CHAPTER XV_The reader's guide to the Encyclopaedia Britannica

FOR ARCHITECTS

Although architecture is more and more coming to be recognized as one of

the fine arts, it is at the same time so largely practical and

utilitarian that its theory and methods may to a great extent be

gathered from systematic reading. In the article Fine Arts in the

Britannica, by Sir Sidney Colvin, it is well said that “The original or

rudimentary type of the architect, considered not as a mere builder but

as an artist, is the savage, who, when his tribe had taken to live in

tents or huts instead of caves, first arranged the skins and timbers of

his tent or hut in one way because it pleased his eye, rather than in

some other way which was as good for shelter.” Whether the architect

wishes to learn how the eye may be pleased, to study critically the

history of architecture, or, like the less imaginative savage who failed

of being the first inspired architect, to consider comfort and shelter

rather than beauty and charm, he will find much to help him in the

Britannica. If his interest is chiefly practical, he should consult the

chapter _For Builders_ in this Guide.

The architect should read first—and he will constantly be referring to

it afterwards—the article ARCHITECTURE (Vol. 2, p. 369), equivalent in

length to 235 pages of this Guide and illustrated by 140 figures, about

one-third of which are photogravures. The article is historical in the

main and a brief outline of it is as follows:—

Egyptian

Assyrian

Persian

Greek

Parthian

Sassanian

Etruscan

Roman

Byzantine

Early Christian

Coptic Church in Egypt

Romanesque and Gothic in

Italy

France

Spain

England

Germany

Belgium and Holland

Renaissance: Introduction

Italy

France

Spain

England

Germany

Belgium and Holland

Mahommedan

Modern

Classical Revival in British Architecture

Classical Revival in Germany

French Classicism

Barry’s “Commonsense” Style

Gothic Revival in England

Gothic Revival in France

Queen Anne Style

“Free Classic” Style

Arts allied to Architecture

Craftsmanship Ideal

Architecture in United States (Figures 97, 98, 99, 131, 132, 133, 134,

135, 136, 137, 138)

English Churches

English Public Buildings

English Domestic and Street Architecture

Recent French Architecture

Germany

Other Countries

The part of the article dealing with Modern Architecture is by H. H.

Statham author of a well-known book on the subject. Earlier sections are

by R. Phené Spiers, late master of the Royal Academy’s Architectural

School, with sections on the Romanesque and Gothic in France by W. R.

Lethaby, principal of the Central (London County) School of Arts and

Crafts.

Before continuing his more systematic historical readings the student

may well read the article HOUSE (Vol. 13, p. 810), illustrated with 12

figures (3 plates), including four particularly fine examples of “half

timbered buildings,” and one English house, the Jew’s House at Lincoln,

dating from the 12th century. An interesting article on MURAL DECORATION

(Vol. 19, p. 16) is by a remarkably distinguished trio: William Morris,

poet, craftsman and painter, John Henry Middleton, late Slade professor

of fine art, Cambridge, and Walter Crane, the well-known illustrator and

decorator. This is illustrated with 16 figures in black and white and

with a reproduction in colours of a wall-painting from a Roman villa of

the early Empire. The article deals with: reliefs in marble and stone;

marble veneer; glazed bricks or tiles; hard stucco; sgraffito; stamped

leather; painted cloth; printed hangings and wall-papers; and painting.

If the student of architecture would know about the buildings of

prehistoric times, in which there was little architecture in the sense

of a fine art, he should read the articles ARCHAEOLOGY, (Vol. 2, p.

344), LAKE DWELLINGS (Vol. 16, p. 91), STONEHENGE (Vol. 25, p. 961) and

STONE MONUMENTS, PRIMITIVE (Vol. 25, p. 962),—the last two of particular

interest to the building engineer because it is so puzzling a problem

how these great blocks could have been brought such distances and set in

place without modern appliances.

[Sidenote: Early Oriental Architecture]

Engineering problems will be the most interesting in a large part of the

student’s reading about Egyptian architecture. Supplementing the 4,000

or 5,000 words on this subject under ARCHITECTURE, accompanied by seven

illustrations, there is much information in the articles EGYPT (Vol. 9,

p. 21); ABYDOS (Vol. 1, p. 81) and KARNAK (Vol. 15, p. 680); and in the

articles PYRAMID (Vol. 22, p. 683), (by W. M. Flinders Petrie) and

SPHINX (Vol. 25, p. 662) by Francis Llewellyn Griffith, another

well-known Egyptologist. In the former article the author points out

that the outside and inside work on all the pyramids was excellent and

that the casings were not a mere veneer but were “of massive blocks,

usually greater in thickness than in height, and in some cases (as at

South Dahshur) reminding the observer of horizontal leaves with sloping

edges.” The massive character of the roofing of the sepulchral chambers

is indicated by Prof. Petrie’s estimate that “in Pepi’s pyramid it is of

three layers of stone beams, each deeper than their breadth, resting one

on another, the thirty stones weighing more than 30 tons each.” But

neither Stonehenge nor the pyramid was really an engineering problem.

Here, and as in all his studies of early architecture, artist or

engineer will find religion and worship the aim and the reason of the

building even more, if that is possible, than in the great European

cathedrals of comparatively recent times.

In the article BABYLONIA and ASSYRIA there is a brief section (Vol. 3,

p. 108) on _Art_, supplementing the treatment under ARCHITECTURE. It is

interesting to note that even in Assyria architecture was trammelled,

reactionary, governed by Babylonian styles and using brick and clay

because Babylon did, although there was stone in Assyria, and none in

Babylonia; and keeping the heavy brick platform foundation which the

Babylonian architects had adopted because of the marshy character of

their country, although there was no need of such construction in

Assyria. Here too the function of architecture was largely as an aid to

religion: as shown in the article NIPPUR (Vol. 19, p. 707), with its

description of the “ziggurat” or artificial mountain in the shrine,

built probably 40 or 45 centuries B. C. One temple was 272 ft. square,

with seven storeys, each smaller than the one below and thus surrounded

by a terrace, each dedicated to a planet, each coloured a separate tint,

the first probably 45 ft. high, and the total height 160 ft.

In Assyria great palaces of the 9th, 8th and 7th centuries B. C. have

been found, and these are probably the earliest large buildings of any

architectural importance not religious in their purpose; but this

distinction must not be carried too far, for the king was sacrosanct,

half priest and half god, and his palace was a shrine.

[Sidenote: Greece and Rome]

Although the main treatment of Greek and Roman architecture is in the

article ARCHITECTURE, the student should read the articles GREEK ART

(Vol. 12, p. 470; equivalent to 70 pages in this Guide; written by Percy

Gardner, author of _Grammar of Greek Art_) and ROMAN ART (Vol. 23, p.

474; equivalent to 40 pages of this Guide; written by H. Stuart Jones,

director of the British School at Rome). The article on GREEK ART

contains 82 illustrations, many of them halftones. It makes clear the

dependence of the other fine arts in Greece on architecture—and on

religion—in showing that the greatest sculptures were adjuncts to

temples, and (p. 471–472) in a discussion of the architecture of Greek

temples calls attention to four basal principles of Greek architecture:

(1) Each member of the building has one function and only one, and

this function controls even the decoration of that member. Pillars

support architraves; their perpendicular flutings emphasize this.

Moulding at a column’s base suggests the support of a great weight.

(2) Simple and natural relations prevailed between various members of

a construction.

(3) Rigidity of simple lines is avoided; scarcely any outline is

actually straight. Columns are not equidistant.

(4) Elaborate decoration is reserved for those parts of the temple

which have, or seem to have, no strain laid upon them.

The article TEMPLE (Vol. 26, p. 603) gives plans and general information

about Greek and Roman sacred architecture, as well as Hebrew, Egyptian

and Assyrian temples; and the reader should study the article PARTHENON

(Vol. 20, p. 869) and the diagram in that article, and the article

PERGAMUM (Vol. 21, p. 142) and the two plates which accompany it.

The article ROMAN ART (Vol. 23, p. 474) is probably the first brief and

authoritative treatment of a topic long overshadowed in popular interest

by the earlier art of Greece and the later art of Italy. It begins with

a history of recent research. Architecture, pre-eminently the most Roman

of the arts as combining utility with beauty, is outlined (pp. 476–477

especially) and the main point in regard to Roman architecture is

brought out as follows: “the specific achievement of the Roman architect

was the artistic application of a new set of principles—those which are

expressed in the arch, the vault and the dome,” as contrasted with the

rectilinear buildings of the Greeks. The arch, particularly the

triumphal arch, is specifically a Roman product and is specifically

Roman besides in being an expression of reverence for governmental

authority,—which, it should, however, be remembered, cannot be separated

from religion. Among the most important of Roman sculptures and

particularly reliefs are those of the arches, described in the articles

ARCH (Vol. 2, p. 342) and TRIUMPHAL ARCH (Vol. 27, p. 297), the latter

with eight figures. The part of the article AQUEDUCT which deals with

Roman aqueducts (Vol. 2, pp. 241–243, with 2 plates, 6 illustrations)

will interest the architect as well as the contractor or engineer. And

he should read the article on the Roman architect and writer on

architecture, VITRUVIUS (Vol. 28, p. 150), whose book so strongly

affected the Renaissance.

Before taking up modern architecture as distinguished from ancient, the

student will do well to examine the architecture of some more remote

peoples—for instance,

_Aztec_ (Vol. 5, p. 441 and p. 677)

_Abyssinian_ (Vol. 12, p. 232)

_Hittite_ (Vol. 13, p. 537)

_Indian_ (Vol. 14, p. 428, with 4 plates)

_Japanese_ (Vol. 15, pp. 181–182)

_Chinese_ (Vol. 6, p. 214)

_Byzantine_ (Vol. 4, p. 906, with 2 plates), and the article

CONSTANTINOPLE (Vol. 7, p. 3)

[Sidenote: Modern Architecture]

The last topic will serve as a transition to the modern architecture of

Europe, especially because the influence of the Byzantine was so strong

in the early church.

The study of the Italian Romanesque and Gothic in an elaborate section

of ARCHITECTURE (Vol. 2, p. 391) may well be supplemented by reading the

articles on the Italian cities in which this art is preserved. The

following list is roughly chronological, the cities named first being

those in which there are the oldest churches.

RAVENNA, PISA and VENICE, for Byzantine Romanesque.

───────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────

MILAN │for Lombard Romanesque

PAVIA │ „

BRESCIA │ „

BERGAMO │ „

PIACENZA │ „

PARMA │ „

MODENA │ „

───────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────

BARI │for Southern Romanesque

MOLFETTA │ „

PALERMO │for Sicilian Romanesque

MESSINA │ „

MONREALE │ „

CEFALU │ „

───────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────

WÜRZBURG, for Romanesque in Germany

GENOA │for Italian Gothic

ASSISI │ „

ORVIETO │ „

VERONA │ „

PERUGIA │ „

SIENA │ „

In the same way, for Gothic in other countries, the student should read:

AIX-LA-CHAPELLE │for French Gothic

LE PUY │ „

ANGOULÊME │ „

ARLES │ „

NIMES │ „

ST. DENIS │ „

NOYON │ „

SENLIS │ „

SENS │ „

REIMS │ „

LE MANS │ „

OVIEDO │for Spanish Gothic

LEON │ „

AVILA │ „

SEGOVIA │ „

LERIDA │ „

TOLEDO │ „

BURGOS │ „

SEVILLE │ „

SALAMANCA │ „

DURHAM │for English Gothic

LINCOLN │ „

SALISBURY │ „

GLOUCESTER, etc. │ „

AIX │for German Gothic

MAINZ │ „

WORMS │ „

SPIRES │ „

COLOGNE │ „

TOURNAI, LOUVAIN, etc., for Belgian,

and in general, the articles CATHEDRAL, NAVE, AISLE, CHOIR, APSE,

CHEVET, LADY-CHAPEL, VAULT, FLYING BUTTRESS, PINNACLE, CLERESTORY and

TRIFORIUM. The article Cathedral has plans of Canterbury, Salisbury,

Durham, Ely, Chartres, Sens and Angoulême and a perspective of Amiens

cathedral.

In the same way the student of the Renaissance architecture may

supplement the section in the article ARCHITECTURE (p. 408, etc.) by

reference to the articles on the cities in which the great Renaissance

buildings stand. But now “the career of the individual has to be taken

into consideration,” so true is it that the Renaissance in architecture

as in scholarship was intensely individualistic. The article

ARCHITECTURE points this out and in this section is largely biographical

in its treatment. The reader should study the following separate

articles also

_For Italian Renaissance_

FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI

FLORENCE

LEONE BATTISTA ALBERTI

MICHELOZZO DI BARTOLOMMEO

BRAMANTE

ROME (for St. Peters: see Fig. 51 in ARCHITECTURE)

BORGOGNONE

BACCIO D’AGNOLO

SANGALLO

POLLAIULO

MICHELANGELO

JACOPO SANSOVINO

MICHELE SANMICHELE

ANDREA PALLADIO

BAROCCHIO DA VIGNOLA

GALEAZZO ALESSI

LOMBARDO

DOMENICO FONTANA

BALDASSARE PERUZZI

_The French Renaissance_

For this period, less individual than in Italy, the reader will find it

best to study the geographical articles. Let him read

BLOIS (noting Plate VIII, fig. 84, in the article ARCHITECTURE)

TOURS

CHAMBORD

ORLEANS

CHENONCEAUX

FONTAINEBLEAU

PARIS

_Spanish Renaissance_

GRANADA

VALLADOLID

SARAGOSSA

MALAGA

SALAMANCA (Plate V., fig. 73 in _Architecture_)

SEVILLE (Plate V., fig. 74 in _Architecture_)

ESCORIAL (with plan)

MADRID (Palacio Royal)

_English Renaissance_

JOHN THORPE

INIGO JONES

SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN

ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL (see Fig. 53 in ARCHITECTURE)

GREENWICH (for Hospital)

NICHOLAS HAWKSMOOR

SIR JOHN VANBRUGH

DEAN HENRY ALDRICH

GEORGE AND JAMES DANCE

WILLIAM KENT

ROBERT ADAM

SIR WILLIAM CHAMBERS

_German Renaissance_

ROTHENBURG (town-hall)

AUGSBURG (town-hall)

HEIDELBERG (see Plate VII in ARCHITECTURE)

_Renaissance in Belgium and Holland_

ANTWERP

AMSTERDAM

ROTTERDAM

HAARLEM

On _Mahommedan Architecture_ the student should read not only the

section (Vol. 2, pp. 422–427) in the article ARCHITECTURE, with eight

illustrations, but the separate articles

INDIAN ARCHITECTURE (with 4 plates, 17 figures)

MOSQUE (with 3 diagrams)

MINARET

CAIRO

CONSTANTINOPLE

DAMASCUS

JERUSALEM

MECCA

KAIRAWAN

CORDOVA

ALHAMBRA

TABRIZ

ISFAHAN

On the more recent period, the 19th century, roughly, the student should

supplement the last part of the article ARCHITECTURE by reading the

following articles

_For the Classical Revival in the British Isles_

DUBLIN (see also Fig. 85 in ARCHITECTURE)

EDINBURGH

SIR JOHN SOANE

_English Gothic Revival_

A. W. N. PUGIN

SIR GEORGE GILBERT SCOTT

GEORGE S. STREET

WILLIAM BUTTERFIELD

JOHN LOUGHBOROUGH PEARSON

ALFRED WATERHOUSE

_France_ (Figs. 122–129 in article ARCHITECTURE)

L. P. BALTARD

J. L. C. GARNIER

_The Last 50 Years_

GEORGE FREDERICK BODLEY │England

R. NORMAN SHAW │ „

WILLIAM MORRIS │ „

HARVEY L. ELMES │ „

CHARLES R. COCKERELL │ „

LIVERPOOL (and Fig. 86 in │ „

ARCHITECTURE) │

H. H. RICHARDSON │United States (and see Plates XV

│ and XVI, and Figs. 97, 98, 99 in

│ article ARCHITECTURE)

RICHARD M. HUNT │ „

CHARLES F. MCKIM │ „

STANFORD WHITE │ „

WILLIAM R. MEAD │ „

RUSSELL STURGIS │ „

STEEL CONSTRUCTION │ „

_Classical Revival in Germany_

KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL

BERLIN (and Fig. 87 in ARCHITECTURE)

POTSDAM (and Fig. 88 in ARCHITECTURE)

MUNICH (and Fig. 89 in ARCHITECTURE)

GOTTFRIED SEMPER

_French Classicism_

ADOLPHE THEODORE BRONGNIART

JACQUES IGNACE HITTORFF (Plate XII in ARCHITECTURE)

_English “Commonsense”_

SIR CHARLES BARRY

HALIFAX (Fig. 90 in ARCHITECTURE)

WESTMINSTER (Houses of Parliament; see Fig. 91 in ARCHITECTURE)

BUDAPEST (Fig. 92 in ARCHITECTURE)

The sections of the article ARCHITECTURE dealing with France and Germany

in the last two generations may best be supplemented by a study of the

articles PARIS, BERLIN, VIENNA, and BUDAPEST.

The following is a brief alphabetical list of architectural articles and

topics in the _Britannica_, including topics for the builder and

contractor.

Abacus

Abated

Abbey

Abutment

Acroterium

Adam, Robert

Aedicula

Aisle

Aiwan

Leone Battista Alberti

Alcove

Galeazzo Alessi

Alley

Almery

Almonry

Almshouse

Alure

Ambo

Ambulatory

Amphiprostyle

Amphitheatre

Andron

Angel-lights

Antae

Ante-chapel

Ante-choir

Ante-fixae

Anthemion

Apophyge

Apollodorus of Damascus

Apse

Apteral

Aqueduct

Araeostyle

Araeosystyle

Arcade

Arch

Architrave

Archivolt

Arcosolium

Arena

Arris

Ashlar

Astragal

Astylar

Atrium

Attic

Attic Base

Baccio d’Agnolo

Back-choir

Bailey

Balcony

Ball-flower

L. P. Baltard

Balustrade

Banker-marks

Baptistery

Barbican

Bargeboard

Giacomo Barocchio

Bartizan

Base

Basement

Basilica

Batement-lights

Baths

Batter

Battlement

Bay

Bed-mould

Belfry

Bell-cot

Belvedere

Bema

Bench-table

Bevel

Bezantée

Sir A. W. Blomfield

G. W. Bodley

Bonding

Giuseppi Bonomi

Francesco Borromini

Bowtell

Bracket

Bramante

Brattishing

Sir Reginald Bray

Brick, and Brickwork

Bridges

Broach

Sir I. M. Brunel

Filippo Brunelleschi

Building

Charles Bulfinch

Bungalow

William Butterfield

Buttress

Cable moulding

Luigi Cagnola

Caissons

Camber

Campanile

N. le Camus de Mézières

Canal

Canalis

Cancelli

Candelabrum

Canephorae

Canopy

Cantilever Foundations

Capital

Carpentry

Cartouche

Caryatides

Casement

Castle

Cathedral

Cathetus

Cauliculus

Cavaedium

Cavea

Cavetto

Ceiling

Cella

Cements

Chalcidicum

Sir William Chambers

Chamfer

Chancel

Chapter-house

Charnel-house

Chateau

Chersiphron

Chevet

Chevron

Chimney

Chimney-piece

Choir

Chresmographion

Cinque Cento

Cleithral

Clerestory

Cloaca

Cloister

C. R. Cockerell

Coenaculum

Coffer, and Coffer Dams

Cogging

Colonnade

Placido Columbani

Column

Compluvium

Composite Order

Compound pier

Conch

Concrete, Concrete Piers, etc.

Consisterium

Construction

Coping

Corbel

Corbie

Cornice

Counterfort

Coursed Rubble

Cramps

Crenelle

Crest

Crocket

Crossing

Cross springer

Crypt

Crypto-porticus

Cubicle

Cuneus

Cupola

Curvilinear

Cusp

François de Cuvilles

Cyclopean Masonry

Cyclostyle

Cyma

Cyrto-style

Cyzicenus

Daedalus

Dais

Dance (family)

Decastyle

Decorated Period

Dentil

Diaconicon

Diastyle

Diaulos

Diazomata

Dikka

Dinocrates

Dipteral

Philibert De l’Orme

Discharging Arch

Distyle

Docks

Dodecastyle

Dog-tooth

Dome

Donjon

Door

Doorway

Dormer

Dormitory

Dosseret

Dovetail

Dowels

Drafted masonry

Dredging

Dripstone

Dromos

Dungeon

Early English Period

Eaves

Echinus

Eiffel Tower

Elevator

Elizabethan Style

H. L. Elmes

James Elmes

Embrasure

Engaged Column

Entablature

Entasis

Ephebeum

Epi

Epinaos

Epistyle

Estrade

Eupalinus

Eustyle

Exedra

Extrados

Façade

Facing

Fan Vault

Femerell

Fenestration

Feretory

James Fergusson

Festoon

Fillet

Finial

Flamboyant Style

Flèche

Floor

Flue

Flying Buttress

Pierre F. L. Fontaine

Domenico Fontana

Footing

Foot-stall

Formeret

Foundation

Fountain

Charles Fowler

Frater

Freestone

Fret

Frieze

Frigidarium

Frontispiece

Gable

Gablets

Galilee

Gallery

Gargoyle

J. L. C. Garnier

Garret

Garretting

Gate

Gatehouse

Gazebo

Girder

Glazing

Glyph

Glyptothek

Godroon

Gothic

Grange

Granite

Griffe

Groin

C. G. Guarini

Guilloche

Gutta

Gutter

Joseph Gwilt

Gynaeceum

Hagioscope

Half-timber Work

Hall

Halving

Hammerbeam Roof

J. A. Hansom

Nicholas Hawksmoor

Heating

K. A. von Heideloff

Helix

Hemicycle

Herring-bone

Hexastyle

Hip-knob

Hipped roof

Hippodamus

Hippodrome

J. I. Hittorff

Hôtel-de-Ville

Hôtel-Dieu

Hot-water Heating and Supply

House

Hypaethros

Hypocaust

Hypostyle

Hypotrachelium

Ichnography

Iconostasis

Ictinus

Imbrex

Impluvium

Impost

In-antis

Indian Architecture

Intercolumniation

Interlaced arches

Intrados

Jacobean Style

Jamb

Jesse

Joinery

Joints

Joggles

Inigo Jones

Owen Jones

Jubé

Keel-moulding

Keep

Keystone

Label

Labrum

Laconicum

Lacunar

Lady-Chapel

Lancet

Lantern

Lanterns of the Dead

Lectern

Libon

Lighting

Lightning Conductor

Limestone

Lintel

Loft

Louver (Louvre)

Lucarne

Lunette

C. F. McKim

Machicolation

Maksoora

Manor-house

Marble

Mastaba

Mausoleum

Megaron

Merlon

Meshrebiya