GEORGIAN 



Georgian. Style of architecture 

 which prevailed in Great Britain 

 during the reigns of the first three 

 Georges (1714-1820). A product 

 of the later Renaissance, it owed 

 its inspiration mainly to Sir Chris- 

 topher Wren. Its best charac- 

 teristic was simplicity of plan and 

 elevation ; its worst was a tendency 

 towards the pedantic. Wren'p 



GetTygun. Mompesson House, in the Close, Sails 

 t rpical of this style of domestic architecture 



By courtesy of Country Life 



example was followed by numerous 

 professional architects. 



Contemporary with him were 

 William Kent, who made an effec- 

 tive design of the Horse Guards, 

 Whitehall, and spoilt a good por- 

 tion of Wren's interior decoration 

 at Kensington Palace ; Isaac Ware, 

 who built Chesterfield House, and in 

 the middle of the 18th century was 

 considered the leading authority 

 on architectural matters ; and Sir 

 William Chambers (q.v.), who out- 

 lived both of these, and was re- 

 sponsible for Somerset House (q.v. ), 

 one of the best creations of Geor- 

 gian classicism in London. Not 

 even Chambers's work, however, 

 escapes the charge of pedantry. 



It is chiefly in the smaller houses 

 that the significance and charm of 

 " Georgian " may be found. In 

 the towns it was uniformity that 

 was principally aimed at, and any 

 one of the many Georgian streets 

 in London can show that Georgian 

 architects, in achieving uniformity, 

 gained also two other essentials of 

 successful street architecture re- 

 pose and dignity. In plan the Geor- 

 gian house is a plain rectangle, 

 solidly constructed, very fre- 

 quently of red brick. Its facade is 

 always of the plairfest description, 

 and is pierced by rows of tall 



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" sash " windows symmetrically 

 disposed. A porch was occasion- 

 ally employed, but the typical 

 Georgian doorway, as seen in 

 certain parts of London and 

 its environs, was enclosed by 

 classic columns carrying their cor- 

 rect entablature, and surmounted 

 by a hood which varied in shape 

 and in the extent of its projection, 

 the tendency 

 I being towards a 

 : shallower type. 



The roof was 

 invariably 

 'hipped," i.e. it 

 sloped backwards 

 from each side, 

 and the front 

 slope was pierced 

 by a row of d ormer 

 windows. At the 

 beginning of the 

 period it was the 

 practice to extend 

 the roof so as to 

 form overhanging 

 eaves with a heavy 

 wooden cornice ; 

 later, the roof 

 was stopped at 

 the edge of the 

 walls by a more 

 or less substantial 

 parapet which 

 had the effect of 

 heightening the 

 fa9ade. The in- 

 terior decoration 

 of Georgian houses culminated in 

 the work of Robert Adam (q.v.) 

 and his brother. Georgian archi- 

 tecture has latterly been revived 

 with great success in the building 

 of garden cities and suburbs. See 

 Architecture; consult also The 

 Decorative Part of Civil Archi- 

 tecture, W. Chambers, 1825. 



Georgian Bay. Opening of 

 Lake Huron. It is the north- 

 eastern arm of the lake, and is 

 almost cut off from the main 

 waters by a peninsula which is part 

 of Ontario, and Grand Manitoulin 

 Island, the opening between the 

 two being only about 30 m. wide. 

 It is about 120 m. long and 50 m. 

 broad, and its various bays receive 

 several of the rivers of Ontario. 



Georgian Bay Canal. Cana- 

 dian canal, suggested and planned 

 but not yet constructed. It is in- 

 tended to join Georgian Bay with 

 the St. Lawrence at Montreal. It 



GERA 



will be 450 m. long, 200 ft. wide, 

 and 22 ft. deep, with 23 locks to 

 regulate the water, and will take 

 vessels of from 8,000 to 10,000 tons. 

 By using tks Back River, an arm 

 of the St. Lawrence, the Lake of 

 the Two Mountains, the Ottawa 

 River, Lake Nipissing, which will 

 be its central point, and the French 

 River, it will only be necessary 

 to construct about 30 m. of actual 

 canal, although parts of the exist- 

 ing waterways will need deepen- 

 ing. The main advantages claimed 

 for the canal, which will be wholly 

 in British territory, are that it will 

 bring the Canadian Lake wheat 

 ports 800 m. nearer to Liverpool 

 than they now are. The cost has 

 been estimated at 30,000,000, and 

 a survey was made in 189498. 



Georgics (Gr. georgike, hus- 

 bandry). Didactic poem by Virgil 

 in four books. Composed 37-31 

 B.C., it deals with agriculture, fruit 

 trees, domestic animals, and bees. 

 It abounds in passages of great 

 beauty, while technically it is a 

 flawless poem. 



Geotropism (Gr. ge, earth; 

 trope, a turning). Sensitiveness of 

 plants to the effects of gravity. 

 The main roots of plants grow ver- 

 ticaLy downwards, due to some 

 unexplained action, though the 

 subsidiary roots may extend hori- 

 zontally or in any intermediate 

 direction. The twining of plants, 

 i.e. creepers, is called lateral 

 geotropism. 



Gepidae. Ancient Teutonic 

 people, whose home in the 3rd 

 century A.D. is said to have been 

 the islands in the Baltic at the 

 mouth of the Vistula. Akin to the 

 Goths, and speaking a similar lan- 

 guage, they accompanied them in 

 their advance southwards and 

 settled in what is now Hungary. 

 After suffering defeats from Attila 

 and Theodoric, they were con- 

 quered by the Lombards in 566. 

 They are not heard of again as an 

 independent people, being merged 

 in the Avars (q.v.). 



Gera. Town of Thuringia, Ger- 

 many. It stands on the White 

 Elster, 35 m. S.W. of Leipzig. The 

 chief buildings are the town hall, 

 a restored 16th century building 

 standing on the market place, a 

 modern theatre, and a museum ; 

 S. John's is the chief of several 

 churches. On the Hainberg 



Georgian Bay Canal. Map of the course of the projected canal which will bring 

 the Canadian Lake wheat ports 800 miles nearer Liverpool 



