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TTIE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



331 



De Qimicy says it appears very liavmonioiis, notwitlistaiirling tliis pe- 

 culiarity; but the truth is, that the perfection of its form emanates 

 from this rliminution. Indeed, many of the modern cupolas built by 

 Sir J(jhn Soane and others, being almost as large in diameter as their 

 tambours, show as little mastery of the picturesque as of construction, 

 and'violating the principles of natural taste, have become so unpopular 

 as to have obtained for themselves the cognomen of 'Pepper-boxes;' 

 and the same title, but too often applies to bad copies of the ogive 

 domes of King's College Chapel, from their not being built with the 

 graceful and spiring elegance of their prototypes. 



The principle of the picturesque in architecture, absolutely re- 

 quires tliat if a mass have not a plain square o\itline, it should appear 

 to be hewn out of an exact pyramidal or conical block. 



The principle appears to have been first discovered in Egypt, and 

 to have spread over all nations from China to the farthest extremity of 

 Europe. 



The same principle pervades the Egyptian pyramid, the Egyptian 

 needle, and those vast mules of masonry which ascend to an enormous 

 elevation before the Egyptian temples: it pervades the Grecian and 

 the Roman Temple, the Athenian Choragic monument, the Pagoda of 

 Cliina, the mysterious edifices of Mexico, the temple of ancient Hin- 

 doostan, the Mosque and tlie Tomb of the Moslem, and the Christian 

 steeple. 



- The Greeks, whose sever.il states were inconsiderable, and there- 

 fore incapable of raising such ample funds as powerful kingdoms like 

 ancient Egypt or modern Britain, never erected buildings which were 

 not small and low ; most of their edifices, therefore, not breaking above 

 the general altitude of their dwellings, they did lo' require that strict 

 attention to perfect pyramidal outlme which was always attended to 

 in the lofty buildings of other nations. They made no advances what- 

 ever in the more lofty departments of science which were requisite, 

 and which were of necessity cal'ed into use in the construction of such 

 gigantic edifices, they contented themselves with a mere triangular 

 facade. 



Both Greeks and Romans, however, appear to have been well 

 aware of the upward diminution requisite in order to correct the other- 

 wise overhanging appearance of the upper part of a building, whether 

 from optical illusion, or from the projection of a cornice ; hence we 

 find nianv of their finest edifices were formed with the plain faces of 

 their architraves receding, as if to continue the upward diminution of 

 their columns. But the proper display of sculpture in the Frieze of 

 an order, in general forbade that member to recede, except in small 

 buildings, such as the Choragic monuments of Lysicrates and Thrasyllus, 

 which were fully taken into the eye at one view. Of the following 

 ancient buildings the faces of the architraves recede : at Athens, the 

 Parthenon, the temples of Theseus and Erectheus, and the arch of 

 Adrian, — at Salonica, the ' Incantada,' — at Rome, the external and in- 

 ternal orders of the Panthenon, the temples of JU|)iter-Tunans and 

 Bacchus, the reputed frontispiece of Nero, the reputed temple of 

 Pallas in the forum of Nerva, the arch of Constantine, and the Ionic 

 and Composite orders of the Coliseum : at Tivoli, the reputed Temple 

 of Vesta : all these examples show the possession of the same know- 

 ledge, but different degrees of skill in making use of it ; and there is 

 at Agrigentum a remarkable monument, shown by Mr. Wilkins in his 

 'Magna Graeca,' the order, entablature, and other members of which, 

 all converge uj)wardly in a very peculiar manner, not altogether unlike 

 some of the spires of Norman architecture, as at Rochester Cathedral. 

 This structure is reputed to be ihe tomb of Theron, Tyrant of Agri- 

 gentum. 



In buildings to be viewed from a great distance, the great art con- 

 sists in making them appear pleasing from every point of view. VV^ren 

 was in this as great a master as in geometry and construction: not 

 only do his steeples bear the test in a front view ; but when viewed 

 diagonally and in various other ways they still conform to pyramidal 

 outlines whether passed down their utmost breadth, or through the 

 distended open parts of them which appear in a side view. 



How ill the moderns have succeeded in steeple building by piling 

 one discordant heap upon another, may be gathered from the almost 

 universal contempt with which the architect, the architectural critic, 

 and the public in general, view our modern steeples: to raise upon 

 each other, to coarse broken outlines, imitations of delicate small works 

 of ancient architecture which stood on the ground, cannot satisfy the 

 mind or the eye : these things all require to be designed on purpose: 

 the higher the stages of the work ascend they are more and more re- 

 stricted in general magnitude by the outlines of the pyramid, yet from 

 their superior altitude they require to be designed in a larger and sim- 

 pler style, otherwise, not being read by the eye, they become confused 

 and thence tasteless. The steeple of the new church at Shadwell, 

 from being formed with a good outline, has received almost geiier;il 

 Jiraise, althougli its details are coarse and its materials are mean and 



fragile : the easy labour of drawing two pencil boundary lines, meeting 

 at its summit, gained for its designer this praise, and saved him from 

 the reprehension given to luany works, the details of which would 

 rank higher if placed in proper situations. The author always knew 

 that good steeples were formed on this principle, and he has been 

 much pleased by finding the boundary lines remaining in pencil upon 

 ancient drawings of thera. 



ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION. 



Sir — I admire exceedingly the bitter complaints which the members 

 cf the profession never cease to pour forth, upon the manifold wrongs 

 and indignities to which they are exposed in architectural compe- 

 titions — as if the fault were attribut.dile to any one but themselves. 



I am not going to waste the time of your readers upon any new 

 version of the lamentations of the architects — they may be "heard 

 wherever architects most do congregate, and will continue to be he.ird 

 until the profession take the remedy for their grievances into their 

 own hands, a course they have never yet attempted to any good pur- 

 pose, because they have never attempted it in earnest. The Institute 

 of British Architects, indeed, have published a report in wliicli they 

 profess to denounce the present system of competition, but they roar 

 you as gently as any sucking dove. They are polite enough to assume 

 that if any unfairness ever attaches itself to competitions, it is only 

 now and then by mistake. They make no endeavour to fix' the posi- 

 tion of the profession with regard to the competition-monger, and they 

 shrink from the only probable remedy for injustice on the one side, 

 and meanness on the other — exposure. If the profession really seek 

 for justice in competitions, let them ascertain their due and demand 

 it, let them sift every unsatisfactory proceeding and expose it, regard- 

 less of the regulation sneer at "disappointed candidates," and let them, 

 O let them acquire a little honest pride, and not persist in snapping 

 at every paltry bait dangled before them, without even a decent con- 

 cealment of the hook. 



In the mean time, until the profession think it worth while to rouse 

 and shake themselves, it may be of some use to collect facts, and a 

 pretty collection we might have if every one would but speak out 

 who could. I consider the profession greatly indebted to Messrs. 

 Wyatt and Brandon for the example they set of this course of pro- 

 ceeding in your number for February last, but it is uio.->t discouraging 

 that so long an interval should have elapsed vvitlioul any one having 

 stepped forward to second these gentlemen. I now oSer myself in the 

 absence of a better supporter, and beg the favour of you to afford me 

 a place in your pages. 



In the month of October, 1839, the following letter was issued : — 



Bury St. Edmund's, 29lh Octoler, 1839. 



" Sir — The subscribers to a new Cluirch to be built in Bury, having agreed 

 to propose to six architects to give designs and estimates of the building, beg 

 respectfully to invite you to do so, and to call your attention to the general 

 nature of the building they require, and to the mode of proceeding which 

 they intend to adopt. The subscribers wish that the cliurch be capable of 

 containing 800 persons upon the tloor of it, with an end gallery to contain 

 not less than loO ; provision also to be made for side galleries if it shall be found 

 expedient at any time to erect them. Tliat it be faced with white Woolpit 

 bricks with stone quoins, and they wish the architect, to specify the materials 

 proposed to l)e used in the several parts of the fabric, tlie thickness of the 

 walls, tiie dimensions of the timbers, and tlie mode of fitting up the in- 

 terior. 



"The expense of the whole work, after being completed in every respect, 

 must not exceed the sum of ±'3000. 



" Upon the receipt of the designs and estimates from the six architects, the 

 subscribers will arrange the designs in the order which they shall consider 

 the order of merit, and their adaptation to the peculiar circumstances of the 

 case, marking that which they shall most approve No. 1, the next No. 2, and 

 so on. If the subscribers sBall think lit themselves to employ a builder to 

 erect the church according to tlie design No. 1, the architect who has sup- 

 plied such design shall provide all the necessary specili cations and working 

 drawings, anti shall employ and pay a clerk of the works, who shall be con- 

 stantly on the spot, and the architect himself shall as often as may be neces- 

 sary visit the building, and direct and superintend tlie work himself, being 

 allowed for the designs, specitications, and working drawings ; for his time, 

 trouble and services, — for his journeys, and other expenses, ami for the wages 

 of the Clerk of the Works, ten per cent. Up m tlie sum for which the builder 

 shall have contracted to complete the church. — ] 



" If the suliscribers shall call upon the jicrson whose design shall be marked 

 No. 1, to carry it into effect, he shall give security for tlie execution of his 

 design within mnnths, making the church complete both cxterually 



and internally for the sum at which he may have estimated the co...t, — aucli 

 sum not to exceed £3000, and in this case the subscribers will appoint and 



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