412 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[December 



The pump might be advantageously empioyed for evaporations in 

 all situations where motive power can be disposed of, or where fuel is 

 expensive. 



if you consider this communication worthy of a place in yo\ir Jour- 

 nal, I will at an tarly period send you an account of the experiments 

 made with the blast of high steam as a substitute for the pump. 

 1 remain, Sir, 



Your obedient servant, 



H. H. Edwards. 

 Park Village, East, Nov. 20, 1841. 



EPISODES OF PLAN. 



(CoHtinutd/rom page 34C.J 



As we have laid down no plari at all for our "Episodes," — which 

 though not so divided, may be considered as so many separate papers 

 on the same general subject, and may therefore be treated desultorily, 

 without regard to strict connection with each other, — we shall now 

 allow ourselves to deviate a little from our course by bringing forward 

 an entire plan, as exemplifying a combination of episodical parts, all 

 studied for effect, into one uniform design. 



Hardly need we say that the plan is that of a villa, or detached re- 

 sidence, nor is it by any means upon an extensive scale, — far less so, 

 indeed than many that are to be met with in publications containing 

 subjects of the same class. And if, unlike them, we confine ourselves 

 to the plan alone, without attempting to show any thing further, it is so 

 far an advantage that it compels us to dwell upon circumstances which 

 are almost invariably passed over without comment or remark of any 

 kind, in the publications just alluded to, as if the plan was matter of com- 

 paratively little consequence, and provided it be free from any very 

 obvioust defects and inconveniences — which, however, is not always 

 the case — study as to effect, variety, contrast may be dispensed with, 

 because, however poorly the architect may have performed his part, 

 the upholsterer will make amends when he comes to perform his. 

 The architect or designer himself is an unquestionable person, for it is 

 not to be expected of him that he sliou'.d anticipate answers relative 

 to all the JJ'/ii/s and tF/itirJhrea that his plan may suggest to other 

 persons ; or should explain the motives which have determined its 

 arrangement. 



In most c;ises indeed, tliere is very little, if any thing, to describe or 

 explain, to note or remark upon, nothing more being attempted than 

 to divide the plan into a certain number of rooms, without any study 

 as to variety or effect. Scarcely ever is a new idea brought froward : on 

 the contrary a good one seems sometimes to have been stopped short 

 of, merely owing to the most obvious one being caught hold of at once, 

 without further consideration being given to the subject. Yet even 

 such crude and common place plans are not altogether without their 

 use — that is, to those who have capacity enough to make such use of 

 them — because they serve to show the defects that ought to be avoid- 

 ed, and to make evident the deficiencies that ought to be guarded 

 against. It is very true a house may — if considered merely with re- 

 gard to its principal object as a dwelling — be an exceedingly good and 

 excellent one, even though it should be utterly deficient in any beau- 

 ties of plan ; yet such also it may be though it should possess no other 

 beauty of any kind to recommend it. And if it be worth while to 

 study elegance of exterior form and .ippearance, it is surely equally 

 so to study beauty of plan, — not mere internal decoration alone, but 

 also piquant variety in the forms of the several apartments, and in 

 their distribution. Nevertheless, the reverse is the usual practice, 

 for far more attention is bestowed on embellishment, whether as to 

 furniture or any thing else, than on the other sort of effect, notwith- 

 standing that this last must be provided for in the plan itself, whereas 

 deficient decoration can be snjiplied at anytime. 



Should it be said that all this is so obvious as to appear almost im- 

 pertinent, we ask why, if such be the case, architects sho\ild show 

 themselves so negligent of the ellects to be obtained from plans, and 

 why they do not urge upon their employers the paramount importance 

 of securing them, even should the additional cost that may be so in- 

 curred, occasion some matters of decoration to be postponed at the 

 time the building is erected ? These observations may, perhaps, be 

 very injudicious on our part, inasmuch, as the plan v^e here bring for- 

 Vfard, may be thought to fall far short of the standard we ourselves set 

 up. Must assuredly it is not for us to say that it affords a satisfactory 

 illustration of our own doctrine, that being a point we must leave 

 others to decide upon when we shall have explained, as we now pro- 

 ceed to do, what we have more particularly aimed at. 



Hardly can it be objected either that the plan is deficient in com- 

 pactness, or that economy has been disregarded, for the front is no 

 ir#re than 58 feet, and returns 27 feet at the ends; which would ac- 

 cord with it in their elevations, while the rest of the exterior might be 

 left plain or nearly so, the plan being there contracted, so that the rear 

 portion of the house would not interfere with the principal architec- 

 tural mass, more especially were any sort of terrace wall or screen, 

 although only five or six feet high, to be erected for a short distance 

 on the lines I t, the ground behind them being on a somewhat lower 

 level, so that the windows of the offices in the basement would there 

 be just above it. 



The style of the front is supposed to be Italian, and that part of the 

 exterior to have a comicione (indicated on the plan by the dotted 

 lines) which would of itself tend to mark out that portion as a distinct 

 composition there intended to terminate, its end elevations obviously 

 belonging to the front, and being independent of the rest of the sides 

 beyond them, where an intentional transition from decoration to plainness 

 takes place, the latter not at all interferring in this case with regularity 

 or consistency. Besides that much more than a single architectural 

 elevation is thus obtained, without continuing its return, for the entire 

 extent of the building, it is perhaps rather an advantage than the con- 

 trary,that the general outline is broken, and that formal box-like shape 

 avoided, wdiich generally gives such a disagreeable naked appearance 

 to a detached square house without wings or other accompaniments. 



Although the rest of the exterior is distmct from the principal com- 

 position it will be seen that that regularity is kept up in it, the rear or 

 conservatory front (here supposed to face the west or south-west) 

 presenting a uniform elevation that might either be plain or decorated, 

 according as circumstances should dictate. 



The principal or entrance front is exceedingly simjile in composi- 

 tion — though capable of being ornate in character, — it being astylar 

 and without breaks of any kind, and presenting only three openings in 

 width, the centre one of which forms a lofty arch to the niche-like 

 loggia or porch, which latter would afford a convenient shelter for 

 servants in attendance upon carriages. 



From the loggia a we first enter a vestibule h, small in itself, but 

 presenting a striking effect in consequence of the staircase being seen 

 beyond it (on a somewhat higher level) through the columns enclosing 

 it, and forming that space into a perfect rotunda, covered by a dome, 

 through which the light streams down from above, and relieves the 

 columns. It may, perhaps, be asked if a good deal is not lost by thus 

 inclosing the staircase, — whether it would not be belter to make what 

 is now the staircase and corridor a single octagonal hall, either putting 

 the stancase in it, or giving up some other part of the plan to the 

 latter. That certainly might be done, but besides that it would ma- 

 teriallv alter the present airangement for the worse in many respects, 

 such a hall would be too ambitious a feature in a house of this size, 

 and while it would take off from the importance of the two principal 

 rooms, would cause the others to look quite diminutive: whereas now 

 there is with apparently less pietension, greater novelty of character, 

 and sufficient degree of effect, yet not so much as to interfere with 

 that of the chief afiartments. There is likewise what we consider to 

 be an agreeable and desirable sort of intricacy attending the arrange- 

 ment here adopted, there being contealment as well as display. It is 

 impossilile fur a stranger to understand from what he sees on first en- 

 tering, the situation, or number of the rooms, or how they communi- 

 cate with each other. They are approached in such manner as to ap- 

 jiear at a consider.ible distance, consequently the house seems more 

 extensive than it is, — certainly very much more so than would be the 

 case, were the rooms E and F to open immediately into the vestibule 

 6, — to say nothing of the much greater privacy and comfort secur^ 

 by the arrangement here adopted. The privacy of the sitting rooms 

 is further increased by none of them b^ng made to communicate im- 

 mediately with the corridor, they being entered througu d d, two lob- 

 bies or small outer rooms — for their size hardly entitles them to be 

 called anterooms. Their smallness, however, would not prevent taste- 

 ful architectural character being bestowed upon them,— the less so as 

 tliere wuuUl be scarcely any occasion for the usu d articles of furniture 

 in them, but merely ornamental ones; on the other hand, it would by 

 contrast serve to give an air of spaciousness to the two larger rooms, 

 and even to render the others of good size in comparison with them. 



The ilrawing-room, E, is the largest of all, the dining-room, F, being 

 made somewhat less in its jilan than the other, in order to obtain a 

 staircase for serving Uji dinner, which must else be brought through 

 the back staircase, corridor, and lobby. What, therefore, is lost as to 

 size is amply made up by increased convenience, and also by variety, 

 becausa, instead of being merely a duplicate of the drawing-room in 

 its plan, it assumes a very different character; and although columns 

 are introduced in order to define the two alcoves more markedly, 

 there is still a clear central space of 20 by 14 feet, which is quite 



