Architectoral Review Of The Year.

rally , in a very advantageous manner ; indeed , the picture galleries are the most successful parts of the building ; and to such an extent is this the ease , that even the proper arrangement of the articles exposed has suffered from their bad distribution ; whilst tbe general elevation and the ornamental details of tbe exterior particularly are very objectionable . No architect could have designed a work so unsatisfactory had he but studied the rudiments of his profession , and yet British architects are

unhappily represented to assembled Europe by this eminently unarchitectural building ! Even the Crystal Palace of 1851 could boast of merits superior to those of a desire on the part of artists , aud of the public , to seek some new mode of expressing the peculiar feelings and wants of the age . Compared with the Crystal Palace , the new International Exhibition building has been a step backwards rather than a step forwards in art development ; and , as such , it cannot be regarded as a fair exponent

of the effects notoriously produced upon our profession by the great intellectual movements of late years . It is a matter of extreme pain to me thus to feel obliged to criticise the labours of men who have laboured earnestly in the discbarge o f their duties ; but , as your President , it is necessary to place on record the fact that British architects are in no wise responsible for the International Exhibition building , and that they who would seek to trace the progress of architecture in

England during the period 1 S 51 and 1 S 62 must turn to other quarters for the elements of comparison . In my address of last year , I pointed out what I believed to be the position of our profession in society , and I illustrated it by incidents that had occurred in the House of Commons , and opinions expressed there and received even with applause , though little complimentary to our attainments , or our scientific position . I cannot venture to think that that my humble appeal would

do much towards our advancement ; but at the same time one circumstance has occurred of so eminently satisfactory a character , that I am sure I shall be pardoned in this place for calling particular attention to it . You will at once perceive that I allude to the invitation made to some of us , as architects , to advise the very distinguished committee appointed by her Majesty on the subject of the intended memorial to the memory of the Prince Consort . This invitation also has this most

flattering incident connected with if , that the suggestion came from her gracious Majesty herself . The advice we ventured to give has been , I am happy to say , approved by the distinguished men with whom we were placed in communication ; it has given satisfaction in the highest quarters , and , notwithstanding some ungenerous and violently unjust individual criticism , has been well received by the public . I hope , and I believe , that our well-known and able colleagues , now anxiously engaged in the

realisation of our suggestions , will achieve tbe success which the nation so anxiously desires . "With this gratifying fact before us , we may , I think , dismiss from our thoughts all further reference to the studied neglect of architects by the Governmental department connected with the art education of the country , and tbe absurd and laboured attack of one of the officers of that department , who seemed to have forgotten that such men as Inigo Jones and Wren

, Chambers and Soane , or Smirke aud Barry , had over lived in England ; or Michael Angelo , or Bramante , or Vignola , or Pallaclio , or a thousand others , had flourished in Italy ; or that Perrault or Perronet , or Hittorff or Visconti bad lived , or were living , in Erance ; or that Kleuze or Schinkol had ever lived or flourished in Germany ; or that he must have known architects in this country to whom his countrymen were not insensible as having some claims in the scientific world .

Before I pass frSm this subject , however , I cannot but express my hope that the profession I am attached to , and that I have followed for more than forty years , may receive from me in a kindly spirit a few words of caution , that we ought not to forget that the great principles of art demand something more than a mere patient reproduction of forms eliminated in , and appropriate to other times , without a sufficient reference to the great power given in us by new materials , demanding different

treatment , and a new exertion of the imaginative faculty . I shall have occasion to say presently a word or two on the subject of art education amongst ourselves , and what the institute desires to do to promote it , for it is a subject of great interest , because in other countries—as , for instance , in France and Belgium—the State interferes actively to provide the means of art education for the mass of the nation , under such conditions as to allow almost every one , who may desire it , to acquire sound and comprehensive opinions upon art questions ; and the

gratuitous course of lectures , and the industrial and drawing schools , are so brought , as it were , to the doors of the people in general , that they have , in the two instances cited , actually be ! comes nations of artists . There are many grave reasons tot hesitation on our parts before we adopt tbe system of State intervention in these details of education , and also for believingthat no sound vital art can be produced be such a forcing process . But , nevertheless , the importance of addressing himself

to a sypathising and educated public must be to the artist so great , that we may well consider how it would be possible for us , in our private capacity , to labour to diffuse more correct principles of taste than seem unfortunately now to prevail in our country . We need not seek to impose our own views , but we may strive to teach as well as to learn ; but we must always bear in mind that we shall not be able to influence public opinion unless we are really and trulof our own times , and

y true exponents of the spirit and feelings of our age in all that is good and pure , without servile deference to fashion , or yield , ing in any way the rights of our own consciences to temporary popular fancies or errors ; we ought in fact , to endeavour to guide the opinions of our contemporaries in the formation of their oesthetical principles , as applied to architecture , in tbe direction of devotion to moral beauty and earnest truthfulness . Much has been done of late towards the attainment of the

great object referred to , by the labours of our respected friends , Messrs . Sidney Smirke and Gilbert Scott , and by the authors of the papers read at your meetings ; but the audiences addressed on these occasions are limited , and the publicity given to this teaching does not reach the majority of those whom it is so desirable to enlighten . It seems to me that one of the most powerful instruments for diffusing the knowledge we are so much interested in imparting , would be by establishing courses

of lectures upon subjects connected with our art , written expressly in a popular and attractive style , and open , if not gratuitously , at least at a very low rate of payment , to all persons connected directly , or indirectly , wfth the building trades . The object we have to aim at is , as it were , to produce an atmosphere of art feeling , and this can only be obtained by popularising art , and by raising the tastes of all around us ; and moreover , we , as architects , have a direct interest in

advanciugthe art education of the classes who really carry out our designs , in order to ensure their being executed in the spirit with which they were conceived . It is precisely in the want of artistic feeling , and of true knowledge of the ends and object of their pursuits , that our artizans are inferior to those of the Continent ; and it is our duty , I hold , to strive to remove this obstacle to our art progress , at tbe same time that we diffuse the taste for architecture amongst the general publicby

, placing within the reach of those who may wish to learn , themeans of forming correct opinions on the subject . Of course it is difficult to organise any such system of public education , and . to give it a permanent character ; and the history of the mechanics' institutions proves that good intentions are not alone sufficient for the purpose ; but a firm faith in the policy of any course of proceeding almost inevitably leads to the

discovery of the means for attaining it . " Where there is a will , there is a way , " and surely there can be no greater difficulty in organising some form of gratuitous art education at the present day , than there was formerly in organising the grammar schools , and the municipal corporations , to which man ) ' of the functions of educational boards upon technical matters were entrusted . Our own institution might do much to popularise the knowledge of architecture ; and in this very building other societies periodically meet , which might render efficient service

in the cause . The discussion of the 2 iresent and of the probable future state of English architectural education , would , I fear , lead me too far , were I to pursue it to its legitimate limits , and indeed I fear it has carried me somewhat beyond the space allowable in an inaugural discourse . Its vital importance to our profession , must be my excuse , and most sincerely do I hope that the ideas I have expressed may induce more able heads than mine to

ponder over its difficulties . At present , however , I return to the consideration of temporary events , and resume our cursory view of their nature and tendency . On all sides we find that the fashion for municipal alterations set by our neighbours is being followed , with more or less enthusiasm ; and the various technical journals prove that such towns as Brussels , the Hague , Berlin , Vienna , & c , are undergoing a species of transformation , though on a different scale , yet analagous to the one latelv carried out in Paris . In London we have