228 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[July, 



IV. Who is this " Aunt Elinor," who has just started up as a fe- 

 male professor of architecture, in the hope, it would seem, of being 

 able to lecture ladies into a love for the study of the art ? The idea 

 itself — which, by the bye, she seems to have borrowed, or rather 

 stolen without acknowledgment, from Wightwick, is surely a most 

 preposterous one, since what occasion can women possibly have for 

 understanding aught of architecture ? or are they even capable of at- 

 taining to any intelligent knowledge of it? Are all our studies to be 

 invaded by the present Amazonian race of females? or is their ambi- 

 tion insatiable ? Already have they mastered all our ologies and all our 

 onomies, and now, forsooth, they must attack what we have considered 

 an impregnable fort — architecture — though, to confess the truth, it is 

 not every one who has displayed any particular/orte in it. Surely the 

 ladies might be content with the plunder they have got from us — 

 among the rest, geology, a study remarkably amusing, and to tbem 

 most particularly useful. But architecture ! — oh no ! we must not 

 allow them to come poaching upon that preserve. What would be- 

 come of us he-creatures — professors and all, should it be discovered 

 that women could attain to any competent knowledge of architecture 

 as a fine art — and perhaps be able to design a classical portico just as 

 easily as they can hem a handkerchief? No, instead of admitting 

 women, we rather want to get rid of some of the " old ladies " of the 

 male sex, who are actually in the profession. Still it must be ad- 

 mitted that a very great deal may be said on the other side of the 

 question ; nor is Aunt Elinor's idea so very preposterous after all. 

 Women, it may be presumed, are fully capable of appreciating what, 

 in its quality of a fine art, apart from the science and mechanical 

 skill required for the practice of it, addresses itself so much both to 

 the eye and to the mind, and exercises the judgment as well as the 

 fancy. They ought to be able to feel all its harmonies of propor- 

 tions and combinations, and to note all those delicate minutia and 

 subtle coquetteries of the art, were they but sufficiently instructed to 

 understand them, and know in what they consist. At present, indeed, 

 such is not the case, because architecture has a language of its own, 

 which must be studied before its productions can be read or relished.. 

 If there be such a thing at all as poetry in architecture, that surely can 

 be felt, and not only felt but as distinctly and with as clear a percep- 

 tion of the immediate causes of it, by one sex as well as the other. 

 For my own part I am inclined to think that were ladies but to apply 

 themselves to the study, they would in general make far better critics 

 in all matters of architectural taste, than men do. Hardly would they 

 pardon those negligencies and that slovenliness which are now so fre- 

 quently drawbacks on what are in other respects designs of consider- 

 able merit. 



What an encouragement, too, it would be to architects themselves to 

 know that their works could be intelligently appreciated by judges of 

 the other sex — whose suffrages, as matters are now, they consider 

 quite valueless, and their praises mere empty compliments, flattering 

 to the ear, yet meaning nothing. Let the study of architecture 

 be taken up by ladies, and by educated persons of the other sex, 

 and instead of being as at present considered an exclusively profes- 

 sional one, it would acquire a degree of popularity that would have a 

 most beneficial influence on the art itself. To say that because such 

 persons can study it only partially — on'y as a fine art and for its his- 

 tory as such, that they therefore ought not to attempt to study it at 

 all, lest they should be sneered at, perhaps, as mere dabblers and pre- 

 tenders, is manifestly absurd ; or at any rate it ought not to be ex- 

 pected by professional men, that non-professional people should en- 

 courage it at all, since what can it matter to them whether the taste 

 shown in it be bad or good ? Why, in the name of common sense, 

 should people be reproached for not paying due regard to, and not 

 encouraging what they themselves are discouraged from attempting 

 to study and endeavouring to understand ? Even the ignorance of 

 the general public may, however, have its advantages, and one of them 



is that a " Pecksniff," or a will do quite as well for such 



a public, as a Charles Barry. 



GROSVENOR HOUSE.— THE NEW SCREEN. 



The most aristocratic streets at the west end of the town have very 

 few attractions indeed for the admirers of architecture, being far 

 more remarkable for the absence than for any display of taste. They 

 have a certain air of opulence about them, not to be mistaken ; but it 

 is entirely in "undress;" so that nothing can be more homely and in- 

 sipid than the " magnificent squares " — as they are often bouncingly 

 termed — in that quarter of the metropolis. Grosveuor Square is no 

 exception, for if it contains some mansions above the average in point 

 of size, it also presents some that are of more than ordinary ugliness. 

 In Grosvenor Street, however, there is now a rather striking and 

 novel architectural display, which loses nothing of its effect by the 

 contrast it forms to the insipid monotony of that fashionable district. 

 We allude to the new screen erected in front of Grosvenor House, 

 the residence of the Marquis of Westminster; which is designed, as 

 we understand, by Mr. Cundy, and which, taken by itself, is very 

 handsome both in its design and its effect, and is far more happily 

 composed than what, by serving as a precedent for it, may seem to 

 detract from its originality. Though we have not as yet heard this 

 screen compared to that before Carlton House, we should not be very 

 much surprised to find it described not only as a copy, but as a minia- 

 ture copy of it. A decided improvement upon it, it may fairly 

 enough be termed, for while it can be likened to that example only 

 with respect to the general resemblance arising from the same ge- 

 neral disposition, every point of similitude is also one of difference, 

 and that difference is decidedly in favour of the present design, as 

 would have been evident enough were the other still in existence. 

 It is not, indeed, to be compared with it for extent, being, perhaps, 

 only half its length, if quite so much — for we do not know what were 

 the exact admeasurements of the screen at Carlton House, neither 

 what are those of the one we are now speaking of. But this last is 

 certainly treated in a nobler and larger manner, and is far more con- 

 sistent and complete. Here the entrance gates are rendered impor- 

 tant and beautiful features, that both give value to, and are aided in 

 turn by, the open colonnade between them ; which was certainly not 

 the case in the other instance. 



The composition consists of an open colonnade, of the Roman 

 Doric order, placed upon a low stylobate, (about four feet and a half 

 high,) and connecting the two gateways. These last form slightly 

 projecting breaks at the ends, and have coupled columns of the same 

 order, with the entablature breaking over them, in such manner that 

 the cornices of the pediments project considerably ; owing to which 

 circumstances these parts of the design possess a certain degree of 

 mass and energy ; the archways do not look like mere shallow open- 

 ings; but by acquiring some depth the roofs of the pediments show 

 themselves boldly in perspective. The gates themselves are highly 

 ornamented, being of rich open-work pattern in cast-iron in imitation 

 of bronze, which colour and style of decoration is judiciously carried 

 out by the candelabra or gas standards, one of which is placed in each 

 of the seven intercolumns of the open screen. 



Thus far, we can bestow almost unqualified praise, for the whole is 

 well composed and well studied, most pleasing in its coup d'ceil, and 

 unites a happy mixture of airy playfulness and solidity. It has con- 

 verted what was before a mere gap between the adjoining houses, 

 into a most attractive piece of architectural decoration ; yet though, 

 as such, it does not seem too ostentatious or of too great pretension 

 in itself, it certainly is so if considered as an appendage to the build- 

 ing before which it has been erected, or we should express ourselves 

 better by saying that this last is utterly unworthy of what has thus 

 been made to accompany it. In those who are not aware that the 

 screen is a mere after addition, the first sight of it cannot fail to raise 

 expectations of some corresponding if not exactly equal degree of 

 architectural display in the mansion itself. Great, therefore, must be 

 their disappointment, when on a nearer approach they discover be- 

 hind this colonnade merely a plain-fronted house, which even as such 

 has no beauty of proportions, nor any air of dignity. The contrast in 

 this respect would be ludicrous, were it not also vexatious and an- 

 noying. Are we never to see anything carried out consistently and 



