The Alaska citizen., 1915-08-02

pressed by EsertOn Swartwout. the architect of the new Missouri state capitol at Jefferson City. and the winner of the competition for the design of the new Washington me mOrial at the nations capital MT Swartwout is of the opinion that this condition of structural design is the logical development of the national taste. needs and develop mont.
 We are undergoing a period of architectural renaissance in this country" says Mr Swartwout In the early days of our history good work was done by the architects who designed our first buildings. The classic examples of this good work are to be found in the Capitol at Washington and, 1 think. the New York city hall The colonial period was prolific in simplicity of design well suited to the materials with which the architects had to do, and the result was the excellent and lasting so-called colonial period which. after all is in reality transoccanic expression of the col lateral Georgian period.
 Following this came the blight ing influence of the Victorian era, which lad it's heavy hand upon our structural design, and fairly buried it in a mass of heavy and ungrace- ful expression From this We have been emerging slowly during the last dozen years or so, and it is my belief that we are now perma- nently cut off from foreign influ- ence, and have evolved something of our own to express our national ism. I do not mean that every architect In the United States is an exponent of our new school. but that slowly and very surely We are ceasing from copying older methods. and that we have very markedly evolved from the somewhat chaotic state of design in which we have fingered
 Architecture is necessarily conse- quent upon the spiritual develop ment of the people. It cannot be aainsaid that We have undergone in the last 10 or 30 years a very re markable spiritual advancement which is daily crystallizing itself in our national life, with constantly varying expressions of improvement politically, socially and individually As We advance in our concept of true architecture We will quite nat urally improve upon what We have done It would seem that we are emerging somewhat from the phasa ] of pure utilitarianism that best ey- i pressed us for a time. and are com ] ing to recognize that beauty and l usefulness are not incompatible terms.
 Competition necessarily spurs nan to greater individual effort 1 Ie said, and while it is expensive to the loser, for sometimes com petitive design will cost as much as $50OQ-yet in the end the whole art and craft of architecture must benefit. The time seems to have come when an abandonment of the missions will be reached Neces- sarily this personal plan is rather limiting to the architect, for it tends to keep his work in a specific groove. The man who has designed good church is likely to find him self receiving commissions for more churches, while the architect of a railway station, library or a the atre will soon recognize that one task of this sort leads to another l in the same field. Competition is likely to remove this and to broaden the whole field"
 i Recurring to the question of an architectural nationalism, MT. SWart- wout pointed out that a nation nee ! tSSdfuN lSLuS lD tNpltSH It's ttdil' ties in building and this is well il- 1 iustrated in the varying styles of design as employed by the Greeks. Egyptians, Romans, Goths, Gauls and Normans. Tn each race the dominant characteristics crop out in the public buildings.
 "Architecture, said he, lis the ! concrete idea of the mass of the people True, it has an individual i expression, but it is none the less national because of that It is the central idea that forms the core of the designers work, and this idea is the factor that develops and grows until the complete building is re vealed. The tendency of the French school seems to have been to stop short with the main idea, leaving 1 the detailed development of it to minor designers, and this necessarily 1 tends toward the evolution of a ! somewhat vague style of building. | Styles of building, or the uses to which the buildings are to be put, must be taken into consideration, and every phase of the building el