The American Architect and Building News.
VOL. XXXIV.Copyright, 1891, by Ticknor & Company, Boston, Mass.
No. 831.
Entered at the Post-Office at Boston as second-class matter.
November 28, 1891.
Summary: —
Fire and Water in the American Architect Office. — Proposed Enlargement of the Collection of Casts at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts. — The French Method of Condemning Land for the Widening of Streets. — Mr. Pennell’s Mishaps in Russia. — Artificial Irrigation Abroad and at Home — The Development of Patagonia. — Anecdote of Travel in
England........................................................................................125 Italian Architecture. — III.............................................................127 Old Colonial Work of Virginia and Maryland. — VII........................................ 130
Theatrical Architecture. — IV......................................................132 Ancient Architecture for Students. — XV.............................................134 Acoustics......................................................................................................................................136 Bessemer Iron and Steel...........................................................................................137 Illustrations: — [We leave the list as made up although the plates
mentioned are omitted because of fire-loss.
House of Mr. Barton Meyers, Norfolk, Va. — The Front Door of the Same. — The Parlor Mantelpiece in the Same House. — The Hall in the Same House. — House at Chicago, Ill. — House at Huguenot Park, N. Y. — Passenger Railway Station, at St Louis, Mo. — Sketch for Four Houses. — Mortuary Chapel, Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wis. Additional: Ruins of Vieux Saint-Vincent, Macon, France. — Libraire Levasseur and Cie, Paris, France. — The Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium. — The Maharajah’s Palace, Bangalore. — Centenary Hall, Battersea Rise, S. W. — Konigliehe Bildhauerschule, Buda-Pesth, Hungary. — Bronze Fountain Group, Carlsruhe. — Some of Sir Christopher Wren’s Towers, London, Eng. — The New Stadttheater, Zurich, Switzerland. — Hotel in the Avenue Bois de Boulogne, Paris, France. — “Eagle House, ” Wimbledon,
Eng. — View of Same from the Kitchen-garden. — The Plan of Same. — The Dining-room of Same. — The Library of
Same. — “Pitts Room” of Same...............................................138
Communications: —
The Right to Excavated Material. — Suggestions Asked.............. 139 Notes and Clippings.........................................................................................................139 Trade Surveys.......................................................................................................................140
WE regret to have to send out this week’s issue in incom
plete form, hut what is, through stress of circumstance,
omitted, will he made good to our subscribers as soon as we can repair the damage inflicted by the fire on Thanksgiving night which partly gutted the building occupied by the publishers and the Heliotype Printing Company. Architects who are having work carried on in our drawing-office are advised that their work has not suffered, as the loss is confined mainly to our own manufactured and partly-manufactured stock. The publishers would feel relieved and gratified if the supporters of the American Architect would at this juncture give proof of their sympathy for undeserved misfortune by making prompt remittance on overdue accounts, and would remit now for next year’s subscription rather than delay doing so until this year is actually ended. As for the editors, it is not possible for them to know just now what damage has been done to the negaatives and other work in preparation, and consequently, they would be more than ordinarily grateful for contributions of drawings and manuscripts.
I
T will be remembered that the authorities of the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts, some time ago, prepared a tentative list of objects of art, of which it would be desirable to possess casts, and sent it, for criticism and suggestion, to the heads of most of the great museums in Europe, at the same time making an effort to collect a fund for paying for the casts, whenever the best selection of subjects should have been made, and arrangements perfected for procuring them. These judicious proceedings have now borne excellent fruit. Mr. Edward Robinson, of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, who acted last summer as the purchasing-agent of the Metropolitan Museum in Europe, reports that the tentative list excited great interest among those to whom it was sent, and that the intention which it showed, of acquiring for New York the largest and best collection of casts ever got together, would be warmly favored by those who were best able to render assistance. It had been estimated that the cost of the complete collection of casts would be about a hundred thousand dollars, of which only sixty thousand have been as yet raised; but it is probable that there will be no great difficulty in securing the remainder, and many casts have already been procured, or ordered. Among the
more important objects which it is intended to have represented by casts in the New York collection are portions of the frieze of the palace at Susa, discovered by M. Dieulafoy a few years ago, in which the color of the original enamelled bricks will be represented by painting the plaster of the cast; the pediment groups from the temple of Zeus at Olympia; the Eginetan statues; all the sculptures of the Parthenon; the reliefs from the Pergamon altar, and a great number of Roman, Romanesque, Mediæval and Renaissance works. With the Willard Collection of architectural casts, and the casts of sculpture already provided, at an expense of some ten thousand dollars, by Mr. Henry G. Marquand, the Metropolitan Museum, if its plans are carried out, will be rich indeed in a most instructive sort of artistic wealth.
THE Boston Board of Survey, to whose excellent work we have several times referred, is, we understand, disposed to
consider suggestions in regard to the promotion of the purposes for which it is formed, and we therefore venture to call its attention to a matter which we have already mentioned. Although the Board of Survey is concerned, strictly, only with the laying out of new streets, the public certainly looks to its experience for assistance in promoting needful alteration of old ones, and we would therefore like to call again to mind what seems to us the economical and judicious practice in France, when a street needs to he widened, of condemning the land needed to carry out the alteration, and paying for the land alone, at a fair valuation. The buildings existing on the land are not disturbed, but the owners of the estates, in consideration of the purchase of the land, are prohibited from making any alteration in their buildings which will prolong the existence of the portion standing on the condemned land. In the rapid changes which go on in city life, it is seldom necessary to wait many years before the owner finds it for his interest to alter or reconstruct his building, and the land previously condemned is then thrown open to public use. As matters are now conducted in Boston, much more than half the cost of a street-widening or extension in the city lies in the damage inflicted upon the buildings, and if this outlay could be avoided, without reducing the amount fairly assessable as “ betterment ” on neighboring estates, and at the cost only of a few years’ interest, many needed improvements might be put in the way of being effected, at small expense.
SOME excitement has been caused by the arrest of Mr.
Joseph Pennell, the well-known artist, by the Russian authorities, while sketching at Berdichev, in Russian Poland. Mr. Pennell was detained in custody for thirty-six hours, and then ordered to leave Russian territory. Sketchers in Europe, of late years, have found this sort of adventure inconveniently common, in other places besides Russia. All over the Continent, a morbid fear seems to prevail, lest some one should “ sketch fortifications, ” or in some other way reveal military secrets to a possible enemy, and tourists often have to suffer in consequence. Mr. Pennell himself was arrested a few years ago in Italy, perhaps as much on account of his appearance on a bicycle as because of his sketching; but the late Ernest Hartwell was arrested in France, while sketching, conducted before a magistrate, and ordered to leave town within a certain number of hours.
MR.
CHABLES COTARD contributes to Le Genie Civil an extremely interesting “ Causerie agricole, ” in which, among other things, he speaks of the advantages of artificial irrigation, of which he has long been an earnest advocate. In his opinion, the “fundamental evil ” which afflicts agriculture in France, and which is of incomparably greater importance than any question of protection by tariffs, is the lack of water on the high lands, and the increasing “ torrentiality ” of the rivers, which follow the extirpation of the forests. Within the last decade, even, meadows, which ten years ago were of great value for their sure and excellent crops of hay, have become useless, on account of the increasing danger of sudden inundations, which often destroy the whole crop; while the more elevated tracts, near by, have become too dry for cultivation. Naturally, his suggestion for curing both these troubles is to restore the water to the high lands, and restrain it from overflowing the low land, partly by restoring the groves and forests, and partly by raising water from the rivers, and distributing it over the high lands by irrigation; but he sees in
VOL. XXXIV.Copyright, 1891, by Ticknor & Company, Boston, Mass.
No. 831.
Entered at the Post-Office at Boston as second-class matter.
November 28, 1891.
Summary: —
Fire and Water in the American Architect Office. — Proposed Enlargement of the Collection of Casts at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts. — The French Method of Condemning Land for the Widening of Streets. — Mr. Pennell’s Mishaps in Russia. — Artificial Irrigation Abroad and at Home — The Development of Patagonia. — Anecdote of Travel in
England........................................................................................125 Italian Architecture. — III.............................................................127 Old Colonial Work of Virginia and Maryland. — VII........................................ 130
Theatrical Architecture. — IV......................................................132 Ancient Architecture for Students. — XV.............................................134 Acoustics......................................................................................................................................136 Bessemer Iron and Steel...........................................................................................137 Illustrations: — [We leave the list as made up although the plates
mentioned are omitted because of fire-loss.
House of Mr. Barton Meyers, Norfolk, Va. — The Front Door of the Same. — The Parlor Mantelpiece in the Same House. — The Hall in the Same House. — House at Chicago, Ill. — House at Huguenot Park, N. Y. — Passenger Railway Station, at St Louis, Mo. — Sketch for Four Houses. — Mortuary Chapel, Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wis. Additional: Ruins of Vieux Saint-Vincent, Macon, France. — Libraire Levasseur and Cie, Paris, France. — The Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium. — The Maharajah’s Palace, Bangalore. — Centenary Hall, Battersea Rise, S. W. — Konigliehe Bildhauerschule, Buda-Pesth, Hungary. — Bronze Fountain Group, Carlsruhe. — Some of Sir Christopher Wren’s Towers, London, Eng. — The New Stadttheater, Zurich, Switzerland. — Hotel in the Avenue Bois de Boulogne, Paris, France. — “Eagle House, ” Wimbledon,
Eng. — View of Same from the Kitchen-garden. — The Plan of Same. — The Dining-room of Same. — The Library of
Same. — “Pitts Room” of Same...............................................138
Communications: —
The Right to Excavated Material. — Suggestions Asked.............. 139 Notes and Clippings.........................................................................................................139 Trade Surveys.......................................................................................................................140
WE regret to have to send out this week’s issue in incom
plete form, hut what is, through stress of circumstance,
omitted, will he made good to our subscribers as soon as we can repair the damage inflicted by the fire on Thanksgiving night which partly gutted the building occupied by the publishers and the Heliotype Printing Company. Architects who are having work carried on in our drawing-office are advised that their work has not suffered, as the loss is confined mainly to our own manufactured and partly-manufactured stock. The publishers would feel relieved and gratified if the supporters of the American Architect would at this juncture give proof of their sympathy for undeserved misfortune by making prompt remittance on overdue accounts, and would remit now for next year’s subscription rather than delay doing so until this year is actually ended. As for the editors, it is not possible for them to know just now what damage has been done to the negaatives and other work in preparation, and consequently, they would be more than ordinarily grateful for contributions of drawings and manuscripts.
I
T will be remembered that the authorities of the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts, some time ago, prepared a tentative list of objects of art, of which it would be desirable to possess casts, and sent it, for criticism and suggestion, to the heads of most of the great museums in Europe, at the same time making an effort to collect a fund for paying for the casts, whenever the best selection of subjects should have been made, and arrangements perfected for procuring them. These judicious proceedings have now borne excellent fruit. Mr. Edward Robinson, of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, who acted last summer as the purchasing-agent of the Metropolitan Museum in Europe, reports that the tentative list excited great interest among those to whom it was sent, and that the intention which it showed, of acquiring for New York the largest and best collection of casts ever got together, would be warmly favored by those who were best able to render assistance. It had been estimated that the cost of the complete collection of casts would be about a hundred thousand dollars, of which only sixty thousand have been as yet raised; but it is probable that there will be no great difficulty in securing the remainder, and many casts have already been procured, or ordered. Among the
more important objects which it is intended to have represented by casts in the New York collection are portions of the frieze of the palace at Susa, discovered by M. Dieulafoy a few years ago, in which the color of the original enamelled bricks will be represented by painting the plaster of the cast; the pediment groups from the temple of Zeus at Olympia; the Eginetan statues; all the sculptures of the Parthenon; the reliefs from the Pergamon altar, and a great number of Roman, Romanesque, Mediæval and Renaissance works. With the Willard Collection of architectural casts, and the casts of sculpture already provided, at an expense of some ten thousand dollars, by Mr. Henry G. Marquand, the Metropolitan Museum, if its plans are carried out, will be rich indeed in a most instructive sort of artistic wealth.
THE Boston Board of Survey, to whose excellent work we have several times referred, is, we understand, disposed to
consider suggestions in regard to the promotion of the purposes for which it is formed, and we therefore venture to call its attention to a matter which we have already mentioned. Although the Board of Survey is concerned, strictly, only with the laying out of new streets, the public certainly looks to its experience for assistance in promoting needful alteration of old ones, and we would therefore like to call again to mind what seems to us the economical and judicious practice in France, when a street needs to he widened, of condemning the land needed to carry out the alteration, and paying for the land alone, at a fair valuation. The buildings existing on the land are not disturbed, but the owners of the estates, in consideration of the purchase of the land, are prohibited from making any alteration in their buildings which will prolong the existence of the portion standing on the condemned land. In the rapid changes which go on in city life, it is seldom necessary to wait many years before the owner finds it for his interest to alter or reconstruct his building, and the land previously condemned is then thrown open to public use. As matters are now conducted in Boston, much more than half the cost of a street-widening or extension in the city lies in the damage inflicted upon the buildings, and if this outlay could be avoided, without reducing the amount fairly assessable as “ betterment ” on neighboring estates, and at the cost only of a few years’ interest, many needed improvements might be put in the way of being effected, at small expense.
SOME excitement has been caused by the arrest of Mr.
Joseph Pennell, the well-known artist, by the Russian authorities, while sketching at Berdichev, in Russian Poland. Mr. Pennell was detained in custody for thirty-six hours, and then ordered to leave Russian territory. Sketchers in Europe, of late years, have found this sort of adventure inconveniently common, in other places besides Russia. All over the Continent, a morbid fear seems to prevail, lest some one should “ sketch fortifications, ” or in some other way reveal military secrets to a possible enemy, and tourists often have to suffer in consequence. Mr. Pennell himself was arrested a few years ago in Italy, perhaps as much on account of his appearance on a bicycle as because of his sketching; but the late Ernest Hartwell was arrested in France, while sketching, conducted before a magistrate, and ordered to leave town within a certain number of hours.
MR.
CHABLES COTARD contributes to Le Genie Civil an extremely interesting “ Causerie agricole, ” in which, among other things, he speaks of the advantages of artificial irrigation, of which he has long been an earnest advocate. In his opinion, the “fundamental evil ” which afflicts agriculture in France, and which is of incomparably greater importance than any question of protection by tariffs, is the lack of water on the high lands, and the increasing “ torrentiality ” of the rivers, which follow the extirpation of the forests. Within the last decade, even, meadows, which ten years ago were of great value for their sure and excellent crops of hay, have become useless, on account of the increasing danger of sudden inundations, which often destroy the whole crop; while the more elevated tracts, near by, have become too dry for cultivation. Naturally, his suggestion for curing both these troubles is to restore the water to the high lands, and restrain it from overflowing the low land, partly by restoring the groves and forests, and partly by raising water from the rivers, and distributing it over the high lands by irrigation; but he sees in