Dragestil

Dragestil (“Dragon Style”) is a style of design and architecture that originated in Norway and was widely used principally between 1880 and 1910. It is a variant of the more embracing National Romantic style and an expression of Romantic nationalism.

History
The foremost sources of inspiration for the Dragestil style were the Viking and mediaeval art and architecture of Scandinavia. It had roots in preservation of the stave churches and the recent excavated of historic relics of the past such as the Tune, Gokstad and Oseberg ships.

It often featured Norse motifs, such as serpents and dragons, hence its popular appellation. Important proponents in the modern era included Norwegian architects Holm Hansen Munthe and Balthazar Lange. In Germany the Kongsnæs’ sailors station in Potsdam and the Rominten Hunting Lodge were erected for Kaiser Wilhelm II.

he drawing style was the result of the first conscious efforts to create a Norwegian Norwegian wood architecture. The inspiration came especially from the stave churches and their ornaments, conveyed through illustrated archaeological literature, and not least from Dietrichson’s book about the stave churches from 1892. The architects also conducted their own study trips. They did not go out of a special stave church or portal, but Urnes Stave Church and the Borgund Stave Church were important examples. The motifs of rankings and dragonfly were initially copied after medieval models, but later also developed in the freeride direction after the imagination. Dragon heads were usually placed on the trusses and at the bottom of the windshields, after models from many of the stave churches. This was the origin of the style’s popular name. Buildings were also taken from the farm buildings in the inland areas, especially from the loft, stabbur and swallow houses built in the 1700s and in the first part of the 19th century.

In addition, the style was drawn from the Swiss style , such as high ground walls, often in natural stone, asymmetrical floor plan and decorative carpentry details on swallows and gables. The constructions were a mixture of theft and stave technique .

Important monuments are the Frognerseteren restaurant from 1890 and the Holmenkollen Turisthotell, which was built in 1889, but burned in 1895. Both were designed by architect Holm Munthe . The Dalen Hotel (1894) in Telemark designed by architect Haldor Larsen Børve is designated by the Riksantikvaren as a nationally inalienable example of dragonfly hotels from the last century.

In the early 1900s, there was a reaction to the dragon style among leading architects, and it soon became fashionable. Some architects who worked within the Art Nouveau style picked up elements from the dragon style ornamentation. Architect Henrik Bull incorporated trunk designs in the government building from 1904 .

Characteristic features
Exposed timber walls, often tarred on the exterior with varnished interiors
Decoration in the form of dragon heads
Often steep roofs and big eaves

Drag Style Phases
One can divide the dragon style into two phases.

The first phase
The style originated in the 1870s in Sweden , where it is called fornicism . After 1880 it was taken by Norwegian architects associated with national romance. The foremost architect is Holm Hansen Munthe, who came home from studies in Germany during Hase in 1878. He had a conscious relationship with the wood architecture, and during the next fifteen years he created the dragon style as architectural style. Two of his earliest works are the waiting hall for steamship passengers in Pipervika and Saugbrugsforeningens portal at the Norwegian industrial and art exhibition in Slottsparken , both from 1883, and both later moved and rebuilt in the present Norwegian Folkemuseum . His most important work was created in the period after 1889, when he designed several buildings for the Holmenkol-Voxenkol Company , among them the “Fireplace” and Holmenkollen Turisthotell and Sanatorium from 1889, burned in 1895, and sports halls at Holmenkollen and Frognerseteren. For Kristiania municipality, he built the Frognerseteren restaurant in 1890 with the expansion in 1907-09, and the restaurants Hasselbakken on St. Hanshaugen in 1891 (burnt 1936). During his state visit in 1890, German Emperor Wilhelm II was so excited about Holm Munthes buildings that he let the architect draw his hunting castle with stave church inspired chapel in the Romans of the then East Prussia (destroyed in 1945) and the Matrosen station Kongsnæs in Potsdam , some of which were buildings survived the war.

The dragon style came on fashion and was continued after Munte’s death in 1908, including his assistants from the development at Holmenkollen, Henning Kloumann , Balthazar Lange and Ole Sverre .

The buildings were adapted to the terrain and got less height than the Swiss house. A characteristic feature was a highly irregular and varied basic plan. The architects were also concerned that the materials should be genuine, and therefore they used sockets of natural stone and often preferred to tarp the walls outside and varnish them inside so that the structure of the tree was exposed.

The buildings also had swallows with rounded dwarf streets, protruding upper floors and low gables. The tiles could be decorated with neo-Gothic or swiss-inspired details, and they could stand far outside the wall, as in many of the Swiss style buildings. The buildings were also adorned with dragons and Romanesque ranks. A conscious attempt was made to find a Norwegian style expression. This first phase was imaginative, national and urational. It lasted for about 1905.

The second phase
The second phase is calculated from approx. 1900 to 1915. It is less imaginative and has stylistic connection to Art Nouveau style . The actual end of the dragon style coincides with the end of the second phase when it was abandoned by the architects. But within a more popular construction , dragon-drenched houses were listed several places in the country until the mid-war era.

Source From Wikipedia