Second Empire Architecture in Europe

Second Empire architecture is a style rooted in sixteenth century Renaissance forms that, by the time it matured, had picked up a mix of European influences, most notably the Baroque. In Europe the style reached its widest popularity in the second half of the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth, and is especially associated with Paris and Vienna, both heavily rebuilt in the late nineteenth century, as well as with the expansion of Rome that followed Italian unification. The Palais Garnier in Paris is a well known example of the blend of Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque detailing the style produced. Its signature features are mansard roofs and low, square based domes, and it worked as a loose form of Baroque Revival well suited to the larger scale of municipal and corporate buildings being commissioned across the continent. In Britain the style combined classical Renaissance forms with a heavier Baroque mass, decorated with ornate Baroque motifs that had previously been more common on the European mainland, and newer materials such as iron and reinforced concrete made the style's signature low domes easier to build than they would have been in an earlier period.