Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-04-11
ABOUT ARCHITECTURE.
The Lesson It Teaches Here and
Abroad.
Workingmen's Homes in London.--Sordid
and Immoral Architecture---The Noble
Structures Found in New York
ann Other American
Cities.

nibllon OF architectural drawings recent
in connection with the Salsmsgundi Sketc
club, of this city. The display was so e.
cellent that it excited wonder, and aw
kened New York to the fact that Amer
can architecture is not only holding j
own, but likely to soon excite the envy ,
older countries.
Until this exhibition was given, Amer
cans hardly realized that the building al
haa been making gigantic strides in thi
country since the war We have at las
awakened to q consciousness of its in
msnse, unspeakable importance, and hsv
been animated by newly reused ambition
to give our wealth aad power msgnifcen
architectural expression.
According to the English standard on
efforts, however commemorate, have no
been altogether successful. The best au
thorities on the subject assert that we ar,
still far behind them in this as in all oshe
respects, and while admitting that We have
erected some very snowy buildings" main
tain, with arrogant condescension, tina
there is not one among them that can b
seriously considered as su artistic design
and still less any one that can be quoted q!
well thought out expression OF q miut
imbued With architectural taste and knowl
edge"
In spite of this adverse judgment, l have
been deeply impressed by the fact, on re
turning from England after residing there
for several yesrs, that the architecture Of
that country not one whit less than the
vacilation and irresolution, the fatuous
weakness and folly of he- government is
Indicative of retrogression and decay
while the decried art OF the United States
of America illustrates with no less com.
pleteness the youth and bourdless resources
the progress, freedom and development OF
this immense continent. | have not ar.
rived at this conclusion By institutipg a
comparison between the great churches
and secular edifces that may have been
erected during the last two decades in
either country. The architects of the old
world, surrounded as they are by the spleI.
did structures Of the past, with the spirit
Of which, studying them as they can do
without effort, they become thoroughly i'm
5ued, have go many advantages over their
brother craftsmen in the west that it would
be unpardonable and almost unsccount.
able ii they did not still maintain certain
prominence over US in the grand styles of
architecture, whether .eccleaias.icsl, civic
CT DOMESTIC.
bsse my opinion upon the rapid de.
te,ioration in England Of the building art
in the humber unitarian aspect; upon the
neanIess ard discomfort Of the dwelling
houses that e,e being erected now to day
Tor the poor aud the middle ol0ssea snd
ne extraordinary impsoEeutent here in the
same clsgs OF dwellings,. 1t 10 thus alone
that the national tendency and movement
is TO be traced, and the lesson taught in
each country is clear and uGmiStakabla
Let NE make ny gssnIqg clearer by Q
few examples.
Ia several OF the suburbs of London there
ia quarter set apart for the working map,
The honest daily laborer of whatever craft
or trade; and instead OF being models of
thrift, comfort and comeliness, as they
should be, nothing can be imagined more
squslid and ignoble than the 9Eall COM
.or,less Observation-Disclosures as they are
called by oOurtesy-ot these sppallingiy
dresry and desolste districts. The tourist
who approaches Vienna sees before him a
CITY of palaces, an effect due 10 great meaa
ara to the custom that prevails in that city
Of ladSiur the poor 10 the gppeg stories OF
handsome buildings, the lover stories OF
which ave occupied by the wealthy aud
prosperous. The approach to London is
rendered hideoxs by the English custom OF
herding together the laborins classes like
80 many parahs In houses upon whose very
walls is branded the pitful tale OF their dis.
inherited aud oppressed estate. Ruskir,
that master Of style 3nS brilliant at critic,
doncunees these melancholy districts With
imprisoned eloquepcei and tells q story, J
remember iu e6e Ct bis essays Of q clergy
man with O very sensitive organisation,
who, unable to 60 to London from his
country seat without passing one OF them,
was made so i'll by the spectacle 'u"' =
gave up visiting the city altogether, save on
rare occasions when he was called there oy
absolute necessity. Standing III UNIFORM
rows all mostly alike, aud without aglaam
of beauty, or even Of comfort IN any Of
them these wretched o0s-story brick huts'
each with u scrubby back yard, over whole
acres OF ground, and in looking down upon
them from the carriages Of your train you
imagine that YOU are looking at city o.
dwarfs maniklus aud liIipuiRns. You nsa
vonrself in amusement what sort OF popu
latiou England will breed for the coming
generations in these detestsble abodes. q
question to which there can be but one re-
Div, and that fearful one: A population
IF apathetic drones, incapable Of progress
or Of brutes ready made TO the hand o
snv desperate criminal leader; popula
tan Of human verm and saysges 30 de
Graded that they will scarcely deserve to
he called human. But let us look steE
higher. =,
London. that immense metropolis, will
its s OOO 600 of inhabitants, and stnos
nbere blackeued and poisoned BY the smoke
Of innamerabIe households. already ia,
too enormous for safety and comfort, Is 10
creasing as rapidly as one OF our Westerr
towns The suburbs are stretching ont il
every direction, and with the exception o
the splepdid streets occupied by the pala
,ial mansions Of the wealthy, and some te'
sites built ard pstronized by aesthetic noble
men. they are made up almost exclusivel
Of two Kinds Of dWeliDgs-yi!lss, as the
are called; small, gingerbread, ornat
abodes, in the poorer streets, utterly COZ
temptible; but sometimes, in better qual
tiers externally, at least, pretty and sttraC
tiye-these small villas and large, comfort
less, badly constructed apartment houses
propose to describe one of the mo,
agreeable Of these establishments that fe
under my regard when 10 London. Stan'
ing in an aristocrai,ic neighborhood,
was the house Of delightful family, tho
cughly Eoglish 10 type, comprising fol-
members onl5-two lovely young orphs
girls. Of goodrace, we'll bred, sccomplishe'
gracious and beautiful, and their two ma
den aunts, scarcely less winning and sEee
though in 8 more sedate fashion than Il
pretty Young uieces. Though not nc
> they had poxerfnl relations, blue blood, ar