"The general effect of the interior is rich and beautiful, and the proportions of the plan and section good ; the are admirably arranged, and every part displays talent ; the whole design is nevertheless somewhat crowded in detail, and overlaid with ornament, and, according to our view of the case, wanting fitness for its purpose, is less deserving of applause than it would be, were the building otherwise appropriated than it is." St. George's, Bloomsbury, is another church by the same architect.
The next architect of any note practising this style, was James Gibbs, the architect of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, and St. Mary-le-Strand, both which churches present many good features; the portico to the tbrmer is much admired. Gibbs introduced a practice of placing the spire over the body of the church, so that it appears as if rising out of the roof; this is decidedly objectionable.
Passing by many architects of less note, we arrive at Sir William Chambers, who greatly excelled his cotemporaries and many of his predecessors in this style of building ; his greatest work is Somerset House, which we must not pass by without a short description. " This building," says Mr. Bury, " stands on an area of SOO feet in width, by 500 feet in depth, and is disposed on the four sides of a rectangular court, the interior length of which is 319 feet from north to south, and 2:24 feet in breadth : the lapde towards the Strand is 133 feet long. and consists of three stories: nine arches are assigned to the basement, whereof the three in the centre are open, and lead to the great court, besides having entrances to the apartments of this wing ; the other rusticated arches are occupied by windows, decorated with pilasters, entablatures and pediments. Above this story are two tiers of windows of which those in the lower tier have entablatures supported by Ionic columns ; the upper windows are square, and are surrounded by square architraves. Between these windows, the walls are ornamented with columns of the Corinthian older, standing on pedestals, and extending the height of the two stories ; the height of the circler without the pedestals is 23 feet, and that of the entablature is 5 feet. Over the three central compartments of this facade, is an attic-story, with oval windows and statues in front : the entire height from the ground is 62 feet.'' The vestibule contains a carriage-way and two footways, separated by two ranges of coupled Doric columns, which with their entablature support the vaults.
The inner front of this division of the building, facing the court-yard, is similar to that in the Strand, with the exception that pilasters are employed in the place of columns.
The east and west sides of this quadrangle are similar to those already described, with the exception of those portions between the extremities and the -central division, in which the windows are of a less ornamented description, being rectangular, and without architraves. The central divisions are crowned by urns surmounting the entablatures, and have each a small clock-tower above the roof. The south f•icade is similar to the east and west sides, but its central compart ment is more highly enriched, the entablature being supported by four columns and four pilasters, both of the Corinthian order, and the windows between the columns being recessed. Above the roof is a lofty cupola, partially screened by an angular pediment.
The front towards the river Thames, is 350 feet long, and presents a magnificent appearance. Its arrangement corresponds with that of the quadrangle, but a superior bold ness of character has been adopted in its centre wings, where disengaged columns with pilasters are introduced. The centre part of this building is crowned by a cupola, as above stated. Before this facade is a terrace 50 feet wide, supported by a lofty arcade, and protected by a balustrade. In the centre is one great semicircular arch, and near each extremity is a water-gate of similar form, the piers of which are ornamented with rusticated columns." We must now turn to a class of structures which have risen up of late, and to which this style of building is pecu liarly applicable,—we allude to Club-houses. Some of these edifices are of very elegant design, and of magnificent appear ance, their general treatment being borrowed from the palatial edifices of Italy : they are in our opinion the most favourable examples of Italian architecture in England, and are far preferable to the ecclesiastical edifices built in this style ; tint which arises, as we imagine, not so much from the merit of the architects employed, as from the circumstance that the style is adapted to the one class of edifice, and not to the other.