The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-12-24
MILIION.iIRES' HOUSES.

II has boon said that the average duration
OF New York houses is no more than ten years.
That is an cNaggcrntion; but it Is undoubtedly
true thN' no other great city Is SO frequently or
30 completely renovated as this. There are
some old houses-old for new country-still
left in certain quarters. but they are becoming
fewer day by day. many having lapsod from
their ancient state and been turned to
business uses, even undergoing n trans
formation into tenement houses or sail
ors' boarding houses. 1t has come to be
understood that nothing is built for per-
mnncncc IN New York. Even when the walls
IRE Of chisHIled granite andth foundations are
sunk to the solid rock the architect feels that
whatever faults he may commit will probably
be wiped out before generation has passed
away Stone by stone his work will he removed
and the place that has known him will know
him no more. Post ONCE and Court House
and Produce Exchange. and our nciehbor's tall
tower shall fade. and the men who have bull.
them with new ideas in their heads and now
plans in their portfolios will DO busy erecting
other buildings in their place. Moro ncoting
still are tho trumphs OF our domestic nrchi-
lecture. Our rich mon arc all liable to be-
come suddenly richer or poorer and to require
grandCr houses or he forced TO discontinue
those which they have commenced. Trade is
sure TO invade the most fashionable quarters
and society is unusually capricious in its
demandl To-day it is all for uniformity
Tomorrow man is nothing IL not original. A
great deal Of display is tolerated Just now. BY
and by it will he frowncd upon: and thcn we
shall experience a sort Of icouoclastic reaction.
Craven images Will be east down and painted
ones covered with whitcwash aud an era OF
mock simplicity will follow one of tawdry mag
ninconcc.
1t is natural that architects should be dis
gustcd with this state Of things. They can
not all b. Mullctts because mos: of them have
consc!cnces. They cannot 30 satisfied to 500
their art fall back to something like the posi-
ton it hold among the ancient Gauls who
burned their temples on every May day and
built them anew. They ycarn for an OPP
portun,y and for power to do something. that
will last. They would fan compete with Euro
nean structures and leave behind them bu Id
in+s which, whether suited or not to their
present or future orcuplnts must remain
because of tho DIM .ulty and cost of making
away with them.
Singuarly enough. the very Same feeling
otherwise conditioned prevails among thrjr
employers. Our rich mon are no longer content
with temporary power and prominence They
want to be the founders nf i;roat families: to
root their stock in the land to connect their
names with 80 many things that nro big and
enduring that they shall become practically
over Cleopatra Needle and another has erect
ed library which is kept scaled like an E-syp-
tian tomb: and n score or more Of them. if the
huge statue Of Liberty could bc made to have
apatrician si;niacltion would be very willing
to build 1t pedestal
One would suppose that this coincidence
would give the architects their chance But IL
has not Many costly residences have been put
up within the last two or three years hut with
few exceptions. they arc destined to 81 tho way
OF all Now York houses. They are full of defects
OF design and Of construction. which as their
owners improve in taste and learn how to live
will make them uninhabitable Tho folly OF
erecting street fortresses like those of medieval
Florence. OF building an imitation French
chateau on two Filtl avenue lots. and copying
Ghibertfs hlp'iS:sry gates for the doors of n
private house cannot long remain disguised
The sources Of wealth in this country are not
all, as yet, prcimpted. People moor will be
building palaces before lon;. and SO many mis-
takes have boon committed in those which we
look upon to-day that it will be hard II those Of
tn future do not so far excel them to COM
pei the destruction of those that now excite
wonder.
The causes Of tho failure lie partly in the dis
position Of the architects to copy. without care
full adaptation. from European originals. The
foible Is very excusable. 1t shows a mOdesty
born of some knowledge Of the difficulties Of
the profession. proper admiration of the
great works of tho past. and an alacrity, which
il rather to ba commended than blamed, to
take hold of every opportunity for improv-
ing by practice How is man to tell that it
will not do to add flying buttrssses to dormer
window until no has tried IL And even if
some Frenchman has tried it before with bad
results why should not an American make the
experiment again to satisfy himself? And il
an architect should 80 far lose his head as to
copy feature not merely structurally but So
cially inappropriate an ugly As we'll. like the
covered balcony which Mr.. Hunt has built over
Mr. VIM. X. vanderbilts doorway, what then :?
We must expect some strange alterations Of
taste in the clse OF a man who is forbidden to
do a reasonable piece of work. And it may be
taken for granted That rs Mr. Vanderbilt will
never hang forth bright TAPESTRIES over these
scuptured balustraics or sit behind them to
gee tho Seventh Regiment pass by. 50 surely
Mr.. Hunt Will not again be guilty Of such a
soiccsm.
The worst OF the trouble has no doubt been
due to the owners M the friends OF the archi-
10 ts have made haste to assert II is almost
Incredible that a man Of Mr.. Hunts scholar
ship and COOL sense. however rash he may be.
would Df himself have chosen style that owes
all its character TO Gothic pccuiiartici of plan
and structure. and then put us oil with pep
pHr-bov turret and an assortment Of pnua"eS.
Was it in ACKNOWLEDGE OF his polite indif-
ference IN more important matters that he wG7
allowed t. set his own statue. in paper cap and
apron AND with malct AMI "lisal IN hand. on
the topnost point OF all Or can il be that no
WAS SO carried away by the prevailing craze for
homogeneous decorations ~ 10 copy the OK
cre.ccGcrs of II French renaissance house
without 'uring for either the spirit or the body
81 the style? The doupt Is too pathetic. We
will not entertain it, We prefer to believe that
ftr Vanderbilt Is responsible. Perhaps he had
road In his GaihuhnuI that the tlrrct. in
the cycs Of the feull nobirs. was Il mark Of
their rank and was 10 used by them in their
luxurious palaces after thew had given mp liv-
~, in fortified castles. in which il -"rycd as a
defence" Perhaps 1t was thus Mother Tor use
nor for ornament, but IA a mark Of nobility,
that the turr't and the balcony and the other
external ollitinS, and VI, Oulnpt'I great
stained glass window Of tho Field Of the
Cloth OF Gold g." with its knights in armor. and
tho painted ceilings which the interruptions