IS 



TIIK CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Janparv, 



windows, the lowest range liaving three, circular-headed, with key- 

 stones, the place of the other two being occupied bv narrow doorwars. 

 This building is too high, the entrance too narrow, the doorways, 

 columns, and pediment cramped ; but, it is also evident, the architect 

 had no control over these: it was the stern necessity, arising from 

 want of spaci^. This must also excuse the narrow doorwavs of the 

 side, although it will nut do so the swelled frieze over it, a licentious 

 practice, made use of in few buildings of importance, except the Tem- 

 ple of Bacchus, near Rome, the Basilica of Antoniiuis, and afterwards 

 by Palladio, in the Uotunda of Capra, and a very few others. The 

 coroice of this building is remarkably fine, and, in the order of its 

 mouldings, n-sembles those of the Tem|)le of Jupiter Stator, in the 

 Campo Vaccino, the whole of w hicli is considered to be the finest spe- 

 cimen of the Corinthian order in the world. One regrets, that want of 

 means, or some other cause, prevents the least exjiosed sides of this 

 edifice being finished in the same style as the two principal fronts, 

 thus preventing that unity so essential to classic beauty. 



The Union Bank, comer of Fenwick-street and Brunswick-street, 

 has j\ist been completed, and, although it is but a small edifice, I re- 

 gard it as one of the completest, of its size, in the town. The front 

 has two chaste Ionic cohnnns, hi an/as, upon a high plinth, surmounted 

 by a pediment, iu wliich are some very bold ami admirable carvings, 

 ■whilst the frieze that surrounds the edifice is ornamented bv handsome 

 carvings of flowers, honeysuckles, &c. The cornice is plain and good, 

 and is surmounted by carved pedestals and handsome parapets. Under 

 the portico, also, are some very handsome illustrative carvings in high 

 W relief. The side is plain, but cliasle, the windows simple and original, 



and all the details excellent. 



After viewing these and many other buildings of the same kind, I 

 inquired for the edifice in which the branch portion of the business of 

 the Bank of Engl.ind is transacted in this town, naturally expecting an 

 edifice worthy of this great establishment, the profits it is reaping in 

 the town, and the spirit shown in the erection of so expensive a one in 

 London. But what was my astonishment and disappointment on being 

 shown a poor, little, paltry, pitiable place, in Hanover-street, where 

 there is neither beauty outside nor sufficient space in ; some places 

 dark, and all botched, inconvenient, and defective! Surelv, the levia- 

 than of Threadneedle-street will not be outdone by the pettiest bank- 

 ing-house in Liverpool. 



A stranger is also justly struck by the number, size, and excellence 

 of the Market-places here. The Fish Market is admirably suited to 

 its purposes, and tlie entrance to the Fish Hall presents a very quiet, 

 plain portico, expressive of its object. The St. John's Market, wliich 

 is, I believe, the largest in this county, has no external beautv, ;is it 

 consists, in front, of a mere brick wall, with stone entrance archway, 

 ■with a column on each side and entablature over them. But, upon 

 entering, one wlio has never been there before is much struck with the 

 width, height, and length, the span and construction of the open roof, 

 ■vi'hich, by constant repetition, as the eye looks down the long perspec- 

 tive of distance, has a curious effect. There are fine, broad avenues, 

 supported and divided by numerous tall, slender pillars, to the eye all 

 trending to the same point in the extreme distance, affording a beauti- 

 ful practical illusion of perspective, whilst the admirable mode of 

 lighting it gives, at certain times during the day, when the sun is 

 brightly shining through the windows, an ai-rial effect of light and 

 shade, and, in the distance, a dim atmospheric effect, that have been 

 often admired by artists. All this, with the fair faces and rich dresses 

 that are to be seen there, on market mornings: the luscious display of 

 apricots, peaches, and other fruits; the beautiful bunches of flow'ers, 

 of every kind, opening their petals to the day, -and spreading around a 

 delightful perfume ; with the coolness and sliadyness of tlie place, and 

 the clean appearance of the market women, so "different from those of 

 Birmingham, London, or elsewhere, renders it, though but a market, a 

 place wliere the stranger may well spend an hour's stroll. 



Eder. 

 ( To he continued.) 



ON THE STYLE OF INIGO JOXE.S. 

 We feel delight in reviewing the merits of a master, for as pupils 

 of design we are interested in whatever concerns the history of our 

 art : but we are more concerned in the criticism, when that master is 

 an Englishman, and that art our countrys. There is another interest 

 involved in the investigation; because "in descanting on style, we too 

 often pass over beauties and originalities, where the j)rev:uling senti- 

 ment is evidently borrowed. There is a disposition about us, to wave 

 that patient investigation of the detail, under which the independance 

 even of the borrower appe-.irs. Thus we say, in allusion to Inigo 

 Jones, that his style is Palladlo's. Certainly, there is the same modi, 

 licatiou of the orders, and the same appropriation of effect, perhaps 



the same selection of the parts. Certainly hi- style is I'alladio's, if 

 we except tivat, upon which the very groundwork of the Italian re- 

 poses ; viz. the skill of assorting and applying, materials alreadv fur- 

 nished. But then, he extracts no more from Palladio, than the" poet 

 does from nature, namely the elements and the matter. Indebted to 

 Palladio he is. as the poet is to nature, for the picture displaved, but 

 indebted he is also, to his own exquisite perception, for the soid which 

 can encompiiss, and the hand which can pencil anew, its beauties in 

 fresh combinations. He does not merely either leave Palladio full of 

 the impressions of that master, but betrays the critic too: arrested by 

 the elements, as much as by the effect by the parts, as much as by the 

 whole. Sucli and such only, is the connection of the English master 

 with the Italian; and if the latter deserve the homage of tlie southern 

 school, so also does the former merit the praises of the northern. And 

 if Palladio be recognized as the fathsr of combinations, so should 

 Jones be seen original in his conceits; whilst both .appear like distinct 

 genuises of music; making the instrument of design to arrest tne 

 mind, solely by the exquisite beauty of their creations. 



To follow hiigo Jones however in his arrangement, let us take him 

 in one of his grandest flights, where the combinations are most ex- 

 tended, and the distribution most difficult. -Suppose the front of 720 

 feet in the design for the Whitehall Palace. To distribute so long a 

 front, and to bestow upon it the necessary gradations in effect, required 

 several vast features in the first place: so the wings and the centre 

 are made distinct, in plan, profile and elevation. The centre being 

 tlie abode of dignity, and a focus for the eye, this is elevated above 

 that contiguous to it : the wings too are elevated, ;md here the variety 

 is first in the proportion, with the regulating principle an increase of 

 the parts as they distance from the eye. For had not a tower termi- 

 nated the facade, the eye would have fallen, and had not shadows 

 been cast from the wings, tameness and indistinct blending might have 

 resulted. Having resolved on general distinctions, Inigo Jones ap- 

 pears on a more intricate field, and here it is more important to follow 

 him, since here it is he rises above, and surpasses his imitators. 



First let us approach the centre, which though varying from others 

 of his design, illustrates, the peculiar artifices of his style. It is not 

 enough, be it observed, that the rusticated base w hich extends through- 

 out, should here be stopped; and that pedestals and their huger 

 columns shoidd rise, unbroken by an inferior part to the first cornice. 

 There is a fresh arrangement of variety yet to be considered. The 

 centre betrays infinite attention and careful study. He seems here to 

 have so diffused his features, that considered in itself and isolated 

 from the main building, it would yet betray an unity in its design: 

 unlike many of his followers who scatter their unity throughout the 

 whole. Although the heighth of the centre is very little more than 

 its width, the eye is yet insensibly led upwards to the tympanum 

 which crow ns it : and this not so much from the existence of that 

 tympanum, as from the minutiae. Nothing flat or depressed intrudes, 

 the eye sweeps upon the arched entrance to the arched w indow above ; 

 and from the arched window to the figures which recline thereon. 

 The argle made by those figures would meet in the biise of the shield; 

 whilst from the shield you at once forsake for the statue. Anotlier 

 glance however and fresh contrivances appear. The side compart- 

 ments of the centre, in obedience to the idea of a pyramid which 

 seems to float in Jones's mind, must not conduct you too hastily to the 

 apex ; because if so the principle of pyramidal truth would vanish. 

 To avoid this error then, and yet still to admit of tluit gradual taper- 

 ing, which in a pyramid is regular and unbroken, from the base to the 

 suuiniit; he has contrived in the side entrances, that their arches 

 should conduct the eye, not to the tympanum, that would be sudden; 

 but to the crown of the grand central" arch : for if a line be drawn from 

 the springing of the lesser arches to their crown; they would intersect 

 iu the crown of the greater arch. Then again, as if afraid that this 

 were too sudden an ;iscent of line so near the base, he introduces two 

 square panels over the lesser arches, as a relief to restore the balance, 

 as it were of form. On the upper story the same idea exists, and the 

 intersecting line of the lesser tympanums is in the centre of the head 

 from which a iestoon of flowers droop. A further scrutiny might still 

 reveal increasing artifice in comjiosition, but enongh has been said for 

 the merits of the centre. It will appear evident, 1 humbly believe as 

 the criticism proceeds, that Jones surpasses all his imitators in that 

 attention to the subordinate parts of his edifice. And this, be it re- 

 marked, is no trivia! allowance to make, when the very elements and 

 basis of Palladian doctrine, is combination; and that not in mere 

 generalaties, but in every part where consistency will admit a feature. 

 Leaving the centre for the void, contiguous to it, there appears notiiing 

 peculiar to him from the rest of his school. The piers between the 

 windows arc twice the windows' width, whilst the windows are twice 

 their height. The effect of this part, and its sober appearance is more 

 to be considered in connection with the edifice as a whole, than as in- 



