The Englishman's House: A Practical Guide for Selecting and Building a House

by C. J. Richardson

The first view given in this volume attempts to show the picturesque effect of the Grecian Temple in its complete state, the attendants having just retired from some display or ceremony; the second, the front of a Roman Temple in its noble remains.

To the Greeks we owe all the general principles and forms of classic art, but they have been modified to modern ideas and tastes, and, it may be added, to suit also the various climates of the countries where they have been adopted.

However much the occupations of our countrymen may partake of the commercial character, the mental qualities requisite to such pursuits have not been so displayed as to exclude a taste for art. Where, for example, can be found superior specimens of art-choice than exist in their mansions, villas, or cottage-ornées, their picture and sculpture galleries, or the museums and other collections of those whose business pursuits have been the cause of their prosperity.

An essential element of success in every branch of progress is involved in tasteful selection. Without considering those classes who by successful efforts of their ancestry have been placed beyond the pale of want (either artificial or real), a large proportion of our population may be ranked as having advanced morally, socially, and commercially by that intuition which characterizes our national progress. It takes as its basis nature and nature’s products. It eliminates from these not only pecuniary benefits that in a commercial point of view may occur, but associating the useful with the beautiful (the sense of the latter having been gained during intervals of quiet thought as a relief from the incessant requirements of business engagements), a tendency to embody the picturesque, especially in regard to architecture, arises. We have no hesitation in assigning to this cause the production of some of the most picturesque architectural erections which grace our country,—that render English homes an example, and prove that, while the main element of our national prosperity is making money, we are not insensible to the beneficent influences resulting from the cultivation of refined taste.

It would be interesting as an object of careful inquiry, if there existed sufficient data for the purpose, to trace each of the many steps that have occurred between the birth of architecture and its present condition. The early history of mankind had as its locality climates which favoured the construction and use of the crudest contrivances, intended only to meet the few wants of shelter and occasional domestic privacy. The first condition of man’s existence, either in this primitive or modern state, is that of roving or wandering tribes. Instances of this are found in the early inhabitants of Asia Minor, and adjacent countries, and at the present day the same habit is maintained in Central Asia, Arabia, and many parts of America. As soon as the sustenance afforded for their cattle is consumed in one district a migration is made to another. Gradually, however, centres of trade sprung up where commodities could be bartered for live stock. Men thus became massed together in villages and towns. Quitting a semi-savage condition, they built permanent residences in place of the tent. At first these, like the log-hut of the modern Canadian, were only sufficient for the most common necessities of life. In course of time, however, the spirit of emulation, the growth of riches, and the germination of man’s natural taste for the beautiful, led to artificial wants, which were soon converted into necessities of life. This called out the study of art on the part of the few for the benefit of the many. Systems of art in all its branches gradually developed themselves. By the study of the beauties of nature such systems gradually progressed in purity of style, and produced designs that eventually were appreciated by the common people, in a greater or less degree, according to the capabilities of each individual. Architecture and the other fine arts thus, by slow but sure degrees, began to gain a hold on popular taste, and step by step they arrived at the state of perfection of which we now boast.

It will be evident that whilst the primary objects of architecture were simply those of meeting the immediate necessities of life, its ultimate purpose was only attained when it became an art, cultivated by refined taste, an educated eye, and encouraged by the growth of civilization and commerce. It thus advanced from a state of barbarism into one in which it was connected with all the highest developments of the moral and mental qualities of mankind, but especially with the æsthetic aspirations of our nature.

Incidentally but necessarily connected with the general progress of architecture is the great variety of styles that has been invented. The whole of these are modifications of some one or more primaries. No two individuals acquire the same mental impression by viewing one object; each of their impressions is tinted by the mental characteristics of the individual. It is, therefore, from this cause that so many varieties of style have originated from one first model. An illustration of this is afforded in the Gothic, which in different hands has been greatly divided and modified in its details. This style, which at first was of exclusive application only, has subsequently become most extensively in use for purposes that at first sight it would have been judged as quite unfit for.

The style of architecture just referred to is remarkable for its picturesque character, and may fitly be adduced as an ensample of that quality in the absence of an exact definition of the term.

An able writer criticising Gothic buildings, remarks that the outline of the summit presents a great variety of forms of turrets and pinnacles, some open, some fretted and variously enriched. But even where there is an exact correspondence of parts, it is often disguised by an appearance of splendid confusion and irregularity.

In the doors and windows of Gothic Churches, the pointed arch has as much variety as any regular figure can well have; the eye, too, is less strongly conducted than by the parallel lines in the Grecian style, from the top of one aperture to that of another; and every person must be struck with the extreme richness and intricacy of some of the principal windows of our cathedrals and ruined abbeys. In these last is displayed the triumph of the picturesque, and their charms to a painter’s eye are often so great as to rival those which arise from the chaste ornaments and the noble and elegant simplicity of Grecian architecture.