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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Mat, 



treatment, or where are they to be separated for the future ? Or are 

 the architects of the present day alone to be limited to the servile 

 imitation of styles gone before, and their whole intelligence limited to 

 treating them synchronously, excluding invention and the study of 

 character and fitness as beyond their comprehension ? What style is 

 to be selected as best fitted to our exigencies — or are we to set up 

 here a bit of Greek, there a bit of Italian, Arabesque in this place, 

 Cinquecento in that, Gothic or Egyptian in another, to show how per- 

 fectly we have studied synchronism and nothing else! Forbid it ye 

 sacred muses! and forbid the Institute of British Architects to enter- 

 tain questions which expose them to the eyes of all Europe as plagi- 

 arists and imitators prepense .' 



Of late vears, our ancient national architecture has occupied much 

 of our study, and the investigation of its transitions has done much 

 to fix this said principle of synchronism upon our practice. It is a 

 wretchedly narrow path which our architects have chosen, and it is to 

 be hoped that it may widen as it is pursued. It has certainly ex- 

 panded since a Gothic cloister of the 13th century was erected for a 

 ball-room (at Belvoir castle.) This work is executed with a know- 

 ledge of stvle and detail, with an attention to synchronism in one 

 word, which leaves nothing to be desired so far; and it is evident 

 that the clerical amateur architect, who has to answer for this per- 

 formance, was perfectly innocent of the knowledge that anything was 

 to be desired beyond it. Let us hope that such an error may not in- 

 fect our professional practice, and that we may not be too complaisant 

 in yielding to the prejudices and prepossessions, which a march of 

 ignorance, unparalleled in activity and impudence, is just now spreading 

 through the land in the shape of "a little learning." Our Gothic ar- 

 chitecture and the peculiar national modification of the Italian which 

 succeeded it, have been extinguished upwards of two centuries. The 

 reformation of the church in the first place, and the alteration in our 

 habits and customs since the erection of the last of those domestic 

 edifices which it is now the fashion to revive, point to the necessity 

 of some modification of the architecture of the middle ages, both 

 ecclesiastical and civil, not very consistent with the principle of syn- 

 chronism and uniformity. This consideration leads to a question 

 involving these principles in something like a dilemma. 



How are we to dispose of the mixed style which forms the prin- 

 cipal stock in trade of this revival as far as domestic architecture is 

 concerned ? 



The remains of the habitable portions of our great castles, and of 

 some few buildings of a more purely domestic character, show clearly 

 that in the earlier peno 1 of our architectural history, little attention 

 was paid to the internal fittings, which now constitute the necessary 

 comfort of our mansions, even of the most moderate class. Bare 

 walls and such inconveniences as attend grated windows and ill-closed 

 doors, were the general lot of those who could not afford the luxury 

 <.f tapestry. Wainscot linings were not unknown, but their use was 

 < ertainly not common, and none of an early date have survived. By 

 the time a demand for more habitable interiors became general, the 

 Gothic style was on the wane, and we may be troubled to find an in- 

 terior among our ancient mansions, fitted up in a manner approaching 

 even the commonest exigences of the present day, in which the wood 

 and plaster work does not bear another character, although the fabric 

 itself may be very unexceptionable Gothic. How fir this mixture 

 was carried, and how far it presently affected the fabric, it is unneces- 

 sary here to explain — but it may be observed, that the first Italian ar- 

 chitect whose works are still extant in England, exercised his discre- 

 tion in some very important modifications of the style he imported. 

 The works of John of Padua exhibit as genuine a specimen of the 

 school of architecture to which he belonged, as will be found in Lom- 

 bardy itself — but with this difference — he adopted the English window 

 and the English chimney. It did not enter into the mind of this distin- 

 guished architect, to condemn his clients to darkness and damp, for the 

 sake of following the arrangements expedient in his own climate — in 

 other words, he did not think synchronism and uniformity of style neces- 

 sary to beauty and propriety. The example set by John of Padua be- 

 came the type of the architecture of Elizabeth and James I, and the 



question is, when we recognize this mixture as a distinct style, and 

 follow it, as the fashion now is, do we not set synchronism and uni- 

 formity in direct opposition to each other ? 



Some modern examples there are, of interior fittings founded alto- 

 gether upon Gothic forms, but certainly possessing nothing of the 

 Gothic character. A plaster cornice bordering a flat plaster ceiling is 

 not Gothic, however scrupulously the mouldings may be profiled or 

 the foliage modelled — a sash window with its apparatus of folding 

 shutters is not Gothic, however artfully its structure may be disguised 

 —a door case with its architrave and cornice, rebated jamb linings 

 and butt hinges, is not Guthic, though its head may be pointed, and 

 most orthodox putty squeezes glued into the spandrils — and yet this 

 sort of internal architecture has been coined, in preference to adopting 

 what was considered an inconsistency, though practised boldly and 

 successfully by our ancestors of the loth century. 



Perhaps we are held bound, when circumstances call upon us to 

 work out an early style of Gothic, to make everything cold and com- 

 fortless for the sake of synchronism and uniformity. This position 

 would undoubtedly solve the dilemma, and the architect would then 

 only have to persuade the inhabitants of his dungeon to dress them- 

 selves in the ancient costume and cultivate their beards, to speak 

 Norman French, pray in Latin, eat with their fingers, and drink ale 

 out of leather black jacks for breakfast, in order to earn immortal 

 glory as a restorer of the arts. 



We may aptly conclude with the following observations of the late 

 Allan Cunningham — 



" We never can lawfully become heirs to the fame of men who wrought 

 in other lands and died three thousand years ago. No poet will claim 

 as much merit from translating Homer or Dante, though he should 

 excel Cowper or Cary, as he would deem his due had he written a 

 Fairy (^ueen or a Task — but your architectural copyist takes a much 

 loftier view of himself — he imagines he has achieved something 

 truly grand, when he has persuaded a prince or a peer to have a 

 house, every pillar and architrave of which can be justified from an- 

 tique example. This servile spirit disgraces the architecture of our 

 country — Greece will never surrender to us the honour of her por- 

 ticos, or Italy of her elevations, and there is the more reason that we 

 should dwell on the memories of such men as Wykeham and Van- 

 burgh, whose genius, whatever else we may say of it, has at least 

 given us architecture that we can honestly call our own." 



THE CHAPTER HOUSE OF SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. 



Read before the Institute of Eritith Architects. 



By T. H. Wyatt, Esq., Fellow. 



Mr. Chairman & Gentlemen — I have always felt that there are 

 no subjects of communication which may be made more generally use- 

 ful to our members, than observations on points if questionable con- 

 struction, or propriety of style and date, occurring, as they frequently 

 must, in our practice. The paper read at our last meeting by Mr. 

 Granville, has strongly confirmed me in this belief; it was one which 

 could not fail to interest and instruct all who heard it. Acting, then, 

 on this strong conviction, I venture to lay before you the particulars 

 of a case which will, I believe, well repay its consideration. 



The Chapter House of Salisbury Cathedral having fallen into a 

 neglected if not a dilapidated condition, and the Lord Bishop of that 

 diocese, being desirous to take upon himself the restoration of this inte- 

 resting building (and so far to assist the funds at the disposal of the 

 chapter, already hardly sufficient for the mere repair of the Cathe- 

 dral itself), did my partner and myself the honour to ask for a report 

 as to its present condition, and advice as to its entire restoration. 



My first step was to inform myself of the history of this portion of 

 the Cathedral group, and I referred to a variety of works bearing on 

 the subject, and to such records as existed in the Cathedral library, at 

 all likely to assist in the inquiry; but the amount of information they 

 furnish is very slight, the Cathedral itself usurping, in all of them, 

 almost exclusive consideration. There is no record of the exact 

 period when this room (if I may call it so) was built, or in whose 

 bishoprick. It is supposed to have been commenced a few years 



