Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-28
CHURCHES OF LOS ANGELES ARE
SADLY AT VARIANCE WITH CANONS
OF DECORATIVE ART, SAYS CRITIC
Student of Ecclesiastical Architecture Scores Design
ers Who Have Wrought Jumbles of Gothic
Romanesque and GreCian Into Church
Edifices-Makes Appeal for
Refinement in Art
BY ANNA McCONNELL BECKLEY

'dll-day suckers
An electric cross or a weather Vane-
you take your choice.
Imagine a permanent electrical dis
play on the tower of Assist or Ely!
With sloping floors, why not number
the seats and provide place for
crush hats?
There is another church in this city
whose architect has boldly boxed the
ROmanesque, and one looks at wild
combination of a skating rink and an
evangelical hall.
Bentley's Tower Adopted
Bentley's superb tower has been
adapted successfully here, in strong,
sincere materials, and what has been
done once can be done again.
Sincerity in material! If that could
| be the slogani One church that know
well was built long ago and is OBJ
viously and unshrinkingly wooden
Gothic, but the proportions are
good and the pastor courageously re-
fuses the admittance of lot of ugly
statues, gay carpet and few other
! accessories totally unnecessary that
| figure largely in illustrated catalogues;
in this church the ritual Is carried out
with stately perfection that I have
| never seen surpassed.
The classic form of architecture is
| admirably adapted to one form of Wor-
|
| follow, why set dome upon narrow
| shoulders, yaWn the entrance and make
| the effect one of attenuation? Again.
| that which is classic Is ruined by a
decoration ABSOLUTELY out of harmony
| in color as we'll as in design. A church
is not only a church, but an architect
ural expression that should stimulate
| the neighborhood to a consistent and
methodical expansion of adjoining es-
tates, so may we hope for the "city
| beautiful" There is a church in this
| city whose architects and builders have
had an opportunity not often given
! them. The interior of the dome, now
practically complete, is good in lines
and spaces-well balanced-but the
architect made his mistake when he
sanctioned the details of the stucco
| decorations, which are a mixture of
everything and mean nothing in the
| end-a consistent design, in keeping
with the architecture, would mean
Mixture of Styles
If we wish to see the inconsistency,
notice the scheme-a mixture of classic,
| Greek, Italian renaissance and BaronuA
| and all emphacis Is lost by the zHt+i
ignorance on the part of the deco r. O.
of what is color. We are surprised that
the honorary committee on decoration
should tolerate "such cowardly mis-
use of the spectrum analysis"
Inc QOHl6 Is BdTlduueQ WITH run
and flowers copied after Andrea Nan
tegna; the garland is we'll moueleC#
so are the brackets, so are the capitals,
the friezes are we'll spaced; but why
use Andrea's creative body for stucco
and then ignore his paramount issue,
| the introduction of those colors that
give it spirit and life? In another part
of the great circle we look at panels so
heavy that they dwarf the columns
| that give an effect of support to the
heavy dome This error has been pro-
duced by tinting the columns several
shades lighter than the panels.
I will not speak of the windows
they are absolutely impossible from
the decorators standpoint, and 1t
would only tire my readers to describe
them in detail! but one thing I must
say, the weakness Of the so-called
scheme is an insult to decorative de-
Romanesque Adaptable
The Lombard Romanesque may be
perfectly adapted to churches; the
style is simple, strong and dignif1ed, the
warm tints of the bricks and terra
cottas bringing out the values of mass
and line. Under our bright skies the
whole effect would be wonderfully soft
and pleasing. The noble and typical
campanile of the north italian churches
--onr richest heritage from the tnde-
pendent Lombards-should not be neg
lected. We lay too little stress on the
| decorative possibilities of bricks and
terra cottas close and consistent
perusal of our architectural magazines
will show us with what success these
| simple materials have been used IN
eastern churches. The beautiful church
of st. GATHERINGS in Somerville, Mass,
Is a striking example, and st. Johns,
| North Cambridge, Mass. Is another
| Illustration of the possibilities Of tho
artistic qualities Of the Lombard style
| in its materials.
have touched on the inartistic fur
nishings of churches, and emphasize
the fact that we cannot hope for re-
lief until we give our competent archi-
| tects and decorators absolute control or
| the bui1dines, without and within. For
the form, the architect; for the color
and furnishings, the decorator. Wher-
ever this has not been done we. have
daily proof that the result is potch'
Should Shy at Gifts
Gifts from we'll meaning but in
artistic persons must De genLiy otI pII
| firmly refused "'Too many COOKS spoll
the broth" And too many leading
minds spoil a church. Imagine the
| feelings Of a craftsman who has gwen
his talent, maybe his genius toward
the construction of a perfect model OF
a Basilican or Romanesque 1,. cnurGn Saoorn WIZ
finds, when it comes to interior decora-
tion. that the main altar has been
| saIected. He knows from bitter eX-
perience the uselessness or protesting:
but feebly inquiries the style ana
learns that "it's a very pretty white
and gold Gothic" When will men and
women learn to trust the trained man?
have listened to architects and deco
rators whose keen enthusiasm and
thorough knowledge Of their chosen
field was an inspiration, and 1 wish
from the bottom of my heart that their
word could reach q wide audience. We
must be arousel and fired with a desire
TO know what is good and pure and
rational in architecture, sculpture
painting and artistic metal work.
Cannot a firm stand be taken against
the "smart man with catalogue?
Cannot we encourage the artistic crafts
man by a demand for beautiful objects
| in our churches? The cause OF art Is
at stake in America just so long as we
allow our country to be flooded with
CHEAP and garish travesties of the noble
| mediaeval designs. We have men who
can do the best work and men who arc
earnest advocates Of what Is artistic.
It is a shame that a magazine devoted
| to Christian art, edited by the foremost
authority in the country Ralph Adams
Crain), should have been forced to dis
continue publication for sheer lack OF
interest and support