1840.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



53 



FIG. 3.— WEST FRONT OF THE PAVILION. 





Application of Indian Architecture. 



" Having already shown the difficulty of adapting either the Grecian or 

 Gothic styles to the character of an English palace, this newly discovered 

 style of architecture seems to present a new expedient for the piu'pose, in the 

 forms made known to this country by the accurate designs of Mr. Thomas 

 Daniell, and other artists, which have opened new sources of grace and 

 beauty. 



" To the materials of wood and stone we have lately added that of cast- 

 iron, unknown in former times, either in Grecian or Gothic architecture, and 

 wliich is pecuharly adapted to some light parts of the Indian style. 



" In Grecian architecture, the artist is confined to five (or, rather, only to 

 three) different orders of columns, so restricted in their relative proportions, 

 that they are seldom used externally, with good effect, in modern houses, and 

 are generally found too bulky for internal use. Indian architecture presents 

 an endless variety of forms and proportions of pillars, from the ponderous 

 supports of the cavern, to the light, airy shafts which enrich their corridors, 

 or support their varandahs. This alone would justify the attempt to adapt 

 a style, untried, for the purpose to which other styles have been found inap- 

 plicable or inadequate. 



" It is difficult for an artist at once to divest himself of forms he has long 

 studied : this will account for the confusion of Grecian and Gothic in the 

 works of John of Padua, Inigo Jones, and others, about the same date, which 

 occasioned that mixture of style, condemned in after-times for the reasons 

 already assigned. The same thing may he observed in the first introduction 

 of Gothic, mixed with the Saxon and Norman which preceded it : and the 

 same will, doubtless, happen in many instances, during the introductory ap- 

 plication of Indian architecture to English uses, while a false taste «ill both 

 admire and condemn, \vithout any true standard, the various forms of novelty. 



" If I might humbly venture to suggest an opinion on the subject, I should 

 recommend the use only of such Indian fonns or proportions as bear the 

 least resemblance to those either of the Grecian or Gothic style, with which 

 they are liable to be compared. If the piUars resemble Grecian columns, or 

 if the apertures resemble Gothic arches, they will offend, by seeming to be 

 Incorrect specimens of well-known forms, and create a mixed style, as dis- 

 gusting to the classic observer as the mixture in Queen Elizabeth's Gothic. 

 But if, from the best models of Indian structures, such parts only be selected 

 as cannot be compared with any known style of English buildings, even those 

 whom novelty cannot delight, will have little cause to regret the introduction 

 of new beauties. 



" On these grounds, therefore, I do not hesitate to answer the question, 

 concerning which I am commanded to deliver my opinion, that the Indian 

 character ha\-ing been already introduced (in part) by the large edifice at the 

 Pavilion, the house and every other building, should partake of the same 

 character, unmixed either with Grecian or Gothic ; and without strictly copy- 

 ing either the mosques, or the mausoleums, or the serais, or the hill-forts, or 



the excavations of the east, the most varied and graceful forms should 1) 

 selected, with such combinations, or even occasional deviations and improve- 

 ment, as the general character and principles of construction will admit." 



Concerning Cobham. 



" Whether we consider its extent, its magnificence, or its comfort, there 

 are few places which can vie with Cobham, in Kent, the seat of the Earl of 

 Darnley; and none which I can mention, where so much has been done, both 

 to the house and grounds. Under my direction, for so long a series of years ; 

 yet, as the general principles in the improvements originated in the good 

 taste of its nol)le proprietor, they may be referred to, without incuiTJng the 

 imputation of vanity. 



" It is now twenty-five years since I first visited Cobham, where a large and 

 splendid palace, of the date of Queen Elizabeth, formed the three sides of a 

 quadrangle, the fourth side being open to the west. The centre building had 

 been altered by Inigo Jones, who had added four pilastres without any atten- 

 tion to the original style, and without extending his improvements to the two 

 long sides of the quadrangle. 



" The interior of tliis mansion, like that of most old houses, however 



Fig. 4 — Entrance and north front of Cobliam Hall, Kent. 



-^^^^ 



