Second Empire is an architectural style, most popular in the latter half of the 19th century and early years of the 20th century. It was so named for the architectural elements in vogue during the era of the Second French Empire. As the Second Empire style evolved from its 17th-century Renaissance foundations, it acquired a mix of earlier European styles, most notably the Baroque, often combined with mansard roofs and/or low, square based domes.

The style quickly spread and evolved as Baroque Revival architecture throughout Europe and across the Atlantic. Its suitability for super-scaling allowed it to be widely used in the design of municipal and corporate buildings. In the United States, where one of the leading architects working in the style was Alfred B. Mullett, buildings in the style were often closer to their 17th-century roots than examples of the style found in Europe.

In the 19th century, the standard way to refer to this style of architecture was simply “French” or “Modern French”, but later authors came up with the term “Second Empire”. Currently, the style is most widely known as Second Empire, Second Empire Baroque, or French Baroque Revival; Leland M. Roth refers to it as “Second Empire Baroque.” Mullett-Smith terms it the “Second Empire or General Grant style” due to its popularity in designing government buildings during the Grant administration.

General characteristics
The Emperor Napoleon had the will to be surrounded by a sumptuous court. He tried to connect with the pomp of the First Empire and tried with his orders to promote the development of French industry. But the evolution of the decorative arts owes more to Empress Eugenia than to the emperor. She is very attracted to the styles of the past, especially in the Louis XVI style . It grants an important place in its apartments to Marie Antoinette’s furniture or inspired by the latter. The cabinetmakers are not content with finding their inspiration in this style, but also in all others.

Sumptuousness and polychromy are typical of the Second Empire style. Like to show wealth. It is the art of tinsel and flash. No matter the veracity of the copy, there is no pure and simple imitation. Only the most ostentatious and most radiant are preserved.

This had already been the case in regard to the previous emerge from the neo – Gothic . It was due to the romantic vision of the Middle Ages , where the desire for historicity was totally absent. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc is the leader of this school of the resurgence of the Gothic that, despite his will, was revised and corrected.

The main characteristics of the Second Empire style are:
eclecticism : this style is inspired by many styles ranging from the architectures of classical antiquity , mainly Greco – Roman , to those of the end of the Old Regime ( Neoclassicism ) through the Italian and French Renaissance .
The ornamentations are often in very elaborate and overabundant relief.
Luxury and taste for the splendor.
use of curtains.

Key Features
The central feature of the Second Empire style is the mansard roof, a four-sided gambrel roof with a shallow or flat top usually pierced by dormer windows. This roof type originated in 16th century France and was fully developed in the 17th century by Francois Mansart, after whom it is named. The greatest virtue of the mansard is that it allows an extra full story of space without raising the height of the building. The mansard roof can assume many different profiles, with some being steeply angled, while others are concave, convex, or s-shaped. Sometimes mansards with different profiles are superimposed upon one another, especially on towers. For most Second Empire buildings, the mansard roof is the primary stylistic feature and the most noteworthy link to the style’s French roots.

A secondary feature is the use of pavilions, a segment of the facade that is differentiated from surrounding segments by a change in height, stylistic features, or roof design and are typically advanced from the main plane of the facade. Pavilions are usually located at emphatic points in a building, such as the center or ends and allow the monotony of the roof to be broken for dramatic effect. While not all Second Empire buildings feature pavilions, a significant amount, particularly those built by wealthy clients or as public buildings, do. The Second Empire style frequently includes a rectangular (sometimes octagonal) tower as well. This tower element may be of equal height to the highest floor, or may exceed the height of the rest of the structure by a story or two.

A third feature is massing. Second Empire buildings, because of their height, tend to convey a sense of largeness. Additionally, the facades are typically solid and flat, rather than pierced by open porches or angled and curved facade bays. Public buildings constructed in the Second Empire style were especially built on a massive scale, such as the Philadelphia City Hall and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and held records for the largest buildings in their day. Prior to the construction of the Pentagon during the 1940s, for example, the Second Empire–style Ohio State Asylum for the Insane in Columbus, Ohio, was reported to be the largest building under one roof in the U.S., though the title may actually belong to Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, another Kirkbride Second Empire asylum.

Plans
Second Empire plans for public buildings are almost entirely cubic or rectangular, adapted from formal French architectural ensembles, such as the Louvre. Sometimes they include interior courts. Most Second Empire domestic plans are adapted from prevailing plan types developed for Italianate designs by authors such as Alexander Jackson Davis and Samuel Sloan. The prime distinction between the designs is a preference for a central focus rather than a diffusion of forms. Floor plans for Second Empire residences can be symmetrical, with the tower (or tower-like element) in the center, or asymmetrical, with the tower or tower-like element to one side. Virginia and Lee McAlester divided the style into five subtypes:
Simple mansard roof – about 20%
Centered wing or gable (with bays jutting out at either end)
Asymmetrical – about 20%
Central tower (incorporating a clock) – about 30%
Town house

Ornament
There are two variations of Second Empire ornamentation: the high style, which followed French precedents closely and employed rich ornamentation, and the more vernacular styles, which lack a strongly distinctive ornamental vocabulary. The high style is mostly seen in expensive public buildings and the houses of the wealthy, while the vernacular form is more common in typical domestic architecture. The exterior style could be expressed in either wood, brick or stone, though high style examples on the whole prefer stone facades or brick facades with stone details (a brick and brownstone combination seems to be particularly common). Some Second Empire buildings have cast iron facades and elements.

High-style Second Empire buildings took their ornamental cue from the Louvre expansion. Typical features include quoins at the corners to define elements, elaborate dormer windows, pediments, brackets, and strong entablatures. There is a clear preference for a variation between rectangular and segmental arched windows; these are frequently enclosed in heavy frames (either arched or rectangular) with sculpted details. Another frequent feature is a strong horizontal definition of the facade, with a strong string course. Particularly high-style examples follow the Louvre precedent by breaking up the facade with superimposed columns and pilasters that typically vary their order between stories. Vernacular buildings typically employed less and more eclectic ornament than high-style specimens that generally followed the vernacular development in other styles.

The mansard roof ridge was often topped with an iron trim, sometimes referred to as “cresting”. In some cases, lightning rods were integrated into the cresting design, making the feature useful beyond its decorative features. Although still intact in some examples, this original cresting has often deteriorated and been removed.

History
The mansard roof, the defining feature of Second Empire design, had been around since the 16th century in France and Germany and was consistently employed in 18th and 19th century European architecture. Its appearance in the US was comparatively uncommon in the 18th and early 19th century (Mount Pleasant in Philadelphia has an example of early mansard roofs on its side pavilions). In Canada, because of French influence in Quebec and Montreal, the mansard roof was more commonly seen in the 18th century and used as a design feature and never entirely fell out of favor.

It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the origin of Second Empire architecture in the United States can be found. A series of major projects and events in French urban planning and design provided the inspiration for Second Empire architecture. Haussmann’s renovation of Paris under Napoleon III in the 1850s and the creation of baroque architectural ensembles employing mansard roofs and elaborate ornament provided the impetus for the development and emulation of the style in the US. Haussmann’s work was targeted to renovating the decaying Medieval neighborhoods of Paris by wholesale demolition and new construction of streetscapes with uniform cornice lines and stylistic consistency, an urban ensemble that impressed 19th century architects and designers. Additionally, the reconstruction of the Louvre Palace between 1852–1857 by architects Louis Visconti and Hector Lefuel was widely publicized and served to provide a vocabulary of elaborate baroque architectural ornament for the new style. Finally, the Exposition Universelle of 1855 drew tourists and visitors to Paris and displayed the new architecture and urbanism of the city, an event that brought the style to international attention. These developments worked together to excite interest in design under the Second Empire in the US, particularly among francophiles and those interested in French fashion, then under the sway of Empress Eugenie whose tastes influenced clothing, furniture, and interior decoration. Despite the historicism of the ornamentation, Second Empire architecture was generally viewed as “modern” and hygienic as opposed to the revival styles of Italianate and Gothic Revival which hearkened to the Renaissance and Middle Ages.

The European born and trained architect Detlef Lienau, who studied architecture in Paris and emigrated to the US in 1848, is credited with designing the first Second Empire house in the US, the Hart M. Schiff house in New York City, built in 1850. Lienau remained a prime designer of Second Empire houses, designing the Lockwood-Matthews Mansion in Norwalk, Connecticut (designed 1860). Despite Lienau’s work, Second Empire did not displace dominant styles of the 1850s, Italianate and Gothic Revival and remained associated with only particularly wealthy patrons. The first major Second Empire structure designed by an American architect was James Renwick’s gallery, now the Renwick Gallery designed for William Wilson Corcoran (1859-1860). Renwick’s gallery was one of the first major public buildings in the style, and its favorable reception furthered interest in Second Empire design. These early buildings display a close affinity to the high-style designs found in the new Louvre construction, with quoins, stone detailing, carved elements and sculpture, a strong division between base and piano nobile, pavilioned roofs, and pilasters.

The outbreak of the Civil War limited new construction in the US, and it was after the end of the war that Second Empire finally came to prominence in American design. The architects Alfred B. Mullett, who was supervising architect for the Treasury Department, and John McArthur, Jr. a major designer of public buildings in the Mid-Atlantic, helped popularize the style for public and institutional buildings. Mullet, in particular, who favored the style, was responsible from 1866-1874 for designing federal public buildings across the US, spreading Second Empire as a stylistic idiom across the country. His massive and expensive public buildings in St. Louis, Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, New York, and Washington D.C., which closely followed the precedents set by the Louvre construction with grand mansard roofs and tiers of superimposed columns, made a strong impression on the architects in cities with new Mullett designs. Because of its first major appearance in public buildings, Second Empire quickly became the dominant style for the construction of large public projects and commercial buildings. Ironically, buildings in the style built in the US were often closer to their 17th-century roots than examples of the style found in Europe.

Because of the expense of designing buildings with the level of elaborate detailing found in European and public examples, Second Empire residential architecture was first taken up by wealthy businessmen. Since the Civil War had caused a boom in the fortunes of businessmen in the north, Second Empire was considered the perfect style to demonstrate their wealth and express their new power in their respective communities. The style diffused by the publications of designs in pattern books and adopted the adaptability and eclecticism that Italianate architecture had when interpreted by more middle-class clients. This caused more modest homes to depart from the ornamentation found in French examples in favor of simpler and more eclectic American ornamentation that had been established in the 1850s. In practice, most Second Empire houses simply followed the same patterns developed by Alexander Jackson Davis and Samuel Sloan, the symmetrical plan, the L-plan, for the Italianate style, adding a mansard roof to the composition. Thus, most Second Empire houses exhibited the same ornamentational and stylistic features as contemporary Italianate forms, differing only in the presence or absence of a mansard roof. Second Empire was also a frequent choice of style for remodeling older houses. Frequently, owners of Italianate, Colonial, or Federal houses chose to add a mansard roof and French ornamental features to update their homes in the latest fashions.

As American architects went to study in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts in increasing numbers, Second Empire became more significant as a stylistic choice. For example, the architect H.H. Richardson designed several of his early residences in the style, “evidence of his French schooling”. These projects include the Crowninshield House (1868) in Boston Massachusetts, the H. H. Richardson House (1868) in Staten Island, New York, and the William Dorsheimer House (1868) in Buffalo, New York. Chateau-sur-Mer, on Bellevue Avenue, in Newport, Rhode Island, was remodeled and redecorated during the gilded age of the 1870s by Richard Morris Hunt in this style. This study, however, along with historical events, proved to be the undoing of the style, although Second Empire buildings continued to be constructed until the end of the 19th century. The fall of Napoleon III and the Second Empire in 1870 and the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War soured interest in French styles and taste. Additionally, in the US, Alfred Mullett’s extravagance in his designs, waste of money, and the scandal of his association with corrupt businessmen, led to his resignation in 1874 from his post as supervising architect, a development that damaged the style’s reputation. Finally, as more architects spent time in Paris among the prime examples of French architecture, their style shifted in favor of a closer fidelity to contemporary French designs, leading to the development of Beaux Arts Classicism in the US.

Second Empire was succeeded by the revival of the Queen Anne Style and its sub-styles, which enjoyed great popularity until the beginning of the “Revival Era” in American architecture just before the end of the 19th century, popularized by the architecture at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Architecture
The Second Empire falls into the stylistic era of historicism and was characterized by an eclectic mix of neo-Gothic , Neo-Renaissance , Louis-quinze , Louis-seize and Empire styles. Outstanding architectural examples are the built from 1860 to 1875 neo-Baroque Opéra Garnier , which was named after its builder Charles Garnier , and the urban development measures of Baron Haussmann in Paris. Similarly, the side wings of the Louvre are a typical example of this style. There are overlaps with buildings of the Beaux-Arts architecture , especially in modern steel structures, which were increasingly used by the advancing industrialization and the expansion of the railway network. Such buildings included train stations, exhibition halls, factories and large warehouses, the construction of which was made possible only by the use of steel.

Also in North America, numerous buildings were built in this style, such as the Langevin Block in Ottawa, Canada and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC , built between 1871 and 1888 to designs by the architect Alfred B. Mullet .

Interior
Furniture and decorations in the Second Empire were characterized by extreme opulence. Curtains, wallpaper and rugs often had exuberant floral patterns or many rococo Rocaille elements. Simple wall panels were covered with precious gold and silver-infused fabrics. Instead of just a curtain, one used several pieces of fabric one above the other, which were artfully draped. Fringes , tassels and other trimmings were the usual embellishments for all textile furnishings. Armchairs were usually completely covered with fabric and sometimes had additional top coverings . The seating became more spacious and comfortable. Upholsterers made of plush and velvet fabrics were as much in demand in furniture production as they were in the realm of flatmakers . Black lacquered furniture with a colorful decor of mother of pearl , leather , tortoiseshell , brass , copper or pewter came into fashion, which is why boulangeries became popular again. In addition to the well-known earlier styles of furniture came previously unknown materials such as pitch pine, bamboo and wicker or rattan wicker used. They were combined with oriental, Chinese and Japanese influences.

The glittering love of the Second Empire, paired with comfort needs, created some new seating. These include the Crapaud ( German Toad ), a low armchair with arched backrest, and a Borne ( German landmark ) called, circular sofa with armrests that had to share the seated. Even the so-called Confidents , padded double armchair in the form of an S, and their variation for three people, the indiscrets , are inventions of the Second Empire. Guéridons were still popular at that time, their table tops could now be folded down often for reasons of space and had like many other furniture colorful inlaid or marquetry .

As in the architecture, many old styles also flourished in the interior design, so that furniture and decorations were characterized by a stylistic pluralism . By 1850, Neococcus was particularly popular, but was then replaced by the Louis Seize style. Decisive for this was the Empress Eugénie , who had a soft spot for everything that was related to Marie Antoinette , and was groundbreaking for the sense of style of that time. The many simultaneously existing styles was taken into account that the rooms of a house were completely furnished in each one of these styles. Only rarely was a room equipped with furniture from different eras.

France

Architecture

Boulevard Haussmann is a typical example of Haussmann’s works , in which the Second Empire style was applied to urbanism
The Paris Opera, the Garnier Opera , can be considered the apogee of the Napoleon III style: it is about eclecticism but only from the classicism in its different phases, from the Renaissance to Neoclassicism .

Palace of the Louvre (1852-57 added), Paris ; Louis Visconti and Hector Lefuel , architects.
Most buildings of the Champs-Élysées (1852-70), Paris .
Eliseo Palace (1853-67 renovation), Paris ; Joseph-Eugène Lacroix, architect.
Hôtel du Palais (1854), Biarritz .
Musée de Picardie (1855-67), Amiens .
Palais Garnier (1861-1875), Paris .

Furniture
Inspiration was sought in the great classics of French joinery. The artisans alternately fabricate false arm Riesener and fake Boulle. The electroplating allowed the multiplication of false bronzes. The papier-mâché gives the illusion of lacquer (it gave the pockets more modest shiny furniture). On a black background are displayed large bouquets of flowers painted in bright colors.

These dark woods are in harmony with rich fabrics (red and gold) that make the interiors warm. They are often inlaid with precious, pearly or scaled materials which accentuates the striking appearance.

New furniture appears: the pouf , the boudeuse (kind of divan), the crapaud or toad chair, completely covered with cloth up to the legs, so that the wood does not appear, and is often padded.

Expansion
Born in France, this style was developed in other European and American countries, but with different names: it is similar to the Victorian style in the United Kingdom and its colonies.

United Kingdom
Second Empire became popular in Britain at the end of the nineteenth century, where it emerged as a fusion of the architecture of the classical Renaissance exemplified by Christopher Wren and the solid mass Baroque of John Vanbrugh, decorated with some of the more ornate baroque motifs previously found only on mainland Europe. It often featured a low dome, a once complex architectural feat rendered less difficult through the use of iron and reinforced concrete.

In London, the style is exemplified by Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, designed by Edwin Alfred Rickards of the firm Lanchester, Stewart and Rickards. It is an early example of the use of a reinforced concrete frame for a building in Britain. The interior was similarly planned on a Piranesian scale, although the execution was rather more economical.

Hotel Langham (1863-1865), City of Westminster , London ; Giles and Murray, architects.
95 Chancery Lane (1865, former Union Bank of London Limited), London; FW Porter, architect.
National Bank Belgravia (1868), Victoria , London; T. Chatfeild Clarke, architect.
Hotel Great North Western (1871), Liverpool ; Alfred Waterhouse , architect.
Criterion Theater (1874), Piccadilly Circus , London; Thomas Verity , architect.
Western Pumping Station (1875), Chelsea , London.
Old Billingsgate Market (1875), London; Horace Jones , architect.
Cambridge Gate (1876-80), Regent’s Park , London; Archer and Green, aarchitects.
Garden House (1879), Chelsea, London; JT Smith, architect.
75 Holland Road (1893), Brighton and Hove ; Thomas Lainson , architect.

United States
In the United States, the Second Empire style often combines a rectangular tower, or a similar element, with a steep mansard roof , the most notable link to the French roots of style. This tower element was the same height as the top floor, or it could exceed the height of the rest of the building by a floor or two. The crest of the mansard was often covered with an iron cornice, sometimes known as “cresting.” In some cases, lightning rods were integrated into the cresting design, giving it a usefulness beyond its decorative appearance. Although still intact in some examples, these original crests have often deteriorated and been removed. The exterior style could be expressed in wood, brick or stone. The most elaborate examples often featured paired columns, as well as sculpted details around the doors, windows and attics.

The style was also used to make commercial buildings (department stores, hotels) and was often used in the design of state institutions. Several psychiatric hospitals demonstrated the ability of the style to adapt to its size and functions. Prior to the construction of the Pentagon during the 1940s, the Second Empire-style building for the Ohio State Asylum for the Insane in Columbus, Ohio , was considered the largest building under the same roof in the US, although the title could actually correspond to the Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital , another Kirkbride plan in Second Empire style.

The Second Empire style was succeeded by the rebirth of the ” Queen Anne Style ” ( Queen Anne Style ) and its sub-styles, which enjoyed great popularity until the beginning of the “Revival Era” in American architecture, just before the end of the 19th century , popularized by the architecture of the pavilions at the Universal Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Featured buildings in the United States
Security Building (1926), Miami , Florida (the Gulec residence); Robert Greenfield , architect.
Old City Hall of Boston (1862-1865), Boston , Massachusetts ; Bryant and Gilman , architects.
Terrace Hill (1866-1869), Des Moines , Iowa (State of Iowa governor’s residence); William W. Boyington , architect.
Alexander Ramsey House (1868), St. Paul , Minnesota ; Sheire and Summers, architects.
St. Ignatius College Prep (1869), Chicago , Illinois ; Toussaint Menard, architect.
Heck-Andrews House (1869-1870), Raleigh , North Carolina ; George SH Appleget , architect.
Gilsey House (1869-1871), New York City , New York ; Stephen Decatur Hatch , architect.
City of Baltimore (1869-1875), Baltimore , Maryland ; George A. Frederick , architect.
City Hall Post Office and Courthouse (1869-8180), New York City, New York; Alfred B. Mullett , architect.
Grand Union Hotel (1870), Saratoga Springs , New York.
Hall of Languages, Syracuse University (1871-73), Syracuse, NY ; Horatio Nelson White , architect
Atlanta Union Station (1871), Atlanta , Georgia ; Max Corput , architect.
Reitz Home (1871), Evansville , Indiana .
Building of the Eisenhower Executive Office (1871-1888), Washington, DC ; Alfred B. Mullett , architect.
Renwick Gallery , Smithsonian Institution (1859-1873), Washington, DC ; James Renwick Jr. , architect.
City of Philadelphia (1871-1901), Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ; John McArthur, Jr. , architect.
South Hall (1873), University of California, Berkeley ; Farquharson and Kenitzer, architects.
United States Customhouse and Post Office (1873-84), St. Louis , Missouri ; Alfred B. Mullett , architect.
Woodburn Hall (1874-6), Morgantown , West Virginia ; additives by Elmer F. Jacobs , architect.
Mansion George W. Fulton (1874-1877), Rockport , Texas .
Central Hall on the Hillsdale College Campus (1875), Hillsdale , Michigan .
Providence City Hall (1878), Providence , Rhode Island ; Samuel JF Thayer , architect.
Spring Hill Ranch House (1881), Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Strong City , Kansas .
United States Post Office (1884-8), Hannibal , Missouri; Mifflin E. Bell , architect.
Vigo County Courthouse (1884-1888), Terre Haute , Indiana; Samuel Hannaford , architect.
Caldwell County Courthouse (1894), Lockhart , Texas; Giles and Guidon, architects.
Grand Opera House (1871), Wilmington (Delaware) ; Thomas Dixon , architect.
Knowlton Hat Factory (1872), Upton, Massachusetts ; unknown architect.
Mitchell Building (1876) and adjacent Chamber of Commerce (1879), Milwaukee, Wisconsin , E. Townsend Mix , architect.
Old Main (1879), University of Arkansas , Fayetteville (Arkansas) ; John Mills Van Osdel , architect.
Conger Avenue (1885), Haverstraw, New York ; unknown architect. He was the inspiration for the 1925 painting by Edward Hopper House by the Railroad

Canada
In Canada, the Second Empire became the favorite choice of the Dominion government during the 1870s and 1880s for numerous public buildings in the capital and the provinces followed suit.

City Hall of Montreal (1872-8), Montreal , Quebec ; Perrault and Hutchison, architects.
General Post Office (1873, demolished in 1958), Toronto , Ontario ; Henry Langley , architect.
Windsor Hotel (1875-8), Montreal, Quebec.
Saint John City Market (1876), Saint John , New Brunswick ; McKean and Fairweather, architects.
Parliament Building (1877-86), Quebec City , Quebec; Eugène-Étienne Taché , architect.
Mackenzie Building (1878), Royal Military College of Canada , Kingston , Ontario; Robert Gage, architect.
New Brunswick Legislative Building (1882), Fredericton , New Brunswick; JC Dumaresq, architect.
Government House (1883), Winnipeg , Manitoba .
Langevin Block (1884-9), Ottawa , Ontario; Thomas Fuller , architect.

Australia
In Australia, and especially in Melbourne , this style was especially popular in the 1880s. Many large buildings still exist, particularly in Melbourne ( Melbourne’s town halls ).

Bendigo Town Hall (1859), Bendigo , Victoria .
Melbourne General Post Office (1859-87), Melbourne , Victoria; AE Johnson, architect.
Kew Asylum , also known as Willsmere (1864-71), Kew , Victoria.
Parliament House (1865-8), Brisbane , Queensland ; Charles Tiffin , architect.
Sydney Town Hall (1868-89), Sydney , New South Wales ; JH Willson, architect.
South Melbourne Town Hall (1879-80), Melbourne, Victoria; Charles Webb , architect.
Royal Exhibition Building (1880), Melbourne, Victoria; Joseph Reed , architect.
Bathurst Hospital (1880), Bathurst , New South Wales; William Boles, architect.
Bendigo Post Office (1883-7), Bendigo, Victoria; George W. Watson, architect.
Bendigo Court House (1892-1896), Bendigo, Victoria;
Hotel Windsor (1884), Melbourne, Victoria; Charles Webb, architect.
Collingwood Town Hall (1885-90), Melbourne, Victoria; George R. Johnson , architect.
Princess Theater (1886), Melbourne, Victoria; William Pitt , architect.
Chief Secretary’s Building (1890-5), Sydney, New South Wales; Added in Second Empire style by Walter L. Vernon, architect.
Shamrock Hotel (1897), Bendigo, Victoria; Phillip Kennedy, architect.
Former Records Office (1900-4), Melbourne, Victoria; SE Brindley, architect.

Reception in the Twentieth Century
Viewed as out-of-date and emblematic of the worst excesses of the 19th century, Second Empire architecture was derided in the 20th century, particularly starting in the 1930s. Of Mullet’s State, War, and Navy Building, for instance, Woodrow Wilson commented negatively on the building for displaying “every architectural style known to man” and made plans to remodel it, stripping the structure of its Second Empire features. Expensive to maintain, many Second Empire structures fell into decay and were demolished. Philadelphia’s City Hall (1871-1901) was narrowly saved from demolition in the 1950s because of the expense of demolishing it, but New York’s City Hall Post Office and Courthouse (1869-1880), termed “Mullett’s Monstrosity”, was demolished in 1939. This development allowed Second Empire domestic architecture to assume a new role in the American imaginary, the haunted house. This may have been prompted by changes in aesthetics in the 1930s, in favor of streamlined, bright, and minimal buildings, the opposite of dark, elaborate, and decaying Second Empire houses.

For much of the early and mid-20th century, Second Empire design would be popularly associated with the sinister and haunted houses. Cartoonist Charles Addams, for example, designed a typical Second Empire mansion as the home of his macabre Addams Family, and the similarly spooky family, the Munsters, lived in a Second Empire house during their series. The haunted house where the bats emerge from in the opening of Scooby-Doo, Where Are you? is a Second Empire house. The house in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho was also in the Second Empire style, as was the decaying house in Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. There were positive representations as well, however: the nostalgic film Meet Me in St. Louis features a large Second Empire mansion beloved by the family.

In the latter part of the 20th century with the rise of the preservation movement, there has been a reevaluation of Second Empire houses and many have chosen to renovate rather than destroy Second Empire properties.

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