-
Articles/Ads
Article GOTHIC STREET ARCHITECTURE. ← Page 2 of 2 Article THE FATE OF THE EXHIBITION BUILDING. Page 1 of 2 Article THE FATE OF THE EXHIBITION BUILDING. Page 1 of 2 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Gothic Street Architecture.
uppermost will patronise Gothic because it is modern—will feel the antiquity of the thing its chief drawback , and instead of l , ein o- anxious to have precedents respected and old st yles correctly rendered , will be better pleased the more intensely Victorian , and the less antique , the work may be . These observations bring us to the concluding links of our train of reasoning . Tho reader , if he have concurred with what has been saidcan hardly fail to admit thatif the architecture
, , of our churches and mansions be revived purely from a conservative feeling , while that of our public buildings is here and there only rendered Gothic , and that from mixed motives , of which the supposed newness of the style is one , it is hard to expect that in our streets , where trade and telegraphs , steam and traffic have it all their own way , we shall ever have a Gothic house put down except as a novelty , or an exception tS
tbe general rule . There are reasons why the modern ways of thinking and doing should find a Gothic house , shop , or warehouse very in-¦ congruous . The quaintness and homeliness of rnediarval life , with which mediawal architecture suited so well , has so utterly vanished from our commerce , that the architectural forms to which it gave rise seem painfully out of place ; nor is there wanting a sort of sternness and hardness , a grasp of generalities
and a love of uniformity in the modern mind , which makes the angular jambs , and square-headed windows , and symmetrical arrangement of features peculiar to Italian and Anglo-Greek buildings , more consonant with the tastes acquired by our tradesmen and merchants than the pretty irregularities , the rich and varied features , and the graceful forms of Gothic architecture ; and thus the predominant elements of Gothic seem to ¦ exclude it to a great extent from the fieldwhere its ardent
, admirers seem to believe it is yet desthied to flourish—namely , our street architecture . Give us , however , a style which shall be neither Gothic nor classic , but essentially modern , and in which no precedents need be much respected—a style wdiere our taste
for mechanical science , and our admiration for iron , may 5 ie gratified by the clear exhibition of a construction , in part metallic , but certainly sound , and , if possible , novel , while our taste for the grand and the regular would be gratified by great size and simple symmetrical arrangement , both of masses and features , and our love of ostentation should be satisfied by a profuse exhibition of expensive materials or of ¦ elaborate ornamentation , and we shall have arrived at the true
modern style , and shall see buildings erected such as would very much fall in with the latest notion , and the most recentlyformed tastes . Such a stylo we already partly have , for if we group together the warehouses of Manchester and Nottingham with some of the commercial buildings of London , and add some such buildings as the Grosveuor Hotel as an exterior , and St . James's Hall as an interior , we shall form some idea of what is most likely to please modern tasteand to form the standard
, of modern civic architecture for the next few years . In this stylo a truly skilful artist can do almost what he will , and such a building as St . James ' s Hall will suffice to show how thoroughly artistic an intensely modern work may be made . An architect imbued with a love for Gothic art , may indeed make a building essentially modern in its form and nature , and yet , in many respects , thoroughly Gothic ; but we ,
nevertheless , repeat that the more the causes which have led to the revival of Gothic are considered , and the more the nature of modern mind and manners are reflected on , the less likely does it seem to us that Gothic architecture , revived in a mediaeval spirit , will ever take root in our streets . Here and there perhaps an example may be planted down , but they will form exceptional featuresas an exotic or two in pots are put
, among hardier plants to produce variety in a garden . It is , nevertheless , true that the revivial of pointed architecture has excited a certain influence on the street architecture of our day , and it may he fairly expected to enter largely into the composition of that modern manner towards which we are partly advancing voluntaril y , partly drifting .
The Fate Of The Exhibition Building.
THE FATE OF THE EXHIBITION BUILDING .
¦ having relieved the guarantors ( thanks to the liberality ° f the builders ) from liability to make good the deficiency in the recei pts , caused by tho grossest mismanagement that could « e imagined , the next thing the Commissioners have to do is to decide the fate of the structure on the Exhibition coming to an « nd . Are they to give it up to the contractors to be pulled
The Fate Of The Exhibition Building.
down and removed , or will they take heart at the eleventh hour , mil endeavour to devise an arrangement by winch it mav be preserved for future use ? It would be very foolish to affect ignorance of what everyone connected with the Exhibition is talking about ; and it would be worse than folly to attempt to conceal or deny it . There is no longer a doubt that the undertaking is a financial failure . Worse even than that , the rapid decline of public interestever since the story oozed out about
, Mr . Fred . Cadogan's doings , and his per-centage of half a farthing on each visitor , to be paid by the unfortunate refreshment contractor , M . Veillard , there has been a marked falling off in the number of visits . Those who know the national character will not be suprised at this result . Englishmen have such a prejudice against jobbery , that they , will turn from the best schemes if it have the least taintand leave it to
, . perish in the bleak shade of public disfavour . John Bull is sowhimsical a creature , has so strange a partiality for fair dealing and frankness , and entertains so great a dislike to being clone , to never so small an amount , that he is quite capable of arguing that it would be morally wrong and un-English for him to visit the Exhibition again if lie have to pay toll to Mr . Cadogan , because the latter individual has no publicly-recognised claim ,
to it . Then John has intense admiration for tbe aristocracy , and is a thorough believer in the truth of the maxim , " noblese oblige . " He has , moreover , a contempt as intense for members of the upper ten thousand w-ho commit actions derogatory to their order and social standing ; and he is not likely to forgive the son of an English earl—the cousin of the nobleman who is supposed to represent English honour and dignitin Paris—for
y having dabbled in a cook-shop speculation , or played the part of homme d ' affaires to a gargotier . Among the memorials of the Exhibition , there should certainly be one to the individual who , in his greed for gain , has made it unpopular , and contributed more than anyone else , perhaps , to change success into failure . Under these circumstances , to which should bo added the
various mistakes of the commissioners themselves—their indifference to the wishes and convenience of the public , their numerous dodges to extract money from visitors , the ignorance and favouritism of the jury rewards , and the catalogue nuisance
—ii ; is evident that there will be no rally of public interest in favour of the Exhibition sufficient to increase the number of visitors beyond what will satisfy the contractors , and make the guarantors safe . We are not so sanguine as to believe , like some of our contemporaries , that during the present month visitors will appear 100 , 000 in a day . On tho contrary , we are more inclined to imagine that their numbers will grow less by degrees , and gradually smaller ; for last week's returns show
the attendance to have been less , by upwards of 60 , 000 , than during the corresponding week of 1851 . Last Saturday only 10 , 000 paid at the doors . However , should we prove to be in the wrong , and crowds rush up from every part , even then the receipts would not in the end amount to sufficient to fulfil present engagements with the builders , and purchase tbe edifice from them as it stands , with all its accessories ; for the amount required to complete the purchase is no less than £ 130 , 000 after
the guarantors have been made safe . Clearly this sum cannot be obtained from any possible increased number of visitors ; and it is therefore to some other source we must look for means to purchase the edifice . But " is Captain Fowke ' s design worthy of being preserved I Is is not a disgrace to the nation , and a libel on the actual state of architecture in England ? " Professional men and amateurs will inquire . Whatever may be the sins of the desi against
gn that standard of esthetics which so many set up , yet so few are able define , there are economical reasons are sufficient ] to justify , nay , imperatively to insist on , the preservation of the structure . Taking the most unpromising view of the question , namely , that the whole of the money necessary to complete the parchase , will have to he raised from independent sources , it will he seen that the building has cost £ 300 , 000 , aud that the whole of that will be lost , as regards any permanent use to the nation , unless
£ 130 , 000 be raised to acquire the materials in situ , and which , if pulled down , would scarcely fetch that sum . The amount is certainly a large one , and yet £ 130 , 000 is a price dirt cheap to pay for such a structure , which covers 845 , 000 square feet or upwards of 21 acres of site , since it is but a fraction over 3 s . the square foot . Never before was bare shelter to be obtained so economically . And if , as we believe and hope , in common with great majority of the industrial and trading classes , periodical International Exhibitions have taken root here deep enough to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Gothic Street Architecture.
uppermost will patronise Gothic because it is modern—will feel the antiquity of the thing its chief drawback , and instead of l , ein o- anxious to have precedents respected and old st yles correctly rendered , will be better pleased the more intensely Victorian , and the less antique , the work may be . These observations bring us to the concluding links of our train of reasoning . Tho reader , if he have concurred with what has been saidcan hardly fail to admit thatif the architecture
, , of our churches and mansions be revived purely from a conservative feeling , while that of our public buildings is here and there only rendered Gothic , and that from mixed motives , of which the supposed newness of the style is one , it is hard to expect that in our streets , where trade and telegraphs , steam and traffic have it all their own way , we shall ever have a Gothic house put down except as a novelty , or an exception tS
tbe general rule . There are reasons why the modern ways of thinking and doing should find a Gothic house , shop , or warehouse very in-¦ congruous . The quaintness and homeliness of rnediarval life , with which mediawal architecture suited so well , has so utterly vanished from our commerce , that the architectural forms to which it gave rise seem painfully out of place ; nor is there wanting a sort of sternness and hardness , a grasp of generalities
and a love of uniformity in the modern mind , which makes the angular jambs , and square-headed windows , and symmetrical arrangement of features peculiar to Italian and Anglo-Greek buildings , more consonant with the tastes acquired by our tradesmen and merchants than the pretty irregularities , the rich and varied features , and the graceful forms of Gothic architecture ; and thus the predominant elements of Gothic seem to ¦ exclude it to a great extent from the fieldwhere its ardent
, admirers seem to believe it is yet desthied to flourish—namely , our street architecture . Give us , however , a style which shall be neither Gothic nor classic , but essentially modern , and in which no precedents need be much respected—a style wdiere our taste
for mechanical science , and our admiration for iron , may 5 ie gratified by the clear exhibition of a construction , in part metallic , but certainly sound , and , if possible , novel , while our taste for the grand and the regular would be gratified by great size and simple symmetrical arrangement , both of masses and features , and our love of ostentation should be satisfied by a profuse exhibition of expensive materials or of ¦ elaborate ornamentation , and we shall have arrived at the true
modern style , and shall see buildings erected such as would very much fall in with the latest notion , and the most recentlyformed tastes . Such a stylo we already partly have , for if we group together the warehouses of Manchester and Nottingham with some of the commercial buildings of London , and add some such buildings as the Grosveuor Hotel as an exterior , and St . James's Hall as an interior , we shall form some idea of what is most likely to please modern tasteand to form the standard
, of modern civic architecture for the next few years . In this stylo a truly skilful artist can do almost what he will , and such a building as St . James ' s Hall will suffice to show how thoroughly artistic an intensely modern work may be made . An architect imbued with a love for Gothic art , may indeed make a building essentially modern in its form and nature , and yet , in many respects , thoroughly Gothic ; but we ,
nevertheless , repeat that the more the causes which have led to the revival of Gothic are considered , and the more the nature of modern mind and manners are reflected on , the less likely does it seem to us that Gothic architecture , revived in a mediaeval spirit , will ever take root in our streets . Here and there perhaps an example may be planted down , but they will form exceptional featuresas an exotic or two in pots are put
, among hardier plants to produce variety in a garden . It is , nevertheless , true that the revivial of pointed architecture has excited a certain influence on the street architecture of our day , and it may he fairly expected to enter largely into the composition of that modern manner towards which we are partly advancing voluntaril y , partly drifting .
The Fate Of The Exhibition Building.
THE FATE OF THE EXHIBITION BUILDING .
¦ having relieved the guarantors ( thanks to the liberality ° f the builders ) from liability to make good the deficiency in the recei pts , caused by tho grossest mismanagement that could « e imagined , the next thing the Commissioners have to do is to decide the fate of the structure on the Exhibition coming to an « nd . Are they to give it up to the contractors to be pulled
The Fate Of The Exhibition Building.
down and removed , or will they take heart at the eleventh hour , mil endeavour to devise an arrangement by winch it mav be preserved for future use ? It would be very foolish to affect ignorance of what everyone connected with the Exhibition is talking about ; and it would be worse than folly to attempt to conceal or deny it . There is no longer a doubt that the undertaking is a financial failure . Worse even than that , the rapid decline of public interestever since the story oozed out about
, Mr . Fred . Cadogan's doings , and his per-centage of half a farthing on each visitor , to be paid by the unfortunate refreshment contractor , M . Veillard , there has been a marked falling off in the number of visits . Those who know the national character will not be suprised at this result . Englishmen have such a prejudice against jobbery , that they , will turn from the best schemes if it have the least taintand leave it to
, . perish in the bleak shade of public disfavour . John Bull is sowhimsical a creature , has so strange a partiality for fair dealing and frankness , and entertains so great a dislike to being clone , to never so small an amount , that he is quite capable of arguing that it would be morally wrong and un-English for him to visit the Exhibition again if lie have to pay toll to Mr . Cadogan , because the latter individual has no publicly-recognised claim ,
to it . Then John has intense admiration for tbe aristocracy , and is a thorough believer in the truth of the maxim , " noblese oblige . " He has , moreover , a contempt as intense for members of the upper ten thousand w-ho commit actions derogatory to their order and social standing ; and he is not likely to forgive the son of an English earl—the cousin of the nobleman who is supposed to represent English honour and dignitin Paris—for
y having dabbled in a cook-shop speculation , or played the part of homme d ' affaires to a gargotier . Among the memorials of the Exhibition , there should certainly be one to the individual who , in his greed for gain , has made it unpopular , and contributed more than anyone else , perhaps , to change success into failure . Under these circumstances , to which should bo added the
various mistakes of the commissioners themselves—their indifference to the wishes and convenience of the public , their numerous dodges to extract money from visitors , the ignorance and favouritism of the jury rewards , and the catalogue nuisance
—ii ; is evident that there will be no rally of public interest in favour of the Exhibition sufficient to increase the number of visitors beyond what will satisfy the contractors , and make the guarantors safe . We are not so sanguine as to believe , like some of our contemporaries , that during the present month visitors will appear 100 , 000 in a day . On tho contrary , we are more inclined to imagine that their numbers will grow less by degrees , and gradually smaller ; for last week's returns show
the attendance to have been less , by upwards of 60 , 000 , than during the corresponding week of 1851 . Last Saturday only 10 , 000 paid at the doors . However , should we prove to be in the wrong , and crowds rush up from every part , even then the receipts would not in the end amount to sufficient to fulfil present engagements with the builders , and purchase tbe edifice from them as it stands , with all its accessories ; for the amount required to complete the purchase is no less than £ 130 , 000 after
the guarantors have been made safe . Clearly this sum cannot be obtained from any possible increased number of visitors ; and it is therefore to some other source we must look for means to purchase the edifice . But " is Captain Fowke ' s design worthy of being preserved I Is is not a disgrace to the nation , and a libel on the actual state of architecture in England ? " Professional men and amateurs will inquire . Whatever may be the sins of the desi against
gn that standard of esthetics which so many set up , yet so few are able define , there are economical reasons are sufficient ] to justify , nay , imperatively to insist on , the preservation of the structure . Taking the most unpromising view of the question , namely , that the whole of the money necessary to complete the parchase , will have to he raised from independent sources , it will he seen that the building has cost £ 300 , 000 , aud that the whole of that will be lost , as regards any permanent use to the nation , unless
£ 130 , 000 be raised to acquire the materials in situ , and which , if pulled down , would scarcely fetch that sum . The amount is certainly a large one , and yet £ 130 , 000 is a price dirt cheap to pay for such a structure , which covers 845 , 000 square feet or upwards of 21 acres of site , since it is but a fraction over 3 s . the square foot . Never before was bare shelter to be obtained so economically . And if , as we believe and hope , in common with great majority of the industrial and trading classes , periodical International Exhibitions have taken root here deep enough to