DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE.
HOWEVER. much we have reason to condemn the taste of our modern architects in their designs for public edifices, we have not the same ob- jections to make to those for private dwellings ; although, in proportion as these approach to the character of the palace, either in extent or architectural embellishment, the instances of bad taste and poverty of style become more frequent. We allude particularly to the exte- rior elevations ; for in respect to the ornaments of the interior, a better taste prevails, and the splendours of marble and gilding, with the addi- tion of sumptuous furniture, combine to render the architectural decora- tions subservient to the richness of the coup d'ccd. In respect to the ground plans, we are not prepared to make exceptions : the art of making the most of small spaces of ground, or of arranging the plan of a build- ing to a plot, of peculiar form, has been carried to such an extent, owing to the value of every inch of land in cities and populous neighbour- hoods, that human ingenuity has, we dare say, been taxed to its utmost. Our business also is with domestic architecture as it affects the eye; we look upon it with a view to the picturesque and the beautiful. In a commercial country like England, abounding in wealth, of which the industry of individuals in the middle classes has appropriated to them a considerable share,—a country, too, where the comforts of home comprise the luxuries and elegancies of life,—the do- mestic architecture becomes of prominent importance; and the numerous specimens of individual taste scattered over the face of the country, attract the eye of the foreigner, and influence his opi- nion of the national taste quite as much as the comparatively few public edifices. The ancients being more an out-door people, and the proportion of wealthy individuals in a community being small, paid more attention to their public edifices, whether civil or religious ; though the villas of their nobles and rich men were remarkable for taste and splendour of architecture and decoration. The remains of their palaces, temples, theatres, baths, fountains, &c.—stupendous monuments of their grand taste—furnish us with models ; and we feast upon the fragments which time has left to us.
Within the last fifty years, a great change has taken place in our do- mestic architecture; and, owing to the improved taste of our architects, and the wider range which they have taken in their selection of models, very much for the better. In general, where a villa, a cottage, or a range of houses offends the eye by some glaring instance of absurdity or mean- ness, either they are the invention of a mere bricklayer, or the
folly" of some individual possessed of more wealth than taste. We do not say that architects are faultless iu their designs, but the exceptions
to the rule of propriety are few in comparison. The number of publi- cations that have appeared very recently of designs for villas and cot- tages, not only evinces the cultivated taste of our architects as regards this class of buildings, but has tended greatly to improve the country, by giving to the landed proprietor a better and more varied choice of de- signs, in the adoption of which the picturesque has been kept in view ; and though we have Gothic toys and castellated mansions in suburban neighbourhoods, we do not now find the eye so frequently arrested by a shapeless mass of bricks and mortar, like a London workhouse perched upon a hill in the centre of a romantic country.
Of the several styles of architecture,there is none which, in our opinion, harmonizes so well with the . prevailing character of English scenery, especially in closely populated districts where the ground is highly culti- vated, as the old English domestic style. It is susceptible of an endless variety of appearance, and is capable of being made commodious in the
arrangement of the plan without great expense. Its solidity, durability, and the cheapness of the materials required, are additional recommen- dations.
Mr. ROBINSON, in his '6 Rural Architecture," a series of designs for ornamental cottages, lodges, dairies, &c. and in his " Designs for Farm
Buildings," has shown how susceptible this truly national style of domestic architecture is of adaptation to rural buildings. The cottage of the woodman, the park-lodge, the gamekeeper's or bailiff's dwelling, assumes an elegant appearance, while it is at the same time simple, appropriate to the purpose, and harmonizes with the rural retirement of its site ; even the stables, granaries, and barns, become tasteful objects, and a pigstye is rendered ornamental.
The ample dimensions of the barn assist the effect of its graceful pro- portions and simple and massive form, and the rudeness of the materials preserves its rustic character : it is rarely an unsightly building, because of its fitness ; nd simplicity, and only requires the hand of taste to render it positively beautiful. A former Duke of Bedford, in giving a com- mission to Inigo Jones to build a church upon his estate, said, " I care not for ornament,—a barn will do." " Then your Grace shall have the finest barn in the kingdom," was the reply of the architect ; who erected that temple of a barn, St. Paul's, Covent Garden. Fitness and propor. tion, those two grand elements of architectural beauty and grandeur, "need not the foreign aid of ornament" in order to their development. In a more recent work, entitled " Village Architecture," Mr. ROBIN- SON has given a series of designs for the inn, schoolhouse, market- house, almshouses, workhouse, town-hall, parsonage, church, &c. which strikingly exemplify the picturesque character of this style. Mr. Romissors has carried into effect the suggestions of the amiable Sir UVEDALL PRICE in his "Essay on the Picturesque," in a manner that adds value to them by showing the elegance and practicability of their re- sults. The commonest materials, the simplest forms, and the plainest exterior, are rendered attractive by the taste of the design. The gables and chimneys are susceptible of enrichment where it may be afforded ; and the lattices may also be rendered ornamental. Mr. ROBINSON, in his "Designs for Ornamental Villas," gives examples of the various styles of civil architecture suitable to his purpose. We will take a rapid glance at their peculiar characteristics, by way of illustrating our argu- ment in favour of the old English domestic style. The Anglo-Norman is more suited to the castle than the villa ; though in the wildness of rocky scenery its turrets and buttressed walls have a fine effect. This style, from its massive simplicity and plainness, at the same time that it is susceptible of elaborate ornament in the details—of arches especially —is peculiarly well adapted to ecclesiastical edifices. Mr. ROBINSON gives us a design for a village church in this style, a very chaste and beautiful example of which is afforded by the church recently erected at Oxford. He has also displayed great skill in adapting this style to domestic pur- poses. The castellated style has been much the fashion with retired citizens, who have sacrificed comfort and convenience to taste, by choosing the small, low, and dark rooms of a house of defence, for the sake of a row of plaster battlements, in preference to the more spacious apartments of a modern dwelling. The florid Gothic of Henry the Seventh's time has been successfully adopted in mansions and villas ; and the profusion and lightness of its ornaments, and the numerous turrets and buttresses with their crocketed pinnacles, the groinings of the roofs, the oriel windows, the richness of the details of arches, pendants, bosses, and friezes (or string courses), give a wide range for the fancy both in exterior and interior decoration. The Elizabethan style, as shown in the instances of Burleigh, Hat- field, &c. and that of the old manor-houses of the time of Henry the Seventh (one of which, at East Barsham, Mr. Pnensr exhibits in several aspects in his " Views illustrative of Examples of Gothic Architecture"), are highly pictorial in form and embellishment, but are better suited to the mansion than the villa. The same may be said of the Classic styles, but especially the Palladian, which is the architecture of palaces. The Grecian and Italian styles are both suited to villas; the former being susceptible of the most splendid and costly combination of classic refine- ment and elegance of decoration, while the latter is available to a more
homely kind of ornament, and the simpler conveniences of domestic life. The stately colonnade, and walls ornamented with bas-reliefs, re- quire stone to show them to advantage ; whereas the balustraded balconies, the raised terrace, the steps outside leading up to the first- floor, may with equal propriety adorn a brick or stuccoed building, with tiled roof, and outside sun-shades. Of this latter class of designs we are afforded some very tasteful specimens, in the "Architettura Cam- pestre" of MT. HUNT ; WETTER'S " Designs for Villas;" and PARKER'S " Villa Rustica," a new work, the two first numbers of which have only just appeared. The peculiarity of this last-mentioned work consists in the designs being modified copies of actual buildings in and near Rome and Florence ; such as Rarnixt.'s Villa in the Borghese Gardens, &c. which are rendered suitable to cottages, as those of Mr. HUNT are to lodges, garden-seats, summer-houses, conservatories, dairies, &c. ; and those of Mr. Werrsis to ornamental villas. The lightness, coolness, and chaste elegance of the Italian style, with its square tower, pro- jecting roof, and open prospect-room, render it more suitable to a mild climate and open country than one where shelter from the winter breeze is welcomer than an extended view. Another prin- cipal feature in the Italian style is the ornamental appearance of the chimney, a most essential part of an English dwelling, which is (except in the old style of architecture) a positive eyesore. We do not see why
the stack of chimneys might not be made to assume an architectural character, either by biding the pots or connecting them at the top by a coping-stone like a balustrade, and making them form a feature of the design, instead of a vile excrescence. York House is an example, though but a clumsy one, of what may be done to remedy this capital defect in modern architecture.
A recent work, by Mr. THENDALT., of designs for cottages and villas in the Grecian, Gothic, and Italian styles of architecture, with a view to simplicity and economy, has the useful addition of working plates of details, such as mouldings, cornices, doors, sashes, &c. with the esti- mated cost of each building. The publication of these various works is fast subverting the pauper system of building, which runs up a blank wall, having so many square holes cut in it for door and windows, without a ledge, moulding, or cornice, and topped with red tiles and chimney-pots. Mr. PUGIN'S 46 Ornamental Timber Gables " affords specimens of the endless variety of carved work employed to enrich this principal feature of old English domestic architecture. We do not go along with those who would trace the pointed gable to the Grecian pediment or the Gothic arch ; it appears to us to have been the offspring of necessity ; not its simple and picturesque form, but its utility and fitness appear to have been the causes of its adoption, as it is constituted of that angle of strongest support to a weight of tiling, and its slope is that best adapted to shoot off rain and snow-water. The Swiss cottages are nearly allied to the old English style, which is a modification of them; and had, we think, one common origin in the old dwelling-houses of the towns on the Rhine. It has been hitherto scarcely attempted in this country ; though its pictu- resque forms-broad projecting roofs of shingle, serving as awnings or son-shades, and forming with the exterior staircases and galleries veran- dahs that might be enclosed with glass as conservatories, being built of oak with exposed timbers quaintly carved-would have a very pleasing effect in conjunction with wild, rocky, and pastoral scenery. A beautiful specimen of the interior decorations of this style is afforded in the room at the Coliseum designed by Mr. ROBINSON. But, after all, commend us to our native old English rustic style for comfort, convenience, and picturesque effect. What more pretty than to see a building of this description nestling in the bosom of a tuft of trees, the angles of its quaintly-formed roofs, covered with turf and stone crop, projecting over a span of garden, from whose beds of flowers creeping plants trailed up a lattice climb over its surface ; while the multiform shapes of the co- loured panes in its projecting casements reflect the light of the sun, chequered by the intervening screen of foliage. Its twisted and wreathed chimneys towering among the trees from the centre of its gable, enriched with tracery and drop pendants, form picturesque objects at a distance. The best features of the buildings of villages or country towns yet consist of the homely fashion of its old English domestic architecture, to which the national taste is again returning, as the happiest combination of forms and ornament for a rustic neighbourhood.
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