163 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Junk, 



ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF COLUMNS AND PEDIMENTS 

 AS WINDOW MOULDINGS. 



*' Why, His a cockle or a walnut shell, 

 A knack, a toy, a trick, a baby's cap ; 

 Away with It ! come, let me have a bigger. 



Taming the Ahreui. 



In inirsuinK the consistent development of the subserviency of decoration 

 to utility iu chissic architrcture, we crae to a division of our subject con- 

 cerninir which it is almost impossible to obtain information from authentic 

 examples. Kespecting the forms of windows adopted by the founders of 

 classic architecuire, we have little to guide us except mere surmise for ot 

 the domestic architecture of the Greeks we are entirely ignorant, and tbeir 

 temples, as far as we know, were lighted exclusively by the doorways or 



from the roof. . . n r _ 



The modern forms of window-architraves are derived principally frorn 

 the architecture of the period of Revival, as it is called, in the fifteenth 

 century And notwithstanding the multiplicity of forms of wmdow-deco- 

 rations which this stjle exhibits, we may observe one general characteristic 

 which distinguishes them from those of Pointed architecture. In I ointed 

 architecture the sides of the window-opening, in the thickness of the wall, 

 aresplayed-tl.atis, the jambs, the lintel, and the sill are not at right 

 angles to the face of the wall, but inclined obliquely. In the splay are 

 sunk mouldings, frequently of the most elaborate description, which con- 

 stitute the principal, and commonly the only, decoration of the window. I he 



decorations on the face of the external wall are comparatively unpretend- 

 ing-cenerally no more than a simple label or hood-moulding. It is true 

 that a"s the art advanced, and especially in the last period of it, the square- 

 headed windows were decorated with elaborate spandrels, &c. But still, 

 as a generHl rule sufficiently accurate for our purpose, we may slate that 

 Pointed windows are characterized by the decoration of their splayed sur- 

 faces * In buildings of Classic architecture, on the contrary, the decora- 

 tions of the windows are almost universally in the plane of the exterior 

 wall, and the jambs and lintel are seldom moulded or cut obliquely in the 

 thickness of the wall. . . 



Among the commonest ornaments of Italian windows are miniature 

 pediments stuck upon the exterior wall, and apparently supported by con- 

 soles or by miniature pillars. There are several reasons for concluding 

 that this use of pedimeuts and pillars is contrary to the principles of pure 

 taste The most obvious reasons are that these members, when so ap- 

 plied, are factitious appendages, that they unavoidably have the appear- 

 ance of being s<«cA: «», and that they are dwarf imitations of members 

 whichalwaysare,orought to be, used constructively. 



But it may be answered, that all ornaments of windows are subject to 

 this latter objection, that they are not used constructively ; that this objec- 

 tion necessarily applies to all decorations on the surface of external walls 

 -to the hoo.i-mouldi.igs, for instance, of Pointed windows. This coa- 

 sideratiou certainly lessens the weight of the original objection when ap- 

 plied to pillars and pediments ; so that it is impossible to consider the use 

 of small pillars for the decoration of windows quite so flagrant an offence 

 against •'ood t»ste as the hoisting of full-sized columns to the upper story 

 of buildings. But still, the minor fault is not excused by the existence of 

 a greater one. To window columns is attached that sense of the ludicrous 

 which is inseparable from diminutive resemblances of things noble and dig- 

 nified iu themselves. A dwarf may be extremely well formed, but no one can 

 attribute to him ihe idea of digmUj. A little column may be a symmetrical 

 „bi..ct but It can never be a dignified one, simply because of its resem- 

 blance to architectural members, which, in all pure architecture, are made 

 of great strength and size in order that they may perform their natural 



" Thu»-e isolated column used to support a monumental statue, and a 

 ni.nny c'olunin used to decorate a window, are the opposite extremes of 

 ah'^surdity The one has the hideous coarseness and exaggerated fea- 

 tures of a giant, the other the ludicrous littleness of a mannikm : they 

 should be transported to the kingdoms of Brobdignag and L.lliput respec- 



" The real objection to window-colomns is-not so much that they 

 are not used constructively (for in that respect they resemble all other 

 window decorations) as that they are copies of members which ur,: used 

 couslrnctively. Simple mouldings like those of the h,rer range of win- 

 dows in the Reform Club House may be extremely graceful and appropriate 

 to their purpose, but window-columns have too much the appearance of 



* W.. are here of course. speakinK of ancient Pointed architecture. In some of the 

 starved muJm specimens the'walla are so thin, that they do uot admit of any splay. 



caricatures: the resemblance to their prototypes is, to use the mildest 

 term, extremely unfortuuaie. If window-dressings be-and they must be 

 —merely decorative, it is at least unnecessary that their forms should re- 

 mind us of what are by far the principal members of classic architecture 

 —the gable-end of the roof and the columns which sustain its weight. 



Imagine for a moment the same anomaly existing in Pointed architec 

 ture Let us conceive the effect of diminutive buttresses or miniature 

 spires stuck against the sides of the windows! Can anything more lu- 

 dicrous be imagined ' And yet it is very difficult to see why this degrada- 

 tion of the most m.jestic architectural forms to base uses should be more 

 absurd in one style than in another. 



It may here possibly be replied, that in Pointed architecture, door-ways, 

 and arches of entrance (which, in many respects, fall under the same rules 

 as windows), are decorated with series of shafts or slender columns. But 

 this objection is entirely obviated by the consideration that in these cases 

 the columns are not merely decorative-that they have an ofhce to perform, 

 and perform it ; being, in fact, the imposts of arches which sustain the 

 superincumbent masonry. 



But even supposing the above considerations insufficient, what we look 

 upon as a fatal objection to window-columns and window-pediments is the 

 utter barrenness of invention which they display. By the adoption of 

 them, we seem to say to the first great founders of Classic architecture, 

 " You have given us full and explicit information on every point of your 

 system but one-the treatment of windows. It is the only point on which 

 you have left us to our invention ; but we are unable to invent or think for 

 ourselves, and therefore we copy over again some of your forms, and apply 

 them in absolute indifference of their original purpose." Now this hu- 

 miliating confession is all the more unnecessary, because the possibility of 

 designing window-mouldings which are not only intrinsically beautilul but 

 perfectly appropriate has been proved by actual example. The palaces of 

 Italy exhibit a great number of these designs, and we have already in- 

 stanced the exceedingly graceful forms of the windows of the ground 

 floor of the Reform Club House. 



We said that it was difficult to see why the application of architectural 

 members to ignominious purposes should be more ludicrous in Classic than 

 in Pointed architecture. And yet, perhaps, it may be easy to find a rea- 

 son for this inconsistency. It is that in the one case we are reconciled by 

 long custom to absurdities, which in the other, either never existed or have 

 lon^ been lost si^ht of. We have, in our own country, pure and genume 

 specimensof the skill of the Mediaeval architects; consequently, we are 

 able to study these great masters in their own language, so to speak, with- 

 out the intervention of translations. With respect to the Greek architects, 

 however we have not these advantages ; we take our notions at second- 

 hand from the Romans, or at third-hand from the Italians, and, conse- 

 quently, frequently make gross blunders from mistaking the meaning of 

 our teachers. Mediajval architecture has now, happily, begun to be stu- 

 died philosophically-that is, we are not now content with mechanically 

 copying the forms adopted by the Christian architects; we study the 

 principles which produced those forms. Why should it not be so with 

 Classic architecture also? Why should the most monstrous absurdities 

 be perpetrated daily, because we will uot leave the beaten path of mere 

 imitation, and think for ourselves? 



Sydney Smith defines wit to be the discovery of a real and accurate rela- 

 tion between sufijects, which to ordinary understandings, do not appear con- 

 nected. All the great emotions of the mind and the idea of utility are 

 inimical to wit. "There are many mechanical contrivances," says he 

 (Collected works. Vol. 1.), " which excite sensations similar to wit, but 

 the attention is absorbed by their utility." The converse of this idea is 

 also true- for when things to which the idea of utility is attached are, by 

 accidental circumstance, rendered useless, they seldom fail lo excte lu- 

 dicrous emotions. It is for this reason that a man who is so fat that he is 

 incapacitated from active exertion is usually an object of ridicule, and 

 that a man confined in the stocks gels mure laughter than pity. An ex- 

 tremely small model of a steam-engine frequently elicits from the observer 

 a smile which if he were to analyse his own feelings, is caused by a mental 

 comparison of the obvious inutility of the model with the g.gani.c power 

 of a large engine. Again, there is a story of some one, who in speaking 

 of the rapid advance of the mechanical arts in modern times, suggested 

 (perhaps rather irreverently) that we should soon have "cast-iron parsons. 

 The absurdity of the notion evidently arises from the consideration that 

 however much the machine might resemble the minister in outward form, 

 there would be no hope of rendering it capable of performing the ministe- 

 rial functions. Many other instances might be adduced in which the m- 



