Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/635

 Bk. hi. Ch. II. TOWN-HALLS. 603 rano-es of columns, with long galleries and great halls above it for the use of the trade to which it was approjjriated. The town-hall at Bruges is perhaps the oldest building erected especially for that purpose in Belgium, the foundation-stone having been laid in 1377. It is a small building, being only 88 ft. in front by 65 in depth, and of a singularly pure and elegant design. Its small size causes it to suffer considerably from its immediate proximity to the cloth-hall and other trade-halls of the city. These, grouped with the belfry in their centre, occupy one end of the great Place, and, though not remarkable for beauty, either of design or detail, still form a most imposing mass. The belfry is one of the most picturesque towers in the country. Its original height was 356 ft., which was diminished by about 60 ft. by the removal of the spire in 1741, though it still towers above all the buildings of the city, and in that liat country is seen far and wide. The finest of the town-halls of Belgium, built originally as such, is that of Brussels (Woodcut No. 449), commenced in 1401, and finished in 1455. In dimensions it is inferior to the cloth-hall at Ypres, being only 264 ft. in length by about 50 in depth, atnd its details, as may be supposed from its age, are less pure ; but the spire that surmounts its centre, rising to the height of 374 ft., is unrivalled for beauty of outline and design by any spire in Belgium, and is entitled to take rank among the noblest examples of the class in Europe. Notwith- standing its late age, there is no extravagance, either in design or detail, about it ; but the mode in which the octagon is placed on the square, and the outline broken and varied by the bold and important pinnacles that group around it, produce a most pleasing variety, without interfering; with the main constructive lines of the building. The spire, properly so called, is small, so that its open-work tracery is pleasing and appropriate, which is more than can be said of some of its German rivals, in which this mode of ornamentation is quite unsuited to the large scale on which it is attempted. Next in importance to this is the well-known and beautiful town- hall at Louvain (1448-1463), certainly the most elaborately decorated piece of Gothic architecture in existence. Though, perhaps, a little overdone in some j)arts, the whole is so consistent, and the outline and general scheme of decoration so good, that little fault can be found with it. In design it follows very closely the hall at Bruges, but wants the tower, which gives such dignity to those at Brussels and Ypres. Towards the end of the same century (1481) the inhabitants of Ghent determined on the erection of a town-hall, which, had it ever been finished, would have surpassed all the others in size and richness, though whether it would have equalled them in beauty is more than doubtful. After a century of rnterruj)ted labor the design was aban-