The steel-cage system of building dates from about 1880. It was ten years earlier when it was first noted in the greater cities of the United States that business offices could not be rented to advantage nor large hotels managed success fully without a free use of the elevator (the lift). Offices in the fifth story would not rent at all, nor those on the fourth story easily, un less they had this "elevator service." But with the introduction of elevators into office build ings and hotels there came the easy possibility of building to the height of eight and nine stories instead of to five. Ten years later there ap peared suddenly the possibility of building what appeared to be an ordinary edifice of masonry with an actual structure of steel uprights and horizontals firmly bolted together, braced where necessary, and of any conceivable height. All the exterior walls, which were thin and of masonry, were supported by the steel structure, and therefore the walls of the basement story occupied no more horizontal space than those of any upper story; whereas, in a masonry build ing, the walls or piers grow much thicker below as the height increases, and more valuable space in the ground story is lost in the attempt to get less valuable space above. Immediately upon the introduction of the constructional steel frame, buildings were increased in height from nine or ten to twenty or more stories. Elevators were built which ran at greatly increased speed, and these could he arranged in groups, some to run "express" to the twelfth story, perhaps, while others stopped at every floor from the first to the eleventh.
In spite of the radical character of these changes in construction and plan, no sign of any architectural result has appeared. This is in part owing to the purely commercial char acter of the buildings. They must be built as quickly as possible, because of the monthly loss of rent to the owner while his plot of ground remains unproductive, and they must be as in expensive as possible, in order that the annual rental may hear a better proportion to the cost. Hitherto in the history of the world no archi tecture of any value has been developed out of any such conditions. The efforts of two or three architects to invest these buildings with a logical and appropriate system of external design are worthy of the highest praise, but have not been followed generally; nor have they produced marked results as yet.
In this brief survey there has been no place for the architecture of Farther Asia, of India, and the neighboring provinces; of China and Japan: still less for the architecture of Mexico, Central America, Peru, etc. All these are described under their especial heads. Thu details of all the styles here mentioned are also given under the si pa ra to title. EGYPTIAN ART; BABYLONIAN ART; ASSYRIAN ART; Puw.NIeI AN ART; PERSIAN ART: GREEK ART; ROMAN ART: CHRISTIAN ART BYZANTINE ART; MOHAMMEDAN ART: RO MANESQUE ART; GOTHIC ART; RENAISSA N('E ART: and ARCH ITECTURE, ANCIENT AMERICAN. Under the genera] head ART. HISTORY Or, a review is given of all the various classes of titles under which the architectural material in the ey clopeedia is classified, such as biographies of architects, descriptions of various kinds of build ings, definitions of terms, etc. This history of the science and material of construction as distin guished from the purely :esthetic side of archi tecture is given under Bi BiRmoottAmm Au excellent systematic hand hook is Rosengarten, A Ham/book of Arehitec tuna Styles (English translation, London, 1878). More recent, and with references and a larger enumeration of monuments, is Hamlin, A Text book of the History of Architecture (New York, 1897). The only full history of architecture in
English, but uneven and unreliable, is Fergusson, A History of Architecture in All Countries ( London, 1893 ) . Liibke, Gesch ich le dcr Archi tektur (Leipzig, 1884), is somewhat antiquated, but more accurate. Histoire de l'archi teeture (Paris, 18S5), is still useful. A critical history, from the standpoint of pure construc tion and form, has now been given in Choisy, Bistoire de l'architeeture (Paris. IS99), without an enumeration of monuments, and extremely technical. Two series of separate handbooks, each corering some special style or country, and to gether forming 0 complete whole, are being pub lished, one in the other in Germany. The genera] title of the French series is Hibliotheque de 1'cnseignement des beaux arts (see ART, HISTORY OF) : Laloux, greet] lie (Paris, 1888) Corroyer, L'urrhilecture roniainc (Paris, 1887), and L'architcrturc gothique (Paris, 1891) : and Palustre, L'arehitccturc de M renaissance (Paris, 1892), arc the only vol umes on architecture alone; but the rest of the field is covered in the architectural sections of the following general volumes: Maspero. Egyptian A rclarologg (London, 1895) ; Bab(don. Oriental Antiquities, translated by B. T. Evetts New York. 1889) ; Martha, L'areht'oiogie etrusque et ronotine (Paris. 1884) : Perat6. L'arehO.ilopie chrOicnne (Paris, 1892) ; Ravel, L'art bin. (Paris, 1883) ; and Gayet, 1)1111 firabe (Paris, 1893), and E'art persan (Paris, 1895).
The German series is more detailed, and is solely architectural. It is the Handbuch der Architektur, ed. Dunn (Darmstadt, 1895), and contains special volumes on the theory and practice of architecture, as well as its history. Its four sections are entitled: 1. Allgemeine H ochbaukunde (materials; statics ; methods ; forms) ; 11. Buz/stile (History, in four sections; Ancient, Aledheval, Renaissance, and Modern) ; 11ochbau-Constructionen (elements of structure; foundations; external features; internal feat ures; specific details) ; Entwerfen, Anlagc and Einrichiung der Gcbaudc (composition; build ings for dwelling and trade; buildings for agri cultural and provisioning purposes; public houses, clubs, and halls, etc.; buildings for health, charity, etc.: educational, scientific, and artistic establishments; civic, governmental, administrative, and military buildings; religious and memorial structures; the city). There are a number of quarto volumes in each of these sections and subsections, several of which have been published. In the historical section the most valuable are: Dunn, Die Haukunst der Grieehen (Darmstadt, 1892) ; and Die Bait kunst der Etrusker und der Romer (Darm stadt, 1S85). The others are: Essenwein, Die .4 usyinge der classischen Baukunst (Early Christian), and Die Fortsctzuny der classisehen Baukunst inc ostromisehen Rciche (Byzantine) ; Franz Pa seh a • Bo //kunst des Islam ( Darmstadt, 1896) ; and Essenwein, a series of works on Die co»mAlsebe and die yothische Baukunst (Darm stadt, 1889-92 ), including his volumes on Mili tary Architecture (Krieysbaukunst), and Do mestic Architecture (W 011nbau).
There are two principal dictionaries of archi tecture in English: The Dictionary of Archi teetare of the English Architectural Publication Society, on a large scale, never completed : and Russell Sturgis, Dictionary of .1rehitcct ore (New York, 1901-02), in 3 vols.. covering the ground of technique, history. classification of monuments, and biography. Gwilt, Enclycopte die of Architecture (London, 1888), is handy to consult, In French there is Planat. Encyclope die de l'architecturc ct de la construction (Paris, 1890-93 ).