The Brochure Series
OF ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION.
| Vol. I. | AUGUST, 1895. | No. 8. |
FRAGMENTS OF GREEK DETAIL.
The Art of Greece during the fifth
century, B.C., was developed in
an amazingly short time from a
condition of almost archaic
rudeness to that of the greatest perfection
which the world has ever seen.
At the close of the Persian wars the
Athenians, under Pericles, began rebuilding
their city and perfecting themselves
in all the arts of civilization, and their
progress in the next half century will
always be a subject for wonder. It is
especially wonderful that works of art of
the character produced at this time
should have been the outcome of political
maneuvering: for if Plutarch is to be
credited the scheming of Pericles to obtain
and hold possession of the government
of Athens was the immediate cause
of the erection of these marvellous monuments.
In order to increase his influence
with the common people Pericles devoted
the treasure which had been contributed
by the other Greek cities for defence
against the barbarians to the beautifying
of Athens, and to furnishing them with
games and amusements, and especially to
the erection of the group of temples upon
the Acropolis, in this way distributing patronage
and keeping his people employed
much as a modern political “boss” does
the same in our day.
The Parthenon, which is esteemed the
grandest of all monuments of Greek art,
embodying as it does the highest achievement
in sculpture and architecture, was
built just after the middle of the fifth
century, although the precise date at
which it was begun and finished is uncertain.
The Erechtheion and Propylæa
were probably built a few years later, but
their exact dates are also in doubt.
The sculptor, Phidias, was the friend
and adviser of Pericles and to him was
given the general charge of all matters
relating to art. Under him were grouped
architects, sculptors, and artisans of all
schools and trades—Ictinus and Calicrates
as architects of the Parthenon,
Mnesicles of the Propylæa, and many
others—such an assemblage as only
Greece in her most glorious epoch could
bring together. The work of this period
shows that happy union of technical perfection
and the expression of only the
loftiest ideas, in which, as Plutarch says,
the architect made it his ambition to
“surpass the magnificence of his design
with the elegance of its execution.”
The skill and delicacy as well as the
subtle appreciation of refinements of
form and finish exhibited in the treatment
of details such as those shown in our
plates are almost beyond comprehension.
The workmanship is so perfect that it is
difficult to see how it could be improved
upon. Stuart, in his account of the Parthenon,
states that he found two stones,
one merely laid upon the other in the
stylobate of this building, which had been
ground to so fine a joint that they had
actually united and become one. The
refinements in measurements are such
that it has been asserted that a variation[117]
of one twentieth of an inch from the
dimensions intended is all that need be
allowed—the width of the two ends of
the building agreeing to within this amount.
The entasis of columns and curvature of
what would ordinarily be straight lines is
familiar to all students of architecture.
Photographs of Greek architecture are
by no means common or easy to obtain,
and the subjects given as illustrations of
the present issue of The Brochure Series
are presented, not as in the preceding
numbers, either all from a single building,
or of similar features from several buildings,
but merely as fragments of detail,
representing the period of Greek art when
architecture and sculpture had reached
their highest development.
LVII.
CAPITAL FROM THE PARTHENON, ATHENS.
The Parthenon of Pericles was built on
the site of an older temple as a treasury,
and repository of the colossal statue of
Athena, made by Phidias from gold and
ivory. The Doric order, the capital of
which is shown in our plate, needs no
description here as probably no other single
order is so generally known. After
various transformations the building was
blown up by the Venetians in 1687 and
has since remained in ruins.
LVIII.
CAPITAL FROM THE ERECHTHEION, ATHENS.
LIX.
BASE FROM THE ERECHTHEION, ATHENS.
LX.
CAP OF ANTA FROM THE ERECHTHEION, ATHENS.
The Ionic order of the Erechtheion is
the one which is best known and has been
most frequently copied and adapted in
modern work. It is at the same time the
richest and most delicately refined of the
Greek Ionic orders, and this is equivalent
to saying of all orders whatsoever. This
order of which the cap and base are
given in our plates belongs to the north
porch. There were two other fronts to
the building which was, to all intents and
purposes, three temples united in one.
The famous caryatid porch faces the south,
looking toward the Parthenon.
LXI.
FRAGMENT FROM SOUTH SIDE OF ACROPOLIS,
ATHENS.
Although this fragment was found at
some distance from the Erechtheion it is
without much doubt a portion of that
building.
LXII.
CAPITAL FROM THE PROPYLÆA, ATHENS.
The Propylæa, or gate to the Acropolis,
was built at about the same time as the
Parthenon, between the years 436 and
431 B.C. It combines the Doric and Ionic
orders, but both are most skilfully used
with equal grace and nobleness of proportion.
LXIII.
FRAGMENT OF CYMA FROM THE THOLOS AT
EPIDAUROS.
The Tholos of Polykletos at Epidauros
was a circular building 107 feet in diameter,
situated within the sacred enclosure.
It had two concentric rows of columns, the
exterior order being Doric, and the interior
Ionic, but with Corinthian caps of
the design shown in plate LXIV.
LXIV.
CAP FROM THE THOLOS AT EPIDAUROS.
The two fragments shown are the result
of recent excavations and are among the
most beautiful examples of Greek detail
extant.
Architectural Schools.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
The writer of “The Point of View” in
Scribner’s Magazine recently called
attention to the distinction between what
he calls “cultivation” and “civilization.”
As he very aptly states it, “culture according
to the common acceptance of it, is
largely the cultivation of the mind;
civilization would seem to be the cultivation
of the sympathies, the tastes, and the
capacity for giving and receiving sound
pleasures. The most civilized man is the
man with the most catholic appreciation,
the man who can be the most things to
the most people—the man, to put it
briefly, who knows best how to live. The
man who is civilized can use all the culture
he can get, but he can get on and still be
civilized with a very moderate outfit of it.
But the man who has culture and has not
civilization, is very badly handicapped.”
Probably no walk of life offers more
opportunities for the advantageous application
of what is meant in this quotation
by civilization than that of the architect;[119]
and probably in no other profession does
the “civilized” man have greater advantages
over his less civilized fellows.
The successful architect requires a
broad and catholic culture, but in addition
must be a man of the world in the best
and most comprehensive sense. Opportunities
for social improvement will often
make the difference between success and
failure in his professional life. On this
account too much stress can hardly be put
upon the importance to a young man of
his social environment.
The life in an old university set in the
midst of a community where the traditions
of generations of cultivated families have
established a social atmosphere, it might
be said, is one of the best and most powerful
civilizing influences. Such an opportunity
as this is offered at Harvard, and
it is this which gives to the architectural
course at Harvard its main advantage over
that of other schools in this country.
The department itself is comparatively
young, having only just completed its
second year. It is under the direction of
the faculty of the Lawrence Scientific
School, one of the principal schools of the
University.
Its special corps of instructors consists
of Prof. H. Langford Warren assisted by
Messrs. George F. Newton and John W.
Bemis. In addition to this, lectures and
instruction are given by members of the
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which
includes the faculty of the Lawrence
Scientific School, Harvard College and the
Graduate School, among whom are Prof.
Charles Eliot Norton, Prof. White, Prof.
Greenough, Prof. Moore, Prof. Hollis and
others.
Although students in this department do
much of their work in rooms specially
provided for them, in their general studies
and lectures they are associated with the
other students of the University and thus
reap the advantages coming from such
association.
Throughout, it has been the purpose in
this school, to treat architecture as a fine
art and not merely as the science of construction,
and to this end instruction in
the general history of the Fine Arts and
practice in design are made the central
features about which the other studies
are grouped.
The course as laid out is intended to
cover four years, and may be supplemented
by post-graduate work; while on the other
hand a large part of the general studies
may be anticipated by students of the
College who wish to take the professional
studies after completing the usual course
in the college proper. Especial stress is
laid upon educating the taste and discrimination
of the student, and association
with cultivated men and familiarity with
the best efforts of the past, are the two
most important influences to this end.
Personal.
Mr. C. D. Maginnis, recently returned
from abroad, and who has for several years
been in the office of Mr. E. M. Wheelwright,
city architect, has opened an office
at 27 School Street, Boston. He is prepared
to do all kinds of architectural
drawing, in pen, pencil, or water color,
and will work up competition drawings
and sketches.
Mr. W. H. Kilham, Mr. E. P. Dana,
and several others have recently been
added to the working force of Messrs.
Winslow & Wetherell, whose office is now
the largest in Boston.
Mr. W. T. Partridge, who has for several
years been with Messrs. Eames & Young,
in St. Louis, has severed his connection
with them and will probably return to the
East.
Club Notes.
The summer work of the Sketch Club
of New York has been laid out to include
sketching trips in the outlying neighborhood
of New York City. On alternate
Saturdays members of the Club meet at
one of the piers and take a small steam
yacht to points along the East River and
Long Island Sound, spending the Sunday
in sketching. On the intermediate Sundays,
rambles through West Chester occupy
those who are disposed to join in the
excursions. These trips are laid out to
include the time from July 13 to September
28.
The competition of the Chicago Architectural
Club upon the subject “Picturesque
Chicago,” closes September 2, and
the club begins its regular year’s work on
that date with an exhibition of the sketches
submitted in this competition together
with other work of the summer.
The Brochure Series
of Architectural Illustration.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
BATES & GUILD,
6 BEACON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.
| Subscription Rates per year | 50 cents, in advance. |
| Special Club Rate for five subscriptions | $2.00. |
| Entered at the Boston Post Office as Second-class Matter. | |
SPECIAL NOTICE.
Back numbers of The Brochure Series
are not kept in stock. All subscriptions
will be dated from the time received and
subscribers who wish for the current
numbers must place their subscriptions
at once.
The illustration which we give on
another page, of a gala night of the
“P. D.” club will appeal to the many
friends of the P. D.’s who are distributed
from end to end of the country. The
descriptive article by one of the members
which is begun in this number will also
give an indication to those who are not
already familiar with this organization,
of its character and purpose. That a
combination of serious work and relaxation
can be reconciled without sacrificing
the former, has been demonstrated in
this case, for the P. D.’s are the mainstay
of the Boston Architectural Club and
have accomplished considerable in other
directions, having done very notable work
in several of the Beaux-Arts Society’s
competitions. Their motto and seal
shown in the other illustration is a remarkable
example of impromptu decoration.
The August 22 issue of the Journal of
the Royal Institute of British Architects
contains a description of the School of
Architecture and Applied Arts of University
College, Liverpool, and an address
by Mr. T. G. Jackson, the well-known
English architect and author, delivered
at the inauguration of the school on
May 10 last. Special provisions are made
for courses in Architecture, Sculpture and
Modelling, Decorative Painting, Wrought
Iron Work, and Wood Carving, accompanying
theoretical instruction with actual
work in the studios and shops.
Mr. Jackson’s remarks are worthy careful
attention and will be found as valuable
to American students as to those to whom
they were addressed. His opinions upon
the study of architectural history are
interesting in connection with the views
of the American writers to which we
referred last month. He says: “The
reverence with which we have been
taught to regard old work has misled us
into a slavish worship of precedent, and
an abject craving for authority by which
to shape our own work. Close imitation
of old work has been regarded as the
only safe course, deceptive imitation of
it the highest measure of success.”…
“Above all it should be the student’s
object to discover the principles of
design by which the successive styles
were governed, and in tracing their
history he should trace the influence of
circumstance and accident, which modify
the current art of the day…. The
history of architecture, and the development
of style out of style, should never
be taught without incessant reference to
the constructional methods which were
employed, and which played the principal
part in the changes resulting from their
employment.”
Apropos of the perennial discussion of
the question of professional ethics which
from time to time comes into prominence
in the meetings of the American Institute
of Architects the following may be of
interest. It is appended to the card of
a certain architect which is published as
an advertisement in a local paper and
reads: “Any kind of architectural work
promptly attended to and satisfaction
guaranteed.”
In the resolutions recently adopted by
the Boston Society of Architects concerning
professional ethics it was maintained
that architects should not advertise. The
advertisement above may savor somewhat
of its surroundings (above it a hair
renewer is advertised and below it penny-royal
pills) and suggest too much the
“shoes tapped while you wait” order of
advertising, but we fail to see why architects
should be restrained from advertising
if there are any benefits to be[123]
derived from it. And for our part we
think that there are few architects whose
business or practice might not be improved
by judicious advertising. It is
easy to lay down an arbitrary dictum and
say that no professional man shall advertise,
but what argument can apply to
architects in this respect that does not
equally apply to civil engineers and to
landscape architects? And no one objects
to the advertisements of the latter.
The publication of architects’ designs in
the professional journals is in many cases
advertising, pure and simple, but is not
on this account to be condemned. The
truth of the matter is that the exact
point where advertising begins and ends
is impossible to determine. One kind of
advertising is considered allowable and
dignified, another is not. In consequence
there is opportunity for many differences
of opinion.
The “P. D.’s.”
If Chimmie Fadden were asked to
translate the letters P. D., he would undoubtedly
answer, “What ‘ell?” and it
must be acknowledged that this answer
does credit to Chames’s insight; but at the
same time we feel sure that Chames would
not be offended if he were informed that
his favorite expression is not nearly such
an appropriate definition of P. D. as it is
of the play of Madame Sans Gêne, all
rumors to the contrary notwithstanding
And if Chames could be induced to give
up for the while his everlasting search for
a bull pup, we might proceed to inform
him to the best of our ability what it really
does mean.
“The Lord gives good meat but the
devil sends cooks,” but Chames apparently
lending a willing ear, we take his life in
our hands, and firstly:—
And that is, that P. D. is not an abbreviation
for Poor Debtors, as some would
have it, but for Poor Draughtsmen; which
is after all, perhaps, a distinction without
a difference.
Poor in this case has no reference to
the quality of the draughtsmen’s work, for,
as our song truly says,—
Who does the best he can,
No matter what the problem it may be.
He can draw a quarter scale,
He can draw a full detail,
And draw his pay upon a Saturdee.”
The club, for such it is, was at first
overburdened with the name of The Poor
Draughtsmen’s Saturday Night Club, but
the member who wrote the specification
of the club, started in by writing the name
and then proceeded as follows: “The
name of the club shall be the above (it
is too long to write again).” The hint was
taken and it has since been known as the
P. D.’s.
The club resulted from the more or less
accidental coming together of men of
congenial spirit, and the desire to cultivate
each other’s acquaintance more intimately
than was possible in the larger Architectural
Club of which they are all members,
and over which are their club rooms.
SEAL OF THE P. D.’S.
The work of fitting up these rooms was
done by the members themselves, and an
added interest is given them by the constantly
changing exhibitions on their walls.
The bulletin board is also a never-ending
source of delight.
The club at present consists of thirteen
members, all of whom on entering it, as a
sort of architectural baptism, receive new
names, and, ye gods, what names!
What more is to be desired when one
may, when he dines or designs, touch
elbows with such choice spirits as Ictinus,
Michael Angelo, Vitruvius, Vignola, Piranesi,
San Gallo, Bramante, Christopher
Wren, Inigo Jones, Charles Bulfinch,[127]
Viollet le Duc, Gamier Frères (N.B.—There
is only one of him), and Brian Boru.
The one requirement for admission is
good fellowship with the saving clause, that
this good fellowship, like Faith, must be
accompanied by good works.
Its organization is of the simplest
character, there being no constitution or
rules of any kind, except the joke known
as the specification be regarded as such.
Much of the charm of the club is due to
this absolute freedom from restraint.
The officers are the president, treasurer,
and secretary, who manage the affairs of
the club during their term of office. Each
member presides in turn, the term of
office being one month, the succession
being arranged by lot.
A well-known writer deplores the lack
of humor in the fiction of the day, and
the tendency of those who should know
better, to constantly preach us sermons
upon our least admirable failings.
Alas! it is not fiction alone that has
taken to the pulpit, for Architecture has
also its preachers, and our journals are
loaded with their sermons, which fortunately
for architecture, very few ever
read.
While acknowledging the fact that a
little seriousness now and then may be
relished by even a P. D., a good hearty
laugh is the one thing in this dreary old
world of ours that they most appreciate.
No one realizes more thoroughly than
they that,—
And every grin so jolly draws one out.”
The principal object of the members,
then, is to amuse themselves. The club
is not intended as a workroom, but as our
P. D. poet expresses it, a place where,—
They meet once more in freedom’s jollity.
No thought of care comes to them now to spoil
The merry jest, the gay frivolity.”
Nevertheless they have found time for
much serious work, but inasmuch as work
is said to speak for itself, we will confine
our attention to some of the things by
means of which the members have passed
many happy hours.
Upon entering the club the member
not only receives a new name, but his
biography containing more or less of the
truth about him is written and placed in
the records. A song is also composed in
his honor, and on festal occasions he is
greeted with it upon his entrance.
Perhaps the greatest event of the year
is the annual dinner, or the “Centurial
Dinner” as it is called, from the very
general conviction that “Better one year
with the P. D.’s than a cycle of Cathay.”
Every one is supposed to do something
for this occasion, but he is given perfect
liberty as to what he shall do, and he may
answer, for instance, the toast of The
Architecture of the Greeks with an essay on
The Use and Abuse of the Cocktail, with
the assurance that his consistency will not
be doubted.
The menu card is usually of sufficient
interest to furnish amusement until the
actual hostilities begin. Upon each guest
at this dinner is conferred the honorary
title of “Draughtsman.”
The installation of a new president,
which occurs monthly, is also the occasion
of much mirth, as are also the departures
for or the arrivals from Europe of members.
But no matter how closely these events
follow each other, one can depend upon
each of them being distinctly different;
and after one has attended a score or so
of them he begins to wonder when this
versatility will end and they will begin to
repeat themselves.
Notwithstanding the unvaried success
of these affairs, none of them have been
attended with more than a slight expenditure
of time or money.
In decorating the rooms the same old
articles have been made to do service any
number of times, but always in such a
manner as to obtain an entirely different
effect.
Many of the best things in this line
have been done on the spur of the moment.
The club seal, for instance, was thrown
together in a few minutes, some one in the
meantime looking up an appropriate motto,
the occasion being an impromptu festival
of Gambrinus, which occurred one Christmas
eve.
At another time a wonderful chandelier
was constructed of a stretcher, a Chinese
lantern, and twenty beer bottles, which
were utilized to hold candles, and a placard
on each told that they were manufactured
by the P. D. Electric Co. and
were each of one candle power; the whole
being draped with some brilliantly dyed
stuffs that had served as costumes at the
Art Students’ Festival.
(To be continued.)