Southern garden façade of
Alupka Palace with a massive central exedra forming an open
iwan-like
vestibule
The
Jama Masjid was the inspiration for Blore's design.[2]
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.[3] It has also been argued[by whom?] that Jewish communities adopted this architecture (which in
Western eyes was seen as stereotypical of "Islamic" or "
Oriental" culture more broadly) for more complex reasons; mainly, as an affirmation or reclamation of the Middle Eastern or
Semitic roots of their history and thus as a way of setting themselves apart from the surrounding Western or Christian society.[3][4] This came at time when Jews were gaining more freedoms in some European societies and the construction of ostentatious synagogues was possible for the first time, thus provoking a search for a new distinct style of architecture. Historian John M. Efron of the University of California at Berkeley regards the popularity of Moorish revival architecture among builders of synagogues as a counterpoint to
Edward Said's
Orientalism, which criticizes European
orientalism as inherently imperialist and racist, since the builders chose the style as an expression of admiration for the culture of the Muslim world.[5] As a consequence, Moorish Revival spread around the globe as a preferred style of
synagogue architecture for a long period until the early 20th century.[4][3]
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 Ventasbullring 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".[6] 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.
Other notable example in the region is the building of the Regional historical museum in
Kardzhali,
Bulgaria build in the 1920s, combining also Central Asian styles.
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".[7] 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 most thorough example of Moorish Revival architecture was
Villa Zorayda in
St. Augustine, Florida, built in 1883 by
Franklin W. Smith as a winter home and showplace for the Boston businessman and architectural enthusiast. Today it is a museum, open for tourists. In 1893,
The Great Saltair was built on the southern shores of
The Great Salt Lake, adjacent to
Salt Lake City. Under dozens of Moorish domes and lambrequin, polylobed, and keyhole arches,
Saltair housed popular clubs, restaurants, bowling alleys, a hippodrome, rollercoaster, observation deck for the surrounding desert, and what was marketed as the largest dance hall in the world.[8] Like
Iranistan before it,
Saltair was destroyed by fire in 1925 and again in 1970; the first of which, less than 30 years after opening.
The trend continued into the early 1900s, for example in the 1909
Murat Shrine Temple in
Indianapolis, Indiana. 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 David H. Zysman Hall at
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.[9]
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.
Shrines and 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'
^Brett, C.E.B. (2005). Towers of Crim Tartary : English and Scottish architects and craftsmen in the Crimea, 1762–1853.
Donington, Lincolnshire: Shaun Tyas. p. 65.
ISBN978-1-900289-73-3.
^Biale, David (June 2017). "German Jewry and the Allure of the Sephardic (book review)". The American Historical Review. 122 (3): 942.
doi:
10.1093/ahr/122.3.942.
^Joseph, Suad; Najmabadi, Afsaneh (2003). Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures: Economics, education, mobility, and space.
Brill Publishers.
ISBN9004128204.
^John C. Poppeliers, S. Allen Chambers Jr. What Style Is It: A Guide to American Architecture, p. 63.
ISBN0-471-25036-8 .