DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. The external forms and internal arrangements of the domestic abodes of a people are far more influenced by their manners, habits, and occu pations, and by the climate in which they live, than their ecclesiastical edifices and public buildings; and there is, consequently, no department of architecture which is so varied and national as domestic architecture. But not only are the circumstances of each country different in this respect—the same is the case with every department of each country, with every town in each department, with every street in each town; and a D. A. which fulfills its object, will not only adapt itself to the necessities, but will make the best, in point of artistic effect, of the specialties of every case with which it is called upon to deal. The circumstances of families, and even the tastes and fancies of individuals, are legitimate subjects of consideration in domestic architecture. To attempt to give to D. A. the beauty of uniformity, is consequently to mistake both its object and the source from which its charm is derived. When attained at all, uniformity is attained not in accordance with, but in defiance of, the utilitarian objects of domestic architecture. The results of this artistic falsehood may be seen in the monotonous and meaningless streets and squares that have been built in all our principal towns during the last eighty years. The legitimate charm of D. A., because the only one which can arise from the complete fulfillment of its object, is the charm of variety. It is the charm
which our ancestors sought during the whole of the great architectural period of the middle ages, and which our architects, who in this, as in so many other respects, are returning to their principles, are now beginning to cultivate. But here, as in all similar cases, it must be borne in mind that, in general, it is the principle alone that can be revived, and that the details by which it was carried out can be legitimately copied only in the exceptional cases in which circumstances and the objects to be attained remain unchanged. The position of an Englishman in the 19th differs in many respects from that of an Englishman in the 14th c. ; and to construct for the former a house in all respects resembling that which was constructed for the latter, would be to commit an error the same in kind as if we had sought for either of them a model dwelling in Pompeii or Canton.
An account of the forms of English houses from the 12th c. downwards, will be found in Parker's Glossary of Architecture. Apart from our own earlier examples, the forms of D.A. most suggestive for present use in this country, are those which are to be found in such wonderful beauty and variety in almost all of the older continental towns of the n. of Europe. It was from the D. A. of France and the Netherlands that that of Scotland, at its best period, was mainly borrowed; and if we wish to improve it now, we can scarcely do better than revert to its original source.