European Architecture in Asia^†

† Additional information on all of the buildings discussed in this article is available at my Web site, [http://www.greatmirror.com].

Abstract

In this article I draw attention to the galaxy of European buildings built over the last five centuries in Asia. I show how quickly and accurately European styles of the day were adopted in Asia, whether that style was Renaissance, Neoclassical, Gothic, Idiosyncratic Revivalist, or Modern. I argue that recent attention in Asia to architectural and urban preservation is itself of European origin. Although I suggest in conclusion that this architectural galaxy is part of an overwhelmingly one‐sided process of globalization, my primary focus remains on the buildings themselves as the residue of one culture diffusing across distant domains.

• Asia
• colonial architecture
• cultural diffusion
• European architectural styles
• globalization

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bret Wallach

Dr. Wallach is a Professor of geography at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019; [[email protected]].