VOL. 12, NO. 342.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1828. [PRICE 2d.
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[Illustration: COUNCIL OFFICE, &c. WHITEHALL. ]
COUNCIL OFFICE, &c. WHITEHALL.
From the Druids' Temple, at Abury, (our last engraving,) to the Council
Office, at Whitehall, is a long stride in the march of time. From "grave
to gay, and lively to severe," is nothing to it; but variety is the
public dictum; and with more sincerity than the courtier in _Tom Thumb_,
we say to the public,
"Whate'er your majesty shall please to name,
Long cut or short cut, to us' tis all the same."
On the annexed page is represented the new splendid range of buildings,
including the _Council Office_, _Board of Trade_, &c. at
Whitehall. The architect, Mr. Soane, has adapted the façade from the
Temple of Jupiter Stator, at Rome.[1]
But Mr. Soane's adaptation has been only partial, and he has adhered
merely to the details of the columns and entablature. "The façade," it is
well observed in an early Number of the _Athenaeum_, "enjoys one of
the most favourable sites for the display of a public building which the
metropolis affords; no limit has been set to the expense; the finest
materials the country yields have been used in its construction; the
richest example of the richest order which antiquity has left us, has
been lavishly employed in its decoration; and yet," continues the critic,
"is not the whole a failure?" He then describes the effect of it as "poor,
or at best but pretty," and attributes the absence of grandeur to the
"want of sufficient elevation."--"To the general elevation it may be
objected, that it has no prominent centre; that, composed of two wings
and an intermediate space receding, it has more the character of a flank
than a front building; and that the want of a central entrance derogates
greatly from its dignity as a principal façade."
But we are mere amateurs in these matters, and it will be as well to
leave the remainder of this criticism to the more studious reader. We
have, however, glanced at the principal defects which the writer in the
_Athenaeum_ points out, and we are bound to admit the justice of his
remarks. The details which produce this effect would not be so generally
interesting. "The order itself," says he, "it must be admitted, is well
copied, and excellently executed;" but Mr. Soane's application of it is
loudly censured--a Roman temple being inappropriate for a British Council
Office. Perhaps our critic would have preferred a façade like that of the
Palais de Justice at Paris,--a platform, ascended by an immense flight of
steps, which serves as a basement for a projecting body of four Doric
columns; with four large pedestals in front, and statues of _Strength_,
_Plenty_, _Justice_, and _Prudence_, as the cardinal virtues of English
legislation and trade.
Upon the whole, we cannot help thinking some of the details of this new
range extremely rich and pleasing, although we assent to the above
character of their general effect. The columns, of fluted Corinthian, and
the cornice of the order, are to us very beautiful; but the upper windows
are unsightly, or, as a wag would say, purely attic; and the entrances
are too strictly _official_ for the architecture of the building.
This brings us again to the inappropriateness of the adaptation, which
made these introductions unavoidable.[2]
The front of the building is not completed, the northern wing having yet
to be erected. When this is finished, the effect may be materially
assisted.
While we are in this quarter, and lest "we may never come again," it may
be as well to thank our correspondent, "An Architect," for his letter on
"Whitehall," a very small portion of which has ever been completed. What
has been finished--the Banqueting House--is one of the triumphs of Inigo
Jones, but like all human works, is sadly dilapidated; although this is
attributable to the bad material, rather than to the interval since its
erection. The _whole_ was, indeed, a magnificent design.
[1] The portion of this temple which is still standing in the Campo
Vaccino, and which consists of three marble columns, with a
fragment of entablature, is universally acknowledged to be the
finest specimen, not only of the architecture of the Augustan
age, but of the Corinthian order, not merely in Rome, but
throughout the whole ancient world. Whether contemplated in the
original, or through the medium of drawings, it inspires
unequivocal admiration as a perfect model of the florid style:
and from the inferences deducible from the dimensions and
relative position of the three columns and their entablature,
it is clear that the elegance and propriety of their arrangement,
as members of an entire edifice, were equal to the grace of the
proportions of the still existing parts, and to the beauty,
however exquisite, of their enrichments.
[2] One of the most characteristic buildings recently erected in
the metropolis, was the ill-fated _Brunswick Theatre_, the
propriety of whose facade was universally acknowledged.
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