Page:Suggestions on the Arrangement and Characteristics of Parish Churches.djvu/40

40 because pine, stained and varnished, showing the natural grain of the wood, has a much better effect than any mere imitation. The objection to graining does not extend to painting in the prismatic colours and gilding (polychomepolychrome [sic], as it is called): that stands on different grounds altogether.

The first thing that occurs to one, with respect to town and city Churches, is that which naturally affects all other characteristics; it is their necessarily large superficial area. I cannot imagine a case, however, in which a good-sized and well-proportioned cruciform Church will not meet all demands. St. George's, in London, is larger than any Church in Dublin, and it has but nave and aisles, with chancel and chapels, of course. This largeness of area imperatively demands great elevation; and, moreover, as domestic buildings, now-a-days, are carried to considerable height, it is proper that the Church, if it do not overtop them, will be no lower. Height, then, is indispensable to a city Church; but, remember, that this height is to be obtained legitimately. It will not do to pile up stones in meaningless fashion, producing large, useless surfaces of dead masonry. Make the aisle walls from 25 to 30 feet high (so as to remove the windows from the reach of the people on the outside), with a pitch to aisle roofs of from 15 to 20 feet; the nave piers and arches will equal these two heights together; a clerestory of from 20 to 25 feet in height, with a well-proportioned roof over the nave, will give a height, from pavement to roof-top, varying between 85 and 105 feet. This may be considered a moderate height; but it can be easily exceeded, if required. If to it we add the elevation of the bell-stage of the tower, which should rise clear above the roof, and a spire, I think all reasonable demands for elevation will be complied with.

The next object will be the style of architecture to be