Six Essays: On I. The State of English Architecture; II. The Hope of English Architecture; III. The Profession of an Architect; IV. The Bane of ... Vi. Religious Art (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from Six Essays: On I. The State of English Architecture; II. The Hope of English Architecture; III. The Profession of an Architect; IV. The Bane of English Architecture; V. The Ethics of Urban Leaseholds; Vi. Religious Art

This, then, is the quality of mind that an architect who would be successful must attempt to satisfy; and, if he has experience and knowledge of the world, he naturally adopts the most direct and easiest method to command success. Prettiness is, of course, essential; What else is architecture for, if not'to be pretty? Of the shortcoming and offensive ness of his design he may be perfectly, or possibly imperfectly, aware; but he overlays it with ornament, and encrusts it with carving, until the whole is pronounced to be beautiful. In this great requisite of modern architecture Mr. Street fails; he has no sense of prettiness, and he substitutes con fusion; he was afraid of simple expressiveness, and he has become incoherent. He has grievously erred, not, however, from negligence or want of will, but merely from natural incapacity. Every man is not a born confectioner and if his work falls through subjection to the influence of a depraved and vulgar 'public taste,' which yet he is unable to satisfy, Mr. Street can hardly be reproached for this unfortunate result.

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