The of ..Vezo York Ci1y, commenced in 1803 and finished in I814, was doubtless esteemed at the time of its erection not only a fine but also a large structure, yet now, encased among commercial buildings which tower far above it, it seems insignificant, and is almost as much a relic of the past as is Faneuil Hall, Boston, or Independence Hall, Phil adelphia. It is of marble, in a semi-classic style, with pilasters and arches, and is terminated above by a turret much like the turrets of colonial or Queen-Anne days. The entrance-hall and the rotunda, containing the staircase, are well and strikingly arranged. The south front is in imita tion of the lake-front of Fontainebleau. The adjacent court-house is a more strictly classic and more modern pile, to which at a later date has been added an ornate wing with round-arched windows and much carv ing, Romanesque rather than classic in feeling.
The Xczo Philadelphia (pi. 61, fig. r), is among the largest of modern buildings, slightly exceeding the Capitol at Washington in area. Seldom indeed has a better opportunity been afforded for architec tonic display than is given by its position—at the junction of two of the principal streets of the city. It occupies what was once Penn Square, the site of the city's earliest waterworks, and thus stands free all around. This immense structure, 486 feet in length from north to south and 47o feet from east to west, is conceived in the style of the new Louvre at Paris, with central and angle pavilions, the whole surmounted by a mansard roof of great height. Each front is a symmetrical whole, and, with the exception of the slight difference in length, the fronts are alike.
The central feature is a gigantic tower which will rise upward of 537 feet above the pavement, and thus will exceed in height by 5o feet the greatest length of the structure. This tower was designed to be the loftiest in the world, but in this respect has already been surpassed by the Washington Monument at the national capital. It occupies the centre of the northern facade, but its base is not visible from the exterior, as it rises from behind the central pavilion. From the internal quadrangle it towers as a mighty mass, and is visible throughout its entire height to an eleva tion, even in its present (r888) incomplete condition, of about 35o feet. In any distant view of the city it is the most conspicuous object. Its terminal ornament will consist of a statue of William Penn 36 feet in height.
The magnificence of this edifice, its imposing dimensions, the rich array of marble and polished granite, and the beautiful sculpture which adorns its facades and its entrance-halls, are calculated to disarm crit icism; yet there are few who would not, upon reflection, be ready to own that the structure suffers greatly from the conditions imposed upon the architect to provide open thoroughfares through it on the lines of the streets. The retention of these thoroughfares has compelled the sacrifice
of those grand flights of external staircases leading up to the principal floor which add so much to the appearance of many modern buildings, and notably to the Palais de Justice of Brussels—that most grandiose of recent edifices (fii. 53, jig. 2).
Lofty-columned outer entrance-halls welcome the visitor, but the necessity of continuity in the floor above has caused the reduction of the exits from these halls to the inner quadrangle to a mediocre height. One of the entrances passes through the tower, and here an effect of more than Egyptian massiveness is accentuated by forceful Titanic figures that form the capitals of the four short columns and seem to carry the tower above. Taste has changed or developed since this immense structure was com menced, and few indeed are the students of art who, when they look at its vast proportions, do not wish that it had been conceived in some other style—or that, at least, some little variety had been given to the facades —and that the huge mansards were absent.
The of Albany has a plain square tower ending in a short spire and having three tall windows on each side. The windows in the principal gable are arranged in groups of three, varied by five across the base of the gable. The masses about the entrance reverse the usual order by becoming more solid as they rise, presenting a contrast to the gable-end and to the round turret and the broad arch which flank the entrance on the other side. Here, as elsewhere, Richardson shows his masterly skill in the arrangement of masses.
New York is proud of Jefferson Market Court-house, a Gothic struc ture with two admirable facades which meet at an acute angle, where a fine tower, circular most of the way up, but square at top—where it bears a clock—is introduced in a most effective manner.
Allegheny County Pittsburg, is perhaps less striking in its facades than are some other of Richardson's works; yet it has two bold entrances, one flanked by two semicircular turrets and consisting of three arches, the central largest, while the other is drawn out into three grand arches divided by smaller ones, its central arch piercing the base of a mas sive tower which rises in unmitigated severity high above the structure. tower has four angle-turrets and ends in a low spire, below which are a series of small and one of large openings. The upper storey of main building has groups of small round-arched NYindows, and the prin cipal floor has larger round arches.