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Article OUR ARCHITECTURAL OHAPTER. ← Page 3 of 4 →
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Our Architectural Ohapter.
alone , but to the world at large , and most of the schemes for regulating competition ! fail , because- they are based on narrow views , with reference to the predilections or supposed interests of architects , without much regard to the interests or wishes of the public , and with no practical application to foreign arrangements . It is well , therefore , that such schemes should fail , and that English architects ,, although often disappointed , should have a career of rivalry open to them , where the lazy or
humdrum architect shall be shamed if not discomfited , and his father-inlaw or uncle be deterred by the example from pushing him into a job . The successful competitors at Turin are Messrs . Jones and Barber , and it cannot fail to do them good to have succeeded in such a competition against the world at large . They have also gained the third prize in the competition for the Genoa prison , for which another English firm , Messrs . Wilton and Hill , of London , came second , and they will owe some fame to this competition .
The second premium for the Turin prisonis awarded to Messrs . Thomson and Anderson , of New York ; and the third to Mons . LeFevre , of Paris . The first prize for the Genoa prison falls to the lot of M . Le Conti , of Turin . Gut of six premiums England has gained three ^ comiiig out as well as in the Lille competition ; and if the remaining three are shared equitably , one belonging to France and another to Sardinia , there is still an English claim for a fourth prize , as it goes to architects of our own blood a , nd our own school , in our other country on the far side of the
Atlantic . Sardinia did wisely in throwing this competition , open to the world , for if we have gained prizes she Has learned that she had not the requisite knowledge for the structures she proposed , and will how obtain buildings more economical and more efficient than if she had trusted to her own knowledge and her own men . After this first essay the Sardinian architects will master the subject and be independent of foreign aid—perhaps introduce many improvements—at any rate adopt local appliances as their experience suggests .
Without competition it could hardly have happened that English architects could have gained this position . It would have been natural to employ a local architect , or to send to the supposed centre of civilization and arts , the metropolis of France ; but in this competition , as in some others , Paris does not shine with her supposed and assumed brilliancy . Bro . Benedict Albano is employed in the construction of a large villa
for Lord Howden , the late ambassador in Spain . This building is in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux , in a beautiful situation , and Bro . Albano has taken full advantage of it and displayed his accustomed taste and resources . Bro . Albano , it will be remembered , was the English government architect at Madrid , and was employed for Lord Howden there .
Close alongside the Law Institution in Chancery-lane another legal structure is now rising above the ground , being a law assurance officeand what the architect can have been about while making his designs it is not easy to conceive . His ground floor is , as nearly as can be , the same height as the ground floor of the Law Institution ; but , by the injudicious arrangements of the architect , the windows and details are just sufficiently altered to produce a diversity from those of the Law Institution , and the result is a contrast most unfavourable to the new
building . The first floor is likewise out of keeping . This is one practice of architects common enough ; another is , as we observed lately , to efface every vestige of an older building , however interesting . The architect of the assurance office most likely thought that he had done something original in making these variations ; but tho
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Our Architectural Ohapter.
alone , but to the world at large , and most of the schemes for regulating competition ! fail , because- they are based on narrow views , with reference to the predilections or supposed interests of architects , without much regard to the interests or wishes of the public , and with no practical application to foreign arrangements . It is well , therefore , that such schemes should fail , and that English architects ,, although often disappointed , should have a career of rivalry open to them , where the lazy or
humdrum architect shall be shamed if not discomfited , and his father-inlaw or uncle be deterred by the example from pushing him into a job . The successful competitors at Turin are Messrs . Jones and Barber , and it cannot fail to do them good to have succeeded in such a competition against the world at large . They have also gained the third prize in the competition for the Genoa prison , for which another English firm , Messrs . Wilton and Hill , of London , came second , and they will owe some fame to this competition .
The second premium for the Turin prisonis awarded to Messrs . Thomson and Anderson , of New York ; and the third to Mons . LeFevre , of Paris . The first prize for the Genoa prison falls to the lot of M . Le Conti , of Turin . Gut of six premiums England has gained three ^ comiiig out as well as in the Lille competition ; and if the remaining three are shared equitably , one belonging to France and another to Sardinia , there is still an English claim for a fourth prize , as it goes to architects of our own blood a , nd our own school , in our other country on the far side of the
Atlantic . Sardinia did wisely in throwing this competition , open to the world , for if we have gained prizes she Has learned that she had not the requisite knowledge for the structures she proposed , and will how obtain buildings more economical and more efficient than if she had trusted to her own knowledge and her own men . After this first essay the Sardinian architects will master the subject and be independent of foreign aid—perhaps introduce many improvements—at any rate adopt local appliances as their experience suggests .
Without competition it could hardly have happened that English architects could have gained this position . It would have been natural to employ a local architect , or to send to the supposed centre of civilization and arts , the metropolis of France ; but in this competition , as in some others , Paris does not shine with her supposed and assumed brilliancy . Bro . Benedict Albano is employed in the construction of a large villa
for Lord Howden , the late ambassador in Spain . This building is in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux , in a beautiful situation , and Bro . Albano has taken full advantage of it and displayed his accustomed taste and resources . Bro . Albano , it will be remembered , was the English government architect at Madrid , and was employed for Lord Howden there .
Close alongside the Law Institution in Chancery-lane another legal structure is now rising above the ground , being a law assurance officeand what the architect can have been about while making his designs it is not easy to conceive . His ground floor is , as nearly as can be , the same height as the ground floor of the Law Institution ; but , by the injudicious arrangements of the architect , the windows and details are just sufficiently altered to produce a diversity from those of the Law Institution , and the result is a contrast most unfavourable to the new
building . The first floor is likewise out of keeping . This is one practice of architects common enough ; another is , as we observed lately , to efface every vestige of an older building , however interesting . The architect of the assurance office most likely thought that he had done something original in making these variations ; but tho