The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-29 00:00:00

TILE YEW FOREIGN-OFFIC.S.

We have great satisfaction in announcing that
Mr. G. G. Scott, the eminent architect, has been
intrusted. bN- the Board of Works with the erection
of the new l'oreign-office, and that the Lords of the
Treasury have likewise concurred in that appoint.
m ent, subject, of course, to future confirmation bt
Parliament_ Mr. Scott will accordingly proceed,
after communication with the authorities at the
Foreign -office, to remodel his design according to
the official information thus afforded, and agree-
ably to the suggestion of the Committee of the
House of Commons that the New Foreign-office
might be so placed as to range symmetrically with
any other public offices, in accordance with the
block plan of M. Crepinet, which might be re-
quired from time to time. It has also been deter-
mined so to arrange the works as to leave the pre.
sent Foreign-office standing till such portion of the
new building as is absolutely necessary for the im-
mediate occupation of the department is ready to
receive it.

Besides his many ecclesiastical works and restors'
tioas in this country, of which we need only speeifi
the yew church at Doncaster, Mr. Scott has all
European reputation as the architect of the
Hamburg Senate House, a btlilding embracing ill!
the Government offices of that great city, as Weh
as havhig been appointed, after a public competi-
tion, architect of the great Church of St. Nicholas,
both which' works he has executed to the full satin'
faction of the authorities and to the admiration of
all who visit that city. On ove point only
would express our dissatisfaction with the deter-
mination of the Beard of Works, and that is on
the score of expense it has been resk lived to rcbo
quish the erection of an official residonce with• an
extensive suite of reception rooms, whkth, if wanted
anywhere in the •world, are indispeirsable in $
Foreign-office.
.

In -addition to the above remarks of our °Wm
we append the following very just tribute Of
praise to Mr. Scott, and those who have intrusted
him with this work, from the columns:,, of the
Saturday Review;—

" We believe that .we shall not be found to be premature,
or incorrect in_ making the announcement that Mr G. Ll'
Scott's design for the Foreign-office has been E selected by
the Government. To say that we hail this decision with
unqualified satisfaction is enly to anticipate the general
voice both of the profession and the publi c ; but, 0
we have for some time given much attent ion to the
subject in these columns, we have sped al reason t°
congratulate both the authorities and t} ie artist We,
a result which is alike creditable to them and important
on general grounds of taste and utility. N ire must rec°'
pitulate the steps by which this result has been attained'
The Parliamentary committee disposed effectually, as ige
have already observed, of Mr. Pennethonve and of the pre.
posterous claim of that respectable survey( ir to an indefer
sible right of erecting every building to be paid for by
public money. Other reasons, entirely Eiatisfactory,
dered it impossible to employ Messrs. (.:oe and Hollanuf
to whose design, by a singular accident , and contrary to
the judgment of the professional assessors, the first prize rA
the competition was awarded. The -whole artistic Be!:
was thus thrown open to the Government. , They wes
zot bound to employ any of the prizenien, but, with a g;
feeling and good sense honourable to them, they felt that
the designs of Messrs. Banks and BiaTy and of Mr. SO"
had established a prerogative of choice. In this decisioll,
they are justified by the recommendation of the Seleo
Committee, who clearly enough indicated that the choice
ought to be between Messrs. Banks and Barry and gr'
Scott. Here the selection was delicate, but there were 0'
traneous elements which helped to settle it. The core:
petition, it will be remembered, was for two offices--
Foreign-office and a War office • and in both competitioai
Mr. Scott held the second place, while, though in oneMessrei
Banks and Barry were first, in the other they were le,
prizemen. That is to say, representing the matter in y 7,
ordinary formula of examiners, if we suppose that in ea'
competition the highest number of marks was 100, decreo"
ing by 10 on each place in the class list, the awn of W'
Scott's merits would be 180 against 100 gained by Messed
Banks and Barry. On this, the merely mechanical 0;
technical ground, the award or! the Foreign-office to Ott'
Scott is unassailable. But we vim licate it on higher grouno.
The choice was between Italian, as represented by Meer'
Banks and Barry, and pointed. Gothic, as designed by
Scott. Then, we argue, both the genus loci and the Pre;
priety of the thing are in favour of Gothic. Westminster
has its architectural character which it would be grub
barbarism and blindness to forget. The Abbey deciuG;
the style of the Houses of Parliament more than 20 Yol_,
ago, and common sense and taste alike precluded the pow:
bility of contradicting the existing motif'. The public officei
must ultimately range from Downing-street to Greg
George-street ; and the question was whether the architee'
tural feature of the only architectural quarter of London
was to be prescribed by Barry's Treasury or by Bare;
Palace of Westminster—by the time-honoured Abbey, the
very finest church in England, and in its degree among t ;
very finest in the world, or by the tame and medioer„
buildings of Whitehall. When the case was narrowr,l
down to this elementary problem the decision could not Dv
doubtful for an instant.