HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
The writer of "The Point of View" in Scribner's Magazine recently called attention to the distinction between what he calls "cultivation" and "civilization." As he very aptly states it, "culture according to the common acceptance of it, is largely the cultivation of the mind; civilization would seem to be the cultivation of the sympathies, the tastes, and the capacity for giving and receiving sound pleasures. The most civilized man is the man with the most catholic appreciation, the man who can be the most things to the most people—the man, to put it briefly, who knows best how to live. The man who is civilized can use all the culture he can get, but he can get on and still be civilized with a very moderate outfit of it. But the man who has culture and has not civilization, is very badly handicapped."
Probably no walk of life offers more opportunities for the advantageous application of what is meant in this quotation by civilization than that of the architect; and probably in no other profession does the "civilized" man have greater advantages over his less civilized fellows.
The successful architect requires a broad and catholic culture, but in addition must be a man of the world in the best and most comprehensive sense. Opportunities for social improvement will often make the difference between success and failure in his professional life. On this account too much stress can hardly be put upon the importance to a young man of his social environment.
The life in an old university set in the midst of a community where the traditions of generations of cultivated families have established a social atmosphere, it might be said, is one of the best and most powerful civilizing influences. Such an opportunity as this is offered at Harvard, and it is this which gives to the architectural course at Harvard its main advantage over that of other schools in this country.
The department itself is comparatively young, having only just completed its second year. It is under the direction of the faculty of the Lawrence Scientific School, one of the principal schools of the University.
Its special corps of instructors consists of Prof. H. Langford Warren assisted by Messrs. George F. Newton and John W. Bemis. In addition to this, lectures and instruction are given by members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which includes the faculty of the Lawrence Scientific School, Harvard College and the Graduate School, among whom are Prof. Charles Eliot Norton, Prof. White, Prof. Greenough, Prof. Moore, Prof. Hollis and others.
Although students in this department do much of their work in rooms specially provided for them, in their general studies and lectures they are associated with the other students of the University and thus reap the advantages coming from such association.
Throughout, it has been the purpose in this school, to treat architecture as a fine art and not merely as the science of construction, and to this end instruction in the general history of the Fine Arts and practice in design are made the central features about which the other studies are grouped.
The course as laid out is intended to cover four years, and may be supplemented by post-graduate work; while on the other hand a large part of the general studies may be anticipated by students of the College who wish to take the professional studies after completing the usual course in the college proper. Especial stress is laid upon educating the taste and discrimination of the student, and association with cultivated men and familiarity with the best efforts of the past, are the two most important influences to this end.
Personal.
Mr. C. D. Maginnis, recently returned from abroad, and who has for several years been in the office of Mr. E. M. Wheelwright, city architect, has opened an office at 27 School Street, Boston. He is prepared to do all kinds of architectural drawing, in pen, pencil, or water color, and will work up competition drawings and sketches.
Mr. W. H. Kilham, Mr. E. P. Dana, and several others have recently been added to the working force of Messrs. Winslow & Wetherell, whose office is now the largest in Boston.
Mr. W. T. Partridge, who has for several years been with Messrs. Eames & Young, in St. Louis, has severed his connection with them and will probably return to the East.
Club Notes.
The summer work of the Sketch Club of New York has been laid out to include sketching trips in the outlying neighborhood of New York City. On alternate Saturdays members of the Club meet at one of the piers and take a small steam yacht to points along the East River and Long Island Sound, spending the Sunday in sketching. On the intermediate Sundays, rambles through West Chester occupy those who are disposed to join in the excursions. These trips are laid out to include the time from July 13 to September 28.
The competition of the Chicago Architectural Club upon the subject "Picturesque Chicago," closes September 2, and the club begins its regular year's work on that date with an exhibition of the sketches submitted in this competition together with other work of the summer.