1816.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



105 



stale, the proRress made is siiSicientto lead us to hope that this new church 

 when conipleled will be an addilional proof of the advancs made ia the 

 knowledge of Christian architecture during the last few jears. 



169 feet. 



61 „ 



92 „ 



34 ,. 



37 „ 



65 „ 



200 



South Haciney New Church. 



The plan of the building shows a nave, transepts and chancel, and a 

 western tower. The archway of the entrance in the tower is aeren ftet in 

 liepth,— a gratifying contrast to the miserably shallow doorways of some 

 •f our recent churches. The following will be the principal dimensions of 

 «ii4S Church when completed : — 



Length from east to west internally 



Width of nave and aisles 



Length from north to south in the transepts 



Width of the transepts 



Heishl internally to the top of the walls . 



Height to apex of the roof 



Height of tower and spire 



Unlike the churches which we had occasion to notice last month.'thised 



fiee will ha\e north and south windows in the aisles, and will not be lighted 



by a clerestory exclusively. We should however like to have seen more 



light admitted from the lower, and less from the upper, windows. It is 



not necessary to repeat what we have already insisted upon, that to let in 



a euod of light near the roof is to admit it lo the grea est disadvantage as 



regards picturesque effect. The roofs ought to appear dim, shadowy and 



ftbscure— especially in a church of the early style here chosen; it was not 



imtil the decline of art in the Perpendicular period that the upper parts of 



•hurches were brilliantly illuminated. 



No criticism is complete without it delect some faults, we roust there- 

 fore endeavour to find some, though we confess that our feeling in favour 

 of the general merits of Mr. HakewiU's design renders the task somewhat 

 difficult. The tower is perhaps too much cut up into parts by string 

 Bourses, &c. ; some of these might be omitted with advantage, for a tower 

 •hould have the character of massiveness and strenalh, and consequently 

 the parts should be large and well defined. Neither do we much admire 

 the position of the statues at the base of the spire : there is always an idea 

 of awkwardness and insecurity attached to a statue perched upon a point, 

 or in any way overhanging its base. In the drawing which Mr. Hakewili 

 baa been kind enough to send us, the form of the flying buttresses seemed 

 rather formal, and the manner in which the upper parts of the buttresses 

 at the angles of the transept met the wall appeared abrupt. 

 , However, these ar* matters of deUU whieh the architect will be able to 



alter, if he see fit, during the progress of the works ; the general character 

 of the church, (he massiveness and boldness of the features, and the conse- 

 quent depth of the shadows contrast very advantageously wiih \.be flattest 

 and showiness which modern churches too frequently exhibit. The mate- 

 rials are Kentish ragstone, with Bath-slone dressings ; the good taste of 

 the architect will, we are confident, lead him to reject fictitious or imitative 

 materials. 



Our acknowledgements are due to several architects, to whom we have 

 applied, for the readiness with which they have afforded information of 

 churches in the course of erection under their superintendence. We shaU 

 feel obliged by receiving notices of new churches in or near London : these 

 notices should be accompanied by a list of principal dimensions, and must 

 not contain any remarks of a critical character. We shall also be glad lo 

 publish views of churches of which the general composition is good, or 

 illustrations of interesting details ; in the latter the jointing of the masonry 

 should always be distinctly shown. 



BOYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION: ARCHITECTURE. 



SECOND NOTICE, 



It might be imagined that of Interiors there would be an abundance rather 

 than a deficiency, because eacli single building contains a great many divi- 

 sions within, and although only two or three of the principal parts or 

 apartments may be of any architectural importance, subjects of that kind 

 would still greatly out number the buildings themselves. Nevertheless 

 such drawings— whether designs or views— are rarities and exceptions 

 notwithstanding that designs for rooms and their decorations would be 

 somewhat less chimerical than those for cathedrals and other buildings on 

 " monster" scale. Unless the private mansions and other edifices of which 

 we meet with drawings at the exhibiiions, be totally devoid of archileclu- 

 ral interest within, there must be a great deal that is withheld from as • 

 which is the more lo be regretted, because it is through drawings alone 

 that the public can become acquainted with what lies on the other side of 

 the threshold of a private residence. We should therefore have been thank- 

 ful had we been favoured by the sight of a drawing or two— nay, even of 

 a single one, in evidence of the taste displayed by the noble President of 

 the Institute of British architects, in his newly fitted-up mansion Wrest 

 House. Either it has been fulsomely flattered by newspaper paragraphs 

 and the " suraptuousness" which, it seems, characterizes it, is after all 

 little better than extravagantly costly commonplace, or there must be some- 

 thing in it well worth seeing ; whereas now we hiive neither verbal nor 

 graphic description lo give us any idea of what it really is. Earl de Grey 

 however, chooses to conceal hi» light under a bushel,— at least, from £u«h 

 as ourselves, and by so doing he shows one thing— thai he is oblivious of 

 or else indifferent lo, his connection with architecture as the President of 

 the Institute ;— whose members, by the by, require to be spurred on to 

 support the Academy's exhibitions. 



After these very grumbling remarks, it may be some relief when we say 

 that the present season is not more barren of Interiors than usual for 

 which we have chiefly to thank Mr. Sang, who exhibits four subjects of 

 the kind, Nos. 1202, 1336, 1337, and 1358, the first of them a sectional 

 view of the ambulatory of the merchants' area in the Royal Exchange 

 and Ihe other three, views of Ihe Grand Staircase, Lower Hall, and Up- 

 per Hall of the Conservative Club-house. These last are especially wel- 

 come, because the Club-house is not open to every one, as the Exchange 

 is, and even those who like ourselves have had Ihe opportunity of going 

 over the building, cannot have such favour renewed at pleasure. Yet for 

 teeing any drawings of it at all we are perhaps entirely indebted to Mr. 

 Sang's share in the work, which, we hardly need say, is confined to the 

 encaustic polychromic decorations of the architecture. Except that Ihey 

 are in perspective, the drawings themselves make very little more preten- 

 sion to pictorial expression than coloured sections would do, artist-lika 

 treatment and effect of light and shade being renounced in them for the 

 purpose of showing with all possible distinctness the actual colours and 

 ornamental patterns. Hence they are to be looked upon not as pictures 

 but merely as graphic descriptions aad explanations of those parts of ihe 

 interior which they represent. As respects the decoration, we think it is 

 rather too minute and showy to be altogether in character for the places 

 where it is iniroduced.themost effect of all in the building being thrown into 

 what requires to be rather subdued than exaggerated, and not allowed to 



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