232 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[JlLY. 



EXfflBITION— ROYAL ACADEMY. 



( Continued from page 189. J 



Among the practical jokes played off by the hanging committee in 

 the architectural room, is that of placing a bird's-eye view where one 

 must first get up a ladder in order to look down upon it, or in fact 

 (0 look at it at ail : whicli is no doubt exceedingly waggish anil droll, 

 but carrying the juke rather too far— at all events far above our heads ; 

 not that we care about it, because we have no relish whatever for 

 drawings which carry us up into the clouds, in order to show us build- 

 ings PS they would appear, viewed from a balloon. In itself the cir- 

 cumstance may be of little or no moment as far as the subject so placed 

 is concerned, but it is certainly odd to meet with such blundering do- 

 ings witliin the walls of a Royal Academy ; where it certainly does 

 bespeak a reprehensible systematic inattention to every thing con- 

 nected witli architecture. Lest we ourselves, however, should here be 

 accused of inattention to our subject, we will resume our task of criti- 

 cism by noticing two designs which we can heartily commend, and one 

 of whicii we are glad to perceive is about to be executed. They are 

 Nos. 1030 and lOoO, both by Mr. J. W. Wild, and both for churches; 

 the first being the "New Church, Streathara," to be executed under 

 his superintendence ; and the other a " Design for the Church proposed 

 to be built at Paddington." They are neitlier Gothic nor Norman, — 

 though the application of the round arch assimilates them somewhat 

 to the latter; but in a style which has far more of the Lombardic 

 character, and which, as shown is marked by picturesqueness no less 

 than by simplicity, owing to the unusual breadth of surface and fewness 

 of parts, on which account the Streatham church more particularly 

 forms so striking a contrast to the impoverished, yet would-be-fine 

 structures of the kind that have sprung up of late years in and around 

 the metropolis, differing more or less from each other in their patterns, 

 but all pretty much on a par as to taste, and exhibiting the same jog- 

 trot outline system in design. Here we have at least some freshness 

 <if ideas and of mode of treatment, — a departure from the hackneyed 

 track, into a better and more artist like one. Of course we can speak 

 only as to general character of external design and style, for the per- 

 spective allow's us to see only fronts of the two buildings distinctly, 

 consequently we cannot undertake to say whether their character is 

 satisfactorily kept up throughout: neither can we judge very accurately 

 as to dimensions. The composition of the facade of the first-men- 

 tioned of the two designs, is quite Lombardic in outline and arrange- 

 ment, being divided into three compartments, the centre one of whicli 

 rises higher than the other two, and terminates in a gable, while the 

 side ones are covered by half gables, not forming continuations of the 

 principal one, but terminating lower down, before that commences. In 

 each compartment is an arched recess or porch, containing — if we mis- 

 take not, a square headed door; and above the centre entrance is a 

 large circular or rose window filled with two intersecting triangles, 

 and bordered with coloured rays around its external margin. This 

 polychrome effect is intended, we presume, to be produced by brick- 

 work ; and if so, we question if it will prove altogether so pleasing in 

 execution as it does in the drawing, because in the latter it is particu- 

 larly soft and delicate, whereas both the hue and texture of red l)rick, 

 even when of superior quality, do not recommend as a material for 

 ornament, however suitable it may lie in certain styles, as a ground for 

 embellishment in stone-work. Still though we have great doubts as to 

 the result, we will not prejudge the experiment; on the contrary, we 

 shall be glad to discover that our miagirings are misiakings also. 



The church proposed for Paddington is similar to the other in style, 

 but of a more ambitious character, being apparently considerably more 

 extensive, unless the parts themselves are upon a smaller scale, and 

 being surmounted by a cupola on an elevated tambour at the inter- 

 section of the transepts. Putting cost out of the question, it was most 

 probably this latter circumstance, combined with the unusual and not 

 particularly English physiognomy of the whole, that caused this design 

 to be rejected incontinently. Perhaps, too, it may have been con- 

 sidered exceptionable as having too Roman Catholic a look, — for Ca- 

 tholicism happens to be just now one of the pet bug-bears of the day; 

 just as if, wliile it is losing ground everywhere else, it is likely to gain 

 ground in the land of Jolni Bullism. We know not w ho is to be the 

 architect of the churcli at Paddington, — have not, in fact learned if an 

 ultimate decision is yet made, but the building will, we apprehend, 

 not startle us by architectural innovations. 



Turning from Mr. Wild's drawings to one for a similar purpose. No. 

 9".I2, "The approved design for the New Church now about to be 

 erected in the Liberty of the Rolls," we may tolerably plainly see what 

 kind of things suit the taste and notions of those who are entrusted 

 with the power of deciding on such occasions. That ' approved' does 

 nut exactly mean the most worthy to be apjiroved, or carry with it an 



idea of superiority is evident enough — at least to ourselves, and in the 

 present instance because we happen to have seen two other designs 

 sent iu for the same building, either of which was immeasurablv better 

 than this approved one; therefore it is a piece of good luck for it that 

 neither of them are here exhibited, e,se we should most assuredly 

 enter into some very 'odorous' comparisons. Perhaps, too, it is another 

 fiiece of good luck for No. 992, that it is hung so high up as to be 

 likely to escape notice altogether, unless the descriptive title in the 

 catalogue should cause it to be hunted out. 



No. 1034, Messrs. Buckler's "Design for the West Front of the 

 Roman Church of St. George, Southwaik," is in no danger of being 

 passed by unnoticed, because the intense— and for this climate unna- 

 tural blue of the sky, renders it too conspicuous. As to the design it- 

 self, his front consists only of a very lofty tower in a style of Early 

 Gothic, and although of good character, did not strike us as particularly 

 novel or tasteful. 



Nos. 1U37 and 8, show us Mr. S. Smirke's design for the Reform Club 

 House, in an elevation of the side towards Pall Mall, and a perspective 

 view including that and the West end of the building, with its portico. 

 Although merely said to be for " a Club House," there can be no doubt 

 as to the particular one for which it was produced, both because it 

 agrees witli the description given of it in our first volume, (page liS), 

 and as the Travellers' and Athenaeum Club-houses are seen adjoining 

 it. Most certainly it is not such as to make us regret that it was not 

 preferred to Mr. Barry's, still we do not agree with the ' Art-Union,' 

 which terms it "an ordinary Italian residence, with an ugly Corinthian 

 portico tacked to the front of it." Now whether the epithet ordinary 

 is to be understood as signifying 'usn.d,' or as expre.-.sive of both mean- 

 ness and common-place character, we do not ihiak it very correctly 

 applied, because, although it may in some respects be in rather ques- 

 tionable taste, — we allude to the mullioned and transomed croisi'es, — 

 it is more than ordinarily ornate, and is stamped by a good deal of 

 picturesque quality. We prefer it greatly to the facade of the Ox- 

 ford and Cambridge University Club-house, by the same architect, it 

 being treated with more of artist-like feeling, and with greater con- 

 sistency also. As regards the Corinthian tetrastyle of the West front, 

 we do not pretend to say that it is particularly classical, but its effect 

 in the composition is decidedly better than many of our soi-disant 

 classical things of that kind which are tacked to buildings by no means 

 so good as even "an ordinary Italian residence." Most decidedly too 

 we prefer this to such a piece of architecture as No. 1045. "Design 

 for the Taylor and Randolph building at Oxford," which as far as we 

 can make it out where it hung, seems to us to evince neither origi- 

 nality of any kind, nor even study, both the composition and detail 

 being exceedingly tame and common-place ; yet vpe ought not to speak 

 too peremptorily, because the 'Art-Union' critic tells us it possesses 

 " much merit," further than which, said deponent sayeth nothing, but 

 leaves others to find out, if they can, wherein it consists. 



(To he continued.) 



ON EXCHANGES. 



We present our readers with a brief sketch of a lecture delivered 

 at the the last conversazione of the Architectural Society, by its Pre- 

 sident, William Tite, Esq., F.R.S., upon the subject of the origin and 

 history of that class of buildings denominated " Exchanges ;" a subject 

 which has just claims not only to the attention of the public, in an 

 empire of such commercial importance as our own, but more speficically 

 so to the examination of every architectural student, in an age when 

 both at home and abroad, the rapid progress of improvement may be 

 reasonably expected to provide opportunities for the erection of Ex- 

 changes as well as palaces and churches. 



In introducing his subject by a reference to the state of society in 

 the most remote ages, Mr. Tite observed that the extensive commer- 

 cial relations of such ancient cities as Tyre, and the vast conflux thereto 

 of mercantile men from all quarters of the known world, render it a 

 matter of little doubt that some place of public assemblage must have 

 been allotted to their especial use. This seems rendered yet more 

 probable, when we observe to what arrangements precisely similar 

 circumstances gave rise, though at a later period, among the Greeks 

 and Romans. It is clear that the a7opa of the former, and the forum 

 of the latter were alike applied indifferently to various public pur- 

 poses. Sometimes they were used for meetings of a commercial 

 character, as well as for the ordinary purposes of the market place ; 

 sometimes for the administration of the laws, or the celebration of 

 games and festivals; and sometimes for places of deliberation upon 

 municipal affairs. 



As the number, wealth, and employments of the inhabitants increased, 

 it was found inconvenient to have so many occupations carried on to- 



