CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



55.3 



HJ'tory. 



Mode of 

 nrfanye- 

 ment im- 

 proved. 



Thorough- 

 fare apart 

 ments a- 

 voided. 



Bells and 

 water clo- 

 sets adopt- 

 ed. 



Rejecting 

 wing* a 

 defect. 



prevailed in the style of external or internal decora- 

 tions, the mode of arranging the apartments has been 

 gradually improving. They have been more judicious* 

 ly adapted to the nature of the climate and the circum- 

 stances of the possessor ; convenience and comfort have 

 been made the chief objects; and these have, we are 

 convinced, been obtained to a degree of perfection un- 

 equalled in any other country. The contracting the di- 

 mensions of unnecessarily large halls and staircases, avoid- 

 ing long passages, preventing the necessity of having 

 rooms thoroughfares, the introduction of bells and wa- 

 ter closets, and the more perfect supply and distribution 

 of water, may be reckoned amongst the chief of these 

 improvements. 



One variation, which has lately taken place, seems ra- 

 ther to have interfered with domestic conveniency, and 

 hs even considerably injured external appearance, we 

 refer to the rejection of inferior buildings as wings. The 

 elevation now consisting of one mass of principal build- 

 ing, if the local situation does not admit of having con- 

 cealed offices attached immediately behind, they must 

 either be placed in the sunk part of the main building, 

 or at a distance from it both of which modes are very 

 objectionable in a country residence. On the other hand, 

 the proper distribution of inferior buildings, as wings, 

 afford many domestic conveniences, and also enable the 

 architect to vary, more successfully, the outlines of his 

 front. But this part of the subject will be treated of 

 more at length under the Practice of Architecture. 



The foregoing brief survey and observations will serve 

 to give a general idea of the progress of domestic ar- 

 chitecture in this country. In other countries, the cli- 

 mates and habits of life have created a difference in style; 

 but as on the continent the palaces of the nobility are 

 chiefly confined to the cities, the country residences have 

 not been an equally important object of attention, as in 

 England, where the chief family residences have ever 

 been upon the estates. We have already stated, that the 

 villas of th^- ancient Romans were of great extent ; and 

 if the delineations in Newton's Vitruvius are correct re- 

 presentations, their magnificence and elegance accorded 

 with their magnitude ; but these were the abodes of the 

 princes of the earth, who required for their cellars a 

 space which exceeded that which was occupied by the 

 farm of Cincinnatus. The palaces erected for modern 

 Italians, by Pailadio, and the other restorers of the Ro- 

 man manner, were also extensive and splendid ; but these 

 were also to lodge princely prelates in the zenith of the 

 Romish church, or the princely merchants of the Italian 

 seas. They were not the usual domestic architecture of 

 the respective states ; and were, besides, of a character 

 ill suited to the British climate and manners. 



Commerce. 



Commerce. Buildings employed for commercial and manufacturing 

 purposes, are, in Britain, numerous and extensive. They 

 have, from long experience, and keen emulation, been 

 rendered very perfect for their respective offices ; but 

 these offices arc so various, and so intimately blended 

 with harbours, ports, and the operations of particular 

 manufactures, that they must, unavoidably, be treated of 

 under these heads. All, therefore, which can, with pro- 

 Kdificet re- P r ' etv > be mentioned here, are edifices of a public and 

 quired. general nature ; as the exchange, custom-house, and pub- 

 lic markets. 



Ot the great commercial cities of antiquity, as Athens, 

 h, Tyre, Carthagr, and Alexandria, we have de- 

 tailed accounts only of their wars, wealth, and luxuries. 

 Historians have been captivated by the splendid opera- 



In Eng- 

 land, prin- 

 cipal man- 

 sions are 

 built upon 

 estates. 



tions of rich and prosperous states, but have neglected Hi-.:-.: : 

 to investigate the nature of the means by which they ar- * ^V" 

 rived at consequence and power. They have transmit- 

 ted detailed accounts of temples, palaces, sculptures, and 

 paintings, but have left us very much in the dark respect- 

 ing the precise modes in which the business and industry 

 of those great ports were conducted, and also of the na- 

 ture of the edifices which were appropriated to the pur- 

 poses of their extensive commerce, and rich and varied 

 manufactures. 



The ancient markets were known by the name of the Forum, 

 forum, and appear also to have included what we denomi- 

 nate exchange and bank. Vitruvius say?, that the Greek 

 forum was square, with ambulatories in the upper story ; 

 the Roman was oblong, with porticos and shops for 

 bankers, and with galleries in the upper floor adapted for 

 the management of the public revenues. The Roman 

 forum included also many other edifices of a different na- 

 ture ; as the basilicse, prison, curia;, and were enriched 

 with colonnades and sculpture. That of Trajan was en- 

 tered by four triumphal arches, and had his magnificent 

 column in the centre of it. Round the harbour of Car- Carthage. 

 thage, we are informed, that accommodations of every 

 kind were provided for merchants and seamen, and that, 

 being decorated with Ionic columns of marble, the whole 

 had the appearance of magnificent galleries. 



In modern Europe, the Low Countries and England 

 have carried commerce to the greatest extent and per- 

 fection, and have constructed exchanges upon very ex- 

 tensive and commodious plans. That at Amsterdam is 

 of an oblong form : it is a plain building, of squared 

 free stone, founded upon 2000 timber piles ; it is 250 feet 

 in length, and 140 in breadth ; 26 marble columns sup- 

 port its galleries, to which there is access by a spacious 

 staircase. The Royal Exchange of London was first 

 built solely at the expence of Sir Thomas Grcsham, in 

 1567. It was originally named the Bourse, but altered 

 to that of the Royal Exchange by Queen Elizabeth, 

 when she paid a visit to the founder in 1570. Three years 

 after the great fire, it was rebuilt under the auspices ot 

 Charles II. at an expence of L. 80,000. The qua- 

 drangle occupies a space of 203 by 171 feet. The en- 

 trances are at the north and south sides, by two arch- 

 ed gateways. A very commodious arcade, or portico, 

 occupies each side of the quadrangle. The middle spacr, 

 of 144 feet by 117, is open, and has a statue of Charle* 

 II. in the centre. Over the arcades are semicircular 

 groined arches, which spring from the caps of slender 

 columns. In the story over them there are Ionic pilas- 

 tres and windows, alternated by niches and statues. The 

 whole style resembles the earliest practised by Inigo 

 Jones, in the quadrangle of St John's College, Oxford. 

 The south front is in an equally incorrect style, having 

 very slender piers under heavy arcades supporting the 

 whole superstructure, and two clumsy circular pediments 

 over two Corinthian columns on each side of the entrance 

 gateway. The same bad taste is extended to the tower, 

 consisting of numerous, crowded, trifling parts. The 

 lower parts of the building joining the arcades, are occu- 

 pied by common shops j but the upper story affords ex- 

 ce'lent and extensive accommodations for transacting bu- 

 siness. 



The Bank buildings, which are near the Exchange, arc Bank of 

 extensive, and executed in a rich style, but reflect no liuglam'. 

 great credit on our national taste. The south front io 

 composed of highly ornamented and very trifling parts. 

 The north front differs little from a dead wall, with co- 

 lumns and pillars placed where it is difficult to assign 

 them any use. 



Exchange 

 at Amster- 

 dam. 



London. 



