Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/755

 1869.] Architecture in America. 613 are, every one, slavish copies of Euro- pean parts of buildings, erected by either a barbarous or semi-barbarous people, whose architects held exclusively the knowledge of geometric art, and turned and twisted it into designs, with- "out ai^ apparent object, save to excite wonder at. their ingenuity. No doubt, the crude ideas, first put into shape, were afterwards made use of, and vastly improved upon, by succeeding ages. And here we would call attention to this evident fact, that those semi-bar- barous architects were the authors ©f the Naissant styles of their day, which have held their place in the world, for so many centuries ; and have yet un- limited admirers. Does the American Architect feel nervous, as to his ability to originate, after such examples ; and, with the world of accumulated information, that he has in ably-edited books and accurate en- gravings — such as no other profession can boast of — to aid him in his glorious task? Without any knowledge, whatever, from the outside world, the Chinese and Japanese formed their national styles ; which, however we may jeer at them, were nevertheless perfectly original, and unquestionably national. Far away in the remotest countries on the globe, we find styles unlike any thing we ever saw ; and, taking as an example the public buildings of Hindostan, where can we find more striking proofs, of the individuality of architectural genius, than are to be found there ? True, ft is not classic, this Hindoo st3 - le, yet, it has its charms for that people ; a3 T e, and features of elegance for any taste, how- ever refined, to dwell upon, with pleas- ure. Their architects, no doubt, bor- rowed ideas from Nature ; and what more bounteous treasury to use ? All the earliest peoples, evidently, did so. Why should our American Architects not borrow from such a prolific source ? There is one good and substantial reason for our present conglomerate of archi- tecture. Our nation is made up of many different nationalities, whose archi- tects, coming to this country, bring with them the ideas of design, prevalent in their respective lands; and, not alone that, but they keep up those early teach- ings, by importing their country's archi- tectural books and engravings. Eng- lish and American Architects have taken the publications with which London can so liberally supply them. We have long wanted an independent source of in- formation and channel of free inter- course, amongst our American brethren ; and now, it is here, we hope to see it used, by contributors freely, and with a patriotic view of advancing the interests of American Architecture. The public will take a growing inter- est in this matter ; and will expect to hear from our professional friends on the subject. Let it, at least, be fully and exhaustively canvassed. All our architects, of every clime, will join in this national movement ; for, no foreigners, as a body, hold the institu- tions they have left, in such regard, as to desire their memory to be perpetuated in the architecture of this land of their redemption. They simply accept this importation of old-time thoughts, for the reason, that there are no pure archi- tectural features native to this country of their adoption. Even when we used the Greek and Roman styles, we held a more indepen- dent course, than "we do, under the reign of the Renaissance ; for, those stj'les are, as it were, a dead language, and do not convey any unpleasing reminiscence of a still living oppression. The beautieo of those styles are unquestionable ; and it is their features, which we cherish, without any reference to the long-dead history of their age. As entire models we cannot favor them, for their dark- ness, owing to not having windows, can- not accord with the flood of light, which our buildings demand. But, we would, most decidedly, favor the retention of those time-tried members of the classic