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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Jutv, 



II. To continue quotinff : — in EUe.tmeres — not the Karl's — 

 reulv we meet witli this simiewliat perilous questiim : — " ' By the 

 u-ay, Milverton, I want to ask 



you one tiling. How is it that 

 governments and committees, and the bodies that manajare in;itters 

 of taste, seem to be more tasteless than the average run of people ? 

 I will wager anything, that the cabmen round Trafalgar-s(|uare 

 would have made a better thing iif it than it is. If you liad put 

 before them several i>rints of Fountains, they would not have chosen 

 those.'" To which Milverton responds: '-'I think with you, but 

 ha^ e no theory to account for it.' " — Partly, and even mainly, ac- 

 counted for it might be, by saying: It is because in all sucli mat- 

 ters, committees hold themselves to be utterly irresponsible for 

 their acts, and because no one cares to convince them of the contrary, 

 by formally calling them to account. So long as Committees of 

 Taste, or whatever else tlieir actual designation may be, are suffered 

 to carry on their councils and operations behind the curtain, what 

 better can be expected than mere random experimentalizing and 

 blundering, at John Bull's expense.' He it is, the British Donkey, 

 though flattered by lieing drawn as the British Lion, who pays 

 for all. 



III. "'Now. Milverton,'" says Ellesmere again, "'would you not 

 forthwith pull down such things as Buckingham Palace, and the 

 National Gallery ?'" To which the reply is : '•' I would pull them 

 down to a certainty, or some parts of them at any rate ; but whe- 

 ther "forthwith," is another question." — As Mr. Blore's imprnre- 

 meiit of the Palace had been commenced before the book here 

 quoted from was published, we are at liberty to suppose that, in the 

 writer's opinion, such improvement does not render ])ulling down 

 at all the less desirable,— perhaps, even more so than ever. As 

 affairs liave since turned out, the times are not at all propitious for 

 schemes of building either new Royal Palaces, or new National 

 Galleries. M'ith regard to the Gallery, notwithstanding its imper- 

 fections, it is susceptible of very decided improvement as it now 

 stands, — capable of easily being made what it ought to ha\e been 

 at first. Even at present, it is not so much the " Gallery" itself, as 

 the other buildings and accessories, that render Trafalgar-square a 

 failure. Those on the east side are in the most pert and vulgar 

 taste, and require to be pulled down quite as much, or even much 

 more, than the " Gallery" — if anything is ever to be made of the 

 Squai-e as an architectural ensemble. As to the west side, the best 

 that can be said of it is, that it serves as a foil to the " Gallery," 

 and is more lucky than the latter ; probably owing to its being 

 sheltered from the shafts of criticism by the august name of Sir 

 Robert Smirke. Indeed, it is somewhat unaccountable, that those 

 who ai'e so dissatisfied with both the Gallery and the Fountains, 

 should be so complacently tolerant of all the rest, and even go into 

 extasies of admii-ation of St. Martin's Church, which, the columns 

 of the portico alone excepted, is a compound of tastelessncss, un- 

 couthness, and deformity. There is not a single feature in it that 

 harmonizes with the order, or is at all in the spirit «f the style so 

 professed. In one respect, the Church and the Gallery are nearly 

 on a par, it being difficult to decide which is the ugliest — the 

 steeple or the one, or the dome of the other. Both the one and 

 the other may be said to contrast with the respective porticoes ; 

 but there is a very wide difference between grating dissonance and 

 that artistic contrast which, while it introduces variety and ]n-e- 

 vents too great sameness, contributes to general harmony. Of 

 such contrast and harmony we have example in the human counts- 

 nance, where the eyes and mouth are placed horizontally, and the 

 nose forms a vertical line coming in between them. A reyiilur and 

 well-trained critic might object to this, and contend tliat nature is 

 here at fault; and that there would be more pleasing regularity were 

 either the nose ]>laced in the same direction as the other features, 

 or the latter in that of the nose. Still, there is very great com- 

 fort left for him, if not for us — namely, that there is preceilent — 

 aye, Tiniversal precedent — for noses being placed just , as they are. 

 But now I am getting too rigmarolish ; therefore, break off. 



IV. I find that I have omitted an observation in Milverton's 

 reply to Ellesmere's sneer at the taste of governments and com- 

 mittees, that deserves to be attended to. " • I suppose,' " says the 

 latter, " ' that these committees are frequently ham])ered by other 

 considerations than those whicli come before the jiuhlic, when they 

 are looking at the work done. And this may be some excuse. 

 There was a custom which 1 have heard ])revailed in former days 

 in some of the Italian cities, of making large models of the works 

 of art that were to adorn the city, and jmtling them up in the 

 places intended for the works when finished, and then inviting 

 criticism. It would really be a very good plan in some cases.'" — 

 No doubt, but jiracticablo only for small ornamental works, such 

 as fountains, triiim])hal arches, public statues, monumental 

 crosses, &c. A full-sized model of such an edifice as the " Houses 



of Parliament," or even of the new building at Buckingham 

 Palace, would have lieen rather too cumbrous and costly an affair 

 for an ex]ieriment of the kind. Had any other design been chosen 

 for the purpose than the Corinthian column — a model of which 

 would ha\e been altogether superfluous — the Nelson Monument 

 miglit properly enough have been tried beforehand, by means of 

 a full-sized model of it put up on the spot. Vet, when we con- 

 sider what a mere farce was played Avith the model, or (>liat was 

 meant for model, of the Wellington Statue on the Archway, 

 which was allowed to remain up only two days, when it was 

 snatched away, lest it should be pelted at with further volleys of 

 censure and derision, — we must pronounce trial by model — at 

 least, when so conducted — to be altogether nugatory. If the 

 Statue-committee made a show of " inviting criticism," they 

 showed also wonderful alacrity in running away from it, after its 

 very first fire. Inviting criticism before-hand, forsooth ! commit- 

 tees have no notion of doing that. Their policy invariably is to 

 stave it off as long as they possibly can. The public, it will be 

 recollected, were not permitted to sec the model of the faf ade of the 

 British Museum, notwithstanding that there was one in existence, 

 and that in the building itself ; and notwithstanding that some of 

 the newspapers called out for its being liberated from durance under 

 lock-and-key, and submitted to inspection and criticism. AVell, 

 we have now the facade itself, and see both positive faults and 

 numerous short-comings, all whicli might ha\'e been foreseen in 

 the model, and ought to have been corrected accordingly. It is 

 true, the facade is not generally ill-spoken of, — simply because it is 

 not spoken of at all. It obtains not so much as a syllable of 

 praise in any quarter ; and svicli silence is tolerably expressive of 

 disapprobation and disappointment. The new building at Buck- 

 ingham Palace, is in the same unenviable predicament. It has 

 been abandoned to mockery and contempt, without a single fa- 

 vourable word for it having been uttered by any one; although 

 there are some who would most leadily have done so, had thej' not 

 stood in awe of general discontent, and been apprehensive that 

 they might injure their own credit with the public for judgment 

 and taste, by attempting to persuade them that the design is at 

 least not unsatisfactory. 



V. So long as committees, and those who }ia\e the management 

 of public competitions for buildings, shall continue to be left irre- 

 sponsible for their doings, there will be no end to both blunders 

 and dishonesty. Persons who intend to act honourably and fairly, 

 do not need to screen themselves behind a curtain, thereby exciting 

 a suspicion that what they do will not bear the gaze of broad day- 

 light. On the other hand, those who care only for the opportu- 

 nity of exerting their own private influence, without regard to 

 aught besides — even honourable dealing being left luit of the ques- 

 tion — ought to be made aware that if they so act, it must be at 

 their own peril. There is scarcely a public competition of any 

 importance that does not occasion complaints of unfair intriguing, 

 and of bad faith on the part of the committee, — complaints that 

 can very well be endured ; committees being sufficiently aware 

 that with mere complaints, the matter complained of blows over, 

 without proceeding to the extremity of exposure. All this is de- 

 plorable enough ; but then, how is it to be remedied.'' I should 

 say, that what ivould go very far towards remedying it, if not 

 remedying it completely, would be the making it illkoai. for any 

 committee, or other body, to invite architects to a competition by 

 public advertisement, without having a public exhibition before- 

 hand of the designs sent in in the first instance, and without entire 

 publicity in all otlier respects, the names of the committee being 

 published, an<l reporters for the press being admitted to tlieir dis- 

 cussions on the relative merits of the designs. As matters are 

 cunningly managed at present, we only knov. that Mr. A, or Mr. 

 B's design has been selected for adoption ; but how many ^•otes, or 

 who were the persons who voted for or against, it is impossible to 

 learn, much less the arguments they made use of. The Army and 

 Navy Club, who, it is to be presumed, call themselves gentlemen 

 and men of honour, have laid themselves open to the imputation 

 of the most bungling and hare-faced trickery, by callingan unlimited 

 competition in the first instance, and afterwards setting- that 

 aside, and having a second one limiteil to */.r, of course of their 

 own choosing, after the site (at first rather an inconvenient one, 

 and therefore tasking all the ingenuity of the first competitois) had 

 been considerably enlarged, by taking in another house in Pall- 

 Mail. The Army and Navy Club ought to blush at being con- 

 victed of such downright knavery ; yet, they will not do so, be- 

 causE they know that they are behind a curtain, and that the 

 names of the committee («)(y(o/ be shown up, as they deserve to be, 

 as those of a pack of tricksy jugglers. One comfort, if a comfort 

 it be, is, that they have tricked themselves ; for from what has 



