Design for Gate Piers with Paired Pilasters and Domed Caps, and a Gate 1700 - 1800

This drawing of gate piers with paired pilasters and domed caps, and a gate, was created anonymously, on paper of unknown date. Its classical style indicates that it was made by someone who was trained in architecture. The emphasis here on symmetry, the use of classical columns, and the presence of decorative elements are all suggestive of a specific set of values and tastes that would have been cultivated in schools of architecture during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe and the United States. As institutions, schools of architecture helped to train craftsmen in the design and construction of public and private buildings. Looking at this drawing, we might consider who was admitted to these schools, and whose vision of architecture was promoted. Architectural drawings such as these can be understood as part of the institutional history of architecture itself. By exploring related drawings and archival materials, we can find out more about this. We might even ask ourselves how and why certain ideas of architectural beauty become dominant.