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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[NOVEMDEB, 



CHAPEL ARCHITECTURE. 



Chapel mid School Architi'cturc, ax appropriate to the linildntgs of 

 A'oncoiifoniiixt.i. Hy the Kev. J. F. Jouson. Loiuluii: Hamil- 

 ton, -Vtliiins, and Co. 1850. 



Till-: doric.il title attached to the name of the -writer may lead 

 some of our readers to take him for an amateur; but it seems .\lr. 

 Johion was articled, at Lincoln, to Mr. Edward James Willson, 

 I".S.,\., and left the drawiiifr-board for tlie W'esleyan ministry; nor 

 has he since been totally disconnected from architectural pursuits, 

 having been for many years secretary of the ^V'esleyaIl Chapel 

 liuildintf Committee. In this capacity he has rendered some 

 service to architecture, having greatly influenced the movement 

 for building chapels in the Gothic styles, and of more architectural 

 cliaracter, and having published several articles on the subject in 

 the Walclnniin newspaper, which now form the beginning of the 

 work before us. 



These observations will cause our readers to feel a greater 

 interest in the wcjrk, and will enable them to judge of its especial 

 tendency, which is to promote improved architecture, and the 

 employment of the mediieval styles, at the same time giving such 

 counsel to the ministers and other officials interested as may 

 enable them to co-operate with the architect, and obtain an efficient 

 building. We may hereafter have occasion to notice .Mr. Jobson's 

 remarks, advocating and enforcing the necessity of strictly acting 

 under professional advice in all structural operations. 



Mr. Jobson very naturally introduces his subject by an appeal 

 to the higher emotions, of wliich religious architecture is the 

 exjionent, and sympathy witli which is too often lost sight of by 

 many well-intentioned but little reflecting ])ersons. 



"^^"hat surpassing power there is in the mere theme of religion 

 to impel human energy to its highest efforts, and to enable genius 

 to transcend the artistic descri|ition of merely mortal concerns, 

 let the immortal poem just quoted testify. The greatest triumphs 

 in music — the '.Messiah,' with its unequalled grandeur and pathos; 

 the 'Israel in Egypt,' with its overwhelming choral magnificence; 

 the 'Creation,' with its elevated joy and rapt sweetness; the 'Mount 

 of Olives,' with its wondrous sublimity, — all bear witness to the 

 might there is in the theme of religion to raise and sustain the 

 powers of genius in its noblest exercises. The most perfect 

 achievements of the peiuSl — those of Raflaelle, and Michael 

 Augelo, and Leonardo da Vinci^verify the same position. Sculp- 

 ture is an art wliich, in modern tin\es, has been merely imitative of 

 ancient models; and those models of perfectness were, notoriously, 

 connected with religion, .'\ncient poets, like anciint sculptors, 

 consecrated their best efforts to religion; and seemed, indeed, as if 

 tliev dared not to begin to sing without invoking the aid of Divinity, 

 under such imperfect conceptions as they h.id of the Divine Nature 

 and existence. 



"The writer of these remarks is, nevertheless, not pleading for 

 a high style of elaboration and ornament in the erection of Wes- 

 leyan Chapels. He is prepared to maintain that tliey should have 

 110 tniiiecessari/ adornment. Let open spaces for hearing the word 

 of God, and for prayer be inclosed with walls and roofs. But, 

 liowever plainly construi-ted, our chapels should be of suitable 

 forms and in good proportions; these will not increase their cost. 

 Simplicity, rather tiian profuse elaboration, is the characteristic of 

 beauty. Deformity shocks the universal taste of civilised man. 

 How symmetrical, how simple and pleasing in their forms, are all 

 the works of (Jod! " 



Our writer next discusses the question of style, and his predi- 

 lections, as much as anything else, lead him to the preference of 

 the inedia>val styles, for which he is an enthusiastic votary. 



"A ^lethodist Chapel is a place for Christian worship. If 

 then, any style of arcliitecture can be shown to have arisen out of 

 the Christian religion, and to have been moulded by, and associated 

 with it, from early times, so as to have become the outward and 

 visible representation of Christian worship, — it is reasonable to 

 say tliat such a style should be |)referably selected; more especially 

 if it can be shown tliat this Chri.^timi style of architecture is not 

 inferior to any other style ever devised; tiiat it is not more expen- 

 sive; and that it is better ailapted to the country an<l climate in 

 wliicli we live. Such a style is that usually called 'Gothic' 



"(iothic arcliitec'ture is Christian architecture, as distinctly and 

 emphatically as the I'^gyptian, (Jreek, and Roman, are I'agan. 



'■(Jrecian arcliitecture was, in its origin, wooden. It was first 

 composed of trurdis of trees, with lintels laid across the top, and 

 with rafters resting upon them. These were afterwards covered 

 with ornaments; and when the Greeks came to employ marble and 



stone for building, they retained the same wooden type, and even 

 moulded and carved their ornaments to represent the beam ends, 

 and the wooden finish they originally made. Besides, a tirecian 

 temple was made for offering animal sacrifices. The priests, only, 

 went within, while the worshippers remained outsiile. The interior 

 was comparatively small and dark, being only lighted from the 

 top; and if, in professed imitation of the true classic model, win- 

 dows be made in the front and at the siiles, and the interior be 

 large, seated, and galleried, — the proportions and beauty of a pure 

 (Jrecian building must be violated. 



".Vn-iin, the roof of a Grecian building is low. A high pitch was 

 not required in the climate of Greece. \Vith us, roofs must be 

 constructed so as to resist the weather, and most readily tlirow off 

 snow and rain; so that a much higlier pitch of roof is required." 



Tlie next point .Mr. Jobson proceeds to urge on tiie W'esleyan 

 body is a very important one — the question of expense; and his 

 remarks will not fail to command the attention of architects, 

 because tliis is one of the points on which tliey are often called 

 upon to do battle in the cause of their art. .Mr. Jobson contends, 

 and all practical men will go with him, that good architecture is, 

 at any rate, not more costly than bad, and that, indeed, the balanee 

 is against the latter. He shows, moreover, that whatever false 

 economy may plead, the paid services of a good architect are 

 better than the unpaid and voluntary services of no architect, or 

 of au amateur, howe\er well meaning. His remarks are — 



"In adopting Gothic Architecture, we need not be inconsistent 

 with our professed form of Cliristianity, as Protestants, and Me- 

 thodists. 



'•But it may be said that Gothic .Architecture, while approjiriate 

 in the erection of churches, is not so as to chapels; and being, as 

 it is generally su)iposed, niucli mure e.s.peiisive tiian tlie Grecian 

 or Roman style — that is, if carried out in all its details — it would 

 be imprudent for .Methodists, who have no 'government grants' 

 for chapel-building; who are not partakers of 'Queen Anne's 

 bounty;' and who have no landed property to support their fabrics 

 with tlie necessary repairs, to adiqit such an unsuitable and costly 

 style. The answers to such objections are brief and decisive. 

 Tiie Gothic style of architecture is as fully suited to chapels as to 

 churdies, and much more so thaij either Grecian or Roman. These 

 'classic' styles, as already shown, must be barbarously interfered 

 with, in tlieir proportions, to place tier above tier; to make 

 numerous ojienings, both in the front and sides, for windows; and 

 to cover the whole with a roof of such a pitch as to be suitable to 

 our climate. On the other hand, Gothic architecture admits of 

 expansion or contraction to any extent. It may be as lofty in its 

 eiecticnis, or as low as we please. It may be simple and econo- 

 mical in its forms, as in the Early English — moderately orna- 

 mental, as in the Decorated — or elaborately adorned, as in the 

 Perpendicular. It has models, from the plainest chantries, which 

 are small in their dimensions, to the spacious and sumptuous 

 chapels of St. George's, Windsor — ^Henry VUth's Chapel, West- 

 minster — or that of King's College, (,'ambridge. 



".\iid, as to Ejprnse, it is a mistake, fostered by prejudice, to 

 su])])(ise that Gothic .Vrchitecture is neces-arily more costlv than 

 tirecian or Roman. In the forms most frequently employed in the 

 erection of ecclesiastical buildings, it is the cheapest. 'I'he Dis- 

 trict Church Building Committees, and the Free Church of Scot- 

 land, have proved this for themselves. .A.nd the -Methodists have 

 proved it. 'I he .Model Plan Committee, appointed by the last 

 Bristol Conference, applied to six of the most able architects, 

 residing in different parts of the kingdom, for designs, specifica- 

 tions, and estimates, in their quantities and prices, of a chapel to 

 accommodate seven hundred and fifty per.sons, in tiothic, Grecian, 

 or Roman styles: each architect to supply two designs — one in 

 (iothic, and the other in Grecian or Roman— with their estimates. 

 The result was, that in every cuse, the estimated cost of the erec- 

 tion of tlie Gotliic design was lesx than the estimated cost of the 

 others; and, in some instances, considerably less. .\nd this is 

 wliat miglit he expected; for one great recommendaticni of Gothic 

 Architi'cture is, tliat it employs no unnecessary forms merely in 

 the way of ornament, as other styles do. It requires no expen- 

 diture of ,500/. on five or six heavy and lofty columns to sujiport 

 notliing, as does P.igan .Vrchitecture. I know of one Grecian 

 fnnit of a .Metliodist Chapel which must, with its quadrangular 

 tiers of ctdumns and entald.iture, and with its flight of numerous 

 steps (neces.sary for its elevation, but most dangerous in frosty 

 weather — and, at all times, difficult for the aged), have cost as 

 much as all the cha]iel besides. And I could name another 

 Grecian Chapel in .Methodism that had no less tlian 5001. ex- 

 pended on its fluted-columned recess for the Communion-Table, 



