Club Notes.
The Baltimore Architectural Club commenced its active work for the season on the first of October. It has its rooms in the Wilson Building, Saratoga and Charles Streets, which are always open for the use of its members, and there will be regular meetings every Thursday evening during the winter and spring. At these meetings various subjects of interest will occupy the attention of the members, both of a practical and æsthetic character.
At one meeting of each month there will be an informal talk or lecture on some of the mechanical, constructive or sanitary questions connected with architecture.
On one evening there will be sketching from the cast, and on another an impromptu sketch projet, to be completed in an hour. In addition to these there will be competed for three of the larger and more important regular projets, such as were made last season by the Club, and for which two prizes are offered to those obtaining the first and second place in point of general merit.
The present officers and Board of Control of the Baltimore Architectural Club are J.B. Noel Wyatt, W. Emmart, Wm.G. Nölting, Geo. Worthington, W.M. Ellicott, W.G. Keimig, and Charles Anderson.
The last meeting of the T Square Club of Philadelphia, was one of unusual activity. The annual election of officers and the competition of summer sketches as called for by the Club syllabus was found to be too much for one evening, and consequently the judging of the sketches was postponed a week.
The following officers were elected: President, Albert Kelsey; Vice-President, Edgar V. Seeler; Secretary, A.B. Lacey; Treasurer, David K. Boyd; Executive Committee, Walter Cope, Louis C. Hickman, William L. Price.
The summer sketches, which were judged at one of the Club's Bohemian Nights, were of unusual quality and quantity. Walter Cope, who won first mention, had a large collection of pencil drawings representing the fruits of his labor in Spain.
Walter Price (who won third place) and John Bissegger had one end of the room covered with sketches in color and line made during a recent trip through England,
LXXV. Ferme de Turpe, Normandy.
and Wilson Eyre, Jr., the winner of the second mention, had a variety of subjects beautifully rendered on quaint paper, and in his well-known and ever novel way.
Music and beer were plentiful, and had a cheering effect upon Titus, Dull, Kelsey, and Klauder, whose summer work failed to score a mention.
The syllabus of the Club's work for the coming year has just been issued and contains some features of special interest. The problems in design are chosen with much care and the programmes are more explicit than is usual, and will doubtless contribute to the usefulness of the work to be done.
The T Square Club appears to be more fortunate than some of the other architectural clubs in having interested and succeeded in holding the interest of a number of the stronger of the older men among the local architects. It now numbers about one hundred and twenty members, and its work is necessarily having considerable influence in outside circles.
Its example is a good one to hold up before other and less influential clubs.
Among the architectural clubs thus far noticed in this column no account has been taken of the clubs connected with the architectural schools. Of these there are at present several which are doing good and effective work, but the only one of which we have data for a description is that connected with Lehigh University. The school of architecture, as it is called, is not a school of architecture at all, but of engineering (which is a very different thing), but its work is none the less dignified or important on this account, and the opportunity open to the students' club is in consequence a wider and more serious one than usual if they choose to concern themselves with artistic considerations.
Two years ago the first class in architecture graduated from the Lehigh University, and since that time the classes have continually increased, until now the course is a distinct one in the curriculum of studies of the University. The objects of the department are to provide a thorough training in architectural engineering, with such additional studies in history, design, and drawing as must necessarily accompany all architectural problems.
The first year is of a preparatory nature in which no distinctively architectural subject is taken up, and in the second year the subjects are those closely related to civil engineering, including a very complete course in higher mathematics. It is in the third year that architectural subjects are brought in, and with studies and lectures on the architectural styles, smaller problems in design, sanitary engineering, and theory of roofs and bridges, the full course is opened for the fourth year, of steel construction in office buildings (design and computations), specifications by lectures, thorough study of ventilation, designs for roof trusses and girders, and hydraulics, finally ending with a thesis design. To supplement this prescribed work the students have organized the Architectural Club of the University. The objects of this society are to distribute blue prints to members from a growing collection of negatives owned by the Club; to collect specimens and models of building material; to aid in securing a students' library, and to hold monthly competitions in pen-and-ink rendering, besides managing any of the affairs of the architectural course in which the students as a body desire to act. It is an organization for mutual benefits and already has made itself felt, although only two years old.
After a summer of more or less inactivity, during which, in June, its quarters were moved to 77 City Hall, where it is much more conveniently located, the Cleveland Architectural Club has taken up its work with characteristic enthusiasm, and already a vigorous winter's work has been planned, beginning on November 14, with the annual banquet at the Hollenden Hotel, followed by the yearly meeting for the reports of officers and the election of new officers.
On the evening of January 9, 1896, the first annual exhibition of the Club will be inaugurated, to continue during the balance of the week. This will be the first distinctively architectural exhibition ever held in Cleveland.
In the last competition, "An Entrance to Lake View Cemetery," the mentions were as follows: W.D. Benes, first; Chas. S. Schneider, second; Wilbur M. Hall, third; Geo.W. Andrews, fourth; L.R. Rice, fifth.
The membership of the Club is rapidly increasing, a majority of the members of the local chapter of the A.I.A. having already become associate members.
