SCIENCE 



NEW YORK, JUNE 3, 1895. 



AN ARCHITECTUEAL SCHOLAESHIP FOR PHILA- 

 DELPHIA. 



The attempt now being made in Philadelphia to found an 

 Architectural Travelling Scholarship in connection vvith the 

 University of Pennsylvania is a most interesting incident in 

 architectural education. The value of travelling scholar- 

 ships for study abroad has long been recognized in the older 

 architectural schools of the country. Boston has two, and 

 so has New York, in both of which cities they form not only 

 the richest prizes for the student, but are the climax to the 

 scheme of education. In Philadelphia rather a different 

 tack has been taken. Though the Architectural School of 

 the University of Pennsylvania is one of the youngest in 

 the country, it has, within a few yeai-s, become so firmly 

 established as to be able to make an appeal to the people 

 of Philadelphia for the endowment of this most important 

 enterprise. 



The success of this movement will mean much more than 

 the addition of one more attraction to the already rich list 

 brought to the University through the energy and tact of 

 the provost. Dr. William Pepper. Important as it is for 

 the future of the architectural school, it is much more im- 

 portant in indicating a new and healthy growth of archi- 

 tectural appreciation in a city which has long been a by- word 

 among architectural critics. However great may be the 

 merits of some Philadelphia buildings, its architecture, as a 

 whole, is much below the standard of other American cities. 

 That the large amount necessary to found a Travelling 

 Scholarship should be raised there, shows an increased ap- 

 preciation of the cBsthetic side of architecture, which the 

 buildings of the city scarcely indicate. This movement, 

 however, shows that at foundation the status of Philadelphia 

 architecture has been greatly underestimated. It shows that, 

 though Philadelphia architecture may not always be what it 

 should be, the architectural ideas prevalent in that city are 

 just what might be expected in any cultured community. It 

 shows an interest in the art that will work wonders in de- 

 termining the future architectural standing of the city. 



And this is what the scholarship is hoped to accomplish, 

 though in another way. Limited to draughtsmen of Phila- 

 delphia and Pennsylvania, the year devoted to foreign study 

 cannot but be highly beneficial to the city and State. The 

 training in the architectural schools is wholly preliminary 

 to professional work. Unlike the medical schools, they do 

 not undertake to turn out finished graduates, ready for busi- 

 ness, and prepared to design great monuments of art and 

 genius. The architectural graduate, on leaving his school, 

 is only prepared to begin his professional studies. Not only 

 has his preliminary work been directed towards this point, 

 but it has afforded him perhaps the only opportunity in his 

 life to become acquainted with the relative merits and forms 

 of every style of architecture. Every day architects are 

 specializing their work more and more, and limiting their 

 activity to some one particular style, or perhaps to some one 

 phase of a style. The draughtsman in the oiBce has, there- 



fore, no opportunity to become acquainted with any style 

 save that upon which his employer is engaged. His ideas 

 centre in one direction ; like the partly-educated man, his 

 horizon is limited, and possibly in the most unfortunate 

 manner. 



It is here the value of the school training in the history 

 of architecture comes in, for by this means the student is 

 enabled to review the entire history of architecture under an 

 intelligent and unprejudiced guide. He does not learn to 

 design in every style, — at least he should not, — he does not 

 learn the minutise of every school, nor practise eclecticism, 

 the most barbarous of all architectural sins. He is simply 

 storing his mind with images of great and beautiful build- 

 ings, just as the student of literature — to make a somewhat 

 unnecessary comparison — stores his mind with the beautiful 

 thoughts and styles of the master poets. Now if to this is 

 added a year of foreign study, in which the best architectural 

 jwoducts of man can be studied in the monuments them- 

 selves, in which practical problems of great magnitude can 

 be seen in their actual solution, in which the realities of 

 architecture can be appreciated in a^more real manner than 

 is possible from photographs and descriptions, and the stu- 

 dents see and study architecture in its monumental aspect, 

 the benefits from such a course may be readily seen. There 

 results a broadening of mind, and a keener appreciation of 

 architectural art than can be had by other means. This is 

 the value of architectural travelling scholarships, and this is 

 why the movement by the University of Pennsylvania means 

 so much for that city and the State. 



It must not be inferred that study abroad will make 

 dreamers of our architects, or instil foreign ideas in place of 

 native conceptions. We may not build cathedrals or palaces 

 or great monumental structures, but these edifices show how 

 very great architecture can be, and illustrate methods and 

 forms which can be studied in no other way. Refreshed 

 from a study of foreign architecture, the American student 

 is better able to grasp the conditions which surround the art 

 at home. He has seen what architects in ages less rich in 

 knowledge and mechanical appliances have accomplished, 

 and though his own problems may be difi^erent, the example 

 of former work spurs him on to better attempts. We hear 

 a good deal about American art for Americans, and the 

 futility of sending American artists to Paris to study. For- 

 tunately, we hear less of this than formerly, and we shall 

 hear less as the value of foreign study is appreciated. There 

 is no cry for American architecture for America, but the 

 value of foreign study to the architect is quite as valuable, 

 quite as useful, quite as necessary, as it is to the painter or 

 the sculptor. A year abroad is not for the purpose of learn- 

 ing how to copy foreign buildings, but to see and study 

 architectural masterpieces. To borrow a previous illustra- 

 tion, the student of literatui'C does not study Shakespeare 

 with the hope or thought of imitating him, but of gaining 

 some helpful insights into the masterpieces of literature. It 

 is on this principle the ai'chitectural scholarships are founded. 

 And it is on this the University of Pennsylvania makes its 

 appeal for a Travelling Scholarship. Barr Ferree. 



New York. 



