The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-03-29
THE FALSE AND ABSURD.
A Lecture on the Vices of Modern a rchi-
lecture.

lecture delivered by Mr.. Walter Dickson
before the Department of Architecture In
Brooklyn recently, and printed in the Archi-
lecture and Builder, of New York:
Whether the study OF architecture makes
men good men, or good men betterlmen, we
are not here to say: We do know, however,
with dissertations on truthfulness. 1t is their
favorite theme, the beginning and ending Of
all their treatises.
AS truth underies uprightness and honesty
we look for it in all things which are beauti-
full and which are to stand the test Of time.
1t is an inviolable principle pervading the
universe itself, and we expect In the compo-
sition of perfect building that symmetry in
appearance and solid integrity which we look
for in our beau-ideal OF an elegant and
majestic man or woman, and when we dis
cover fraud or error we condemn 1T in them
with the same outraged feeling OF honest in
dignation as we would In our works. We
want them to bear criticism.
There is no integrity in the belief that there
can be anything beautiful or satisfactory In
building which does not show by its breadth,
strength, and position that 1t is capable of
performing the Office 1t holds therein.
So many of our architects seem TO tire OF
simple forms They are misled by the vain
conccit that, Notwithstanding there are thou
sands of architects, Providence has selected
them from the great throng, and imbued them
with genius which all others have been de-
and go far out of the general way to design
something which will be considered ne,u, and
such like sensational trumpery, which makes
war upon reason for the sake of creating and
foisting upon the forgiving public novel and
fantastic extravagances Almost next to
death in its destructive influence Is this vain
glory to the young and ambitious architect to
be like no one else, and to be unhampered by
the fixed laws of proportion which have been
followed for centuries.
1t is claimed that there is nothing new in
architecture, and that we create nothing, in
vent nothing; that design is merely an ar
rangement of old forms. True, the more
consistent the construction of these forms
the greater the beauty.
Has it ever struck you that with the COM
paratively few shapes and styles that are thus
claimed in architecture, how many elegant
buildings have been reared all differing ma
terially in design?
cannot tell you how many changes can be
used in architecture, as from the straight to
the curved lines the variations must be in
numbers beyond any approximation; but
am sure that those which have been be-
queathed to US by the encients will suffice for
thousands of years to come
The field is as broad as ever it was, and men
of genius are as scarce as they ever were; 80
must the architect study the rules and the few
forms in architecture which are given him,
study long and persistently until he wins. He
may begin with an idea which in the system
attic balance of Judgment will revise itself into
one totally different from the one he started
with, but it has undergone the tribunal of eX-
perienced thought, and he has worked and
won.
No indolent man should attempt to be al
architect. No man ought to be allowed to
exist who will not study because he imagines
himself a natural-born genius. 1t is trained
thought that makes the accomplished, schol-
arly architect and, had we more of such, the
community would not bo so often paralyzed
with absurdities.
The more intricate, the more expensive; and
as we have to 90 80 far out of our way to pro-
duce the so-called novelties, nine times out of
ten, being contradictory, they have to be
braced and supported by hidden accessories,
appliances and superfuous ornament to
maintain them, until the design becomes dis
torted, and distortion in architectural COM
position is as void of satisfactory elucidation
as would be the devising of batch of false
hoods to establish lie for the truth.
Architecture depends more upon reason
than upon the imagination.
We do not mean to do injustice to novel
devices which admit OF straightforward appli-
cations; there are some such deserving of ad-
miration. Neither do we expect the ancient
temples to be the examples and patterns for
our modern buildings. They were one
story; we build dozen stories. And yet the
elements of proportion, symmetry OF lines, and
identity of detail are the same, and applicable
in these ediices of to-day.
The principles upon which their artistic
value is based have not changed since Phidiae
lived. We try very hard to get away from
them. but the groundwork of the Orders oi
Architecture is the rule OF proportion, and We
can no more design without its directing In
fuence than we can build without measure
The very moment you relieve an arch OF
Intel beyond its natural ability to carry the
weight or strain imposed by the use of any
other material you make your design falsity
and steal from something else that strength
known
does not poss ess
Either one material or the other must have
the prominence. One must not belle tn,
other-that is, if the design is to be truthful
one.
Iron construction has utility of its own; al
such it deserves a place in structural work
We accept it gladly and for all it is worth
but we must not forget that it is iron; that 1
expands and contracts and that, united will
stone to share and share alike In strain an(
pressure with it, it is, in all the nice bearing
of an architectural composition, dangerou
partner.
This combination of iron and stone is incon
gruous 1t is linking of two of the mobiles
materials given u.s. When We turn to thu
granite sculptures at ancient Thebes and tn
beautiful wrought marbles of Greece we fee
the glory of stone work departing when it ha
to surrender its pride OF strength and beaut.
to act in a subordinate, second-iddle part Il
metal unexcelled In many qualities, bu
which as a work of art can never occupy tn,
place OF stone.
When stone has SO far traded its art char
acter for problem in engineering, 1t resolve
itself into a niece of iron construction witt