ARCHITECTURE. 



A RCHITECTURE is the art which regulates 

 /\ the designing and erection of buildings. It 

 is thus associated on the one hand with the technic 

 art, engineering, which deals with the science of 

 construction, and on the other with the fine arts 

 sculpture and painting, which have in all ages 

 been useful allies in the ornamentation of archi- 

 tectural designs. Architecture, however, differs 

 from both these arts. It is, like engineering, a 

 technic or useful art, its first object being to make 

 buildings suitable for their purpose in a structural 

 point of view ; but it differs from engineering in 

 being, like sculpture and painting, a fine art also. 

 In this relation it has always the further object of 

 making buildings ornamental as well as useful. 

 Painting and sculpture are pure fine arts inde- 

 pendent of use ; but architecture is always limited 

 in the application of its ornament by the use and 

 structural requirements of its productions. Hence 

 arises the maxim now generally accepted as the 

 true definition of good architectural design 

 namely, 'Ornamented construction, not constructed 

 ornament.' This means, that architecture, how- 

 ever magnificent, must have its basis in its uses, 

 and the necessities of its structural parts. Thus, 

 a castle owes its magnificence to its lofty towers, 

 and massive walls, and crenelated battlements, 

 all of which arise naturally from the requirements 

 of the edifice, and are not constructed merely for 

 effect. A Gothic church, again, owes its beauty to 

 the tenderness of its mouldings, the grace of its 

 traceries and pinnacles, the lightness of its vault- 

 ing, all which are equally adapted to the require- 

 ments of the building. In the same way the 

 ornaments of the various parts should spring from 

 their uses, and have always done so in true archi- 

 tecture. Thus, the base of a column is spread out 

 to represent a secure foundation, and the capital 

 is also expanded to receive the pressure which is 

 to be laid upon it, and in this way the feeling of 

 strength and stability is obtained. String-courses 

 are carried along at the levels of the various floors 

 to mark the levelling of the walls to receive the 

 joisting; and the cornice is projected at the top of 

 the wall to throw off the water from the roof, and 

 protect the building below. So, hood-mouldings 

 are placed over windows, and projecting cornices 

 over doorways, to throw off the rain ; and all these 

 necessary objects are seized upon by the archi- 

 tect, and made worthy subjects of ornamentation. 

 Doorways and windows are required for access 

 and light, and these become ornamental by their 

 graceful forms. Buttresses and pinnacles are 

 required to resist the thrust of arches and vaults, 

 and these are converted from utilitarian to orna- 

 mental uses. The above are examples of ' orna- 

 mented construction ; ' and we shall have frequent 

 occasion to refer to other instances as we proceed. 

 ' Constructed ornament,' on the other hand, con- 

 sists of an attempt to produce ornamental effect 

 by some construction not required for the uses or 

 necessities of the building as when a house-front 

 is carried up higher than the rest of the building, 

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in order to produce a grander appearance than 

 truly belongs to it ; or where a building is overlaid 

 with masses of foliage, or other decoration, stuck 

 on without reference to the general design; or 

 where a window-arch is made of such a shape as 

 could not stand in the material in which it pro- 

 fesses to be built. Vaulting made in stucco, in 

 imitation of stone, is an example of false con- 

 struction ; and the erection, for ornament only, of 

 buttress and pinnacles where there is no stone 

 vaulting, and therefore no thrust to resist, is a 

 striking instance of ' constructed ornament' 



From the earliest dawn of civilisation, in all 

 lands, men have always striven to become archi- 

 tects, and render their abodes, whatever their 

 nature, as solid and secure in structure, and as 

 ornamental in appearance, as their skill and taste 

 could accomplish. The architectural history of 

 any people thus becomes a history of their con- 

 dition at different periods. Thus, every edifice 

 raised by the hands of man contains in it a 

 record, quite legible to the educated eye, of the 

 race that produced it ; and if it be a large and 

 important work, it will most probably reveal the 

 history, the religion, and the ways of life of the 

 people by whom it was erected. These can all 

 be equally traced in the Egyptian tomb, the 

 Grecian temple, and the Gothic cathedral. 



Architecture thus becomes allied to history, and 

 forms, in conjunction with archaeology, an invalu- 

 able aid to the philologist in tracing the rise and 

 progress of our race. 



This historical aspect of architecture is one of 

 its most important and interesting features, and 

 will therefore form the basis of the arrangement 

 of our subject in the following sketch. 



EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 



The earliest architecture of which we have any 

 record is that of Egypt. It is the best constructed 

 and best preserved of all ancient styles, and it 

 is very remarkable that the earliest specimens 

 remaining are the most perfect. We have no 

 means afforded us of tracing the origin and 

 development of architecture in this the oldest 

 cradle of the art ; but we can well imagine that 

 long periods must have elapsed before the 

 mechanical skill was developed which the execu- 

 tion of these great works displays. 



The well-known pyramids are the oldest existing 

 specimens of human architecture. They are 

 situated near Memphis, in Lower Egypt, on the 

 western side of the Nile, and close on the margia 

 of the desert. There are altogether some sixty or 

 seventy pyramids remaining, all the tombs of 

 kings. The largest three are also the oldest 

 namely, those erected at Gizeh by Suphis, which 

 is the largest ; by Chepheren, his successor, which 

 is slightly smaller ; and by Mycerinus, the smallest 

 of the three, but coated with fine red granite from 

 Svene. The first of these measures 764 feet on 



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