The Penn's Grove record., 1885-03-07
PENIS GROVE, n. J., SATURDAY. MARCH 7. 1885.
Amenean ArehltscIsr..

Architectural taste has improved
very mnch in America within the last
twenty years. said a prominent arehi-
tect, who has designed some of the
finest buildings in New York, to a re-
porter. at Is lot 50 much the LAVISH
expenditure on buildings as the pure
aud simple structural qualities that are
desired. The facade must be free from
too much ornamentation; not too severe
in outline, but still just a strong touch
of the classical to make it decided
aud full Of expression. Now and then
a rich man with too much money de-
sires a home constructed 80 full of
gables and snperfiuous angles that 1t is
difficult to tell whether 1t belongs to
the Renaissance period or is q dream of
Chinese pagoda and Saracenic style
combined. These instances, though,
are very rare. The improved art of
photography, the great travel OF Amer
lean tourists In Europe, and improved
methods of education have elevated and
refined the American taste in arelitec-
ture and made it possible to expect, at
some future period, an American Re-
Nuisance"
what are the principal changes in
American architecture within the last
twenty-five years."
Sup to twenty-five years ago the old
Colonial or Queen Anne style prevailed
generally. Then began a strange
period in the history of American arch
itecture. 1t was not a transition
exactly, but a change on the old, with
many weird and fantastic innovations.
1t was Griffith Thomas exuberant
American Renaissance. The facade of
a building was expLessionless, yet full of
salient features, jufhbled here and there
in most admired disorder. 1t might
have been properly called the million.
aires hobby style to %squander wealth.
A reaction Is happily going on now
which Will bury IN Oblivion the style so
expressive of waste yet so devoid of
taste. A few of these fantastic edihces
now stand in different parts of the city
q eye3ores to the plain and neat struc.
lures around them. In q few years
they will disappear and give place TO
the present refined taste, which is man
ifesting itself by the erection of fine
buildings.n
'How about the Queen Anne style
nowr'
1T Is decidedly on the wane. What
ever is good in 1t will survive, and what
is bad will be dropped. This style is
frequently overdone, and is permitted
to run into wild and meaningless *.
travagances. which mai simplicity and
degrade the very beauty that exists in
that style. This fact, in my opinion,
6,-- l1a1 49, - av.aafa n yaonktlu
against that style than improved taste.
The name of Queen Anne style covers
a great deal of architecture, 1t Is wide
in its range, and often trespasses upon
other styles Yet it remains distinct,
and has ar influence impossible to dis
card In a decade or two. But that IL
has a general feeling Of WEAKNESS about
it cannot be disputed, and this. perhaps,
as much as anything else acts as q po
tent factor n It's dec dence."
@Ec9 eaH gpu def ne the present ter
dency Of archltecga al style IN Amer
iea?"
First, l can say I believe a transi
ton period exists ut present; and that
this period is one Of great uncertainty,
with a tendency toward Italian Renais
sance. Types of this style of building
are found In Bologna, Italy, built OF
nodded bricks and terra Gotta work.
These buildings do not in their construc.
ton permit of wild vagaries, but of de.
cided expressions of the best styles in
Italian Renaissance. In this style, too,
greater effects in neat simplicity can be
obtained than in that of the Queen
Anne. Then it also permits OF greater
scope for originality. and originality is
much more desired now than formerly.
The idea among the wealthy and cult.
waited is to combine taste and usefulness
without throwing away money. Occa
s~ionally the medieval style is seen, and
when not overdone is capable of fine re-
suits The medieyl and Gothic are
nearly the same.n
"What is the style In cottages and
farm houses2''
Twenty years ago all the cottages
and fine farm houses we're covered with
a mansard roof. To-day you rarely ever
see n with a mansard roof. Nor
mandy farm bouses are popular now,
with round extinguisher roofs. Gotta
ges are generally half English and
half French in style and present quite
a picturesque appearance. The same
general improvement in architectural
tone is felt in the style of farm houses
aud cottages as in private and public
buildings For a time English taste
ran riot in Queen Anne's style, but to-
day people are tired of it. 1t vas the
night mare of architectural beauty, aud
the ~re-awakening has now commenced
in dead earnest.
"As a general rule no good mediRval
or Gothic styles are attempted except
in churches. 1t is a difficult style to do
justice TO, and for that reason hardly
any of the Gothic have been built.
Trinity and St. Thomas Churches are
clever Gothic styles. But the general
tendency OF these styles degenerates
into mongrel type, scarcely dehnable.
Grace Church Is famboyant Gothic
and a fine type. There are three STYLES
Of Gothic-twelfth century, decorative
and perpendicular. Trinity Church is
of the perpendicular and st. Thomas
is decorative. Whatever deviations
are made by sporadic Jurors for such a
style, the reaction always comes back
to the pure Italian Renaissance. This
is the tendency in America, and opti-
mists predict a transition from this TO
an American Renaissance"