The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-10-05
NEED RENAISSANCE In
ARCHITECTURE OF CITY.

1 gratulatory a mood upon many local
suhjects-our varied financial, commercial
and manufacturing enterprises-that WE
run a risk OF closing our eyes to the
| houses in which we and our neighbor.
live. AS a matter of fact. judged from
the standpoint of it's buildings, public
and private, Richmond is not a beautf-
full city. If it is even an attractive look
/ ing city, it is not because but In spite
of its architecture. which may be de-
s2ribed in a word as of the heavy
| respectable order.
| do not like to say dsagreeable things
but this is true as well as dsagreeable
! and In its truth lies much Of its disa-
| greeableness. In proportion to the wealth
1 that is here, Richmond has fewer beau
! tifu' residences than any city of Its pop
ulation that I know. l do not deny that
| there are some handsome and well
| e:,lipped houses upon our streets, but
you may almost count them upon your
| fingers. About the others there is a
/ Greary monotony that is depressing, re-
| n A ding one of old Philadelphia ar mod
| II. Baltimore. Who can successfully chal-
iense my statement that for the most
| Fart the typical Richmond residence is
| a three-story house with a pressed brick
! front and raw brick sides, occupying from
/ twenty-five to thirty front feet of ground
and running back to an alley in COM
I mon fifteen feet wide? We walk up and
| down certain of our fashionable streets,
| and square fades into square and mile
!, into mile under tho nlonotony OF con-
| forinity to a commonplace type.
| The sole conception OF a house to many
| Of cur citizens is an accumulation of
| bricks, mortar and wood Of sufficient
size to hold the greatest number OF per-
srrs. and. Incidentally, to yield the lars-
est rent, and onward they go with the
dry goods box style of architecture, never
looking into an architectural journal for
ideas, never visiting another city. never
in,erchanging ideas with men who have
studied the subject from the standpoint
of the beauuful-simply building the house
of 1909 upon the plans which they drew
or had drawn for them in 1850, and which
are plenty good enough for them.
We cannot shut our eyes TO facts II
you wish proof of what I have said
look to-day at the houses that have re-
Gently been built beyond Richmond COL
ege and see whether they are not, prac-
tically brick for brick, the houses that
were erected twenty years ago. ten. If
teen and twenty squares down the
street.
Please understand me. am glad to re-
cord the facts that we have In our midst
high-class architects-we do not have to
go outside our own city for educated
men. sgained for their work by years Of
study in their profession. who can them
selves plan and superintend the building
and Equipment Of the noblest structures.
And we should cultivate these men and
encourage them by a generous patronage,
which can result in nothing but good to
US as Individual house builders or as
members Of a body corporate, interested
in the beauty Of the whole. The same
confusion of thought marks the idea that
we may go directly to the contractor
and effect the erection Of a beautiful
house. as the Idea that we should en-
ploy an ex-sherin or clerk of court to
manage different law case, or a mere
ship carpenter to build a. man Of war.
The same faliacy runs through all. When
the merely mechanical is desired, we may
very properly employ mechanic, but
before we reach that point, we need the
professional man; the man who has it
may be. evoked from their original chaos
the elements OF the beautiful in house |
building, discarding some. accepting and |
callating Others. until he has before him |
great system, Of which the only just |
and worthy name, is the science or pro-
fession which we cali architecture.
Shall further diagnose the evil? It is
simply our too great economy Of land. |
To a beautiful house. an ample and dig !
nifed space in front and on the sides
is absolutely necessary. lay down the
bald proposition that no house can be
beautiful which has an abrupt frontage
of only twenty-five or thirty feet upon a
street. or only eight or ten feet from
the street line. Land in the western
portion of our city should not be sold |
in lots Of less than forty or fifty front
feet. with d covenant in the deed and
with the land that only one
house shall be erected on each, not to
cost less than certain amount, the
front line of which shall be not less than
twenty feet from the street, with am
pie space on either side for light and |.
fresh air and sunshine and vines and
shade trees for the nests of song birds.
Do you ask me for an object lesson? I
reply. come with me to Cleveland and
Chicago and ST. Paul and Minneapolis, in
beautiful portions of which land Is no
dearer than in the heart OF Richmond;
come with me to Syracuse, n. r: to
Orange. n. T.: or to Germantown, Penn;
or to twenty other points which might
select at random, and see what the ar
chitect can do. See how the vision
for each new creation OF the ar
lists brain: how the beautiful but mex
pensive houses rise one after another in
their white outlines from the green
sward. with their broad porcIes, their
stained single sides, their great outside
chinneys, their graceful pcrte-cocheres,
their inviting driveways; an hours ride
among them, leading one almost to be-
leve that he is in a sort5of fairy land. +
and then tell me il Richmond does not L
need anarchitectura1 "reminiscences; an
aesthetic crusade if you vii have it so.
tina t will not only cry shame to the man
who would erect IN unsight1ys house in L
81 beautiful section. but, by legal condi-
Ions easily enforced as toScost, quality L
md general style. absol utelys prevent his Y