HINTS TO YOUNG ARCHITECTS. 



37 



REVIEWS. 



Hints to Young Architects ; together with a 

 model specification, etc. By George Wight- 

 wick, Architect, London. .And Hints to Per- 

 sons ABOUT building IN THE CoUNTRV, by A. 



J. Downing. New- York : Wiley & Putnam. 



1 vol. 8vo. $1.25. 

 This is a reprint of a valuable recent Eng- 

 lish work, with very considerable Ameri- 

 can additions. Of the latter, written by 

 ourselves, we leave the public to form their 

 own opinions, merely premising that they 

 consist mainly of certain practical hints, 

 addressed to persons about building in the 

 country, and comprised under the following 

 heads : Where to build : What to build : 



How TO BUILD. 



Of that portion of the work which is the 

 production of Mr. Wightwick, an English 

 architectural writer of reputation, we may 

 be allowed to speak more fully. 



It consists, in the first place, of a section 

 addressed to young architects, and abound- 

 ing with some of the most valuable sug- 

 gestions that have yet come under our no- 

 tice, relating both to the great and little 

 matters of their profession, from the mo- 

 ment when they first take the drawing pen- 

 cil in hand, to the time when they are sup- 

 posed to be able to undertake and execute 

 designs in the best style of their art. 



These suggestions are by no means writ- 

 ten in the cold and formal style of those 

 professional lectures, not unfrequently be- 

 stowed on novices in the arts and sciences ; 

 but in a familiar and spirited manner, cal- 

 culated to seize and fi.x the attention, and 

 to influence directly the practical skill and 

 studies of the pupil. We give, as an illus- 

 tration, the following paragraph, addressed 

 to the young practitioner : 



We would impress upon the young; aspirant to 

 architectural honors, our repetition ol' the respon- 



sibilities wliich will attach to him from the first 

 hour of his unaided practice. It may be some time 

 before he will be enabled to purchase assistance ; 

 and, durinj^ that state of individual probation, he 

 will have — if he have employment — duties relatively 

 more arduous and more harassing, than when com- 

 missions shall thereafter pour upon him to the hoped- 

 for advancement of his fame and fortune. He must 

 be for a time " grand master." assistant surveyor, 

 and drudgery clerk, of his own establishment : at 

 once designer artistical, constructor practical, co- 

 pying draughtsman, measurer, valuer, and more — • 

 with which we would not frighten him. He must 

 cultivate resolution on the ground of knowledge, 

 endurance on that of patience, and modesty on The 

 full assurance, that, when he shall have practised 

 to the last day of his occupation, lie will have learn- 

 ed the more to know how much he has yet to learn. 

 His profession is a noble one. based "on palpable 

 science, and beautified by the poetry of art. It is 

 most gratifying in respect to the society to which it 

 may lead, and the rank it may confer. It is more 

 especially so in regard to the pride which an archi- 

 tect can not but feel in contemplating the material 

 and enduring majesty of the structures he may have 

 to raise. Paintings must be sought in the gallery j 

 statues may indeed preside in the open square ; but 

 it is architecture only which towers into the sky — 

 alike commanding, far or near ; and combining the 

 graces of form, proportion, and decoration, with 

 picturesque charm and massive grandeur. 



That an architect should be a man full 

 of inventive genius, is the first of requisi- 

 tions ; but it is no less imperative that he 

 should combine the utmost practical fore- 

 sight and sagacity, touching the importance 

 of all the minor details of his art. To en- 

 joy the beautiful to the utmost, human na- 

 ture should be kept on a platform as eleva- 

 ted as possible above the little miseries of 

 life ; and there are few men who would 

 feel compensated, in domestic architecture, 

 for internal discomforts and inconveniences 

 that war Avith their everyday comfort, by 

 the faultless proportions of a classic colon- 

 nade, or the picturesque intricacy of towers 

 and battlements. Our author wisely en- 

 deavors, therefore, to impress this point 

 upon the young architect : 



Everybody is always in a hurry to have every- 

 thing done. His patron will take six months to 

 think of what he desires to have accomplished in as 



