Religious and Memorial Architecture

In Czechoslovakia there is a vigorous architectural revival, with such results as the Palladian basilica of St. Venceslaus, Smichov, by V. Barvitius, and the Romanesque church of Stechovice, by Kamil Hilbert.

Italy and Spain, being Catholic countries, have kept more or less on traditional lines in their religious architecture. In Italy a revival of Byzantine-Romanesque was followed by a return to Roman, of a simple and massive character, and under the present regime the Roman tradition is likely to be emphasized. Spain's most striking contribution to the modern period is the fantastic church of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.

As regards memorial architecture Italy provides the most im portant example in Europe in the memorial to Victor Emmanuel II., Rome. Designed by Count G. Sacconi and begun in 1885, it takes the form of a great loggia, with columns 48 ft. high and end pavilions, with pediments, supporting sculptured groups. In front steps ascend to a platform bearing an equestrian statue of the king. Closing a vista at the end of the Corso Umberto, it is one of the most impressive monuments ever erected to one man. All the combatant countries of Europe have their share of war memorials, taking the forms already described and generally asso ciated with sculpture. In Sweden note must be taken of the several recent memorials, mostly in the form of fountains, by Carl Milles. Though they are the work of a sculptor they are essentially architectural in general design.

The United States.

To an extent which does not prevail in any other country religious architecture in the United States of America is affected by two conditions : the upward growth of cities, and the shading off of religious beliefs into ethical systems. The first is leading inevitably to the incorporation of places of worship in sky-scraper buildings (see ARCHITECTURE) of which the other floors are used for commercial purposes, e.g., the Broad way Temple, New York, begun by the late Donn Barber and now being carried on by Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker; the second creates an intermediate type of building, something between the church and the lecture or concert hall, of which the Christian Science Church may be quoted as an example. Allowing for these special conditions religious architecture in America during the last 5o years has developed on very much the same lines as in England. The "colonial" version of the type of church instituted by Wren has persisted in the Congregational and Unitarian com munities, Roman Catholic churches incline to the Lombard, or Romanesque-Byzantine form, and Christian Science prefers Classic ; but Episcopalians and Presbyterians generally prefer Gothic. To a certain extent, the broadening and simplification of Gothic associated in England with the names of Bodley, Temple Moore and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, have been repeated in America, particularly by the late Bertram G. Goodhue and his associates Cram and Ferguson. Churches which may be named in this con nection are St. Thomas', New York City; the chapel of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point ; Emmanuel church, Cleveland, 0.; and the First Baptist church, Pittsburgh, all by Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson; All Saints, Peterboro, N.H., by Cram and Fer

guson; church of the Holy Innocents, Brooklyn, by Helmle and Corbett ; and Washington Episcopal church, originally designed by Vaughan and Bodley and carried on by Frohman, Robb and Little.

The cathedral is a comparatively recent institution in the United States, and two important examples are now in course of construction.

In 1893 Congress granted a charter for the establishment and maintenance of a cathedral and institutions of learning within the District of Columbia for the promotion of religion, education and charity. Mt. Saint Alban, 400 ft. above the Potomac river, was chosen as the site for Washington cathedral; to-day the cathedral close occupies 674 acres. Dr. George F. Bodley, of London, and Henry Vaughan, of Boston, his pupil, both of whom have since died, were the original architects chosen and their plan was accepted in 1907; the present architects are Frohman, Robb and Little, of Boston, with Cram and Ferguson, also of Boston, as consulting architects. The cathedral will be cruciform in shape with two impressive transepts, forming the arms of the cross. The total length will be 534 ft., the width at the transepts 215 ft., the area 71,000 square feet. The central tower will be 262 ft. and the western towers 195 ft. high. The entire foundation is now structurally complete. Three chapels in the crypt, together with the vaulted connecting passages, are now open. On the main floor the apse has risen, and the choir and crossing, including the great piers to support the central tower, are approaching completion. Through the western portal, the effect promises to be a vaulted vista of more than Soo ft., through the nave, the crossing and the choir to the sanctuary. The vaulting of the nave will rise 95 ft. from the floor, and the height of the inner aisles, flanking the nave, will be 45 feet. The nave will consist of nine bays and the choir of five. The plans call for more than Boo statues, some 30o stained glass windows and more than i,000 sculptured bosses or keystones of the vaulted arches. The landscape work within the cathedral close combines two distinct elements: (I) that of the cathedral itself and its adjacent buildings, which is in the spirit of old world gardens; (2) that of the wooded slope of Mt. Saint Alban, pre serving its natural beauty and increasing its dogwood, laurel, wild azalea and choice undergrowth. Ultimately the cathedral close will contain some 3o auxiliary buildings, harmonizing in design with the central edifice. Among these will be the chapter house, synod hall, cloisters, sacristy, choir rooms and administration building, the dean's residence, six canons' and six minor canons' residences, 12 retired clergy residences, a library and librarian's residence, a guest house, additional buildings for St. Albans, the National Cathedral School for Boys, and the National Cathedral School for Girls, the College of Preachers and the lodges for the cathedral employees, an amphitheatre, a gymnasium and an ath letic field. A stone wall with i2 gates, named after the I 2 apostles, will ultimately surround the entire group.