Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/511

Rh POSITION.] ARCHITECT U K E 453 mass, abounding with Roman columns and cornices, and receiving something of the massive appearance and light ness of stone from being covered with stucco, just as most of Palladio s buildings in Italy were. But whilst they were far better in general effect than the class which pre ceded them, the columns and their long unbroken lines of cornices often sadly interfered with the requirements of the dwellings, and in the new streets and terraces of our towns we see but few imitations of Roman porticoes and pediments, and the speculating builder mostly limits himself to putting a portico to the door, a few mouldings (in stucco) to the windows, and a slight cornice as a finish to the tops. On the Continent the usual style of living in flats enables the builders to produce, with the same number of rooms, a more massive external effect than with us. One large entrance doorway suffices for the whole, and thus four or five separate houses (as they are in reality) have the effect of one large mansion. Still more is this the case when a courtyard, requiring a carriage entrance, occupies the centre of the building. Of a far higher class than the private dwellings are many of the places of business recently erected in our great towns. In the new banks, exchanges, insurance offices, &c., many of our most noted architects have produced good results ; and if we cannot congratulate ourselves upon much that is being done, we can, at least, say that the new work is an improvement upon the old. In no instance, perhaps, is the advance more to be noted than in the club houses and the great warehouses for storing the lighter class of goods. A fa$ade having long lines of windows, in many stories, each story of considerable height, and with only one main entrance doorway, affords the materials, of course, for forming a massive and pleasing effect much as that of the Continental houses above described. And the opportunity has certainly not been lost. Our plan, too, of letting each owner build to a considerable extent accord ing to his own design, results in a more picturesque arrangement of our streets than those of a Continental town, which usually present lines of uninteresting houses, all of much the same design. As a still further mark of progress we must mention the town-halls and other civic structures at Bradford, Hali fax, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Plymouth, Preston, &c., and the local museums and picture galleries, as at Cam bridge, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds, Liverpool, Oxford. Salis bury, &c. Not only do these great civic buildings give importance by their magnitude to the towns, but they lead to other works in rivalry or imitation, just as a mediaeval building of note did in olden times, and the goodness of their design is therefore a matter of prime importance. The museums are gradually helping to fill up a void most painfully felt by every stranger in our towns, and will help to preserve many local pieces of antiquity which would otherwise have been lost. Of a higher class still arc the colleges at Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester (Owens), &c., and many of the additions to those of the old universities. In these colleges the number of rooms of varying size, the entrance tower, and the internal quadrangles, allow of picturesque effects, but seldom present any one very grand mass. This has, however, been produced at University College, London, by the central portico (probably the finest in England), which rises high above the rest of the edifice. In the civic buildings a bolder effect can be produced by their actual requirements, viz., a grand hall of large area and height, with spacious corridors and staircases, and a high clock tower, which seems to furnish the natural com plement to such structures. If we have not rivalled Ypres or Louvain, we have at least improved on the wretched civic buildings of the last century. Larger and grander than any of the above works are the Houses of Parliament in London. However much of the detail may be open to criticism, it must be readily acknow ledged that the architect had in his mind, and steadily carried out, the idea of combining the whole into one grand mass, in place of leaving it as a mere series of fronts, as in the Bank of England or Somerset House ; and the variously designed steeples and towers culminating in the one grand tower at the royal entrance form the whole into one of the grandest buildings of the age. Of a class unknown to the last generation are the railway stations, some of the largest edifices of the time, but usually almost hidden by another new class of buildings, viz., the colossal hotels. The stations themselves are in the main mere great vaults of glass on iron ribs, whose curved outlines are disfigured by the iron ties which the safety of a great extent of such roofing requires, and thus the only beauty, viz., the cur/ed form, is to a large extent obscured. It is a fortunate circumstance that this form is the best adapted to the purpose, and when, as in many notable instances, the skill or good taste of the engineer has allowed of the ties being dispensed with, the vast size and lightness of the vault have a very impressive look. The hotels, which in most cases form the frontage of the stations in our country, are, for the most part, worthy of the striking positions which they occupy ; but they are chiefly by living architects, and so beyond the scope of our criticism. No one, however, can study the way in which most of them are attached to the station buildings which they front without wishing most heartily that the engineer of the one and the architect of the other had worked somewhat more in harmony with each other. Of an entirely novel design and construction was the Crystal Palace, admirably adapted, no doubt, for the pur pose for which Paxton designed it, or for any other purpose for which a flood of light without impediment is required. But the manner in which the second, at Sydenham, has been altered is instructive. Where a grand orchestra was required the top was covered as a great sounding board, and when pictures or art works were to be exhibited the sides were closed, the result showing plainly that the top lights are of the chief value, the side ones being little required except for the prospect through ; and even for picture galleries a much smaller amount of light is required than in the Crystal Palace roof. Its curved form is, how ever, very pleasing, and the brilliancy of the light glass roof will ensure its being adopted in many buildings where a vivid light is required. We have now passed hurriedly in review most of the forms of modern architecture, and we need scarcely add that it is developed in every conceivable style. If a church is to be built we may, indeed, pretty safely predict that it will be in one of the many pointed styles, but even then it may be English, French, or Italian. But of any other kind of edifice no one could safely predict the style. Probably it might be safe to assert that a theatre would not have (as Covent Garden in London had) a Grecian Doric portico, or an Egyptian pylon be made to do duty (as in Piccadilly, London) for a couple of shops. One might also be tolerably sure that a monument to a distin guished person would not be a granr e column with a stair case up the middle, and a statue almost out of sight, with a lightning conductor through the head at top, as at the duke of York s column, London. But short of this, almost any prediction as to the style might come true ; and as nearly every building of note throughout the world is brought to the eyes of the public by means of engravings or photographs, there seems little chance of its being otherwise. In the United States the architects of the public build-