The Brochure Series

OF ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION.

RENAISSANCE PANELS FROM PERUGIA.

The carved walnut panels from the
choir stalls of the Church of San
Pietro de’ Casinense in Perugia,
designed by Stefano da Bergamo
in 1535, which are given as illustrations
in this number, are excellent examples of
the ornament of the later period of the
Italian Renaissance. This form of ornament
was first used in flat painted panels
upon pilasters, such as the well-known work
of Raphael in the Loggia of the Vatican,
suggested by the Roman work discovered
in his time upon the Palatine. It was afterwards
applied to all sorts of objects where
rectangular spaces were to be decorated.
Its characteristics can hardly be better described
than in the following extract from
Mr. C. Howard Walker’s articles upon the
Study of Decoration in The Technology
Architectural Review:—

“The motives on the pilasters were of
two kinds: the continuous scroll, starting
from a strong base leaf and rising in equal
volutes, with alternating direction to right
and to left, and filling the panel. This
motive needed always to be balanced by
its opposite, and was consequently seldom
used. It had its prototype in the magnificent
scroll from the Forum of Trajan.
The other motive was that usually used,
and capable of infinite variety, that of a
central axis, the ornament diverging from
it symmetrically on either side. This
motive was borrowed from colored decorations
on the Roman walls. It is a most
difficult class of ornament to handle, as
so much depends upon relative distribution,
proportion, and relief of modeling.
The motive usually starts at the bottom
and grows continuously to the top, with
the base, whether a mass of leafage, a
vase, or other unit of ornament, well defined
and the crowning unit strong and
rich. The central axis can be actual or
merely evidenced by the symmetry of the
sides, preferably actual. To prevent an
effect of absolute perpendicular division
or of stringiness, this axis, between its
base and crown, is divided either by knots
of ornament, concentrated masses, or horizontal
motives. In making these divisions
the rules of cadence need to be
carefully observed; the divisions should
be made equal in length, or alternate, or
in sequence, and the same method should
be observed in the units of ornament
marking the divisions. In most cases
there is more ground than ornament,
which always demands that the lines of
the ornament should be most carefully
studied, and that the units used as terminals
for these lines should be exactly
disposed, in relation to the axis, to each
other, and to the border of the panel.
When one considers the number of factors
which can enter into the composition of
one of these panels, it can be readily conceived
that their variety is wellnigh infinite;
absolute symmetry on either side of
a central axis on which are threaded units
of ornament, and which starts from a mass
of detail and terminates in a mass of
detail; systems of radial lines diverging
from the central axis and terminating in
centres of ornaments of greater or less
size, arranged in all sorts of groupings;
[85]
garlands, pendants, and ribbons, vases,
trophies, shields, birds, beasts, and nondescript
combinations, foliage, conventional
and natural, forms, human and superhuman,
all in varying scales, all in surfaces
undulating, now rising into sharp relief
with clear-cut edges, now sinking and
melting into the background; and the
whole so carefully balanced, so exactly
distributed, that no portion should be too
strong for another, no detail but should be
equally refined. It is not an easy matter
to succeed in a design of such requirements.”

“It is well into the latter part of the
fifteenth century before this pilaster treatment
is prevalent. The Quattrocento
work contains much less of it than the
Cinquecento. The garlands and trophies,
lions’ and bulls’ heads, dolphins and griffins,
tridents and shells and rosettes, and
numberless familiar forms appear in a
new guise; the new forms being, for the
most part, heraldic motives or town arms,
such as the fleur-de-lis of Florence, the
Biscione or viper of Milan, and lions
which are rampant, a condition unknown
to their classic prototypes. Shields,
though used before, have a new form, and
ribbons are developed into all sorts of
knots and waving ends, the loops having
the same cadences in relative size as other
decorative compound motives.”

XLI. Panel from the Choir Stalls, Church of S. Pietro, Perugia, Italy.

XLII. Panel from the Choir Stalls, Church of S. Pietro, Perugia, Italy.

XLIII. Panel from the Choir Stalls, Church of S. Pietro, Perugia, Italy.

XLIV. Panel from the Choir Stalls, Church of S. Pietro, Perugia, Italy.

XLV. Panel from the Choir Stalls, Church of S. Pietro, Perugia, Italy.

XLVI. Panels from the Choir Stalls, Church of S. Pietro, Perugia, Italy.

XLVII. Panels from the Choir Stalls, Church of S. Pietro, Perugia, Italy.

XLI to XLVII.

PANELS FROM THE CHOIR STALLS, CHURCH OF
S. PIETRO, PERUGIA, ITALY.

The principles governing the design of
these panels so well explained in the foregoing
quotation can all be seen exemplified
in the plates. They are all built upon a
central axis, and the proportion and distribution
of the various motives most carefully
studied and beautifully carried out. Although
all are shorter than the usual pilaster,
the design is exactly similar to that
usually employed for this purpose. Even
the horizontal panels in plates XLVI and
XLVII follow precisely the same rules of design.

XLVIII. Panel from the Chamber of Commerce, Perugia, Italy.

XLVIII.

PANEL FROM THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, PERUGIA, ITALY.

This panel, although from a different
building, is so similar in treatment to the
ones in the Church of S. Pietro that it
can be classed with them, and all that has
been said of them applies as well to this.

Architectural Schools.

It is not many years since there was but
one school in America to which a young
man could go with the expectation of
getting instruction in architecture, or at
least where a special course of training
was laid out for this purpose. At present
there are six well-equipped architectural
schools connected with as many colleges,
each with its own corps of instructors and
each presenting special advantages to
students. In addition to these principal
institutions there are a number of others
in which instruction in architecture is
given, either independently or in connection
with other courses. To a young man
intending to take up the study of architecture
this array of opportunities may
not appear in exactly the light of an
embarrassment of riches, but it furnishes a
wide field from which to choose, and it
may not be an easy matter to determine
which under the special circumstances
connected with each case presents the
greatest advantages. For this reason a
general statement of the main features
and practical equipment of the principal
schools may be of service in enabling intending
students to choose intelligently
among them.

MASS. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.

The oldest, the most thoroughly appointed,
and largest architectural school in
the country is the Department of Architecture
at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in Boston. It is in charge
of Professor Francis W. Chandler, with a
corps of ten professors, assistants, and
special lecturers. The regular course consists
of four years’ study. Special students
are admitted after satisfying the faculty
by examination or otherwise that they are
proficient in the preparatory studies required
and are qualified to pursue to
advantage the special work chosen.

The instruction in this department comprises
the study of construction and
materials, the study of building processes,
and of professional practice, as well as
that of composition and design, and of the
history of architecture. It is arranged to
meet the wants both of those who
commence their professional studies at the
beginning, and to some extent of experienced
draughtsmen who desire to make[87]
up deficiencies in their training, or to
qualify themselves for undertaking the
responsibilities of practice.

The more strictly professional work
begins with the study of the five orders
and their applications, and of architectural
history. During each year there is
regular instruction in freehand drawing,
the last year being from life. There is
also a special class in pen-and-ink drawing
under Mr. D. A. Gregg. Instruction
is given in watercolor drawing by Mr. Ross
Turner. The students are familiarized
with the material elements of their future
work by a course in practical construction,
illustrated by lectures, problems, and by
visits to buildings. The subject of specifications
and contracts is discussed. Problems
in construction of all kinds are
given, to fix in the memory the principles
already learned.

For two and one-half years the students
are continually engaged upon architectural
design under the charge of Professor Despradelle
and Mr. S. W. Mead. Each student’s
work is examined and criticized
before the classes by a jury from the
Boston Society of Architects.

The Boston Society of Architects has
established two prizes of the value of fifty
dollars each in books for students who at
the end of the year exhibit the best work.

Several thousand photographs, prints,
drawings, and casts were originally collected
for the Department by means of
a special fund raised for the purpose.
To these collections large additions have
been made, at first mostly by gifts, but
later by regular appropriations. Models
and illustrations of architectural detail
and materials are arranged in the rooms of
the department. The chief part of the
collection of casts of architectural sculpture
and detail belonging to the department
has been deposited in the Museum
of Fine Arts, together with the architectural
collection belonging to the museum.
The students of the Department have free
access to the museum at all times; as the
building is close at hand no inconvenience
results from the change, and some of the
advanced exercises in drawing are held
there. The museum of sanitary and
building appliances contains models of
plumbing apparatus, specimens of metal
work, tile work, glass work, and wood work,
partly purchased, but mostly deposited
with the Department by the manufacturers.
The architectural library contains
a large and carefully selected collection of
technical works and the leading periodicals,
both American and foreign. The
resources of the Department have been
much enlarged by the erection of a special
building devoted entirely to its uses.

In 1894 a summer school of architecture
was held in Salem and Portsmouth for
the study of colonial work. The courtesy
of owners of houses built at this epoch
allowed the students to measure and
sketch the best work of this interesting
locality, and in the future it is proposed
to make an exhaustive study of colonial
architecture.

Both men and women are admitted to
all departments of the Institute. Candidates
for admission must be at least seventeen
years of age, and must pass satisfactory
examinations in algebra, plane
geometry, either French or German, English,
history, and either advanced algebra
or solid geometry. A detailed account of
these requirements and the general conditions
of the entrance examinations, which
are held the last of June and middle of
September, can be found in the catalogue
of the Institute, which will be sent upon
application by the secretary. The tuition
fee is $200.00 a year divided into two payments,
$125.00 due in October and $75.00
due in January.

During a number of years a special course
of two years was maintained in the school,
which attracted many students who did
not find it possible to spend the time
required for the full course of four years.
This arrangement has now been discontinued
and no special provision is at present
made for other than regular students.

The Institute has from the beginning
modeled its instruction very largely upon
that of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and has
ranked until the last few years as the only
American school in which a thorough
academic training in architectural design
was attempted. Its professors of design
Professor E. Letang, who died in 1892,
and Professor D. Despradelle, both
Frenchmen, have devoted their whole
time to this branch of instruction, and have
maintained a standard which until recently
other schools have not approached.

Although the graduates from the full four
years’ course are comparatively few, no
other school can count so many of its former
students in prominent positions in the
profession, and the Institute is deservedly
proud of its record in this direction.

[89]

The Brochure Series

of Architectural Illustration.

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY

BATES & GUILD,

6 BEACON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.

Until the present year no American student
of architecture has ever been honored
with the diploma of the Paris Ecole des
Beaux-Arts, but on June 14 the degree of
the school was conferred on three Americans—Messrs.
J. Van Pelt, J. H. Friedlander,
and D. Hale. The first diplomas
were awarded in 1869, before that date
there being no official recognition of the
completion of any required course in the
school, except the awards in the various
concours, all leading up to the Grand Prize
of Rome.

There are a number of Americans now
in Paris who intend to present theses for
the diploma, and doubtless other awards
will follow those already made. Any present
or former student of the school who
has reached the required standard in his
work is allowed to submit a thesis in competition
for the diploma.

At the entrance examination of the
Ecole this year sixteen American students
of architecture were received. Last year
there were but eight, which up to that
time was the largest number recorded.

The Chicago Architectural Club has
given evidence this year of very great activity,
and its work has been directed in many
channels and with good effect. Its lectures,
classes, competitions, smokers,
Bohemian nights, receptions, ladies’ nights,
expeditions to places of interest, and
finally its exhibition of last month have all
been excellently chosen to instruct, interest,
and amuse its members, and incidentally
promote the general cause of architectural
education. The long list of
attractions has held the interest of its
members without flagging. In the classwork
it has had the services and advice of
the best and most competent men connected
with the profession; and in all
directions it is to be congratulated upon
the good work done.

Books.

Æsthetic Principles: By Henry Rutgers
Marshall, M. A. Macmillan & Co.
1895. 201 pages. $1.25.

Probably many readers of The Brochure
Series have struggled as has the
writer (and possibly some are still in an
unsettled state of mind in consequence)
over the abstruseness of the current
works upon the philosophy of art, trying
to find some obscure foundation on
which to build for themselves a theory of
æsthetics. To such, and to all others who
have any wish to reason connectedly on
art matters, Mr. Marshall’s little book will
be interesting and instructive reading. It
is remarkably clear and understandable
even to a reader with no special training
in metaphysical reasoning, and in point of
literary style and carefully considered use
of language it is a genuine treat. Its
object is to explain, in as direct and
simple language as possible, the nature
and origin of our ideas of the beautiful,
and the logical deduction to be made from
the premises, which will guide us in the
practice of the fine arts, or the production
of beauty of some special type.

As Mr. Marshall is an architect, many
of his illustrative examples are drawn
from architecture, and the book on this
account is especially interesting to architects.

Rational Building: Being a translation
of the article “Construction” in the
Dictionnaire Raisonnè de l’Architecture
Française of M. Eugène-Emmanuel
Viollet-le-Duc. By George Martin
Huss, Architect. New York: Macmillan
& Co. 1895. 367 pages. Illustrated.
$3.00.

This book, although confined entirely
to the consideration of the French Gothic,
will be found of great value to students.
Many of our readers are of course familiar
with it in its original form, while others
may have followed the translation as it
has appeared from time to time in the
pages of the American Architect.

It will be mainly useful from its historical
and theoretical bearing, as all that is[91]
here included which is of practical value
for application to modern uses can be
found elsewhere in more available shape.
The illustrations form a most important
feature in the usefulness of the book.
The remarkable diagrammatic drawings of
Viollet-le-Duc are famous for their clearness
and the amount of information
which they convey.

The table of contents includes the following
headings: Discussion of General
Conditions and Principles; Roman and
Romanesque Vaults; Origin of the
Pointed Arch; Development of Principles;
Vaults; Materials; Thirteenth Century
Developments; Civil and Military
Construction.

Catalogue of the Premiated Drawings of
the Department of Architecture, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, 1895.
Published by the Architectural Society.
Forty-four illustrations.

The work of the Department of Architecture
at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology is without doubt the most
fully developed students’ work in architecture
now done in this country, and the
drawings shown in this catalogue, giving a
selection of the best designs from the
year’s work just finished, do credit alike
to the system followed at the school, the
fidelity of the instructors, and the earnestness
and talent of the students. The
premiated designs in the competitions of
the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects made
in the course of regular school work are
reproduced in this catalogue, and also
the first-mentioned designs in the regular
monthly problems forming the drill in
design of the school. The program for
the latter is given in each case. These
problems make up a graded series of considerable
interest, and are worth careful
study and comparison.

Building Exhibit.

The many recent developments in the
building arts have rendered it practically
impossible for those not directly connected
with them to keep informed of the latest
and most improved methods of construction,
or, in fact, to easily obtain information
when desired. To architects, whose
business it is to be familiar with the best
and most economical method of solving
any building problem, it is often difficult
to find the information desired, as the field
is so wide and the inventions and improvements
multiply so rapidly. To meet the
requirements of intending builders, as
well as architects, permanent exhibits of
building materials have been established
in several of the principal cities of the
United States, where it is possible to see
specimens of the actual materials, appliances,
and latest inventions used in modern
construction. There are such exhibits
in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, and
Brooklyn; and all are proving indispensable
in their special fields.

The Chicago exhibit, known as the
Institute of Building Arts, located at from
63 to 69 Washington Street, is owned
and managed directly by the Illinois
Chapter of the American Institute of
Architects, and has been controlled in
this way for the past five years.

It was established for the purpose of
centralizing information relating to buildings,
and collecting in a permanent
exhibition all materials, appliances, or
inventions of a practical or ornamental
character. Its advantages are: First,
educational, by placing before the interested
public an aggregation of building
intelligence in the form of exhibits of the
actual materials, appliances, and inventions
employed in modern construction.
Second, that in the fact of such centralization
of materials, a vast amount of time is
saved to the public concerned in building
interests. For those who desire to build,
information is not only gained regarding
a large variety of improvements, but
obtained in a minimum quantity of time.

The Institute of Building Arts is free to
the visiting public, who are welcome to all
its advantages of information and to the
inspection of the numerous exhibits it
contains. It furnishes gratuitously, to any
one who may inquire, information relating
to building improvements. It maintains a
series of tests of materials, the results of
which may be obtained by anyone asking
for them. Courses of lectures given by
skilful specialists instructive in the many
sciences and arts of Architecture are
given under its auspices.

The management of the Institute is
strictly impartial as to the merits of the
exhibits, having no financial interest in any
sale. The purchaser has perfect liberty
to examine the exhibits and negotiate with[93]
any exhibitor. It is the duty of the management
to protect each and every display
from any impositions or trespasses on
their several rights, and to explain to any
inquirer the qualities and merits of the
material or invention, as claimed by the
exhibitor, but to give no individual expression
of views for or against any exhibit.
The examiners are to be left perfectly
free to judge and accept from their own
standpoint.

The important work of the Institution
has made of it a central point of great
interest to all connected with or interested
in architecture and its kindred arts, and
those who are identified with the work
will not fail to be amply repaid for their
interest or their labor in its upbuilding.

It became necessary a year ago to increase
the floor space, and nearly one half
as much more space was secured and the
rooms are crowded with beautiful and instructive
exhibits. The Illinois Chapter,
A. I. A., has fitted up a fine library and
meeting-room in the Institute, which it
throws open to the interested public, who
find the many pictures and books therein
a great enjoyment and benefit.

The other exhibits above referred to
are strictly commercial in character, and
conducted in the interests of the exhibitors,
and consequently may not command the
prestige possessed by the Chicago Institute.
Nevertheless they are important
educational factors in their special localities
and are a great convenience to all connected
with the building trades. Every
large commercial centre should be thus
supplied. The success of those already
established will doubtless lead to the early
establishment of others. Architects and
manufacturers both need only to observe
the workings of any of the exhibits which
we have mentioned to be convinced of
their great practical value, and each individual
will be enhancing his own interest
while contributing to the success of all
the others concerned by lending whatever
assistance he can to this most praiseworthy
enterprise.

Notes.

An architect cannot work to the best
advantage without the best and most convenient
appliances. It is true that sometimes
the cleverest and most skilful
draughtsmen appear least concerned about
their instruments and materials, and often
produce work showing wonderful dexterity
and mastery of technique with the
most imperfect working materials. But
this is exceptional. After years of study
and practice one may be able to produce
with the sharpened end of a match, or
with a toothpick, drawings which it would
tax the skill of an ordinary draughtsman
to approach with the best brushes and
colors, but it is easy to see that this is no
argument why the latest and most improved
methods should not be employed.

Most architects still hold to the old-fashioned
drawing boards supported upon
trestles, and mostly from the simple inertia
of custom. The improved Morse Universal
Drawing Table, which is made in all
sizes, with a single or double support, isconceded to be more convenient and ship-shape
in all respects than the ordinary
drawing board, and is only slightly more
expensive in its first cost. The size which
is shown in the accompanying illustration
which has a board 30×36 inches, costs
only $15 and is by far the cheapest and
best device of its kind that we have seen.
All of these tables are made to fold so as
to occupy as little space as possible when
not in use; will revolve or incline at any
angle, and independently of the attachments
below. They are built of the best
materials (iron, brass, and wood) and are
finely finished. The board can be made
of either polished chestnut or unfinished
pine if desired, and various additional
attachments can be had for further convenience.

[95]
Architects and draughtsmen will be
surprised to find what a saving can be
made in time and trouble by the use of
this most essential article of furniture, as
well as the remarkably low price at which
it can be bought.

Many other articles of furniture which
are necessary for the proper equipment of
an architect’s office are also manufactured
by the Morse Machine Company of Rochester,
such as cabinets of various descriptions,
desks, special drawing boards with a
steel edge (a sine qua non for the production
of fine, accurate drawings), and
special furniture of all descriptions. Architects
will find it greatly to their profit,
both in money and saving of trouble, to
take advantage of the experience and
facilities for manufacturing the best goods
furnished by this company.

There are very few manufacturers of
sanitary goods that keep up with the
Dalton-Ingersoll Company in genuine improvements
and novelties. Scarcely a
month passes without something in the
way of improvement emanating from this
house; and the remarkable thing is the
care and attention bestowed upon the
minutest details, nothing about a sanitary
fixture being considered too insignificant
to command their best inventive genius.
Their monthly announcement preceding
our frontispiece is worth watching.

The palatial Jefferson Hotel at Richmond,
Va., of which Carrère & Hastings
are the architects, is built of a very fine
white clay brick manufactured by the
Powhatan Clay Manufacturing Company
of Richmond. The strong point of this
particular brick is that it is made of a
natural white clay, and is not subject to
the discoloration of some bricks made by
artificially whitening the clay.

The great success of the “Giant”
Metal Sash Chain made by the Smith
& Egge Manufacturing Company, has of
course led to imitation and infringement
of their patented methods of manufacture.
Nothing is saved by specifying “cheaper”
goods, for there really are no cheaper
goods than the best; and when heavy
sashes are to be hung “Giant” metal
chain is the proper specification.

The expense of getting up a working
model, bronze finish sash lock mounted
on a base, for a paper weight, and sending
this free to any architect who desires
one would deter most manufacturers from
taking this method of advertising. But the
Ives Lock is such “a good thing” that it
well repays “pushing.” The model works
so perfectly and is so simple and durable
in construction that its introduction to
architects throughout the country, occupying
a prominent place on their desks, is
securing the almost universal specification
of the lock. Architects who haven’t one
of these paper weights will be well repaid
for asking Hobart B. Ives & Co. of New
Haven, Conn., to send them one. In this
connection let us add that this lock secured
the medal and highest award at the
Columbian Exposition.

Personal.

Among the Americans who will return
from abroad this summer are: Mr. Walter
H. Kilham, the holder of the Rotch
Scholarship, who has now been abroad
two years; Mr. F. E. Perkins, who has
been abroad three years; and Mr. W. Atherton,—all
of Boston. Messrs. D. Hale,
W. W. Knowles, G. O. Totten, Laflin, and
Ramond, of New York, and Mr. A. D.
Koch, of Milwaukee, also return this
summer.

Mr. J. Greenleaf Thorp announces his
removal to the Constable Building, 111
Fifth Avenue, New York.

In bringing the affairs of the Architect
Department of the city of Boston to a final
settlement pending its abolishment on
July 1, Mr. Edw. H. Hoyt has been acting
as City Architect Wheelwright’s assistant,
in place of Mr. Matthew Sullivan, now
abroad, who has most acceptably filled
that position during the whole of Mr.
Wheelwright’s term of office. In future
the work of the city will be distributed
among private architects.

Mr. Frank E. Wallis has gone into partnership
with Frank E. Freeman, and
opened an office on West Twentieth
Street, New York City.

Mr. Harold Magonigle, the Rotch
scholar who has now been abroad a year,
has during the last few months been
doing important work in the way of measuring
and drawing Roman and Renaissance
monuments in and near Rome.
Some of his later drawings will presently
be published in The Architectural Review.

Notice to Advertisers

The letter below was written
after a three months’
trial advertisement

The advertisement which
brought these results
is on page XV

It costs $72.00 a year