CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



S49 



History. 

 Longlea'. 



FllTI 



CLXXVIII. 



taigo Jones 



erects edifi 

 ces in Den 

 mark and 

 Scotland. 



Heriot's 

 hospital. 



St John's 



college, 



Oxford. 



Greenwich 



hospital. 



Coven t 



Garden 



church. 



Castle 



AiUly. 



ColeshilJ. 



It* 



Si Paul'*, 



' 1.XX1V. 



between the cities of London and Westminster. He 

 also built Longleat iu Wiltshire, wherein are introduced 

 ths Doric, I'jnK-, and Corinthian orders immediately 

 over each other, which formed a very regular and 

 magnificent edifice, (See Plate CLXXVIII.) But it 

 was not until the beginning of the 17th century, that 

 the practice of this style was completely established by 

 Inigo Jones. He waa born in London in 1572, and 

 having early shewn a strong disposition for drawing, he 

 was, by the munificence of the Earl of Pembroke, enabled 

 to travel through Italy. Here the remains of the ancient 

 edifices, the magnificent works of modern architecture at 

 Rome, but above all those of Palladio, afforded a field for 

 study, upon which he entered with ardour, and benefited 

 to such a degree, as to enable him to become the Palladio 

 of his native country. From Rome he went to Den- 

 mark, at the request of Christian IV. where he was 

 found by James I. and was brought over to Scotland by 

 Queen Anne. Here he altered and improved the old pa- 

 lace of Holyrood House, and afterwards gave designs 

 for Heriot's hospital, and probably the parliament house. 

 In 1612 he returned to Italy, and finished his studies. 

 Of his early and least classical style, the inner quadrangle 

 of St John's college, Oxford, is a specimen. He-re the 

 arches rest immediately upon the capitals of the co- 

 lumns. There are busts between the arches, and heavy 

 wreaths of foliage in the alcoves. But he afterwards 

 composed, with simplicity and great classical elegance, 

 the banqueting house Whitehall, Greenwich Hospital, 

 Surgeon's Hall, and Covent Garden church. Besides 

 these public works, Wilton house, the south and east side 

 of Castle Ashley, Lord Radnor's at Coleshill in Berk- 

 shire, and Stoke Park in Northamptonshire, are known 

 to be his. But his practice having been very extensive, 

 many other edifices are in part his, and formed upon his 

 models. So that, besides the classical elegance which 

 he introduced into public buildings, we are equal- 

 ly indebted to him for the convenience and comfort en- 

 joyed in the private dwellings which he planned. 



Next in succession to Inigo Jones, is Sir Christopher 

 Wren. He was eminently possessed of the qualifications 

 requisite for a perfect architect ; his education was li- 

 beral ; he was one of the first geometricians of the age 

 in which he lived ; he had a disposition for mechanics ; 

 he possessed a dispassionate but persevering temper, and 

 had a fine taste. 



We have heard of few architects, either ancient or 

 modern, in whom all these requisites were so perfectly 

 united. He was of Wadham college Oxford, and be- 

 came Savilian professor of astronomy in that university. 

 Having given various excellent specimens of his architec- 

 tural talents in that beautiful city, he was appointed a 

 commissioner for repairing St Paul's church in London. 

 In 1665, he travelled into France, to examine the pub- 

 lic buildings of that nation. After the great fire of 

 1666, he was fixed upon to form the plan, and direct the 

 rebuilding of St Paul's. This he accomplished in the 

 course of 35 years, and has produced an edifice, of 

 which his country has reason to be proud. ( See Plate 

 CLXXIV.) The extreme length is 530 feet, breadth 

 250, height 366, breadth of fa$ade 180, outward diame- 

 ter of the cupola 140, inward at whispering gallery 112 

 feet. The original and favourite design of the architect 

 was not adopted by the commissioners. It, in many re- 

 spects, possessed more magnificent features than the pre- 

 sent. Instead of two it consisted of one order only, and 

 the portico was very considerably insulated. Every part 

 had by this means much more simplicity, elevation, and 

 boldness, and there being only a sin^lf range of large win- 

 dows/ it conveyed the idea of one great apartment. Inter- 



Historv. 







nally, the dome rested upon the entablature of the order, 

 without the intervention of arches. Plates of this- de- ^'V 

 sign have been published, and a model of it is still pre- 

 served in an apartment of the present edifice. 



The devastation caused by the great fire of 1666, af- 

 forded many other opportunities for his architectural ta- 

 lents. In the church of St Stephen's, Walbrook, there 

 is a most perfect specimen of his skill, (see Plate St Ste- 

 CLXXV.) It consists internally of a cupola, resting Pj^S 

 upon Corinthian columns ; the whole distributed and ad- 

 justed with the utmost delicacy and correctness. Many CLXXV. 

 of the other churches of the city owe their most distin- 

 guishing features to his masterly hand. The tower of St 

 Mary le Bow is a singular and bold ornament for a great 

 city. In the monument, he has constructed a column St Mary 

 equal in design and execution, and superior in elevation, Ie " ow - 

 to any of antiquity : if his material is inferior, or the 

 sculptures less numerous, prudence and necessity limited 

 his exertions. The height of this column is 202 feet ; 

 that of Antonine, at Rome, was 175 ; and that of Trajan Monu. 

 only 147. ment- 



The other works of this great architect are numerous. 

 The parts he planned in Greenwich Hospital are inferior Greenwich 

 to few edifices, ancient or modern. The colonnades> of hospital. 

 347 feet in length, will bear a comparison with those of 

 Bernini, in front of St Peter's. 



Chelsea Hospital, and the modern part of Hampton 

 Court, though chiefly of brick, are yet magnificent build- 

 ings. And the garden front and chapel of Trinity Col- Trinity 

 lege, Cambridge - T the Ashmolean Museum, and Sheldo- college 

 nian Theatre, at Oxford, besides many lesser works, will Cam n ** 

 perpetuate his fame in that singularly fine city. 



In the works of Sir C. Wren, the Roman manner was 

 completely established ; the Gothic was totally rejected, 

 and branded with terms of contempt. The public build- 

 ings were afterwards all designed in this cewly adopted 

 style ; and, for some time, Gibbs appears to have been 

 most extensively employed in the management of many 

 of them. He was a scrupulous copyist of Palladio, but 

 he seldom displayed good taste. In the London church- S' ( M . ar - 

 es, of St Martin's in the Fields, the New Church in the V"', 4 . 111 '''* 

 Strand, and St George's, Hanover Square, he had am- 

 ple opportunities of displaying talents ; but it is only in 

 St Martin's that any degree of merit can be allowed him : 

 there the single Corinthian order, carried up the whole 

 height, and quite around the church, is simple and cor- 

 rect ; and the portico is the only one in London, which 

 conveys any idea of that of the pantheon at Rome ; but 

 the two rows of rusticated windows destroy simplicity, 

 and greatly injure the general appearance. The portico 

 of St George's, Hanover Square, wants depth ; and the 

 New Church in the Strand is frittered into trifling parts, 

 and covered with tawdry ornaments. In the Radcliffe Radcliffe 

 Library, at Oxford, there is much to blame ; the cupo- library, 

 la seems to have sunk from its intended situation, and 

 the doors and windows are in a worse style than those of 

 St Martin's. So completely was the Gothic style by 

 this time supplanted by the Palladia:), that Gibbs at- 

 tached a church, designed in the latter style, to a very fine 

 Gothic tower, in the town of Derby. He published a 

 volume of designs in 1728. 



About the same time with Gibbs, Sir John Vanburgh Sir Joha 

 practised architecture extensively in England ; but al- Vanburgh. 

 though the works he executed were all palaces and for 

 nobles, yet, being for private persons, it is Blenheim Blenheim 

 alone which can be admitted in the list of public edifices. house - 

 The style of this splendid palace, (see Plate CLXXIX.) pliTM 

 erected at the public expence early in the 18th century, (JLXXIX. 

 displays much boldness and originality of genius. The 

 diversity and novelty of the outlines, both in the plan 



