330 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[OcTODKR, 



Of Beauty of Outline in BuildingH ; of the Inferiority of the Bhderns, 

 compared in tliia respect with the Ancient Masters ; and of the inutility 

 of Decoration, without goodness of Outline.* 



By Alfred Bartholomew, Architect. 



But tliat for which the ancient masters are so eminently superior 

 to the modern arcliitects, is elegance of outline : almost every one of 

 the old buildings, however exceptionable in point of details, has a 

 grand, a neat, and a picturesque outline. The Gothic steeples of all 

 countries, the dome of Saint Paul's, and the bell-towers of Wren, and 

 numerous other old buildings both in England and abroad, whether 

 viewed from afir or near, they all have almost universally, an impos- 

 ing and agreeable appearance ; their considerate architects, seem at 

 once to have designed the elegant outward shells of buildings, so as to 

 contain amply all the internal requisites, without unsightly additions ; 

 or if from any necessity, enlargement of a pile afterwards became ne- 

 cessarv, the picturesque massing and grouping together of the build- 

 ings was never lost sight of. 



But what is the mode now pursued ? In mo-^t instances very dif- 

 ferent. A debased exterior copy of some old baildiug, is made on a 

 small scale, in base materials; this pretended eeo;i<unic.d crust, in nine 

 cases out of ten, is discovered eventually, to be neither high enougli, 

 long enough, nor broad enough, to contain properly all the accommo- 

 dations and internal details of the building: hence are added the ex- 

 ternal incumbrances of lantern-lights, ngly dormers, chimneys, and 

 other deforming excrescences, for which modern buildings are so cele- 

 brated. 



Nature, always contrives to place every necessary apparatus, 

 within the compass of the general outline; but most modern buildings, 

 exhibit the same contrivance, as birds would, if their giblets being 

 omitted within, were afterwards skewered upon their backs. 



If a building at a distance, appear ngly, it is in vain that it have 

 delicate enrichments, and that it be composed of rich materials ; it 

 cannot please either the vulgar or the tasteful, ncr can the scientific 

 give it commendation. 



The qualities of form and outline, stand apart from all the petty 

 quarrels about orders and styles, by which unskilful professors have 

 pestered and lowered a once-noble art. 



The most picturesque edifices of all coimtries, have a wonderful 

 similarity in their outline. The most perfect architectural composi- 

 tion is that which forms one immense Pyramid of Decoration consist- 

 ing of many minor subservient pyramidal masses : — such are the cele- 

 brated Indo-moslem Tombs of Akbar at Secundra, Shere Sha at Sosse- 

 ram, Humaioon at Delhi, and the Tiij Mahal at Agra: such are St. 

 Paul's Cathedral, the steeples of St. Mary-le-Bow, St. Bride's, and 

 those of all the others of Wren's churches. 



The same principle is to be found governing all Gothic steeples. 



The same <lelicate and refined principle pervades Gothic turrets 

 and moslem minarets. 



While upon the subject of outline, the author cannot refrain from 

 contradicting, as far as in him lies, the opinion put forth with regard 

 to spires by Mr. Britton, in his exquisite work upon ' The Hislory and 

 Anttquitits of the Cathedral Church of Salisbury,' (p. 74). 'Although 

 this spire is an object of popular and scientific curiosity, it cannot be 

 properly regarded as beautiful or elegant, either in itself, or as a mem- 

 ber of the edifice to which it belongs. A May pole or a poplar tree, 

 a pyramid or a plain single column, can never satisfy the eye of an 

 artist, or be vie tved with pleasure by the man of taste. Either may 

 be a beautiful accessory, or be )ileasing in association with other forms. 

 The tall thin spire is also far from being an elegant object. Divest it 

 of its ornamental bands, crockets, and jjinnacles, it will be tasteless and 

 formal, as we may see exemplified in the pitiful obelisk in the centre 

 of Queen Square, Bath; but associate it with proportionate pinnacles, 

 or other appropriate forms, and like tlie spire of St. Mary's Church in 

 Ox ord, and rhat of the south-western tower of Peterborough Cathe- 

 dral, we are then gratified.' 



Very odd reasoning this, and quite at variance with the in-born 

 feelings of nearly every native of Christian lands. The author would 

 have deemed it unnecessary to refute such a passage if it had been 

 put forth by any other than an antiquarian gentleman to whose taste 

 and perseverance we owe so much. 



By the denuding process mentioned by Mr. Britton, every thing 

 accounted beautiful in the world might be rendered both uncouth ami 

 ugly : thus, take away the features of the finest head and face, you 



* Wc have through the kind permission of the author, taken this paper 

 from a work recently publiibcd by liim, cniillcil " Spccilicatiuns for Praciiral 

 Architecture ; preceded by an lOssay on the decline of excellence in the 

 Stiuctuie and in the Science of Modern English Buildings." 



have remaining a raw skull : take away the sauce garniture and cookery 

 of a feast, and you leave but crude Hesh, raw vegetables, and a few 

 other thing.; equally untempting. 



The builders of the Christian steeples, those outward beacons of a 

 religious country, so caught from the true sublime one of the chords 

 holding mastership over the human heart and feelings, that the totter- 

 ing child and the snowy-headed old man, the religionist, and the 

 scolfer, the churchman and the sectarian, alike pay the tribute of ad- 

 miration to the beauty of form of the Church spires built by o<ir fore- 

 fathers on principles the mechanism of which, perhaps, they cannot 

 understand, and from feelings, which though some of them cannot 

 possess, yet cannot but revere. 



But the truth is, the myriads of these glorious outward church 

 pdornments which told at every step the alien as he came to Europe, 

 in this land Christ is great, now deemed useless though sublime, em- 

 )doyed industriously and profitably that portion of our Christian popu- 

 lation which from the want of employment now begs or tenants the 

 workhouse and the gaol. 



No object exists more subhme than the steeple of St. Peters' 

 Church at Caen, unless it be that of St. Michael's Church at Coventry, 

 ■ — none more sublime than .St. Michael's, unless it be that of Louth, — 

 none more sublime th.ui Louth, unless it be that of Chichester Cathe- 

 dral, — none more sublime than the steeple of Chichester Cathedral, 

 unless it be that of Antwerp Cathedral,— none more so than Antwerp 

 steeple, unless it be that of Strasbourg Cathedral, — none more so than 

 Strasbourgh steeple, unless it be that of Freibourg in the Breisgau, — 

 none more sublime than Freibourg steeple, unless it be that of Salis- 

 bm-y Cathedral, which tapering up to heaven in beauteous proportion 

 till it seems more lofty tlian it really is, appears as though it had drawn 

 down the very angels to work over its giand and feeling simplicity the 

 gems and embroidery of Paradise itself; and, indeed, the most gorgeous 

 of the English Horid works of architecture always retain such a pecu- 

 liar character of sacredness that they always unfold a truly religious 

 appearance. 



The pyramid is Nature's own form ; her mountains, the grandest 

 of earthly masses, diminish to heaven; architectural science requires 

 that a building to endure should end in a pointed summ t: a mere heap 

 of sand will by its own gravity assume a pyramidal form, and so endure 

 for thousands of years, and long outlive a wall of granite reared per- 

 pendicularly. 



The feeling of love for the scientific and picturesque form of the 

 pyramid is so inherent in man, that any modern steeple which is 

 erected, is immediately universally condemned if its outline be not 

 strictly pyramidal, and the most illiterate, who knovvs not why he con- 

 demns it, is strictly correct in his condemnation. 



A pyramidal outline is of such importance, that if even a dome do 

 not conform to it, ungraceful clumsiness, and disgust to every class of 

 beholders, are the sure results. In this may be seen the wonderful art 

 of Wren, in proportioning the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. The 

 cupola is placed a great distance within the tambour, so as at once to 

 suit the particular scheme of its construction, and to form a pyramid. 



Outine of St. Paul's Cupola. 



Diagonal outline of the spire of 

 St. Dunstan's in the East, London. 



