im 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[July, 



overpower all that follows. What strikes us as a fault in the general de- 

 sign — one, however, for which Mr. Sang is not answerable — is the want 

 of stained glass of some kind in the glazed skylight dome of the upper 

 hall, which is now rather too much of a blank, and whicli must, we think, 

 have not only a blank, but even a biack and therefore dismal look by 

 night, when it must show as a dark yawning void overhead. Such, in- 

 deed, would still have been the case had it been tilled in with painted or 

 embossed glass, unless it could also have been lighted of an evening from 

 the outside ; wherefore it would perhaps have been belter to close the 

 opening of the dome by a cove and plafond or horizontal ceiling, with 

 trausparent panels of painted glass, letlmg ihe present dome be an exter- 

 nal skylight, and within the intermediate space there might have been 

 gas-burners to shed light through the panels of the ceiling by night. 



But our pen is running away from us, and we are running away from 

 our proper subject. So let us return to the Exhibition, — No. IIGO, *' A 

 Library," (W. \V. Deane) possesses much merit in its idea, and a very un- 

 usual degree of scenic effect is produced by the semicircular recess lighted 

 from above and separated from the room by a screen of Corinthian co- 

 lumns (forming live open intercolumns) ; which order is continued by aula' 

 on the other walls, those on the window side being placed not as pilasters 

 against the piers, but at their angles, with Ihe draperies hung within the 

 embrasures or window recesses, so that, instead of at all concealing, those 

 curtains serve to relieve and set off the archiiectural forms. So far, this 

 design seems to us to fulfil even better than No. 127(1 does the title given 

 -to the latter, viz., " A design to illustrate an architectural arrangement of 

 draperies in a drawing-room," (J. Dwyer). Though drawings of the kind 

 are so few that as much show as possible should be made with them, Mr 

 Dwyer's is so placed as to fruslrate examination, but were it not for the 



■ intimalion in the catalogue we should never have suspected it to be intended 

 as a study of " arrangement of draperies," there being nothing at all novel 

 — as far as we can perceive — in that respect, except it be that what is 

 either an open doorT\ay or mirror at the end of the room, has a drapery 



- corresponding with those of the windows. — Nos. 1279 and 1355 show us 

 the " Staircase and Music Hall of Mr. Hullali's Singing School." (VV. 

 Westmacott) ; but where the building is, or is to be, is not said. The 

 style partakes of Tudor, modernized and enfeebled in character ; how- 

 ever, we have not a right to expect much in what we suppose is only the 

 speculation of a private individual. Less indulgently are we disposed 

 towards the very next No., viz. 1356, "The hall and staircase of a gentle- 

 man's residence executing from the designs and under the superintendence 

 of G. Mair." In its general idea it is rather the reverse of what would 

 be thought of as suitable in a residence at the present day, it being upon 

 the old system of hall and staircase thrown together, so as to form a lofty 



■ space that seems to occupy too much of the house, unless it be a very large 

 one. Neither is space here made to contribute to display ; while as to 

 character and detail, there is more of what is faulty, objectionable, and in- 

 convenient in Ihe Elizabethan style, than of what is meritorious in it, and 

 applicable in modern houses ; in short, it is rather what one would pre- 



' serve, had it previously existed, than now produce. — No. 1312, " Interior 

 of the Upper Chapel, Sau Benedetto, Subiaco" (D. Wyatt), is the finest 

 picture drawing iu the room — others equal to it we may occasionally have 

 seen — certainly some that we should prefer in point of subject ; for in- 

 stance, the Loggia of the Villa Madama, by G. Moore, — but for power 

 and mastery of execution, we cannot call to recollectiou anything superior. 

 With the force of oil it has a clearness which we seldom find in the very 

 best architectural pictures in oil, although there seems to be nothing to 

 biuder the highest finish and most deceptive degree of imitation being ob_ 

 taiaed in them, just as well as in still-life subjects — seldom worth the skill 

 and labour bestowed upon them. This production of Mr. D. Wyatt's — 

 whom we cau hardly suppose to be a young hand, although we never met 

 with his name before — is a perfect study for its execution, all the details 

 and different materials being most admirably expressed ; yet the whole is 

 in perfect keeping. — No. 1312, " Milan Cathedral," (F. W. Stent) is an- 

 other interior not a little remarkable, but more so for the singularity than 

 the excellence of its execution, force being here exaggerated into carica- 

 ture, for the tone of the whole is soexceedingly dark, and the lights which 

 fall upon a few prominent parts, so unnaturally brilliant, that the latter 

 look like so many pieces of mother-of-pearl inlaid on a ground of ebony. — 

 No. 1258, " Interior of the Church of the Apostles, Rome," (J. P. Crew), 

 is a drawing marked by the directly contrary fault of want of depth and 

 solidity, not however to such a degree as to be therefore faulty in itself, 

 and we only wish the artist had employed his pencil upon a better subject, 

 the building being in poor and tawdry taste :— however, rather this than 



so very stale a subject as that of Mr. Crew's other drawing, (No. 1248, A 

 View of the Coliseum from Ihe Arch of Titus). Sadly at a loss for sub. 

 jects for interiors must architectural draftsmen be, when they give us such 

 a one as No. 1I7G, than which one more destitute of merit or interest Oj- 

 any kind could hardly have been found in all London. Had the author of 

 that production walked into Moses' shop, he might hate found a rather 

 striking subject, at all events something quite fresh, but that any one should 

 think it worth while now to show us the " Interior of the Chapel of the 

 Foundling Hospital," is to us perfectly unaccountable. Me should have 

 been very suspicious of its being merely a copy from a print. 



There are still one or two drawings of interiors, which we have not yet 

 mentioned, because they belong rather to the class of designs for churches • 

 — of which it will be expected ihat we tliould say someihing, yet it is but 

 little thrtt we have to say, there being few of them at all distinguished by 

 any thing particularly good in them, or the contrary, except it happen to 

 be by the sort of merits and defects that are extolled or viiuperaled by the 

 " Ecclesiologist." What strikes us as rather singular, is, that among them 

 there are scarcely any drawings of Churches or Chapels in or near the 

 metropolis. St. John's, Charlotte-street, Filzioy-square ; St. Michael's 

 Pimlico; St. Andrew's, Mell's-street ; the Catholic Church, Farm-street ; 

 Bedford ( hapel, the newly erected campanile of the Caiholic Chapel 

 in Spanish-place, Manchester-square — not one of these are in the Exhibi- 

 tion. Those which are, are exclusively in ihe Gothic or mediaeval style 

 there being not a single drawing for church or chapel in any other 

 although Grecian or rather Greco-Italian seems fitter for buildings of Ihe 

 kind iu towns, and so far from being prejudiced against such style, by the 

 wrelched and insipid productions in it twenty years ago, tliey might now 

 be serviceable to us as warnings, and might convince us that should we 

 resume the style at all, we ought to treat it very differently from what it 

 then was. As lo (jothic, it is undoubtedly very much better understood 

 and practised than it was a quarter of a century ago or even much less 

 still it seems now to be got into a sort of respectable mannerism and me- 

 thod. Instead of design being left to be moulded by circumstances, every 

 part of a church must be shaped according to ceriain arbitrary regulations; 

 there must be this thing or that, though so far from its being at all re- 

 quired, inconvenience should be incurred by adopting it. Lucky is it for 

 Eton College Chapel that it is not a modern structure, since it falls short 

 of the present orthodox standard, in having ueither aisles nor chancel, nor 

 spire, nor even tower ; neither has it more than a single range of windows, 

 and those at a considerable height from the floor; yet it is not only a very 

 fine specimen of architecture both internally and externally — but also ex- 

 ceedingly well suited for the Protestant worship. Nor is it without reason 

 that we here mention it, there being three designs (12ti8, 1290, and 1290) 

 by J. M. Derick, and J. Shaw, fur restoring the interior. — No. 12CU, de- 

 scribed only as " View of a Church, designed by G. Alexander," without 

 the name of its locality ; — and Nos. 1295 and 13U7, exterior and interior of 

 "St. .lames, Seacroft, near Leeds, Yorkshire," (T. Hellyer,) are among 

 the best productions of this class. But none displays more forcibly the 

 enviable talent of being able to infuse a strong degree of character and 

 originality into what in most hands would prove a very insignificant sub- 

 ject, — than No. 1329, " Healy Church, now erecting in the parish of 

 Masham, Yorkshire," (E. B. Lamb). Small as it is in dimensions, and 

 simple as it is in style, this little edifice is so full of piquant expression that 

 it might pass for the ideal of an English tillage church. There is a great 

 deal of effect with scarcely any thing lo account for it, — it being that of a 

 fel icitous aggregate, and artist-like combination of parts. A design of this 

 kind is a very severe reproach upon the soulless and idealess compounds 

 of vulgar tawdry calling themselves designs for cathedrals and townhalls, 

 which however we will pass by, in mercy, without pointing to them by 

 their numbers or names. — The show of models this season is even poorer 

 than usual, and things of the sort are always so badly shown at the 

 Academy, so huddled up and jumbled together, that wc almost wonder 

 any should be sent at all. 



SUPPRESSION OF SMOKE. 



A report has been recently addressed to the Government by Sir Heory 

 De la Beche and Dr. Lyon Playfair, respecting the means and effects of 

 preveuting the smoke of furnaces. The following extracts will sulHcientlj 

 explain the conclusions arrived at. 



" The general principles upon which the combustion, or rather the pre- 

 vention of smoke, may be effected are now well known, and admitted to be 



