1S47.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



49 



attention, ray conjectures having led me to expect great difficulties on this 

 subject. I had uearly made up my mind as to tlie means I should adopt, 

 and was the more strongly conlirmed in my inteulions, having remarked a 

 circumstance \^hich escaped the notice of tiiose around me. immediately 

 after the pde had been driven, I perceived a small stream of water arising 

 up close all around it, as if it had pierced a spring; and recollecting an 

 observation in Labelye's* account of VV'estniinster Bridge, ' that piles some- 

 times loosen and open fresh springs, which often make it very difficult to 

 gel rid of the water,' I was now apprehensive of just such an impediment. 

 The great expense of preparing the piles, and the very long lime it would 

 take to drive so great a number as would he required, presented a sirong 

 objection to the use of ihem. I therefore gave directions to have a grating 

 of Memel timber prepared, the timber to be one foot square, to have the 

 upper ones notched down three inches in the ground pieces, which were to 

 be bedded on a layer of cut heath, the whole ground being first correctly 

 levelled ; the interstices of the grating to be filled in with hard sound stock 

 bricks, up to the level of the timbers, swimming in morlar composed of 

 pounded roach lime and mortar well mixed, which answered nearly as well 

 as tarras ; over which was laid four-inch fir plank fastened down on the 

 grating with oak Irennels, which was all completed. The foundation walls 

 were then set out on the 17th of September. The part directly under the 

 cupola was laid with rough blocks of mountain granite in regular courses ; 

 in the first course was sunk an iron chain of flat bar, four inches wide and 

 two and a half inches thick, into collars which were run with lead, but the 

 bars were only covered with a cement of wax, resin, and stone dust. The 

 rest of the foundation was done with the usual black stone, and was car- 

 ried up to the plinth by the IGlh October, 1782, thereby completing the 

 whole of the foundations in one year and four months from the opening of 

 the ground." 



Another of Gandon's works consisted in several extensive additions and 

 alterations in the Irish House of Lords— a large edifice, now converted into 

 a bank. On the east side of the building a Corinthian portico was erected, 

 in the construction of which many local difficulties, arising from the de- 

 clivity of the ground, appear to have been overcome with great ingenuity 

 and sound architectural taste. The dome, which was part of the original 

 work, was destroyed by fire under circumstances which indicate that 

 crotchets respecting ventilation have been fostered by other parliaments 

 besides our own, 



" This dome was subsequently destroyed bv fire caused by the following 

 circumslances. A man of the name of Nesbit, a smoke doctor, had been 

 Introduced to the Speaker, and recommended to his notice as a prodigy, in 

 producing the greatest heat with the least possible portion of fu. 1. He 

 was, therefore, employed to warm the House of Commons : and was suf- 

 fered to cut into the walls, in order to lead flues into copper tubes, whicli 

 he proposed to place on the angles of the dome. These tubes, from their 

 nature, were very liable to be choked, and were often observed to be on 

 fire, and large flakes of burning soot to fly out from Ihem, to the great alarm 

 of the neighbours, who gave repealed information of the fact, but to which 

 no attention was given. The w indows of the dome were also left very fre- 

 qnentiv carelessly open ; the burning soot was driven in by the wind, and, 

 resting on the framing, the wood-work took fire, and on the 27th February, 

 1792, totally destroyed the dome, during the sitting of the house. An in- 

 quiry was afterwards made as to the cause of the fire, but the real facts of 

 the case were suppressed, and— the inquiry ended in smoke ! 



The foundation stone of the Courts of Law, or Four Courts as they are 

 called, was laid in 1786; the erection of this building was impeded by the 

 same factious opposition which attended Gandon's other works. The last 

 public edifice erected under his superintendence was the Hall and Library 

 and other offices of King's Inn, an ancient legal society constituted in a 

 similar manner to the Inns of Court in London. This was the only build- 

 ing which Gandon left unfinished ; the completion of the work he assigned 

 to other hands on his retirement from professional life. His architectural 

 labours extended over the long period of sixty years, and he died in 1324, 

 at the age of eighty-two years. 



Gandon's works appear to be characterised by the same merits and the 

 same defects as those of his preceptor, Chambers. Judged by external ap- 

 pearance only, his works exhibit symmetry and unity, and impress the 

 mind by their grandiose combinations : but their great defect is the pre. 

 sence of adscititious inconstructive ornaments. Gandon was essentially a 

 Roman architect. In his time, almost all that was known of Classic archi- 

 tecture came from the Romans and Revivalists. The labours of " Athe- 

 nian" Stuart and Revett were very recent and little known ; and, until 

 their time, there was an almost entire ignorance of Athenian, or pure 

 trabeate architecture. The first volume of the Antiquities of Athens 

 was published during Gandon's apprenticeship to Sir W. Chambers, 

 and its appearance caused a great sensation. Slill less was known of 

 Pointed architecture— as Gandon himself shows in an essay at the end of 



* M. Labelye, a native oi Prjnw, vvli3 tbs engineer of Westminster Bridge.— Ed. 



the biography. It is not therefore to be wondered at that the dependance 

 of decoration on construction was in his day little attended to. 



The biography before us is well arranged, but there is too much gossij 

 in it; notices of people of no note, and of transactions not worth record 

 ing. The architectural accounts are exceedingly meagre, and it is sur 

 prising that no technical or illustrative description of Gandon's works ha» 

 been given. This omission greatly diminishes the value of the work. 

 However, many of the observations show great taste and discernment, and 

 the authors have the credit of recording the honours of one who in his day 

 and generation laboured earnestly for the advancement of architecture. 



Ancient and Modern Architecture, consisting of Views, Plana, Ifc. of tht 

 most remarkable edifices in the world. By Jules Gailhabadd. Third 

 series. Fermin, Didot, & Co. 1847. 



The third series of this work is by no means inferior to the preceding 

 parts of it. The conductors seem to have kept steadily in view their object 

 of furnishing a complete set of illustrations of all known styles of architea- 

 ture, from the earliest monolithic to the latest Italian and bastard Classie 

 structures. Among the plates before us we have several illustrations of Celtic 

 monuments, details, &c., of the arch of Septimius Severus, the tomb of 

 Cecilia Metella, ar.d the church of St. Ignatius at Rome. There are also 

 numerous illustrations of St. Peters, at Rome, and St. Paul's, at London. 

 We were especially pleased with the view of the interior of the church of 

 St. Front, at Peiiguenx, which displays in an extraordinary degree the possi- 

 bility of producing beauliful effects by the simplest means. This church, a 

 very early specimen of the combination of the round and the pointed arch 

 is remarkable for its severity; the interior has scarcely a single moulding or 

 other ornament, and yet the effect is extremely impressive, simply because 

 the architecture h faithful. It would be absurd to recommend the massive 

 arches and piers of this church for modern imitation ; hut it it is far better 

 (siy we), that the architecture should be, as here, without ornament, than 

 that it should be covered with the adscititious finery stuck upon buildings 

 which by modern courtesy are called "Classic." 



The letter-press of the series before us is not satisfactory — the descriptions 

 are far too concise ; and another defect is that they are published on loose 

 sheets of paper, so as to be liable to be lost before the series is completed. 

 Moreover, these " SyLilline leaves" are always dispersed (in the copies sent 

 us, at least) in a most irregular manner. The history of Stonehenge accom- 

 panies the plates of Cologne Cathedral, and the description of the Temple of 

 Vesta follows the views of a vile Parisian church of the sixteenth century. 

 However, these defects are comparatively trivial, and might easily be re- 

 medied — we mention them because the work is a good one, and deserves all 

 the care that can he bestowed on improving it. The following account of 

 triumphal arches may serve as a specimen of the letter-press. The writer 

 remarks, rather simply, that " the Greeks do not appear to have built aqy 

 triumphal arches" — for which circumstance two very sufficient reasons may 

 be assigned : first, that they could not, if they would, have done so ; secondly, 

 that they would not have done so if they could. The Greeks were ignorant 

 of arch construction, in the first place: in the secr.nd place, they never made 

 a single architectural member do duty for a whole building; and consequently 

 had they employed arches at all, would have made use of them to support 

 edifices, and not have displayed them for mere show. 



"Triumphal arches are isolated portals erected at the entrance of towns, 

 on public places, roads, or bridges; they are generally intended to comme- 

 morate a victory, sometimes also to perpetuate the memory of the real or 

 supposed virtues of a prince, or to do honour to persons who have rendered 

 great services to ihe stale. In this last case they might more properly be 

 denominated honorary arches. Not to mention here the great number 

 erected for this last purpose in China, where arches called Pay-Uou are 

 often raised in honour of the most humble virtue, we might name a host of 

 these monuments consecrated to civil virtues, such as the Arch of Ancona, 

 built in honour of Trajan, to show the gratitude of the citizens for the im- 

 provements he made in the port, and bearing a dedication in which Ihe 

 name of the Emperor is associated with those of his wife and sister. We 

 learn also from ancient inscripiions that monuments of this kind were oc- 

 casionally erected in honour of the gods. It is very probable also that 

 many of these arches answered a twofold purpose, being at the same time 

 triumphal or honorary monuments, and gates of towns. Vte must be care- 

 ful not to confound the subjects of the present article with those structures 

 which are merely town-gates, like those of St. Andr^ and Arroux, at 

 Autun, in Ihe Department of the Sa8ne and Loire, though they present a 

 close analogy with triumphal arches. It is equally necessary to distin- 



