IS-lo.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



37 



entirely new aoquisilion. As to the edifice we are speaking of, we 

 admit tli.it its style cannot be rallfd pure, and that it may without in- 

 justice be termed hc.ivy, but if without injustice so also without re- 

 proach, for of heaviness it has no more than befits its cliaracter ; or if 

 that term must be exciusively employed as one of censure, substitute 

 "boldness" and " massiveness" in lieu of it. Perhaps we could find 

 no more expressive and appropriate epithet than v\h.it we chanced to 

 hear applied by a person who, after looking at the hui ding fur some 

 time, addressed his companion with tlie exclamation of " Well, now 

 that's what I call a jolly style!" Jolly it certainly does look in 

 comparison with the meagre, starved-visagcd buildings we are accus- 

 tomed to behold. There is an expression of both stateliness and 

 sumpluousness — qualities which we do not meet with so very often as 

 to have to complain of being surfeited with them. Afllucnce then' 

 is, too, — exuberance of ornament, and much of it may be said to be 

 ex.igger ited ; yet even such excess becomes quite a merit in com- 

 parison with the opposite faults of feebleness and nakedness. 



Simplicity, or what has been so calhid — and a plausible name goes 

 a good way in such matters — has been greatly overated by us, and the 

 ufTeclation of it has led to the adoption of what cannot so properly be 

 Called a style, as an extinction of all style, patched here and there, 

 perhaps, with a few broken bits of Grecian and Roman. It is full 

 time to have done with that ; and we not only hope but lliiiik that the 

 new Royal Exchange will help to banish it henceforth from our public 

 buildings at least, and such others as make auy pretension to architec- 

 tural display. 



Concerning the interior of the Exchange we cannot speak as yet so 

 fully as we could wish, nor can we now speak of it so fully as it would 

 be in our power to do, were we not apprehensive of being thought to 

 claim too much space for our remarks, wherefore we must confine 

 them to that part of the interior which is of chief architectural inte- 

 rest, and to which alone the public will liave access. The Merchanls' 

 Area of course constitutes the Exchange properly so called; yet 

 although it is so far, tlu' very body of the plan, and heart of the build- 

 ing, its architecture is exttrnal, the place being only an open corlile 

 or piazza surrounded belov*' by arcades forming spacious ambulatories. 

 Somewhat strange it certainly is that the meichants should not have 

 availed tlieuiselvoa for their new edifice of the opportunity of render- 

 ing that part of it where they assemble for business more commodious 

 tl'.au the former one by roofing it in so as to protect the whole of it 

 from the weather, as might have been done without converting it into 

 what Would have resembled merely a spacious room or interior of the 

 usual kind. There would not have been any necessity for deviating 

 from or disturbing the present design, since the four elevations might 

 have been just the 3;:me, excepting that there might be required to 

 have been added to them a clerestory with open unglazed arches, 

 which together with skylights or open glazed compartments would, 

 we think, have atforded quite as much light and ventilation. There 

 was not very far to seek tor a practical instance and test: Hungerford 

 Market supplies one. That holds out a sulliciently suitable idea for 

 a Merchants' H.dl, and might have removed wdiatever apprehension:! 

 were entertained that by being covered in the area of the Exchange 

 would be too much darkened. 



However, we shall not pass censure on the merchants for adhering 

 to the plan of their former building, — the only one, perhaps, accord- 

 ing with their notions of an exchange, and therefore not to be ex- 

 changed for any other. The inconvenience attending it, — if it be not 

 an entirely imaginary one fancied by us — will be felt by them, not by 

 oursr-lves, who are very well content to behold what is a much greater 

 architectural rarity here than a spacious covered-in room of any kind 

 would be, namely, an open coitih of uniform design aud entirely closed 

 in on all its sides. We can not call to recollection any thing that we 

 have at all similar in character, for even the inner court or quadrangle 

 of the British Museum is of quite a dili'erent one, and still would be 

 so were it just in the same style, and precisely in the same taste, in- 

 stead of being in those respects the very reverse of the other." The 

 inner court of the Museum is very far more spacious than that of the 

 Exchange, its area being no less than nine limes greater, from which 

 many would at once infer that the effect must be about nine times 

 grander, whereas it is really just an inverse ratio. Beyond certain 

 limits, increaseii I'xtent of space dimiuishes the efijct of the architec- 

 ture around it, unless the latter be augmented in the same proportion ; 

 contracted space, on the contrary, enhances its effect. Thus, the cor- 



4 Tliat any archllpclural char.ittcr or finiiili at all sIioulU have been bestoweil upon a 

 part of the Museum, wliich Is all but entirely shut out from notice, seems to ua somewliut 

 at variance with that ceonumy which h;i3 tonsidtred bare hriek walls sullkently orna- 

 mental and dignitted for the whole of the exterior except the South front— the smart 

 pinafore to an uncuutli mass of meanness if not of positive ugliness. The columns, unUe, 

 &c., now secluded from view, within that court, would have just sufiiced to decorate and 

 fact with stone eleven hundred feot of the exterior.or ralher more than both the East uud 

 \\n\ sides!— Surely this does not indicate the must judldons luaua^'emeut, 



tile within.thc Exchange lias the proportions of a lofty hall, and archi- 

 tectuial character predominates in it ; but in the other case, the pro- 

 portions become tlios;- of a very low room, the architecture loses much 

 of its consequence, impressivencss of ensemble is greatly weakened if 

 not destroyed, and the general appearance difTcrs but little from that 

 of so many distinct tlimigh uniform buildings ranged on the sides of 

 an open space. Difficult as it is for us to express our meaning clearly, 

 we may perhaps illustrate it — though somewhat fancifully — by saying 

 that the Exchange cortile has u certain peculiar and rich architectural 

 tl.ivour— a choice and peregrine relish almost unknown among us. 



Spacious as it would be for a room, the Merchant's Area is small — 

 we do not say too smah — as a court, for although the entire plan, in- 

 cluding the arcades or ambulatories, is liJS feet by HI, the court it- 

 self or open part does not exceed llGby t;0 feet. It is accordingly 

 treated diflVreutly from the exterior, for a single large order, as in the 

 latter, would have taken off from its apparent size, and have been ratlitr 

 overpowering; wherefore the elevations are made to consist of two, 

 the lower one Uorie, the upper Ionic, and we hardly need add, of 

 Italiin character. Here, too, there has been a considerable deviation 

 from and improvement upon the original design, it being at first in- 

 tended to leave the lower order quite open without any arches be- 

 tween the columns, in which case, besides that the colonnades would 

 have had a poor and stragging elFeet in themselves, unless the inter- 

 cohimniation could have been reduced by increasing the number of 

 the columns, there would have been a most disagreeable expression 

 of weakness in the whole of the lower part in comparison with that 

 above it, which expression would have been any thing but miticrated 

 by the very unusual d.'pth of the ambulatories within. The culumns 

 being attached to piers, and, thus contracted, the openings converted 

 into arches, the whole has now an air of adequate substantiality and 

 compactness, and the ambulatories themselves are less exposed to the 

 weather. We should however have liked to see moulded archivolts 

 to the archr.s, as such a degree of finish seeins wanting in order to 

 bring them more into keeping with the very ornate cliaracler of the 

 other features. Ornateness to an unusual degree — such as may be 

 callod even floridness, certainly prevails in the upper order, whose 

 v.indows are even still more remarkable as composition, than any of 

 those on the exterior; each windosv occupying the plafond ( plat fund ) 

 or back of a largo niche-like recess, coved and panelled. The window 

 itself has rich dressings, and is surmounted by a pediment; and the 

 arch over it has a sculptured keystone in the form of a cart"uche. 

 Tliiis the general composition of llic upper order presents a series of 

 arched compartmrjuts between the columns, corresponding with the 

 open arcades below. Decoration has been applied with uiigrudgiug 

 hand, and such is the variety and complexity of details that repeated 

 examination is requisite for noting all its particulars. In many of the 

 other designs which were sent, tlie interior court was, on the contrary, 

 marked by excessive plainness, as if appearance was there of no mo- 

 ment. .Such, if we mistake not, was the character of Mr. Donaldson's, 

 and if such really was the case, it woidd have formed a more striking 

 than happy contrast to his splendid portico. In the edifice actually 

 erected there is, fortunately, no suc^ anti-climax, — no falling off in 

 point of richness. However high expectation m.iy be raised by the 

 portico, there is no danger of disappointment being felt on entering 

 the cortile, whose effect is considerably enhanced by its not coining 

 immediately into full view, on passing from the other, but ludng ap- 

 proached through an intermediate space, in comparison with which 

 it forms a wide and brilliant expanse, — brilliantcertainly in iiolvchro- 

 inic embellishment, to quite an unprecedented degree, ic, — we were 

 going to say surpassing every thing else of its kind, but we have at 

 jiresent nothing else of the kind, except it be in the Temple church. 

 We are aware that Mr. Saiig's decorative encaustic painting in the 

 ambulatories does not satisfy every one, nor can it be considered more 

 than mere decoration, without pretension to pictorial art : still it 

 serves to shed a glow of warmth and splendour over the place ; and it 

 is highly creditable to the committee that they should have shown 

 themselves willing to adopt improvements and additiims both in this 

 and a variety of other respects, so very far exceeding what was origi- 

 nally contemplated. One strong proof of their desire to render their 

 edifice complete at all points, in decoration, was the introduction of 

 tessellated pavement for the flooring of the Jtea, — which was tasteful 

 and classic in design, and no doubt singular, striking, and superb in 

 effect. But, tilas,! th.it was but a transitory gleam of splendour, no 

 other trace of which is left than an engraved delineation of it ujion 

 paper. Whether or no the mischief is at all to be attributed to tlic 

 hurried-on 'Inauguration' and to its being then trodden upon by a 

 concourse of persona, before the cement had had time to harden, it 

 was found necessary to take up the tessellated pavement again, aud 

 replace it by one of asphalte. This soltmn failure is greatly to be re- 

 gretted, not only on account of the Exchange itself, which has thereby 



