bullring and Diario ABC office. A Spanish nobleman built the Palazzo Sammezzano, one of Europe’s largest and most elaborate Moorish Revival structures, in Tuscany between 1853 and 1889.

Although Carlo Bugatti employed Moorish arcading among the exotic features of his furniture, shown at the 1902 exhibition at Turin, by that time the Moorish Revival was very much on the wane almost everywhere. A notable exceptions were Imperial Russia, where the shell-encrusted Morozov House in Moscow (a stylisation of the Pena National Palace in Sintra), the Neo-Mameluk Dulber palace in Koreiz, and the palace in Likani exemplified the continuing development of the style.

Another exception was Bosnia, where, after its occupation by Austria-Hungary, the new authorities commissioned a range of Neo-Moorish structures. The aim was to promote Bosnian national identity while avoiding its association with either the Ottoman Empire or the growing pan-Slavic movement by creating an “Islamic architecture of European fantasy”. This included application of ornamentations and other Moorish design strategies neither of which had much to do with prior architectural direction of indigenous Bosnian architecture. The central post office in Sarajevo, for example, follows distinct formal characteristics of design like clarity of form, symmetry, and proportion while the interior followed the same doctrine. The National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo is an example of Pseudo Moorish architectural language using decorations and pointed arches while still integrating other formal elements into the design.

In the United States
In the United States, Washington Irving’s fanciful travel sketch, Tales of the Alhambra (1832), first brought Moorish Andalusia into readers’ imaginations; one of the first neo-Moorish structures was Iranistan, a mansion of P. T. Barnum in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Constructed in 1848 and destroyed by fire ten years later, this architectural extravaganza “sprouted bulbous domes and horseshoe arches”. In the 1860s, the style spread across America, with Olana, the painter Frederic Edwin Church’s house overlooking the Hudson River, Castle Garden in Jacksonville and Longwood in Natchez, Mississippi usually cited among the more prominent examples. After the American Civil War, Moorish or Turkish smoking rooms achieved some popularity. There were Moorish details in the interiors created for the Henry Osborne Havemeyer residence on Fifth Avenue by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The 1914 Pittock Mansion in Portland, Oregon incorporates Turkish design features, as well as French, English, and Italian ones; the smoking room in particular has notable Moorish revival elements. In 1937, the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota added unusual minarets and Moorish domes, unusual because the polychrome decorations are made out of corn cobs of various colors assembled like mosaic tiles to create patterns. The 1891 Tampa Bay Hotel, whose minarets and Moorish domes are now the pride of the University of Tampa, was a particularly extravagant example of the style. Other schools with Moorish Revival buildings include Yeshiva University in New York City. George Washington Smith used the style in his design for the 1920s Isham Beach Estate in Santa Barbara, California.

Theaters

In the United States
Alhambra Theatre El Paso, Texas Henry C. Trost 1914
Alhambra Theatre Evansville, Indiana Frank J. Schlotter 1913
Alhambra Theatre Birmingham, Alabama Graven & Maygar 1927
Alhambra Theatre Hopkinsville, Kentucky John Walker 1928
Alhambra Theatre San Francisco, California Miller and Pflueger 1925
Altria Theater Richmond, Virginia Marcellus E. Wright Sr., Charles M. Robinson 1927
Bagdad Theatre Portland, Oregon Thomas & Mercier 1927
The Carpenter Center Richmond, Virginia John Eberson 1928
Civic Theatre Akron, Ohio John Eberson 1929
Emporia Granada Theatre Emporia, Kansas Boller Brothers 1929
Fox Theatre Atlanta, Georgia Mayre, Alger & Vinour 1929
Fox Theatre North Platte, Nebraska Elmer F. Behrens 1929
Granada Theater The Dalles, Oregon William Cutts 1929
Irem Temple Wilkes-Barre, PA Olds, Fred & Puckey, Willard F. 1907
Keith’s Flushing Theater Queens, New York Thomas Lamb 1928
Olympic Theatre Miami, Florida John Eberson 1926
Liberty Theatre North Bend, Oregon Tourtellotte & Hummel 1924
Lincoln Theater Los Angeles, California John Paxton Perrine 1927
Loew’s 72nd Street Theatre New York City Thomas W. Lamb 1932 (dem.)
The Majestic Theatre San Antonio, Texas John Eberson 1929
Mount Baker Theatre Bellingham, Washington Robert Reamer 1927
Music Box Theatre Chicago, Illinois Louis J. Simon 1929
Palace Theatre Canton, Ohio John Eberson 1926
Plaza Theatre El Paso, Texas W. Scott Donne 1930
Saenger Theater Hattiesburg, Mississippi Emile Weil 1929
Shrine Auditorium Los Angeles, California Lansburgh, Austin and Edelman 1926
Sooner Theatre Norman, Oklahoma Harold Gimeno 1929
Temple Theatre Meridian, Mississippi Emile Weil 1927
Tennessee Theatre Knoxville, Tennessee Graven & Mayger 1928
Tower Theatre Los Angeles, California S. Charles Lee 1927

Around the world
Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre Tbilisi Georgia Giovanni Scudieri 1851, rebuilt 1896
Eastern Arcade (former Palace/Metro Theatre) Melbourne, Victoria Australia Hyndman & Bates 1894 (demolished in 2008)
Odessa Philharmonic Theater Odessa Ukraine Alexander Bernardazzi 1898
State/Forum Theatre Melbourne, Victoria Australia Bohringer, Taylor & Johnson 1929
Civic Theatre Auckland New Zealand Charles Bohringer and William T. Leighton 1929

Synagogues
Historian John M. Efron of the University of California at Berkeley regards the popularity of Moorish revival architecture among builders of synagogues as a refutation of Edward Said’s Orientalism, since the builders chose the style as an expression of admiration for the culture of the Muslim world.

Europe
Munich synagogue, by Friedrich von Gärtner, 1832 was the earliest Moorish revival synagogue (destroyed on Kristallnacht)
Semper Synagogue, by Gottfried Semper, Dresden, 1839–40 (destroyed on Kristallnacht)
Leopoldstädter Tempel, Vienna, Austria, 1853-58 (destroyed on Kristallnacht)
Dohány Street Synagogue, Budapest, Hungary, 1854–1859
Leipzig synagogue, 1855 (destroyed on Kristallnacht in 1938)
Glockengasse synagogue, Cologne, Germany, 1855-61 (destroyed on Kristallnacht)
New Synagogue by Eduard Knoblauch, Berlin, 1859–1866
New Synagogue, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland, 1857–1860
Tempel Synagogue, Cracow, Poland, 1860–62
Cetate Synagogue, Timişoara, Romania, by Ignaz Schumann, 1864–65
Zagreb Synagogue, 1867
The Great Synagogue of Stockholm, Sweden, by Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander, 1867–1870
Spanish Synagogue, Prague, 1868
Rumbach Street synagogue, Budapest, Hungary, 1872
Czernowitz Synagogue, Czernowitz, Ukraine, 1873
Great Synagogue of Florence, Tempio Maggiore, Florence, Italy, 1874–82
Princes Road Synagogue, Liverpool, England, 1874
Manchester Jewish Museum, built as a Sephardic synagogue, Manchester, England, 1874
Vercelli Synagogue, Vercelli, Italy, 1878
Vrbové synagogue, Vrbové, Slovakia, 1883
Turin synagogue, Italy, 1884
Great Synagogue in Pilsen, Pilsen, Bohemia, Czech Republic, 1888
The Grand Choral Synagogue, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1888
Fabric New Synagogue in Timişoara,Romania, by Lipot Baumhorn, 1889
Rosenberg synagogue, Olesno, Poland, 1889 (destroyed on Kristallnacht in 1938)
La Ferté-sous-Jouarre synagogue, France, 1891
Prešov synagogue, Prešov, Slovakia, 1898
The Great Choral Synagogue, Kiev, Ukraine, 1895
Opava synagogue, Czech Republic, 1895
Olomouc Synagogue, Olomouc, Czech Republic, 1897 (destroyed in 1938)
Košice synagogue, Košice, Slovakia, 1899, interior of Rundbogenstil building
Malacky synagogue, Slovakia, 1886, rebuilt 1900
Sarajevo Synagogue, 1902
Karaite Kenesa, Kiev, 1902
Jubilee Synagogue, Prague, Czech Republic, 1906
Groningen Synagogue, Groningen, Netherlands, 1906
Sofia Synagogue, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1909
Galitska Synagogue, Kiev, Ukraine, 1909
Uzhgorod Synagogue, Uzhgorod, Ukraine, 1910

United States
Isaac M. Wise Temple, also known as the Plum Street Temple, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1865
Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Philadelphia, 1866 (no longer standing)
Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue at 43rd Street, Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York built in 1868, designed by Leopold Eidlitz, assisted by Henry Fernbach, (no longer standing)
Temple B’nai Sholom, Quincy, Illinois, 1870
Central Synagogue, Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York, 1872
Vine Street Temple, Nashville, Tennessee, 1874
Charter Oak Temple (Congregation Beth Israel), Hartford, Connecticut, 1876
B’nai Israel Synagogue (Baltimore), Maryland, 1876
Temple Adath Israel, Owensboro, Kentucky, 1877
Prince Street Synagogue (Oheb Shalom,) Newark, New Jersey, 1884
Eldridge Street Synagogue, Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York, 1887
Congregation Beth Israel of Portland, Oregon, 1888 (no longer standing)
Park East Synagogue, Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York, 1889
Gemiluth Chessed, Port Gibson, Mississippi, 1891
Temple Emanu-El (Helena, Montana), 1891
Temple Beth-El, Corsicana, Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas, 1898–1900
Temple Sinai (Sumter, South Carolina), 1912
Ohabei Shalom, Brookline, Massachusetts, 1925
Congregation Ohab Zedek, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, 1926
Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Philadelphia, 1928
Zembo Shrine Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1930

Latin America
Sephardic Temple, Barracas district, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Churches and cathedrals
The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Gibraltar (1825–1832) an early example of Moorish revival architecture is located in Gibraltar, which formed part of Moorish Al-Andalus between 711 and 1462 AD.
Immaculate Conception Church (New Orleans), (a.k.a. Jesuit Church) is a striking example of Moorish Revival Architecture. Across the street was the College of the Immaculate Conception, housing a chapel with two stained glass domes. The chapel was disassembled and about half of it (one of the stained glass domes, eleven of the windows) was installed in the present Jesuit High School.

Shriners Temples
The Shriners, a fraternal organization, often chose a Moorish Revival style for their Temples. Architecturally notable Shriners Temples include:

Acca Temple Shrine, Richmond, Virginia, currently Altria Theater, formerly ‘The Landmark Theater’ and ‘The Mosque’
Algeria Shrine Temple, Helena, Montana
Almas Temple, Washington D.C.
El Zaribah Shrine Auditorium, Phoenix, Arizona
Medinah Temple, Chicago, Illinois now a Bloomingdale’s.
Murat Shrine, Indianapolis, Indiana, the largest Shrine temple in North America, now officially known as Old National Centre.
New York City Center, now used as a concert hall
Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Tripoli Shrine Temple, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Zembo Mosque, a Masonic Temple in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
The Scottish Rite Temple in Santa Fe, New Mexico, while not a Shrine Temple, is a Masonic building that uses the Moorish Revival architectural style.

Other buildings
“Mosque” shaped steam-generation plant in Sanssouci Park, Potsdam, Prussia, 1842
The Zacherlfabrik, Vienna, 1892
City hall, Brcko, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1892
City hall, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1894
Jewish Hospital, Lviv, Ukraine, 1900
Mostar Gymnasium, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1902
Former Yenidze Cigarette Factory, Dresden, Germany, 1908 (here, the “minarets” are used to disguise smokestacks)
Casamaures, Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux, France, 1855
Villa Zorayda, St. Augustine, FL, 1883
Campo Pequeno bullring, Lisbon, 1892
Henry B. Plant Museum, Tampa, FL, 1891
Atwater water treatment plant, Canal de l’Aqueduc, Montreal, QC, 1912-18

Source From Wikipedia