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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[JuNli, 



The Greeks, who stand umivalled for grace aiid beaut)' of design, 

 did not let tliis important principle of the diuability of tlieir structures 

 escape then), as may lie seen liy tlie size of the stones used in all tlieir 

 public buildings, auil ]iarticularly at the Acropolis and at I'lestuni, 

 alllioui;h they lidl far short of (hose used by their predeee.>.sors the 

 Kttyptians ; while the Kouians, who followed np the principle, but 

 (unlike their usual custom) in a lesser de^'ree, are still very far our 

 siiperiois ; and we tiud by examininj; the remains which these nations 

 and others have left us, that according as the component stones are 

 lari;e or small so are the buildings in a greater or a lesser state of pre- 

 servatioii. 



The Romans, however, showed the hi^li estimation in which tliey 

 held the principle, by the transportation to their own capital, of some 

 of the gigantic Egyptian Obelisks and .S|)hynxes ; a work of itself of 

 great labour, and almost equalling that of the original erections. 



Hut the transporting and using of innnense masses is not confined 

 solely to the ancients, for we lind that most of the modern European 

 nations have to boast of at least one jiroof of their endeavours in 

 iliis respect. The small Italian states aic, perhaps, the most fertile in 

 these; in many instances, however, they have trenched a little on the 

 property of their forefathers. The statue of the Apt)st!es, on St. 

 Peter's, arc, it is well known, eighteen feet high. The Russians have 

 the famous rock for the equestrian statue of the Czar, Peter the Great, 

 brought there witli enormous labour by command of the Empress 

 Catherine, and which was very injudiciously curtailed of its dimensions 

 after its removal by the sculptor, much to her annoyance. The French 

 have been inqiroving in this respect lately, and have also transported 

 one of the celebrated obelisks, presented to them by the Pacha, 

 and which at present adorns the Place de la Concorde, at Paris. That 

 which is said to have been given to us at the same tune, lies neglected. 

 Even the little Corsican town of Ajaccio can now boast of one of its 

 own erection, whose weight exceed^ I, -200,000 lbs., or j3j tons, in 

 honour of Na[)olcon, who was burn there. 



I'ut we : 111 two thousand years tJie question may be iioratcd. 

 " The (Jreeks wi' know, and the Egyptians we know — but ivho are ye 'f 

 Where are your nionnmeuts r'' It will avail our descendants but 

 little to point at the \uihewn stones on Salisbury Plain, and cry, 

 •• these are our fathers' works!" Let us redeem our cliaiacter. Some 

 great national buildings and monuments are now about to be com- 

 menced, and it will be strange if, with (he veiy superior mechanical 

 advantages we [losscss in the powers of steam and facilities of trans- 

 portation, we do not at least rival, or a|iproael), some of the great works 

 which other nations have to point as the labour of themselves or their 

 ancestors. The principal expense of conve3ing blocks of stone from 

 tlie north of England to the capital would be that of removing them 

 from the quarry to the nearest railway station. Why, for instance, 

 miglit not the pedestal for the equestrian statue of the Uuke of 

 Wellington in the city be composed of one block, and brought in 

 this way ? 



There are three other great works about to be eonnneuced, and it is 

 earnestly to be hoped that the nature, size, and durability of the mate- 

 rial to be used in their construction will not be unworthy of buildings 

 to decorate the capital city of so great an empire as this. Of the evil 

 of not paying proper attention to this, suHicient evidence may be had 

 by witnessing the great and expensive repairs which have been called 

 for of late years at Oxford, on their colleges, where, in many instances, 

 they had been almost on the verge of ruins ; and this may be mainly 

 attribntalile to tlie smalhicss of the stones \iscd in their construction, 

 inasmuch as they leave the weather to act on so many interstices, and 

 thereby increasing the decomposition in a tenfold degree. Few are 

 hardy enough to imagine that the monument at London-bridge will 

 last half the time the Tr.ajaii column has — and yet it is the work of 

 perhaps a greater architect — but must perish for want of this im|iorlaut 

 point not having been attended to. And thus it is with all our build- 

 ings — they are for the present ornament, and the future is left un- 

 heeded. Almost the only attempt at durability appears to be that 

 nondescript alfair which has been erected on the Calton-hill, at Edin- 

 burgh, and which is called the National Monument. 



r.efore leaving the subject 1 may remark as an extraordinary circum- 

 stance, that in no case do the Egyptian dehneations represent their 

 monuments or the erection of them ; — we have theur in war, in tri- 

 umph, at feasts, at their trades, at their agricultural pursuits, and at 

 their burial processions, but no where in this branch; thereby leaving 

 us quite uninformed as to the manner in which a people, apparently 

 with so itiw mechanical powers, li:ive ) et been able to surpass all who 

 have succeeded them. 



ARCHITECTURE, ROYAL ACADEMY. 



The contents of the architectural room this year certainly docs 

 not indicate much enterprise with respect to new buildings, nor 

 much diligence on the part of the profession ; so far from it, that, 

 taking the exhibition as a sorl of Ihermometer, activity and energy 

 scarcely rise to lukewarm. The absence of many who have been in 

 the habit of exhibiting, may in .some degree be accounted for by the 

 competition for the Nelson monunienl, and the ajjproaehing one for 

 the Royal Exchange; yel, .althongh that eireumslauce may be so 

 explaiueil, we are still at a loss to understand wherefore so large a 

 proportion of the drawings that have been sent should be so very 

 mediocre in quality — some so di.srepulable to our archilcctm-al lasle, 

 supposing that the annual exliibitions aflbrd any standard by 

 which to judge it — as they certainly ought to do. When we look 

 at some of the things here hung up, we cannot but feel curious (o 

 ascertain, were it possible, what degree of demerit, we might say of 

 actual vileness, is requisite iu order to exclude a design. On no 

 account ought there to be such facility of admission ; for although it 

 may look, at the hr.st glance, very much likeextreme libei'ality and good 

 natiu-e, it ai'gues not only indifference but almost contempt for architec- 

 ture, on the part of the Academy. It seems (provided it can but keep 

 up the averagerespectabilily ill the department ofpaintiug, and secure 

 one or two stars among the pictures,) the Academy care not one straw 

 how bad the architectural part of their exhibition may be. It 

 would be infinitely more generous in them, were the R.A.s to ex- 

 clude architectural drawings altogether. It does not, however, 

 e xactly follow that the architects are much to be pitied, seeing that 

 they tamely suffer matters to take such course, without doing any- 

 thing to support the credit of their own body. Is it to be supjiosed 

 that people can be blind to the " damning fact," that, so far from the 

 exhibitions having displayed any advancement in architectural taste, 

 since the profession has acquired for itself a certain position and 

 aulhority by the establidiment of the Royal Inslilute, it reiJ-ogrades 

 rapidly, if we are to judge by what we are allowed to behold at the 

 .\eadeniy. It is [lossiblc that its exhilulions may be no criterion at 

 all ; yet, unless some other be atVorded them, the public can hardly 

 help taking Iheni to be such. Why, we ask, do not the profession 

 bodily set their shoulders to tVie wheel at once, and extricate them- 

 selves from '• the slough of despond," in which they are now stick- 

 ing, on the north side of Trafalgar-square ? They may be assured 

 that the painters will not oppose their withdrawing from their 

 premises, and establishing an annual exhibition of their own ; which, 

 it is scarcely necessary to observe, ought to be very differently 

 managed. Instead of glaringly, not to say preposterously, coloured 

 drawings — frequently, too, of subjects quite insignificant or worse than 

 insignilieaut in point of design — we might then hope to behold ex- 

 hibitions in which every branch of architectural design would be 

 brouglit forward in such manner as would tend to promote it. If 

 architecls cannot see all this, they are greatly to be pitied ; but if 

 seeing it they do not care to make any exertion to vindicate them- 

 selves in the eyes of the public, we may spare our pity, for it woidd 

 be only thrown away upon them. 



These are confoundedly splenetic remarks ! — Vei'y true ; we there fore 

 regret that circumstances should ju.slify them. At the same time, 

 the great inferiority of the present exhibition of architecture as a 

 whole, does not at all affect the merit of those drawings which form 

 an exception. It is possible, too, that several which we should 

 have placed among these latter, have escaped our notice ; because, 

 as every one well knows, a great many are so hung, that they can- 

 not be perceived at all, unless diligently sought out for by the 

 catalogue, and when found out may scarcely be discernible. In fact, 

 if worth looking at at all, architectural drawings require to be sub- 

 mitted to close inspection, for without that, little more than the 

 general foi'ms and character can be understood : and if good designs 

 are jiut where they cannot be seen \\ilhout a ladder or pair of steps 

 to get up to them, so much the worse, for there are plenty which can 

 be seen that might possibly be fancied to be interesting had we not 

 seen them at all. And it may be observed, that there is a ditVerence 

 between merely hanging up and exhibiting, although, in the voca- 

 bulary of the Royal Academy, ihcy have jireeisely the same meaning. 



}iul commeiicons ; and we will therefore turn at once to No. 1238, 

 '■ The Staircase of Goldsmiths' Hall," P. Hardwick, an ably- 

 executed drawing, and architectural subject of considerable merit, 

 yet rather inditfereully hung, being too low, tliough not a small 

 drawing, to be viewed properly. This is one of the very few interiors 

 exhibited this year, and on any other occasion would probably have 

 been the first both as a jiieture and a design, although now reduced 

 to a secondary rank by Owen .lones' " View of the Alcove at the 

 upper end of the Hall of the Two Sisters in the Alhambra." Well 

 does tliis peiibnnaucc deseive the epithet splendid, lor archilecture 



