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 June. 28,1872. THE BUILDING NEWS. 517 SS ee ofa soldier and a young woman, is especially to be remarked for its delicacy of tone. We have not sufficient space to enumerate the whole of the drawings which deserve attention, comprising as they do contributions from Legros, Field Talfourd, Simeon Solomon, E. W. Cooke, Westlake, HI. S. Marks, and other well-known names, but would direct attention to the drawings for tiles (374-5 and 386-7) by Mr. W. 8. Cole- man, which are now being exhibited in the International Exhibition. The drawing is remarkably free and unaffected, and the design very well suited to the purpose for which it is intended. —— METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS REPORT, 1871. Ee previous years it has been the custom of the Metropolitan Board of Works to prepare a report up to the 30th of June in each year. It was, however, deemed desir- able last year to alter the date, and power haying been obtained from Parliament to do so, the report published in June last was supplemented by that now before us, which embraces the second half of 1871; and in future the report and abstract of accounts will be for the year corresponding with the calendar ending on the 31st of December. The whole of the southern system of main intercepting sewers, and two of the three lines on the northern side of the river—viz., the high and middle level sewers, have now been in successful operation for some years. On the northern low level line there still remain some connections of sewers to be com- pleted ; these, having in many cases to be carried out through some of the most crowded city thoroughfares, are, though not extensive, difficult. and tedious in their execution. Various minor sewerage works have been either completed or advanced during the period embraced by the report. Among these were 987ft. of sewer in Narrow-street and Commercial-road East, and a recon- struction of 1,570ft. of brick sewer in Queen-street, Hammersmith, at a cost, re- spectively, of £1,840 and £2,400. The outlet at the head of Hammersmith Creek has also been extended to a point about S0ft. farther from the rear of the houses abutting upon it. With regard to utilisation of sewage, the Board is still in the same position as at the publication of its last report. The rejection by the House of Commons of the Bills intro- duced by the Board and the Metropolis Sewage and Essex Reclamation Company with a view to terminate the agreement between them leaves the hands of the Board still tied, and prevents, so long as the original concession to the company remains in force, any further steps being taken in dealing with the sewage on the north side of the Thames. The experiment of allowing the Native Guano Company to erect at their own cost and risk works at Crossness to enable them to treat a portion of the sewage there by the A. B. C. process is not yet in a sufficiently forward con- dition to admit of an opinion being formed as to the likelihood of its proving successful. Nothing new with regard to the Albert and Victoria Embankments appears on the report, except a record of the partial completion of the ornamental grounds thereon, which were opened in July last, and which, the Board have every reason to believe, are fully appre- ciated by the public. ‘The Chelsea Embank- ment is progressing, and will probably be completed some time next year, Queen Victoria-street, after being obstructed for months by the Metropolitan District Rail- way, was opened in November last, and is completed, except where the neglect or obstinacy of the Probate Office prevents. The Stingo-lane improvement at the date of the report was also partly completed. The Board is still directing its attention to the acquisition of the commons and open spaces in and around the metropolis, for the purpose of preserving them intact. Hamp- stead Heath is satisfactorily disposed of ; Blackheath has also been placed under authority, and the nuisances of various kinds which so long existed there are abolished ; and Shepherds’ Bush Common is being de- voted to the use of the public. The Board has also presented memorials to the Inclosure Commissioners with regard to Plumstead and Bostal Commons ; but the proceedings have been and are delayed owing to differences among those claiming to be interested. A draft scheme for the disposal of the various commons in Hackney and the adjacent neighbourhood has been under the considera- tion of the Inclosure Commissioners, by whom it is thought it will shortly be approved. The open spaces in this scheme embrace London Fields, Hackney Downs, Hackney Common, Stoke Newington Common, Clapton Common, and parcels of waste land at or near Dalston-lane and Grove-street, the greater part of which are at present in such a state as materially to affect the comfort of the in- habitants of the district. Steps have been, or are being, taken also for the preservation and management of Clapham and Wands- worth Commons.

The Board appears by no means to ad- vantage, in our opinion, with regard to the Epping Forest difficulty. Its usual jealousy of the City of London is evinced by its ex- pressed disapproval of the course adopted by the Corporation in introducing Bills to enable them to purchase the manorial and other rights oyer the forest, and to provide funds for preserving it as a place of public recrea- tion. The Board affects to be contented with the action taken by the Government in the matter, and reminds the Corporation of London that it (the Board) has been entrusted by Parliament with the duty which the Cor- poration hasunwarrantably taken upon itself. The street improvements still projected by the Board, and for which Parliamentary powers are being, or are to be, sought are, the new thoroughfare from New Oxford-street to Old-Street, thence to High-street, Shore- ditch, and from the latter point to Bethnal Green-road; the widening of High-street, Shoreditch, of the thoroughfare from the Wapping entrance of the London Docks to Little Tower-hill, of the Edgware and Harrow Roads, and of Newington Butts. The Fire Brigade is being gradually ex- tended. The strength of the brigade is at present—a50 fire engine stations, 93 fire escape stations, 4 floating stations, 51 telegraph lines, 82 miles of telegraph lines, 5 floating steam fire engines, 1 iron barge to carry a land steam fire engine, 8 large land steam fire engines, 17 small land steam fire engines, 16 seven- inch manual fire engines; 56 six-inch manual fire engines; 13 under six-inch manual fire engines, 104 fire escapes, 387 firemen. The number of firemen employed on the several watches kept up throughout the metropolis is 107 by day, and 169 by night, making a total of 276 in every twenty- four hours; the number of those sick, injured, on leave, or under instruction, is generally about 40; the remaining men are available for general work at fires. The total number of calls for fires, or supposed fires, received during the year 1871 has been 2,046. Of these 124 were false alarms, 80 proved to be only chimney alarms, and 1,842 were calls for fires, of which 207 resulted in serious damage, and 1,635 in slight damage. The quantity of water used for extinguishing fires during the year was 16,204,547 gallons. We never before remember a report of the Board issued so long after date. Many of the matters to which it alludes are now either disposed of, or have assumed other aspects. The issue of a report from June to December, 1871, in June 1872, is a piece of inexcusable negligence, and receives a tacit rebuke from a stupid printer's blunder, by which. it is dated, "June to December, 1872"! CRITICAL NOTES ON GREAT ITALIAN ARCHITECTS.—XIV. By J. B. Waring..

SCAMOZZI, A. DA PONTE, AND LONGHENA. ICENZA, which gave a Palladio to Italy, was also the birthplace of his cotem- porary and successor, Vincenzo Seamozzi, who was born in 1552 at Vicenza, where his father, Giovan-Domenico, practised as an architect. Vincenzo pursued his studies under his father, and appears to have been employed at a very early age in his native town in designing buildings for some of the citizens. He is stated to have been professionally engaged at Venice in 1569, atthe church of San Salvatore ; if so, he was then only seventeen, But as the church was rebuilt by T. Lom- bardo and Sansovino, and the fagade is by Sardi (1663), he was probably acting only as an assistant to Sansovino, who died in 1570, and whose works, and those of Palladio, at Venice, he is said to have studied closely. In Predari’s ‘‘ Guide to Venice ” Seamozzi is stated to have opened the lantern of the cupola, to give increased light, in the year 1574, At the age of twenty-two he composed a treatise on ‘‘ Perspective and Scene Paint- ing.” His first visit to Rome was in 1579, where he applied himself assiduously to drawing the ancient remains, and studied mathematics under the celebrated Padre Clavius. After a residence there of eighteen months he proceeded to Naples, where he continued his drawing from antique remains. About the year 1581 he fixed upon Venice as the most suitable place for putting his knowledge to practical account, and com- menced his career in that city by designing the mausoleum of the Doge Niccolo da Ponte in the church of S. M. della Carita, since destroyed, with the exception of the fagade. He also wrote the descriptions to Pitoni’s engravings of Rome, which brought him into special notice by the learning and knowledge they displayed. (L’antichité di Roma con 40 vedute in rame per Pitoni. Venezia, 1582-5.) Palladio having but lately died (1580), Seamozzi seems almost naturally to have taken his place in the estimation of the Venetians as an architect, and the Senate having decreed the erection of the “Procurazie Nuove” in 1582, gave the commission to Scamozzi, who commenced building in 1584. About this time he was also employed to complete the interior of Palladio’s last work, the theatre at Vicenza, for which he designed the coloured perspective scenes which. still are to be seen there, and in which he carried out his ideas as to stage scenery, which were of a very simple and rudimentary nature. However, so much was his work esteemed at the time that he was engaged to design a theatre at Sabionetta (Mantua) for the Duke Vespasian Gonzaga. Besides the important additions to the Library, in which he departed from Sanso- vino’s original design, and formed three stories of the three orders, instead of two, of which we shall speak shortly, Scamozzi designed various remarkable edifices in Venice, such as the fine Palazzo Contarini dei Scrigni, in an effective columnar style, built about the year 1609. The Church of San Nicold da Tolentino, commenced by Palladio, was continued and altered from his designs; the present facade is by Andrea Tiroli, an architect of the seventeenth century. Various portions of the Arsenal, and the Chureh and Hospital of S. Lazzaro de’Men- dicanti, built between 1601—1636, con- siderably altered from the original design. The magnificent mausoleum of the Doge Marino Grimani, with sculpture in bronze and marble by Campagna. A very beautiful door in the room called “Canti-collegio,” in the Ducal Palace, with sculpture by Vittoria. At Padua, the Church of S. Gaetano. The Palazzo Nuovo or della Ragione, at Bergamo ; his design left incomplete, and the upper portion an addition of later date. At Vicenza