'Street architecture': Nineteenth-century urban buildings and the British architectural profession

“Street Architecture”, a phrase used by British architectural writers from the 1820s, described stylish small-scale residential and commercial urban buildings that no longer adhered to urban vernacular norms. These buildings determined much of the architectural character of modern metropolises, and therefore street architecture was one of the most conspicuous aspects of nineteenth-century modernity. For a century prior to World War I the term found its way into most British monographs, essays, editorials and addresses on the subject of contemporary architecture.; Street architecture posed problems that elicited a variety of responses, yet patterns do emerge. The unregulated nature of nineteenth-century urban architecture created streetscapes comprised of racy individualistic buildings, many of which affronted architectural propriety. When irregularly composed streets were deemed a relief from the so-called monotony of Georgian streets, or a by-product of the “Battle of the Styles”, their variety was Picturesque and therefore respectable. However, much of this complexity was also understood as mercantile rivalry that made commercial buildings compete with one another in scale and ostentation. Writers who defended the dignity of the architectural profession objected to buildings that appealed to the public in the service of business interests.; The discipline of urban planning was founded early in the twentieth century, in large part because government seemed poised to determine the character of all future urban architecture. Anticipating this opportunity, British architects-turned-planners envisioned remaking London in the image of Paris. Those who adopted Beaux-arts ideals, and even planners committed to Picturesque principles of design in Garden Cities and Suburbs, interpreted Victorian architectural exuberance as exclusively pandering to crass commercialism, and demanded that streets be composed of modest, dignified buildings. Planners argued for new city architecture that did not cater to popular taste.; In the event, urban architecture remained undisciplined and “street architecture” disappeared from planners' lexicon. But the history of the term exposes the contest between architects and the city that shaped planning theory in Britain in the first half of the twentieth century. It also illuminates the vitality of debate occasioned by the unprecedented growth of nineteenth-century metropolises, which professional interests ultimately obscured.