It’s simply one of the worst styles of architecture to have been inflicted on Europe and America.
Neo-Classicism spans roughly the years 1750 to 1850. After the public got fed up with the vulgarity of high Baroque and Rococo, the rediscoveries of Herculaneum and Pompei quickly prompting a renewed interest in sober Classicism. The style was characterised by simplicity, symmetry and grandeur, with an abundance of columns, triangular pediments, porticos and domes. The supreme model was the Parthenon of Greece. It sounds fair enough, and at its best it is delightful, but it was applied with a complete lack of inspiration to everything from railway stations to museums, all pretending to be Greek temples.
In Paris we have the Madeleine church (the photo above, with its Corinthian columns) and the Arc de Triomphe, both commissioned by Napoleon, the Panthéon and the long line of buildings along the Rue de Rivoli finishing up with the two buildings overlooking the Place de la Concorde. On the other side of the Seine stands the Palais Bourbon, better known as the Assemblée Nationale, whose neo-classical façade was added in 1806.
In Bath we have the Royal Crescent towards the beginning of the period, and right at the end we have John Nash’s magnificent Park Crescent at Regent’s Park. The 1700s and early 1800s in England was actually known as the “Georgian” period, and the Georgian porch of classical style, possibly topped with a triangular roof, has been popular ever since. There was Greek as well as Roman influence during this period, often throwing in Greek features like the Doric and Ionic orders. The British Museum in Bloomsbury and the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square would be examples of the Greek Revival.
The elegance of Georgian architecture can be enjoyed in Dublin, Edinburgh and York.
Berlin boasts the Brandenburg Gate. Other cities whose redevelopment coincided with the Neo-Classical craze besides Edinburgh were Helsinki, and even St Petersburg (right at the start of the 18th century, so a little earlier than the rest).
The US also embraced Neo-Classicism for some of its most prominent shining white buildings of power in Washington – the Capitol and the White House, and Thomas Jefferson’s house at Monticello where he built his library.