conditions. The scale of the cornice of a five-story building is a matter meriting no less attention, or a matter no less involved in the success of the architectural design, but the problem is by no means so difficult. In the matter of stylistic derivation the Woolworth Building is conspicuously successful. Essentially characteristic Gothic forms have been used, and in a manner which declares they have been frankly used for their "pictorial" rather than their structural values. No structural need of a steel building (unless wind-bracing) is served by a flying buttress, yet their introduction at the forty-second story is at once graceful and effective. The picturesque interest of Gothic detail was given expression by the use of gargoyles and grotesque animal forms, far up among the traceried heights of the great building-invisible from the street level below, but irresistibly interesting in chance glimpses from windows or galleries. The quaint architectural pleasantry of the grotesque has been used, also, in the detailing of the lobby, where sculptured stone corbels under the ceiling beams will preserve for posterity admirable caricature portraits of the owner, the architect, the master-builder and others prominently identified with the erection of this remarkable building. Detailed consideration has been indulged in with reference to the Woolworth Building for the reason that, besides being one of the most noteworthy of American buildings, its design (in both intention and form) illustrates many architectural points of peculiar value to the lay student. It remains now to comment briefly on the difficulty of expressing modern domesticity in the Gothic style, especially in the exterior aspect of a dwelling. Several intangible, yet potent, factors militate against its acceptance, one, perhaps, a distasteful recollection of the dismal and stupid monstrosities of the inept Ruskinian "Gothic Revival," another, the constant associative mental connection of Gothic forms with ecclesiastical buildings. Some residential interiors of Gothic design have been conspicuously interesting and successful, a few clubs have been agreeably rendered in the Gothic style -but these are exceptions. Lack of familiar precedent has had its effect on associative thought. The fine Mediæval Gothic residence (excepting in a few cities) was the castle. There was no well-to-do “middle class," and the dwelling of the serf or peasant was a rude affair, by no means attractive as a basis for derivation. Social conditions were too widely dissimilar from those of to-day: manners, customs and modes of living bore no less variance, so that, from the architectural point of view, numerous vast and costly "Mediæval Derivations" in the way of Twentieth Century American "castles" have been lacking in expression, even when they have possessed a certain quasi-romantic or even picturesque interest. The chasm between the Middle Ages in Europe and the present day in America is too wide to bridge with an architectural derivation. The idea of the church has remained sufficiently similar, as also the idea of a fortress implied in “Military Gothic." The fact that commercial architecture is impersonal, holding no analogy with the past, and claiming no intimate contact with our individual lives in the present, makes Gothic derivations in form acceptable. The dwelling, however, has undergone too many changes, has moulded itself, and been moulded, too closely to our personal desires, preferences, needs and uses to revert in type to its primitive Mediæval form. This truth will become increasingly apparent upon consideration, and in the subsequent study of English country houses and Italian villas, which, from their more developed nature, offer a more direct opportunity for derivative architectural expression. The following chapter is designed to outline the evolution of the English country house, from its earlier forms to the modern type, with correlated American derivations. CHAPTER VI ENGLISH DERIVATIONS, EARLY AND MODERN THE IMPORTANCE, CAUSES AND MEANING OF ENGLISH INFLUENCES ON AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. THE ANGLOAMERICAN COUNTRY HOUSE. THE ADAPTABILITY OF ENGLISH COLLEGIATE ARCHITECTURE N O person in the least familiar with the development of architecture in this country can fail to accord to England its great share in the trend of our architectural thought. English derivations are, perhaps, most conspicuous in our domestic country architecture, and to a lesser degree in some other types of building. The expression of Renaissance architecture, which became established in England under the Georges, and which was transplanted to this country as "Georgian Colonial" is more fully dealt with in a subsequent chapter on "American Architecture." Our present observations are directed more closely to the English country house, early and modern, and to its influence on our own country house architecture. The preceding chapter laid emphasis on the English derivation of that "transitional" style of blended Gothic and Renaissance forms called "Collegiate" architecture. English monumental buildings have influenced American architects but little, largely because of the stronger counter-influence of the Beaux Arts school in France. It is by no means unnatural that we have turned toward England for inspiration in designing the country house, and there are at least two strong unarchitectural reasons for this. |