356 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[October, 



to imitate the thinness of real drapery. There cannot be a doubt of the 

 proprictv, and consequently of the taste of tliis arrangement, and an exami- 

 nation of (lie heavy dark masses in our streets and squares cannot fail to 

 impress us with the conviction that the ancient practice is the proper one. 

 The consequences where such masses are placed on the summit of columns, 

 are peculiarly disastrous ; it cannot, however, lie doubted that bronze is the 

 material which should, at all times, be adopted in such situations. We find, 

 liy the examination of ancient coins, that tlie statues of Trajan and Antoninus, 

 placed upon the summits of their respective columns at Rome, were of a 

 lightness in the arrangement wholly unattainable in marble or stone; these 

 were clad in the military costume of their times. 



The able artists who executed the statues of St. Peter and St. Paul now 

 occupying (very incongruously, it is true,) the summits of these columns, had 

 this difficulty to contend with, that their statues were, of necessity, enve- 

 loped in drapery ; the talent with which the difficulty has been met is evident, 

 and viewed at any reasonable distance, the statues look well. The drapery 

 is arranged so as to be narrowest at the ancles, and the small perforation 

 which it has been possible to take advantage of between the feet, has not 

 been neglected, whilst the narrowing of the upper portion of the pedestals 

 has greatly aided the grace of the general contour. It seems to me apparent 

 thatlironze is the only material which can enable the sculptor to make a 

 statue fit in every respect for such a position ; besides, to raise a monumental 

 statue of so mean a material as that proposed, is altogether indefensible, 

 placed on a magnificent column it becomes absurd ; reason and good taste 

 require, and the universal practice of the best periods of art point out, that 

 statues in the position of that contemplated, should be of a more costly ma- 

 terial than the pillar, which can only be considered its pedestal. The same 

 reasoning by no means applies to the lions or sculptured portions of the 

 column, as witness such ancient monuments as we are acquainted with, where 

 the sculpture is merely intended as appropriate architectural decoration. In 

 the Parthenon, the exterior sculptures were of marble ; they only served to 

 mark distinctly the character of the temple, the statue of tlie Deity within. 

 The object, so to express myself, of the erection, was of far more costly 

 material. The columns at Rome were decorated with appropriate and historic 

 sculptures marking their character ; the statues of the Emperors, the objects 

 of the monuments, were of bronze. 



I have some doubts whether the bronze columns which the French have 

 erected are in good taste ; they are imitations, or are designed on the princi- 

 ples of structures erected in marble. On the contrary, it has ever appeared 

 to me that Bernini has displayed more philosophy and taste in his famous 

 Baldachino in St. Peters, in having erected, as be has done, a light and pe- 

 culiar structure, in which he has taken every advantage of the capabilities of 

 his material. 



When we look around us and see, I had almost said in every important 

 eitv in Europe, monuments of the most magnificent description erected, it is 

 with a feeling of mortification that we contemplate a proposed departure 

 from propriety and good taste in our great and wealthy metropolis. I hope 

 that an effort may yet be made to amend the resolution as to the statue. 

 Should you think these few general observations worthy of a place in your 

 excellent journal, you will gratify, 



Sir, 



Edinburgh, Your very obedient servant, 



Sept., 1840. C. II. W. 



cliinery for altcmalely closing the dampers is exceedingly simple. Tlie smoke 

 being all consumed a saving of fuel is olitained. 



Whether the manufacturers will avail themselves of this invention, and 

 tliiis materially improve the town, is uuceriain ; it is to be hoped they will ; 

 they ouglit at least to investigate tlic matter. One of Mr. Hall's furnaces is 

 generally at work in Messrs, Brigg and Sons' mill in Carl Ion-street, where 

 its oneralion and eflects may be seen. The inhabitants of Leeds should not 

 lit tnis opportunity pass without making an eflnrt to abate this nuisance. 

 . Your's respectfully, 



C. L. Dresser. 



Comniercial'buildings, Leeds, Sept. IGth, ISiO. 



CON.'iUMP'I^DN OF SMOKE. 



■ g,H The possibility of ridding a large manufacturing town of the smoke 



which rises in such dense volumes from the long chimnies has always been a 

 desideratum ; but the methods employed to eflect this have been so expensive 

 or complicated, involving loss of power or extra labour, that they have been 

 but little used, and the nuisance with all its disagreeable effects continues un- 

 abated. . . , , , 



Mr. Hall of this town has pist patented an invention, simi'le, cheap, anil 

 effectual. I have this day w'ilnesSed its eflects. and was much pleased with 

 its simplicity, and astonished by the efiective consumption of the smoke. 



The principle of the invention, that smoke passed over a bright tire is con- 

 sumed, lias long been known; Mr. Hall only claims the adaptation of the 

 principle which is thu etfected: — 



The fire place is divided lengthwise, by a thin wall of fire bricks, so that 

 there is as it were two fire places under tlie boiler, each of wliiih communi- 

 cates wiih Ihe main flue or chimney by a separate flue, therefore Ihe two fire 

 places would have no connexion were it not than an aperture is left at the top 

 of the partition wall, near the front of the fire-places, by which means the 

 two fires can communicate wilh each other, so that were Ihe flue at the end 

 of one (ire closed, and the other open, the only passage for the hot air and 

 smoke of the fire, whose direct communication wilh the chimney is cut oft', 

 woulil he through the aperlure at the top of the partition wall, and over the 

 other fire whose direct communication wilh the chimney is still open. It 

 will be seen that by means of this arrangement the principle is easily applied. 

 The fire, whose (lirect coinmunication wilh Ihe chimney is closed, being 

 charged with fresh fuel, its smoke, in its route to the chimney, must pass 

 through the aperture of the partilion and over Ihe other fire, which, being 

 brighl, efiectually consumes it. By Ihe time the fire last charged has burnt 

 bright, Ihe other will require replenishing, its C( mmnnicalion with Ihe chim- 

 ney is therefore closed and the other opened, the low fire is charged, its smoke 

 passes over and is consumed by the other bright fire. Thus by allernately 

 charging one fire and then the other, all the smoke is consumed. The ma- 



COMMENTS ON PORTTCOES. 



Sir — When in his ' Remarks on Porticoes,' page 295, speaking of those 

 which project across the pavement for foot passengers, A. W. II. says: "the 

 beautiful portico of Hanover Chapel, in Regent-street, and those of the Hay- 

 market Theatre, and Melbourne House, Whitehall, favourably illustrate this 

 position," are we to imagine that be at all regards with a favourable eye, or 

 intends to express himself in favour of, Nash's portico to the theatre above- 

 mentioned .' If he does not, be has expressed himself most incautiously ; 

 and if he does, I for one certainly do not envy his taste, nor covet his com- 

 pliments, since in my opinion that portico, in whatever direction it may be 

 viewed, is a most vile and trashy piece of design. Its poor miserable and 

 st<arved looking cornice — as meagre and shrivelled as that of the United 

 Clubhouse, — would alone suffice to damn both the design and the designer. 



If your readers are not so ultra-genteel as to shudder at those horrible 

 vulgar things called proverbs, I would remind them of that which says " Fine 

 words butter no parsnips," as being quite a propos to the occasion, for though 

 that miserable affair in the Haymarket, is called Corinthian, its more proper 

 title would be the Cockneyfied Order. With regard to the inner or back 

 elevation, it would disgrace a modern Ginshop. I know not what A. W. H.'s 

 ideas may be of a portico " gracefully breaking," the hue of bouses by pro- 

 jecting into the street ; but I do know that seen in profile the Haymarket 

 portico, presents a most ungraceful gap, looking as if a column had been 

 there knocked ont pro bono publico, so as to leave room enough for a half-a- 

 dozen fat old ladies to walk through arm in arm. 



As A. W. H. has condescended to mention St. George's, Hanover Square, 

 — which is so little spoken of as a piece of architecture that we might fancy 

 it to be some most obscure and insignificant church, not included within the 

 ' bills of gentility,' — it is strange he should not have quoted that one as the 

 very best instance of all where the footway is carried through the portico. 

 A portico projecting over the foot pavement is it seems just about to be erected 

 in front of the Adelphi Theatre ; hut it may %vith tolerable safety be predicted 

 beforehand, that it will not be particularly ornamental to the street, since 

 unless extended in front of the adjoining house on each side, it cannot be 

 much bigger than an apple stall, and will perhaps look not much unlike aa 

 unglazed shop front, dragged forward before its neighbours. 



c. c. 



THE ARCHITECTURE OF LIVERPOOL. 

 By a Stranger. 



In the following remarks, let it not be supposed that the writer is governed 

 by prejudice or partiality, or " set down aught in extenuation or malice." 

 He scarcely knows an individual in the town, and his visit lias been but to 

 add a little more to his stock of architectural knowledge, which, with a stu- 

 dent's patience and perseverance, he has spent days in travelling and many 

 nights in study, during nearly half his life, to obtain. 



And first to the Custom-house. This edifice, uniting within itself the 

 Post-office, and one or two other departments beside, is considerably larger, 

 more imposing and magnificent, than its namesake in the metropolis, and yet 

 there are many things deteriorating from its otherwise grandeur of appear- 

 ance, and most painful to the practised eye of taste or travel. The principal 

 front facing Castle Street consists of a quadrangle, the centre composed of a 

 massive prostylar* octostylarf portico, the columns being copied from those 

 of the little Ionic Temple of Ilissus, situated upon the banks of the river of 

 that name in Greece. This portico is simple, grand, and expressive, and its 

 large and chaste proportions beautifully adapted to its purposes. The pro- 

 portions of the rest of the building are upon the same scale of plainness, 

 simphcity, and largeness, I had almost said ponderosity of proportion, suit- 

 able to the extent and commercial nature of the building, where not elegance, 

 but the substantiality and solidity commensurate to its objects are required. 

 The plain portions of the buildings are adorned by pilasters, but the highly 

 ornamental base, both of columns and (lilasters, shotdd never have been per- 

 mitted to continue their corrugated torrij round the edifice, thus dispropor- 

 tionately mixing richness and plainness upon the same face. The wings are 

 simple and unexceptionable, and tlie bold, handsome stylobale§ gives both 



Projecting, t Eight columned. } Circular portions of the base. 

 § Plinth or base, on which the building seems to rest. 



