386 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



or relief ornament, can be made as imposing as you like, while balcony- 

 fronts can be of good wrought-iron, like some of those in the old pict- 

 uresque towns of Spain and Germany, instead of lumpy and heavy with 

 balustrading, which not only shuts out light from the rooms, but sug- 

 gests an element of danger by their utterly false and generally insuffi- 

 cient construction ; but I confess to a feeling of astonishment when I 

 see friezes and cornices of buildings in narrow streets, some forty or 

 fifty feet from the street-level, covered with elaborate carving and en- 

 richment which it is impossible even to look at without craning the 

 neck, and which can only be appreciated by the servants who inhabit 

 the attics over the way. There is no possible reason why street front- 

 ages should not be made picturesque and beautiful instead of tame and 

 ugly, and the commonest of fronts can often be redeemed by some 

 good bit of detail and decoration in the shape of red brick, terra-cotta, 

 or glazed faience. Picturesque fronts, with projecting oriels or bays 

 and gabled roofs, need cost no more than some of these wretched trav- 

 esties of Italian or French architecture, with so-called Mansard-roofs 

 and cramped dormer lights, and would give grace and charm, and 

 color, where now commonplaceness, vulgarity, and bad taste reign 

 supreme. 



Too often the first principles of proportion are lost sight of, owing 

 to the want of proper culture of the eye, and details which might be 

 well suited to a Genoese or Roman palace are stuck on to a narrow 

 street frontage. 



There is no need why London street architecture should not embody 

 every modern improvement, and be carried out in a common-sense and 

 picturesque style, suitable for every-day wants, and in conformity with 

 all the various scientific principles of sanitation which the nineteenth 

 century has produced, " instead of resuscitating old forms and old feat- 

 ures, which our forefathers would have gladly changed " had they 

 had the knowledge or benefit of modern improvements. I have no de- 

 sire to see any one uniform style of building, but, whatever style is 

 taken up by the individual owner, it is first of all essential that it should 

 be made to adapt itself to the internal requirements, and that there be 

 ample light, and common-sense treatment of the window-spaces, so 

 that they be arranged in the rooms in proper places, and not thrust 

 into corners, or raised so high from the floors as to be prison-like, 

 to suit the external design ; and whether Greek, Italian, Queen Anne, 

 or any date or period of so-called Gothic art, it must be governed 

 by present wants, and possess every sanitary and modern invention 

 which may make the individual house more comfortable, more healthy, 

 and more convenient for the purposes for which it is required. 



Renaissance, whether German, Italian, or French, freely or simply 

 treated, and all the later phases of the Jacobean and English Eliza- 

 bethan periods, are capable of being successfully adapted to present 

 home-life and modern requirements. 



