English: Title: The Civil engineer and architect's journal, scientific and railway gazette

Identifier: civilengineerarc07lond Year: 1839 (1830s) Authors: Subjects: Architecture; Civil engineering; Science Publisher: London : [William Laxton] Contributing Library: Northeastern University, Snell Library Digitizing Sponsor: Northeastern University, Snell Library

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Text Appearing Before Image: 1844.] THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 97 OBSERVATIONS ON ARCHITECTS AND ARCHITECTURE. By Henry Fulton, M.D. No. 7.

Text Appearing After Image: Antrim House, Dublin. Madame Catalan!, according to report, had ceased to exist; this, however, has happily turned out to be erroneous. The Royal Insti- tute of the Architects of Ireland, was also reported to have expired: this is also happily unfounded ; for although lately showing but little sign of life, they have roused from a state of lethargy and have had a meeting. AH we know of this meeting is, that "a very interesting paper was read from the respected Vice-President:"—how we wish we could get a peep at it. But although when the queen of song shall be removed from us, she will leave us no memorial of her skill, save the perishable recollection of her powers of melody; not so the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, who have favoured us with the more lasting memorial of their skill and taste in compo, of which we endeavour to give an outline at the head of this article, and if the reader do not admire it as much as we think he should, let the fault rest with the sketch rather than the original. To do the Institute justice, and if in political matters justice be not done to Ireland, there shall be no portion of it withheld on the pre?ent occasion: in justice then, we must say, that one of the best situations which the City of Dublin affords has been selected; an old friend was to have a new face. Antrim House is situated at the angle of the best and most fashionable if not the largest square in Dubim; a noble street opens on the other side of the square, forming a vista, at the end of which the edifice is situated, occupying the field of vision; it was an old fashioned brick building, without any pretension to architectural display, having seven windows on the first floor, and presenting a frontage of 72 feet. On its coming into possession of the late noble President of the Institute shortly after his election, it was no doubt thought a good op- portunity to show his taste, and that of the Institute, and to rescue the latter from the imputation that it had done little or nothing as a body to further the art. Some persons go so far as to say that the Institute had nothing to do with the in-compo-rahle alterations, and that the design was given by a mere builder, but I think it must in all fairness be presumed that the council of the Institute were consulted. I do not assert positively that such was the case, but it is reasonable to suppose it, for the noble President was what Mr. Gvvilt would call a " mere amateur," and h»\v could he know anything about it, unless indeed his taste was "formed, guided and directed," by Mr. Gwill's Encyclopaedia. No, we must suppose that he left all to the Institute, except the payment of the bills. And on the occasion of his lordship being installed as President, the Institute called his attention to the discreditable fact of "grossly ignorant pretenders being confounded with the instructed professors of the art," and in reply his Lordship No. 79.—Vol. VII.—March, 1844. expressed "his desire to promote the interests and objects of the In- stitute, by affording them his countenance and support." The Insti- tute also informed his Lordship, that " it would ill become a body whose profession has a peculiar connexion with the principles of good taste to address the language of adulation to a nobleman whom they deemed fitted, from his nice perception of those principles, to be their patron and their guide." And again, "your good taste and your in- formation are too well known and too generally admitted to allow your judgment to be disregarded. Those who have hitherto looked with coldness on our professional claims, will not willingly bear the discredit of appearing indifferent to a society which your Lordshi]) sanctions and adorns, by your connexion with it." By the way, that is laying the compo on his Lordship in good style; but, at all events, it proves my position, that it is impossible the design could be that of a mere builder or "grossly ignorant pretender." Some might think that his Lordship himself had designed the demi-facade, for such it is; but this cannot be, for I have understood that after it was finished he did not approve of it, and men seldom disapprove of their own works, or at least confess it if they do. Having thus disposed of the preliminaries, we proceed to speak of the demi-facade itself, and although it is undoubtedly a pleasing task to speak of an edifice where everything is to be admired, still we feel overwhelmed with the responsiiiility and the fear that it may be be- yond our ability to do justice to its merits. The first thing we have to admire is the head of this front, in common parlance we shall call it a cornice, although not certain that it is exactly one. It is certainly not a bold cornice, no, that would have been unsuitable in Ireland, for there the word " bold " is synony- mous with naughty, hence they say in that country " a bold boy," meaning a naughty one; this is not, therefore, a naughty cornice, and ;is it is a remarkable one, it must consequently have more than a ne- gative quality, and be a remarkably good one ; that it is so, may be proved, for it does not excite the least alarm in the mind of the most timid as to its stability, or the power of the walls to support it, and any old gentlewoman, either in pantaloons or petticoats, may pass under it without apprehension; besides, it has the advantage of casting no shadow, and surely it would have been bad taste to throw any part of the demi-fa9ade into the shade : moreover, it would have been unfair to have taken an undue advantage of a good situation to have placed a bold cornice where it could only be seen to advantage: no, no, equal justice forbids us to think such an expedient would have been proper; let those who admire bold cornices reserve them for bad situations and not throw them away on good ones. " To throw perfume on the violet Is wasteful and ridiculous excess." The Greeks to be sure sought to obtain broad shadows and the play of light and shade in their compositions; but they were quite wrong, for the more enlightened Chinese consider shade in a picture as a de- cided blemish, let us, therefore, hear no more senseless twaddle about chiaro oscuro, for the noble President of the Institute was at the same time President of the Board of Control, and in that capacity well ac- quainted with the state of taste in the East, and it may be taken for granted that the President's taste was more Chinese than the ex- ploded " guslo Greco," so ably opposed by Sir William Chambers. Indeed, according to that highly esteemed architect, the Greeks knew little or nothing of the art, for we find him saying—" In the con- structive part of architecture, the ancients do not seem to have been great proficients; I am inclined to believe that many of the deformi- ties observable in the Grecian buildings must be ascribed to their de- ficiency in that particular." To be sure he never saw a Greek edifice; but what of that, for if they presented nothing worthy of observation, what would have been gained by seeing them ? He had, however, a perfect conception of the deficiencies of the Parthenon, and was the first almost to suggest that it would have been improved by the suit- able addition of a steeple! We hear a great deal now-a-days of the advantage of obtaining a play of light and shade by means of detached columns and bold cor- nices; but I would ask what right have columns and cornices to play with light and shade, let them mind their own business, and be pre- vented from playing idle pranks like bold boys. Observe, again, in this edifice, the happy expedient with regard to pediments: the Greeks and Romans placed them on the gable ends of their edifices; but if so placed in the present instance, they would have been hid by the adjoining houses, and we might as well have had none at all; but by placing them above the windows, we are left nothing to regret. Small minds, indeed, might object that they were necessarily diminutive in such situ itions, but magnitude is relative, and if any of the inhabitants of Lilliput will favour us with a visit they must deem these pediments to be as large as those forming the

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