84 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[March, 



new ideas and combinations to an arcliitect, tliat is, to an architect of 

 any 7ious and taste. Indeed, niucli as I admire the Lowther Arcade, 

 I by no means wish to behold any repetitions of the same subject, ivliere 

 there is so much scope for novelty and variety — far more, I will under- 

 take to assert, than in almost any other class of buildings tliat can be 

 mentioned. Styles that would be far too outre and fanciful for ordi- 

 nary street architecture — decoration that can hardly be applied in 

 exposed situations, might be employed here. Every variety of Gothic, 

 from Norman to the latest Tudor — if I may be allowed to say so with- 

 out getting a rap over the knuckles for apparently confounding Nor- 

 man with Gothic — the Byzantine, Lombardic, Moorish, Italian, in all 

 its rKost picturesque and peregrine fancies, or Pompeian, with its ara- 

 besque vagaries, or pure Greek, arrayed in all the pomp of its poly- 

 chrome embellishment, might be resorted to at will. What displays 

 of perspective might be obtained ! what pictures ! what painter-like 

 effects! what magic witchery of light and shade! wdiat — but this is 

 raving — the very coinage and oostacy of the brain. 1 am soaring on 

 Pegasus — no, I have got astride on Astolfo's hippogriff, and have got 

 ne.irly half way to the moon. 



These harum-scarmxi (lights do not do for sober company ; my worthy 

 progenitor, I am sure, never gave way to any thing of the kind. 

 He never soared higher than a flying-fish, never frisked nor curvet- 

 ted at all — at least, not more than a horse does in a mill. Therefore, 

 let me endeavour to talk soberly ; and, in sober seriousness, I would 

 rather have a subject of this kind to work out according to my own 

 i ;eas, tiian one of those grand affairs which seem to be of more mark 

 and likelihood — at least, of far greater importance; yet which, after 

 a!!, generally turn out to be very little belter than common-place, 

 magnified and displayed upon a more than common scale. 



Highly satisfactory as the Lowther Arcade is in itself, it goes very 

 little way towards showing what might be made of a gallery of this 

 kind, by throwing greater play and variety into the plan, by increased 

 loftiness in particular parts, by a sudden expansion in one place, and 

 consequently the effect of contraction in another. A central rotunda, 

 octagon, or hexagon, from which different vistas radiated, would even, 

 were it in itself but of moderate size, give a piquant complexity to the 

 design, and provide a point where some statue or other ornamental 

 object would produce a striking effect. Though not exactly in the 

 very best taste, the rotunda of tlie Passage C(rlbert, Paris, is a scenic, 

 architectural bit, which shows what might be accomplished in that 

 way. An upper aisle of shops on each side over those below might 

 occasionally be ado])ted, and would certainly aid very much in varying 

 the character of the particular design. In short, a place of this descrip- 

 tion is one that affords the utmost scope for invention, contrivance, 

 and taste, and also for bringing together tlie features and charac- 

 teristics of both external and internal architecture. There is hardly 

 any kind of embellishment tliat might not be applied ; and since the 

 introduction of asphalt for that purpose, the very pavement might be 

 made to assume a decorative character, and be variegated with orna- 

 mental patterns. 



But how are such things to be done? Who is to pay for all this splen- 

 dour ? Taste is an exceedingly expensive and costly thing; such, at 

 least, seems to be John Bull s opinion, although Jolm is generally 

 ready enough to suffer himself to be Inunbiigged out of his mnnry in 

 paying double what he ought to do for many things that have no'pre- 

 tensions to taste at all. However, as I myself happen to have no taste 

 whatever for the L. S. D. part of the business in such matters, I leave 

 tliat consideration to other heads ; merely remarking, that so fiir from 

 there being any symptoms of lack of money among our shojjkcepers to 

 prevent their encouraging any architcctura'l enterprise of the kind here 

 mentioned, numbers of them seem to be contriving how to squander 

 away as much as possible of that commodity, witliout any return to 

 them for it in the shape of taste, for after all the extravagant expense 

 they incur, they seldom, if ever, produce more than what is a little 

 bedizened-ont patch in a street or row of houses. 



Perhaps I have been somewhat indiscreet — a rather blundering tac- 

 tician in indulging my fancy as to what might be done, before I speak 

 of what actually has been done. N'imporle : the Lowther Arcade has 

 sufficient merit of its own to satisfy as a very excellent specimen in 

 itself: as a piece of design, it is in admirable keeping throughout ; 

 unostentatious, it is true, in its embellishments, but perfectly free from 

 any alloy of that meanness which too frequently gives a strangely 

 poverty-stricken air to buildings that, njion the whole, affect grandeur. 

 Here nothing more appears to have been aimed at than what has been 

 actually accomplished, which, .is matters are generally managed, is 

 certainly no little jiraise. There is none of that trumperv pomposity 

 which may captivate the vulgar, yet disgusts the informed. And by 

 vulgar I do not mean the vulgar in rank, but the vulgar in taste, let 

 their rank be what it may. Neither are there any of thosccrude whims 

 and whimsies that are occasionally palmed upon us as fancy and inven- 



tion, I suppose, as for instance, that compound of heterogeneous absur- 

 dities and contradictions, the front of the British Insurance-office. In 

 the Lowther Arcade, on the contrary, the whole is made to appear 

 perfectly of a piece, and the different parts so skilfully reconciled 

 together, and harmonised one with the other, that wdiat is Greek does 

 not put us out of conceit with what is Italian, nor rice versa, does what 

 is Italian shock us by the side of what is Greek. Without being in 

 the least degree crowded, the whole design is well filled up. In regard 

 to the mode in which this passage is covered over, 1 greatly question 

 if there be in all the country a more beautiful ceiling vista than that 

 here produced by the series of small pendeiilive domes, upon wliich the 

 effect of the whole, as an architectural [licturc, so greatly depends. It 

 is true, the sides consist merely of shops; but how much taste is 

 shown in the design of the front contained within each comijartment, 

 more especially if compared with the insufferably dowdy ofhce-wiadows, 

 and those above them, that are thrust into ihe (/rwid Ionic ball of the 

 Post-office! — though, 1 su|ipose, it must still be allowed to pass as 

 extremely classical, because it has no admixture whatever of Italian 

 or any other style — save the genuine John Bull cockney. I have 

 beard, upon what I consider very sufficient authority, that the de.signs 

 fur tlie Lowther Arcade were furnished by a Mr. Turner. Wlio the 

 same Mr. Turner is, 1 know not, but I am sure he has no occasion to 

 be ashamed of bis name, at least not as far as this specimen of his 

 talents is concerned with it. 



CANDIDUS'S NOTE-BOOK. 

 FASCICULUS II. 



" I must have liberty 

 Withal, as larj;e a charter as the winds 

 To blow on whom I please." 



I. Very few architects, I am sorry to say, appear at all to perceive 

 the piolicy of diffusing a taste for, and some knowledge of, their arc 

 among the public. On the contrary, many have endeavoured, as far 

 as ill them lay, to deter non-professional persons from attempting to 

 take it up as an agreeable study, by involving it in as much mystery 

 as possible, and representing it as one that demands nothing less 

 than a thorough acquaintance with the practical as well as the theo- 

 retical branch of it. This is not only decidedly foolish, but also 

 untrue, and at variance with the common-sense course adopted in all 

 analogous cases. You may allow a man to he an excellent judge of 

 cookery, although you entertain so poor an opinion of his actual skill 

 in it, that you would not trust him to dress a beef-steak. He may be 

 a profound connoisseur in music, although unable to compose a single 

 bar ; a supreme authority in matters of painting, though he never 

 put a palette upon his thumb ; an oracle in matters of sculpilure, 

 though utterly ignorant of the processes of it; yet, if he ventures to 

 meddle with architecture, to pretend to have an opinion of his 

 own in regard to it, the chance is that he is scouted at once as a 

 mere amateur, a conceited gentleman just capable of drawing out 

 pretty-looking things on paper, and perhaps hardly capable of that. 

 If, indeed, destitute of all practical knowledge, such a one assumes 

 to himself the power of doing more, he very justly deserves to be 

 treated as a shallow pretender, but surely not else. Did architect.s 

 clearly see their own interests — I do not mean their own individual 

 interest, because in many cases that may be best served by the 

 greatest quantum of ignorance on the part of their employers, but 

 the intelx'st of their art — so far from discouraging amateurship, they 

 would endeavour to render the whole public amateurs ; because, un. 

 less there be something very peculiar and anomalous in regard to ar. 

 chitccture, it should follow that the greater interest people in general 

 take in it the greater relish they have for it, and the better they com. 

 prehend it, all the more likely are they to encourage it, and to en- 

 courage it with a proper feeling. As a body, therefore, the profes- 

 sion ought to do everything in their power to create and foster such 

 taste ; not only not to check it, but to encourage it with the utmost 

 solicitude. At any rate, if they do not care to do so, they have no 

 right to reproach the public with that ignorance, and consequent in- 

 difference in regard to architecture, w'luch they themselves may be 

 said to keep up, because they do nothing towards removing it. After 

 all. of what are they afraid ? Are they really apprehensive tliat the 

 public would find out how very little talent, or original ability of any 

 kind, is to be found in many biiildings which, though they rank high 

 as edifices, are entirely the work of the hands, not of the mind ; in 

 fact, do not require more, if even so much, contrivance and intelli- 

 gence as is exhibited in many manufactures, which, nevertheless, are 

 held to be purely mechiinical ? 



II. Among those whimsical absurdities to which custom reconciles 

 us is that of inscribing the name of the architect and the date of a 



