New-York tribune., 1902-03-09
ARCHITECTURE OF FUTURE.
SIR MARTIN CONWAY SUGGESTS COVER.
ING steel. FRAMEWORK WITH =.
COLORED TILES.

Sir Martin Conway, professor of art In Camhridzs
University. who is in this city. does share
in the views of the president of the American uni
versity in Cambridge. Mass. regarding the archi-
tecturaI beauty-or lack of beauty-of New-York
President Eliot said frankly the other day that this
city was about ugly they make them Sir
Martin Conway saws. the other hand that
Broadway from the Battery 20 Madison SQUARE
and then Fffth-ave is the most beautiful street
in the world. But he admits that this beauty is
found 10 no small extent in the promises for the
future that the buildings along the contain
He saws that the skyscrapers of New-York are
lust now Of more interest than any other buildings
in the world. because better than any others they
hint at the style of architecture that will be the
STYLE OF tomorrow.
In developing this proposition Sir Martin displays
g freedom from traditional bias that is refreshing
and stimulating to the Imagination and certain OF
his prophecies. at first thought rather ridiculous.
grow on the mind Till the picture he calls up
sumes a splendor and a depth Of possibility almost
astonishing
The architecture Of the future will he the archi-
lecture OF steel" he said last week to group OF
callers 1T will be entirely new style, and il
had it's birth in Chicago only brief twenty years
ago There have been three great STYLES in the
past the simple uprights and crossbeam style OF
the Egyptian and Greek temples. the rounded arch
style which the Romans worked out from sug-
gestion borrowed from pTe-Athenian Greece, and
the pointed style of the Gothic builders All other
STYLES have been variants or combinations Of these
The materials have been wood or stone. and the
probIems to be in the past were the problems
of construction. An entirely style is being
evolves and Is studied best in New-York. Any
thing can be done with steel barrel vault or dome
or pointed arch can be thrown up at WILL and the
structure can rise a height Of thirty stories.
The problem is much less one OF construction. and
much more of pure style. We can meet at Will
all the structural problems that vexed the Old
builders and at will the decorations which
time taught them were most in keeping with the
structural plan they adopted. The field for the
as the globe
Now what will the style Of the future be? No
one can say. but that 1t Will be beautiful do not
doubt Already, in many OF the skyscrapers you
seem to think ugly. see hints of this beauty.
To those who had seen the buildings OF Greece
and Rome the churches OF the Middle Ages must
have seemed ugly. But in those very churches
were being worked out and developed the structural
principles which resulted in the Cathedral Of Paris
and the perfect spire of Chartres. Now, such OF
those churches as are left find beautiful by
the light reflected back on them Mr.. Carnegie
tells that there is no reason why the steel sky
scrapers should stand the vibration for a thou
sand years. so have no doubt that the day will
come when Americans will look back on many Of
the buildings now going up in lower Broadway and
find them beautiful just beauty
the early Gothic churches. Let Us to-day look for
ward. and see in them sty,e in the making.
'Structurally this style will be the simple square
principle of the Greeks. the girder style for that
is the cheapest. But as the general proportions OF
the SkysCTaper entirely different from the low
buildings OF the Greeks the style Of OrnamentaOn
cannot be the same nor can it be the style OF the
Gothic. which was adopted for pointed buildings.
| these styles are seen the towering struct-
ures in your city. and too often the result is uu-
cred with wallpaper. II one desired Neither
| brick wood is essential the structure
Skeleton that IS the real building be Concealed and
| ornamented and made beautiful TO look upon? The
| world. unless 1t be the tower Of Babel They are
reared for use, How make them lovely?
They the buildings OF the future, so our
question is What is the style OF the future 70 be?
swer The rniversity Club. IN Fifth-sve, ts "a a
beautiful building. Mt to stand in Venice Flor
stories or groups OF stories the windows and cor
nces of the tall buildings OF steel in entirely new
self to come back 10 New-York in thirty years
and see your tall buildings covered with colored
| designs. n you wish Why not2 Think OF that
forest OF skyscrapers lower Manhattan Island
all standing up In shining coors and sending back
Sir Martin paused to allow the conception to
come home to the men with whom he talking.
Spoken very quietly. his words did not at once
''The theory OF a level sky line on city street
1TSs T apPeaI 70 t me IN ne went S on snow kne% 81 no
haitian viewed from Jersey City at sunset. That
plume OF smoke is a sight majestic. genuinely
beautiful that 1t can never be forgotten. IL is
OF entrance on the Battery was not carried OUT.
The finest street in the world should have the
the land that holds the future OF architecture IN
His auditors left the AlbemarIe where they had
called on him. debating his words. His sugges-
fessor Fem. OF the Harvard Divinity school used
to say about the tile pattern the front OF IRE
He used to say that it was % Quite In Eeepins with
the building because it was the conventional pat
You You BostOnians are hopeless cried the others.
tonian. That Sir Marlin has climbed most of the
highest mountains in the world. He likes heights