It will be observed that the centre of this building, as of the Reform Club, is occupied by a fine hall, the result here also of an after-thought, for in the original design its place was occupied by a grand staircase, enclosed by walls. For the decoration of this hall he had formed great designs, which were never to be carried out. Delays interposed, and after the death of Lord Ellesmere the hall was placed in other hands. Mr. F. Götzenberg, a German artist, directed its decoration, and in 1858 the architect was invited to inspect the work, and aid it by his criticism. But, as might be expected, he found the principles adopted by M. Götzenberg very different from those which he had in his own mind. He could not take the responsibility implied in any interference or suggestion, and he retired with deep regret.
The building is certainly one of his most beautiful designs. It shows that the greater taste for richness and variety of effect had not injured that delicacy of proportion, and exquisite finish of detail, which had been so remarkably characteristic of his earlier buildings.[47]
Halifax Town-hall.—The Halifax Town-hall, the last Italian building which he designed, marks still more strikingly the change which his mind had undergone since the erection of the Travellers’ and Reform Clubs.[48]
“This was the last of Sir Charles Barry’s works, and is in many respects one of the most interesting. Its interest arises not from the size or importance of the building, but from the evidence afforded by its design of the results of a long experience in the mind of its architect.
“In the design of the Reform Club, and still more remarkably in the design of the Travellers’ Club, he had adopted that type of Italian architecture which aims at producing grandeur of effect by the symmetry of its parts, the regularity of its arrangement, and the simplicity, verging on severity, of its details. Ornament is sparely applied in these buildings, and is in all cases subordinate to the strict regularity which governs the design. The only exception to this regularity, viz., the position of the entrance door to the Travellers’ Club, was always regarded by the architect as a blemish, only to be justified by its absolute necessity, and forced on him by the nature of the site.
“When, many years afterwards, Bridgewater House was designed, Sir Charles Barry had evidently changed his views in some degree; for this building, although preserving the rhythm and symmetry of a stately Italian palace, relies more on its ornamentation than either the Reform Club or the Travellers’.
“In it, as in the alterations to the Treasury Buildings in Whitehall, which were proceeding at about the same time, we see indications that Sir C. Barry had begun to give to his Italian architecture a character differing considerably from that which marked his earlier productions.
“One important feature however may be remarked, as common to the Travellers’ and Reform Clubs on the one hand, and to Bridgewater House on the other, namely, the unbroken cornice which surmounts each building. The cornice is proportioned to the whole height of the building, and it is a curious circumstance that Bridgewater House is the last of his designs which contains this feature. In the case of the Treasury, the original design by Sir John Soane controlled of course very decidedly Sir C. Barry’s operations, but the features which he introduced, namely, the broken entablatures (tending towards a vertical, as opposed to the original horizontal effect of Sir J. Soane’s work), the carved panels between the two principal rows of windows, the covering of the entire surface with rustication and panels, the elaborate carving in the attics, go far to show that, whether influenced by the decorative character of the New Palace, Westminster, or by other considerations, he was rapidly changing the character of his Italian designs, and ornamenting them with increased decoration. The same tendency may be observed in his subsequent designs for the sculpture galleries at Shrubland Park and for the Government Offices. At Shrubland the entablature is broken over the columns and pilasters, and in his design for the Government Offices Sir C. Barry showed his opinion of the present Treasury buildings by adopting them as an integral part of
