Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-28

| certain Spanish city, a saucy little
church, all white and gold decorated
and ringed with a lot Of Goyas i'm
pudent saints and angels. The visitor,
after a few mental gymnastics, real
ICES he Is not In boudoir or
salon and that the architect has
coquetted successfully with the Re-
| naissance. But 1t takes more than
talent, it takes genius to do such
| things, and yet. in our country, every
Tom, Dick and Harry of a mediocre
architect flirts with the Gothic. Again
severer methods are followed and the
Gothic Is browbeaten into fitting
worship for which it was never in
| tended-where an altar should rise an
| organ is hoisted or a choir installed,
while pulpit occupies the middle fore
ground. Gothic at any cost, and 1 re-
call one church, not a Protestant,
whose white-shelled interior only lacks
a little gliding and a few frescoes
broken by Munich glass to set off to
perfection the overloaded nave, simu-
lated aisles and feebly gasping tran
septs. Through forest of heavy peWs
q gaudy carpet CLEANS, which, how
ever. is a shade better than a Brussels
patterned interlocked rubber tiling.
When will the controllers of interior
decoration of Catholic churches cease to
punctuate their aisles with confession
ais, hideous beyond expression, fresh
from Munich, such funny, frantic little
wooden models of Gothic churches?
There is, fortunately, In one of our
| churches an example Of an artistic
| treatment of the Confessionals; the
church is built to harmonize with ira
dition and environment-in the New
| World Spanish style-the confesionals
are built under the arches on the right
hand aisle: delicate iron grills enclose
them. In this church the sanctuary
lamp CLEANS. dull ruby spark, in
setting unornamented, surely preferable
to enclosing it in a box of gaudy gilt
and brass, suspended by chains gilt
tering with impossible ornaments l
! believe in an artistic setting for the
tabernacle lamp, the most artistic that
! trained craftsmen can produce, but
these things are costly and II con-
gregation cannot afford one of these
! rare designs, then set the lamp in a
dull band and suspend 1t by dark
chains.
Simple and Proportionate
recall another church in our city,
a simple wooden chapel. but altar and
tabernacle are of dark wood, crucifx
and six beaten brass cardlesticks CLEAN
against an olive green curtain, bor-
dered with q rich brOCaded pattern, a
note deeper in tone. This artistic
drapery is a reflection of that marvel
Gus hanging against which Bellinls s
stately Madonna rests. At the foot OF
the altar steps was a professional cross
of simple, strong and elegant design,
above the altar hung a wooden cross
with a majestic ivory figure.
Everything Is in proportion and just
as much damning decoration can be
produced with little money as with
great deal. Look at the gaudy, plaster
saints with inane stereotyped smiles
and the ugly vases, sometimes, even
in California, filled with paper flowers
Of indesCribable patterns that decorate
our country churches and chapels.
| We have churches at whose walls
| and ceilings an apparently cheap cafe
decorator has flung the entire grammar
! of ornament; whose windows represent
the sacred mysteries of our faith with
a crude realism that is intolerable;
affairs that climb to the roof in mad
classic or Gothic quest" looking like
decayed wedding cakes or glorified
soda fountains; stations of the cross
that resemble frozen whites of eggs,
highly colored, either gummed to the
walls or firmly inclosed in gilded Nor
man-toothed ornamental frames; eletric
light bulbs fastened on the arms of
gilded crosses or ringed around the
! great crucitX.
A Good Work in Old Plaza
The stations of the cross in the old
Plaza church are good-painted years
ago by Father Tanqueray-the cOloring
of each station is subdued, and the
frame dark and plain.
There is a little Gothic church in this
city-I will not touch on the windows
or the affairs, but only the fact that an
effect of space was absolutely neces-
sary, owing to the small dimensions Of
the church, and this has been gained
by clean sweep Of masonry from wal!
to wall. The springing of the binding
transverse arch is hardly marked by
ornamentation, and there is absolutely
no effort to secure an effect of aisles
| The chevet is charming, but its beauty
is marred by a high Gothic altar that
obliterates the graceful curve.
visited another chapel in our city
built of dark Colored woods (no Nor
man stone porch is plastered on the
exterior as on a certain church, which
is further embellished with carca-
ture of Gloucester tower). Within, this
little chapel impresses the visitor at
once with the firm lines drawn with no
wavering of mind or hand.
Get Jewel Effects
The windows are made up of tiny
panes of cloudy rainbow colored glass
that above the altar glow with a jewel
effect, very charming and pleasing to
the eve too often irritated by cartoon
spasms. On the side walls, within the
shadow, the glass suggests green
leaves shot with sunlight. The altar
and tabernacle, with it's ciborium, are
of creamy wood-the wings of the altar
deeply incised with a highly conven-
tionalized lily pattern-a faint touch Of
dull gold relieves the white, and the
candlesticks geam in faint, straight
lines of light The eye rests with
pleasure upon the few and far spaced
cloudy globes, that give a subdued
but sufficient light for evening Wor-
ship. The problem of securing as much
space as possible has been carefully
considered and the seating capacity is
remarkable The confessionals, per-
fectly plain, are retired beyond the side
altars. This chapel is an excellent
model for small country parishes to
follow, and what a relief to eaten
glimpses of such satisfactory little
buildings through the trees OF our
country towns
Architects Weird Ideas
There is a certain Protestant church
in this city whose architects evidently
could not stand up against the puritan
ical distaste for the cross in decoration
and who compromised with funny little