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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[December, 



work — at least none of the many we have referred to for it — although 

 lie lias been dead these eighty vears; nor can it be alleged that lie 

 was too obscure in his profession for notice, since the man who made 

 nearly an entire city his own monument, dpserves to be recorded quite 

 as much as the illustrious Nash — we do not mean the architect, but 

 the " beau." 



" Walhallu " — the so-called structure npar Reginsburg, which is 

 here fully described, is also an article which it was not absolutely in- 

 dispensable to give, and the same may be said of " Windsor Castle" 

 yet articles of this class are a very great improvement upon what was 

 done at first. We. shall confine ourselves, however, for extracts, to 

 the article "Window," although it is one that ought to be read 

 entire. 



" If is one very great advantage of the Gothic or Pointed style, 

 that there the windows derive strong architectural expression from 

 the apertures themselves; which, with the mnllions, transoms, and 

 tracery inserted in them, mainly form the design and decoration; 

 while the external mouldings and ornaments contribute to them only 

 in a subordinate degree. Consequently, if others (piiie plain, the 

 windows can never appear mere vacant spaces. Widely different is 

 it in those styles where the ornament. d design is confined to the mere 

 exterior or framing' of the aperture: therefore, however the; n 

 so decorated, the openings will, if of very large dimensions, always 

 have a vacant, look, and the glazing of the windows will appear to be 

 in want of adequate support. Sub is the case with the windows of 

 St. Paul's, where the apertures are filled in only with very ordinary 

 glazing in small panes, and consequently are so far from being pli 

 as to produce a sombre, dingy appearance; whereas in Gothic win- 

 dows the glazing shows itself to be firmly supported by the mulliou, 

 and is never extended over such large unbroken surfaces, let the size 

 of the window be what it may, as to pr ' of blankness. 



It is another advantage peculiar to that style that it allows windows 

 to be of any dimensions — of the smallest as well as the largest, and 

 windows of very different sizes and proportions to be introduced into 

 the same elevation. For further remarks on this subject the reader 

 may refer to what has been said on Gothic Architecture) p. 334, and 

 Oriel; since we must here confine ourselves to windows in the Italian 

 or modern style generally." 



After speaking of the various modes of treating windows according 

 to the floor they occupy in a facade, the writer proceeds with remarks 

 of his own, referring to various examples. 



" In the basement of the Strand front of S House, which, 



althoujj to the order, is almost of equal import i 



effect in the genera] composition, the windows are more than usually 

 decorated, having lioric pilastep*, entablatures, and pediments, and 

 their sills resting upon bold consi they are 



set within arcades, and therefore preparation is so far made for their 

 dressings, which are thus framed in from the rusticati 

 that their richness does not seem at variance with the latter; the 

 richness itsell too is of a bold character. When the ground-floor is 

 not a distinct basement, its windows require to be equally dri 

 von nearly so, with those of the principal floor, with little other dif- 



■ as to proportion an 1 di sign than wh ,t is necessary foi 

 ving some distinctii ing monotonous repetition ; bi 



though it is desirable that all the windows on a floor shoo, 

 uniform design, except that a centre window may occasionally be 

 ■more decorated and rendered a more conspicuous feature i 

 rest, it is hardly less desirable to avoid the 9ameness arising from ill 

 the windows of a front being too nearly alike. Where the ground- 

 floor is the principal one also, as is now frequently the case in villa 

 aces, in which all the chief rooms are below, and perhaps only 

 a single chamber-floor over them, the lower windows 

 the most important in design ; yet, w hethpr the print i pal or seci 

 they ought to be in keeping with the res! of the design. This rule, 

 or rather this law of aesthetic composition, has been admira 

 led to by Mr. Barry in the Travellers' and Reform Clul 

 Lou, Ion, and, on the contrary, violated in the exterior of (i. Idsroitbs' 

 where, although there are two ranges of windows included 

 within the same order, and the upper windows are decorated in an 

 uuusual degree, almost to excess, those below have no dressings, not 

 even any kind of rusticated borders in lieu of Ihein, but are merely 

 so many plain apertures on a surface scantily streaked with hori- 

 zontal .. According y, while the lower di 

 frout r, and is deficient in boldness, the upper wind, 

 overloaded with ornament. 



" What has been said in regard to the sequence of the different 

 tiers of windows in an elevation, is to W understood only generally, 

 there being many exceptions, and not a few anomalous cases. In the 



facade of the Palazzo Massimi at Rome, one of Pernzzi's best works, 

 there are two tiers of mezzanine windows above those of the prin- 

 cipal floor; in the celebrated Palazzo Farnese, on the contrary, the 

 second-floor windows (which are also the uppermost) are somewhat 

 loftier than the others, at least in their apertures, owing to these last 

 being arched, and are further remarkable as having pediments, which 

 are seldom used for windows higher up than the first-floor. In San- 

 gello's facade of the Palazzo Sachetti, there is a range of mezzanines 

 between the windows of the first and the uppermost floor, and instead 

 of being made priucipal in the design, the former are considerably 

 less than those of the ground-floor, and are moreover singular as 

 being Allicurg — a term applied by some to those doors and windows 

 which are narrower at top than at bottom, as in the Erechtheum. 

 [Door, p. So.] The facade of the Palazzo Negroni, by Annnanati, is 

 similar in its general character to the preceding, there being a row of 

 mezzanine and square windows between the first ami third floor ; and 

 it also resembles it in the importance given to the ground-floor win- 

 dews. In regard to windows of the last-mentioned class, the Palazzo 

 Bnoncompagno at Rome, a work attributed to Bramante, offers an 

 unusual example, for there the lower floor and its windows are made, 

 the next principal features after those immediately aoove them : in 

 both the apertures themselves are round-headed, with imposts and 

 archivolts, but flanked by pilasters supporting an entablature, w hereby 

 the general form of the. chambrank, or dressing, becomes square- 

 headed : the chief difference between these two tiers of windows is, 

 that those above have pediments (alternately angular and segmental), 

 while the others have < 



That the writer in the Cyclopaedia has not the same horror of small 

 "gables" oxer windows as Dr. Pulton has, is evident from the fol- 

 lowing remarks, with which we must close our extracts. 



" In addition to the above, there are many other parts which enter 

 into the composition of window-dressings, and among them a prin- 

 cipal one is th" pediment, applied byway of finish to the whole. 

 Some critics have urged objections against pediments to windows, as 

 being contrary to strirt propriety: bypercriticism oi that kind might 

 be directed against a great deal in every style, on which its particular 

 character and expression more or less depend. It is enough for us 

 that the application of the pediment form to such purpose is so fully 

 established that no i 1 uity attends it, am! that, considered 



with regard to its artislical effect, it contributes to variety in various 

 ways. At the same time we cannot admit as legitimate more thau 

 two distinct varieties of it, namely, the angular, and the curved or 

 tal; for as soon as we begin to disturb the outline, we violate 

 nciples of the style from which such decorative feature is de- 

 rived. Broken pediments, scrolled-shaped ones, &c are therefore to 

 be put into the same category with twisted columns and other extra- 

 vagances of that kind, which, so far from displaying invention, rather 

 betray sterility of ideas, and the inability to attain originality other- 

 wise than by adopting what the least educated taste rejects as vicious. 

 aients ought to b' very sparingly introduced — ■ 

 perhaps only for the sake of variety, ill alternation with angular ones, 

 they being in themselves rather heavy in appearance. One great 

 value of the pediment as a decorative feature of windows is, that its 

 sloping lines c mtr i*t with those of horizontal mouldings, and occasion 

 variety of outline in the general form of windows : and lb it such ad- 

 dition serves to distinguish and give due importance to the windows 

 of the principal floor of a building, to which, in good composition, 

 they are generally confined. In the Palazzo Farnese both the upper 

 rows of windows have pediments; the first alternately angular and 

 segmental, the other only angular ones; and there, owing to the very 

 great space over the windows, the numerous pediments do not seem 

 to overload the design, as would be the case if the upper ones were 

 to come nearly immediately beneath the superior cornice. * * * 



" We now come to another mode, quite distinct from any of the 

 preceding, namely, that which consists in applying a small order 

 either in columns or pilasters, with a regular entablature, sometimes 

 with the usual architrave also surrounding the aperture of the window, 

 at others not. And though some o i mycrostyle composi- 



; inconsistent, with the original purpose of columns, their 

 impropriety is at hast redeemed by richness and beauty. At all 

 events, (lie impropri ty is not so great as that of applying small or- 

 ders successively to the di of a building, thereby ren- 

 dering diminutive, parts which, if introduced, ought to be propor- 

 tioned to the entire edifice; where.;-., in the case ul columns to win- 

 dovvs, they show themselves to be intended only as decorations, and 

 though really small, yet being distinct and independent features, in- 

 stead of giving an air of littleness to the eutire composition, they ra- 

 ther give greater dignity and importance to the win tows. As to the 



