40 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Feb. 



NEW METROPOLITAN CHUHCHES. 



Tn almost every p^rt of England new ohurclies are being built, of which 

 Uie arcliitecture would be worthy of the best days of aucient ecclesiastical 

 art. Those who love architecture for its owu sake, and who, in order to 

 see noble specimens of it, are willing to make short pilgrimages (no great 

 labour in these railway times), may see, in every county, modern churches, 

 the monnrnenss of private munificence, which elicit the admiration of the 

 strictest and most determined disciple of ancient art. The recent edifices, 

 if they do not always possess the mussire simplicity and unity which 

 remains hitherto a characteristic of the olden time, still exhibit in their 

 details a magnificence and propriety which we can hardly hope to see 

 excelled. 



In London, however, it is rot so. Here, churches are built to cover 

 in a given number of square feet of ground, and the architect must so ar- 

 range tlie building, that the greatest possible number of sittings may be 

 contained within it. It does not pay to build London churches with thick 

 solid walls and massive piers and buttresses— the pew-rents would not 

 cover the ou.lay. Plaster and patent cement and deal boards keep out 

 the weather (while they last) nearly as well as stone and oak, and, if 

 properly coloured, look as well. To be sure, these lath-and-plaster edi- 

 fices will not last for quite so many centuries as the mediaeval piles which 

 they mimic (one of these fragile fabrics has already began to fall, almost 

 before its completion)— but, then, those who build tliese churches have no 

 concern in the permanence of them for centuries — for to themselves the 

 pewrcnls cannot accrue beyond the term of their natural lives. They 

 have made tlie churches to be houses of merchandise, and they build them 

 just strong enough to answer the intended purpose. Our ancestors did 

 not build in such a manner, nor with such objects. Do we wrong to com- 

 mend the old custom, as a fi-owi old custom ? 



We are not " travelling out of the record" in making these observations : 

 they have more ';cunectiou with architecture than may appear at first sight. 

 In many even of the best of modern churches— though the critic can de- 

 tect no fault of design or deVdU— something is felt to be wanting which 

 renders these buildings less impressive than their ancient prototypes. The 

 detection of this something is oftentimes very puzzling— the construction 

 of tlie building is faithfully expressed by the decoration, the materials 

 are honest and real, the composition simple and connected, and the mould- 

 ings, tracery, &c. graceful, and appropriate to the style adopted— and yet 

 the eye is not satisfied. The more this anomaly is considered (and we 

 donbt not that it has occurred to many careful observers), the more readily 

 will it be referred to the comparative slightness of building adopted in 

 modern structures. This explanatiou may perhaps be objected to as too 

 material. It may be thought a very matter of-fact kind of criticism which 

 measures the thickness of walls and the sectional area of buttresses ; but 

 it is precisely this kind of criticism which, if it be correct, is the most 

 useful, because it is the most easy of application. 



It is by no means to be inferred that we would commend heavy clumsy 

 nio'les of construction, when our present increased knowledge of mecha- 

 nics has revealed improved and more scientific methods. The worst sort 

 of alleclation is that which apes inferiority. But we do want to see 

 churches built as if they were meant to last — not as if the architect had 

 been accustomed all his life to " run up",cockney villas or new metropo- 

 litan streets — as if he had no idea of magnificence beyond the plaster 

 glories of the Regent's Park or Belgravia. How willingly does the eye, 

 wearied of tliis showy, ephemeral finery, turn to the ancient, unpretending, 

 village church, with its vast bold buttresses and massive tower ! Those 

 venerable walls tell their story so simply, and yet so v»-ell — that within 

 them successive generations of men have assembled in piety and reve- 

 rence for, it may be, these six or seven centuries past. It is not merely 

 that we admire the village church for its owu intrinsic beauty, but that we 

 feel that it was built for ages. It is the type of permanence, as far as the 

 work of men's hands can be so. The ancient churchmen, it has been well 

 said, built "for religion, not for fame; for endurance, not bj coatract; 

 for devotion, not in a spirit of economy ; pro salute animw, non pro cru- 

 menii." 



Old Street Road — A new church has been recently built here by Mr. 

 Ferrey, in the Early English style. The nave and aisles are under sepa- 

 rate gables, and the entrance is under the tower, which is at the south- 

 west angle. Externally, the masonry is of rag, with Caen stone dressings, 

 which have (as in many other modern churches) a most unsatisfactory, 

 " patchy" appearance. It is well enough to use Caen or similar stone for 



the mouldings or tracery of a church, for rag cannot be worked for the 

 purpose; but there is now a mania for sticking all over a church bits of the 

 former kind of flone ; and its light colour, contrasted with the dark hue of 

 the coarser material, gives the building an appearance of slone patchwork, 

 or the fantastic patteru of a harlequin's dress. Besides, it is ridiculous to 

 use the weaker stone for quoins and angles, where, if any difference be 

 made, it should be in favour of the material which had the greatest cohesive 

 force. Had the angles of the buttresses, &c. of Mr. Ferrey's church been 

 of rag-stone like the rest, the effect would have been much better. The 

 love of finery in architecture has grown into a habit which seems almost 

 inveterate. 



The windows on the south are arcades of four arches, two blank and 

 two pierced for light — this arrangement, defended though it be by prece- 

 dent, is most unworthy of modern imitation. Blank windows are equally 

 inartistic, whether they occur in Classic or Pointed architecture. In the. 

 present case, the masses of Caen stone in the blank arches exaggerate the 

 patchwork effect of which we have complained, to an unusual degree. The 

 windows on the north side are couplets. This side of the building is much 

 the best. The south side is next the street, and is of course made the 

 most showy — for that very reason, it is inferior in appearance to the other. 

 The rose window at the east end is much too large. We have not had an 

 opportunity of seeing the interior of the building. 



Iluxtun. — Another Early English church is nearly finished here, which 

 is a specimen of " Modern Gothic," of more than ordinary hideousness. 

 It scarcely deserves a detailed notice. It is sufficient to say that it ex- 

 hibits all the following characteristics of its tribe in an eminent manner — 

 miserably thin walls, w ith square reveals to the windows, as in an ordinary 

 dwelling house — poor tracery — cast iron girders — pinnacles ugly enough 

 to have been built twenty years ago — plenty of plaster and stucco, and an 

 enormous disproportionate chancel-arch, with a small communion recess 

 beyond it. 



RAILWAY STATLSTICS. 



From the Eisenbahn-Jahrbuch (Railway Year-book), recently published 

 by tiie Baron de Reden at Berlin, we obtain some valuable additions to 

 railway statistics. The author is uow in office under the Prussian govern- 

 ment, and formerly superiutended the construction of the railway from 

 Berlin to Stettin. 



The analysis of accidents which occurred on railways in Belgium, Eng- 

 land, France, and Germany, respectively, during five years, commencing 

 1st August, 1S40, is as follows : — 



Fatal Accidents. Total number of Accidents. 



Belgium 35 liiu 



England 30O 1500 



France 71 220 



Germany .. .. .. 11 -. -. -- -. -^ 



It appears, from this table, that the total number of persons in any way 

 injured during this period, in the four countries, was 1,842 ; and of these 

 accidents, 417, or between one-fourth and one-fifth, were fatal. The fol- 

 lowing table shows approximately what proportion of these accidents have 

 occurred in each country, and also the annual average of accidents: — 



Fatal accidents annually. Total accidents anaually. 



7 or T3"» •• •• 20 or Tglh 

 60 or T'lis •• •• Sf" or Jihs 

 14-Jor ^ih .. .. 44 or ^th 



2 2 or ^Lh ,. .. 4 4 or ij^th 



In this table, the casualties on French lines include those of the Ver- 

 sailles catastrophe, by which -'55 lives were lost. The accidents on the 

 Belgian lines in 1S43 and 1914 arose almost entirely from breakage of 

 axles and from carriages getting off the rails. 



A more accurate estimate of the relative insecurity of railways in either 

 country is obtained by comparing the number of casualties with the total 

 number of passengers conveyed. Taking the annual mean proportion, we 

 get the following result-i, which distinguish whether the accident arose 

 from the fault of the sufferers or of the railway managers :— 



Passengers killed from | Officials killed and wounded j Persons killed from 

 their own neglect. from their own neglect. defective managemt. 



Belgium 1 in 670.0110 .. .. 1 in 240,000 .. .. 1 in i,6UO,76.4 



England 



Belgium 

 England 

 France 

 Germany 



1 in 30 1,000 

 1 in ,5,000,000 

 1 in 9,000,000 



1 in !^32.4I6 

 1 in S.4','i,996 

 1 ia 12,252,8i» 



8(19.0110 



Fra'nce I In 2,157,000 



Germany 1 in 25,000,000 

 In this list, each country is placed in the order of the relative insecurity 

 of its railways. The terrible disproportion in this respect, between the two 

 former and the two latter, is very significant and deserves careful atten. 

 tion. 



