Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/103

 1868.1 Monthly Review. 83 wall within the rooms, with a very trifling loss of space, the inclination from a vertical line, in the entire altitude of a story, being scarcely more than the thickness of the walls. There is much latitude in the cross-sectional forms, ex- terior decorations, &c. At times these roofs are of a very neat and yet very simple style of finish ; and, again, of the most excursive and extravagant de- scription, But, with the modern style of the Mansard, employed on the first class buildings of the city of Paris and its vicinity, very few of the general imita- tions we have in this country will begin to compare. The same may be remarked in the comparison of our constructions, of this kind, with those of any other of the leading cities of France. We might adduce the Place Pavilion, projected by Napoleon le Grand ; and carried out by the present Emperor, Louis Napoleon, which forms the connecting link, be- tween the Tuilleries and the Louvre : and the elegant mansion, quite recently erected by the Baron Rothschild, in the suburbs of Paris. There are many others, of commensurate grandeur. It is a singular fact, that this peculiar and ingenious style of roof never found its waj T any distance beyond the borders of France, excepting partially through the German states close to the line, until of late years, when it crossed the Straits to England. Then, in a double sense, we imported it to America. That is, our Mr. Sloan, designed for Dr. Evans ; and put up at his residence near West Chester, Pa., in the year 1860, the first Mansard roof ever erected in this section of the United States. It became almost immediately contagious. If handled with judgment, skill and care, the French roof will certainly be the means of beautifying our cities and their surroundings, although it is scarcely possible to an American city for generations to come, if indeed, — considering the government edifices, the public halls, the museums, art galleries, zoological gardens, parks, promenades, and churches of the people, — ever to compare with the metropolis of France. We have, however, — spread all over the land, within the reach, and in the occu- pancy of the very humblest, as well as of all the intermediate classes, up to the very richest, and singularly enough, not in any degree dependent on the science and knowledge of architecture — a kind, and after all the most important kind of buildings, which they have not, and in all human probability never will have in the realm of the Gauls — those clearest to the inmates, and most invit- ing to friends and strangers, of all human habitations — homes. Recurring again to our eaves, we have branched out, already, into a far greater variety of forms, than the French, in this matter of the Mansard roof. The transverse section of the original was all composed in straight lines. An examination of many designs in a late, and very choice, work, edited by " M. Ca?sar Daley, architecte du govern- ment," shows nothing but straight lines in the framing of the roofs of any of his extremely ornate and beautiful figures ; though we think curved lines occasionally greatly assist the stateli- ness and effect of the Mansard. We have the curve both convex and concave, the cyma-recta, and the cyma-reversa. When either of these last two forms is used, the height of the roof and the projection of the cornice are generally increased ; and the window pediments are more broken in outline, and elabo- rate in decoration. In fact, departing from the original idea of an additional range of rooms with horizontal ceilings and walls d'aplomb without need of the supporting walls being very heav} r, this roof is frequently carried up in the same material, as forms the walls, with highly finished balustrades, &c. The smaller windows are oval, and sometimes round, with exterior loopholes, for ornament. The chimney-stacks, carried up to a great height, are usually a marked feature.