The Lost Art of Teaching Ornament

The teaching practices of premodernist architectural education have been lost, with a few exceptions. An example of this is the teaching of ornament. But by chance the author stumbled upon a handwritten notebook from 1905 by a long-forgotten Norwegian teacher at the old school of architecture in Oslo, the Christiania Drawing School. The ensuing investigation uncovered some lost facts about former North European architectural education: 1) Ornament made up 25% of the curriculum and of students’ practical exercises. 2) Teaching of ornament had a threefold purpose: to teach drawing skills, to cultivate students’ sense of beauty from day one, and to educate students in the history of architecture and architectural styles. The results presented here may be used in restoring the teaching of ornament as a discipline in schools of art, architecture, and craft.