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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[August, 



design is certainly superior to the majority of those sent in, and very 

 far superior indeed to the one that, to the utter astonishment of every 

 body, obtained the highest premium ! 



Equally, or even still more curious is it, that the design for the 

 building in Threadneedle-street is by Mr. Moxhay himself. We do 

 not vouch for the truth of this: it may be mere report, but it has 

 never been contradicted or called in question ; and, at all events, there 

 is everv reason for believing that, whoever may have made the actual 

 drawincs, the ideas for the design are entirely Mr. M's own, the whole 

 being in character altogether different from that ob«eivable in any 

 other building about town, and from the manner of any other architect. 

 It is easy enough, therefore, to decide negatively, and say who could 

 certainly not have had any hand in the design. Hardly any professional 

 man would have ventured to propose sculpture upon such an extensive 

 scale, or have thought of making that predominate in the decoration, 

 to the utter exclusion of columns, pilasters, and other usual "proper- 

 ties" of architectural composition. Much more likely is it that a 

 " classical" architect would have said — for such was actually the case 

 in respect to one of the designs for the Royal Exchange — that the 

 sculpture might be omitted altogether, without in the least injuring 

 the general character of the building. In the opinion of such a one, 

 a blank panel would produce nearly as good an effect as Mr. Watson's 

 relief. Very rarely indeed does architecture extend any patronage 

 to sculpture in this country, otherwise than as mere heraldry, allowing 

 the sculptor to perform the part of coach-painter, and insert a tiny 

 ducal coronet, or some Gothic armorial bearings and their supporters 

 ■within the pediment of what is intended for a Grecian portico. Of 

 classical sculpture to any extent in this country, we have indeed one 

 example in the series of Homeric subjects which adorn the exterior 

 of the Marquis of Bristol's mansion at Ickworth ; and we have now 

 just got another in Threadneedle Street. 



Before putting aside our pen, we have to remark that the removal 

 of the French Protestant Church — a very ugly building in itself, 

 although of nearly the same physiognomy as almost all city churches, 

 not excepting the more admired than admirable ones by the "great" 

 Sir Christopher Wren — has been attended with a double advantage ; 

 for while it has made way for the new building in Threadneedle-street, 

 a new structure for that church is now erecting in St. Martin's Le 

 Grand, on the opposite side of way to and at no very great distance 

 from the Post Office. The style is Gothic, and although small, the 

 building promises to be very far better than almost anything of the 

 kind about town. Such is our impression at present, and we trust we 

 shall have no reason to depart from our opinion, when the building is 

 conioleted. 



THE SPIRIT OF ARCHITECTURE. 



It cannot, we conceive, be denied by the most resolute upholder of 

 modern greatness, that architecture has greatly declined among us in 

 these latter ages. The causes of this retrogression have been from 

 time to time pointed out in this journal as due to a want of adventure 

 among architects, and a blind adoration of the architectural forms of 

 Greece and Rome ; and these expositions have been received with the 

 incredulity natural to men whose prejudices suggested an opposite 

 doctrine, and wlio felt that the acknowledgment of architectural 

 degeneracy involved a sort of latent censure upon themselves. We, 

 therefore, propose to go into the subject a little more specifically, 

 with the view of showing that it is the spirit of architecture about 

 which architects ought to be truly solicitous, and that in architecture, 

 as in most other things, the spirit is oftenest and most deeply violated 

 by an indiscriminating adherence to the letter. We shall likewise. 

 have occasion to notice the present penury of real architectural skill, 

 and the pernicious influences of the existing modes of practice and 



should be unroofed a'toa;ether, especially as there are plenty of roofs on such 

 wcuasions, each guest bemg provided with the roof of — his own mouth 1 



instruction ; and we shall venture to suggest the adoption of certain 

 measures, by which these evils might, we conceive, be mitigated or 

 averted. We are too well acquainted with the untractable natures of 

 architects to imagine that any counsel or remonstrance of ours would 

 be much attended to, so long as it might be safely disregarded ; but 

 we believe we shall be able to show that architectural art, in the 

 proper sense of the term, is in a very precarious condition, and that 

 unless architects awaken from their lethargy, and do something for its 

 advancement or regeneration, the administration of the art will pass 

 from their hands into the hands of the new sect of decorators, or into 

 the hands of the civil engineers, and architecture, in the ancient and 

 proper meaning of the word, become extinct altogether. We think 

 architects are so obviously interested in preventing such a catastrophe, 

 that they may perhaps give some attention to the means adapted to 

 obviate its occurrence; and we are, therefore, induced to hope that 

 we may be heard with more patience and less incredulity than usual. 

 The svibject is manifestly an invidious one, and our remarks, therefore, 

 require much liberality of interpretation ; but we rely upon the temper 

 and judgment of those whom the inquiry most nearly concerns — upon 

 the absurdity of supposing that we should derive gratification from 

 being grutuitously censorious — and upon the fact which we, once for 

 all, assert as the key to our observations — that our animadversion is 

 not directed against individuals, but against systems. 



And we would, in the first place, remark that whatever architects 

 may think of the present condition of their art, the public opinion is 

 that it never was in a state of greater degradation. This opinion 

 architects may possibly deride : they may look upon pul)lic appro- 

 bation as no evidence of excellence, and public discountenance no test 

 of demerit, and may console themselves for the public alienation by 

 the pleasing emotions they themselves derive from their own combi- 

 nations and the congenial taste of a few eccentric virtuosi. But we 

 would beg leave to insinuate that it is not for their own gratification 

 that architects ought to work, but for the gratification of the public ; 

 not for a little knot of odd and pedantic men, but for the great bulk of 

 mankind ; and although architects may affect to despise the popular 

 taste as indiscriminating and uncultured, they will certainly find it 

 much nearer the standard of unperverted truth than any taste formed 

 in the narrow and exclusive circuit of a particular profession. Indeed 

 we look upon the technical quality of the taste which architects very 

 generally imbibe as one of the most serious hindrances to eminence in 

 their art. Certain objects become associated in their minds with 

 pleasurable emotion, which in the minds of other men are productive 

 only of indifference or disgust, as anatomical preparations of the brain 

 or intestines may appear beautiful to the medical student, though 

 exceedingly loathsome to every body else. Every profession is apt 

 to create particular bonds of association and particular habits of 

 thought, which it is the aim of all sensible men to exterminate or 

 conceal ; and in an art addressing itself to the world at large, any taste 

 deserves to be called bad vidiich is founded upon associations accidental 

 to a particular individual or profession, instead of upon such as are 

 universal and indestructible. Of all errors into which the mere ar- 

 chitect can fall, none is likely to be more pernicious than that of being 

 too architectural — of appealing to sympathies which architects alone 

 can feel — and relying upon classical allusions and microscopic graces 

 which to ordinary observers are invisible or insignificant. This is a 

 departure from the spirit of art, and a servile subserviency to the 

 letter ; and indeed it will generally be found in copying the forms of 

 ancient structures for modern uses, the deviation from the true prin- 

 ciples of art is in the exact proportion of the fidelity of the imitation. 

 To architects who have been long in the habit of contemplating with 

 little less than idolatry these creations of genius, the exact imitation 

 of their peculiar features is likely enough to excite emotions of beauty 

 that will be exceedingly strong; but in the minds of men in general, 

 the prominent sentiment excited will be that such structures are alto- 

 gether unfit for modern purposes, and as such are ineligible and un- 

 attractive. We therefore find that the most celebrated architects 

 since the time of the ancients have been the greatest innovators, and 

 what may seem still stranger, the greatest architects have net, properly 



