Theory and Practice 



convenience of a house, separated from its offices by 

 a long passage (however dignified by the name of col- 

 onnade), there cannot surely be a question. There 

 is yet another principle which applies materially to 

 Bayham, viz. that symmetry makes an extensive build- 

 ing look small, while irregularity will, on the contrary, 

 make a small building appear large: a symmetrical 

 house would, therefore, ill accord with the character 

 of the surrounding country. 



Having expressed these objections against the appli- 

 cation of Grecian architecture, before I describe any 

 other style of house, I shall introduce some remarks 

 on a subject which has much engaged my attention, 

 viz. the adaptation of buildings not only to the situa- 

 tion, character, and circumstances of the scenery, but 

 also to the purposes for which they are intended ; this 

 I shall call characteristic architecture. 



Although it is obvious that every building ought 

 " to tell its own tale," and not to look like anything 

 else, yet this principle appears to have been lately too 

 often violated : our hospitals resemble palaces, and 

 our palaces may be mistaken for hospitals; our modern 

 churches look like theatres, and our theatres appear 

 like warehouses. In surveying the public buildings 

 of the metropolis, we admire St. Luke's Hospital as 

 a madhouse, and Newgate as a prison, because they 

 both announce their purposes by their appropriate 

 appearance, and no stranger has occasion to inquire for 

 what uses they are intended. 



From the palace to the cottage, this principle should 

 be observed. Whether we take our models from a Gre- 

 cian temple or from a Gothic abbey, from a castle or 

 from a college, if the building does not look like a house 

 and the residence of a nobleman, it will be out of char- 



