What is Character? Part 2

Last May, I wrote an essay on a topic that continually fascinates me, 'What is Character'? https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/what-character-peter-richards/

The question in the back of my mind was that if you can define character, what do you do when you know?' This is one of my favourite stories about this issue.

The Norwegian coastal town of Alesund has a remarkable and dramatic setting on a narrow peninsula with many islands nearby, some with mountains that rise steeply out of the ocean. One is immediately behind the main town centre. In January 1904, Alesund had a population of just over 12,000. with a very consistent architecture of small scale, white timber buildings with red tiled roofs typical of many towns in Norway. Any urban design consultant could probably write a clear and concise document defining this character. On the night of the 23 January, a cow apparently kicked a torch which started a fire near the Aalesund Preserving Factory. ?

Alesund is on the west coast Norway and is prone to rain and storms, even in the depths of winter. That night a strong?gale was blowing from the southwest and the fire took hold. Despite the efforts of the local fire brigade, it could not be contained and practically the entire town, more than 850 houses were destroyed before morning. The residents had to leave the town in the middle of the night with only a few minutes' notice. Only one person died in the fire, but close to 10,000 people were left without shelter. It was a significant catastrophe.

So, what do you do next? Of course, they rebuilt the town, but how?

An unlikely supporter of Alesund was Kaiser Wilhelm Il, the German Emperor and a grandson of Queen Victoria. Wilhelm often holidayed near Alesund and had a great affection for the town. After the fire, as the ruler of a foreign nation, he sent four warships with materials to build temporary shelters and barracks. After a period of planning, he supported the reconstruction of the town with 20 master builders and 30 Norwegian architects who were trained in Trondheim and in Germany. Alesund was rebuilt in three years. It was a remarkable achievement.

But what intrigues me about this story is the decision not to rebuild in the prevailing character of the timber buildings of Alesund or Norway, but in a new style of masonry architecture imported from Germany and Europe. To build in masonry may have been a reaction to the devastating fire. This new style of architecture was Jugenstil, (youth style) now known as Art Nouveau.

Jugendstil was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe from about 1895 until about 1910. The members of the movement were reacting against the prevailing architecture of historicism and neo classicism of the official art and architecture academies. ??

The movement had its origins in?Munich and was called Munich Succession with the founding of an association of visual artists. Later, the Vienna Succession and the Berlin Secession took their own names from the Munich group. The group published a journal Jugend, hence ‘Jugendstihl’. Importantly, the movement developed its own now famous typeface, Arnold Bocklin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_(typeface)

There are no references available as to why this happened in Alesund. There were clearly no heritage listings, no Norwegian Burra Charter or character guidance that would shape decisions in 2022. Was there any community consultation about a preferred future? They made a decision to break with the past, import a future focused ‘style’ from another country and just did it. I suspect this would be a pretty controversial approach today.

History has told us that their decision was quite profound as 120 years later Alesund is now regarded as the most intact Jugenstihl town in northern Europe with UNESCO heritage listing. It still is a remarkable place. But why does it work? That will be the next instalment.