The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-04-24 00:00:00

THE ARCHITECTURE OF LIVERPOOL AESTHE-
TICALLY CONSIDERED.

(From Tait's Magazine for April.)
We are at the landing quay, opposite St. Nicholas'
Church, a modern Gothic composition, sufficiently ricketty
in itself, but which, contrasted with a structure rising near
by, called the Tower Buildings, has assumed a solid and
substantial appearance. This building, which is in the
Italian style, is slim, narrow, and feeble, and extremely
faulty in composition. The proportions of the solids to
the openings are inharmonious, the windows are squat,
the mouldings and modillions are feeble, and, with the
exception of the door. piece, which is really good, the whole
design is an inartistic piece of patch work. A tower rises
at the corner—thin, and perforated like the handle of a
wicker basket. By the introduction of a massive arch in
the basement, this might have been rendered a bold and
striking object, but it is rut up and frittered away into
rows of little windows ; while a thin cornice, with stone
modillions, is carried round, having nothing to support,
and, of course, quite out of place. This tower is used for
telegraphic signals; and strangers ought to have had their
attention arrested by a structure honoured in being the
medium of transmitting, almost with the rapidity of
thought, important intelligence to and from the most dis-
tant quarters of the globe.
Passing along towards Dale-street, our attention is ar-'
rested by the Royal 11:iik, a structure in the Italian style,
which must have cost a large sum, but the effect of which
has been somewhat marred by the introduction of a num-
ber of vertical lines. Horizontal massing is required in
the Italian as well as in the Grecian styles of architecture,
and. when then• tosses are rut up rectangularly, the effect j

is perplexing and disagreeable.
In North John-street, we find another new facade—the
Royal Insurance Office. This structure is in the florid
Italian style—a style which ought to be left to the fine
material, and clear, cloudless skies of Italy, where it can
be lighted up perpetually with golden sunshine; for such
a style soon gets sadly begrimed amid the smoke and fog
of Liverpool. The fenestration, however, of this building
is good, the proportions ars harmonious, and one is led to
regret that what might have been a very agreeable com-
position should have been overloaded with enrichment.

The ornamental devices, moreover, are not what we ex-
pect to meet with in stone, but of a character such as is
generally seen on backs of sideboards and sofas. Indeed,
until we had learned the name cf the building, we had set
it down as a successful attempt on the part of a furniture
manufacturer to invest the house externally with the cha-
racter of the business to be carried on internally.

In Fenwick-street, we were pleased with the Union
Bank, a small but pure specimen of Grecian architecture.
This structure has a portico in antes; the proportions
seem correct, and the general effect is chaste and agreea-
ble. We were also much pleased with a building newly
opposite, in Brunswick-street, called the Brunswick
Buildings. This structure is after the Farnesi Palace in
Rome, and has the requisite variety to arrest the eye, and
the requisite regularity to satisfy the judgment. It has
also a fine ornamental character, and in this respect con-
trasts favourably with the Fenwick Chambers in the street
adjoining, which display the same ignorance of the prin-
ciples of composition so strikingly manifested in the Tower
Buildings.

Proceeding along Castle-street, we come to the Branch
Bank of England, a building possessing considerable

The details are all Well drawn and
tied ; but there is a want of harmony between
In this structure, there is a combi-
.nd this must have increased the

claims to attention

carefully tini
the general mass,
nation of various

difficulty o

producing a harmonious whole

For example,

.
the columns and rusticated antic facing Castle-street are
too massive for the weight they have to carry ' • the open
pediment or attic being so far back from the front line,
that, apparently, it has no connection with the heavy un-
derwork. The general effect of the side of the building
towards Cook-street is very superior, and the Venetian
windows formed by the three large arches are exceedingly
noble and imposing. On the whole, this structure seems
the work of an accomplished architect, although the inte-
rior is dark and gloomy, certainly not the most appropriate

qualities for banking purposes.
The Commercial Bank Buildings, immediately adjoin-
ing, form a fine lofty structure, which in its general effect
reminds one of the continuous and unbroken masses found
in Ancient Greece. denendine for effect entirely nn simnle

harmonic proportion, and, consequently, a

ture. The stado, or lower division of the building, how-
ever, is rather flat and tame, and would have been much
improved by being executed in rusticated ashlar. It would
then have formed a basement worthy of the fine range of
Corinthian pilasters, entablature, balustrade, and vases,

which it supports. The vases might well be dispensed
with, and figures substituted, with excellent effect ; indeed
we could conceive nothing finer than the sky-line of this
edifice, if broken by a range of well-sculptured figures—
as it is, the sky-line is good, and has been assisted by the
tasteful manner in which the chimneys are grouped, and
the introduction of an ornamental arch, which gives a
coup de grace to the entire building. The structure is
also apparently increased in altitude by the manner in
which the fenestration has been proportioned, the upper
windows receding in the true perspective ratio. The in-
terior is light and elegant, and the enrichments are intel-
ligible and appropriate.
St. George's Hall and the Assize Courts are by far the
most important and imposing of the public buildings in
Liverpool ; and, in general conception, an advancement
on any adaptation hitherto made of Greek architecture in
this country. The façade and colonade towards the east,
with their beautiful proportions and unbroken horizontal
extension, fill the eye with unmingled delight, and excite

universal admiration. The south✓ portico is equally feli-
citous, and, if the pediment were enriched with sculpture,
conceived and executed in a kindred spirit, would be the
finest feature in the building. It is a pity that the cur-
vilinear form of the north circular end does not harmonise
with the rectangular simplicity of the other parts, and that

the central attic is so dead and heavy. The fenestration
of the west side, with its open screen, although well pro-
portioned, suggests another style of building ; but we
suppose the arrangement of the interior rendered such
innovation indispensable. All the details are exquisitely
drawn, modellel, and finished, and we sincerely trust
that the interior will be completed in accordance with the
conception of the young and talented architect, whose
premature death deprived Britain of one of her most pro-
mising artists.

The New Philharmonic Hall, in Myrtle-street, now
advancing to completion, is a noble and imposing struc-
ture, characterised, both externa'ly and internally, by

mplicity of arrangement

. .
style of this building is Roma-Italian, or Palladian, and
being placed on an elevated position, at the junction of
two streets, its fine proportions are seen to advantage.
Both fronts have arched arcades in the ground story,
having pilasters with impost piers, and archivoltes between.
Between the under and upper divisions a bold and effective
string-course is introduced, and the mezzanine under the
upper windows is pannelled with consoles. The divisions
of the open and solid work are well arranged, and the
fenestration is very harmonious. The building is sur-
rounded with an enriched frieze with bold consoles. and
an effective cornice, and the sky-line, is formed by an
anti-fixa, the angles terminating with ornamental lyres,
which, however, are not so graceful as could be wished.
The music-room is, we believe, the largest in England,
being nearly 150 feet in length, and above 100 feet in
breadth. The ceiling has the character of the Roman
Basilica, with elevated centre and lower side aisles :
and this has been accomplished by the introduction of
prodigious trusses of new and original construction,
superseding the necessity of columns or arches, and
leaving the vast area entirely open without any obstruc-
tion. The acoustics of this fine room seem to have been
well considered, as on our visit we heard the worktnen at
the extreme diagonal corner conversing in their usual tone
of voice. The arrangement of waiting rooms, refresh-
ment rooms, and promenades, together with the modes of
egress, are all excellent, and, on the whole, we arc dis-
posed to consider this one of the most successful attempts
hitherto made to combine convenience and elegance in
architecture.

The Collegiate Institution, in the Tudor Gothic style,
is excellent in general effect, but in detail very defective.
The corbels of the oriel windows are clumsy and squat,
and the oriels themselves want elevation. The terminals
of the buttresses resemble chimney stalks, and are much
too light for the massive forms below. The entrance-ball
and corridors are dark and gloomy, suggesting the idea of
the cloisters of the dark ages, and out of keeping with the
enlightened philosophy taught in this institution.
The façade at the railway station is broken up in a
manner highly objectionable ; but the Stowe railway sta-
tion, in the Italian style, is striking in the general effect,
and the interior rooms well adapted for comfort and
convenience. The Sailors' Home, in the Elizabeth style,
now in progress, will apparently form a very good feature.
This styl

e is indigenous to England, which first rose to
maritime importance in the reign of Elizabeth, and hence,
for a sailor's home, the style is peculiarly appropriate.
The ground on which the building stands is awkward and
angular, but this difficulty in perspective has been suc-
cessfully avoided by an ingenious introduction of curved
lines.

THE LIBERAL IN RELIGION

(From " The Book of Liberals, by Gabriel Goodfellow ; printed

for Private Circulation.")

In a former chapter we mentioned that the Liberal
author was very prone to record—and not even seldom to
fabricate—divers matters to the disparagement of the
clergy. We may here observe that the religious Liberal
(as also, and perhaps more especially, the Liberal in re-
ligion), when he meets with a fiction of this kind, enjoys
a spasm of extraordinary pleasure and applauds immode-
rately ; but if he meets with a work whose tendency is to
make manifest the usefulness of the Established Church,
and to place it in advantageous contrast with any class of
sectarians, then, although " strongly attached to the
Church," he forthwith exclaims—" What a pity to dis-
parage honest, conscientious Dissent, by such means as
this ! It is in very bad taste—nay, it is ill-judged and
impolitic ; for we should recollect that such arms may be
turned against us." Profoundly considerate and thought-
ful man !—how can you be so oblivious as to forget what
has happened over and over again ? How can you be
ignorant of the fact, patent to every eye but yours, that
these are the weapons which have already been used,
many a time and oft, against us ; and which, after much
forbearance, are at length turned agFnst an old implaca-
ble aggressor ? Consummate. yet blind, must be the im-
pudence which attempts to impose on men of common
sense by such manifest and evident hypocrisy.

There can be no mistake as to which side enlists the
sympathies of the Liberal. Any one may see the worth
of an attachment which can co-exist with such a decided
penchant for the enemy ; but we could afford to smile at
this dishonesty of the Liberal in religion—we could afford
to pass it over as a natural and consistent trait of a cha-
racter which, taken all in all, is but a mass of disingenu-
ousness and trickery—yes, we could afford to contemplate
it without annoyance or surprise, were it not too- often
combined with hostile feelings towards religion as well as
enmity against the Church: nay, we are mucluniataken.