J 88 



THE CIVIL ENOINEER AND AHCIIITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[J I' 



NE, 



i'oiiiiil out, ;iik1 wlicii disuoveroil, all that we can discern of them is, 

 tliat there is something behind a glass within a frame. In many in- 

 stances, perhaps, we may lose nothing liy not being able to obtain a 

 more satisfactory inspection, but there arc- also others in which the 

 being prevented from doing so is lifghly amioying and tantalizing. An 

 instance occurs in tlie present exhibition, with regard to Xo. ilj'J, 

 "View in St. Peter's at Rome, displaying tlie general decorative 

 cliaracter of the interior," by J. H. Steiumetz, whiVh appears to be 

 one of the nmst tasteful and interesting drawings in the room, beau- 

 tifully coloured, and treated with the feeling both of a jiainter and an 

 arcliitect. We say " appears," because it is jjlaced so high that it is 

 imjiossible to judge fairly what it is. It may, perhaps, in consecjueuce, 

 look to be more elaborately finished than it really is; but then it is 

 just as likely that we now only discern the general effect, and that the 

 beauties of detail and execution are lost ; at all events, it is provoking 

 to meet with something seemingly so very good, so disadvantageouslv 

 situated, while many things, scarcely worth notice, are thrust full in 

 view. AVe should say that, considering the great size of the drawing, 

 and the familiarity of the subject, j\Ir. Hardwick's View of the Rail- 

 way Terndnus in Kuston S(|nare, ndght very properly have been 

 mounted a stage higher, nnu'e particularly as another drawing of the 

 same building was exhibited by him on a former occasion, inordinate 

 space, too, is occu]iicd by No. 9-11, "Remaii^s of tlie portico of the 

 Lesser Tem|)le at Haalbec," whicli has hardly any right to appear in 

 the Architectural Room at all, (mless it had "been elevated aTuong the 

 oil pictures which serve as filling up stulf to hide the upper part of 

 the walls. It is true both Hardwick and Rolierts are associates, and 

 may, so far, have the privilege of getting better places than their 

 neighbours ; yet tliat is but sorry satisfaction to us who go to look at 

 the designs the catalogue promises us. No. 942 is a drawing that 

 ought to have been hung level with the eye, whereas, for the verv 

 reason that it is suudl, it is actually //ourtir/; so that it is impossible to 

 exandne it without stooiiing in a most painful attitude, there being 

 not a single chair in this room on which a person may sit dorni to 

 look at any thing so jjlaced ; which, by the bye, seems to be pretty 

 nnich of a piece with the other jiid.'ciiiiis regulations. However, anv 

 kind of accommcdation, we presume, is consider^'d gciod cncjugh, both 

 for those who send and those who go to look at arcliitectural drawings. 

 .Surely there must be some other room or rooms on the ground fi(j(n' 

 of the building, capable of being made use of during the exhibition 

 for works of this class ; while their being thereby kept quite ajrart 

 from the pictures and other drawings would, in f icf, be a decided ad- 

 vantage in itself, if nothing belter can be done, we see no reason 

 wherefore a line of architectural drawings should not be hung up in 

 the hall, on a screen about five feet high, before the ])edestals of the 

 statues facing the stairs. To be sure, only a veiy small number could 

 be so disposed ; yet even were no more than a dozen meritorious sub- 

 jects so placed, where they could be distinctly examined, it would be 

 a great improvement, and we should feel grateful for it. We made 

 remarks to the above effect in our very first volume, and ought, there- 

 fore, (lerhaps, both for that reason and because we are now convinced 

 liow utterly unavailing they have been, to desist from all comments of 

 the kind. Vet the evil itself is so scandalous, so contrary to common 

 sense, that we must lift n|i our voice against it from time to tinu-, in 

 the hope (jf thereby inciting others, and the profession generally, to 

 take some steps towards bringing about a reform, which we can only 

 recommend. What, we ask, is the Professor of Architecture and the 

 Architect-academicians about, that they look upon such absurd doings 

 without ihtcrference .' Do they ever look info the Architectural 

 Room at all ' Whether they do or do not, they have equally nuicli to 

 ^uiswer for. 



Again, we ask, what is the Professor of Architecture about i for we 

 do not see a single drawing by him. Is his office become altogether a 

 riinecKre .' — he gives no lectures, he exhibits no designs; therefore let 

 Jns <jualifications for office be as great as they may, tliey are at present 

 ■((uite nugatory and valueless. Most assuredly he docs not follow in 

 .the iiiotsteps of Soane, who whatever Ids other failings might be, was 

 ••ertainly diligent and zealous in the discharge? of his academical duties. 

 Jt isno excuse at all for him to say that Mr. (Jockerell has probably been 

 prevented by his private engagements from devoting any time to Kxhi- 

 bition-drawinj's, because, as is well known, the latter are as fVe(|uently 

 as not made by artists enqjloycd by the actual a\ithors of architectural 

 ilesigns: and we have heard that Mr. C.'s own "Tribute to tlie Me- 

 mory of Sir C". V. reu" (see our first vol. ))■ -'>l), so much admired for 

 its pictorial elfect, was the work of another hand, so that his share in 

 .the drawing amininted to no more than the idea of bringing togetlier 

 Wren's principal tjuildings into a single )iicture. Surely the jireseut 

 .Professor might have allowed us to see some drawings of the Libraries 

 he is now erecting at C.uiibridge, and also the design which has proved 

 the successful one in the competilioii lor the Kandol])li and Taylo 



Institute at Oxford ; some of the rivals of which are here to be found — 

 in the catalogue ;it least, if they are not all to be seen where thev have 

 been stuck upon the walls. 



We do not, however, find among them any drawings of the design 

 scut in for that bnihling liy Mr. Ilalhnan, (author of the essay on 

 Gripco-Russian aridiitecture, which will be fi)und at page '.13 of our 

 present volume,) although it has been described to us, by one who 

 lias seen it, as being one (jf very great merit and beautv, which, to 

 say the truth, is more than we dare aflirm of any of those we here 

 notice, for they strike us as being of a very so-soisli character. 

 Whether Mr. Cockerell's will, as it certainly ought to do, hereafter 

 satisfy us that it was deservedly jireferred to Mr. Hallman's — sup- 

 posing the last to possess the taste and originality ascribed to it by 

 our informant — remains to be seen; though we strongly suspect that 

 originality and taste arc almost the very last points taken into con- 

 sideration upon such occasions. 



Among competition drawings arc one or two for the Royal Ex- 

 change, also for St. George's ifall, at Liverpool, and we should proba- 

 bly have beheld some of those for tlie Assize Courts also, at the latter 

 ])lace, had they been returned in time for sending them to the Academy. 

 Next year, however, we shall doulitless meet with some of them, biit 

 whether with that which has obtained the first premium is cpiestion- 

 able, because Mr. Elmes has not thought jiroper to exhibit his design 

 for the St. (ieorge's Hall, though it must be poor indeed if it shrinks 

 from a comparfson with Mr. i). .Jones's or Mr. Alexander's. We do 

 not like Mr. Jones' (Nos. 97 and foiti) at all : it is in a sort of Alliam- 

 bra-fashion, but after such fashion as to give us what is offensive in it, 

 without what renders it charming. Of Mr. Alexander's we can judge 

 only of the interior of the Hall (No. 917), but if its chief merit lay 

 here, and it was on this account that tlie second premium was awarded 

 to it, we must confess, we look with trembling towards the design 

 wliicli bore off the first prize. We have heard that Mr. A. himself 

 was somewhat astonished at his success, and so too are we w hen we 

 look upon this specimen of his architectural invention and taste: for 

 it is a sort of Meeting-house afi'air with a few showy columns forming 

 a gallery around the upper part like those in our modern churches, 

 and is about as original and as classi<-al. 'J'lie ga|is between the columns 

 have certainly one advantage, which is that there would be very few 

 of those iucouveuieiit pillars to intercept the ]irospect of wliat the 

 newspapers style "the galaxy of matchless beautv and loveliness" 

 that invariably graces all festive meetings where ladies are admitted 

 to be spectators. Accordingly we have here a display of lovely 

 bonnets and dresses perched up in the grilleries, and if such display 

 can excuse tli(? poverty of the architectural (me, gallantry we sujipose 

 ought to get the better of grumbling. No. 977, another design for the 

 same building by Mr. Bardwell, being a perspective view of the ex- 

 terior, appears to po.sse.ss a good deal of merit and some originality of 

 character; but vve are compelled to speak llms dubiously as its situa- 

 tion prevents its being examined,- at anv rate without gettinga cramp 

 in the neck. 



We meet witli other competition productions in Nos. KlKi and 1001, 

 both for the Nelson Monument, viz., the latter a model of Granville's 

 design for a cast iron column, the other Mr. (ioldicutt's colossal globe — 

 we have heard it called " (-ioldy's Pill" — for the centre id' Trafalgar- 

 square — and which is mystically ilcsignated in the catalogue " A Vision 

 of the nineteenth century" — a very taking titl'^, no doubt. 



Neither of Mr. 15arry's subject's (Nos. 923 and 830) have quite 

 satisfied, or rather both have disappointed us. The front of the Uni- 

 tarian Chapel lately erected at Manchester, is undoubtedly very far 

 above the average, and is judiciimsly treated inasmuch as it is not 

 made to look like a model for a large building executed upon a small 

 scale. Yet while there is nothing to censure, neither is thi're any 

 thing particularly to admire. The other design "for the additions 

 and alterations at Highclerc, the seat of the Karl of C'arnarvon," shows 

 the proposed conversion of a plain modern house into a mansion in the 

 I'^li/.abcthan style, by thi? addition of turrets at the angles, and the re- 

 ficiiig and decoration of the other parts. The circumstance of the 

 architect's being fettered by the necessity of adhering to what is al- 

 ready erected, as regards the general form and the position of the 

 windows, prevents us from considering this a specimen of what lie 

 woulil do if left entirely to his own ideas for such a subject : still we 

 should have expected from him greater freedom and taste in the ap- 

 jdication of that style and its details, wliich he seems here to have 

 merely copied, without attempting to infuse into them any originality, 

 or in any <lcgree, refine them. It is by far too strictly faithful to that 

 style to be much to our taste ; nor can we conceive what there is in 

 the latter to recommend it to the favour it has of late obtained ; for at 

 any rate it is neither economy nor elegance: more likely is it to be 

 the disgust of the soi-disant Grecian insipidities — bald and staring 

 sash-windows with a few columns stuck upon before tjieilij by way o 



