18-10.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



263 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS IN LONDON. 



v4 Critical Review of the Public Btiildiiigs, Statues and Ornaments in 

 and about London and IVestminster — 1734. 



By Ralph. 



( Continued from jyage 228. J 



From the terrace of Lincoln's Inn Gardens, we have a prospect of 

 one of the largest squares in Europe; it was originally laid out by the 

 masterly hand of Inigo Jones, and intended to have been built all in 

 the same stile and taste : but by the miscarriage of this, and many 

 other such noble designs, there is too much reason to believe that 

 England will never be able to produce people of taste enough to be of 

 the same mind, or unite their sentiments for the public ornament and 

 reputation. Several of the original houses still remain to be a re- 

 proach to the rest, and I wish the disadvantageous comparison had 

 been a warning to others to have avoided the like mistake. 



Great Queen Street is another instance of our national want of 

 taste ; on one side is a row of houses that Italy itself would not be 

 ashamed of; on the other, all the variety of deformations that could 

 be contrived as a foil to beauty, and the opposite of taste. 



Covent Garden would have been, beyond dispute, one of the finest 

 squares in the universe, if finished on the plan that Inigo Jones first 

 designed for it; but even this was neglected too, and if he deserves 

 the praise of the design, we very justly incur the censure for wanting 

 spirit to put it in executio.i. The piazza is grand and noble, and the 

 superstructure it supports, light and elegant. 



The church here is, without a rival, one of the most perfect pieces 

 of architecture that the art of man can produce ; nothing can possibly 

 be imagined more simple, and yet magnificence itself can hardly give 

 greater pleasure : this is a strong proof of the force of harmony and 

 proportion, and at the same time a demonstration that it is taste, and 

 not expence which is the parent of beauty : if this building can be 

 said to have any defect, it is in the form and manner of the windows; 

 which are not only in a bad gusto, but out of proportion too. 



Leicester Square has nothing remarkable in it, but the inclosure in 

 the middle, which alone affords the inhabitants round about it some- 

 thing like the prospect of a garden, and preserves it from the rudeness 

 of the populace too. 



The portico to St. Martin's Church is at once elegant and august, 

 and the steeple above it ought to be considered as one of the most 

 tolerable in town; if the steps arising from the street to the front 

 could have been made regular, and on a line from end to end, it would 

 have given it a verv considerable grace ; but as the situation of the 

 ground would not allow it, this is to be esteemed rather a misfortune 

 than a fault. The round columns, at each angle of the church, are 

 very well conceived, and have a very fine efl'ect in the profile of the 

 building ; the east end is remarkably elegant, and very justly chal- 

 lenges a particular applause. In short, if there is any thing wanting 

 in this fabric, it is a little more elevation, which I presume is appa- 

 rently wanted within, and would create an additional beauty without. 

 I cannot help thinking, too, that, in complaisance to the galleries, the 

 architect has reversed the order of the windows, it being always usual 

 to have the large ones nearest the eye, and the small by way of attic 

 story on the top. 



St. James's Square has an appearance of grandeur superior to any 

 other plan in town, and yet there is not any one elegant house in it, 

 and the side next Pall Mall is scandalously rude and irregular. 



St. James's Church is finely situated, with regard to the prospect 

 on the north side of the square ; and if it had been built in suitable 

 taste, would have appeared most nobly to fill the vista, and add a 

 pomp to the whole view ; but the builders of that pile did not trouble 

 themselves much about beauty, and I believe it is mere accident that 

 even the situation itself is so favourable. 



We must now pass into PiccadiUy, where we shall be entertained 

 with a sight of the most expensive wall in England; I mean that 

 before Burlington House. Nothing material can be objected to it, and 

 much may be said in its praise. It is certain the height is wonderfully 

 well proportioned to the length, and the decorations are both simple 

 and magnificent ; the grand entrance is august and beautiful, and by 

 covering the house entirely from the eye, gives pleasure and surprise, 

 at the opening of the whole front with the area before it, at once. If 

 any thing can be found fault with in this structure, it is this — that the 

 wall itself is not exactly on a line ; that the columns of the gate are 

 merely ornamental, and support nothing at all; that the rustic has not 

 all the propriety in the world for a palace ; and that the main body of 

 the pile is hardly equal to the outside. But these may be rather 

 imaginations of mine, than real imperfections; for which reason I 

 submit them to the consideration of wiser heads. 



That side of Arlington Street next the Green Park, is one of the 

 most beautiful situations in Europe, for health, convenience, and 

 beauty, the front of the street is in the midst of the hurry and splen- 

 dour of the town, and the back in the quiet and simplicity of the 

 country. It is not long since, too, that the whole row was harmonious 

 and uniform, though not exactly in taste ; but now, under the notion of 

 improvement, is utterly spoilt and ruined, and for the sake of the 

 prospect behind, the view before is disjointed and broken to i)ieces. 



I have now finished one of my walks from Lincoln's Inn Fields to 

 Hyde Park Corner, and, acco;ding to promise, am now to go back to 

 Temple Bar, in order to comment on tlie most remarkable things in my 

 way to Westminster. 



■The New Church in the Strand is one of the strongest instances in 

 the world, that it is not expense and decoration that are alone produc- 

 tive of harmony and taste : the architect of this pile appears to have 

 set down with a resolution of making it as fine as possible, and, with 

 this view, has crowded every inch of space about it with ornament : 

 nay, he has even carried this humour so far, that it appears nothing 

 but a cluster of ornaments, without the proper vacuities, to relieve the 

 eye, and give a necessary contrast to the whole : he ought to have re- 

 membered that something should first appear as a plan or model to be 

 adorned, and the decorations should be only subordinate to that design ; 

 the embellishments ought never to eclipse the outline but heighten and 

 improve it. To this we may safely add, that the dividing so small a 

 fabric into two lines or stories, utterly ruined its simplicity, and broke 

 the whole into too many parts. The steeple is liable to as many ob- 

 jections as the church, it is abundantly too high, and, in the profile, 

 loses all kind of proportion, both with regard to itself and the structure 

 it belongs to. In short, this church will always please the ignorant, 

 for the very same reasons that it is sure to displease the judge. 



York-stairs is unquestionably the most perfect piece of building, 

 that does honour to the name of Inigo Jones: it is planned in so ex- 

 quisite a taste, formed of such equal and harmonious parts, and adorned 

 with such proper and elegant decorations, that nothing can be censured, 

 or added. It is, at once, happy in its situation, beyond comparison, 

 and fancied in a style exactly suited to that situation. The rock- 

 work, or rustic, can never be better introduced than in buildings by 

 the side of water ; and, indeed, it is a great ciuestion with me, whether 

 it ought to be made use of any where else. 



Northumberland House is very much in the Gothic taste, and, of 

 course, cannot be supposed very elegant, and beautiful ; and yet there 

 is a grandeur and majesty in it that strikes every spectator with a 

 veneration for it: this is owing intireU' to the simplicity of its parts, 

 the greatness of its extent, and the romantic air of the four towers at 

 the angles. The middle of the front next the Strand, is certainly much 

 more ancient than any other part of the building, and, though finished 

 in a very expensive manner, is a very mean and trifling piece of work. 

 It may serve indeed to preserve the idea of the original pile, and ac- 

 quaint the moderns with the magnificence of their forefather ; but then 

 it breaks the uniformity of the whole, and might be spared \\\i[\ more 

 propriety, than continued. 



The statue at Charing-cross has the advantage of being well placed; 

 the pedestal is finely elevated, and the horse full of fire and spirit ; but 

 the man is ill designed, and as tamely executed : there is nothing of 

 expression in the face, nor character in the figure, and though it may 

 be vulgarly admired, it ought to be generally condemned. 



When I have stood at this place, I have often regretted that some 

 such opening as this had not been contrived, to serve as a centre be- 

 tween the two cities of London and Westminster, and from whence, 

 particularly, the cathedrals of St. Paul's and the Abbey might have 

 been seen, as the terminations of the two vista's : I am of opinion that 

 nothing in Europe would have had a finer effect ; but now it is impossi- 

 ble it should ever take place, and I mention it only by wijy of hint, 

 that private property is, generally speaking, the only bar to public ov- 

 nameut and beauty. 



The new Admiralty was erected on a spot of ground, which afforded 

 the architect room for all the beauties his imagination could suggest, 

 and the expence it was raised at, enabled him to execute all that 

 beauty in a grand, though simple manner ; how he has succeeded, the 

 building is a standing evidence ; and very much concerned I am to see 

 a pile of that dignity and importance, like to continue a lasting re- 

 proach of our national want of taste. 



I must ingenuously confess that the number of pretty little boxes, 

 that are built on the ruins of Whitehall, make me no satisfaction for 

 the loss of that palace ; not that I believe it ever was a fine structure, 

 but because it might have been so ; because no piece of ground, so 

 near two great cities, could afford a finer situation ; with so noble a 

 river on one side, and so beautiful a park on the other: and because 

 Inigo Jones's plan for rebuilding it is still forthcoming, and may be 

 made use of to erect a structure equal to the situation. 



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