1850.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL 



to introduce a movement of retrog^ression to the styles and fashions 

 of a former age; which must, 1 fear, if not soon checked, prevent 

 for some long period all progress and improvement. And is it 

 strange and unaccountahle, that architects and architecture are 

 favoured with so small a share of puhlic consideration in the present 

 day, when it is remembered that, whilst in almost everything 

 connected with our social condition there has been manifested 

 the strougest determination to encourage progress and improve- 

 ir.ent— those who profess to be the patrons and supporters of this 

 really great and noble art, have exhibited an equally strong deter- 

 mination to go backwards; to prevent, so far as in them lies, the 

 introduction into the ecclesiastical edifices of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury, a single form or feature which has not been copied from some 

 medi'ajval building; and even to disfigure the windows of our 

 churches with such representations of the human form as were 

 produced by the old glass painters, because they were unable to 

 u-ive more correct delineations ? 



Professor Cockerell, in (I believe) his fifth Lecture of last Ses- 

 sion, at the Royal Academy, speaking of the fashions which have 

 prevailed in architecture, is reported to have said :— " The proofs 

 of this fact (fashion in architecture) abound. Churches were 

 Grecian, and for the last twenty years have been Gothic; intensely 

 Roman Catholic. The sense has' been wanting to understand that 

 we do not want a Greek temple for the reception of a chryselephan- 

 tine statue, nor a Roman church for processions, and a sight only 

 of the Eucharist; but a Protestant auditorium, suited to the An- 

 glican ritual, to which great purpose, all form of dress, of what- 

 ever order and fashion, must bend and adapt itself." In the 

 opinions thus expressed by the learned professor, I believe that 

 many thousands of his countrymen do most cordially agree. 



AVithout the slightest intention of making any disparaging re- 

 marks on the labours of those architects who have, with so nuich 

 care and skill, sought out and given correct and beautiful illus- 

 trations of the structures and architectural details of tlie middle 

 au-es, I would respectfully suggest that the time has now arrived, 

 ■H^hen the efforts so strenuously made in obtaining intelligence on 

 these subjects may well be slackened, and the talents of those 

 gifted individuals be directed to investigations which may result 

 in the production of novelty, beauty, fitness in design, and ol 

 greater economy, combined with durability and beauty in the con- 

 struction of our buildings; in adapting to the wants of the existing 

 generation those great discoveries in physical science which may, 

 and ought to increase so largely the diffusion of comfort and 

 rational enjoyment amongst all classes of the community; and in 

 making our age and country as remarkable for the dissemination 

 of a love of true art amongst the masses of the people, as it is for 

 an amount of commercial energy and enterprise which stand 

 unrivalled in the annals of the world. 



The homes of England have now, for many years, been considered 

 as worthy of our best attention, and no small portion of that indus- 

 trious perseverance for which our countrymen are justly celebrated 

 may be attributed to the desire of possessing a commodious and 

 healthful dwelling which so extensively prevails amongst them. 

 There was a time when men eared little whether or not these 

 homes were situated in the country, so that they contained the 

 requisite accommodation for their families. But this indifference 

 to position, which some time before the introduction of railway 

 travelling had been gradually lessening, has, since the develop- 

 ment of that wondrous system, almost wholly disappeared; and 

 men of all classes and conditions, influenced mainly by the facili- 

 ties for travelling which are now placed within their reach, appear 

 determined to find, or to build, in some rural district, such habi- 

 tations for themselves and their families as shall combine, with 

 every provision for comfort and convenience, as much of symmetry 

 and beautv as the talent of their architect and the means at their 

 disposal will allow. Whilst, however, men of various ranks and 

 stations are eagerly bent upon obtaining the unquestionable ad- 

 vantages of a country residence, and are disposed, in many cases, 

 to incur for the attainment of this object, such an expenditure 

 (however large) as may be really necessary, they are almost inva- 

 riably unwilling to make any considerable addition to their out- 

 lay, either for the purpose of building or casing their houses with 

 stone, instead of artificially formed materials, or for the introduc- 

 tion of features which, although generally found in ancient build- 

 ings, are now, from changes of habits and modes of living, no 

 longer useful. That this feeling, whether wright or wrong, does 

 very extensively prevail, not only among the professional and 

 trading portions of the community, but that it is also found in 

 many cases to exist among those who are possessed of high rank and 

 station, must be well known to many members of this Institute, 



Now, if we admit that a dry, commodious, and well-arranged 

 house does very materially assist in promoting the health and liap- 

 piness of those who occupy it; that the present cheap and easy 

 mode of travelling is leading to a very large increase of private 

 dwellings in the country; that those by whom these dwellings are 

 erected, although for the most part anxious to combine convenience 

 with beauty, will not consent to any considerable increase of ex- 

 penditure in the employment of natural instead of artificial mate- 

 rials, when the latter "are well adapted for the required purpose, 

 and possess both durability and beauty; and that in many localities 

 no stone or bricks can be obtained, which of themselves are 

 capable of excluding rain, or of resisting the destroying influences 

 of frost; it must, I think, be also granted, that few sulijects can 

 be more deserving of our liest attention, than those artificial cover- 

 ings or skins which are, in many cases, really indispensable, and 

 might in many others be most advantageously employed. 



To those objections which are made against these artificial 

 coverings on account of the expenses said to be incurred in repa- 

 rations, and in frequent repetitions of colouring or painting, I 

 attach but very little weight, because my own experience has 

 convinced me, that if the right materials are employed, no painting 

 or colouring will be required, and that the total cost of reparation 

 (when the materials are of good quality and the work well executed) 

 does not amount to any thing like one per cent, on the original 

 cost, within five years from its first completion; and after that 

 period has elapsed, I believe that its durability for fifty, seventy, 

 or even a hundred years, may very safely be predicted. That the 

 extent of durability and adaptability which artificially formed 

 materials possess, or which by further improvements and discove- 

 ries may hereafter be obtained, is the really important question, it 

 seems to me impossible to doubt; for it surely never can be seri- 

 ously asserted, that if by an expenditure of one thousand pounds, 

 or the amount of labour which that sum represents, we can obtain 

 in an artificial material more warmth and greater freedom from 

 damp internally, with as much beauty and durability externally, 

 as can be produced for four thousand pounds in stone, we are to 

 adopt the latter, and reject the former.^ Shall we not then act 

 like faithful stewards if, in many cases, when called upon to pre- 

 pare designs for the dwellings of our countrymen — buildings which 

 are to be numbered among the homes of England — we devote the 

 money which might be expended in an external case of stone, to 

 the increase of internal accommodation ; to the enlargement and 

 proper decoration of the apartments in which our clients and 

 tlieir families are to spend by far the larger portion of their time; 

 to rendering the building proof against the ravages of fire; to pro- 

 viding copious supplies of water, and numerous accommodations 

 and conveniences, which although required by the habits of the 

 age, and essential to the comfort and well-being of the tenants, 

 are yet not always found even in the most costly of our houses? 



As to the peculiar properties, the excellencies, or the defects of 

 the various cements and artificially formed materials, to which the 

 attention of the profession is so frequently solicited, it is not my 

 intention, on this occasion, to say much. There is, however, one 

 material which can perhaps scarcely be called a cement, according 

 to the general acceptation of the term, to which my attention has 

 been a good deal directed, and which has been very extensively 

 used under my directions. It is one with which most of you are 

 familiar, and 1 should not venture to offer the few remarks upon it 

 with which I am about to trouble you, if I did not believe that I 

 have had more than ordinary opportunities of testing its capabili- 

 ties in various ways, and in remarkably exposed situations. As it 

 is one, moreover, with which manufacturers of cements have little 

 or nothing to do (the process required in its preparation being 

 extremely simple and inexpensive), whatever I may say in favour 

 of its durability and beauty will not tend much to the advance- 

 ment of any particular interest. 



This material, usually known as stucco, is in reality nothing 

 more than mortar, formed either of blue lias lime, ground or slaked, 

 and mixed with pounded slag from the smelting furnaces; or of 

 the grey stone lime so extensively used in London, ground and 

 mixed with clean, sharp, carefully-washed, silicious sand, in the 

 proportion of one part of lime to three parts of sand, excepting for 

 the outer surface or facing, where nearly equal parts of lime and 

 sand are generally used. The lime and sand (whether silicious or 

 metallic) should be mixed well together (or gauged, as the work- 

 men call it) in small quantities, and applied immediately to the 

 work, which, in order to ensure success, should, in all cases, be 

 first well saturated witli water. AV'ith this mortar, formed in either 

 of the two ways which I have mentioned, and used by experienced 

 and skilful workmen, not only may a durable casing impervious to 



