March, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



THE ARCHITECTURAL LEAGUE 

 EXHIBITION 



THE annual exhibition of the Architec- 

 tural League, which is now being 

 held in the Fine Arts Building, com- 

 memorates the 25th anniversary of its ex- 

 istence. The League was organized as a 

 sketch club in 1881, by eighteen men; re- 

 organized in 1885. and incorporated in 1888 

 by"a body of sixty-six members. Its mem- 

 bership consists of architects, with some 

 sculptors and mural painters ; the last com- 

 ing to the League under the head of the 

 allied arts ; for the work of the sculptor and 

 mural painter are in reality closely allied to 

 that of the architect. Before the Fine Arts 

 Building was constructed, the exhibitions of 

 the League were held in various French 

 restaurants throughout the city ; but since 

 1892 the Society has occupied its own rooms 

 with galleries for its own exhibitions. As 

 the Society has grown in importance it has 

 developed from a social organization to one 

 devoted to the holding of annual exhibi- 

 tions, wherein the current work of its mem- 

 bers in architecture, sculpture and painting, 

 is shown with the purpose of impressing 

 upon the public mind the value of better 

 architecture, and this is what it should do. 

 As years have gone by, the atmosphere of 

 the annual exhibition has changed from 

 time to time, being an expression of the 

 personnel of the various committees. 



The influence of the Society was origin- 

 ally that of the American trained architect, 

 who was represented by men graduated 

 from the various schools of architecture in 

 this country. As the organization devel- 

 oped, that influence, possibly through some 

 lack of interest, became less conspicuous, 

 while the ever present enthusiasm of the 

 student of the French school became a 

 dominant factor in the character of the 

 exhibitions which have been held during 

 the past four or five years. The result is, 

 that the various committees of the more 

 recent exhibitions have forgotten that 

 architecture is more the expression of the 

 desire of the pubhc through the architect 

 as its instrument, than of its desire of being 

 an instrument of the architect. As an ex- 

 hibition of finely executed drawings ic is 

 a great success ; it is splendid. But as one 

 of domestic architecture it is an absolute 

 failure : that is, from the layman's point of 

 view. This is not a criticism of the gallery 

 of mural paintings, which comprises a 

 splendid collection, carefully selected and 

 hung in a most masterly manner. Neither 

 is it a criticism of the exhibit of sculpture, 

 which is excellent, nor of the high standard 

 of the collection of drawings hung in the 

 gallery of architecture; but it is a criticism 

 of the lack of. domestic architecture in the 

 gallery devoted to architecture. It is all 

 very well for the architect to visit the ex- 

 hibition, for he c-m see and enjoy with keen 

 appreciation the beauty and charm of the 

 many excellent drawings presented, but for 



the layman it is quite different. What the 

 latter wants, and he certainly should be 

 considered, is an exhibition of less tech- 

 nique and of more practical use, for_ the 

 reason that the only object of his visit to 

 the exhibition is to find out what is being 

 done throughout the country and to be able 

 to observe the best work of a particular 

 style as done by a particular architect. _ 



Architects as a class are too much given 

 to introspection. They live within them- 

 selves in one room and forget when hold- 

 ing aloof in their own atmosphere that they 

 are apt to neglect a public with money and 

 a taste to spend it, whose point of view 

 should to an extent enter into the consid- 

 eration of the profession. 



He wants information and help and that 

 is why he goes there. Architecture, to-day, 

 is to a certain extent classified, and it does 

 not matter whether the subjects exhibited 

 present the work of the man who stands at 

 the head of his profession, or at the bottom 

 of the ladder; the subjects submitted should 

 stand or fall on their merits. 



AVhere there is one man who wants to 

 see a municipal or commercial building, 

 there are a hundred who are interested in 

 the country house. This interest is neces- 

 sarily brought about by the great demand 

 for, and the growing interest in, the coun- 

 try house and its gardens, and these are the 

 men who should receive some consideration 

 from the committee of the architectural 

 exhibition. Out of nearly one thousand ex- 

 hibits, there are not more than fifty designs 

 showing country house work, and that a 

 jury consisting of a serious and intelligent 

 body of men, should accept the few ex- 

 amples of such work, is truly astonishing, 

 and this, for the reason that, with very few 

 exceptions, the list exhibited has no archi- 

 tectural merit, and the houses shown are 

 not a representative expression of the best 

 work being done throughout the country. 



The Architectural League has an im- 

 portant place to fill in the development of 

 architecture in this country, and it is hoped 

 that in the future the men of both the 

 American and French schools will combine 

 their forces and co-operate in such a man- 

 ner as to present to the public next year an 

 exhibition of a more popular character. 



There is an excellent opportunity for the 

 Architectural League to create a permanent 

 club on the lines of what was originally in- 

 tended for the National Arts Club, where 

 the best efforts of its members can be placed 

 on exhibition at all times of the year. This 

 would be an assistance to the architect, the 

 sculptor and the painter, in maintaining a 

 continuous exhibition, and the means of 

 performing a great work in uplifting the 

 public mind to a higher standard of beauty 

 in architecture and its allied arts. 



The present system of cataloTuing the 

 exhibition is not a good one. The incon- 

 venience to which one is put in examining 

 a particular exhibit and finding that it is 

 necessary to consult the catalogue is very 

 annoying. For instance, the first subject ex- 



hibited in the main gallery is numbered 52, 

 while directly over it is another exhibit 

 numbered 425. One can very readily see 

 the inconvenience of such a system, but for- 

 tunately it is one that can be remedied by 

 cataloguing the exhibits in a consecutive 

 manner. It is to be hoped that the com- 

 mittee having this matter in charge will 

 make some decided improvement in this di- 

 rection in the future, so as to relieve the 

 visitor of the annoyance and confusion of 

 the past few years. 



An important feature of the annual din- 

 ner of the League was the splendid tribute 

 paid by its members to the late Charles F. 

 McKim in the announcement of the sub- 

 scription by his friends of nearly enough 

 money to ensure the endowment of the 

 American Academy of Rome, a movement 

 in which the deceased took so active an in- 

 terest. 



The American Academy of Rome forms 

 a very important factor in raising the 

 standard of art throughout the United 

 States, and it is one that should receive 

 hearty support from those who are able to 

 give it. It is to be hoped that the day is 

 not far distant when the Academy will be 

 placed on a permanent financial basis and 

 that the dream of the eminent architect 

 may be realized. 



One of the most important exhibits in the 

 domestic architecture is the Adams house, 

 the work of Frank E. AVallis. This house 

 can be cited as the type which appeals to 

 the layman, for it shows a design of a 

 building that has an apparent cost, and is 

 not too expensive, nor too cheap, nor too 

 ornate, nor too plain, and at the same time 

 suggests the comforts of a house designed 

 to meet the necessary social requirements. 

 There is evidence of a A^ery careful study 

 of the general design, and especially of its 

 details, which are particularh' fine. 



The most imposing plastic cast exhibited 

 is that of the great bronze dcors for the 

 United States Naval Academy, presented by 

 Col. Robert Means Thompson. ]\Iiss Evelyn 

 B. Longman of New York was the sculp- 

 tor, and it is not very often that so dis- 

 tinctive a work has been contributed by a 

 woman. Each of the doors bears an alle- 

 gorical group. The doors are intended as 

 a memorial to the Class of 1888. 



Daniel C. French has contributed a very 

 liandsome design for a garden fountain 

 which occupies a prominent place in the cen- 

 ter of the first gallery. A Celtic cross, the 

 work of A. Stirling Calder, is worthy of 

 consideration. 



The interest of the exhibition centers in 

 the gallery of mural paintings in which 

 there is a very striking canvas. "The Con- 

 queror," by Carl Hassman. an Austrian 

 painter, portraying a mounted Hun survey- 

 ing the land of Ital\-, the leader of a horde 

 which is soon to lay the country waste 

 with fire and sword. Another mural deco- 

 ration which has a special charm is a beau- 

 tiful panel contributed by Robert V. A'. 

 Sewell. 



