1845.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



197 



" VILLA ROSA," NEAR DRESDEN. 

 CJVith ail Engraving, Plate Xf'II.) 



It is interpsting and (irofitable to turn our attention occasionally 

 from the progress of arcliitofturo in our own country, to examine the 

 results of the labours of continental architects. In floinestic arcliitec- 

 ture especially, which is now beoomiiig elevated into a distinct sys- 

 tematic profession, it is particularly advantageous to gain information 

 hv comparing our own etl'orls willi tliose of our neighbours, liy con- 

 fining ourselves to the specimens of domestic construction which exist 

 in our countrv, we are apt to form crude and limiteil view of the art. 

 Our ideas become insipid and lose their freshness by being constantly 

 repealed, as ground wiiicli is constantly cultivated for the same kind 

 of crops bears only scanty and dwindled produce. We are in dan- 

 gerabove all from setting before us a constant recurrence of the same 

 or limilar forms, to fall into conven/iouaiily, than which nothing is 

 fatal to the free and vigorous development of the Fine Arts. We 

 give in the accompanying illustrations a specimen of German Domes- 

 tic Architecture, presenting arrangements, which, though different in 

 many respects from our own, and perhaps unlit for imitation here, 

 have, at least to an English eye, the advantage of novelty. The 

 "Villa Rosa" lately built near Dresden appears to have excited 

 much attention amoiig the German architects. Indeed, the Allge- 

 mtine Bauziilung, a work of considerable authority in architectural 

 matters, pronounces this building the most successful after the Dresden 

 Theatre, which has been there erected. It is the property of Messrs. 

 Oppenheim, of Berlin, bankers, and erected near Dresden. The archi- 

 tect was Professor Semper. The style of the building most nearly 

 approaches that of the Renaissance, though differing from it in some 

 respects. The plates represent, first, the front elevation ; secondly, a 

 section from front to rear, displaying the principal parts of the in- 

 terior. The whole will be rendered intelligible by reference to the 

 following plan of the ground floor. 



The ground plan is nearly square, being about 72 feet by 76. From 

 the octagonal saloon in the centre of the building there are four doors 

 communicating with Ist, the vestibule 6 ; 2nd, the dining room e ; 3rd, 

 the garden saloon ii; and 4th, with the ladies rooms A A. Corridors 

 to the right and left of the centre saloon extend from the garden 

 saloon to the vestibule. The passages afford means of communication 

 without the necessity of traversing the grand saloon. Adjoining the 

 garden saloon is a piazza communicating with a handsome broad ter- 

 race, and fountain (»i). On eith.-r side of the terrace are steps leading 

 tu the garden. 



Ko. 91.— Vol. VIII.— /l'LT, 1845. 



The principal feature of the building la the octagonal saloon, and 

 to this attention is to be directed both on account of its size and orna- 

 mental structure. It is lighted by an ornamentil skv-liglit, and is of 

 the height of the two stories. There are balconies "on four sides of 

 the upper story of this saloon which look into it. The walls above 

 are painted white, and decorated with sculpture. The cornice is of 

 nmisally large dimensions, but harmonizes well with the whole^ From 

 the cornice springs the octagonal spherical doom in quarter circle, and 

 terminating in the skylight. This dome is of plaster, pannelled in 

 compartments, of which some are enriched architecturally, and some 

 contain coloured landscapes and figures. 



The cost of the principal parts of the building was about £G000, 



CANDIDUS'S NOTE-BOOK. 

 FASCICULUS LXV. 



" 1 must have liberty 

 ■Withal, as large a charter as the winds, 

 To blow on whom I please." 



L Both in his personal and his professional character, Soane was a 

 strange compound of contradictions and inconsistencies. Liberal and 

 illiberal, ostentatiously profuse and sordidly mean by turns, he was no 

 less unequal in his taste as an architect; exceedingly happy in his 

 ideas just by fits and starts — now fanciful and poetital, and then sink- 

 ing down into the dullest prose; alternately classical and cockney in 

 his fancy, as is most forcibly evidenced by the loggia at the north-west 

 corner of the Bank, and by the front of his own house in Lincoln's-inn 

 Fields, — the one a most charming architectural tableau, the other 

 withoat any architectural physiognomy at all, except a very flimsy and 

 pasteboard one, and in its style looking very much like a'house built 

 of cards, in the upper part more especially. Nevertheless, his afTec- 

 tion for it was like that of a parent towards a deformed child, for he 

 most solicitously provided that it shall be preserved intact in perpetuo 

 for the admiration of posterity, in order to convince the world what 

 exquisite taste he could display when left to follow the bent of his 

 own peculiar talent, untrammelled and uncontrolled. It is somewhat 

 strange that, having come to the resolution oi giving his house to the 

 public, he did not determine to do so handsomely, and bv adding the 

 one on each side (which also belonged to him), to render it better 

 adapted for the purpose of a public museum ; had which been done, 

 the part of it that was so appropriated might have been always open 

 to the public, without at all interfering with the Curator's residence, 

 and there might then also have been a proper reading-room set apart 

 for those who want to consult any of the books and drawings. Or if 

 that would have been showing too great liberality towards the public, 

 he might have been somewhat less niggardly towards himself, and 

 might have thrown all the three houses together externally into a 

 single facade that should have been worthy of the architect of the 

 Bank. Were it not certain beyond the possibility of question or 

 doubt, it would hardly be believed that the two buildings were de- 

 signed by the same man, and what is more, that instead of being an 

 earlier production on which he tried his " 'prentice hand," the front 

 of his own house was erected subsequently to that angle of the Bank 

 which has ever been considered his capo d'opera in external design, 

 and justly so. Even the Bank itself exhibits great inequality of taste, 

 — for the centre of the south front manifests a lamentable falling-otf 

 from the episodical bit alluded to, as if he had exhausted his ideas and 

 broken down altogether when he reached conclusion of his epic work. 

 So far from being at all happy in conception, or dignified in character, 

 that centre portion is so much the reverse as to be a positive anticlimax 

 in the general composition, — far more mongrel in style than original 

 in idea, and stamped by a littleness of manner, a degree of insignifi- 

 cance little less than surprising. Even the interior of the Bank exhi- 

 bits, together with many admirable ideas and most valuable hints 

 many offensive and paltry caprices. In the Rotunda, for instance, the 

 sunk, wavy, zigzag lines by way of border to the arcaded recesses are 

 in most vile and barbarous taste, — quite devoid of any sort of meaning 

 or style, — intended we must suppose for decoration, but producing 

 both a look of poverty and hnrsii deformity. In fact, throughout the 

 whole interior, there is scarcely any one part that is perfectly satis- 

 factory and consistent, but is either evidently left in an unfinished 

 state, as is the case with the Lothbury court — which now seems des- 

 tined to remain so — or else looks as if not fully wrought up as it was 

 intended to be, though advanced to a penultimate stage of progress. 

 The Bank has accordingly been composed — and not very incorrectly 

 — to an architectural sketch-book containing many able and clever 



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