Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/942

 918 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. that chimney tops form no part of Mr. W'dod's idea of a Grecian villa. It would, how- ever, be difficult to construct such a villa as is indicated by this vignette in such a man- ner as to have open fire-places in the apartments, and yet to be without the appearance of chimneys externally. In the case of Mr. Vokins's villa, this is much more easily done, because the high parapet affords an opportunity of concealing such of the chimney tops as may be in the outside walls ; and those in the cross walls, and in the interior walls need not be carried higher than the ridge of the roof, by which means, and by drawing the flues to the inner slope of the roof, none of the shafts will appear on the cuter slopes of the roof, and consequently none be seen in the elevation. Notwithstanding the facility of concealing the chimneys in the Design before us, we should, for our own particular taste, have greatly preferred them displayed, for the sake of giving the building th-j expression of a dwelling-house. Looking at the edifice as it is, and without refer- ence to surrounding scenery, it is not easy to determine whether it is a private house or a public institution. The true principle of imitating Grecian Architecture in a villa, in cm" opinion, is, not to produce a building, like that of Mr. Wood's villa, without chimney tops, which might be mistaken for a temple, or a combination of temples ; for that would be mere mimicry ; nor, like the Design before us, a house without chimney tops, because that gives false expression, or, at all events, is defective in that quality ; but to imitate the style and manner of Grecian composition, and adapt it to the particular purpose in view. Mr. Vokins's Design wants only chimney tops to make it come up to this idea, and, indeed, the same may be said of the villa of Mr. Wood. The same principle will apply to the imitation of any of the varieties of Gothic Architecture. Indeed, the young Architect may always bear it in mind, as a fundamental princijile, that all fac- simile imitation ranks no higher than mimicry ; and that imitation, to belong to elegant art, must be the imitation of spirit and manner, not of individual forms. — With respect to the interior arrangement of Mr. Vokins's Design, it is admirable. The cubical mass of the main body of the building admits of getting a great deal in little s])ace, and with much less expense of walling than if the general form had been a parallelogram. The manner of setting the billiard-table (§ 1856) is worthy of notice ; and also the mode in which hot water is supplied to all the bed-rooms, and to the nursery in the chamber floor, from a boiler in the attics over it. The concealed passage for tlie bell wires in the attic floor, and the trunk for their descent, are also judicious contrivances ; and we may state here, that all the pipes from the roof, and from the water-closets, as well as all the pipes connected with cisterns, and the cisterns themselves, are so placed and protected as never to be liable to be frozen. In short, the interior arrangements of this house are among the most commodious and complete that we have seen, and Mr. Vokins has intro- duced some ingenious inventions in the internal finishings and fittings-up, which will be found in the chapter which will hereafter be given on those subjects. We cannot say much in favour of the laying out of the grounds. It is evident that the best views must be obtained before entering the house, which is at variance with one of the fundamental principles of landscape-gardening. (See Gnrd. Mag., vol. ix. p. 3.) The flower-garden is separated from the house in such a manner that a back road has to be crossed in walking to it, which is also in bad taste.