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with pointed roof. The carved detail may vary in the merit with which the Byzantine or Romanesque rendering of the acanthus leaf, or grotesque heads, may be carried out. In masonry, the stones were each hewn with the rough, chipped treatment which classifies such masonry as "rock-faced."

In the Richardson Romanesque buildings of brick, we often find that the bricks have been moulded to resemble "rock-faced" stone, and, as in Sever Hall at Harvard University, there is an abundance of specially moulded brick for cornices, string-courses, mullions and other details, with foliated capitals in unglazed terra-cotta.

The decline of Byzantine and Romanesque ideas as the dominating trend of architectural thought in this country, and the rise of the Latin derivations, Italian and French, is the logical subject for another chapter. It remains only to point out to what extent we have still to reckon with Romanesque derivations in America, before passing on to the study of our modern Gothic derivations in this chapter.

Although the Romanesque Revival of 1871-1891 was not destined to mould the entire subsequent character of American architecture, the style possesses such admirable qualities for expression in ecclesiastical architecture that it has been the inspiration of a great many distinctly successful church buildings, and will, without doubt, continue always to occupy a prominent place, in this capacity, of importance nearly equal to that of the Gothic style.

To cite a few examples which are conspicuous not only for their scholarly yet imaginative rendering of the Byzantine and Romanesque style but for their architectural merit regardless of this consideration,

the observer may profitably study several churches in New York and its vicinity. Particular attention is directed toward the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, under the shadow of the great Metropolitan tower, and to the chapel of Columbia University. Another admirable derivation is seen in the Church of St. Joseph at Babylon, Long Island, and again, to transport ourselves in a moment to the Pacific Coast, in the First Church of Christ Scientist, in Los Angeles, California.

In that the Byzantine and Romanesque churches of the early Christians in Rome represented the ideals of a distinctly simple kind of religious thought, adaptations of Byzantine and Romanesque styles may come to be regarded as an architectural expression peculiarly suitable for the church edifices of the more radical Protestant sects, while the Gothic style effects an architectural expression ranging through various degrees of Episcopal "high church" to the Roman church itself.

Romanesque architecture was once considered peculiarly adaptable for the design of modern office buildings, but the development of this essentially American type has grown further and further away from any Romanesque possibilities of treatment. When walls were of stone, and the floors of steel beams, and the height of the building not more than eight or ten stories, the style was adaptable. It became impossible, however, when the structure of the building was entirely of steel, and the proportion of voids (window openings) overbalanced, in relation, the solids (wall spaces). Romanesque architecture was of a massive, heavy character, and, from its nature, could not be made to conform with this skeleton steel frame, or to soar upward to twenty, twenty-five, thirty, forty stories or more.

And for the private house the style became "old fashioned," newer adaptations were in vogue, and despite their marked architectural interest, the old Richardsonian Romanesque country houses seemed dark, dismal and "heavy" beside newer creations adapted from Italian villas and French châteaux, or in variations of English styles.

The Gothic style, however, survived the distaste which it created in the so-called "Gothic Revival" immediately preceding the Romanesque Revival, and established itself as a permanent inspiration and source of derivation for various types of American buildings. Thus we find in the current architecture of this country Gothic derivations which may be called, for convenience, "Ecclesiastical," "Collegiate," "Military," and "Commercial"-the designations referring in part to the several varying renderings of the style, and in part to the types of building in which these renderings appear.

It is natural that by far the greatest part of Gothic inspiration and Gothic derivation in American architecture is to be found in church and cathedral buildings and while the greater proportion of these lack the true spirit of the Gothic style, the meritorious minority offers a peculiarly interesting field for observation and study.

The explanation of the failure of the greater proportion of our Gothic churches lies in the circumstance that their architects have failed to consider the organic nature of Gothic architecture, have failed to recognise its similarity to a tree. A tree grows out of a seed, putting forth branches as it comes into its growth, and these put forth leaves. Different varieties of trees nave different ways of growing, each way characteristic

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A SPLENDID MODERN CONCEPTION IN THE GOTHIC STYLE

Two salient points should be noted here-the remarkable "upward motion," and the excellent relation of detail to mass

(Porch of the proposed Baltimore Cathedral)

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A STRONG MODERN VERSION OF THE GOTHIC CHURCH

A fine rendering of the massive irregularity which characterises a certain type of Gothic design (St. Thomas' Church, New York City)

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