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' THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Mat. 



tion occasioned by the combination of columns and arches in those struc- 

 tures. When in this examination we pass on to the temple of Antoninus 

 and Faustina, we find that I'alladio gives in the restoration of this edifice 

 court in front (not now to be traced), part of which he says he saw removed, 

 nnd in this restored court we have an arcade nearly similar to what he gives 

 as that of the Corinthian order; then at the palace of Diocletian at Spala- 

 tro, we find arches springing from columns, tlie germ as it were of what was 

 afterwards to be p',-rfected in the pointed style, and produce the cl'istered 

 column and the lancet arch, which in the long drawn aisle and fretted vault 

 exhibit the glories and triumph of monastic architecture ; for however that 

 style may be indebted for some ideas to the Saracenic, imported at the 

 time of the Crusades, yet at Spalatro we have incontrovertible proofs of its 

 origin, even to the grotesque human heads and the zigzag ornament we 

 erroneously call Saxon, and suppose to be peculiar to that style. Here 

 we have also two legs of dilferent arches springing from one column, both 

 with and without imposts, the columns themselves raised on consols, these 

 latter being ornamented with grotesque beads just as they are in the Gothic. 

 When then we hold in one hand an elevation of the Partlienon, and in the 

 other one of the Cathedral at Cologne, however startling it may appear, 

 the style of the latter is a moJificalion of that of the former. Some archi- 

 tects have drawn rather too largely on the harmony relationship might be 

 supposed to maintain between the two styles, and have grouped them to- 

 gether as we see in the Duomo at Milan, and some of the alterations at 

 Westminster Abbey. 



It must be admitted that the Moorish architecture e:>;isting in Spain is 

 very similar as regards the support of the arch to that at Spalatro, but 

 ■when we consider that all the Mediterranean coast of Africa was a Roman 

 province, and see in it the remains of an earlier and purer state of art, we 

 may reasonably infer that Africa was also indebted to the Romans for the 

 iatroduction of the method of raising their horse-shoe arches on columui. 



Of Grecian domestic edifices we absolutely know nothing, except 

 through those of Roman taste, and we may fairly conclude that those of 

 the former ditTered as much from the latter as the public edifices of the two 

 people did : however it is in vain to speculate on this point, and we must 

 lake the Romans as we find them, in the disinterred city of Pompeii. One 

 thing very worthy of observation in the interiors of the edifices of this 

 place in which they differ so much from those of more modern times, is that 

 in almost every instance the hand of the architect is seen, and not the mere 

 monotonous arrangement of a common builder. It is very true that diffe- 

 rence of climate and habits prevent us from taking the Pompeiian houses 

 as models for the construction of modern domestic edifices, yet much may 

 be learned from a study of them, and the pleasing variety of character that 

 may be given to interiors by a judicious architectural arrangement too 

 often overlooked hy us. An inspection of the house of the late Sir John 

 Soane will show what can he done in this way even in an edifice of ordinary 

 size and exterior, and in this point of view, independent of the models and 

 treasures of art which it contains, the legacy of it to the nation is a bequest 

 that can scarcely be too highly valued. It is curious to observe the simi- 

 larity in the ground plans of the domestic edifices of the Chinese and those 

 at Pompeii ; and also between the temples of the same people and those of 

 Egypt, the details indeed have nothing in common in either case, but 

 the plans are much more similar than anything to be found of a modern 

 date either in Italy or Egypt, are to the ancient buildings of those coun- 

 tries. 



Koth the Elizabethan and the Italian villa style are modifications of the 

 Greek ; and it is remarkable that when once we leave the fountain head, 

 the farther we go from the source the clearer the stream runs, i. c, when 

 the modification ceases to bear that kind of resemblance that a caricature 

 has to the original, it presents something original in itself, and ceases to 

 be ofl'ensive to the eye. Perhaps the great merit of these styles when used 

 for domestic purposes consists in their pliancy and freedom from strict 

 rules. When well designed they present pleasing compositions, but never 

 can aim at anything higher. 



The Greek style has sulfered much from its professed admirers and re- 

 storers, and it has now to sustain an attack from its avowed enemies ; for 

 in onr own times and country the senseless cry of no Pagan, no Heathen, 

 is now raised against it ; as if the style which the short-sighted bigots 

 have selected to supply its place were not equally obnoxious to the charge. 

 Do these anti-Pagans not recollect that many of the sacred writings from 

 which they profess to draw their religion, were written in a Pagan tongue; 

 and that to acquire a knowledge of it and enable them to teach their reli- 

 gion to others, they store their minds with the history of all the abomina- 



tions of Paganism? ^Vhetber the Greek style be more suitable than the 

 one they have selected for the erection of </uir temples we do not pretend to 

 decide, but we do maintain " that things which are equal to the same are 

 equal to one another'' — and further, that the Christian dispensation was 

 not intended to overturn any of the practices, inventions, or institutions of 

 mankind which were not repugnant to its own laws and precepts. Ac- 

 cording to some the great temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem, was in the 

 Egyptian style, and to others in the early Greek of P*stum : in either 

 case the style must have been the same as that employed in the construc- 

 tion of Pagan temples. The Rev. James Dallaway, iu his Discourses on 

 ARciilTECTL'r.E, has fallen into an error in saying that " the Basilica of 

 St. Paul's, at Rome, erected by Constantine, had the earliest instance of 

 arches constructed on columns instead of piers," and may have Ud his 

 reverend brethren (unintentionally, we believe), into the error of hence 

 supposing that form to be of Christian invention ; but they cannot cod- 

 tinue to hold this opiuiou after examiniug Adam's View of Diocletian's 

 palace at Spalatro. 



With the exception of the form of the cross in the ground plan, the 

 mullions of windows, the rose or wheel windows, and the spirei, (important 

 features no doubt, yet insuflicient iu themselves to constitute a style), w« 

 know of no other characteristic that can be said to be exclusively of Chris- 

 tian limes or countries; for all else we are more or less indebtwl to tlie 

 Pagan or the Moslem. 



It was admitted, in a former part of this essay, that difference of climate 

 and habits may require dilferent descriptions of edifices, both public and 

 private, from those that were erected by the inventors of the Greek style; 

 but it cannot be too strenuously urged, as before stated, that if it be desired 

 to preserve the character of a style in its purity, we must adhere strictly 

 to the principles that guided its inventors, although, from circumstances, 

 we may be constrained to modify the stjle in its application. A Greek 

 composition is not a thing of shreds and patches, with a portico stuck on 

 its front; nor is it a receptacle for groups of mock pediments, a retreat for 

 a pigmy ordinance, nor yet an asylum for columns out of place. Simplicity 

 of the most bewitching kind, an air of repose and compleleuess, and the 

 most perfect harmony, pervade every part. It would be impossible to lay 

 the finger of criticism on any ornament and say that it could be dispensed 

 with, or its place more appropriately supplied by any other: such are tbe 

 examples which the architects of the age of Pericles have left for our in- 

 struction, and when we attempt to modify them to suit our present wants, 

 the great difficulty is to preserve their evanescent spirit ; still it appears 

 to be within the range of possibility to do so, but only by those who are 

 thoroughly imbued with the idea that these models contain iu themselves 

 the elements of perfection sufficient for a new creation of the art if all else 

 were lost. On that feeling the success of our adaptation depends; without 

 it, an edifice may have a verbal resemblance to the model wiihout possess- 

 ing its expression ; may be ornate, but not ornamental ; convenient, but 

 not symmetrical ; well constructed, but ill designed ; the work of a skilful 

 builder who understands his trade, but not the production of an acuom- 

 plishrd architect who aims at the highest walk in bis profession ; it may 

 induce the groundlings to stare, but it may also force the judicious to 

 grieve. 



With the sublime works of the ancient masters for our guidance in tbe 

 three orders we have sufficient materials to work upon, lo modify, combine, 

 and adapt for our present requirements, and the instruciiou of future ages. 

 As soon as we shall have these examples, not only in distant lauds and 

 geometrical elevations, but realised before our eyes in our own country, 

 then they must eliect an improvement in our taste, and then we shall be 

 better able to invent aud make new combinatious on the same unerring 

 principles exhibited iu our models; in short, we must first have a pristine 

 — not a cinijue— but a Jiorocfn<() revival; and it would appear that such 

 was the opinion of the Institute of British Architects in proposing ll>e 

 subject of tlie present essay. Let us commence then by discarding, in tvlo, 

 the emasculated Doric, and when we compose in the Doric itself let us 

 recollect that onr conceptions must be the works of giants, and not tbe 

 etl'urts of pigmies ; aud in the Ionic and Corinthian, that the ornate capi- 

 tals require ornamented shaft.s, and that sculpture adds much to the beauty 

 of the frieze in all the orders. We must also guard against breaking up 

 the entablature, and in the treatment of porticoes bear in remembrance 

 that those which are wanting iu depth must be deficient in beauty. Let us 

 also remeoiber that although windows be necessary evils, yet it is not 

 necessary to increase the evil by incongruous ornaments ; nnd that our 

 designs must have unity and be one whole, not a collection of separate 

 and distinct parts. 



