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

THE NE IF FOREIGN-OFFICE.

We have great satisfaction in announcing that
Mr. G. G. Scott, the eminent architect, has been
intrusted by the Board of Works 'with the erection
of the new Foreign-office, and that the Lords of the
Treasury have likewise concurred in that appoint•
ment, subject, of course, to future confirmation by
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 ivorlis as to leave the pro.
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 restora-
tions in this country, of which we need only specify
the new church at Doncaster, Mr. Scott has an
European reputation as the architect of the
Hamburg Senate House, a building embracing all
the Government offices of that great city, as well
as having been appointed, after a public competi-
tion, architect of the great Church of St. Nicholas,
both which works he has executed to the full satis-
faction of the authorities and to the admiration of
all who visit that city. On one point only we
would express our dissatisfaction with the deter-
mination of the Board of Works, and that is on
the score of expense it has been resolved to relin-
quish the erection of an official residence with an
extensive suite of reception rooms, which, if wanted
anywhere in the world, are indispensable in a
Foreign-office.
In addition to the above remarks of our own,
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. G.
Scott's design for the Foreign-office has been selected by
the Government. To say that we hail this decision with
un.qualified satisfaction is • only to anticipate the general
voice both of the profession and the public ; but, as
we have for some time given much attention to the
subject in these columns, we have special reason to
congratulate both the authorities and the artist on
a result which is alike creditable to them and important
on general grounds of taste and utility. We must reca-
pitulate the steps by which this result has been attained.
The Parliamentary committee disposed effectually, as we
have already observed, of Mr. Pennethorne and of the pre-
posterous claim of that respectable surveyor to an indefea-
sible right of 'erecting every building to be paid for by
public money. Other reasons, entirely satisfactory, ren-
dered it impossible to employ Messrs. Coe and Holland,
to whose design, by a singular accident, and contrary te
the judgment of the professional assessors, the first prize in
the competition was awarded. The whole artistic field
was thus thrown open to the Government. They were
not bound to employ any of the prizemen, but, with a good
feeling and good sense honourable to them, they felt that
the designs of Messrs. Banks and Barry and of Mr. Scott
had established a prerogative of choice. In this decision
they are justified by the recommendation of the Select
Committee, who clearly enough indicated that the choice
ought to be between Messrs. Banks and Barry and Mr.
Scott. ' Here the selection was delicate, but there were ex-
traneous elements which helped to settle it. The cow
petition, it will be remembered, was for two offices--a
Foreign-office and a War office ; and in both competitions
Mr. Scott held the second kilace, while, though in oneMessra.
Banks and Barry were first, in the other they were not
prizemen. That is to say, representing the matter in the
ordinary formula of examiners, if we suppose that in each
competition the highest number of marks was 100, decreas-
ing by. 10 on each place in the class list, the sum of Mr.
Scott's merits would be 180 against 100 gained by Messrs.
Banks and Barry. On this, the merely mechanical and
technical ground, the award of the Foreign-office to hlr•
Scott is unassailable. But we vindicate it on higher grounds.
The choice was between Italian, as represented by Messrs.
Banks and Barry, and pointed Gothic, as designed by Mr-
Soon. Then, we argue, both the geniis loci and the pro'
priety of the thing are in favour of Gothic. Westminster
has its architectural character which it would be simple
barbarism and blindness to forget. The Abbey decided
the style of the Houses of Parliament more than 20 ye*
ago, and common sense and taste alike precluded the p 0551-
bility of contradicting the existing motif. The public office
must ultimately range from Downing-street to Great
George-street ; and the question was whether the architec•
turaefeature of the only architectural quarter of London
was to be prescribed by Barry's Treasury or by Barry's
Palace of Westminster—by the time-honoured Abbey, the
Very finest church in England, and in its degree among the
very finest in the world, or by the tame and mediocre,
buildings of Whitehall. When the case was narrowea
down to this elementary problem the decision could not bu
doubtful for an instant."