DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE.
The scope of the original work, as contained in the preceding pages, having precluded an extended account of the architecture of England sub sequent to the fifteenth century, it is deemed advisable to introduce some additional particulars relative to those phases which have succeeded the Elizabethan Age.
Sir Christopher lUren, whose work in London was by no means con fined to the erection of St. Paul's, designed fifty-three other churches in that city, nearly all of which are extant. Among the most noted are St. Mary-le-Bow, which has an elegant many-storeyed, spire-like steeple 225 feet high; St. Bride, also noted for its steeple; St. Stephen, Walbrook, famdus for the skilful lighting and arrangement of the interior; St. James, Piccadilly, unsightly without, but fine within; St. Andrew, Holborn; St. Dunstan's-in-the-East; Christchurch, Newgrate; St. Martin, Ludgate; and St. Mary, Aldermary. Most of these churches adorn neighborhoods which, since they have only a weekday population, have little need of them. Wren did well in classic architecture, but lie occasionally tried his hand at Gothic with ill success, as, having no love for it, lie spoiled all lie touched. The western towers of Westminster Abbey are his work.
Later the architects of the days of Queen Anne and the first two Georges was a pupil of Wren, Nicholas Hawksmore, who built several churches in London, including St. George's, Bloomsbury, whose steeple has been well styled " a masterpiece of absurdity," since it consists of an obelisk capped with a statue of George I. and hugged by the royal supporters. Another architect of this period was James Gibbs, whose church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, notwithstanding its late date, has much merit.
Later, in the days of Louis Quinze, came the Adam brothers, Robert and James, the former at Edinburgh, the latter at London, where the sombre Ade1phi Buildings and Portland Place, with much internal rococo work, remain as evidence of what was then considered art. The Somer
set House of Sir William Chambers is a noble work, and at the present time is one of the finest adornments of the river-front.
of the worst of English architects was Batty Langley, who tried to adapt Gothic architecture to Roman meas ures and invented five "Gothic orders." This kind of Gothic, together with variations little better, preceded the true Gothic and even the Greek revivals, and was as bad as the German " theatrical Gothic " spoken of on page 292.
The Grecian Revival was inaugurated by James Stuart, commonly called " Athenian Stuart," who, in conjunction with Nicholas Revett, published a work on The Antiquities of Athens. Appearing in r762, this work was the predisposing cause of the erection of the grand facades of the British Museum, of the Greek propykua which gives so strange an entrance to Euston Square Station, of churches and town-halls like Greek temples, of the Ionic general post-office, finished in IS29 from the designs of Sir Robert Smirke, and of Grecian mansions innumerable.
Notwithstanding the prevalence of " stucco-" or '' compo-" architec ture during the earlier decades of this century previous to the Gothic revival, numerous important public buildings were erected in the Greek and the " " or Renaissance style.
Geowe' s h all, Liverpool, is a grand classic temple in some respects recalling the Madeleine at Paris. Its principal fronts are 42o feet long, with an advancing colonnade in the centre 200 feet in length and an external Corinthian order 45 feet high. The great hall measures 161 feet in length by 75 in width and height. Its James Elmes, died before its completion.
The Exchange Buildings, Liverpool, form three sides of a quadrangle, the town-hall forming the fourth, and the whole composes an ornate Renaissance group of great magnificence, though the town-hall inclines to Grecian. Another fine structure is the custom-house, which is stir mounted by a dome. Its order is Ionic, and it contains a room 146 feet long by 7o wide.