Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/951

 VILLAS IN VARIOUS STYLES. 9^7 adaptation to the exigencies of our climate, and to the purposes of convenience. Thus, in the tbrmer case, we have, instead of the gently sloped coverings of southern climes, the high roof, with its picturesque concomitant the high gable, in order tlie more effectually to throw off the rain and snow of our less hospitable region. To obtain more, also, Oi the light of day than was needed in the Greek or Roman structure, we have windows of ample dimension, while of firm construction. To enjoy the benefit of the Greek peristyle for walking in shelter, we may have the yet more closely sheltered cloister. To screen our entrances, we are provided at pleasure with the porch ; and, to protect our less substantially constructed walls, we are allowed to finish our roofs with projecting eaves and ornamental verge-boards. The ample fireplace and picturesque chimney- stack are features suited to our climate, of which ancient classic remains afford no example. Nor must we forget to notice the facility with which, in Domestic Architecture, the Old English style accommodates itself to the opportunities, and means of building, prescribed by diversified circumstance and locality. Thus, let freestone, brick, flint, or timber be the prevailing material of construction in any given district, it will suit itself to either, and assume alike a picturesque and interesting aspect in all. A further advantage connected with the use of this mode, on the ground of convenience, is the aptitude with which it admits of additions and alterations. Its rules of composition are not fettered by that strict regard to uniformity which is displayed in works of Greek or Italian origin : such a principle would tend at once to destroy the varied interest which con- stitutes so powerful a charm in the works of that class for which we plead. Hence it is that those alterations and additions to any given Design, which in other styles occasion deformity, become in this, if judiciously treated, the means of improving the character of the primitive pile, by diversifying its outline, varying its light and shade, or enhancing, by contrast, the importance of the principal masses. 1876. Comparative Expense of Buildings in the Pointed Style. If, then, it be admitted, from the observations already offered, that the considerations of architectural beauty, fitness, and convenience, as well as those of association, are in favour of the Old English or pointed style, let us enquire how the question stands with regard to expenditure. And here we must candidly allow, at the outset, that, if it be asked whether Pointed Architecture, when simplified to its utmost extent, is as economical as our ordinary kind of domestic construction, when that is in like manner simplified, we are compelled to reply in the negative. For, indeed, to put the question in this form, is to ask whether that which is of a genuine architectural character can be executed for as little cost as that which makes no claim to character whatever. If, however, the comparison be formed, as it should be, between a buDding in the Old English mode, and one of equal pretension in either of the classic styles, we are fully prepared to maintain that the former will, in judicious hands, be as economical as the latter ; and in this opinion we shall be supported by a reference to the comparative cost of various works of recent date, more especially churches. The great secret of cheapness in this style is to know how far ornament is essential ; where it may be introduced with the greatest expression and character; and how its place may be most eflfectually supplied by force of outline and of shadow. There cannot be a more gross error in art, than that of supposing that elabo- rate ornament is essential to real beauty ; or, on the other hand, that the application of such ornament can render correct that which is not consistent and spirited when reduced to its very first elements. It is to the neglect of this fundamental principle that we attribute the existence of heaps upon heaps of contemptible trash called Gothic, not only in the way of metal-work, furniture, and the like, but even of Architecture itself. Let the character and application of primitive forms, both in the mass and in the detail, be well understood, and the pointed system may then fairly challenge a comparison with all other modes, as well on the ground of economy eis on that of taste itself. 1877. Causes of the Neglect of the Pointed Style in Villa Architecture. Such, then, being the recommendatory qualities of the style under consideration, it may be natural to ask whence it arises that our own national department of art has, till lately, so completely yielded to systems of foreign origin. This, we imagine, may be accounted for upon various suppositions. Of these, the first is, that, under the increased pursuit of classic literature in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, our ancestors affected a corre- spondent admiration of classic art ; an admiration increased by the charm of novelty, and, for a while, of exclusiveness. WhUe, too, the more polished men of the time thus cultivated their newly acquired taste, it is reasonable to suppose that the progress of the principles of the Reformation would have a tendency to excite in the minds of the people an indifference to that mode of Architecture which they had been accustomed to regard as associated with the observances of Popish superstition. The Italian style, then, being once established in the land, even with such an intermixture of crudities and rudeness, it was natural to expect that, as its merits (great as they unquestionably are) became more fully developed, they would be but the more steadfastly supported, especially as