With the internal decoration Mr. Barry took great pains, but felt great compunction in the use of imitations (scagliola and painting) in the place of real marbles and other precious materials. Necessity compelled the “imposture,” for, even as it was, the expense was great, and (in the opinion of some members of the Club) excessive. But with carte
blanche as to expenditure, he would have expelled every trace of it, and have rivalled the examples of gorgeous decoration, which had struck him in Italy.
This Club was remarkable for the great attention paid to internal convenience. More particularly the kitchen department, in which the enthusiasm and knowledge of M. Soyer were allowed full scope, was held to be a model of excellence. The whole has been named (by Mr. Digby Wyatt) as an example, that “the most minute attention to comfort, and the satisfactory working of utilitarian necessities, are compatible with the exercise of the most delicate sense of refinement, and the hardihood of genius.”
The annexed illustration gives a perspective view from the west (taken from Pall Mall), and a plan of the ground floor. The chief point notable in the latter is the careful attention to absolute symmetry of arrangement,—the centres of doors, colonnades, entrances to staircases and the like, being all made to balance with one another. The espacement of the windows, dictated by the external design, was also made to adapt itself symmetrically to each room, and in no case was recourse had to the device of blank windows—a device to which, though not uncommon in ancient and modern examples of Italian, Mr. Barry had a decided objection. Another point is the careful provision of direct lines of communication by corridors, and the picturesque treatment in many cases of their termination. Generally speaking, it will be found that it unites stateliness and architectural symmetry with great cheerfulness and practical convenience.
The building, as a whole, was a decided success. Grander in scale than the Travellers’ Club, it carried out more thoroughly and emphatically the principles of design, which had made the former building famous. Its exterior, perhaps, produced less effect on the public, for the earlier design had pre-occupied the ground of originality. But it established Mr. Barry in the first rank of Italian architecture, and showed, alike by its points of similarity and its points of difference, that his former success had not been a happy accident. On the interior the difference of scale told for more than on the exterior. In the Travellers’ elegance and comfort alone could be aimed at. In the Reform Club there was an opportunity of adding grandeur, without destroying the former characteristics. No one could doubt that the opportunity had been nobly used. At the time of its erection the building stood almost alone, as a model to foreigners of what a great English Club could be. Other buildings have risen since on the same or even on a grander scale, both as to size and magnificence of ornament; but still it may be doubted whether its high position has been impaired.[45]
Manchester Athenæum.—The Manchester Athenæum, as has been said, belongs to this period of his Italian style. The exterior is plain, for it has no
