Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/263

 i Marcu 22, 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS. 245 ae ee as all those I have visited form, continuations of ordinary street architecture. The Police-court in Rochester-row, Westminster, isof the dirtiest, gloomiest type. Brick facings and stone dressings, square-headed depressed windows, heavy, very heavy, and dodged about in quite a playful innocence of structural rules, piers over voids, and such like; and rain must fallin greater abundance in Rochester-row than at other parts of London, because the rain-water pipes at this building are about double the size and twice as prominent as they need be, if the natural order of things is the same here as at any other place. The Kennington- lane Police-court is not so original in its treatment, and not so offensive as this last. It has brick fac- ings, and the ground story is of stone, with large and good Venetian windows. The whole has a bold and respectable appearance ; and, with the exception that the first story appears to be crushed, does not invite criticism, but defies condemnation. The same cannot be said of the Bgrough (Southwark) Police- court. The first story window heads are very heavy, the portico of yery bad design, with those cheese-like appendages at the shafts. The main cornice does not harmonise with the rest of the elevation, the top range of windows are good, but the black string- course under very mean in appearance. For an authority for the style in which the Worship-street Police-ceurt is erected, we must go back a few years. It is, (and why should it not be ?) Elizabethan in character, and with a few exceptions so admirably is the original style followed, that comment upon it is needless. The Church-street (Shoreditch) Police- station, is again in the more modern style; the general proportion is good, but a bad effect is produced by the use of stone at the springing line of arches. The general and more reasonable method is here re- versed ; instead of the stone forming the springer to the arch, it forms a panel only between the arches. The treatment is original, but not satisfactory ; it gives to the arch a weak appearance, and apparent strength where it is not required. The main cornice is much too heavy for this building, and the window heads next to the projecting entrance sadly deficient in the way of design. The Vine-street Police-station possesses that heavy aggressive appearance to be ob- served in some of the others; there is some good treatment about the building, but it is spoiled by the window heads. This building is dressed by a very brown stone, and architects will do well to avoid such dark stone in a London building, for, consider- ing the short time this has been put up, its receptive faculties for dirt and smoke would appear to be very prominent. ‘There is not a very great difference be- tween the design of this last and that of the King’s-cross-road Police-court, but the latter is by far the most pleasing ; the general proportion is good, and the fenestration more carefully attended to; if all had been equal to this one, cause for great com- plaint would not exist. The last police-court or station that I have visited is the one situated in Albany-street, Regent’s Park; and in point of de- sign is the very worst of the series; all idea of pro- portion and harmony seems to have been utterly ignored. The main cornice is very weak and poor, and the story above it out of all proportion to the one below it, ridiculously so, but the most abject feature in the design is the Venetian window in the centre of the first story. Considering its position, its sur- roundings, and it in itself, no form of speech could be, in my opinion, too strong in utterly condemning it. I candidly think that it is the very worst win- dows, taken altogether, to be found inLondon. On the whole, Sir, the visit I have paid to these police- courts and stations has been disappointing; I did expect to gather from some of them useful ideas. I have gained them, but they are forcibly impressed upon me as those to be avoided.—I am, &c., Wein Wie HOW ARCHITECTS ARE TREATED IN THE WEST. Str,—If any additional proof were required to show the’estimation in which architects’ services are held by some portion of public committees, it will be found in the terms of the conditions issued for designs for the Western Counties Idiot Asylum, re- ferred to by one of your correspondents last week. . It is surely time to raise an indignant protest, when a committee, having for its president the Right Hon. the Earl of Devon, offers to the archi- tectural profession the opportunity of competing for the noble sum of £10 as a premium for the best de- sign for a lunatic asylum, with the further induce- ment that if the work is carried out under the suc- cessful competitor's supervision the premium will not be paid, and at all events the designs are to be- come the property of the committee. We have no doubt the committee will reap the due reward of their generosity, bnt we hope that before too late they will see the bad policy of their proceeding, and without wishing to impute to them the desire to insult the profession, which their offer would appear to imply, we trust no architect, hav- ing any claim to honourable position, will consent to accept the terms held out in the conditions. Supposing that a clerical error had been made in the advertisement, we wrote to the hon. secretary to that effect, and received a curt reply to the con- trary. Our plans for the Midland Counties Idiot Asylum were selected in competition with several others, and we are now engaged in carrying out the works; and we have been invited, in company with a few other architects, to prepare designs for a Lunatic Asylum at Virginia Water. So we feel that we can state with some confidence our opinion as to the great amount of labour and expense incurred in preparing designs for works of this character.—We are, &c., Marnews & QuILTer. 9, Conduit-street, W. March 20. GAINSBOROUGH CORN EXCHANGE. Srr,—I beg to call the attention of architectural students to the very fine brick towers and turrets of the building at present used as the ‘Gains- borough Corn Exchange.” The main building is a very fine framed timber one (fourteenth century), and the ancient brick towers and _ turrets are early fifteenth century, or perhaps earlier. Legendary lore states it to have been the favourite residence of John O’ Gaunt, and as that worthy must have lived there in the four- teenth century I should ascribe it to that period. The custodian exhibits a ‘small room said to have been the place of confinement of ‘ The Lady Alice Gaunt,” groined in brick ; if so, it must be one of the earliest brick buildings remaining. The tower is about 70ft. high, and there are machicolations to the third floor as well as the battlements. These machicolations are of brick, cut and rubbed, as Fig. 1. These have been repaired with moulded terra-cotta. The loop-hole lights to the turret stairs are inter- esting as brickwork ; the trefoil head is formed by the twe bricks, cut and meeting in centre as Fig. 2; hood moulds are formed by cut bricks to some of the windows. The chimneys are very peculiar, they seem to have a number of venti- lating shafts attached, r and these are turned out at the sides of chimney, as shown in Fig. 3. The flues are gathered into a single octagon shaft at top, as Fig. 4, with concave sides, and have a very striking effect. On the river side of the building there is a group of three of them, so con- nected with the timber portion as to leave a doubt as the earliest work. It is by far the earliest large mass of brick- work I have seen in England, and I hope some one more able than myself will favour your readers with illustrations of this neglected building, contain- ing, as it does, so many hints in construction.—I am, &e., Cier«x or WORKS. FIG ECONOMISING THE SEWAGE, Srr,—I find that I have made a small mistake at p. 225. At the close of my letter there I say an india- rubber pipe is put down into barrel through E, it should have been through G, said ‘‘G” being another 3in. pipe carried up from top of barrel to near level of strut, where it is covered by a small iron case with lid. I have just seen the process of emptying the urine barrel depicted at p. 225. An indiarubber pipe, with about 2ft. Gin. of lin. copper tube fixed to the end of it, is put down into barrel through the pipe which goes from top of barrel to surface of ground, and the cock being opened of the travelling iron cylinder, from which the air has been exhausted by an air-pump, the pre- sence of the atmosphere forces all the urine, up the indiarubber pipe into cylinder. This cock, which allows urine to enter cylinder, isatthetop. Thereis another cock for emptying cylinder at the bottom. The cylinder isabout 6ft.in diameter, and about 3ft. across. Itis drawn by one horse, and the air-pump works as the horse travels. P. HOW ARCHITECTS ARE TREATED IN THE WEST. Srr,—I quite agree with ‘‘Indignans” in his general remarks, but I am afraid he has not carefully considered probabilities, and may, in consequence, be a little too severe. I would, therefore, submit to him one question. Is it not possible that the committee may have been selected from the same class as the intended inmates? If so, we must take a more charitable view of their proceedings.—I am, &c., WEST. Intercommunication, — QUESTIONS. [(2511.)—Damp Walls.—I have a house in an ex- posed position which has to be papered soon. In one or two places the damp comes through the walls, and I am anxious to know if there is any wash or solution I can lay on the walls to prevent the new paper coming off. I shall feel obliged to any one who will answer this.—Z. [2512.|—Oak Stopping.—Will any of your nume- rous readers kindly inform me of a hard kind of stopping for Stettin oak ?—C. W. [2513.,—Vegetation on Plain-Tiling.—Can any of your readers inform me of a preventive of yegetation on plain-tiling, and which would at the same time render the tiles less porous, and thus secure a great saving in rain-water.—A. E. A. [2514.|—Belfry, Ifs, Normandy.—It is to be hoped Mr. Deshon will not think me troublesome, but I should be obliged by his kindly informing me whether the ‘‘ entasis”” shown by his sketch of the aboye church, published in the last issue of BurnpinG News, to exist in four of the pinnacles, is actually observable to the extent indicated, and whether there is a similar ‘Centasis” in the main spire.—M. B. A. [2515.)—Photographs of Eminent Archi- tects.—I should be obliged by any information that will enable me to obtain “carte de visite” portraits of our leading architects, particularly those of the Gothic school.—M. B. A. 2516.]—Etching on Copper.—Will any corre- spondent inform me where I can obtain the tools and materials necessary for etching on copper ?—I. W. C. REPLIES. [2484.]—Tiles.—In addition to the replies at p. 203, might I be allowed to suggest the following as a remedy which might prevent these tiles falling out, as stated at p. 184?—viz., put a small projecting catch at back, of the form I here show in sketch, which would take a hold in the cement. Z —P. [2493.]—Firegrates and Flues.—A _corres- pondent in your last issue, * W. J.,” speaks of a very primitive way of narrowing the throat of a flue. Gibbs’ “ lintel”? makes it imperative on the bricklayer to do this without effort on the part of the architect. Your notice of this next week will oblige.—JOHN Gusss, Liverpool. [2508.] Sketching in and about London.— The proper course to pursue is to make an application by letter to the Dean of Westminster for permission to make sketches in the Abbey, such application to be accompanied by a letter of recommendation from a clergyman or member of Parliament, stating that he has a personal knowledge of the applicant, and of his intention to make proper use of the permission; @ a ticket is then granted for twelve months.—C. J. J. ——_>—_—_ STATUES, MEMORIALS, &c. Monument to Kina Ronert rue Bruce.—Mr. Andrew Currie, sculptor, of Darnick, has been com- missioned to execute Mr. George Cruikshank’s design for this monument, to be erected on the Lady’s Rock, Stirling. There were several com- peting artists, but Mr. Currie’s offer was found the most suitable. The statue will be 9ft. high, and the height of the pedestal will afterwards be determined with reference to the character of the site. Grascow.—The two niches on the City of Glas - gow Assurance Company’s Office are to be filled with statues of S. Mungo and 8. Andrew, the former by Mr. Ewing, of Glasgow, the latter by Mr. Brodie, of Edinburgh. Mr. Mossman is engaged on similar work for the addition to the Municipal and County Buildings; and Mr. William Mossman on two statues for an assurance office in 8. Vincent-place. —— Exeter.—A stained glass window has lately been inserted in the aisle of S. Thomas’ Church, Exeter. The centre light is occupied by the arms of Sir C. Graves Sawle, and the side lights by crest and motto. ‘Che quarry background is composed of white tints, bearing alternately a monogram and conventional foliage. ‘The work has been executed by Mr. F. Drake, of the Cathedral-yard.