The Portland daily press., 1897-03-05
ARCHITECTURE AS A clvlLlzeR.
The Part 1t Has Played in the History of
the Nations.
Engineering Magazine

Engineering Magazine
However the outward surroundings of
the men of today may differ from those
of the men whose existence was coeval
with the dawn of civilization; however
mans command over the animate and
inanlmate world and over the forces of
nature may have increased since he first
sought shelter from the elements and
protection against the attacks of wild
beasts-the underlying traits, instincts
unchanged, and are as potent today as
they we're In the time of contemporaries
of the oave-bear and the. mammoth.
Dissatisfaction with things existing;
hope for bsttermsnt from things to be
worked for and attained; observation,
telligept of beasts and the exercise 7nd
development of these tendencies and
faculties have brought mankind to con-
ditions of life and power so different
from those Of even the noblest animals
that the idea of common origin Of man
anu U6dbb cCo0c PEoponVoIoUo W Hcsly
" ell-informed and thinking persons.
When the possibility Of obtaining pro-
lection and shelter in walled and rooted
Enclosures first dawned upon primeval
man, the initial and most important
step toward the subjugation Of the rest
Of creation was taken by our ancestors
Excepting only the discovery Of fire, no
Invention or discovery has been more
| fruitful of results than. was the invention
and discovery of the house. however
primitive and rudimentary may have
been the form In which 1t first appeared
among men. And from the day of the
first utilization OF cave as a human
habitation; from the hour when the FIRST
crude hut protected human family
| from the scorching sun and pelting rain !;
| from the time when walls of rocks, of
mud, or of logs, first gave proteotion and
vantage to man in his struggle with the
wild beast-the history of the develop
ment land progress of the human race has
been ooinoident with the Development. and
progress of the art and science of abuild-
| Ing. The. fathers.whose.- ingenuity and
| industry provided the most efficient
| shelter were able to rear offspring more
numerous and more healthy and strong
thanstheir less ingenious and. less INDUS
| trious competitors in the struggle for ex-
istence. And thus the families, tribes
and nations by whom the art Of building
| was most assiduously cultivated were
those which. waxed most numerous, pros
porous and strong, while the families and
| tribesswho were content to exist without
artificial shelter, OF were satisfied. with
thelrudiments of hut and house, building,
| becamessxtinct; or, If their existence.was
prolonged, it was often in servitude and
| slavery to those more intelligent aud in
dustrious tri hes and nations by whom
architecture had been Originated, de-
| veloped and cultivated.
While 1t is true that hardy hosts of
| cave and hut inhabiting abarbarians, en-
vious and oovetous tof the comfort and
health Of. the highly prosperous house,
jewellers of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt,
Troy, Greece, Rome and scores of other
civilizations, swooped down upon and
overransand conquered their more high
| Iy civilized but much less numerous
neighbo by sheer force of numbers, 1t
| is also true that these barbarians were
| th emselves captured and overastered by
the civilizations whose creators and con-
SENATORS they had set out to annihilste,
and whose fruits and products they had
come to appropriate.
Thus, while nations persisted, the art
of building lived on to continually wider
ana more diversified development. al
ways modifying and adapting itself to
the dominating requirements and uoon-
ditions of the changing times and periods
andfalways continuing Nm essential factor
in the struggle for existence and for the
survival of the fittest among men.