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CLASSIC OR GOTHIC: THE BATTLE OF THE STYLES.

REVIVALS of all kinds, æsthetic no less than spiritual, first kindled by the fire of inspiration, soon burn with the fury of fanaticism. At the present moment it appears to be our privilege to pass through the somewhat interesting phenomena of an architectural renaissance; a revival upon which Religion has bestowed her fervour, Art her loveliness, and each in turn more than accustomed extravagance. The pointed spire catches light from heaven; the solid but tress lays its sure foundation as in steadfast truth; the solemn aisle of dim religious light finds deep response within the silent and shadowed chambers of the soul; and thus heaven and earth seem to witness to the sanctity of the work, and the sanction of two worlds combines to uphold in mystic union the once merely secular materials of simple bricks and mortar. Hence ofttimes of late have architectural forms, founded on the simplest of principles, and fashioned from the rudest of elements, been made pregnant with portentous meaning, and guileless Art has thus become somewhat innocently the minister of Superstition. An eloquent writer, a few years since, shut out from his æsthetic palace the too common light of day, expressly, it would seem, to kindle seven symbolic lamps, which should henceforth burn the eternal emblems of the virtues. We are given to understand that, were these resplendent orbs extinguished, earth would again sink into darkness, the world be reduced to anarchy, and the seven cardinal vices, with the Evil One as chief, reign supreme in the habitations of men! Thus will it be seen that art and ethics are made one and indivisible, and that each of us who can call a house his own is at once beset by the most intricate of moral problems. It seems, indeed, upon the best authority,

abundantly clear that a man who dares, through a false architecture, to provide for his temporal comforts, is throwing into peril his eternal interests. The purists in architectural morals seem ever propounding such questions as the following:-Is it probable that the man who, in the infidelity of his heart, has built his house after the orders of Vitruvius, will accord his life to the commands of Moses ? Is it credible that the architect who, through irreverence for the Gothic arch, has constructed every door of his dwelling with a square top, can cherish due Christian aspiration within his soul? Is it possible that the builder who has violated all the spiritual angles suited to windows and roofs, who has sinned against all that is sacred in colour, can preserve any right-minded love for his next-door neighbour? Such are the momentous questions which the fanatic "battle of the styles" would fain force us to fight out; such the tempting topics which have beguiled architectural critics into fantastic eloquence. As an escape from this miserable trifling, we are tempted to enter a plea on behalf of simple-minded ignorance. Happy, we would say, the man who has a comfortable house to dwell in, caring little for Classic, Gothic, or Renaissance, while safely sheltered from the winds of heaven, secluded from the blasts of controversy. Blest that roof, whether high-pitched or low, which can defy the waters, and those foundations against which the floods do not prevail. And thrice happy and thrice blessed that soul which, at peace within its tabernacle, freed from the cant of criticism, and delivered from the vulgar warfare of schools, styles, and parties, is content to enter upon all that is lovely without for ever stumbling at the threshold of a why or a because, is willing to enjoy a manifold nature

without dogmatic inquiry into precise theories of the Beautiful, is eager and hearty in the love of a universal Art, without troubling to master the jargon of pedagogues, or to appreciate the pedantry of professors.

The architectural revival of which we have spoken, notwithstanding these incidental absurdities, has doubtless effected much good, and it came at any rate upon us not before it was well wanted. The streets of London proclaim in saddest guise the worst outrages upon public taste, and pronounce the incapacity of the professional architect and sculptor. It is a misfortune that the nation which has been so prolific in heroes and statesmen, in philosophers and philanthropists, should have proved itself so signally incapable of handing down to posterity those great men who have given to the age its character and renown. The pen of the historian, in recounting deeds of patriotism or recording triumphs of genius, has often warmed into strains of noble eloquence; but the hand of the architect and sculptor, in essaying to put into enduring stone England's triumphs and Britain's heroes, has but too often succeeded in holding up our country's greatness to the contempt of Europe. Whether we have called to our assistance classic models and the Roman toga, or have been content with the pigtail, topboots, and spurs indigenous to our own soil, the same ridicule has at last awaited the most pretentious of our efforts. The thronged thoroughfare leading to our grand International Exhibition will, in the present year, display to the astonished nations of the world a great monument which, in facile and free adoption of all styles, the Classic, the northern Gothic, and the barber's block, may possibly be mistaken for the effigy of those cosmopolitan liberties which find a boasted refuge on our hospitable shores! The foreigner, as he drives to the grand emporium of arts and manufactures, will doubtless be arrested

by this classic arch, the entrance and the exit to one of the public parks; his eye turns upwards for the triumphal car of Alexander, when, behold, astride a snorting charger, no Bucephalus, but a knacker's victim, is hoisted the hero of a hundred fights, immortalised as Wellington in a cocked-hat! In this battle of the styles, kings no less than commoners have been forced to do service. George IV., as the first gentleman in Europe, politely rides through Trafalgar Square, his head uncovered; while his venerable father, close by in Pall-Mall, is properly protected by wig and pigtail. These regions of the Mall, Trafalgar Square, and Westminster, are the favoured localities set apart to the apotheosis of British worthies; and in the present chaos of incongruous ideas done into stone, this quarter of our metropolis becomes, as it were, an artistic limbo for unfledged genius, and we walk along streets and squares-like to that famed abode not unknown to ambition misguided - paved with good intentions.

On every side does the same melancholy spectacle present itself, and consolation is seldom found save in harmless mediocrity. Some relief, we believe, however, is occasionally obtained by glancing at telling points of the ridiculous, and sighs which might find issue in but fruitless sorrow are thus exchanged for bursts of healthful laughter. The famed pepper-boxes of the National Gallery have given zest to many a joke; they are, we presume, among the failures ascribed to the Classic. The two fountains, on the contrary, though somewhat amphibious and aquatic in style, incline possibly to the new school of Gothic, concerning which we hear so much; the water-jets and iridescent spray partaking of the nature of finials, spires, or pinnacles; and these, if we recollect rightly, symbolising by their aspiring flight several of those Christian virtues which Gothic architecture takes under her special protection. On the other hand,

some of the more recent club-houses the Houses of Parliament;" and it

and façades in Pall-Mall are more directly implicated in the vanities of life, and the specious sins of a corrupted civilisation. They belong to "the godless Italian Renaissance," are executed in a sort of carved upholstery, incrusted with confectionery ornament; flowers, garlands, and festoons hung in gala profusion, as little consonant with true art as Paris fashions and crinoline are consistent with pure taste. What, we would ask, will Landseer's four British lions at the foot of the Nelson Column say to all this? We shall look to them for a tremendous roar on behalf of styles naturalistic. What, we would likewise venture to inquire, can the English unicorn be about?-that noble but much-neglected animal, to whom the arts of this country owe so much-the fitting champion, we cannot but think, of the coming style of the future-a style which, unfortunately, was not quite in time to preside at the Grand International Exhibition.

This terrible battle among the builders, the horrors of which we have been narrating-a feud which will probably last as long as lines horizontal, perpendicular, and curved are doomed in the nature of things to coexist has of late waxed more furious than ever. It is well known that the business devolving upon our Secretaries for Foreign Affairs has long outgrown the official domicile, and that, moreover, the building known as the Foreign Office has now become absolutely insecure and dangerous. Under the pressure of this immediate necessity, a Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed in 1856 "for the purpose of considering the best means of providing accommodation for the various public departments in the neighbourhood of Downing Street." In July of the same year this Committee recommended "that there should be a concentration of the public offices, and that such concentration should be effected in the immediate vicinity of Whitehall and

further recommended that "the design of the different public offices to be erected on the proposed site should be submitted to public competition." In compliance with this suggestion, we find that "the First Commissioner of Works placed himself in communication with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who considered that the First Commissioner might obtain designs for laying out the surface of the whole site referred to in the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, but that plans and elevations of buildings should only be required in respect of the Foreign Office and the War Department; and that a sum not exceeding £5000 might be expended in premiums to the most successful of the competing architects. The First Commissioner then invited a meeting of certain distinguished architects, and explained his views to them. The competition was to be divided into three branches-1. The block - plan, for the concentration of all the offices upon the space indicated in the Report of the House of Commons; 2. A new Foreign Office; 3. A new War Office." "For the first branch three premiums were proposed, and seven respectively for the second and third. The First Commissioner distinctly guarded himself against any obligation to employ any architect to whom a prize should be awarded; but at the same time it appears by the evidence that the architects expected that, circumstances permitting, the competition would have an important bearing on the selection of the design to be adopted, and the architect to be employed. The terms of the competition were shortly after published, and 218 competitors entered the lists, some competing in all, some in two, and some in only one of the branches." "On the 27th of June 1857 the judges made their report to the First Commissioner, by which the seventeen premiums were allotted to as many different competitors." "By this

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award the three first premiums for the Foreign Office were assigned to Messrs Coe & Hofland, Messrs Banks & Barry, and G. G. Scott, Esq." The design of Mr Scott was Gothic; the styles adopted by the other successful competitors were Classic or Italian. As to these three first designs, it must," observe the Committee, "be recollected that, while the first prize for the Foreign Office was awarded to Messrs Coe & Hofland, yet they did not compete for the War Office. Again, while in the opinion of the assessors, Messrs Banks & Barry stood first in merit for the Foreign Office, yet, according to the same opinion, they were unsuccessful for the War Office; while Mr Scott stood second both for one and the other." The Committee state that they "had come to the conclusion that in the erection of a new Foreign Office a preference should be given to the successful competitors ;" and further, "your Committee are of opinion that whoever may be the architect ultimately selected, he ought to be allowed the fullest liberty in the modification and improvement of his original design."

On the overthrow of Lord Palmerston's first Administration in 1858, Lord John Manners, the Commissioner of Public Works under the new Government, procured the appointment of a Select Committee, the Report of which has furnished the foregoing digest. During the recess, Lord John Manners, having determined that the Gothic style should be adopted, appointed Mr Scott architect, and gave directions for altered plans and estimates. But on the overthrow of the Conservative Government, before Mr Scott's Gothic design had even secured its foundations, the fight for the Foreign Office was again renewed, and Lord Palmerston, who assumed the dictatorship of the arts, positively declared that so long as he held power, Gothic should not prevail. Mr Scott he did not displace, but the Gothic design he required

should be substituted for an Italian building. Accordingly, says the noble Lord, speaking from the Treasury bench, "Mr Scott brought me an amended style, which appeared to me Gothic in disguise, with pointed windows rounded at the top. (A laugh.) And then he brought me another style, Saracenic or Byzantine. I said, 'I know you are capable of excelling in any style: now do, for heaven's sake, go and bring me an Italian style!' (A laugh.) Mr Scott did bring me an Italian style, and we have heard from the noble Lord (Lord John Manners) that it has been admired by the very best judges. I do not pretend to be a judge of the scientific features of architecture, but it seems to me a very beautiful plan, and one which combines with sufficient beauty and ornament great moderation of expense. (Cheers.)"

The total estimate for the new Foreign Office, under Mr Scott's modified Italian design, is £200,000. We have seen that this important national building is but a partbut a first instalment of a grand scheme of reconstruction. A War Office is required, the Colonial Office is falling down, a new Indian Office is absolutely essential, and "the State Paper Office is crammed full, and has not space for two years' papers." We have thought it well to be thus explicit in the statement of the case. In the battle of the styles, the combatants, it will now be seen, are not fighting for mere abstract theories. The usual professional percentage upon these Government commissions constitutes of itself a fortune. Fortune and fame alike await the aspirants. For the general public, likewise, there is much at stake. Never, since the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire-at no period since Wren gave to the metropolis its churches-has such an opportunity been afforded of disgracing or adorning the capital of the empire. The Government offices require reconstruction; the National Gallery must be enlarged;

the accommodation at the British Museum augmented; the South Kensington rooms extended. What architectural style shall we adopt Classic, Gothic, or Palladian? What materials shall we employ-iron, glass, brick, or stone? Of Rome it was said, an Emperor found it of brick and left it of marble. Of London let it in like manner be declared, that streets monotonous with shops and warehouses, that public offices and law-courts dull as factories, have been transmuted into palaces, wherein every door and window, each column, entablature, and arch, however costless and simple, shall be a work of beauty, stamped with the creative impress of an artist-mind.

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Having detailed the plain facts of the case, we shall now the better be enabled to appreciate the smartness of those parliamentary debates which, for play of wit and point of satire, come as annual benefits in favour of certain members of a comic turn. In the latest of these dramatic performances, in the course of the last session, the cast of characters was strong. The dramatis persona included the names of Elcho, Palmerston, Manners, Cowper, Layard, Tite, and Osborne. Lord Elcho's opening speech was usual playful and telling. "He owed, he said, an apology to the House for having taken up the subject. He had not, like his noble friend at the head of the Government, made architecture his study! (Laughter.) They had to consider the nature of the building to be erected for the Foreign Office. A number of designs had been exhibited. One had been made by the Prime Minister himself (laughter), but he was sorry to say that his noble friend's Foreign Office was as faulty as his foreign policy was sound. (A laugh.) The other day, said Lord Elcho, a party who took an interest in this question made a tour through London. They invited Lord Palmerston to join them, but his noble friend declined. (A laugh.) He was sorry for that. They saw an

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insurance - office near Blackfriars Bridge which was built in a style which the noble lord abused, and on the right and left of it were two stucco-fronted houses in the Italian style. Photographs had been taken : the house on one side was designated Palmerston ornate;' that on the other 'Palmerston pure,' and the one in the middle is ticketed, 'What London would be if Palmerston would allow it."" The photographs were then handed up to the Treasury bench for the inspection of the noble Viscount. The speaker concluded by moving "that in the opinion of this House it is not desirable that the new Foreign Office shall be erected according to the Palladian design then exhibited in the Committee-room of the House." This Palladian design was Mr Scott's modified Italian plan.

Mr Layard favoured Gothic, but sensibly demanded that the Gothic should at least be pure, of English character, and adapted to the wants and manners of the times. "The House of Parliament was a Gothic building, and the exterior might be beautiful, but the interior had all the inconveniences which characterised buildings in the time of our forefathers. This House, moreover, swarmed with hideous and grotesque monsters, which, though called lions and unicorns, resembled nothing so much as the gorillas lately discovered on the west coast of Africa. (A laugh.) He believed these frightful animals had even crept into the apartments occupied by the Speaker." If we recollect rightly, one of these "hideous monsters" has since found its way into the evangelical tabernacle of Mr Spurgeon, and defiled the pure Calvinistic order supposed to find favour with the reverend gentleman. If our memory serve us, the hon. member for Southwark on that occasion delighted his new constituents by mounting the pulpit-platform of the Surrey Nonconformist theatre, taking the chair, on true democratic principles of equality and fraternity, side by side with

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