VOL. XX. No. 5. NOVEMBER, 1906. WHOLE No. 98.

PAGE

The Milan International Exhibition Illustrated 353 ROBERT C. GARDEN

Modern Italian Monuments Illustrated 369 ALFREDO MELANI

The Work of Mr. J. Milton Dyer Illustrated 385

A Residence Block Illustrated 405

The House of Mr. John W. Pepper Illustrated . . 412

A Suburban Home Near Boston Illustrated 419

The House of Mr. Frederic S. Lee Illustrated . . . . 427

Notes and Comments 437 The Fairmount Park Art Association Broaden- ing Its Work Plans for the Improvement of Toronto Pushing the Project Ontario Asso- ciation of Architects.

C. W. SWEET, Publisher R. W. REINHOLD, Business Mgr. H.W.DESMOND, Editor H. D. CROLY, Associate Editor

Subscription (Yearly), $3.00 Published Monthly

OFFICE OF PUBLICATION: Nos 14 and 16 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK CITY.

WESTERN OFFICE: 511 MONADNOCK BLOC., CHICAGO, ILL. ttbe

XX NOVEMBER, 1906 No. 5

The Milan International Exhibition

It does not come to everyone of us ture: they had money at their disposal, to design and build a city of palaces in the demand for allotments was steadily six months: nor is it likely to happen increasing and there were open spaces that in such a work the architect is given in the city readily available. These were free hand, an unlimited site and no easily filled. First, that portion of the :onstructional difficulties to be overcome. Royal Park which had been ceded for All these things have been happening the occasion, and afterwards the whole in Milan, where like magic, a gleaming of the Piazza, d'Armi and of two smaller city of huge edifices has suddenly grown, spaces adjacent. The total area is close is it were, out of the soil. upon a million square yards and the When first it was definitely decided actual buildings cover 177,000 square to pierce the Simplon with a tunnel yards. The Piazza. d'Armi lies about /hich should eclipse that of the St. two miles away from the Park and a Gothard it was thought that some fit- special railway (electric propulsion) has ting notice should be taken of the suc- been made to connect the two portions cessful completion of the work; and ac- at a cost of lire 586,000. cordingly, as this was to be the latest As a basis for the arrangement of triumph of human ingenuity in the way the work it was intended to keep the art of transport facilities, it was suggested sections in the Park, and to give up that the fittest form the celebration the whole of the Piazza d'Armi to the could take would be that of an Exhi- industrial exhibits; but, as a matter of bition of all manner of things connected fact, the extraordinary modern develop- with transport on land and sea. This ment of decorative art throughout Eu- was the nucleus round which the pres- rope rendered the scheme impossible. ent large, and for Italy unprecedented, First France, then Austria, sent in de- undertaking has developed. From trans- mands for huge areas, and eventually the port the scheme expanded until all the French exhibitors were accommodated arts and industries found a place within with a separate hall in the Piazza its scope. d'Armi. Decorative Art covers a to- But as is the way with exhibitions and tal area of something like 24,000 square tunnels, however well they may be yards, of which the French pavilion oc- thought out, there were many unfore- cupies 10,000 and the Austrian 3,000 seen difficulties to be overcome before square yards. either could be realized. At one stage More than a word of admiration is of the tunnel a rock formation was due to the half-dozen architects who in struck which could only be strutted with competition came out first and obtained a special structure of steel and concrete, the work. They are all well known

which when finished with its enormous men : Sig. Sebastiano Locati was until lining of granite 6 ft. 6 in. thick, had recently Professor of Architecture at delayed the work ten months and cost Pavia University, and his colleague, Sig. the contractors 25,000 lire per lineal Orsino Bongi, belongs to the Ufficio yard. The troubles of the exhibition Tecnico at .Milan itself. These two arch- authorities were of a less terrifying na- itects have designed all the important Copyright, 19CG, by ."THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD COMPANY." All rights reserved. Entered May 22, 1902. as second-class matter, Post Office at New York, N. Y., Act of Congress of March 3d, 187? THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 354

PLAN OF BUILDINGS IN THE PARCO REALE. 1. Galleria del Sempione. 6. Architecture. 2. Aquarium. 7. Italian Decorative Art. 3. Retrospective Transport. 8. Previdenza (Benovelent Societies, 4. Concert Hall. 9. Station for Piazza d'Armi. 5. Fine Arts Galleries. 10. Arco del Sempione.

erections in the Park. Those in the In considering the arrangement of the Piazza d'Armi were the work of a tri- general plan it should be observed that umvirate, Sig. Carlo Bianchi, who is the planning in the Park was restricted Professor of Ornamental Design at the by the necessity of keeping to the hard Institute Tecnico in Milan, Sig. Fran- and fast lines of the main roads, while cesco Magnani, professor of the same the Piazza. d'Armi being a perfectly subject at the Politecnico in Milan, and blank open space, left the architects free Sig. Mario Rondoni, Junior Professor to dispose of the buildings as best ac- of Ornamental Design, also at the Poli- corded with their own fancies. In the tecnico. Park, too, stands the Amphitheatre THE MILAN EXHIBITION.

PLAN OF BUILDINGS IN THE PIAZZA D'ARMI. Marine Transport. 8. Austria. Machinery Hall. 9. Belgium. 01 French Decorative Art. 10." Motor Cars. Hygiene. 11. Carriage Makers. Agriculture. 12. Silk Industries. Road Making. 13. Railway Station (for the Parco Reale). Railway Transport. which Napoleon built when King of ery.- The plastering is mixed with wood Italy. It is not interesting; but for six shavings to make it bind and is laid months it will be able to boast of a on bamboo matting by way of laths. beautiful colonnaded gallery around its Should a fire break out absit omen entire circuit and a triumphal entrance the whole area must inevitably be gutted. to its arena. Witfi this the general lines The buildings are magnificent : of that of the plan have had to harmonize. there can scarcely be two opinions. The buildings are temporary, and if Whether we are to take them as ser- they succeed in standing for the period iously characteristic of the latest devel- of the Exhibition it will be more by opment of architecture in the direction chance than foresight. The oldest and of a new style is quite another matter; most useless timber has been employed perhaps we had better regard them as throughout and it has been whispered a fragment of by-play in the progress that more than once the floors have bent of a great drama. Even considered as ominously under the weight of machin- such they have their lessons. Things THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 356

all the same the have been done in the fagades which criticized, but effect would shock our architectural nerves if is striking. Three pavilions face into the Galleria del the build- controlled by less skillful masters; it, Sempione, and curves which touch the border line of ing for Retrospective Transport the which the first of the the permissible; decorations Aquarium. Perhaps is the most as it con- dared not be more elaborate or profuse ; three interesting, there and tains a of some two hun- groups of statuary are here, reproduction himself rises dred of the actual tunnel, everywhere. Mercury yards his arms of which the Exhibition cele high above the entrance waving piercing on frantically, and around him vantage

ENTRANCE TO THE COURT OF HONOR VIEW FACING THE GALLERIA DEL SEMPIONE.

points over the Court of Honor, stand gineering are likely to devote a - figures of Victory with laurel wreaths siderable portion of their time to this clenched in a rapturous grasp. section, studying the various phases For Milan has opened her great Ex- through which the work passed : for hibition and thousands are flocking, or from the piercing of the preliminary gal- will flock or the authorities hope they lery down to the finished tunnel with will flock to see all that has been pre- the permanent way laid in it, every stage pared for their delectation. is represented. The rocks and w The chief entrance lies in the Park, have been reproduced from casts tak through the Court of Honor just re- on the spot; the strutting shown is t ferred to. It is a fine oval to co space sur- which was actually used ; and rounded by a colonnade that might be plete the illusion, the "Brandt" bore THE MILAN EXHIBITION. 357

SCULPTURE GROUP: "MINING" BETWEEN THE ENTRANCES TO THE GALLERIA DEL SEMPIONE. ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 358 THE

are there, too, working under a pres- in future years. It must have been sure of 30 atmospheres and eating into rather difficult to produce a design of the heart of several tons of Simplon sufficient seriousness to be suitable for Rock specially brought down to Milan. a public monument and yet to agree with When it is all used up they will send the other and ephemeral erections of the for a fresh supply. And for those who Exhibition. It is as complete as it is may not be satisfied with so much real- possible to make an aquarium and con- ism and ask for more, it is to be found structed in the main with ferro-concrete. in another pavilion near by, where a a method of building which is rapidly cinematograph reels off a mile or so gaining ground in Italv. The under-

THE CONCERT HALL. of film which was exposed in the tunnel ground storage tanks are built of it and itself the during progress of the work. lined with glass for greater cleanliness, Architecturally considered, the front and the carcase of the structure is in is novel with its tunnel mouthed en- the same material, while the surface dec- trances, and highly expressive of its orations are designed to form an epi- purpose. There is, however, far too tome of modern construction much building unpleasing railway plant used in and materials. There is an exquisite place of decoration and the buffers over pleasantry in the details of the facade, the two great arches cannot under any where crabs and other creatures of the circumstances be called beautiful. Next deep sea disport themselves on keystones to this structure is the built and corbels a Aquarium, ; and of Nep- of mighty figure permanent materials and intended to tune, half man and half beast in his stand as a memorial of the Exhibition features, stands sentinel over the door- THE MILAN EXHIBITION. 359 way. It is a design which has received to regret, though, that most of it is so far more attention and care than any sketchy in form, and a little too alle- of the others. gorical for the ordinary Anglo-Saxon Nearly the whole of the other build- intelligence. Some of its symbolism calls ings in the Park are devoted to Art; for a deal of explanation. Under the Music in the great circular Festival shadow of the French Fine Arts sec- Hall on the axis of the Amphitheatre; tion there is a figure of a nebulous God- the Fine Arts, painting and sculpture, dess making something out of a clot of in sweeping galleries right and left of clay. It represents the inspiring Genius this centre point; architecture at the of sculpture fashioning a Caryatid, and

ENTRANCE TO THE FINE ARTS GALLERIES. end of one of them and forming the we are told that the corresponding fig- the entrance connecting link with the labyrinth of ure on the other side of halls and courts where Italian Decora- engaged in a similar occupation is the a tive Art is housed. This huge range Genius of painting modelling figure be but of buildings represents a mixture of symbolical of Color. It may so; too subtle for a sober architectural styles and a profusion of such fancies are are all sculpture which it is difficut to describe. mind. Moreover, these works and there is too But sculpture has been called the done in a great hurry There are handmaid of architecture, and, if we are much anatomy about them. of the to believe the journal of the Exposition, fountains at the base lighthouse it holds to the latter art the same re- in the Marine Transport Building which lation that ribbons and laces do to the are of this kind, roughly hewn in the above the fin- apparel of a woman. We may be allowed material, but never rising THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. ish of a sketch from the hand of a mas- to explain, but the directions hav been ter. This is no doubt due in part to the faithfully carried out, and it is Barocco both inside and out: outside with its pressure put on at the last moment so as to arrive at some sort of a finish by broken arcades, and gilt dome of wrink- 1 the date fixed for the opening, and in ling zinc, its sloping sided flanking many of the facades it is quite obvious towers and their crowning arches of that much has been left undone, and will bizarre form, its gallant array of Ven- remain so. In point of fact some of etian masts and streamered laurel the structures are, or will be, finished, wreaths. The inside beggars both com- while others have been frankly left at ment and description: a circular build- the "certain stage" or botched up in ing with an internal octagon carried on

MINOR ENTRANCE, ITALIAN DECORATIVE ART SECTION. color to represent the modellings in columns, and over that a dome and lan- plaster which formed a part of the origi- tern; but it is in the details that the nal scheme. sting lies. In place of columns there If we quarrel with the design of the are stunted tree trunks growing from Concert Hall and it is impossible not Satyrs, volutes and whirly things. Over to do so it must be admitted that the that, gilt Ionic caps of diabolical inven- blame belongs not to the architects but tion; then more tree trunks; then to the of committee management. By branches, and finally twigs, leaves and their orders the building is what it is. gilt blossoms bespattered over the facets They commanded that the style of it of the dome. To this it must be added should be "Barocco," and it was done. that the walls are pale green and the this was Why style selected is not easy vault pale blue! And yet, if the truth I THE MILAN EXHIBITION. 361 be honestly confessed, the result is not carvers arose and submitted so many so bad as these notes appear to make it. miles of canvas and tons of marble that Now, even an Exhibition committee something had to be done to find a place of management knows that a little of for them all. And so Architecture stands a good thing (if that little be done well) alone and tries to look serious in a build- of goes a long way, and they forthwith ing Greek form ornamented with un- decreed that the Fine Arts Galleries on Greek details. Minerva (is it Mi- either side of the Concert Hall should be nerva?) reclines on the roof deep in no more Barocco, but Renaissance. Per- thought or admiration: the columns, haps they have spared us a great deal; "distyle in antis" to give them their certain it is that there is little to object undeserved classic description, have cap-

THE CITY OF MILAN'S PAVILION.

to in the simple design of their sweep- itals which would shame the most un- ing curves and the effects of the group easy nightmare of the Art Nouveau as seen from afar is very satisfactory. dreamer, and the whole architrave and An article in an architectural maga- frieze are cut into sadly by the great zine would not be considered complete blank placard which proclaims the uses unless it rendered special attention to of the building. the building set apart for architecture There are no other important build- itself. It is not that this art won the ings in the Park; for the "water-chute" honor of separate accommodation by its and myriad side shows scarcely claim own merits. It was meant to be in- our attention; but the faqade at the end cluded with painting and sculpture in of the Fine Arts galleries (constituting the galleries, but a host of artists and their principal entrance) which faces the THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 362

back of the Galleria del Sempione is hibition. In front is the building for comparatively simple and very pleasant Marine Transport surmounted by a to look upon. The walls are refresh- lighthouse 200 feet high and itself suf- ficient to ingly free from ornament and the two proclaim the purposes of the colossal and symbolical figures in the building. On the right is the French horseshoe archway are not so hiddenly Decorative Art pavilion and on the left symbolical but that the ordinary ob- lies the Galleria del Lavoro, or Machin- server may know them to represent ery Hall, the largest structure included Painting and Sculpture from the palette in the scheme and covering 24,000 which one of them holds and the hammer square yards. As it is the largest, so in the hands of the other. also it is the most effective building and

MACHINERY HALL, CENTRAL PORTION.

There are stations at the termini of has perhaps the choice of positions as the connecting railway, and they unfor- well. Its gilt dome forms a part of tunately represent a type of design which nearly every view in the Piazza and it is in spreading the neighborhood of Mi- is always delightful, however you look lan. It appears to have been invented upon it. It crowns the chief entrance a firm of by joiners named Banfi, who to the Hall and rides gracefully over evidently pride themselves on having one simple and vast arch whose haunches initiated a new departure in constructive abut on a pair of pylon shaped woodwork. Its style is beneath criti- towers, while right and left are smaller cism. But whatever may be its defects, arches resting against lesser towers. the terrace of the station in the Piazza Further on to the right and left come d'Armi affords quite the best coup colonnades until the end of it all fades d'oeitil of any vantage point in the Ex- imperceptibly away into a background THE MILAN EXHIBITION. 363

MARINE TRANSPORT, MAIN FRONT AND LIGHTHOUSE. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 364

formed by the plebeian city outside. It it has forced itself into notice there has but little color decoration, and most nothing to be done but turn and admii of that consists only of judiciously used Yet it is not by a French architect, f( there all it so French in flags and streamers with here and appears spirit. Tl a few points picked out in gold leaf. design was prepared by Sig. Bongi, wli The gold is never glaring: as a matter is responsible for so many buildings of fact it appears to be of the cheap the Park. It has been carried out, and nasty variety and is already adopt- pecially in its ornamental details, al ing the hues which lead to black un- entirely by French craftsmen, and have to sightliness. haps they managed infuse The Marine Transport building is nationality into it. The differences rather more imposing on the plan than tween French and Italian views on "1'Ai

i

MARINE TRANSPORT, FRONT TOWARDS ENTRANCE TO THE PIAZZA U'ARMI. in elevation. It may be that the light- Nouveau" are strongly emphasized, house dwarfs the scale of the remainder, it is easy to see that while the latter:ter or it be may that the eye wanders per- know better exactly where to place t to petually away seek out the many decoration the former stand easily fi other excellences gathered in the neigh- in the matter of balancing elaboratene= borhood. At one moment the corner with refinement. arcades of the French pavilion of Decor- And no sooner has one digested theHI ative Art come into the vista and at- French element than Austria's temple tract attention by displaying the na- Decorative Art looms into view. It tional tricolor in a ; place where the pre- a peculiar building to look at. with colors dominating have hitherto been colonnade of fat Egyptian-like columns red, white and of and once of green Italy ; splashed here and there with rings THE MILAN EXHIBITION. 365 color. They have no capitals, but in hibits are so much as unpacked and this Alice-in-Wonderland architecture it many are still undelivered. Milan's Ex- seems not at all surprising that they hibition comes at a time when the State should stand there in a headless row. has just taken over the control of the It is quite novel, and suggests all manner railways and when the country does not of weird possibilities inside. But the possess a tithe of the number of freight inside is not yet ready for the public trucks necessary for ordinary transport 1'in- let view : a huge notice of "Vietato purposes, alone the extra pressure is still involved in gresso," and what more effective, this undertaking. a group of uniformed officials with gilt A nation which has only been at peace badges on their caps and collars keep within itself for so few vears cannot

FRENCH DECORATIVE ART, MAIN ENTRANCE.

even the representatives of the Press perhaps be expected to jump all at once from entering the precincts. To tell into a position of foremost rank in ev- the truth, there is little likelihood of its ery branch of the world's work. Hith- being ready for some time to come and erto Italy has not always shone greatly not one of the five or six Decorative as a pioneer in sanitary knowledge, but sections is in better case. Not even Milan is making a very strong feature Japan has been able to overcome the in- of hygiene in all its applications. There dolence and want of "attack" which is is a building especially devoted to the inherent in the Italian blood. The cu- subject and it is clothed in a design rators were unanimous in saying that which should go far towards fostering they would be "ready on Saturday," an a better understanding of matters of absolute impossibility, as few of the ex- health and cleanliness. From the lurid 366 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD.

THE HYGIENE BUILDING. THE MILAN EXHIBITION. 367

but microscopic monsters that poison to wonder at the extraordinary fertility our water the visitor is led drinking by of invention displayed by the architects. on to the consideration of Not easy stages only this, but considering the many sorts and conditions all of hospitals in thousands of drawings which have had to his he to be which, according nationality, made in a comparatively short be nursed the inevitable will when ty- period of time, it is clear that each mem- him phoid lays up by the heels. The ber of the vast army of assistants and recruit who take in the next may part draughtsmen which has been employed war that can at Europe produces study must be of unusual ability. The draw- ease the uniforms worn the by various ings, some of which are hung in the Red Cross Societies: he test the Fine may Arts Galleries, show no sign of

THE MOTOR CARS EXHIBIT.

' comfort of stretchers on springs, or hurry and are really finished pictures. straw, or hung like a hammock; and Unfortunately this same absence of rush the sight of surgical instruments and op- is equally prevalent among the workmen erating tables will no doubt fill his mar- and administration, and has retarded the tial breast with a sudden dislike for sol- finish of the work to an extent which diering. Of sanitary engineering there is highly regrettable. is no great exhibit, but the blank floor It is perhaps natural that here in the spaces may in time still become popu- very centre of the fertile plains of Lom- lous with baths and kindred apparatus. bardy a large area should be set aside Our concern, however, is with the for Agriculture. It cannot be said that buildings; not with their contents. And the style of the design for this section the more one becomes familiar with the is satisfactory. It is a mixture of the surroundings the more one is compelled "Banfi" style already referred to and THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 368

the most vicious phase of Art Nouveau. the motor cars are sheltered in a pavilion A lady with the word "Terra" inscribed gay by day with gilding and streamers on her pedestal sits at the base of one and by night by electric lamps, that of pier and represents Mother Earth, and the older trade is almost bald and severe at the foot of the other is a firare of by comparison. a man, labelled "Aratro" and who prob- It is impossible, even with better il- ably stands for Agriculture. Between lustrations than are available, to do jus- them stand two columns without cap- tice to the merits of the whole: it is itals: and there seems a 5ort of poetical equally impossible to emphasize too justice in their decapitation, for they strongly the meaning of this great un- do no work whatever. The rest of the dertaking to Italian commerce. The fagade is Banfi, unmixed, unalloyed and buildings should be seen; and for the unspoiled. other it is necessary to consult a map The sight of the huge building de- of Europe and see how much carrying voted to every sort of auto-car, brings trade must in course of time take the us face to face with the most startling shorter route of the Simplon and enter sign of modern progress in the Exhibi- Italy through its old northern capital tion. Ten years ago no one had ever of Milan, or ship for the East in Genoa seen such a thing on the roads as a harbor. Already Genoa is preparing horseless vehicle, and this pavilion of herself for the promised harvest by en- which every available inch is occupied larging her already large harbor until stands as a monument to the tremendous Marseilles will be as a hand basin be- industry which has sprung up with a side it. mushroom growth. It is true, and it And, perhaps Italy's next great is also evident here, that the carriage hibition will be held in Genoa, wh< makers' trade has proportionately suf- the harbor is completed. fered, and appropriately enough while Robert W. Garden.

AGRICULTURE, ENTRANCE TO CENTRAL BLOCK. Modern Italian Monuments From the Valley of Susa to the Po

There are still in Italy many pictur- tion of Italy is entirely ignored, is esque and beautiful spots which are al- not intended; the stranger who is most wholly unknown to artists and led into the Peninsula generally visits travelers. This condition, strange Turin, but seldom does he make his though it may seem, is nevertheless way into the interior of Piedmont, es- true. But tourists are constantly seek- pecially into its valleys and its villages, ing the unexplored parts of the Penin- where antiquity has stowed away inter- sula, and generally turn, as the most esting edifices in greater number than promising field, to its southern part, in the capital. However, it goes with- where, especially in the Pouilles and the out saying that the Chateaux of the Abruzzes, many unexplored and note- Valley of Aosta, one of the most pic- worthy monuments are to be found. turesque places in Piedmont, does not The Pouilles more than the Abruzzes to be out to the Italians need pointed ; have of late years been studied, and the but the religious buildings of the Pied- readers of The Architectural Record mont valleys are neglected even in Italy. were given- much interesting informa- With the churches and monasteries of tion regarding them, thanks to the re- Piedmont there happened what hap- searches of my friend, Prof. Wm. H. pened formerly in some cities of the Goodyear. As for the Abruzzes, our Peninsula, where the greatness of such knowledge is less extensive, but even masters as Bramante and Michelangiolo here the love of exploration is beginning has caused the lesser lights to be for- to produce its effect. Some months gotten. Therefore, the common opinion ago an author asked me to write the in Italy that the valleys of Piedmont are preface to a book on the Marsica, a of no architectural importance except monumental spot in the Abruzzes, for the chateaux already alluded to. To whose love for art is considerable. be convinced of the error of this opin- The Abruzzes are well worth con- ion, one has but to visit some of the sideration, but travelers who come from villages and little towns in which Pied- Rome, and who, less interested in this mont abounds, and while these places region, intend to address themselves may not contain the most famous of still the directly to Naples and Sicily, may prof- Italy's architectural wealth, itably make the Abruzzes trip on the traveler, be he artist or layman, will not way. The railroads are not of much regret his visit. Naturally one need not service, and the stranger will find it here look for the refinements of the Re- more agreeable on leaving Rome to naissance, but if one is interested in visit the cities directly on his way; the mediaeval things, Piedmont offers a rural districts must, however, on no ac- precious artistic patrimony. During the count be overlooked, and it must be epoch of the Renaissance the region deplored in this connection that the was in complete decadence, socially and not here Cicerone of Burkhardt should have for- politically, so that art could gotten the monuments of Aquila Chiete produce beautiful things. Moreover, and Sulmona as not being of sufficient not only did Piedmont not produce any importance and worthy of serious con- works of art during the period of the sideration. Renaissance, but it was not even entered With this foreword of explanation, by artists belonging to other Italian let us settle our attention on a spot regions. This dearth of artists is very which, like the Abruzzes, is forgotten curious, for Italian artists of the XIYth by travelers. I speak of Piedmont. and XVth centuries went around from The impression that this northern por- one place to another with the greatest THE ARCHITECTURAL "RECORD. 370 MODERN ITALIAN MONUMENTS. 371

ROCK AND TOWER OF THE BELLE ALDE, SACRA DE ST. MICHEL. Piedmont, Italy. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 3/2

VIEW SHOWING THE MASSIVE WALLS SUPPORTING THE APSES OF THE SACRA Dl Piedmont, Italy. ST. MICHEL. MODERX ITALIAN MOXUMEXTS. 373

THE SAGRA DE ST. MICHEL, GRAND STAIRCASE SHOWING THE DOOR OF THE ZODIAC, iedmont, Italy. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 374 freedom. In Piedmont one does not mont which is not found along the ordi- meet an artist of note except Matteo nary lines of travel. of the Sammicheli, sculptor and architect (died The reign Feudal System and marks the of 1485), from Porlezza in Lombardy, period political importance cousin to the great Michel Sammicheli. in Piedmont, where, during that epoch, Matteo worked at Saluzzo and Casal the powerful families took advantage of of the Monferrato for thirty years, in the Vene- the topography country to build interest castles that should be as secure as tian style, and excited more than so important an artist as Meo del possible against attack; therefore the number of Gothic chateaux in that Caprina, from Settignano, in Tuscany, great But the round who designed the cathedral of Turin region. preceding or

THE VALLEY OF SUSA DISTANT VIEW OF THE SAGRA DE ST. MICHEL. Piedmont, Italy.

(assigned to Baccio Pontelli, died Lombard style, more picturesque though 1492). less daring than the Gothic, must now The stranger who traverses Pied- interest us as well as the natural mont in quest of architecture must grandeur of the enchanting landscape therefore interest himself less in the which in Piedmont must ever be a part capital (since he is not seeking modern of the architecture. But before proceed- be work, rococo for example, which Turin ing with our subject, it will perhaps contains in abundance), and visit the well to emphasize the Italian lack of the little towns, the valleys and the villages. interest in all art other than that of Just the contrary is the case in other Renaissance. Italy lived for such a long Italian provinces, and this contrariety period out of the intellectual domain of of circumstances in itself accounts for modern peoples, and for this reason is the general ignorance on the art of Pied- still the seat of classicism excellence par II MODERN ITALIAN MONUMENTS. 375

THE FAQADE OF THE CHURCH OF STE. FOI, CAVAGNOLO-PO. 'iedmont, Italy. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 37* IT"

CHURCH OF STE. FOI, CAVAGNOLO-PO PRINCIPAL DOOR. Piedmont, Italy. ITA LIAX MODERN MONUMENTS. 377

THE CHURCH OF STE. FOI, CAVAGNOLO-PO INTERIOR VIEW. iedmont, Italy. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 378

shall them. Artists and students were still far Bearing this condition in mind, we be able to understand why she was so from admitting the right to existence of is mediaeval monuments. the slow to appreciate the poetry which Perhaps hidden in mediaeval times; why she re- audacious Italians judged the most im- fused for a long time all recognition to posing monuments of the Peninsula architects of epochs preceding the XVth which do not repeat the art of Athens able to and as Racine the cathe- century. We are also better Rome, judged comprehend why Gothic art was for dral of Chartres, "Splendid, but a little Italians the art of barbarians trans- barbarous." Beyond classicism, the Italians saw the and while planted into Italy by German architects, only deluge,

PORTALS OF THE ABBEY ST. ANTOINE DI RANVERSO, BUTTIGLIERA ALTA. Piedmont, Italy. i who were unable to feel the refinements Didron the elder and his collaborators in of classicism. the Annales Archcologique found in As for the Byzantine and the Italy a fertile source of moyenagist Romanesque, they much less than beauties, and spread them with the word Gothic, interested Italian lovers of art. and the image, critics continued ac- Even the writings of such authors as with the classic barbar-1 quainting way, Gautier, who created Wilmanstadius, a ians who departed from it. But it is in thinker in mediaeval monuments, and the abandonment of every region that Ruskin, one of the chief advocates of the possesses only Byzantine, Lombard or moyenagist doctrine, met with opposi- Gothic monuments, and particularly tion everywhere in Italy, and the coun- Piedmont, that I want to dissuade my try at large took no particular stock in readers. I MODERN ITALIAN MONUMENTS. 379

Let us consider first two noteworthy Concerning the date of foundation of monuments of Piedmont, the abbey the Sagra de St. Michel there exists church of Ste. Foi and a monastery some supposition and much doubt. The called the Sagra de St. Michel. Both of earliest information is found in a chron- these buildings are in the Lombard icle of the IXth century, the Chronicon all of its and deli- style, with ingenuities Malleacense (868), from the Monastery cate refinements. The Sagra de St. of Maillezais, near La Rochelle. In Michel is to be seen from afar perched that year (868), according to this ac- on a steep mountain where the eagle count, there was built a monastery on builds its nest; it is so neglected in Mt. Pircheriano by Giovanni di Pavia, Italy that many writers on art subjects Bishop of Ravenna, and a pupil of the

A CORNER OF THE CLOISTER IN THE ABBEY AT VEZZOLANO. Piedmont, Italy. will be surprised to read about it. The great St. Romnaldo. But this chronicle mountain on which the Sagra reposes was written in 1174, and based on the proudly and majestically like a queen Chronicon Clusina, written in 1066, and of days gone by ("del bon tempo anti- carries little authority. It goes on to say quo," as Pircheriano says), is in the that Giovanni di Pavia built there a valley of Susa, near the frontier, on the little church, which was consecrated by French side, and recalls poets and sol- the angels, thanks to a miracle which diers, daring adventures and atrocious filled the faithful with admiration. Pil- wars; it was hereabouts that Charle- grimages then began, taking one back to magne destroyed the Langobard army the year 966, which should accordingly at Chinsa, which is dominated by the be accepted as the date of foundation; verdant heights of Pircheriano. but this date will not be accurate accord- THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 38o

THE APSE OF THE CATHEDRAL AT SUSA. Piedmont. Italy. MODERN ITALIAN MONUMENTS.

the ing to other authorities, who variously south and east that are still inhabited. as and 1002. these place the date 998 M. To structures were added on the Tavio in 1888 published a study on the north the other portions called the old origin of the Sagra de St. Michel, and monastery, near one corner of the Belle refuses to accept the date 966. He says Aide. At a little later period, on the the error in the Chronicon Clusina is mount near the principal nucleus, other perhaps due to the chronicler himself, edifices, such as the Tombs of the who was anxious to make the Sagra ex- Moines, to the south and below the with St. Michel- and built actly contemporary monastery ; lastly was *he en-mer. in the diocese of Avranches, church proper, replacing the one before Vormandy, founded in 966 by Richard mentioned. The original chapel and its ms-peur. crypt surround it. \Yhatever may be the facts on the From the foundation to the Xllth cen- struc- Drigin of the Sagra, the existing tury rivalry among the Moines of Pir-

CATHEDRAL OF SUSA BRONZES KNOCKERS. Piedmont, Italy. hires on Mt. Pircheriano give conclu- cheriano necessitated the building of a sive evidence of the architecture of sev- larger church, of which the wealth of eral periods. Roughly speaking, one the monastery amply permitted. Other nay say that the various parts, excepting obstacles, however, presented them- the actual church, were erected in the selves : it was desired to preserve the Xlth and Xllth centuries but it is remains of the old dedicated to ; not chapel >asy to say with any degree of certainty St. Michel as the nucleus of the new- in what order they succeeded one an- church, also to retain in the temple, the other. Careful examination reveals, that orientation established by the ritual. But at first there was built a small rectangu- as the existing church already occu- lar chapel with an apse turned toward pied the entire area on top of the mount, the east. After this chapel there fol- it became necessary to make room for lowed a church of modest proportions, the new church by pushing toward the with three very irregular naves, ele- east the existing structures, and by pene- time vated in such a way as to include in it trating the rock upon which, since the chapel which became its crypt. To immemorial, the steep road had wended this period of the operations, belong also its way. This scheme made it possible the structures that comprise the parts to to give a greater area to the new church, THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 382

and carried with it the necessity of plac- the Sagra was drawn up, and later an- its sides other even more was ing the foundations of one of grand considered. more than twenty meters below the level Whatever restoration is undertaken can of the pavement, which was a grand and apply but to the general plan of the audacious idea that required money and buildings, and must be practical an result decorative. Let us that the great constructive skill. The hope mode shows well that neither was lacking in restorers, who generally are less p Pircheriano. The illustrations, especially servers than renovators, will not deprive the one showing the apses supporting us of the charm of the Sagra de St. the church on their enormously thick, Michel. high walls, bear witness on what a stu- From the Valley of Susa let us no pendous scale the architects of the address ourselves to one of those Pied Sagra carried out the scheme. The mont villages, little known by travelers Sagra de St. Michel in Piedmont recalls and artists alike, but always interesting similar monuments in France, such as to seekers of the beautiful in out-of-the- the churches of Mont St. Michel in Nor- way places, the village of Cavagnolo, mandy, a Benedictine monastery like the near Gassino and the Po (the largest former, and Notre Dame du Puy-en- river in Italy), and for that reason Velay, both contemporary with our sub- called also Cavagnolo-Po or de Po. I this is ject.' village situated the Abbe In the Xllth century was erected the Church of Ste. Foi, a church entirely i absidal side, with the gigantic walls be- the Lombard or "Norman style of Italy,' fore mentioned, a construction which with decidedly French influence, whic gives one an idea of the courage of the serves to emphasize what has been sai Italian architects of that epoch. The of French influence in the architectur picturesque staircase shown in the illus- of Piedmont, which influence in thi trations, with the Door of the Zodiac case goes beyond the XlVth and XVt (so called because of the carved orna- centuries, the period of the florid Gothi ments of the Zodiac upon it), also date in Piedmont. The church is a three from the Xllth century. The church aisled structure, the central one bein did not progress rapidly during that cen- covered by a barrel vault supported o tury, and in the Xlllth century work was piers with engaged columns; the interior carried on in a taste inclining toward is treated with great simplicity, even the French Gothic, according to the cus- down to the column capitals, which ar tom of Piedmont, which, like the rest of fair examples of the charming simplicit the Peninsula, accepted Gothic art from of ornamental art in Piedmont. The France, but preserved in it more than faqade is especially interesting, on ac- did the other Italian regions, the French count of its doorway. . There are i feeling. Pavia, on the Church of St. Michel The names of the architects who some well-known doors, which hav did all this work on Mount Pircheriano some, resemblance to the Ste. Foi door are unfortunately unknown to us, but if reproduced herewith, which is compara we ascribe it to the Magistri Comacini tively unknown. Very curious and im (celebrated Italian Lombard artists who portant is the suave ingenuity and the spread through all the Italian provinces. bas-relief in the lunette, Christ con- even Piedmont, for a number of cen- ventionalized between two angels. The turies), we shall perhaps not go far composition is decorative to the last de- wrong. The marked resemblance of gree, and harmonizes marvelously with certain parts of the Sagra to one of the the flat decoration on the rest of the most elaborate monuments of northern church. Ste. Foi is of the Xllth cen- Italy, belonging to the same period, the tury, like the Sagra de St. Michel at Cathedral of Piacenza (begun in 1112 Mount Pircheriano, and its architects and finished in the Xlllth century) are likewise unknown, but the Magistri would also lead one to this conclusion. Comacini might here, too, have recorded In a 1884 grand scheme for restoring their skill. The late Edouard Mella calls MODERN ITALIAN MONUMENTS. 3*3 attention at Ste. Foi to the employment Venice, sometimes credited to Utruria, of the Egyptian triangle, which, he can in some fashion, like the she-wolf in claims, controlled the builders of this Roman history, lead us to the orna- church. Plutarch in his epistles, sets ments here shown. Of the Xllth cen- forth the propriety of an isosceles tri- tury, like the great lion of St. Mark, angle having four parts in the base and these ornaments formerly decorated the two and a half in the height, that is to principal doorway of the Cathedral of in the of to five but in say, proportion eight ; Susa, 1894 they were placed and he writes that such were the pro- in the sacristy of the church the portions of the celebrated pyramid of better to preserve them. They Cheops at Gizeh. This triangle would measure about forty-five centimeters give rhythm to the principal heights and square, and are among the most charac- widths of the monument, following the teristic bronzes of the Peninsula. The shape of the triangle, thus producing its most interesting of them is perhaps the incomparable beauty of proportion. 0ne formed into a conventionalized the The equilateral triangle produces ram's head. Small horns repose rigidly results for the Cathedral on each side of a same ; example, woolly skull, and large of Milan would be on the module of this horns curve around the head, which triangle. The theory that these triangles holds in its mouth a ring, harmonizing lead to harmonious proportions extends with the skull, under which are aligned a far time Viollet-le-Duc of beyond our own ; pair powerful eyes, almost to the speaks of them in his Dictionairc concealment of the eyebrows. The whole d'Architecture, and the architects Tour- is treated within a field in the shape of ard and Ramee have given proofs of the a tortoise shell worked in penetrated existence of the triangular system. ornament, which helps to give this fan- Piedmont is thus a country very rich tastically conceived bronze an artistic in modern architecture and its allied accent. arts. The remaining views show the One will find a connection between the portals of the Abbey Church of St. An- door knockers of Susa and the orna- toine di Ranverso, at Buttigliera Alta, mental theme of the Lombard style, rich of the XVth century, and the pictur- in animal forms and interlaces, and it esque cloister of Vezzolano, of the Xllth was very much the same current of in- and XHIth centuries. Looking at these spiration that created the bronzes shown monuments, new models of a free and herewith, and produced their perfect powerful architecture, the foregoing harmony with the lines of the architec- remarks offer an inexhaustible source ture. for such investigations as my friend, Having admired, after the Sagra de Prof. Wm. H. Goodyear, made some St. Michel, the Abbey Church of Sainte time ago on assymmetry and archi- Foi at Cavagnolo-Po, I am delighted to tectural refinements, alluded to above. share with the readers of The Architec- And here are two bronze door tural Record my aesthetic pleasure, have a knockers, very little known in Italy, of confident that some of them will an ingenuity, so to speak, savage, which desire to see the monuments that my but strike one as a dream or a vision. Italy words and the illustrations have is rich in bronzes : the celebrated lion of faintly suggested. St. Mark on the Piazzetta San Marco, in Alfredo Melani. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. The Work of Mr. J. Milton Dyer

No architectural tendency has been smaller cities by designers whose train- more noticeable of late years than the ing had been inferior, but who possessed of the smaller cities a gradual invasion of natural sense of architectural pro- architects whose stand- but such the country by prieties ; work usually failed to ards and training are of the best. It was have any leavening influence upon the not so long ago that the number of standards of the city wherein it was

*

tJ 4 . * *

>*

4 * 4 4 4 4 4 4 *

COMPETITIVE DESIGN FOR UNITED STATES POST OFFICE, CUSTOM HOUSE AND COURT HOUSE GROUND FLOOR PLAN. Cleveland, 0. Hunt & Hunt, j. Associated Architects. J. Milton Dyer, architects who had received a thorough built, because it was the product of an technical training and who practiced in individual rather than of a formative the smaller cities, particularly of the tradition. The traditions of contem- Middle West, could be counted on the porary American architecture were fingers of one hand. A certain amount being made and popularized in a few of of good work was performed in these the large cities, and the smaller cities THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 386

CITY FARM COLONY-GENERAL PLAN. Warrensville, O. J. Milton Dyer, Architect. I THE WORK OF MR. J. MILTON DYER. 387

received the benefit of them, if at all, sign which obtain in American archi- rather by reflection than by personal tecture, have spread all over the coun- transmission. try, and have in some measure been During the last ten years, however, nationalized. It so happens that the and particularly during the second half years, in which they have been making of that period, this state of things has their mark have been years of great been gradually changing. The number prosperity and extensive building oper- of thoroughly trained architects has ations, and they have, many of them, been largely increased in that time by enjoyed an exceptional number of .good many graduates from the Beaux Arts, opportunities. Their work, of course, from the best American architectural remains to large extent buried beneath schools, and from the offices of the lead- the architectural debris of the three pre-

CITY FARM COLONY TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL. , arrensville, O. J. Milton Dyer, Architect.

ing architects in New York and else- vious decades, but it is becoming more where. These younger men have in and more conspicuous, and its general many instances begun to practice in the superiority to the average of the work cities of from 100,000 to 500,000 inhabi- which preceded it is fully recognized by tants, and they have succeeded in local public opinion. exerting a considerable influence upon These younger men who have started the architecture of such cities. -In in the smaller cities have, of course, many cases they have come to occupy many serious difficulties with which to the leading local position in their pro- contend. They occupy, indeed, a posi- fession, and their methods and standards tion in relation to their clients similar to have come to have a considerable effect that which an architect in New York upon the community. By means of might have occupied twenty-five years their influence, the best standards of de- ago. In the larger cities of the East THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 388

M I inririririr

: f r r r r P r r r i r r

CLEVELAND CITY HALL FRONT . ELEVATION. Cleveland, O. J. Milton Dyer, Archit

BH HB ap xr BP ar !' MP

f ,f. ,. ,w, ,,IP, ., i, , i

r ,f Pi btf

CLEVELAND CITY HALL WEST ELEVATION. O. Cleveland, J. Milton Dyer, Architecttect THE WORK OF MR. ]. MILTON DYER. 389

ft

CLEVELAND CITY HALL LONGITUDINAL SECTION. leveland, 0. J. Milton Dyer, Architect.

CLEVELAND CITY HALL TRANSVERSE SECTION. Cleveland, 0. J. Milton Dyer, Architect. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 390

" * " ___* 7"f"

f 3 1 __ . - - ' *.. ; i K 5 : n j . ..: . L^1j

i . ., 1

. s | . . a

- -*- * * * I r.y mm rf~ | i i P

CLEVELAND CITY HALL FIRST FLOOR PLAN. Cleveland, O. J. Milton Dyer, Architect

=~ J f r -- -* 1

. . .1 I ; J

4- , t.l.:, r I I :: I *i r | ^

.

i! . .(. J a s d u i. - ~ .. .. T"x I 1? T W : L .1 . ,

CLEVELAND CITY HALL SECOND FLOOR PLAN. O. Cleveland, J. Milton Dyer, ArchiK THE WORK OF MR. J. MILTON DYER. 391

'

il

i

COMPETITIVE DESIGN FOR CARNEGIE TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. ittsburg, Pa. j. Milton Dyer, Architect.

r rr rr.

COMPETITIVE DESIGN FOR CARNEGIE TECHNICAL SCHOOLS- ADMINISTRATION BUILDING. Pittsburg, Pa. J. Milton Dyer, Architect. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. the architect has come to have a certain amount of authority. His point of view as a professional man and as an artist is recognized. He is not placed in the same position as a builder who has agreed to do a certain specific piece of work for a certain amount of money, and whose only merits in the perform- ance of his task must be a matter of honesty, care and fidelity. It is recog- nized, at least to a certain extent, that he is not merely an agent, but an inde- pendent and an indispensable profes- sional assistant, who is employed because of his technical training and talent, and who is to be trusted to exercise that talent in a disinterested manner. He has obtained, that is, a certain amount of professional and artistic prestige, and the work which he performs is much less apt to be injured than it used to be by inadequate appropriations and unin- telligent interference on the part of clients. But the architect in the smaller city has not obtained to the same extent a position of sufficient authority in respect to his clients. The people who build houses in such cities are, not unnaturally, very much preoccupied by the fact that it is their money which the architect is spending; and the relation between the architect and his client tends to become too largely a matter of busi- ness. The architect figures in the mind of a client as a man who has promised to put up a certain sort of building for a certain sum of money, and a man with such a conception of a professional de- signer is rarely prepared to grant the latter the benefit of disinterested mo- tives in urging the expenditure of more money in order to obtain a completer effect. The consequence is, that the difficulties which attend at best the prac- tice of such a businesslike profession and art are very much intensified in the case of architects who are situated in the smaller cities of the country, and in considering their work large allowances must be made for the fact that they have rarely been allowed to do just what their preferences would have dictated. Among the architects who have reached a very prominent position in one of the smaller cities of the country GUARDIAN SAVINGS AND TRUST CO. is Mr. Milton J. Dyer. Mr. Dyer is a Cleveland, O. J. Milton Dyer, Architect THE WORK OF MR. J. MILTON DYER. 393

CENTRAL NATIONAL BANK BASEMENT LOBBY. J. Milton Dyer, Architect

CENTRAL NATIONAL BANK INTERIOR, LOOKING NORTH. Cleveland, O. J. Milton Dyer, Architect. ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 394 THE graduate of the Beaux Arts, and studied that of getting five dollars' worth in Paris at the same time as did Mr. every five dollars of other people's money which he Joseph Hunt, Mr. J. R. Pope, and many must needs spend. It is aii other of the younger generation of embarrassment to the majority of archi- American architects. His period of tects that architecture is necessarily as training at the French school was longer much of a business as it is, but when than that of the majority of his contem- they neglect the business aspect of their poraries, and when he returned to this profession they are merely encouraging country he was an exceptionally well possible clients to prefer inferior archi- equipped designer. Soon thereafter he tects who are more businesslike in their opened an office in Cleveland, Ohio, and methods and in the organization of tl during the six years which he has prac- office. ticed in that city he has been gaining We have called attention to sev<

THE BROWN HOISTING WORKS. Cleveland, O. constantly in the amount of work which disadvantages from which architect.' he has accomplished and in the approval situated in the smaller cities suffer; bu' with it which has been received. He they appear to enjoy one advantage brings to his work the benefit of the best which may do something to redress the academic training which can be ob- balance. In the larger cities the ten tained at the present time, and he has, dency of recent architectural develop moreover, recommended himself to his ment has been in the direction of special clients by the businesslike organization ization. While this tendency has no of his office. The ability to spend a actually been dominant, and while then client's money economically is part of an are many architects whose work in architect's duties which some admirable eludes many different types of build have been designers prone to overlook, ings, still it has been more and mor< and an architect who really wants to do common for one architect to be chiefly ; excellent work cannot do either himself designer of office buildings, another o or his a profession greater service than residences, another of churches, am THE WORK OF MR. J. MILTON DYER. 395 396 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. MR. J. THE WORK OF MILTON DYER. 397

RESIDENCE OF LOFTUS CUDDY, ESQ. DETAIL OF MAIN ENTRANCE.

RESIDENCE OF LOFTUS CUDDY, ESQ. DETAIL OF CARRIAGE ENTRANCE, Architect J - Milton Dyer ' leveland, 0. THE 'ARCHITECTURAL RECORD.

RESIDENCE OF LYMAN TREADWAY, ESQ. Cleveland, O. J. Milton Dyer, Archit(

THE TAVERN CLUB. Cleveland, O. J. Milton Dyer, Archilchitect. THE WORK OF MR. J. MILTON DYER. 399

RESIDENCE FOR J. M. PICKANDS, ESQ.

WINDERMERE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. J. Milton Dyer, Architect. RECORD. 40O THE ARCHITECTURAL'

another of large public edifices. Inas- an enormous range of technical exj much as this tendency is not one which, ence. on the whole, can be approved, it is a Probably the characteristic which fortunate thing that it does not prevail strikes one most forcibly about the work as much in the smaller as it does in the of Mr. Dyer is just the flexibility which larger cities. An architect who occu- he has shown in designing so well and is in so pies a leading position in such a city short a time so many different asked to turn out an extraordinary types of building. He has used the ut- variety of building, and Mr. Dyer is no most intelligence in giving each of these exception to this rule. There is scarcely different types of building an appear- one important class of building which is ance adapted to its function, and what not contained among the illustrations may be called its public position.

MR. LYMAN TREADWAY'S HOUSE LIVING ROOM. Cleveland, O. J. Milton Dyer, ArchiII of his work, unless it be a theatre. He Methodist Episcopal Church is a cligni has designed schools, clubs, churches, fied and sober edifice, which is made ad office buildings, factories, a city hall, ditionally interesting by the good colo and other public buildings, libraries, and, and texture of the stone whereof it i of course, a great many private dwell- constructed. The City Hall of Cleve and all this ings ; during a comparatively land is not merely an excellent and care few of architect the years practice. An fully studied example of prevailing who is i confronted by technical problems style in public buildings, but, what so differing radically one from another of more importance, it has the advan cannot very well drop into an easy tage, rare in an edifice of this class, of ai routine. He is bound to become flexible extremely economic and convenien and alert in his habits of design, and he plan; and Mr. Dyer is to be congratu is bound to acquire in a very short time lated upon his success in working 01 THE WORK OF MR. J. MILTON DYER. 401 such a serviceable plan without in any Trust Co. is a successful compromise be- way impairing the technical excellence tween the practical requirements of a of his design. The school, on the other tall office building and the ornate and hand, is a simple but dignified brick imposing architectural effect which the building, which is effective because of its directors of a modern American bank unpretentious propriety. In the build- want for their own place of business. ing of the Tavern Club Mr. Dyer has Finally, the numerous dwellings which sought to strike a more personal note. Mr. Dyer has designed, all of which are The Tavern Club, as its name implies, situated in the best residential parts of has a membership which embraces the Cleveland, combine the desirable form- newspaper men, the artists, and the ality of street architecture with a quiet architects of Cleveland, together with and unobtrusive domestic character.

MR. H. H. JOHNSON'S HOUSE DRAWING ROOM. Cleveland, 0. J. Milton Dyer, Architect.

that Mr. those business and professional men It will be seen, consequently, of has who like that sort of company, and Mr. Dyer, during his few years work, and a Dyer has made both the interior and the achieved both a great many great kinds of and exterior of its domicile suggest the ap- many different buildings, all of them pearance of an old tavern. The whole that he has stamped his sense atmosphere of the building is very dif- with signs of his sincerity, tech- ferent from that of the rest of Mr. of propriety, and his manifest To have handled Dyer's work, but the design exhibits an nical competence. so well extremely careful and symmetrical com- so many different problems at once to his position of its necessarily picturesque is testimony energy, his unusual technical elements. The large scale of the gables his skill and better illustration could and of the roof has been cleverly ability, and a of the value to an archi- handled. The building of the Guardian not be desired THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 402 tect of the sort of training which Mr. tural manners; and this atmosphere Dyer obtained in Paris. The schooling they have of being brought up in which a student obtains at the Beaux good company is a powerful force mak- Arts is frequently criticized for its ing for the prevalence of better archi- tecture in this rigidity, and from the American point country. The quality of view, for its adaptation exclusively to style is not a quality which the intelli French conditions. But in looking over gent layman can immediately defin< the work which has been performed dur- because it depends upon technical exc< ing the past few years by the prominent lences which his eye has not be< of that one is struck trained to but after the e graduates school, distinguish ; in first of all by the flexible manner has once become used to noticing t in which these architects have succeeded difference between a building which 1

Cleveland, 0. adapting themselves to American con- style and one which has not, it cai ditions. With one or two exceptions, never be satisfied again with bad archi- they soon drop the influence of the tectural manners, no matter how sin- school so far as it conduces to a specific cere and individual those manners mannerism; they soon learn to handle may be. the local which very problems confront An architect like Mr. J. Milton Dyer an American architect with freedom and is performing under difficult conditions but propriety; what they do not lose is a useful public service. He is helping t the habit of close and correct architec- establish a tradition of good architec tural Their thinking. buildings always tural form in a city which is small com- the merit of possess style. They are al- pared to New York and Chicago, butI made at least ways presentable by the which is rich and of great local import- evidence they afford of good architec- ance. The conditions are difficult, not I THE WORK OF MR. J. MILTON DYER. 403 only because in such communities the whole, style rather than distinction. It of the architect is professional position worthily represents an admirable tradi- not well established, but because a man's tion, but it adds little that is new and very success in a measure counts against valuable to -the American embodiment of him. Success inevitably means, under that tradition. But at the present time such conditions, a larger amount of the tradition of good form is the most work than any one designer ought to important thing in American architec- turn out, and this brings with it the ture, and it is such a tradition for which use of all the short cuts which an archi- Air. Dyer stands. He has shown in his tect can conscientiously take. In Mr. work flexibility, a sense of propriety, Dyer's case these conditions have appar- the utmost technical competence, execu- ently resulted to diminish the individual tive ability, and the determination to re- It the quality of his work. possesses, on main true to his standards.

SUMMIT COUNTY COURT HOUSE. J. Milton Dyer, Architect. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 404

THE CLARK ESTATE HOUSES, VIEW LOOKING WEST. West 74th Street, New York. Percy Griffin, Architect. A Residence Block

herewith is a block Illustrated of pri- In composing the plans, the architect vate houses recently completed for the has used three types, or one for each six Estate Frederick Ambrose Clark (Mr. houses, producing, however, variety in in Clark), and situated West 74th arrangement by slight modifications in Street, New York, numbers 18 to 52. layout, variations that to the occu- This scheme marks a new departure pants will make each plan different in real estate investment which cannot from any of the others. Moreover, the but be of advantage to the community in locality, being in close proximity to general. In these houses it is the both the Riverside Drive and Central aim to provide for families with a Park, is particularly well chosen; people income a better abode than with young children will be attracted by for an rental in ey could obtain equal the opportunity of being able to keep' hotel to for such them out of doors in apartment ; provide healthy, attractive milies something which shall be a surroundings. The roofs are tiled, and me in fact, a place where there may easy of access, making welcome spots real family life as it used to exist be- where the summer stay-at-homes may re the city grew to proportions that enjoy the privileges of cool breezes on reed real estate values up so high that private summer gardens. To the passer- >w only the wealthy can live in houses. by the block presents an orderly and at- The as shown in tractive is iDderateblock, Fig. i, pre- picture, which aided by well- sents the appearance of a composite placed trees and attractive wrought iron whole well studied in its entirety for sil- fences, entrance doors, grills, and bal- houette fenestration and general com- conies. position. The houses, though parts On the whole, the scheme is a laud- of a whole, preserve the individual able one, and if one did not know how it quality that the prospective tenant came about, one would be agreeably f such a house would expect. The surprised to see in New York a repeti- lustrations show how ingeniously the tion, with certain local modifications, it rchitect, Mr. Percy Griffin, has varied is true, but a repetition, nevertheless, of e individual facade treatments to give what the Parisians consider the proper each house a distinctive character, yet treatment of dwelling-house fagades. preserve in its composition certain Perhaps the idea will appeal in the ines, which allow it to properly take its future, not only to estates and the like, lace in the block. Each house occupies who, thanks to them, have done the good plot of about 25 ft. x 85 ft., and has work in this instance, but to men of three-story rear extension, making a moderate means, who can afford to build irly roomy establishment of seventeen themselves modest city houses. If people nineteen rooms. By building these in this frame of mind can, by this uses at one time it has been possible successful experiment be interested suf- or the owners to obtain at a reasonable ficiently to co-operate before building, xpenditure, many conveniences that to so that some kind of uniformity of archi- he one-house builder would be prohibi- tectural treatment may result, then the will ive in price. Each house accordingly experiment of the Clark Estate as its own steam-heating plant, and a have accomplished a very important ynamo of sufficient power to run an step in the direction of rational and good electric elevator (with automatic con- architecture in New York and other trol), a convenience that should count large American cities. But this is per- with people who have lived in elevator haps looking somewhat into the future, have to apartments and would object to climb- and the law will, no doubt, as well as ing the stairs. The sanitary features acknowledge the practical include four or five bath-rooms, a lux- the artistic necessity of such a step be- can be ex- ury that with apartment dwellers has fore any definite results now become almost a necessity. pected. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 406 A RESIDENCE BLOCK. 407 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 408

THE CLARK ESTATE HOUSES DETAIL. West 74th Street, New York. Percy Griffin, Archit A RESIDENCE BLOCK.

THE CLARK ESTATE HOUSES DETAIL. (4th, Street, New York. Percy Griffin, Architect. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD 4io

THE CLARK ESTATE HOUSES DETAILS. Alterations and Additions to Country House for Mr. John W. Pepper Jenkintown Pa

WILSON EYRE, Architect THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 4 I2 HOUSE OF MR. JOHN IV. PEPPER. 413 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. HOUSE OF MR. JOHN W. PEPPER. 415 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. HOUSE OF MR. JOHN W. PEPPER. 4i8 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD.

ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS TO COUNTRY HOUSE OF MR. JOHN W. PEPPER. Pa. Jenkintown, Wilson Eyre, Ai A Suburban Home Near Boston

Every individual American dwelling elms upon the southern side that were must be more or less a product of cir- apparently set out only in relation to the In it cumstance. plan, must be suited present house so nicely balanced and to the life of the and are family inhabiting it, placed they ; yet, as a matter of fact, to the conditions imposed by the site. Its its area was much restricted and its pro- exterior design should be influenced, portions and plan in large part deter- first, by the requirements imposed by mined by limitations imposed by these site and surroundings,, and, secondarily, very trees. by the desires or restrictions as to While the front door of the new material and cost made by the owners. house is placed in the same position as The interior room treatments are prod- the old, yet each of the new walls has ucts of all these contrasting, swaying crept out beyond the original confines further of in conditions ; complicated by the older cellar; two directions, to their suitable adjustment to the furnish- the front, or north, and to the east, but ings that they are intended to house. slightly (here the tall, close-growing A somewhat involved problem this, es- spruce trees set a bound beyond which it when it is realized that was not to to the pecially any possible pass) ; south, change imposed upon an individual de- toward the old elms, a little more, and, tail by any one of these oft-conflicting toward the west, where the lot was clear elements, makes necessary corresponding (in this direction the old dwelling had changes of greater or less importance extended in a constantly decreasing throughout the entire delicately balanced series of "ells"), a somewhat greater fabric. distance. This extension had to be

| The suburban dwelling illustrated carried so far as was possible, and yet at the old- in the , herewith Dedham second retain the entrance door appar- est town in Massachusetts is the prod- ent centre of the principal front. The uct of a set of limitations even more open space beyond the house, to the stringent than usual so far as the site west, was laid out as a small old-fash- and are concerned and ioned not attained to its full surroundings garden ; yet the so numerous that it would hardly be ex- definition, and, at the time x photo- pected that the resulting solution would graph was taken, before the early spring be a house so representative of an Ameri- foliage had bowered and enshrouded the can type. Placed well back from the house, it appears even less developed street upon the site formerly occupied by than later in the summer. an earlier dwelling of the late Colonial At the very outset it was recognized and period, the house rests quietly upon the that the close-crowding spruces old grassed terrace as though it had en- spreading elms rendered both paint and tirely absorbed the age, as well as hav- plaster undesirable upon the exterior; ing unostentatiously taken the place of between shingles and brick there was no the as the latter was previous structure. So carefully question ; only adapted have surroundings and dwelling been to the English Colonial style that best adjusted each to the other that the lat- became the location, the local type of ter has achieved that triumph of archi- architecture, and the family furniture. tectural fitness in seeming the perfectly Architecturally, the entire dwelling is and sturdi- obvious structure native to the place. developed from the simplest As a result, the house benefits much from est work remaining in England and its older the semi-circular America from times. In pro- surroundings ; Georgian each motive drive upon the north, bordered with portion and disposition, it to its century old spruces, cunningly inter- was studied to reduce simplest, and the detail spersed with a few younger birch and most direct expression ; the mod- maples; the still older and more stately was invariably determined by 420 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD.

Dedham, Mass. HOUSE OF ELMER E. CLAPP, ESQ. HOU II est "Builders' Handbooks" of that brick and tile from chimneys and fire- period. Historically derived from local places, along with some wide pine and English precedents in architecture, boards, found places in the newer struc- yet with motives first suggested by the ture; the front door of the old dwelling development of the plan, it has proved was transported bodily to its present itself well adapted, as several years' location in the end of the tool house in occupation has proved, for living in the the corner of the garden. simple American family fashion; and so Intended for a winter rather than a becomes modernly expressive of Ameri- midsummer residence, the house is par- the can architecture, as any structure de- tially shielded by the spruces on veloped to suit insular habits and local north, making the south, where lies a conditions should be. large grassed open space margined by Some of the material taken from the pleasant houses and estates, offering an old house was utilized in the new attractive outlook, the living front of dwelling; the underpinning, with its the dwelling. weathered color and lichen growths; the Upon the first floor the entire sou A SUBURBAN HOME NEAR BOSTON. 421

ARN AND GARDEN FROM THE SOUTH. Frank Chouteau Brown, Architect.

with accom- front of the house is taken up by living eight capacious chambers, room and dining room; separated only panying baths, and the third "story in- feet in by the hall running entirely through the cludes a play room some 30x48 and ser- house, from the large south door with size, along with the large closet in modern ad- side lights to the entrance under the vant space required the small pedimented northern porch. The ministration of the household. remainder of the floor includes a small The staircase occupies the north end the reception room under the staircase land- of the hall, with the vestibule under to be ing beside the street entrance, that in broad staircase landing arranged hall size, proportions and height is an exact thrown into the larger during the replica of a small Colonial room, with milder weather by merely opening that indif- corner posts and panelled end and fire- two pieces of panelling act, as its inner doors. At the place ; while the kitchen, closets and ferently, at left and service portions of the house occur in southern end of the hall, door to the northeast corner. right, are the wide openings room. The lat- The second story is given to the dining room and living 422 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. A SUBURBAN HOME NEAR BOSTON. 423 424 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD.

HOUSE OF ELMER E. CLAPP, ESQ. THE NORTH PORCH AND ENTRANCE. Dedham, Mass. Prank Chouteau Brown, Architect. A SUBURBAN HOME NEAR BOSTON. 425

HOUSE OF ELMER E. CLAPP, ESQ. THE DINING ROOM. Dedham, Mass. Frank Chouteau Brown, Architect. ,

THE HALL AND HOUSE OF ELMER E. CLAPP, ESQ. THE DINING ROOM, FROM LIVING ROOM. Brown, Architect. Dedham, Mass. Frank Chouteau THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 426

occu- French windows as in the ter, about 24 by 38 feet in size, that, living of the extend to the floor; while on the pies the entire western end house, room, and extends from the north, with its left the dignified mantel and the mahog- re- door into the butler's Georgian Doric pilasters, arched any opening pantry cesses with comfortable window seats, retain the simple severity of the Eng- mantel to the lish treatment. Two and simple panelled ; south, Georgian glazed with a and three long French windows open directly buffets, panelled recessed for with out upon the pergola covered porch. space between sideboard, case- out into The dining room appears from the ment windows opening the hall as a room panelled all in wood. midst of the pines beyond, compose the end. The extends Entering and turning about, it is a pleas- room panelling to

HOUSE OF ELMER E. CLAPP, ESQ. STAIRCASE HALL, LOOKING INTO THE LIVING ROOM. Dedham, Mass. Frank Chouteau Brown, Architect.

ant surprise to find the doorway at the the cornice, which, along the sides of the end surrounded by a simple scenery room, conceals the lighting and sup- decoration; the white trunks of the ports the flat plastered arch of the autumn-foliaged birch trees admirably ceiling that springs from the top of the echoing the cream tone of the panel- panel work and extends down the len ling; while the gray of the distance of the room. runs off into the delicate gray tone of The entire house, as finished, accord the hall papering and ends with the with exterior and its furnishings, and stronger color emphasis of the hand- quietly preaches for homeliness, com- printed foliage paper in the living room fort, simplicity and appropriateness un- beyond. Down its length, the walls til its effect if analyzed is found con- of are wainscoted in large, well-propor- sistent, dignified, and, most important tioned panels; at one side broken by all, liveable throughout. The House of Mr. Frederic S. Lee

of a house in the The beauty country limits, and the wise course was adopted almost exclu- will depend, of course, of securing a comparatively wide site in the effectiveness of its ex- a sively upon good but not too expensive location terior in relation to the conformation, rather than a much narrower site in a the lay-out, and the planting of the sur- more expensive location. Mr. Lee's and both the con- house rounding landscape ; covers the space formerly occu- venience and the attractiveness of the in- pied by two brownstone houses. The such a house will lot terior of largely hinge on which it. is built is thirty-five feet on the effective and serviceable adapta- wide, which is an extremely liberal width its to those features in the in tion of plan New York for any but the most costly of the immediate surroundings build- houses, and this comparatively spacious ing which are of most practical and frontage on the street enabled the archi- aesthetic interest. But with a house tect, Mr. Chas. A. Platt, to arrange the situated on a city street the problem is, available space so as to secure for his of course, entirely different. The facade client many unusual advantages in re- of an urban dwelling can never be en- spect both to the exterior and the in- tirely satisfactory, because it will be terior of the building. A house erected brought into immediate relation with on a narrow lot, in order to provide the other houses which are entirely dissimi- necessary living room, must be very lar, and because what may be called the high and very deep, and it is not un- boundaries of the design will thus be usual in New York to build private entirely arbitrary. The utmost that an dwellings erected on a single lot as much architect can hope to do with such a as six stories high and as much as house is to make it preserve its self-pos- eighty-five or ninety feet deep. But in session and self-respect, amid vulgar, the present instance the width of the lot uninteresting or disorderly surround- enabled the architect to obtain the needed ings. His best chance of success in such room in a four-story and basement a house will be to plan and design an house, whose depth was a little less than interior which will be as serviceable and sixty-eight feet, and the consequence was as good-looking as the conditions will that it became a much easier matter to permit, and this in itself will prove to be obtain a well-lighted and a conveniently sufficiently complicated and difficult arranged interior. Moreover, in this as task, particularly in the case of a dwell- in so many other cases, an aesthetic ad- ing in New York. Land on Manhattan vantage went hand in hand with the in- island in an available residential district crease in convenience. A faqade which is so very expensive that even very rich is thirty-five feet wide and only four people cannot afford to appropriate for stories high is very much better pro- themselves a very liberal slice of it; and portioned than one which is twenty-five in relation to a dwelling erected under feet wide and five or six stories high, and such conditions an architect's task will the large and well-lighted floor spaces be even more than usually economic. of the interior afforded ,an opportunity It will be more than ever his duty to for effective rooms and spacious halls secure for his client as much light, air, and passages. The owner obtains thereby and conveniently disposed space as a a residence which, instead of being nar- certain given sum of money can buy. row, dark and gloomy, becomes in its The house of Mr. Frederic S. Lee, atmosphere clean, sweet, wholesome and which is illustrated herewith, is worth liberal. careful examination as a successful solu- The facade of Mr. Lee's house has, as tion of this difficult task. In this in- we have said, the great initial advantage stance the sum of money available for of being low in proportion to its width; house and land was considerable, but it and the architect has escaped the usual a was also rigidly confined to certain difficulty of giving a fifth story logical THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 428

side and the balance is restored tl and necessary place in the design. The ; by treatment of the middle front projects several feet beyond the strong divisk line of the neighboring houses, and ob- of the house, which contains three large out into a tains in this way a special character and window doors, leading simple an unusual emphasis. The design of the and beautifully wrought iron balcony, several stories frankly expresses their and defined above by a stone string- relative importance in the plan of the course. The front is both positive and

First Floor Plan. Second Floor Plan. MR. FREDERIC S. LEE'S HOUSE. New York City. Chas. A. Platt, Architect.

house. The south room on the second discreet in the effect that it makes, and floor is naturally the most important it contains a large amount of legitimate apartment, and the purpose of the de- and well-composed detail. The solid em- sign has been to make this story as at- shutters give a valuable and novel air tractive and as emphatic as possible phasis to the design, which has the without cutting the faqade in two. The of being at once simple, candid, first story is necessarily unsymmetrical, distinguished. because the entrance is situated on one It will be noticed that the base THE HOUSE OF MR. S. FREDERIC LEE. 429

windows are almost as high as those of the old-fashioned brownstone houses on either side, and this arrangement was adopted for the purpose of giving the basement more exterior light than it usually obtains in English basement houses. As a consequence, the level of the first story is some feet higher than the street level, but access is given to the entrance on this floor, not by means of the traditional New York "stoop," but by means of the covered vestibule a convenient and excellent device, which is popular in Boston, and which is per- mitted in this instance by the width of the house. Such a vestibule is a desir- able intermediate stage in passing from the exterior to the interior of the house. It becomes both a shelter from the pos- sible inclemency of the weather with- out, and an introduction to the com- pleter privacy within, and we should like to see it adopted in a larger number of New York private houses. The vestibule of Mr. Lee's house leads to an entrance hall of the same width, and situated consequently like the vestibule on the west side of the house. As may be seen from the illustration, this entrance hall constitutes the bottom of a spacious court, and is consequently well lighted from above. It is plainly and simply finished in that admirable Caen stone, whose bareness will in time doubtless be relieved by appropriate hangings. A guest passes from the en- trance hall into a spacious stair hall pan- elled in white wood, and abundantly supplied with light from above. To the left of the stairway in this hall is a large coat closet, in which guests can take off their wraps, after which they would pass to the drawing-room in the front of the house, and thence to the dining-room in the back. Thus by reason of the liberal dimensions of the site the architect has been able to get on this one floor the entrance hall, the coat closet, the draw- ing-room and the dining-room, and this arrangement permits a much more con- venient arrangement on the second floor. Usually in houses of this kind the drawing-room and library are both situ- Frederic S. Lee's House. ated on the floor above the entrance hall so that Chas. A. Platt, Architect. and the dining-room, guests THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

MR. FREDERIC S. LEE'S HOUSE. East Goth Street, New York City. (Photo by Aug. Patzig.) Chas. A. Platt, Archil*'. THE HOUSE OF MR. FREDERIC S. LEE. 431

MR. FREDERIC S. LEE'S HOUSE THE ENTRANCE HALL. East 65th Street, New York City. (Photo by Aug. Patzig.) Chas. A. Platt, Architect. ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 432 THE

MR. FREDERIC S. LEE'S HOUSE THE STAIRCASE HALL. East 65th Street, New York City. (Photo by Aug. Patzig.) Chas. A. Platt, Archit THE HOUSE OF MR. FREDERIC S. LEE 433

MR. FREDERIC S. LEE'S HOUSE THE UPPER STAIRCASE HALL. t 65th Street, New York City. (Photo by Aug. Patzig.) Chas. A. Platt. Architect. THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. 434

MR. FREDERIC S. LEE'S HOUSE THE LIBRARY. East G5th Archite. Street, New York City. (Photo by Aug. Patzig.) Chas. A. Platt, THE HOUSE OF MR. FREDERIC S. LEE. 435

be to climb the stairs would obliged only room in the house which is so both before and after dinner. But a honored. plan It is, consequently, over such as that of Mr. Lee's house affords thirty feet wide by some twenty-two in a drawing-room which guests can be feet deep, and it is treated with the ut- first received and a or most library living- simplicity. It is panelled up to room to which can be if de- they taken, about two-thirds of its height in dark sired, after dinner. The library conse- wood, and on the sides of the room on quently becomes, as it should be, a less which the book-shelves are inserted the accessible and more private apartment lines of the cases coincide with those of than the drawing-room, while it also be- the panelling, and the cases themselves comes more accessible to the owner of are sunk into the wall. The architecture whose bedroom is in the house, situated of the room obtains dignity and effec-

MR. FREDERIC S. LEE'S HOUSE THE DINING ROOM.

East Goth Street, New York City. (Photo by Aug. Patzig.) Chas. A. Platt, Architect. the rear of the same floor. An arrange- tiveness from the admirable scale of the ment of this kind has more convenience beamed ceiling, and of the panelling, and and propriety than any other, and is, as from the large windows with their deep we have pointed out, made possible solely embrasures. The dining-room is also the of the house. in dark but in this in- by ample width panelled wood ; A family which lives its own life stance the panelling runs up to the ceil- rather than that of the world will, of ing. Here again the design has been course, make its living-room the most reduced to the simplest possible ele- important room in the house, and ments, and here again it is the treatment that is what has been done in the pres- of the window wall which gives the room ent instance. The library, which is in its greatest distinction. The centre of this case the living-room, occupies the this wall is occupied by a flat bay, occu- whole second floor frontage, and it is the pied entirely by windows, which afford 436 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD.

an abundance of light, and are much which the windows are situated is the more interesting in appearance than the wall with the greater length. In the usual treatment of a wall pierced by treatment of this wall the architect has windows of the ordinary size would be. seized upon the opportunity of givii Smaller windows, with deep embrasures, the room individuality and distinction, occupy that part of the wall not included better illustration could not be desii in the bay, and these smaller windows, of the advantage of building upon with their solid supports and frames, broad instead of a narrow site, for it give the whole arrangement architec- the width of the lot which has enabl tural dignity and scale. Every impor- the architect to devise a convenient at tant room in the house, although treated appropriate plan to give every room with scrupulous simplicity, is strongly the house not merely a little but a gre individualized and agreeably diversified deal of light, and to design a series one from another, and they all are much apartments which are strongly chai improved by the fact that the wall in terized as well as simple and correct.

MR. FREDERIC S. LEE'S HOUSE THE DRAWING ROOM.

East 65th Street, New York City. (Photo by Aug. Patzig.) Chas. A. Platt, Architect. NOTES ^COMMENTS

The plan that has been we really believe in the city of Toronto? suggested for the project's Do we believe that beautiful surroundings, PUSHING realization is that a special fine roads for driving, fine highways to let commission be appointed to THE, your people get in and out, will pay?" An- see to its faithful execution other punrirf-r speaker, in presenting the plan, said: little by little a through "When the idea of planning for the future long term of years. It is development of Toronto first came to us, suggested that the govern- some of us thought we had got hold of an ment if it will make appropriations to- original idea. We soon found that people ward the plan's accomplishment be were repre- possessed of the thought all through sented on the commission, that the ad- America. city Plan making is in the air; and ministration have members on it, and that in this Toronto, taking up and carrying it the Ontario Association of Architects, the out, will be merely following a movement Guild of Art and other appropriate organi- and following it a good way behind." zations be represented in the membership. In the course of an excellent address, Byron It is interesting to learn E. Walker one of Toronto's most promi- from Philadelphia that the nent business men pointed out the value of BROADENING Fairmount Park Art Asso- such a commission 'even before there had ITS ciation, which has been re- been seriouis advocacy of it. He said: "If by ferred to before in this de- taxation we annually raise a certain sum, WORK partment as one of the and spend it, not in accordance with the most successful and power- particular view of any particular council ful of the organizations de- and this is not said in criticism of what voting themselves to a form of civic im- any particular council has done or may do, provement, has decided greatly to broaden is said in criticism of the system which its work. This is the society which, after ses a new set of men to be elected every all its decorative accomplishments, has laid r who may not have ideas consistent aside a fund of over $120,000. That achieve- th those of previous councils if we can ment alone makes a record among such as- ,ve another set of men so organized that sociations with which expenses are usually a coherent idea will run through the body, quite as large as is the income, however and if this money is spent in accordance considerable the latter. And it is because with a plan which has been approved by this fund has been reserved with so little the Legislative Assembly, we can in ten curtailment of the society's proper activi- years do so much that I am convinced our ties that it finds its original purpose fairly people would be impatient to see the rest realized and is able now to spread out, in of the plan carried out." He well added: wider ambition. It may be, too, that its "If such a plan were made law, and a model members are influenced somewhat by the of it erected in the city hall, or somewhere doubt that is increasingly felt as to the pro- for the people to see I should like to see priety of putting sculpture into parks. Of it printed in colors in every directory pub- course, as a matter of fact, there are parks lished in Toronto and in every other form and parks, and in some of them sculpture In which the map of the city is published, is a fitting adornment, though in others ab- so that the people will have before them al- solutely wrong. But popularly tire distinc- ways the problem which they are trying to tion is not considered, and Fairmount itself accomplish and if we are hewing to that is at least two kinds of a park, of which a every year, we shall soon see that the people comparatively small area only is fitted for are behind us in a most comfortable way to sculpture. As even there it should be used set the plan push'ed ahead and finished." with moderation, almost ^nough has been "To me," he said further on, "it is not a put in. Thus the society now feels able to question of the city beautiful; it is just a resolve not merely to adorn Fairmount Park, question of practical common sense. Do but, henceforth, "the streets, avenues, park- 438 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD.

and in the of Phila- could ways public places City be made the next annual meeting with busts and other works held in delphia, statues, Ottawa. This will be an interestii either of a memorial nature or other- of art, experiment, significant of the broadening and to and foster the beauti- the wise; promote association's influence, as heretofore a] ful in the City of Philadelphia in its archi- the meetings have been held in Toronto. tecture, improvements and general plan." The association was organized in 1871, and for nearly twenty years it has had a minor The Toronto Guild of Ai to PLANS has branch that was devoted strictly city given to the public tl adornment. FOR THE, plans, developed af t< The Ontario Association of IMPROVE- months of study and worl ONTARIO for the Architects is a vigorous and MENT OF comprehensive ii ASSOCIA- flourishing organization. It provement of that city. Tl TORONTO actual TION is now concluding its nine- preparation of tl teenth year. While the plans has lain with thi OF Ontario greater number of its mem- Association of Architects, assist by the Architectural ARCHITE.CTS bers live in Toronto, there Eighteen Club and tl, is a scattering representa- Engineers' Club, these organizations fui tion from other cities and towns of the nishing the professional skill and the Guil of Art province, and a considerable number from obtaining by subscriptions the nect sary For Ottawa. The association possesses a small money. the greater part of a y< there were but well selected library, from which mem- weakly meetings to discuss tl bers and registered students may borrow; developing details. The scheme was made public at the and its own "Proceedings," published in an- annual dinner of the Ontarioa.1 1U in the nual pamphlets that are illustrated, and Association, presence of the li< containing in full the papers and addresses, tenant-governor of the Province, of make in themselves a collection worth hav- mayor of the city, and of other prominen.5 ing. At the last meeting two matters guests. It was afterwards, but 'somewhat which came up under "new business" merit prematurely, published in "The Canadi:. passing notice. Tire first was the report of Architect and Builder," and has been noi a correspondence that had been had with put definitely before the public. The ph falls the Royal Institute of British Architects. naturally into three divisions: The b< The association had been invited to ally ter utilization of the waterfront, the cc struction of itself with the institute, and had pointed encircling parkways, and . out that, while pl'eased with the suggestion, creation of direct diagonal lines of tn there was an obstacle in the requirement fie. The waterfront treatment is bi that no addition or change in the rul'es or simple, ample. There is no attempt to ol by-laws of an allied society should be made tain a portal effect. Rather, the level without first referring the change to the stretches of filled in, or made, land are institute for approval. The council of the planted with trees and are designed to offer association said that if, in view of the dis- a waterside park pleasant to see and prof- tance of 3,000 miles, tire institute would fering natural 'enjoyment. As to the en- waive this requirement in its case, an alli- circling drives, with parks strung upon them ance would be strongly favored by them. at scenic vantage points, they repeat a form The secretary of the institute replied, of park system that is becoming faniiliir courteously, that the rule would not be with. us in the development of more beautiful waived, and mentioned that the Institute cities. Finally, the cutting through of the of New South Wales was an allied society broad and long diagonal streets at the that had accepted the rule, though at a points where they are most needed is likely greater distance. The Ontario Association to prove a" less formidable undertaking in a then promptly voted to remain independent Canadian city than it would be in the United an event tending to show that Canada is States. It is 'expected that by the sale of more American than Colonial. The other the abutting building sites, these impn>v matter was the unanimous adoption of a ments can be financed without cost to tl resolution that if suitable arrangements community.