1812.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



0.3 



tration, administration of the army and navy; — combination of public and 

 private,— as the buildings of the Bank of Enilaii.i, and the East 

 India and South Sea Houses in Loudon, ordinary banking-houses, 

 oliices of assurance, and other companies administering business in public 

 and with the public. Collegiate and I'niversitv Uiildings have cer- 

 tain general requirements in common, but these arc few compared with the 

 iliversities that occur in them according to local, social, and other circnm- 

 stances, so that arrangements admirably adapted in one case niav be totally 

 unfitted for, or unsuited in, another. Suppose the buildings of any college 

 at Oxford or Cambridge. — suppose those of King's College at the latter imi- 

 versily. — to have been selected as models for the buildings of King's College in 

 London ; it will be obvious at a glance, that when the site of tiie latter is 

 determined to be part of that of Somerset I'lacc. the models are of no more 

 use in this case than a model of Somerset House, with its deep substructions, 

 would be for a Royal Palace upon the high and open jilatforni of Hyde Park. 

 The comliined school and hospital, as at Christ Church in London, must re- 

 (juire buildings widely ditt'erent from a proprietary college school, and so on 

 througli every variety, from the splendid collegiate buildings at Eton to the 

 humijle p.irish school. Miseims or Conservatories for the safe keeping 

 and preservation and convenient exposition of various objects, demand pecu- 

 liar treatment in their arrangement and distribution to fullil the ilitiercnt and 

 chifering conditions. — for exposure and preservation are with many tliinirs 

 almost incompatible with one another. Exhibition Rooms and Oalleries, 

 whether for works of art or for productions of industry, must be arraneed to 

 suit their peculiar ends, and with direct reference to them. There is room— 

 yerj- great room— for improvement in the arrangement of this class of build- 

 ings, for too frequently light is admitted in such manner as to throw heavy 

 shadows over the objects intended to be displayed, or the objects are rendered 

 invisible by the manner in which the light is made to fall upon them, or 

 again, the objects being placed behind or under glass, the observer linds a 

 reHection of himself or of the skylight frames, or other apparatus by which 

 light is admitted, instead of the picture, preparation, or specimen, which it 

 is his object to see. It may almost be considered waste of time for a young 

 architect to occupy himself in studying the arrangement and distribution 

 necessary to a Roval Palace, as it may be quite time enough for such a 

 matter when the occasion shall occur, but such buildings as Uoyal Palaces 

 have been wanted, and the arcliitect has been found wanting. ' Moreover, 

 buildings for combined state and service, part.-iking of the nature of palaces^ 

 though not royal residences, are not so unfrequently required, so that the' 

 study of even that class of buildings may not be thrown awav. Hospit\ls 

 for the sick in body, and .AsvLL'Ms for the diseased in mind— Prison.s for 

 the accused, and Penitentiaries for the convicted— Barracks for soldiers 

 and .Vrmoiries and .Vrsenals for the preparation and conservation of war- 

 like stores— Mills and Manvpactories, suited to the thousand arts of 

 industry— Storehouses for receiving and laying up the raw material, and 

 «AREHoisEs for thc reception of the manufactured goods— Shops and 

 f=ALE-Roo.Ms for the display and distribution of the various articles in a con- 

 ■■n for use- all h.ivc their peculiarities and ever,- peculiariiv in each par- 

 liar case is to be learnt and applied, so that the' brewer lua'v find that the 

 arciutect can improve upon the arrangements he bad deemed perfect in his brew- 

 cry, and the surgeon confess that the operating theatre of his hospital is better 

 adapted to its purposethan he bad imagineil possible. The largest class of build- 

 ings yet remains, and it will be found that great as thc varictv of requirement is 

 in buildings distinguished as public, it is even greater in the class of dwelling 

 HoisEs ; for although every house may be resolved into the three depart- 

 ments which the uses and habits of social life require.— everv house having 

 its sitting room, its sleeping room, and its cooking room,— the nobleman's 

 mansion must have these multiplied and extended, with accessories to include 

 all that hiiinan wants and wishes can demand, whilst the shopkeeper is 

 content to expose his gooils for sale in the best parts of his hmise, and to 

 ook, eat. and sleep where his business mav leave him room, and the la- 

 bourer in his turn is hut too glad to find his cottage so arranged bv the 

 economic ^kill of the architect, that cooking, eating, and sleeping, have' each 

 ■larate apartment. The idea of a peasant's cottage being included in thc 

 ■ esof an architect may excite a smile, but if architects were more em- 

 L-d u|ioi. peasant's cottages, there might be less occasion for their ser- 

 in liuibnng County Hospitals and Union Workhouses. With the class of 

 - ' luses may be included thc study of buildings which often become 

 to the dwelling-house, as stables to the mansion, and airicultural 

 ^ •. the farm-house, though, indeed, both have their peculiarities, 

 require much obscnation and careful consi.leratioii to adapt propcrlv to 

 I uses. Inns, hotels, club-houses, public libraries, and buildings for 'the 

 ■if societies or institutions for thc promotion or acquisition of knowled-e 

 their museums, their theatres or lecture rooms, and their reading 

 , imssess a mLxed pubUc and private character, and must be treated 



!e. in the cour<e of study for the architect— to make the course of 



•• comidele-the i.arlicular de^ign. arrangement and distribution 



1 hydraulic architecture : for the scpaiation of this into another 



u 01 practice, induced in great measure bv a ciiuse to which I shall 



h-^> left the architect ignorant of much that he ought lo know, whilst 



■r has not learnt what architecture in its complete form would 



There is, indeed, one class of works in particular, usuallv umbr- 



■;; the engineer, susceptible of being greatly impro\cd and' greailv 



mized. but It IS through an alteration in thc jtcreotvped arrangemuit 



. long usage has sanctioned, and thc cnginccr-architect is not architect 



enough to discover the fitness of the innovation, and ardiiiect^ have been 

 such slaves to a stereoty|icd system of architectural disposition that thev 

 would not venture upon, if they had discovered it. I allude to brid-es of 

 masonr.v, of which the design may. I believe, be greatly improved, while the 

 cost ol construction is materi.illy diminished. 



The Jirmneis and camnioilily of buildings being provided for. the deco 

 rative .lisposition. or the condition that Sir Henry Wotton distinguishes bv 

 the term rfeV,/ is to he considered ; not that thc consideration to this end 

 IS to be deferred or postponed, for if it be not present to thc mind of the 

 architect in designing for firmness and commoditv— if everv arrangement for 



a vertical tendency, 

 . , „ • ,^''^ ""^ """=• ^'i E?.vptian obelisk, a Grecia'n 



temple, a Roman aqueduct, a Gothic castle, and a pointed cathedral. 



the elements of beaut 



this the more especially, as they diifered from tiie commonly reccfi^d' doc- 



trines as to authority and example in these m.itters ; and'aslhave 

 believe, by means of the publication to which lallu.le. influenced the opi'i 



of m 



as I 



opinions 



rn'>rii 

 accui'l 



any ot my juniors in thc profession, whilst the appointment which I have 

 thc honour to hold in this college renders it probable th.it the etrcet of mv 

 opinions will have yet a still further influence upon those who mav be and 

 become students of architecture here. I have met the accustomed fate of 

 innovators, having been misrepresented by garbled extracts from what I have 

 said, in one quarter.— and my suggestions and illustrations have Iicen adopted 

 cxemphtied, ami put forth as his own, by another writer, who intimates in 

 the same volume, that I shall retract my opinions when I have crown old 

 enough to know hotter. The name that I was the first to suggest for the 

 beautiful style of architecture of which we mav be proud to possess the 

 finest exemplars and the best school in practice, has been adopted and 

 employed by many, but never, as far as my observation has reached, with the 

 slightest acknowledgment of the source from which tliev derived it. 



I can perceive, in what I wrote between ten and twelve vcars ago, manv 

 remarks that more practical knowledge, derived from loneer experience and a 

 more matured judgment, the gift of added years, would enable me to improve 

 in revising; but 1 do not find anything to retract in the opinions 1 expressed 

 or in the advice I oftere^l. I make thjs statement after havini: again looked 

 carefully througli the writings of Vitruvius, in the Enslish version of one of 

 his best-qu.ililied translators that 1 might not have to guess, with one of his 

 most ardent admirers and devotees, at his Greek as at his Latin, and thereby 

 come to a worse conclusion. I find now, as 1 found before, much fabulous 

 narrative, many unintelligible or inapplicable descriptions and direction* 

 some truisms upon thc art of building, some curious antiquarian reminis" 

 cences, and some excellent remarks upon professional conduct ami practice • 

 and I continue, thereupon, to bold the ojiinitu that I formed before I was' 

 twenty.five years of age, and published before I was thirtv, and now rc|>eat to 

 you, that " a student would acquire as correct a knowledge of history and of 

 geography from the 'Seven Champions of Christendom' and ' Gulliver's 

 Travels,' as of architecture from the existing writings of Vitruvius." 



.My own treatise upon architecture will be my text-book iu treating of the 

 various modes and styles of design, and of their appUcation in practice ; but 

 1 shall prefer to illustrate my observations by reference to works in execution 

 to any other mode, believing th.it I may thereby induce a habit of observation 

 in the student, which will be of much greater value to him in the formation 

 of his mind and in directing its application, than can ever be obtained bv thc 

 in-door study of drawings and models, or by the attempt to orisinate' and 

 design before the mind is formed and before the judgment can bc^naturcd. 

 Thc various forms, modes, and styles of design usually recoenizcd in archi- 

 tecture are generally conned by the student in drawings, and'lcarnt bv rote 

 III cojiying ; and the details thus acquired are often applied in practice, with- 

 out a thought or an idea on the part of the practitioner that architecture 

 consists in anything more than a repetition of those certain forms, disposed 

 according to certain fixed rules. In truth, however, each particular stvle 

 may be considered as a distinct and peculiar language ; and, like a language, 

 before a man can compose in it, he must not only learn to rcid and to%iic"ak 

 it, but to think in it ; and more than that, his liiind must be fully imbued 

 with the genius and spirit of the language, before his composilions'in it can 

 he rendered deserving of admiration, even when the power of original thought 

 is present. It is not all lueu that can speak and write, who can speak and 

 write u'ell even in their mother tongue; they are few who can compose with 

 e.-isc and elegance in another than their native language ; but where is the 

 mull to be found, competent to compose and to cypress himself with propriety 

 in each language of all the languages that possess a literature ? And wheie is 

 thc architect who can use with truth and iVeedom all the various st\les of 

 arehitectiirc ? Kathcr learn to use one stjle well than many styles bailly, 

 or )our (ireek will be like the nonsense verses of ichool-boyj' oinl your 

 English or Pointed C(uh| . , ., . 'of modern; 



with scraps fruiii all the . ibc sun. n: 



to the mere Lnglisli reaii. ,... and tattet,,, , ,.. an 



literate language, when useil Willi propriety, with proper knowledge of their 

 powers, and with sutbcient power to wield them. 



From what I have already laid, it will 1 think appear iiifticitntlv obvioui that 



