RENAISSANCE 



643 



became more generally adopted. In the later half 

 of the 17th century a splendid opportunity occurred 

 for the employment of the Renaissance style after 

 the great tire of London. Sir Christopher Wren 

 rebuilt an immense number of churches in that 

 style, of which St Paul's (q.v.) was the most im- 

 portant. The spire of Bow Church and the in- 

 terior of St Stephen's, Walbrook, are also much 

 admired. 



During the 18th century classic feeling pre- 

 dominated, and gradually extended to all classes 

 of buildings. In the early part of the century 

 Van brack built the grand but ponderous palaces 

 of Blenheim and Castle Howard, which have a 

 character and originality of their own. To these 



Fig. a Park Front of Castle Howard. 



succeeded a vast numl>er of noblemen's mansions, 

 designed by Campbell, Kent, the Adamses, and 

 others. Many of these, like the contemporaneous 

 buildings of Fiance, are of great size and magnifi- 

 cence; but they are usually tame and cold in design, 

 and a sameness pervades them all. They generally 

 consist of a rustic basement-story, with a portico 

 over the centre, and an equal number of windows 

 on either side. The portico is considered essential, 

 and, although it is perfectly useless, the light and 

 convenience of the house are invariably sacrificed 

 for it. 

 Tke further study of the buildings of Greece and 



Fig. 4. Portion of Fafade of Bridgewater House. 



Rome led, in the beginning of the 19th century, 

 to the fashion of reproducing tkem more literally. 

 AH important public buildings were now required 

 to be absolute copies of ancient buildings, or parts 



of them, or to look like such, and then the architect 

 had to work out the accommodation as best he 

 might. St Pancras' Church in London is a good 

 example. It is made up of portions from nearly 

 every temple in Greece! Many really succesi-fiil 

 buildings, such as St George's Hall, Liverpool, the 

 High School and Royal Institution in Edinburgh, 

 have been erected in this style ; but they owe their 

 effect not to their being designs well adapted to 

 their requirements, but to the fact that they are 

 copies from the finest buildings of antiquity. We 

 have thus two different styles included under the 

 head of Renaissance viz. one in which the classic 

 elements are subordinated to the Gothic disposi- 

 tions, and which is now generally understood by 

 the expression 'Renaissance;' and the 

 other that in which the classic elements 

 distinctly predominate, and which is 

 commonly known as ' Classic.' 



Sir Charles Barry was the first to 

 break away from this thraldom, and to 

 return to the true system of designing 

 buildings namely, by so arranging their 

 general features as not only to ex- 

 prrs* the purposes they are intended to 

 serve, but in so doing to form the 

 decorative as well as the useful elements 

 of the edifice. The Travellers' Club- 

 house and Bridgewater House in London 

 are admirable specimens of his design. 

 There are no superfluous porticoes or 

 obstructive pediments, but a pleasing 

 and reasonable design is produced by 

 simply grouping the windows, and 

 crowning the building witk an appro- 

 priate cornice. 



As already noticed, a similar style of domestic 

 architecture is now bein<j worked out in France ; 

 but lx)th there and in England there was a re- 

 action against everything classic, and a revival of 



*=* 



, 



u architecture superseded that of classic, 

 e-i>e<:ially in ecclesiastical buildings. The most 

 magnificent examples of this style are the Palace 

 or Houses of Parliament at Westminster, and the 

 new Law Courts. 



The so-called Queen Anne style, common in 

 recent years, is supposed to be founded on the 

 class or design prevalent at the beginning of the 

 18th century. The buildings erected at that 

 period were of a very plain and simple order, with 

 classic cornices and details, and frequently with 

 large windows, sometimes divided by mullions. 

 There is occasionally a certain picturesqueness in 

 the arrangements which has been made the most of 

 in the modern revived style. The latter, although 

 taking the name of Queen Anne, is far from adher- 

 ing to the style of her reign, but is rather a free 

 use of the elements of the early Renaissance or 

 Elizal>ethan style. It thus combines much of the 

 freedom of the late Gothic with classic detail, to 

 which is added a copious use of features borrowed 

 from the Renaissance of France and Germany. 

 Many large structures have been erected in this 

 style, such as the Royal Colonial Institute in 

 London, and the new Law Courts at Birmingham. 

 In these buildings the peculiar features of the 

 style are visible viz. large windows, divided by 

 pjain mullions, and a mixture of classic details and 

 Gothic forms. The style adapts itself well to 

 villas and smaller structures, in which the curved 

 gablets of the dormers form prominent features. 



In Germany, Russia, and every country of Europe 

 the Renaissance came to prevail in a manner 

 similar to that above described in other countries. 

 The picturesque castle of Heidelberg is an early 

 example, and the Zwinger and Japanese palace at 

 Dresden are edifices of the beginning of the 18th 

 century. In the domestic buildings of Nuremberg, 



