The Yenidze Oriental Tobacco and Cigarette Factory : an example of Islamic Ornamental architecture in Germany

Abstract

Stylistic elements of "Oriental" architecture became a popularized design feature for industrial buildings in Europe during the 19th century--especially within the context of Germany. As an Islamic ornamentation program unfolds, the production and dissemination of pattern books and building manuals brought forth by French and British amateur architects and designers become important factors in establishing and inventing this stylistic trend. This thesis investigates Islamic ornamentation and its occurrence and utilization on Prussian, Bavarian, and Saxonian industrial architectural examples. The Yenidze Oriental Tobacco and Cigarette Factory (1909) serves as a model in emphasizing the implementation and extrapolation of these 19th century pattern books and building manuals. In shedding light on the ways in which the tobacco factory serves as a continuer of a self-referential legacy, this architectural example will ultimately illuminate the stylistic trend's own discursivity. Interpreting the continuation of this design trajectory, the tobacco factory's architecture will further be contextualized within its own geo-agricultural and geo-political associations as regards to broader historical, mercantile, and imperial precedents.