The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1888-08-01
ARCHITECTURE IN MICHIGAN.
THE MICHIGAN CENTRAL AZ AN
ART INSTRUCTOR.
YrsrLAxrr's NEW pErAwuRE-ANS ARBoR
FORTUNATE IN MArrRIAre-rHE nArrrk
GREEK AND KALAMAZOO srArIoNs-THn
STATE cArfroL-sAogsAw AND MAoK-

hYoU can ten the date Of almost every
: building In Detroit by It's looks, .
said an obseryant person, after drive
about the city. "First there are the old
French houses. built close TO the street, a.
II the land were scarce, whereas the build
ers had everything there was behind from
here 10 Chicago and beyond. Then
there are the porticoed houses with
their Greek columns and pediments
tho Unitarian church on Lafayette
avenue, seen In the moonlight with
the trees 10 subdue the angles, looks for
all the world Ike the Parthenon. This
Romanized-Greek architecture fourishel
during Lewis Cass' time.
"Then we have the mansnrd roof a
style which came tous from Napoleon tho
Thirds France--the France OF show and
prctension. How tawdry the mansard
roof looks nowl As revolt from these
pine ornaments and cheap carvings we
ran TO the Queen Anne architecture.
Some Of these latter houses will last be-
cause they are simple and thoroughly
built and good work Is always good.
"At present we are having great run on
the round arch construction which the
late II. II. Richardson adopted as the basis
OF his style. A well-proportioned round
arch is beautiful thing, provided there Is
weight above II 10 be sustained and pro-
vided, too, that the beauty OF the arch Is
not dissipated by ornaments on IL or near
IL. The palmer the wall space about a
round arch the better. People talk glibly
about Romanesque architecture, thinking
that everything with round arch falls in-
to that category. No architecture 10 TO
be catalogued in such easy fashion.
Great, plain wall spaces are as much
sign OF the Romanesque as Is the round
arch; and deeper than external forms are
the aims and motives which the people
have expressed In stone and mortar.n
SO the speaker went on, lamenting the
fact that students Of architecture were
prone TO look TO the outside only aud not
10 the historical and mental conditions
which make architecture what Il Il. The
field 10 too large to discuss here; but what
has been said, being applicable to
the state at large equally with Detroit,
will serve TO show Into what general cate
gories Michigan buildings may be grouped,
according to the age Of the city.
Railroads are great civiliEen. The
Michigan Central has begun a good work
Ia showing the people along it's line how
to build their houses, their stores and
their public buildings. Starting here In
Detroit the Michigan Central station IL an
example OF how much can be done In the
way OF producing stately pile with sim
ply bricks and mortar. IL is a great mis-
take to believe that no building can be
really good which is not constructed OF
stone. Brick Is now modelled into such
shapes that It lends itself easily 10 archI-
lecture, and then, too, brick is even more
enduring than stone. The square tower
on the Michigan Central station has
nerved the better Detroit architects TO
emulation; and many are the church plans
which have been drawn with a square
tower as the leading feature. But thus
far no congregation has had the courage
and the taste TO make use OF the square
tower I, as it is yed by the better architects
The station at Ypsilanti was built dur
ing the mansarf roof period. For a long
time IL was the'bcst building OF It's kind
on the line OF the road. Many cities
envied Ypsilanti, as they certainly had
reason to; for, until very recently, the Cen
trails depots at Detroit, Ann Arbor, Kala-
mazoo and Battle Greek were worse than
barns. In Ypsilanti the State Normal
school never could boast OF It's beauty.
The addition Of 1878 made matters worse,
and the two wings that have lately been
added make 1t look like Darius Green
logged out In HIS flying machine. The
city high school Is neither particularly
good or bad, nor is there slightly church
In the city, the newer ones being worse
than those built before the war. In the
new starkweather memorial chapel, how
ever, and In the new Savings bank build
ing and Mr. Ainsworth's new block the
city has some buildings to live up to arch
itecturally. They are simply and endur-
ingly built In the round arch style
About Ann Arbor there IL plenty of
field stone, the constituents Of which are
feldspar, hornblende and little mica. The
stone varies decidedly In color and works
into solid looking structures. II is used
with excellent effect In the very satisfac-
tory Unitarian church, in the houses OF
Prof. Frieze and Thomas NJ. Cooley, IN
several Of the chapter houses, and notably
in the new Central station. Had the
architects Of this latter building refrained
from using the saracenic arch I'm this
heavy material they would have made an
exceptionally beautiful structure. II IA
strange 10 note that not single Unlyer-
sity building begins TO be satisfactory as
piece OF architecture. The new library IA
good on the inside, but externally Il GER
tainly is anything but triumph for ia
Eastern designers.
At Grass Lake, again. the railroad COM
pany has set the townspeople an example
which ought TO stimulate them 10 do
something TO make the town look respect
able from the cars. The little station IA
built Of field stone lightly piled so that ut
the corners the individual stones project.
and the effect Is pictultsque TO a degree
jackson has nothing wQthy OF note arch
tecturally, and tho citJ4s even really suS.
fcring from a lack fIpaint A. pa,,l.
Creek and Kalams<eo IN. M,ohi~.,' s,.,..
trail has just compile satlons which !
are models OF beauty |iad corv.n,epce
In the former station oun arched win |
dow with a "a feet Cpd ing 1 the baso. IA
an idea caught from hchah sons work
and sxcellently carried ut. Aside from
their stations neitherl tom clu boast OF
any particularly good archsectoe.
The state Capitol bulldog al Lansing
has great advantage IN thdway N loca-
tion. IL dominates the cit IL. dotne
can be seen fof miles from very dlrec-
ton. One wishes the curves oAias dome
were more geaerous, rs lanteA shorter
and the ornsmentation less ornac. yet
when one looks upon the sketches one OF