Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/592

 482 The Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal. [Feb., cent Cathedral of York, whether viewed in the light of beauty or size. All writers are agreed, as to its grandeur of general effect, as well as its elegance of detailed feature. Some other English Cathedrals can show details of exquisite beauty : some can boast of majesty of design : but none can compare, in all things, with the perfectly beautiful York Minster. ■ At a distance, it presents to the eye of the spectator a lofty and most im- posing aspect. Its three towers are dis- tinct objects, rising, in massive grandeur, above the houses of the city and the parochial churches ; and, with the im- pressive gables and ornate pinnacles, furnish the eye a subject worth studying. York Cathedral has several unfavor- able circumstances to contend with, such as the flatness of site, the unfavorable- ness of approaches, &c. The houses are built near the church, on the east, west, and south, where the entrances are, being so close, as to present quite a crowded and unpleasing appearance ; the spectator being necessarily too close to obtain a fair view — all the parts ap- pearing distorted or abrupt. The higher members are seen, by the rules of per- spective, asPvanishing, or dipping, too quickly to be pleasing ; and the nearer parts seem awkwardly large. Thus, the positive beauties of this structure are warped into deformities by this disad- vantageous situation of its surround- ings, just as an individual of unblem- ished character may appear unfavorably, when found in the midst of low company. This beautiful Minster may be regard- ed, as very regular and uniform in arrangement and style of architecture. It consists of a nave with its two aisles, a transept with two aisles and a lan- thorn in the centre, a choir and lady- chapel, with two aisles, vestries or chapels on the south side, and a chapter- room with a vestibule on the north side. The peculiarities and styles of these parts, as well as of the exterior, will be here explained :— The situation of the magnificent West Front is such as to be most unfavorable for the display of its beauty. A wall and some small houses confine it in a narrow area. This grand front cannot be viewed, except in a diagonal direction. Two uniform towers, strengthened at their corners with buttresses, which diminish at four divisions, as they ascend, rise from the western ends of the aisles of the nave. Between these towers, the front of the middle aisle is carried up to the same height as its side walls ; and an open battlement runs across the whole breadth, round the towers ; and continues along the sides of the nave. Almost the whole of the front is covered with a number of niches, adorned with a beautiful variety and richness of sculpture, wrought in each of the buttresses, as well as in the walls between them. In this West Front is a window of truly magnificent proportions, with leafy tracery of exquisite grace ; marking the style of the fourteenth century. A crocketed pediment, in the form of an isosceles triangle, encloses and sur- mounts the arched head of this window, the apex of which rises above the bat- tlement, and is executed in open tracery, through which is seen the gable of the roof, richly adorned with tracery mouldings, crowned at top with open battlements, highly orna- mented and raking, on both sides, up to a tabernacle on the summit. The centre entrance door has a similar pediment crowning it. This doorway is divided into two parts, by a slender pillar. Each part, or passage, is covered -with en- riched arches, the space between them and the outer arch being filled with a handsome rose-window. The lower, parts of the towers pre- serve a correspondent design to the sides of the fabric. In front of each is a win- dow exactly like the rest in the aisles, only not brought so low at bottom, to make room for the doors. The form of the western towers — from the open bat.