As the best means of promoting the study of our subject, we
will cite a few examples of religious, civil and private architecture in the United States.
RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE.
This is the least original and the least characteristic — above all, in edifices of more than ordinary importance. The influence of the French school is discernible, mingling with the unmistakable English inspirations, the latter being the logical consequence of similarity of religious beliefs and forms.
The Cathedral at Topeka, Kansas, is an interesting specimen of recent church architecture in the United States (Figure 1). This edifice, now in process of erection [1889], was designed by the architect Congdon. The general plan is the same as that of French churches: it is a Latin cross, formed by a nave, choir and transept, with aisles along the nave and choir. But the church is connected with the town-hall, in which there is also a public school for boys and girls. A passage leads from this building to a cloister, on which the chapter-house opens. In front of the church, on the other side of the town-hall, a space is reserved for the bishop’s residence. This is to us an interesting cluster of
buildings, for it suggests in a striking manner the disposition of the old French abbeys, beneath the shadow of whose spires schools and colleges were grouped.
A Pointed porch, flanked by two towers containing stair
cases, gives access to a vestibule preceding the nave ; on the left, a less pretentious porch forms a lateral entrance; a pas
sage on the right, skirting the cloister and communicating with
it, as well as the town-hall, also serves as an entrance on this side. A square tower rises over the centre of the transept; it is pierced by four Pointed bays with pent-house projections, and is crowned with battlements, which are hardly justifiable. The roof is pyramidal.
The bays are all Pointed, and the larger ones are adorned with colonnettes ; the front gable between the two towers and above the main porch is occupied by a rose-window. The general aspect of the structure is attractive; many of the details are treated with ingenuity and freedom, as, for example, the small porch with the baptistery jutting out from the side-aisle on the left. The principal faijade is well-proportioned and not destitute of elegance ; the choking of the porch by the towers is skilfully avoided. But apparently the buttresses are faulty ; those in the townhall seem very heavy and deep by the side of the small ogival openings lighting the passages. The great square bays above also form a quite shocking contrast to these delicate and elegant arches.
The Church of the Sacred Heart at Dayton, Ohio, by
Fig. 5. Chapel of Our Saviour at Roslindale, Mass.
Fig. 6. Chapel at Dublin, N. H.
Fig. 2. Church of the Sacred Heart at Dayton, Ohio.
will cite a few examples of religious, civil and private architecture in the United States.
RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE.
This is the least original and the least characteristic — above all, in edifices of more than ordinary importance. The influence of the French school is discernible, mingling with the unmistakable English inspirations, the latter being the logical consequence of similarity of religious beliefs and forms.
The Cathedral at Topeka, Kansas, is an interesting specimen of recent church architecture in the United States (Figure 1). This edifice, now in process of erection [1889], was designed by the architect Congdon. The general plan is the same as that of French churches: it is a Latin cross, formed by a nave, choir and transept, with aisles along the nave and choir. But the church is connected with the town-hall, in which there is also a public school for boys and girls. A passage leads from this building to a cloister, on which the chapter-house opens. In front of the church, on the other side of the town-hall, a space is reserved for the bishop’s residence. This is to us an interesting cluster of
buildings, for it suggests in a striking manner the disposition of the old French abbeys, beneath the shadow of whose spires schools and colleges were grouped.
A Pointed porch, flanked by two towers containing stair
cases, gives access to a vestibule preceding the nave ; on the left, a less pretentious porch forms a lateral entrance; a pas
sage on the right, skirting the cloister and communicating with
it, as well as the town-hall, also serves as an entrance on this side. A square tower rises over the centre of the transept; it is pierced by four Pointed bays with pent-house projections, and is crowned with battlements, which are hardly justifiable. The roof is pyramidal.
The bays are all Pointed, and the larger ones are adorned with colonnettes ; the front gable between the two towers and above the main porch is occupied by a rose-window. The general aspect of the structure is attractive; many of the details are treated with ingenuity and freedom, as, for example, the small porch with the baptistery jutting out from the side-aisle on the left. The principal faijade is well-proportioned and not destitute of elegance ; the choking of the porch by the towers is skilfully avoided. But apparently the buttresses are faulty ; those in the townhall seem very heavy and deep by the side of the small ogival openings lighting the passages. The great square bays above also form a quite shocking contrast to these delicate and elegant arches.
The Church of the Sacred Heart at Dayton, Ohio, by
Fig. 5. Chapel of Our Saviour at Roslindale, Mass.
Fig. 6. Chapel at Dublin, N. H.
Fig. 2. Church of the Sacred Heart at Dayton, Ohio.