WHAT WILL THE EDIFICE COST. 



Are considerations of expense, then, to be entirely overlooked or set aside? By no means 

 No man beginneth to build a tower without first counting the cost. But surely he must 

 previously, and first of all, endeavor to form a clear idea of what the tower ought to be, 

 and of what the circumstances require at his hands. 



The peculiarities of the site, or of the neighborhood, will all be considered by the judi- 

 cious architect. He will endeavor to work out his design in accordance with these, having 

 a truthful regard to the circumstances of the case, and an enlightened view to the ultimate 

 good of the whole. Having thus endeavored to form a clear idea of the extent and cha- 

 racter of the proposed work, he will, while attempting to realize it, and give it form, em- 

 ploy all the artistic skill at his command. In this way, the mind is left unfettered, and 

 free to choose from amidst all the forms of beauty which fancy can disclose. And it is 

 only by following such a course, that architecture can be entitled to take ita place, and 

 rank first among the fine arts. Painting and Sculpture will then become her handmaid- 

 ens, ever in attendance to adorn and exalt her. 



It is at this stage of the proceeding that the question of expense comes up in its natural 

 order — a question deserving ample inquir}', and an honest answer; and in no department 

 of his art are the skill and qualifications of the architect more severely put to the test. 

 The pecuniary interests of his employer are confided to his care: he looks to him, on the 

 one hand, for protection against the undue demands of the contractor, and on the other, 

 against an undue increase of additional works arising from his own neglect or oversight. 

 The architect, then, requires not only a thorough knowledge of the qualities of the various 

 departments of work, but of their value, and of the modes of measurement, in order to 

 be able to judge of the rates of charge. Though called on to look to the interests of his 

 employer, he is equally required to see that justice be done to the contractor. And when 

 the accounts come to be submitted to his award, he is to act with the uprightness and in- 

 tegrity of a judge, and is bound to see justice done, at whatever sacrifice of feeling or of 

 self-interest, — a task, this, at once difficult and delicate, requiring a thorough knowledge 

 of the value of the varied and multitudinous items connected with the building art, which 

 can only be acquired by laborious and incessant perseverance. 



The want of proper skill in these matters, or perhaps of proper attention to them, is 

 the cause of that fatal error which so frequently occurs, of estimating the probable expense 

 of a contemplated work, at a sum far below what it is possible to execute it for. Such a 

 system is injurious to the best interests of true art. It engenders suspicion and distrust, 

 and its inevitable result is to make in future, the question of cost a paramount object. And 

 while in the first instance it may only affect the pockets of the emplo^^er, it is sure in the 

 end to tell against the architect. Complaints against this system are not new. It is curi- 

 ous and instructive to find they are greatly more ancient than the days of old Vitruvius 

 himself, as the following extract from the writings of that most judicious author, amply 

 testify. 



" In the magnificent and spacious city of Epbesus," says that author, " an ancient law 

 was made by the ancestors of the inhabitants, hard, indeed, in its nature, but nevertheless 

 equitable. When an architect was entrusted with the execution of a public work, an es- 

 timate thereof being lodged in the hands of the magistrate, his property was held as se- 

 cuiity until the work was finished. If, when finished, the expense did not exceed the es- 

 timate, he wa3 complimented with decrees and honors. So when the excess did not 

 amount to more than a fourth part of the original estimate, no punishment was inflicted 

 hen more than one-fourth of the estimate Avas exceeded, he was required to pay the 

 out of his own pocket. Would to God that such a law existed among the Roman 



