New-York tribune., 1908-09-27
BRIDGES 4S ORNAMENTS.
Their Use IN BeautifWng the Land
scape and Country Estate.


.hasms for other monkeys to pass over On ana
Earriors Of old fastened pontoons together and
Anchored them in streams that armies might
march from shore to shore without wetting their |
sandals.
The bridge is an ornament TO the landscape |
md as combined decorative and useful feat
ure to cities and suburban places is of much |
more recent date. The japanese, perhaps were |
the earliest people to employ the bridge purely |
as an ornament. They believe in making every !
thing ornamental from the banks of stream
to the roadway which crosses it. To them is as |
cribed the high arch in bridge making, although |
the Dutch of very early centuries also affected
the high arch in bridges and the low arch III
sabots. With the passage O. centuries. now
ever the height of bridge arches has been de-
pressed and that of insteps increased
The decorative value of bridge cannot be
overestimated. The beauty of a landscape may
DE made CT marred by the form of a span Whch
crosses its streams, and, in most cases, mate
rails enter largely into the scheme of decora-
ton There arc times when bridge CT masonry
fits into a landscape with completeness which
makes it with its surroundings as well as d
dominant note in their iovelineEs- Again, span
constr ucted of natural timber in rustic and ar
tistic form furnishes a delightful rural addition
to a scene, especially when tie rustic bridge
IS contrasted with cultivated lawns and gar
denS
The Japanese are particularly fond of bridge
work constructed of bent and twisted trunks
and boughs of trees with their bark on, and by
selecting timber which is possessed of an orna-
mental bark they achieve effects of wonderful
loveliness There are times when bridge of sill
yer birch makes an exquisite adornment to q
landscape and, again, the silvery cleaning OF
such wood among more sombre surroundings
gives place TO rich, dark trellls, balustrade anu
arch built of warm brown spruce or heechWood.
The Japanese construct an arch that is so per-
feet half circle that its reflection in the water
beneath produces the effect of circle or ring
of wrought wood or stone, invariably oVerhung
with towering vines, of which wistaria appears
a favorite because of its continuous ornamental
vralities its early Towering and sturdy, twisted
stems.
II is declared that Americans build bridges TO
Dull down, and this is said especially in connec-
ton with road spans; while the early Romans
and English built bridges to last for all time
They have lasted, too, 50 far as the deVastatlons
OF war and the coTrodng power OF centuries
have permitted, and from them we EloderhS
have learned some of our most valuable lessons
In decorative bridge building. From the mas
sive yet arch;tecturally and artistically beauti-
,ul structures of the anCients we have learned
the lessons that even bridges for use-and Tor
The hardest use at that-may at the same time
serve as n distinct adornment to the places
where they stand
1t sometimes happens that in the craze for
ornamental bridges which sweeps america
4 person owning q large estate will divert a lit
tie stream into many windings mainly to span
II with bridges at frequent intervals. These
decorative features lose their value, however,
IN such a case for the reason that so many of
,hem detract from another. Instead OF be-
coming charming, individual notes in a land
scape the chain of small bridges encourages the
belief that some one has tried to darn gap in
the garment of nature and has succeeded only
In achieving a disconnected and abortivc effect.
Plenty of such cases exist in suburban estates
near New York, but the fault is one easily
renledied by removing half the SPANS and leav-
Ing the remainder of the prettiy constructed
pieces Of rustic wood and stCneVyork to serve the
purpose for which they intended.
To play a bridge effectively against a bridge
Is something that only accomplished architect
can achieve, as in the of Washington
Bridge and High Bridge, across the Harlem
River, II upper Manhattan. Here a deep curve
In the stream with high wooded backgrounds
and gently swelling green slopes to the waters
edge affords wonderfully effective glimpse of
the span of the old bridge, with all its lovely
surroundings, through the arches of the new
Dne, from almost any side. while, looked
ut from the roadway, the older bridge dW,lrfs 20
Iictur asqlle bit of the Landscape in comparison
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