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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[September, 



This fundamental principle may be considered under three heads, viz.: — 

 1st, Convenience ; 2nd, Construction ; and 3rd, Character, including Form and 

 Enrichment. All these departments are of course modified and controlled 

 by economy, and also combine with and control one another. 



We shall consider first, Convenience, which will determine the number, size, 

 and arrangement of the different portions of the edifice, according to their 

 use and purpose. These considerations are so various and extensive, that it 

 would be both tedious and out of place to enter into an examination of them 

 now. I may, perhaps, at a future lime notice some few instances in which 

 our practice is defective. When this distribution, depending on convenience, 

 is determined, the next subject demanding attention, and which is, perhaps, 

 the least regarded, is Construction. This includes considerations of material, 

 climate, and durability. As to material, that is obviously the most proper to 

 be used, which possesses in the highest degree the requisite strength, dura- 

 bility, and resistance to climate. There sure three classes of materials com- 

 monly used in buildings— 1st, those which are best adapted to resist com- 

 pression, as brick, stone, &c. ; 2nd, those best adapted to resist cross strain, 

 as wood ; and 3rd, those which resist tension, as iron. Now, it is important 

 to remark, that from the totally different qualities of these three classes of 

 materials, they require in construction, a totally different mode of treatment! 

 thus, the first class are obviously best suited for external and internal walls, 

 those parts of the fabric in short, on which all the rest must depend ; — the 

 second class are best adapted for horizontal and oblique bearings, as in floors 

 and roofs, and the third are calculated for ties, and for various other minor 

 purposes. Of course, there are peculiar cm umstances in uhieh the applica- 

 tion of these materials may vary, but the above are the general and obvious 

 uses to which they are best applied. The climate also exercises (or I should 

 say ought to exercise, for in this country it does not.) a very considerable in- 

 fluence, not only on the material employed in building, but also on the forms 

 and features, as pitch of roofs, &c. 



Now these general principles, simple and obvious as they may seem, and 

 indeed are, are very often disregarded in practice, which is one cause of so 

 much incongruity and want of character in our architecture. 1 may al.,o 

 mention now, in connexion with propriety, another very important funda- 

 mental principle, forcibly expressed by Pugin in his " True Principles of 

 Christian Architecture," and a disregard of which is a chief source of error 

 in this country. I mean that " the construction of a building should avow 

 itself:" there should never be any attempt to conceal the real structure, by a 

 sham apparent one. This every unprejudiced mind will allow ; it is, in fact, 

 only a consequence of our first rule of fitness. The mind must be satisfied 

 on this point before it can derive pleasure through the senses: for let an 

 object be ever so beautiful in form and enrichment, if there be any misappli- 

 cation of materials, or any attempt at deception ; if it betray any mean de- 

 vice or contrivance I y which it is made to assume (in material or otherwise) 

 a character not properly belonging to it, a refined taste can never but be dis- 

 gusted with the deceit ; while all the beauty which may belong to the mere 

 form tends only to increase the feeling of dissatisfaction which such an object 

 would excite. In addition to what Fugin has said regarding the conceal- 

 ment of construction, I should say that, as a general rule, we should not 

 only not take pains to conceal it, but that we should also, as far as practica- 

 ble, expose the real construction to view, livery essential part of the struc- 

 ture should be apparent. Another rule which follows from the above is, that 

 every object in art should be in form, colour, and dimension, just what would 

 be in accordance with the nature of the material of which it consists. It 

 was on these fundamental principles that the magnificent works of the 

 Greeks and Egyptians were executed, and also those wonderful structures of 

 the middle ages, which adorn every quarter of our island. 



The rules above given are constantly violated in the present day. We see 

 in all parts of the country, but especially in the neighbourhood of manufac- 

 turing towns, hundreds of houses which every body knows to be built of 

 brick, but which from some fancy or other, are made to appear as though 

 they were built of stone, betraying at once, the pride of the proprietor in de- 

 siring an expensive materia), and his poverty in being unable to obtain it 

 The practice is so universal, that many, I have no doubt, do not see the 

 matter in this light ; and many follow the custom, because it is come to be 

 considered necessary for maintaining a respectable appearance , bill I believe 

 that pride originated it. and that when it is analyzed, it will corns to what I 



have stated. Another instance in which plaster is improperly made to as- 

 sume the appearance of stone, is very frequent ill churches, entrance halls, 

 &c. ; it consists in lining it in imitation of large square stones. Now this 

 being a deception is sufficient at once to condemn it, but it also has a very 

 chilling and comfortless effect, and the practice ought to be abandoned. If I 

 recollect rightly, Pugin has in the new catholic chapel at Birmingham, left 

 the surface of the plaster quite plain and rough, a practice certainly not to 

 be recommended: but he may, perhaps, look forward to its being orna- 

 mented at some future lime, when means will allow. I am quite willing to 

 admit the propriety of plastering interior walls, and also the desirableness of 

 relieving the monotony of a plain flat surface, but there are other and more 

 legitimate means than the one just noticed, of doing this, which may be used 

 according to circumstances. For churches or chapels, where there is a great 

 breadth of bare wall, the best way, as well as the most obvious, would be to 

 impress the plaster while soft with an appropriate device in the way of seal 

 or stamp, which would at any rate be consistent with the nature of the ma- 

 terial, and would afford ample scope for ingenuity and beauty at compara- 

 tively small cost. The other methods of avoiding monotonous surfaces of 

 plaster are in common use, viz :— painting and papering, and are perfectly 

 legitimate when applied consistently. But we frequently see walls and cei- 

 lings painted in imitation of panelling, or of some other material, as marble 

 and costly woods, all which are bad, because they are attempts at deception, 

 and for the same reason, paper hangings which exhibit natural objects, 

 raised apparently from the surface of the wall, whether in colours, or mere 

 light and shade, are improper. The ornamental pattern on the paper may 

 be as simple or as rich and complex as the character of the apartment re- 

 quires, but to be in correct taste, it is essential it should appear as a flat sur- 

 face. Imitation of woods, marbles. &c. in plaster, either by painting or 

 otherwise, are just as bad as imitations of stone by plaster on the outside of 

 a house ; for though the liner woods and marbles may possess more beauty 

 than commoner materials, the chief motive fpr inflating them is the desire 

 of displaying costliness without incurring cost. II these remarks are well 

 founded, 1 think the use of scagliola cannot be justified on the strut princi- 

 ples of taste. Even ihe plainest materials are more satisfactory than the 

 most beautiful imitation of the costliest (foods that ever were seen ; indeed 

 (he more costly the material imitated, the more unsatisfactory the result, as 

 the probability ol its being sham is increased in proportion. 



But lo return to the consideration of brick and stone. Brick is bell 

 adapted for plain walls, because if well burnt, it is more durable than stone, 

 more impervious to weather, and in many places is much cheaper. Both 

 propriety and economy, therefore, ps int to it as the most proper material lor 

 general use, ill such localities. But on the other hand, brick cannot be used 

 where cutting is required, here its place can only be supplied by stone ; but 

 there is a very simple method of ornamenting brick buildings, which seems 

 to he almost unknown or forgotten amongst us, viz., by moulding the bricks 

 into different forms and ornamental devices, and by using bricks of different 

 colours, as red, bine, and white. In this way a true artist would he able to 

 produce many beautiful and picturesque effects,; bands or siring courses 

 might be thus formed either by impressed patterns, or by a different coloured 

 brick ; chiiunics might also be made highly ornamental, all which would be 

 in perfect propriety, and might be obtained at a trifling cost, without Ihe use 

 of stone at all. However, the judicious use of stone in combination with 

 brick, as round the windows, doors, 8;e., and in cornices, gives rise to many 

 striking efl els which could not be obtained with brick alone, flits mixture 

 of materials is most proprrly employed in ordinary dwelling-houses, or 

 where very little carving is required ; but where this is abundant and el.il'o- 

 rate, as in a church, ihe use of brick should perhaps be discarded altogether, 

 as it would form too small a proportion of the wall to justify its introduc- 

 tion, on the scoie cither of durability or economy. Tins was no dqi 

 reason amongst others, why Ihe churches of the middle ages were almost in- 

 variably built of stone ; but it cannot be urged as a reason fpr cm; 

 this as a sole material for ordinary dwelling houses. Here, good taste re- 

 quires that economy be consulted, and economy will, in many parts of the 

 country at least, point to brick as the most proper material. But for sucred 

 edifices the ease is quite different. In these, economy is hardly excusable 

 eicepl in extraordinary instances : and as stone is undoubtedly the most dig- 

 nified material, great exertion ought to be made to secure it. 



