Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/667

Rh advanced, strength gave way to mere utility, without any regard to the ornamental. In modern houses, the decorative element has greatly increased. My remarks herein apply almost exclusively to the colonial period.

The cathedral of Mexico presents striking peculiarities in the bell-shaped domes of the towers, the heavy reversed consoles, and in other ways. That of Guadalajara differs in its heavy steeples. On the square at Colima stands a most striking arcade edifice of a Moorish stamp. In the medley of styles, one may even see a Doric frieze over capitals of a different order. In a private house may be seen tapering shafts, like the Maya, with pyramidal base and conic capital. In several convent interiors they have spiral, striped, and Moorish pillars. The spiral appears in the fountain which terminates the Chapultepec aqueduct. In several buildings may be noted the fantastic Churrigueresco style so common in Spain. In several churches of this order the façades are entirely covered with ornamentations, interspersed with niches and statuary in the so-called Jesuit style. After presenting other forms in windows, portals, and elsewhere, above the main buildings its two or three receding stories resume the Churrigueresco embellishments. In one instance the annulated surface of the lower stories has imparted a Moorish stamp.

As a rule, the country churches form a Basilica in one body, with two towers enclosing a gable façade of ogee outline, or with voluted wings-less frequently — circular or plain gable — enclosing either star window or niche, and topped by a pedestal for the cross. The portal has a circular arch with double architrave, the