Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/65

 i A hair ds 6) $ 4 JAN. | 19F 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS. 49 THE BUILDING NEWS. ——e LONDON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1872. “DIRECTIONS TO BUILDERS.” HE following papers have been sent us by a correspondent, who professes to have discovered them while superintending the re- pairs of an old house at Chelsea. The pre- sent tenants, he says, had always complained of a stoppage in one of the bed-room flues, and on opening it, an immense bundle of manuscripts and printed papers was brought to light ; which had, apparently, been thrust into its position by some former occupant to keep out the draught. The printed papers, where any date could be assigned to them, usually belonged to the middle of the present century. The manuscripts, for the most part, consisted of trite and familiar maxims, arranged in alphabetical order, and repeated verbatim in a manner which made them some- what tediousreading. For example,one volume, or rather pamphlet, would open with the maxim ‘Advance in learning,” and this phrase would be reiterated a dozen or fourteen times down to the very bottom of the page. On turning the leaf, ‘‘ Benevolence is a virtue,” or some similar truism, would be dealt with in the same monotonous way ; and thus the author proceeded—without argument or illustration— through the whole six-and- twenty letters of the alphabet. So unattrac- tive and tautological a style seems to have wearied the writer as well as his readers, for it was remarkable throughout that the original maxim was far more legible and more neatly penned than its subsequent and super- fluous repetitions. Amongst these very un- attractive productions, however, our corre- spondent came upon one of a totally different kind. It appeared to be a repertory of well- meant, if not always sound, advice, and was addressed, in its consecutive paragraphs, to everyone who can in any way be held con- nected with the design or erection of build- ings. It bore the title of ‘ Directions to Builders ”—though the term ‘builders ” must evidently have been used in a wider sense than that which it now commonly bears —and, we are sorry to say, was altogether anonymous. This latter failing our corres- pondent did not lose a moment in getting rid of. Remembering that Dr. Jonathan Swift, who was afterwards Dean of S. Patrick’s, did, while staying in London about the year 1711, actually reside for some months at Chelsea; and knowing that amongst his pub- lished works is a treatise called ‘‘ Directions to Servants,” he was at once seized with the delusion that he had met with an original composition of this great writer. We tried to convince him of the groundlessness of his belief, and had almost succeeded; when an unlucky circumstance brought back his con- viction, and rendered it, apparently, incur- able. Hoping to deal the finishing blow to this absurd fancy, we produced a fac simile page from Swift's private journal, and pointed out that the handwriting in the two cases could hardly differ more. ‘‘ That settles it,” he exclaimed, to our astonishment and dis- may. ‘If it had been in Swift's writing, I should have thought it a forgery. It is well known that he wrote ‘ Gulliver’s Travels’ in a feigned hand, and had the ‘ Drapier’s Let- ters’ copied out by his butler; what can be } more distinctive of the man than this diseuise ? You have supplied the last proof that was wanting. ‘The manuscript was found at Chelsea; its title is characteristic; but the fact of the writing being unknown leaves no possibility of doubt!” Further reasoning, we felt, was useless; but in laying this curious composition before our readers we beg not to be understood as expressing the slightest belief in its genuineness. It opens without a word of preface or introduction, under the heading— —— ‘DIRECTIONS TO THE CLIENT. “T set you down first, as being the head builder, in whose service all the under builders are. Your business lies in two points—namely, in the choosing of them, and the controlling of them when they are chosen. The first to be chosen is the archi- tect, who, if you let him, will choose all the others for you; so that you have need in this case of all that profound wisdom, keen dis- cernment, and intimate acquaintance with the architectural profession with which every client is abundantly endowed. ‘There are several reasons for which you may choose your architect. You may fix on him because he has already a great deal more work than he can do. This is the commonest reason, and I strongly recommend you to be guided by it. Your own interest, indeed, may a little suffer, for your architect will not have time to attend to your concerns himself; but how, I ask you, would all his clerks and pupils ever gain experience if benevolent gentlemen like you never came forward to be practised on? Another very good ground for appointing your architect is because his father, or his uncle, or his late partner, was a clever man. This is much better than ap- pointing him because he is a cleyer man him- self, for a clever man can take care of him- self, and it is no charity to encourage him. The more stupid a man is the more it is to your credit to find him an employment, and it is likely that he will be the more ready to bend himself to your wishes. “TWitherto I have addressed myself to you as to one person; but it often happens that you are a corporate body—a Board, a Town Council, or a Building Committee. In this case it will be your misfortune to have your share of sense divided among so many heads that there will be very little in each, and the difficulty will be to bring it together. More- over, as Nature abhors a vacuum, and as heads must be filled with something, the larger proportion of yours are sure to be occupied with nonsense. From this considera- tion I most strongly advise you not to put the appointment of your architect to the vote. ‘There are many ways in which you may fix on him with far better hopes of suc- cess. You may write down all the names you know of, and draw long and short cuts for them ; you may form a procession through the streets, and appoint the first architect you meet; or you may blindfold one of your members, open the Directory before him, and let him decide by sticking a pin init. If any of these admirable plans had but been con- sistently carried out, I venture to say that our streets would have had an appearance in- finitely superior to their present one, and that such town-halls, vestry-halls, literary institutions, churches, chapels, and other public buildings, as may now be found there would have been a great deal scarcer than they are. “Tf, however, you will not be so far ad- vised, there are more ways before you; and as your predecessors have taken one or another of them, so, no doubt, will yon. There is much to be said for the ancient and respectable practice of appointing whoever sticks closest to your particular sect or party. Your united wisdom, most likely, will suffice to inform you on this point, though it can- not carry you much beyond; and after all, what does it matter whether the man is quali- fied as an architect or not? It is no concern of yours ; you are merely the representatives of the public, and have nothing to lose by his failure. Bearing this in mind, it would not be amiss to find someone who would take a practical and businesslike view of the appointment. If he used you liberally, what would it signify to you how he used your constituents ? and you cannot be expected to do their work for nothing. I know there is a prejudice against arrangements of this sort, and I would not have you shock anyone’s prejudices. Rather than do so, you should advertise for competition designs. When they are sent in under motto, no one can surely be harsh enough to suspect you; and if the plan you prefer happens to be by a person who is ready to make things pleasant all round, it is a singular and fortunate coin- cidence. This, it is true, will put all the competitors except the one you haye before- hand decided on toa good deal of needless trouble ; but this making of designs will be good practice for them, and they had much better work than be idle. ‘‘ Having chosen your architect, the next thing for you, whether you are an individual or a corporation, is to make use of him. Now the chief use of an architect is to carry out your instructions, and to take the blame when they issue badly. If you have only yourself to please, it will be a comfort to put off your mistakes upon him: how much more when you are responsible to others? No doubt you can design better than he can (if you could only draw)—so it is not for this that you want him. Your taste is more refined than his, or why should he have to follow yours instead of his own? You know more than he does about the cost of work, and, I make no doubt, will demand of him a great deal more accommodation than he thinks can be had for the money; not failing, here as elsewhere, to hold him accountable when the tenders come in too high. You have an in- fallible knowledge of which is the only right and proper style of architecture, and a firm conviction of the way in which your building should be arranged—namely, in the same way that you have always been accustomed to see other buildings of the kind. In short, you do not want an architect for what he ean do, but for what he can bear ; it is, therefore, only reasonable that you should make him bear a great deal. If you area single individual you may do something to this end, but itis a trifle compared to you can effect if you are a committee. In the former case, when you have once rated him for one quality in his work, there is an end as to that especial point. But, on the second supposi- tion, the process is endless; for, having with one of your heads scolded him shrewdly for making, we will say, the chimneys too short, you can then with another head censure him as severely for running them up too tall, and with a third, for letting them stay in such a nondescript proportion that they are neither one thing nor another; and thus in every- thing, down to the smallest particular. How- ever, in either case, you can always demand why each item was not done in some way other than that in which itis done; as thus : if anything be painted brown, inquire why it was not green; orif it be green, then why not red ; or ifred, then why not purple ; and so on, through all the colours of the rainbow. But be careful, above all, to complain most bitterly of those faults which you yourself remember to have forced upon him; and do this before your friends, when he will not like to charge you with the having ordered them. You will thus pacify your own mind, and need never want an excuse when for some private purpose you may think well to break with him.” (To be continued.) —— DECORATIVE PROCESSES. GILDING. By an Exrertencep WORKMAN. (Continued from page 31.) E come now to the methods of gilding strictly connected with and practised by gilder and decorator. There are two dis- tinct kinds of gilding used in this case namely, burnish gilding and oil gilding, the former being of two kinds, respectively called burnish and matt. Burnish and matt — or bright and dead gilding —is confined principally to picture frames, glass frames, console tables, &c.; and