I(3i 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



I JjINE, 



architect and Royal Academician is very much like l)einfr a triiit.ir. 

 Nor is it to such alone that it is reproach that tliey slioukl liayo 

 allowed architecture to he reduced to the defrradiii!^ posituju m 

 which it is now at the only Exhibition ojien to it at all, tor it very 

 strongly reproaches the Institute of liritish Architects also, %vlio, 

 instead'of contributing to the architectural deiiartiueut ot the Kx- 

 liihition, and of coming to its rescue in the luuir of its imminent 

 peril, content themselves with standing aloof in sulky (liginty. 

 That those who act the part of cyphers in the Institute, sliould luit 

 show themselves elsewhere to be other than cyphers, is not much 

 matter for wonder,— perhaps even less for regret. But its stars 

 the luminaries who shine so brightly in Grosvenor-street,— can it 

 be that their talent quite exhausts itself in talking, and evaporates 

 ere it can give any manifestation of itself in Trafalgar-square . 

 Half the business of the Institute seems to consist in voting thanks 

 to, and complimenting each other; which, for any good that the 

 rest of it does, may pass for the better half of it. In the mean- 

 while, both the Institute and the Academy seem alike to shut their 

 eyes to some of the consequences of their i)inoce)>t indolence. 

 Although they are not, it would seem, directly responsible to any 

 one for their doings or non-doings,— for their sins of commission 

 or of omission,— it behoves them to pay some little respect to 

 public opinion,— and to preserve if possible, decency ot appear- 

 ances. After long hovering upon the verge of it, the Academy 

 has at last overstepped that line of discretion and safety. It has 

 this season put the "last feather" upon the camels back, the 

 time for remonstrance has passed away, since remonstrance lias 

 been tried, and has proved fruitless, or worse than fruitless. What 

 has hitherto been remonstrance, and perhaps unpalatably severe 

 admonition, will now become unsparing objurgation. Unless the 

 architects of this country be the meanest-spirited creatures con- 

 ceivable, they will m,w break out into open rebellion against the 

 Academy, and tlien, when pi-u.rhmi.'i ardet Ucehigon, will the Insti- 

 tute be kble to escape unsinged ? There is, indeed, what it might 

 make use of as a " fire-escape ;" yet whether it has sagacity enough 

 ever to avail itself of such means is to us very doubtful. 1 he^pro- 

 bability is, that it will prefer the fate of a martyr— prefer being 

 ToaM alive, to making the least eff(n-t that would break the spell 

 of its present v/.s- inertUe. Let us hope then that, come what may, 

 its charter is written upon asbestos. At least, let that Palladium 

 be saved, if only to be deposited in the British Museum, where it 

 may in time come to be looked upon with— veneration. 



Those who imagine that we are now writing in mere reckless gamete 

 de cmin; are exceedingly mistaken. It is with feelings ot sorrow, 

 mingled with shame and indignation, that we pen what is likely 

 enough to be set down for mere flippancy ;— with sorrow tor the 

 contumely cast upon the art we love,— with shame for those who 

 are themselves shameless— with indignation against those Judas- 

 like friends of architecture, who betray it with their kisses. Good, 

 easy creatures !— do they suppose that they are unnoted and un- 

 marked by other eyes, merely because they choose to shut their 

 own ? To' the public, all may seem calm,— and a desperately dead 

 calm it is ; but a speck has been seen in the sky, that announces 

 a gathering tempest. What will come of it, should anything come 

 of it at all, will be felt in due time ; and then, perhaps, " Sauve qui 

 pent" will be the cry. Of that, however, no more at present. 



There are, as we have already said, no productions at the 

 Academy this season, of that class which ought to make not the 

 least figure of all in the Architectural Room— namely, models ot 

 buildings ; although there is still admitted there the usual number 

 of works that would be far more appropriately treated, either in the 

 Miniature or the Sculpture Room. For aught we know architec- 

 tural models may have been offered and turned away. All we know 

 is, that things there are of the kind— and very interesting things ot 

 the kind—which neither are nor ever have been exhibited. Re- 

 gret, however, is greatly mitigated, and surprise almost entirely 

 dissipated, when we call' to mind the ungracious churlishness with 

 which— judging from the awkward, huddled-up manner m vyhich 

 they are generally arranged,— models seem to have been admitted. 

 Such exceedingly glaring mismanagement is visible at the hrst 

 glance, that we cannot help imputing it to intention, and to the 

 policy which worketh by cunning and stratagem. Hardly can we 

 give the hangers credit for so much blundering stupidity as now 

 shows itself more stronger than ever. Policy there must be m it, 

 and its intention seems to be notliing less than gradually to work 

 the expulsion of architecture from the Academy, at least from the 

 exhibitions, by disgusting architects, and so deterring them from 

 sending at all— which is all hut completely effected already— and 

 bv rendering the show of architectural drawings as unsatisfactory 

 a'nd uninteresting as possible, till they come to be looked ujion by 

 tlie public as mere filling-up rubbish, that has no right to be there. 



Nor is it the " hanging" alone which is to be complained of, 

 similar perverseness in selecting and admitting subjects. There 

 are a great many things which, although architectural in subject, 

 do not belong to the Architectural Room, inasmuch as they arc not 

 fresh de-sH/ihi', nor are the ideas they sliow those of their respective 

 exhibitor's. They are merely views and portraits of buildings, and 

 for the most part of such as are already quite familiar to every 

 architectural student. We do not go into that room to look at 

 frames containing such stale matters as the Partlienon and other 

 ragged ruins, whether Greek, Roman, or English ; or at such rari- 

 ties as our own City churches. If views or other copies are admis- 

 sible at all, thev ought at least to be confined to such as repre- 

 sent unedited subjects,— which, were they sought, might be found 

 in abundance : were there no other, one there is which has never 

 been touched by the pencil— viz., the colonnades in the court-yard 

 of Burlington House. Or if enow of subjects are not to be 

 found here at home, they are to be got at without going quite so 

 far as Athens and Egypt, for they present themselves at Pans, 

 Munich, Berlin,— almost at every step on the continent. M ithout 

 going so far as to prohibit them altogether, there ought to be some 

 sort of restriction with regard to what are merely topographical 

 and architectural views. Some judgment might surely be exercised 

 in determining their admissibility. Superior talent shown in 

 execution might fairly enough be allowed to be passport for what 

 possessed no great novelty of subject ; but to find so many things 

 as we do, that possess no redeeming qualities that might excuse the 

 staleness or insipidity of their subjects— and some of them occu 

 pying far better places than original designs,— is not a little pro- 

 voking. . !/• . 1. « 



That such evident mismanagement as declares itselt in the Ar- 

 chitectural Room, should be persisted in season after season, with 

 a growing tendency to worse instead of at all to better, is to us 

 nothing short of marvellous. The Academy— its architect-mem- 

 bers included— seem not only to be utterly indifferent themselves to 

 the architectural part of their exhibitions, but also to imagine that 

 every one else is equally indifferent. Yet, surely complaints 

 must from time to time have reached their ears. Their being dis- 

 ren-arded is, perhaps, to be attributed to their having been uttered 

 in^too mild a tone ; and if so, they ought now to be thundered 

 forth so loudly, that the Academy cannot possibly pretend not to 

 hear them,— a'nd hearing them, cannot but pay some sort of decent 

 attention to them. 



After this unusually long proem— querulous also, we admit, 



though not without ample reason, and perhaps more energetic 



than polite in tone,— we proceed to say something of the few draw- 



rk in the present Exhibition. The hangers have 



ings of any mar__ _ . , , - /■ 



taken care that we shall not gratify our curiosity by the very hrst 

 subject whose title excites it— viz. (No. 1095), "Design for 

 embellishing the new Coffee-room at the Carlton Club-house, 

 carried out in Encaustic Colours," F. Sung. For auglit that 

 can be discerned of the encaustic embellishments, this drawing 

 might nearly as well have been hung with its face to the wall, or 

 at least turned topsy-turvy, as be placed where it is— immediately 

 next to the ceiling. ' We remember being much gratified by three 

 drawings of the hall, &c., of the Conservative Club-house, ex- 

 hibited a season or two ago by the same artist ; and which, for a 

 wonder, were placed where they could be inspected. The drawing 

 now exhibited,— e\h\hited at least in the catalogue, though put out 

 of sio-ht in the room,— is no doubt equally interesting. Not at all 

 unreasonable is it to suppose that it shows improvement, rather 

 than any falling-oif, on the part of Mr. Sang. Subjects of that 

 class are not so very numerous, that we can afford to be cheated 

 out of the opportunity of examining them. Possibly, Mr. Sang 

 himself may feel consoled by the Ijonour of being an exhibitor ; 

 and by getting his ticket of admission— all that many of the ex- 

 hibitors seem \o care for ; but we have nothing to console us for 

 tlie provoking disappointment to which we have been subjected. 



The next— (No. lO'Jii), " Prize design for the proposed Army and 

 Navy Club-house in Pail-Mall," G. 7;/«t'raa//,— occupies a similarly 

 lofty though certainly not conspicuous station. Having seen it 

 before at the exhibition of the competition designs for that Club- 

 house 'we do not at all regret that it is placed where we cannot 

 see it' again; but we think that Mr. Tattersall himself must be 

 anytliiu"- but well pleased with the hangers for putting his " Prize 

 Desio-n'^^so far out of sight, and his other somewhat queerish de- 

 sign for the same building (No. 12'29), in a much better situation, 

 —we do not say the most advantageous one for it. As we ex- 

 pected there are many other designs for the same Club-house, in- 

 cluding the adopted one (No. 1187), by Messrs. Pariiell and Smith. 

 This was known to us before, a copy from the same drawing hay- 

 ing been given in a contemporary publication, wherefore we would 



