Volltext Seite (XML)
68 THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT’S JOURNAL. [March 1, IS5S. and artistic ideas. There is no attempt made to dispose public buildings to the best advantage; to surround them with those simple adjuncts to architecture which double the value of an edifice. It is extremely important that this principle should be studied by architects. I have not been able to dev»te very lengthened study to this subject. I may be more or less wrong. My remarks are intended to be suggestive rather than dog matic. I am not in a position to teach, but can only furnish subjects for reflection. I shall be satisfied if 1 have suggested a subject which I am very much inclined to think will be care fully studied, and which I believe to be well worthy ®f further development. PECULIARITIES OF DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE IN AMERICA* By Gervase Wheeler, Fellow, R.I.B.A. A student of architecture travelling in America, although not finding subjects of aesthetic value for his note book, such as he would glean from the art treasures of an older world, may, nevertheless, remark many things worthy of investiga tion and remembrance. An examination of the domestic architecture of America especially will well repay the time spent therein, and upon this subject principally I would re spectfully claim attention. I should first remark that the public buildings, many of them large and substantial, do not differ from similar structures, such as may be found at home ; in these the architects have had things pretty much their own way, and must be answerable for the results ; but in the private dwellings individual tastes and national characteristics have made their mark, and consequently an American’s home differs in very many points from residences in London or in Paris. The churches depart only in plan and internal arrange ments from their European types, their architecture having no especial marks of novelty; Trinity Church, New York, the Cathedral, as it is sometimes called, of Episcopacy in the United States, is a fair example of a large building of the per pendicular period, and as good as revivals of our own of about thirty or forty years ago,—better, indeed, in many respects than most of them. The other costly churches of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, are many of them very well designed and admirably built, especially comfortable, too, in their sittings and appointments, but they have no national difference to stamp them as American, being English or German, as the architect employed happened to have come from either of those schools, and reproduced on the other side of the Atlantic the traditions of his office, or the bias of his art education. I think it may be admitted, especially by those who have travelled through the States, that there is nothing in public buildings there to show the dawn of a new development, and that in American domestic architecture must be sought the germ of a national style, if such a flower is ever to bloom on transatlantic soil! I have sought very closely to determine wherein American domestic life differs from our own, because I think it will be conceded that in the effort to meet the requirements of living, all structural forms must acquire shape, and the only honest building is that which supplies what its inmate needs in the most admirable manner. Now, American life differs, it seems to me, from ours mainly in this, that it is social on a much larger scale, and that it is far more comprehensive in its do mestic machinery. The result practically is, that the houses are all very much larger, the rooms of great size, and the ap pliances and arrangements, to save labour to servants, are most important features in the plan. Add to these the local in fluences of climate, and an architect may plainly see what demands he has to meet in successfully designing an appro priate American home. But with all the advantages he may have gathered here, I will venture to say that the actual building, such as he will see by the thousand in all the large cities of America, will show him much wherein he may learn a useful lesson, not without advantage in its application here. Those who have visited the United States, will agree with me that the approach by the sea to either New York or Boston affords a view of magnificence of scenery not to be * Read before the Royal Institute of British Architects. surpassed by anything else of its kind in the world; but probably the first impression made upon the stranger will be that which I think he will retain to the very last as the striking peculiarity of America, namely, the wonderful brightness of the atmosphere and the enormous distance to the zenith. It is important to remember this, as very much of the effect of American architecture is due thereto. The sombre colour of the New Jersey and Connecticut free stones, of which the buildings are generally composed, would be heavy and gloomy in such a climate as that of England, whilst, on the other hand, the brilliantly white marble and vividly vermillion bricks that are also used, would be out of tone in a lower atmospheric key. The flashing reflections of the bright tin roofs (not so common now, however, as they were fifteen years ago) strike, on first sight, with peculiar distinctness ; and such is the dryness of the atmosphere, even by the sea-side, that these roofs are durable in a remarkable degree. The mode in which the tin plates are laid allows for contraction and expansion in extremes of heat and cold, such as the climate of the Northern States presents. The great advantage of a tin roof is its lightness, and the ease with which it can be laid and repaired ; the heat more or less caused by all metal coverings is guarded against by a non-conducting substance placed between the roof boarding and the tin, generally felt, and sometimes sheets of cork, or cork bark. Slates are, however, very largely used now, and the French mansard roofs are becoming quite numerous. There is a strong dislike in America to a parapet and inside gutter, caused by the difficulties arising from the sudden and enormous falls of snow and the accumulation of ice, and the great practical difficulty is in getting rid of the roof-water in a sightly manner. This necessity causes one of the most marked features of an American town residence, namely, its very large and far extending cornice, which in fact is really only an enriched gutter supported upon brackets, and having the water led therefrom into down pipes of very large size. In country houses the eaves are extended considerably beyond the walls, three feet or more, and are generally made without gutters, allowing the water to shoot beyond the building, often dripping into a conduit formed in stones, tiles or bricks upon the ground, and carried around the house. Thus the first striking feature of an American town house is the cornice, and an immense variety of embellishment may be seen therein. Our workers in cement or artificial stone would run riot in New York, but to the credit of American builders, it must be stated, that artificial materials are very little used, and solid stone, brick or iron are thus employed. The buildings are high, but as generally they have more frontage than with us, the proportion is not lost of each separate composition. The worst effect is in the irregularity of height and design in buildings of the same size and class in the same row, but after all this, want of uniformity is not much greater than may constantly be seen here. It is not usual to see two or more houses alike; each occupant generally has built for himself, and has consulted his own taste only ; and even when builders put up houses to let or sell, they are not fond of making one building the counterpart of its neigh bour. Blocks of houses of similar design may here and there be seen, but they are exceptions, and only serve to prove the rigour of the rule, “ each one for himself.” Next to the cornice, the entrance doorway is a feature sure to attract notice. This is invariably high and wide, and ela borately embellished; in all cases consisting of wide outer doors and an inner vestibule of marble, or inlaid tile flooring, and approached by a wide and high flight of steps. The old name of “ stoup” is still retained for this feature, the top land ing before the threshold of the door being so wide, and the cornice or cap over the door projecting so far over as a protect ing shade, as to forma “stoup” or open porch, such as the Dutch ancestors of old New York delighted in in older times. This is the genuine New York house,—the “ high-stoup,” in contradistinction to which, a comparatively modern innovation, that in which the ground floor is nearly on a level with the pavement, is called an “ English basement house.” Beneath all these houses are very spacious and lofty sub- cellers, in which is the furnace or hot water or steam appa ratus, which warms and ventilates the whole building. Next above this, and in the “ high-stoup” but little sunk below the level of the pavement, is the basement floor, comprising the usual living room of the family in front; in rear of it very