* * * * *
We wonder whether every one who receives these first issues of the
International Edition of the _American Architect_ comprehends the
significance of the step which we, with the kind support and
appreciation of our subscribers, have ventured to take. How many of
those who turn over our pages realize that this is by far the most
ambitious and costly architectural periodical in the world, and that it
has been reserved for America to try to present every week, with a due
proportion of the more valuable models from the past, an adequate view
of all the best architecture which modern civilization can show?
Strangely enough, in carrying out our plan of representing contemporary
architecture as it should be represented, it is to Americans that we
must most earnestly and urgently appeal for cooperation. We know where
we can get drawings, plans, photographs, descriptions and details of all
the best current work in North and South Germany, Italy, France and
England, and even in Russia, but to secure anything like a decent
representation of modern American architecture has hitherto been,
according to our experience, absolutely impossible. Not long ago a
discussion took place in England about architectural periodicals, and
one or two of the American journals were mentioned with commendation, on
account of the beautiful drawing and process-work in their
illustrations, as well as the value of their text. Not long afterwards,
a disparaging commentary on this discussion was made in one of the
English professional papers, to the effect that it was a great mistake
to value so highly the illustrations in the American journals, for the
reason that, although charmingly executed and fascinating, they rarely
represented architectural work of any importance. Our readers,
especially those faithful friends who have stood by us for years, will
understand that this was a sharp thrust, but it is, and not through our
fault, altogether too well deserved. While in all other countries where
architecture is practised, every important competition is regularly
illustrated from the competitive drawings themselves, which are, as a
matter of course, placed at the disposal of the professional journals;
and plans, elevations, sections and perspectives of all new buildings of
interest, and often photographs from the models for the sculptured
detail, and illustrations of the schemes for heating and ventilation are
gladly furnished by the architects, who understand perfectly that their
professional reputation depends in great part on the publicity which is
given to their work through the medium of the technical press: in this
country, on the contrary, the attitude toward technical journals of a
great many architects, and among them some who are constantly engaged
upon very important work, is one, apparently, of grave suspicion. The
most earnest appeals by letter on the part of the editors for permission
to publish plans or elevations of a successful building by one of them
meet with no response. Then the editor takes two or three days from his
abundant leisure, and calls personally upon the professional magnate.
The latter seems pleased to see him, shows him the drawings of the
building in question, appears to be gratified at his praises, and
readily agrees to allow the publication of the plan and perspective. The
editor lays these drawings aside, and proposes to take them with him,
but the architect politely insists that he cannot allow him to burden
himself, and promises that he will send them immediately by express. The
editor returns to his desk, and arranges space for the expected drawings
in the next issue, but they do not arrive. Two or three weeks go by, and
he then writes to the distinguished architect, to remind him of his
promise. The letter brings neither the drawings nor any other response,
and, after a final entreaty, as unsuccessful as the rest, he abandons
his efforts, to begin them again with a fresh subject, who proves as
slippery as the other.
* * * * *
After a good many years of such struggles, we should be inclined to say
that we would trouble ourselves no further, and that American architects
who are capable of carrying out important work successfully, and do not
want other people to know it, may please themselves in the matter, were
it not that, in a journal which now intends to show what is done all
over the world, we most earnestly wish to have American, architecture
properly represented. We are sure that the best of it is equal to the
best anywhere, and we want to be able to prove it. The treatment of our
modern mercantile and business structures, particularly those ten or
twelve stories in height, is more successful than any other work of the
kind in the world; the planning of our office-buildings is unrivalled
anywhere, and some of our apartment-houses will bear comparison with the
best in Paris--which are the best anywhere--and are more interesting, on
account of the more complex character of the services which we must
provide for. Besides this, many details of American construction, such
as the encased iron framing-and isolated pier foundations of the Chicago
architects, and the heating and ventilating systems in use everywhere
here, are far in advance of foreign practice, and we want our foreign
readers to see this with their own eyes, and to give their American
brethren their proper rank in the profession. To do this we must have
the material, and we appeal once more to American architects who have it
to furnish it, and to those who do not have it themselves, but who know
where it is to be found, to get it for us, or to put us in the way of
getting it. Plans, elevations, perspectives, sketches, photographs,
negatives, descriptions, whatever is good, we want to show, for the
benefit and reputation of the profession in America far more than for
our own, for we know better than the profession how very valuable
publicity of the kind is to architects. The late Mr. Richardson, even to
a comparatively late period in his professional career, was afflicted
with the usual bashfulness about having his work published. We well
remember the solicitations, the refusals, the renewed appeals, and,
finally, the reluctant and conditional assent to have a single gelatine
print from one of his perspectives published. This was the drawing, we
think, of the Woburn Library, and was accompanied by a plan. Finding
that he had suffered no severe injury from this exposure of his design
to the gaze of the cold world, Mr. Richardson soon became one of our
kindest friends, and if reputation and employment are things to be
desired by an architect, we may say with all due modesty that what he
did for us was repaid to him a hundred-fold, for, great as was his
talent, it must, without the publicity given to his work through means
like ours, have had for years only a local influence. As it was,
however, every issue of ours with one of his designs was studied in a
thousand offices and imitated in hundreds; his name was in the mouths of
all architects throughout the Union; our plates were reproduced abroad;
the illustrated magazines, finding his reputation already made in the
profession, hastened to spread it among the public; and at his lamented
death, a few years later, he was the central figure of American
architecture. Now, although we do not say that all the architects who
send us their drawings will attain the fame of a Richardson, we do say
that Richardson would never have attained a fraction of his reputation
if he had not allowed his designs to be published, and we need hardly
say further that if any architect has done a good piece of work, and has
it published, more people will know about it than if he kept it to
himself; and the more people know about his good work, the more will
come to him to get some like it, the better will be his standing in the
profession here, and the more credit he will do his country abroad.
* * * * *
It may be as well to disarm criticism and complaint by stating that
there will be throughout the year more or less of irregularity in the
appearance of the additional illustrations in the International Edition,
owing partly to steamer delays, and partly, perhaps, to misunderstanding
of our instructions on the part of our correspondents. It will not be
proper, therefore, to compare one issue with another, and assert that we
are falling short of our promises. When the end of the year is reached,
the subscribers to that edition will find, on review, that our promises
have been fully kept, and that the edition has been what it professed to
be. Naturally, defects and deficiencies will be more apparent at the
outset, when the complicated details of supply have not been definitely
adjusted.
* * * * *
The profession in Brooklyn, N.Y., has to mourn the loss of Mr. Charles
Keely, son of Mr. Peter C. Keely, the architect of so many Catholic
churches all over the country, and associated with his father in
business. The practice of the office is enormous, fifty churches, it is
said, being sometimes in process of execution from the designs of the
father and son, and of the excellent work done there, no doubt much was
due to the younger man's talent. Mr. Keely was about thirty-five years
of age, active and popular. He died of pneumonia in Hartford, at the
house of the bishop, whom he was visiting on business.
* * * * *
A deputation was presented to the Ways and Means Committee of Congress
the other day from the Free Art League, which urged the abolition of the
present duty on foreign works of art. The deputation consisted of Mr.
Carroll Beckwith and Mr. Kenyon Cox, with Mr. William A. Coffin, who,
after mentioning some of the obvious reasons for abolishing the tax,
stated that, in response to a circular sent out by the League, fourteen
hundred and thirty-five communications were received from artists,
teachers of art and others whose opinion would be of value. Of these,
thirteen hundred and forty-five desired the immediate abolition of the
duty, eighty-three favored a moderate duty, ten per cent being mentioned
by twenty-eight out of the number and seven wished the present impost
retained. The Ways and Means Committee, according to the newspapers,
listened politely to the artists for a time, and then turned their
attention to the duty on carbonate of soda. Whether, in the presence of
practical matters like carbonate of soda, they will ever, think again of
the tax on mere works of art, remains to be seen.
* * * * *
_Fire and Water_ says, referring to some remarks of ours about the
policy of transferring the fire-extinguishing apparatus of small towns
to any neighboring large one in which a serious conflagration happens to
break out, that we were mistaken in "supposing" that the insurance
companies might refuse to pay losses in suburban towns occurring during
the temporary absence of the regular protective apparatus, and that as
the contract of insurance does not mention anything of the kind, the
companies would be compelled to pay losses, whatever happened to the
engines, so long as their policies remained uncancelled. Now, in the
first place, we did not "suppose" or "assert," as another paper says we
did, anything about the matter. We simply said we had been told that the
companies would not pay in such cases, which was true. We were told
that, and by an insurance agent, who ought to know something about it.
Moreover, this was not the first time we have heard the same thing. Not
long ago, in a discussion in the city government of a town near Boston,
one of the members protested against allowing the town engines to leave
the limits of the municipality, for the same reason, that the insurance
companies would not pay losses occurring while the engines were absent.
As to the contract in the policy, we have often seen clauses requiring
the insured to notify the company of any circumstances affecting the
risk, of which the absence of the town engines might be considered one,
so, in our ignorance, we, and, we imagine, a good many others, would be
glad to have an authoritative statement from the companies themselves on
the subject.
* * * * *
According to the _Wiener Bauindustrie Zeitung_, the splendid Brunswick
monument at Geneva is on the point of falling down. Every one remembers
the history of this structure, which was erected in 1879, at a cost of
six hundred thousand dollars, to the memory of Charles the Second of
Brunswick, the "Diamond Duke," as he was called by the Germans, who,
after his expulsion from his principality by his subjects, on account of
his extravagance and general worthlessness, took up his residence in
Geneva, and, on his death, in 1873, bequeathed all his property, about
four million dollars, to the city. The municipality was grateful enough
to carry out in a very sumptuous manner the last wishes of its
benefactor, who desired to be commemorated by a monument in the style of
the later Scaliger tomb at Verona, and from the designs of Frauel was
erected the hexagonal Gothic pavilion, surmounted by an equestrian
statue of the Duke, which is so well known to architects. The Veronese
prototype of the monument is a tolerably insecure affair, but the modern
imitation is still larger and heavier, and two years after its
completion the substructure began to come to pieces. It was then clamped
with metal, but water got into the joints, and further repairs were soon
necessary. In 1883, the Carrara marble of which it was built had so far
decayed that the rebuilding of the whole with more durable stone was
seriously proposed; and now, examination, having shown that the whole
affair is likely to collapse at any moment, the city authorities have
asked for authority to raise eight thousand dollars, by loan, to put it
in secure condition. To tell the truth, it would not be an irreparable
loss to the world to have the structure go to ruin. An imitation of an
existing monument is not likely to be a very inspiring work of art, and
this was not extremely successful, even as an imitation; while the
historical fact which it immortalized, that the last representative of
one of the six great German princely families, whose ancestors had been
reigning sovereigns for a thousand years, had been obliged to set up the
images of his haughty forefathers in a community of Republicans, because
his own people despised and hated him so much that they could endure him
no longer, was not of a character to arouse noble thoughts in the mind
of the beholder.
* * * * *
We have before called attention to the great and rapidly increasing
importance of the South American Republics, and, while there seems to be
no prospect that our proximity to them will be of any commercial
advantage to us, some of our young architects and skilled mechanics, who
speak Spanish, might perhaps find profitable employment there. At
present, the most prosperous city is Buenos Ayres, which, from one
hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants in 1870, increased to four
hundred and sixty thousand in 1888, and has gained very rapidly within
the last year. We must confess that our own ideas of Buenos Ayres still
retain a reminiscence of gauchos and lassoes and buffalo, but this grows
fainter as we find illustrations in the foreign papers of the newer
buildings going up in the city. The last we have seen is of an enormous
dry-goods store, after the model of the "Bon Marché" or the "Printemps"
in Paris, which is known as the "Bon Marché Argentin," and covers at
present ninety thousand square feet of land, while thirty-five thousand
feet adjoining have been secured, and are to be used for the enlargement
of the present building which will soon become necessary. There are said
to be a good many architects already in Buenos Ayres, but first-rate
mechanics are, or were not long ago, so scarce that the municipality
imported plumbers under contract from London to do work on public
buildings.