IS 17.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



169 



orders, bows, niches, grolesque imagery, and foliage — " gorgons and hy- 

 dras and chimeras dire,"' Ihrown about with all the redundancy of picto- 

 rial wHulouness ;— half-timbered houses of divers colours ; " black spirits 

 and white, blue spirits and grey," grinning horrible defiance to good taste, 

 in this pedantic style, which alike infested our language and our architec- 

 ture. It closed— to show what height architectural absurdity may reach- 

 in the portal entrance of the schools at Oxford, where the five orders of 

 Italian architecture, caricatured in the worst taste, are piled one upon 

 the other— the brawny Tuscan at the bottom, almost crushed by the 

 superincumbent weight, and the lanky Composite at the top. 



This aberration— for style it cannot properly be called— thanks be to the 

 improved taste acquired by Prince Charles and his gay companions, who 

 rubbed off their pedantic rust by continental travel, a better style in art 

 prevailed ; — Vandyke superseded Holbein, substituting nature for dry 

 afl'ectation ; and Jones threw the nameless and irresponsible architects of 

 the monstrosities of the Elizabethan period into that obscurity which all 

 the endeavours of the elegant pencils of modern draughtsmen have not 

 been able to revive. 



The Roman or Italian style of architecture, adapted to domestic eco- 

 nomy, was first introduced with classical purity into this country by Inigo 

 Jones, who flourished in the reigns of James I. and his sod Charles, and 

 died neglected in the tasteless times that succeeded the beheading of his 

 royal patron. Tlie most distinguished works of this eminent English 

 architect, are the before-mentioned mansion at Amesbury, in Wiltshire ; 

 that on the nortliern side of Greenwich park, which now forms the central 

 building to the Royal Naval School ; and at the same time, an appropriate 

 centre to the Royal Hospital as viewed from the river; Shaftsbury House, 

 in Aldersgate-street, forujerly the town mansion of the nobleman of that 

 name, and now subdivided into a series of shops and the establishment of 

 the General Dispensary ; some town houses on the southern side of Long- 

 acre, the pilasters and Corinthian capitals of which are still in existence ; 

 some mansions ou the west side of the square called Lincoln'sinn-fields, 

 the ground plot of which he set out the same size as the large Egyptian 

 pyramid ; and the grand piazza of Covent Garden, which is fast disap- 

 pearing under the hands of the building innovators. Among his most 

 celebrated town mansions, may be mentioned that of the Duke of Bed- 

 ford, on the north side of Bloomsbury-square, which, with its gardens 

 and pleasure grounds, occupied the whole areas of Russell and Tavistock 

 squares, almost up to the New road. It was taken down to make way 

 for the profitable improvements by building speculators of that brown 

 brick suburb of the metropolis. It was a perfect Italian villa, carefully 

 adapted to our climate, and contained among its state apartments an ex- 

 tensive picture gallery. Among its pictures was that fine set of copies 

 from the cartoons of Rafl'aelle, made on canvas in turpentine colours by 

 Sir James Thornhill, and presented by Francis, Duke of Bedford, to our 

 Royal Academy of Arts. 



For the satisfaction of such of our architects who have not yet learned 

 to despise old " Iniquity Jones," as Ben Jonson called bim in one of his 

 satires, Harcourt House, on the west side of Cavendish-square, still 

 remains in almost its pure pristine state, for their contemplation. But let 

 them be quick about it, for it has already been looked at by the architect 

 of an innovating Joint Stock company, for the purpose of converting it 

 into a series of club chambers, like those of the Albany, Piccadilly. It 

 is not an upholsterer's mansion — all carpeting, flock papering, gilt papier 

 mach^, and gewgaws ; but a solid substantial structure, of sound brick 

 and stone, marble sculptures, and fine oak carvings ; built for ages and 

 for the occupation of a noble English family, who could boast, like the 

 Italian notables, that it was built by their ancestors, generations ago, and 

 had never been occupied but by their own race. The noble founder, to do 

 justice to his architect, has placed bis bust in a conspicuous part of the 

 principal front. 



Among his works that are still extant is the Dormitory, at Westminster 

 School; its exterior is strongly marked by the prevailing character of his 

 style — a correct manly simplicity, and a just proportion of the component 

 parts characteristic of its use ; the interior of the upper story is well 

 enough for the use of the scions of aristocracy who occupy it, and is 

 annually used as the theatre for the performance of the Latin plays by 

 the Westminster scholars. 



In enumerating the works of Inigo Jones, his vast and splendid porlico 

 to the old cathedral of St. Paul, that was destroyed by the great fire of 

 London, must not be forgotten. Its proportions and dimensions may be 

 «een in Kent's publication of his works ; but the vastness and grandeur of 

 this stupendous portico, so far superior to any other in England, and per- 



haps in Europe, can be better imagined than described. Of the propriety 

 of adding a Roman portico to a Gothic cathedral, much cannot be said; 

 but perhaps the architect contemplated the completion of a Christian 

 cathedral in a similar style with his portico. It has been compared to a 

 pension given by a profligate king to a parasitical favourite, as being a 

 good thing ill applied. Lord Burlington said of it, on viewing the new 

 cathedral—" When the Jews saw the second temple they wept." 



These works, and some unexecuted designs, published by Kent at the 

 expense of the Earl of Burlington, show the fertility of this architect's 

 mind, and the skill with which he adapted the best styles of Roman 

 architecture to the domestic conveniences required by an English family 

 in our variable climate. His church of St. Paul, Covent Garden, which 

 he built for the parsimonious Duke of Bedford, who desired a mere baru 

 for the US3 of his Covent Garden tenants, and was informed his desire 

 should be complied with it, but it should be the finest barn in Europe, 

 also shows the dexterity with which Jones could use the plainest mate- 

 rials. It produced the desired eflect, and stands alone as a masterpiece of 

 Frudal architecture, proving how the mind of a man of genius can over- 

 come difficulties. It is the only specimen of the true Vitruvian Tuscan 

 ever known to have been executed. The late Mr. Hardwick displayed 

 becoming reverence for the master mind of his great predecessor, by 

 attempting no improvements upon this singular example of church archi- 

 tecture, when he repaired it nfter a destructive fire. 



Heriot's Hospital, near Edinburgh, an early work of this architect, 

 before he had matured his taste by foreign travel and the study of the 

 great Italian masters, has little to recommend it, excepting the simplicity 

 and aptitude of the plan to its purpose. The architectural world is in- 

 debted to Mr. Goldicutt for some tasteful etchings of the plan and details 

 of this building. The only other work of Jones in Gothic architecture is 

 the Chapel in Lincoln's inn, and proves that neither he nor Wren compre- 

 hended the spirit of this beautiful style. 



His greatest work, however, was the magnificent palace which he de- 

 signed for James I., the Banquetting House, Whitehall, now used as a 

 military chapel, being the only part executed. It was to have covered an 

 immense plot of ground, extending from jCbaring-cross on the north, to 

 Richmond-buildings, Parliament-street, on the south ; and from the river 

 on the east, to the Parade in St. James's-park on the west. Four such 

 buildings as the present chapel were designed: one opposite to it, near 

 the site of Melbourne House ; the other two, one in a line with it, near 

 Scotland-yard, and the other opposite thereto, on the site of the Admiralty, 

 —and were to be used as a banquetting room, a royal chapel, a throne- 

 room, and a hall of audience. They were to be connected by a variety of 

 stale and domestic apartments, official residences, spacious courts for air 

 and light, and every accommodation for a royal palace, suited for the 

 greatest monarch in Europe. The circular court surrounded by an arcade 

 supported by statues, thence called the court of the Caryatides, was one 

 of the finest conceptions that ever emanated from the mind of any archi- 

 tect — ancient or modern. The whole design, which, thanks to the liberal- 

 ity of the great Earl of Burlington, has been published, with numerous 

 and ample details of all its parts, is a perfect school in itself for an archi- 

 tectural student: the masterly skill with which the architect has conquered 

 the diflicult arrangements of the slate and private apartments, without 

 unnecessary interference with each other,— the manner in which he has 

 arranged the various courts for light and air,— and the unJerground apart- 

 ments for domestic use, — and complete drainage necessary for the salu- 

 brity of such a vast assemblage of buildings, combined with consummate 

 skill into one perfect whole, should form, with his mansions and villas, the 

 study of every aspirant to architectural honours. These works of Inigo 

 Jones would alone furnish a series of lectures on the skilful adaptation of 

 architectural grandeur to domestic comfort and internal convenience, wor- 

 thy the talents of the greatest master of the present day. This great 

 English architect and his worthy successor, Sir Christopher Wren, are, to 

 our national disgrace, better understood and more highly appreciated in 

 France and Germany than in their native England. 



The only executed portion of this magnificent design — namely, the mili- 

 tary chapel or banquetting house — is, like the part from which it is 

 detached, grand in style, but unequal in some of its less important details. 

 The conception of which, considered as the small part of a mighty whole 

 is in itself noble ; its primary divisions are few and simple; its openings 

 large and handsome ;— but as a whole it is unequal in composition and in 

 style. The play of light and shade produced by the breaks over each 

 column is, in a minute taste, the very opposite to grand. The Ionic speci- 

 men — the invention of which is attributed to Scamozzi, but is reallj a 



