Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/797

 PRINCIPLES FOR DESIGNING VILLAS. 77^ happy and unexpected transitions from one style of gardening to another, may be permitted, and perhaps with good effect, within the garden ground, yet, when the park is approached, no such trick should be allowed. The simple grandeur of our park scenery requires no raree-show work to attract attention ; it stands unrivalled with its hundred accompani- ments of wild splendour, which cannot but be materially deteriorated by any contrivances to show it off to advantage." {Gard. Mag., vol. iv. p. 214.) Sect, III. Of adapting the Architectural Style and interior Arrangement of the House to the Character of the Situation. 1652. Certain Cliaracters of Ground and Sccneri/ are supposed, by many, to have an analogy with certain styles of Architecture. Rude, rocky, hilly, and very irregular sur- faces are said to require the Castle Gothic ; fertile valleys, the Abbey Gotliic, or monastic style ; and rich extensive plains the Grecian or Roman manner. It is, no doubt, very natural to associate a rude style of scenery with the baronial castle ; and an abbey or monastery with surrounding fertility ; but the connection between Grecian Architecture and tame or rich scenery is not so obvious. However, in so far as these prejudices or associations exist, they ought to be taken advantage of by the Architect, in his choice of style. In so far as Architecture is entitled to be considered a fine art, the style adopted ought to exercise some influence on the imagination ; and, therefore, whichever style may be selected, it ought always to be accompanied, as far as practicable, by such cir- cumstances as may serve to heighten its effect on the mind. Thus, a castellated man- sion, with towers and battlements, will more powerfully affect the imagination, when placed in a position favourable for defence, by its altitude, its rocky base, its proximity to a river or the sea, or by various other circumstances, than when placed on a tame, flat surface. At the first glance the spectator immediately concludes that it may have been a real castle in former times ; and he readily becomes a party, as it were, to the illusion which it is desired to create. There are similar associations connected with villas ui the monastic style ; but few, at least in Britain, with purely Grecian villas. The associations connected with them are either classical, and of a description which can only affect the minds of those classical scholars who have studied Architecture ; or purely architectural, and therefore confined almost entirely to Architects. Whenever, therefore, the artist wishes to affect the imagination, and to raise emotions of grandeur and beauty, or recall the images of antiquity in general observers, he must adopt one or other of those styles with which general observers are familiar. The truth is, that, in order thoroughly to enjoy an object, we must first understand it : now, for one person who knows and can comprehend the uses of the component parts of a Grecian elevation, there are numbers who are familiar with aU the details of Gothic Architecture. Towers, battlements, buttresses, pointed windows, mullions, and porches have been, from infancy, before the eyes of every one who has been in the habit of attending his parish church ; and, when- ever they occur in other buildings, they recall a thousand images connected with the place of our birth, the scenes of our youth, the home of our parents, and the abodes of our friends. In this frame of mind how easy it is to be pleased ! 1653. In order to compare the Grecian Style with the Gothic, or any of those which may be considered as indigenous to this coiuitrj-, with reference to their effect on the imagination, it is only necessary for us, first to take a view of a newly built villa in the one style, and then of one, also newly built, in the other. Let us imagine a Grecian villa now before us, with its portico, and regular symmetrical front ; perfect in all respects as an edifice. What are the sentiments which arise in the mind on viewing it ? ^'ery few which can respond to any feeling already existing in the mind of the general observer. The columns, no doubt, carry back the ideas to the Grecian temples of antiquity ; but these do not possess half the interest, in the present age, which attaches itself to a Gothic church. There are no ancient villas in the Grecian style, at least in Britain, to recall associations in their favour ; and, that style of Architecture being chiefly prevalent in newly built cities, a villa in the Grecian style generally reminds us more of the town than of the country. A style of building which has this effect cannot be well adapted for a villa. What, then, are the inducements to build villas in the Grecian style ? Is there any particidar fitness in this style for the internal arrangement of a house in the country? Can such houses be rendered more commodious, more durable, or built more economi- cally ? No one will answer these questions in the affirmative. If, then, Grecian Architecture has but few associations connected with its external appearance to recom- mend it for the country, and if it be found not better than other styles in point of fitness and utility, by what means has it happened that it has been, till lately, so generally adopted in country houses? We believe that the principal reason why it was first introduced in the reign of James I. was its novelty at that time ; and that, having then become the fashionable style, it has since been continued, partly for that reason, and partly from the general deference which is paid to any thing Grecian. The style is, we