St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-26
Are Criticised and Discussed
by a Presumptuous East
ern Architect,
Who Finds Much to Commend
and Not a Little to
AmuSe Him.
The Local Labor Congr ess
Tackles a Large Amount
Of Matter.
Painters Complain They Are
Ill-Treated by Board
Contractors.

One of the leading articles in the cur
rent number of Harper's magazine is a
paper on the architectural features of
st. Paul and Minneapolis, entitled
'Glimpses Of Western Architecture"
The writer proceeds at length to say
everything he thinks about our (2)
towns. HIS remarks are not restrained
by any fear of stirring up sectional
jealousy, and are very interesting in
their frankness and the authors evident
knowledge of his subject. On the Of
fetal architecture of the cities he is es-
pecially severe. The Minneapolis gov
ernmeut building he roundly scored, and
of our city hall and court house the
writer, Montgomery Schuyler, has this
tosay:
''The city hall and court house in st.
Paul is large and conspicuous build
ing, the more conspicuous for being iSo-
lated i'll the midst OF an open square,
and it is unfortunate in design, or the
absencea of it, the arrangement of its
voidS and solids being quite unstudied
and casual, and the aggregation quite
falling to constitute whole. There
are by no means so many features In 1t
as in the government building at Min
neapolis, nor are they classic; but the
architect has introduced more things
equally irrelevant to the pile and to
each other, especially the tower
that was intended to be the cul-
minating feature or the composition.
but which fails to fulfil its pur-
pose from any point of view, browning,
as 1t does. recessed angle of the front.
This also is congeres OF unrelated and
unadjusted parts; and, in the light of the
illustrations of his meaning furnished
by our official spokesman, this also
may be admitted to be characteristic
may reluctantly be made concerning
the similar chamber of commerce,
which consists intellectually OF two
very busy and bustling fronts, COM
piled of features" that do not make up
physiognomy. and which stands upon
a massive sash frame of plate glass. AS
a matter of fact, these things have their
counterparts in the East, only there
they are not referred to the geography,
but to the illiteracy or insensibility of
the designer, and this classification
seems simpler and, upon the whole,
more satisfactory"
Mr.. Schuyler, in speaking of the
Peoples church, says:
have avoided an ecclesiastical express
sion, and to have undertaken to typify
the, wild, free theology of the West.
The PEOPLES church does not lack,
however, many of the qualities that
should belong to every building as a
building, apart from its destination.
In spite of such unhappy freaks as that
by which the stone basement merges
into the brick Superstructure with no
l,s{
and cuts the openings quite at random,
or as that by which the brick wall, for
considerable but indefinite extent, is
quite promiScuOusly aSpersed with II
regular bits of stone, it shows a consid-
cradle skill in the placing and detailing
of features, and the disposition of the
openings gives the principal front a
grateful sense of stability and repose."
The Dayton Avenue Presbyterian
church is commented on more favor
ably. The hotels of the Twin Cities,
the business blocks and the homes are
discussed. The author is very cOmpli-
mentary to the domestic architecture of
st. Paul, and of Summit avenue says:
"There are few streets In the United
States that give In as high degree
as Summit avenue the sense of an eX-
penditure liberal without ostentation,
directed by skill and restrained by taste.
What mainly strikes a pilgrim from the
East is not so much the merit of the
best of these houses rs the fact that
there arc no bad ones; none, at least,
so bad as to disturb the general i'm
preston of richness and refinement,
and none that make the crude display
of new money that is to be seen in the
fashionable quarters OF cities even
richer and far older. The air of COM
peteness, the finish, of keeping so
rare in American towns, is here as
marked as at Newport. In the archi-
lecture there is wide variety, which
does not, however, suffice to destroy
the homogeneousnesS Of the total eff
feet"
The Hon. John L. Merriam house. the
carved porch of Col. Riggs Summit
avenue house and the Riley block are
illustrated in very clever sketches.
Pictures of the Pioneer Press. the New
York Life and the Bank of Minnesota
are given. Of the Globe building in
Minneapolis Mr.. Schuyler says: 1.-THE
building is vigorous composition in
RichardSonian Romanesgue, excessively
broken and diversified, doubtless, for
its extent, but with interesting pieces
of detail, and with picturesque tower
that comes in very happily from several
points OF view OF the business quarter.
The emphatic framing of this tower
between two plain tiers is note
worthy point of design"
1t is quite severe shock to us to
hear so many of the buildings we have
gazed at in fond pride so harshly crit
icised. We thought they were CONNIE
il fout, but they are not. There are
still, according to Mr.. Schuyler, many
buildings in the Twin Cities to be proud
of; and even if our city hall is mons
trashy, we can still be proud of the
general artistic excellence of our archi-
lecture.