National Republican., 1883-01-03
WHAT sMTTuMYER SAYS.

The Architectural Notions Held bV the
Gentleman who Is 10 Build the New
Library.
A correspondent of the Cleveland Leader
writes:
Lewis SmithmyeT, the noted architect, who
has been selected by congress to design the
now national library, is II tall. gray whiskered
German, MS straight rs u West Point cadet,
and as well posted in his profession as a Ger
man oculist. | met him in his labratory
to-day. He was surrounded by charts and
mathematical Instruments spread out over
large tables, before several of which his as
sistants were busily working out the ideas
of their master The professor greeted me
with the pOlitcncss of u Frenchman, and ON
my speaking of tho tendencies of American
architecture, he said: "There is no distinct
American architecture ut present, but the
country is tast approaching that development
which will produce it. Our habits and ways
OF living are so much like those of the pco-
pie Of Europe that we have adopted their
styles and we show here every feature of the
different houses of the old country mixed up
together. All of these styles are now in u
grinding state, and just as we people from all
of the nations of Europe are being ground up
into Characteristic Americans by our ideas
and surroundings, so will in time these differ
cnt styles affected by our habits, IDEAS and sur
roundings grind out into something new, dis
tnctiVcly American. As il is, the American
dwellings are modelled after the European
villas. Abroad, this style is used only by the
wealthy, but we have modified IL, and have
adapted ii to the residences Of the poor as
well.
"rhe architecture of n country or an age"
continued Mr.. Smithmeycr, as he buttoned up
his long ulster, is the outgrowth of the
necessities and habits of the time You must
consider the surroundings before you build.
A house that will look well on Il hill sur
rounded by trees will not suit atall a location
on plain, and II villa in the country should
be radically different from II structure located
amid the bricks and mortar of a large city.
The habits of the people demand different
houses now than they did ono hundred years
ago, and of all the absurditv of modern house,
building this attempt to push in the Queen
Anne style of 100 is the worst"
"Why soYn
"Tho Queen Anne houses are not at all
adapted to tho times and their absurdity has
| already begun to appear. In Now York the
style has fallen into discredit, and it will soon
be as universally distasteful as it was Il year
or two ago universally popular. The Queen
! Anne houses will become n drug in the mar
| kct, and they will deprcciato the property on
which they are located. They are not healthy.
| Their ceilings are low and their interiors so
! constructed as to be ill ventilated and poison
ously unhealthy. The laws of hygenie were
comparatively unknown when Queen Anne
/ lived, and the economy of warming the houses
was II great consideration. Their huge fire
| places acted rs ventilators, and the homes of
| that day were not so badly ventilated as their
| apcd cOunterparts of the present. Had they
possessed furnaces, gas, and plate glass, they
| would never have lived in such houses. The
whole style is against the dictates of common
| sense. The houses are disgrace to the in
telligence and tatse of the country, and their
costly diamond-shaped windows are only
| phase of the craze for the old and ugly which
has swept over America. In two years hence
the style will be discontinued in the smaller
cities rs ii now is in the larger
what will congress do with the national
libraryY | asked The reply was French
shrug and 81 don't know. They have been
working mt it ten years, and the Angel Ga
bricl could hardly tell you the future"
"Gou have seen the designs for the build
ing, | SUPPOSE"
"Hes. spent last year in Europe visiting
the great libraries at the advice of congress,
and the interior is based on the result of my
observation modified by some ideas of my
own. | think the plan II complete one. The
Libraries of Europe are very fine. ! was
especially pleased with those of London, Paris,
Berlin, and Munich. The Munich library is
the second best one in the world. 1t is we'll
lighted ventilated and arranged, and its
architecture grand. America needs new
building badly, and / hope congress will de-
eide on something this session."