Herrerian - Historical Development

Historical Development

The Herrerian style was the official architecture of the Habsburgs, from the reign of Philip II. The sociopolitical impact meant the construction of the Monastery of El Escorial (1563-1584) facilitated its expansion. To this contributed also the fact that Juan de Herrera was appointed in 1579 Inspector of Monuments of the Crown.

The style spread through first in the comarcas of Madrid of the Sierra de Guadarrama, located within the catchment area of the Monastery of El Escorial, through two ways: works directly funded by the Royal Family and those promoted by the Guadarraman municipalities.

The first category covers infrastructure such as the Puente Nuevo, in Galapagar, and buildings for private use by Philip II, as the Casa Veleta, also in the same town, and the Real Aposento de Torrelodones, both disappeared. Were built for comfort the movements of the King from Madrid to the Real Sitio de El Escorial.

In El Escorial Town, the Crown encouraged the development of various urban planning and the construction of the Church of San Bernabé, by Francisco de Mora, one of the contributors to Herrera in the works of the Royal Monastery.

The Royal Family also approved the granting of benefits to those municipalities to proceed with the renovation of its main public and religious buildings. The result of this measure is the currently Herrerian aspect of the parish churches of Valdemorillo and Navalagamella, both of medieval origin.

The Herrerian style quickly spread throughout Spain and America. Some representative works are the Cathedral of Valladolid and the Puente de Segovia (Madrid), both designed by Juan de Herrera; the church of the Monastery of Uclés (Uclés, Cuenca Province), by Francisco de Mora; the Church of San Sebastián (Villacastín, Segovia Province), attributed to Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón; the Colegiata de San Luis (Villagarcía de Campos, Valladolid Province), by the same author; and the College of Our Lady of Antigua (Monforte de Lemos, Lugo Province) by Simón de Monasterio.

Special mention deserves the Ducal Palace of Lerma (Burgos Province), by Francisco de Mora that began in 1601. Led to the adoption of the emerging Herrerian style by the emerging Baroque trends of the time and the establishment of a palatial architecture model, which was repeated throughout the 17th century.

Most civic buildings erected in Madrid during the reign of Philip III and Philip IV continued the architectural guidelines of that palace. This is the case of the Palacio de los Concejos, the Palacio de Santa Cruz and the Casa de la Villa, all of baroque bill, but with notable Herrerian reminiscent.

The influence of Herrerian style is also visible in the expansion that, separately, had its distinctive spire pyramidal, with slate roofs. This item was adopted by many constructions previous to 16th century, mainly in the bell towers and domes of the churches.

The 18th and 19th century meant the decline of this architectural movement. In the 20th century came to pick up, during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The Plaza de la Moncloa, in Madrid, chaired by Air Force headquarters, symbolizes the resurgence of Herrerian architecture.