The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-20
NATIONAL TYPE
 BEING EVOLVED WARREN AYERS
Architect Says America Is Blending Styles Of
 All Countries

the Birmingham Real Estate board Thursday.
 A distinct, national type of archi- lecture is not a thing of the future for this country, but public and com mercial edifices have already been con- $ structed which possess features en-s tirely original, according to Mir. War ren.
 One of these buildings is the state capitol at Lincoln, Neb., which has familiar lines, as the phrases in an epic are familiar, but is built on an original plan that can not be found in any other country, he said.
 May Take Any Form .s Another is the skyscraper type which is familiar to every one and which may take many different forms; the Municipal building in New York b expressed in a modification of the classic style, while the Woolworth building is modification of the Gothic, stated MT. Warren.
 the different requirements of the American people, and the architects working to meet these requirements have evolved something at once dis tinct from other styles and beautiful, he said.
 Sometimes the very handicaps have eonspired to force the evolution, as the city requirements of New York as to the height; this has resulted in the formation of the pyramid structure which is very distinctive, according to Mr. Warren.
 Brought Over Ideas
 The first settlers brought with them the type of building which was in their own country; we have thus the Dutch, New England and the South ern colonial, all of which are adapta- tion of the classical in the different countries, he said.
 In just a position to these are the recent results of Gothic, the Italian, French and Spanish construction; in mo. other country in the world can one find such varied types as in United Statse, he said.
 This represents the many different strains in American life and enables the architecture of United States to using them in a plan which is unique, he stated.
 The development of the distinct types is at no means at its prime, it has barely begun, but even at the present time it is possible to see the diverging style and to predict that the national style will be distinct and beautiful, he said.
 History Of Architecture
 Mir. Warren began his talk to the sales division with history of the course architecture had taken from the stone age when men lived in caves to the present time.
 Man first became builder when he realized the importance of possession, he said; and he devised a place for habitation in a cave where he would be more secure from enemies than in the open.
 When primitive man began to feel the handicaps of cave dwelling, some kind of shelter in the open where more mobility could be obtained, stated MT. Warren.
 Fearing the forces of nature such as thunder storms, lightning, rains and other things beyond his control, he said, primitive man began making propitionary offerings.
 Then feeling that these offerings should be as protected from the ele- rnents as much as his household, MT. Warren stated, the man of early civil ixation built a covering for it and that Was the beginning of temple.
 First Buildings
 These two, the home shelter and the temple shelter, were the first kind of buildings constructed, he said, the pub lie buildings being adapted later after men began forming into tribes with one of their number as their leader.
 The carrying of trade and great civilization first came to great height in Egypt, and the architecture of this country reveals the nature of the inhabitants as it does everywhere, he said.
 In Egypt the giant buildings of great stones with the far, secrete, in ner sanctuaries, which none but the high priest might enter, showed the mystic inscrutable makeup of the peo- pie, he stated.
 Develop Own Style
 When Egypt was conquered the con quering countries adapted the style such places as Assyria, the Greeks developed their own style of architec- ture.
 In Greece, perhaps, the most beau tiful style the world has ever seen was produced, showing their virile delicacy and balance between orna- mentation and plainness, showing strength as well as grace, MT. Warren stated.
 The Romans adapted the style of 0recian architecture, but in their Bands it became massive, heavy and simost brutal in its strength. he said.
 Two Styles Spring Up
 Two styles sprang up on the 0ecadant Roman style, the Gothic, Nhich was developed in the northern countries, and the renaissance, which wasF developed in the southern coun- t&iee, and borrowed the lines of the classical Roman, according to MT. Warren.
 The mysteriousness of the Gothic, the gaiety of the French. the warmth and color of the Spanish, the prosaic imagination of the English industrial type, the monstrousness of the Ger man each show the character of its country and is represented in Ameri- ca, he said.
 Each house on the street possesses the character of one or more of these influences, and each type has some meaning for the person who knows the history of architecture. It is from these types introduced to this country that we are forming a national style of architecture, he said.
 BIBLES AT ELLIS. ISLAND Society Gave S2, ,16O Last Year To Ar
 irving Immigrants
 NEW YORK, Jan. 19.- More than S2, ,150 Bibles were given away in 1923 to immigrants arriving at Ellis Island. These were presentde by the New York Bible society, East Forty-eighth