The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-16
BUILDING BENEFACTIoNs.

1t is a true saying, though perhaps some
what overworked, that whoever makes two
ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow
upon a spot of ground where only one grew
before, is a public benefactor. This is an
agricultural way of viewing benefactions.
From an urban point of view it might be
said that whoever erects a handsome build
ing where shabby ones, or none at all, stood
before is a public benefactor as much as the
other. The public service thus conferred is
cumulative in that every handsome build
ing erected in a city is an addition to its
architectural beauty, as well as to its bust
ness prosperity. 1t has an aesthetic and
educational value, as well as a commercial.
If it replaces a shabby one the effect is
two-fold, because a positively d~eteriorating
influence is replaced by a positively elevat-
ing one. Modern architecture has developed
on lines of beauty as we'll as utility until
nowadays a skillful architect gives almost
as much thought to the exterior effect as he
does to the interior convenience of a build
ing. The latter should never be sacrificed
in any degree to the former, but when both
can be attained without impairing either,
that should be the aim. There can be no
doubt that a handsome building has an eff
feet somewhat akin to that of a handsome
monument, a fine statue, or other work of
art. 1t is a continual object lesson in art
culture for all who view it, and even people
who are not conscious of having any art
culture or love of the beautiful are uncon-
sciously impressed by it.
MI ao-o,ooroioJ ind1onOn IF naur and
handsome buildings in a community is prob
ably more generally acknowledged if not
more generally felt. Everybody feels that
the erection of such a building adds to the
business facilities of the town in which he
lives and foreshadows its future prosperity.
In fact, a healthy revival of the building
industry, and especially the erection of
handsome buildings, signifies better than al
most anything else a revival of confidence.
1t takes much money to erect a handsome
building, and when completed it represents
profitable employment and good wages for
labor in many directions. The stone had to
be quarried, the bricks to be made, the
wood to be first felled in the forest and
then converted into lumber and transported
from place to place, the glass to be manu-
featured, and a vast number of other things
to be worked into shape. Thus a completed
building is a business benefaction to a great
number of persons. The man who erects it
NAV be selfish to a degree and innocent of
any desire 20 benefit others; he may be &C
tuated by purely mercenary motives, but
the erection of a handsome building makes
him a benefactor in spite of himself. And
in doing it he takes a great many people
into partnership with himself, for every
resident in the town in which the building
is located feels a sort of personal proprle-
torship in it and a distinct sense OF en-
larged individuality and increased self-lm-
portance on account of it.
For these and other like reasons the denl-
zens of Indianapolis should congratulate
themselves on the prospect of a revival of
the building industry and should cultivate
a sentiment of genuine gratitude towards
those who are pushing it along, ana es-
necialIy towards those who propose to erect
handsome buildings where shabby or ordi-
nary ones stood before.