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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[November, 



the supremacy, and tliat these other elements should be made subser- 

 vient there, the wall— the column— the buttress, all can be employed 

 as accessories, and this latter with especial propriety, as having far 

 more use to perform in a building in which the semi-circular arch is 

 used than one in which the pointed arch prevails ; for the form of the 

 latter is such that it seems almost fully adapted to dispense with such 

 assistance, and though we would not use Gothic-shaped buttresses 

 and pinnacles with the semi-circular arch, yet why may we not rea- 

 dily use the thing itself, letting peculiar forms arise from its new as- 

 sociation and adaptation ? 



A mode of architecture would thus be formed which would be ca- 

 pable of every variety of use, and which would give scope to the 

 highest flights of genius and originality, borrowing even its decora- 

 tions from no arbitrary model, but creating them out of the very ne- 

 cessities of the case — an architecture whose primitive form could be 

 traced neither in wicker work, (according to Sir James Hall's theory 

 of the Gothic,) nor in log huts, (according to the Vitruvian account of 

 the Greek orders,) cotemporary tents, like the Chinese style, nor sub- 

 terranean excavations, the supposed prototype of the Egyptian, but 

 as essentially a creation of the art of building as when that art was 

 best understood. Such an architecture the world has been on the eve 

 of beholding twice, and yet it has never attained to the blessedness of 

 seeino- it accomplished ; the early Christian before the Gothic style 

 was formed, evincing, as we have just said, a decided tendency to the 

 formation of a perfect style of architecture, on the semi-circular 

 model, and the taste of the age, after the Gothic fell from its "high 

 estate," the age of the reformation, seeking out again the Roman 

 arch, but falling into the error of imitating Roman architecture, as it 

 is called, the architecture of Palladio and others, with all its absurdi- 

 ties, which unfortunately it look for a model, instead of developing 

 still further what previously had been attempted in the Norman style. 

 The formation of an architecture such as we have here imperfectly 

 sketched out is the work of all succeeding ages, it is what this age is 

 asking for, but without obtaining it, for false taste, the laws of prece- 

 dent, the idea of orders and styles (which never prevailed during the 

 formation of any real architecture) in fact the very reason which pre- 

 vented the Romans from creating an architecture, out of the very 

 principle of construction we have been considering, still prevail, and 

 are preventing us from producing anything in this art which we can 

 call our own. 



The architect who shall be bold enough to commence the innova- 

 tions necessary as preludes to such a state of art must stand in an im- 

 minent deadly breach. He cannot answer the question "In what 

 style is your design?" He cannot call it Roman, for it must violate 

 none of those principles of taste which they who have studied the 

 architecture of all nations — the well-informed — know to be true: it is 

 not Greek; it is not Gothic ; it is not Egyptian. The sentence will 

 be " away with it, we know not what it is I" 



But should there be found men sufficiently unprejudiced to suffer 

 such a style to be formed, one will arise admitting of all the excel- 

 lence of Roman construction, Grecian beauty, Gothic grandeur, and 

 Egyptian sublimity, with propriety of plan, purity of design, simpli- 

 city and utility in all its details; the days of small things shall have 

 passed away, and geniua will be no longer considered a supernumerary 

 qualification in an architect. 

 BaUimore, Maruland, 

 Ang. 26, 1842. 



MEMOIR OF THE LATE JOHN GOLDICUTT, ESQ, F.R. I. B. A., &c. 



It is with deep regret that we have to announce the decease of John Gol- 

 dicutt, Esq., artliitect, of Clarges Street, Piccadilly, who died on the Srd of 

 October, aged 40. His father was, for many years, the chief cashier and 

 confidential clerk at the banking house of Herries, I'arquhar & Co. ; and 

 observing in his son an early predilection for drawing, he placed him in the 

 office of the late Mr. Ilakewill, who executed considerable works at Kugby 

 School, and built St. Peter's church, Pimlico. Mr. Goldicutt soon acquired 

 considerable skill in drawing, and evinced a happj disposition for colours, a 



most important branch in the education of the architect. He soon joined an 

 association called the Architectural Students' Society, consisting of young 

 men, who met every fortnight in order to make sketches from given subjects, 

 .md thus acquire a facility of design. He on two occasions was a competitor 

 for the silver medal at the Royal .\cademy, and with this view measured and 

 drew out the facades of the India House and the Mansion House in successive 

 years, and was successful in carrying ofl" the prize for the latter subject. Mr. 

 Goldicutt throughout his life evinced the same ambition of distinction, and 

 on all public occasions was sure to enter the lists in any competition with his 

 professional brethren, which seemed to offer the prospect of a fair and 

 honourable adjudication. After avaiUng himself of the experience to he 

 acquired in the office of Mr. Hakewill, Mr. Goldicutt was sent by his father 

 abroad, and went first to Paris, where he entered the school of Monsieur 

 Achille Leclere, a distinguished pupil of Monsieur Percier, whose reputation 

 he sustained by tlie brilliant fruits of his studies as Pensioner of the French 

 Academy at Rome. Mr. Goldicutt completed, under this master, his studies 

 as a draughtsman, and regularly competed with his fellow students for the 

 monthly prizes in the Academic des Beaux Arts. He then went to Rome, 

 where he carried out his predilections for decorative architecture by making 

 a rich collection of sketches from the most valuable fragments of the ancient 

 monuments, llis most remarkable work, while residing in this capital of the 

 tiuc arts, was a splendid transverse section of St. Peter's church, which he 

 most elaborately worked up, representing the splendours of that remarkable 

 edifice, with all its sumptuous decoration of gold and colour, and splendid 

 pictures hy the first masters. This production, which is the hajipiest effort 

 at drawing of the English school of architecture, excited so much admiration 

 that he was prevailed upo'.i to submit it to the inspection of the Pope, who 

 presented him with a large gold medallion as a mark of his gracious approval. 

 After an absence of 3 or 4 years, Mr. Goldicutt returned to England, and 

 commenced his professional career of practice as an architect ; and soon his 

 refined taste, lively imagination, and facility of drawing, introduced him into 

 considerable private practise, and he severally carried off prizes in compe- 

 tition for the Post Ofhce, for the Limalic Asylum, and other buildings. Mr. 

 Goldicutt always entertained a most active and generous enthusiasm for his 

 art, and was ever one of the foremost to join in any proposition which he 

 thought would honour it and raise the profession in the estimation of the 

 public. He was one of the original foundtrs of the Royal Institute of Bri- 

 tish Architects, of which he was one of the first Honorary Secretaries ; and 

 in his own house originated the proposal of the Soane testimonial, in carrying 

 out which he devoted much time. The whole arrangements of decorating 

 Freemasons' Hall on the occasion of presenting Sir John Soanc with the 

 medal struck in his honour, devolved upon him ; and the taste and skill with 

 which he arranged the embellishments, excited the admiration of all present 

 on that venerable night. Mr. Goldicutt was elected Member of the Academy 

 of St. Luke's at Rome, and of the Academy of the Fine Arts at Naples. He 

 was a competitor for the Nelson monument, and sent in a design consisting 

 of a colossal figure of Nelson, standing on an immense globe, which reposed 

 upon a pedestal in the centre of a large basin, which served as a fountain. 

 The novelty of the design excited great attention at the time, hut so little 

 prepared is the public mind for any new conception at variance with its old 

 establishcii notions, that exception was taken to the daring project in many 

 of the public criticisms of the day. But we cannot but concur with the re- 

 mark of a distinguished amateur, who observed to us recently, that if such 

 a design had been executed in Germany to one of her great men, within 50 

 miles of the banks of the Rhine, there would not be a traveller on the waters 

 of that river who would not have made a point of going to see it. 



Mr. Goldicutt and Mr. Gutch were appointed by the vestry of Paddington 

 to carrv out a design which they bad submitted for the new church now in 

 course of erection in the Grand Junction Road. The style is Gothic, and the 

 accommodation is calculated for 1650 persons, 600 of the sittings being free, 

 and reserved for the poor. He had lived long enough to cover in the body 

 of the church, and had just commenced the steeple, to which he purposed 

 devoting great attention, in order to render it a masterpiece of taste iu design 

 and skill in execution ; hut like the lamented architect of St. Dunstan's new 

 church in Fleet Street, the late Mr. Shaw, his fate was not to live to see the 

 completion of a work in which he took the most intense interest up to the 

 moment of his decease. In fact, there never was an architect who felt a 

 more generous and devoted enthusiasm for his art, as all his feelings were 

 sure to be absorbed in any interesting subject which presented itself in con- 

 nexion with architecture ; and if he bad a drawing in hand, the midnight 

 hour and the earhest dawn of the morning found him unremitting iu his 

 application, until he had completed the pleasing task. His knowledge of 



