Letharby architecture and introduction to the history and theory of the art of building docx

XH .GOTHIC BUILDING IN FRANCE THE ARCHITECTURE OF ENERGY 154 XIV THE RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE OF RHETORIC AND ARCHITECTURE OF... In the basis in utility and, secondly, a magical and myst

Architecture

61-17UO

ARCHITECTURE

University Press,

GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOUBNE WELLINGTON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI CAPE TOWN LBADAN Geoffrey Cumkrlege, Publisher to the

University

C.

W R LETHABY

ARCHITECTURE

An Introduction to the History and Theory of the Art of Building

at theRoyal College of Art,London

GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

First published in the

printedin 1919, 1924, 1925, and 1927. Secondedition 1929,

PREFACE BY BASIL WARD ix

w R. LETHABY'S PRINCIPAL LITERARYWORKS xxix

ORNAMENT I

/

II ORIGINS OF ARCHITECTURE 9

[II EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS 22

IDEAS 37

X ROMANESQUE ART NEW BLOOD IN

XH GOTHIC BUILDING IN FRANCE THE

ARCHITECTURE OF ENERGY 154

XIV THE RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE OF

RHETORIC AND ARCHITECTURE OF

WILLIAM RICHARD LETHABY *

Frontispiece

Photo-graphin thepossessionofMr A.Llewellyn Smith,M.B.E.,

Between pages 214 and 215

Plate

I THE EAGLE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUILDING, INGHAM, 1900, by W R Lethaby and

Drawingfrom RoyalInstitute of British Architects

on the Continent Thebuilding showsno traceofart

nouveauinfluence.Althoughthere are traditional featureswithpilastersandentablatures, also tracesofthe influence

HEREFORD-SHIRE, by W R Lethaby

inform, the design hasa freshnessseldomencounteredin

ofthe"roofis in concrete.Therewas anattemptto use

specially designedby membersofthe Artsand Crafts

m SIDEBOARD designed by W R Lethaby

Nowin the VictoriaandAlbertMuseum,London

WORKING DRAWING FOR DRAWER FRONTS OF WOOD

INLAY by W R Lethaby

IV SKETCHES FROM NOTEBOOKS OF W. R. LETHABY

Thedrawingsofthehorses areminute.Bykind permission

of theNorthDevonAthenaeumt Barnstaple.

V WATER COLOURS AND A PEN DRAWING by W R.

Lethaby

Architects.

vi DRAWINGS FOR SILVER WARE by W R Lethaby

when aged twenty-five

He wonprizes inthe Goldsmiths' Hall Competition,and

Drawings in the possession ofMr A Llewellyn Smith,

M.BJ3L,MA,F.RJ.B.A

VH MAIN RAILWAY TERMINUS, ROME

THE LEVER BUILDING, NEW YORK

UNITED NATIONS BUILDING, NEW YORK

Vm MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND HEALTH, RIO DE

JANEIRO

LAKE SHORE DRIVE APARTMENT, CHICAGO

L'UNITE D'HABITATION, MARSEILLES

wastocome Inthe last chapterofArchitecturehewriteson

the'modernposition*,andin theEpilogueto this edition

hisviewsare discussed in the lightoffollowing events.

TheillustrationsonPlatesVIIandVIIIshowarchitecture

formsofstructure.Theyareoutstandingexamplesofthe

help to absolve us

'prophetin his ownland'.Moderntimesmustsurelyberemarkablefor

rapidgrowth and wide extentofbuildingand engineeringde-

velopment andformassproductionofthingsof everyday

use Historywillrecord the achievements. Butthetimes

arealsoremarkablefor a

aestheticqualityin architectureandinmanybranches ofindustrial design, andfor prevalence ofa philistine atti-tudethroughoutthecommunity The level in standards

when Lethaby was active in fields ofart, yet he made

workwill, asisnow comingtoberealized,endureintory and be recognized asin the best traditionof Euro-

withcriticism,withareaffirmation offirst

withrevolutionaryideas, atatimewhentherewasgreat

need ofsuchthings.

Architectureisa popularbook andassuchit isone ofthe

X PREFACE

whichsprangthe greatart styles may be too summary

languagetothe fact thatarchitecture is but one element

insocial cultures,theoverall configurationsof whichshift

permitofdealingwithindividualbuildings, mightbetter

whilewetryto

dis-cover theinitial force whichcarried artforward In the

basis in utility and, secondly, a magical and mystical

seeking to

perfection.' These extracts give an idea ofthe tone and

and youngalike.It isnot ponderous noris it

precise,and

it is notperhapsaltogether exact,but making allowances

preju-dices,it isa valuablebook,foritthrowsabright

thepast,showsthattheauthorhad fewillusionsabouthis

remark-ably prophetic aboutthe future Thefinal

paragraph of

thebook mightindeedhave beenwrittenby our modern

prophetoftheWesternworld, LeCorbusier

William Richard Lethaby had unusual attributes of

alive who knew him, we can be

would speak ofpersonal

qualities rare in modern times

His life was one ofhumility and ofutter want of

qualitieswhen

nameto go forwardforhonours anddistinctionssuchas

the community bestows, sometimes

rightly, and

some-times to its credit, uponoutstanding men From a

study

ofhiswork and of what hetaught, itwouldappearthat

hisnature allowedhimtoperceivewhatso

very few ofus

aphorism:

'Old art was circumscribed and conditional, now we

might do anything, only we can't.' He understood that

insurrendering toquantityhad become unduly

Christianity

begantofadeandnationalpowerpoliticsandthepersonal

ambitions ofthe

thesocial scene/*

wellas

significantsocio-histoMcal events tobetakeninto

accountin

studyinghumancharacterandbehaviour,but

it must at once be said of Lethaby thathe was an standing figurein his owntimes: not, however, anhis-torical

out-figure,a

figure,butone who

made a difference Several important accounts oftheperiod mention either his name or the movements in

which heisknowntohave beenactive,andreferencesto

Beliefs ofthe Victorians.

himcontinue to cropup Itcantrulybe saidthathe had

qualities ofreal humility and innate modesty, qualitieswhich, combined withnaturalsimplicity, tend generally

to makelessof animpression in thecommunity in the

Western worldat least than do those ofamore vert and combative nature Yet it would be wrong to

extro-confuse Lethaby's characteristicswith meekness, orwith

ingenuousnessin theaffairsof man.It iseasyto appreciate

not easy to fathom He was tenacious in pursuit ofhis

though itwould have distressed him to know thisupon everyone with whom he came into contact He

successful Royal Academician architects and simple-life

handcraftsmen; also he influenced thought in a variety

arts.

Lethabysaid, 'Every generationstainsits ownchildren

confirm Atthe agesbetweenthirtyandfortyandin the

architec-ture, when he wasfillingmanynote-booksonhis travels

inEngland andabroad,and when he wasformulatinghismain ideas, signs ofthe influences ofhis early years canclearlybeseen thenonconformist, radicalinfluences of

born, theclass fromthe artisan to the middle

having shownatalentfor

art,anattributewhich,though

consideredperhapsnotaltogether

respectable, couldlead

to occupationswhichin thetimesjustgone by had been

open only to a

relatively select few, generally fiom

amongst orclosely attached by custom to the 'enjoying

Ruskinian

inspirations on social and economic matters?1

We knowthatRuskin's influenceuponaspiringsocial

tremendous, and that theoutcome ofitwas insome

meanstheonlyyouthto find Ruskin forhimself But, a

insight,heprobably

bene-fited from good rather thanfrom any bad in Ruskin's

discipline ofhisupbringing

andhis environmenthelped tooffsetthe headinessofthe

wrote: 'Aprophet,however much he may appearto be

inoppositiontohis age, yetinapeculiarwayrepresentsthat

complement, andhisisthevoicewhich awakes all those

whoarereadytobelikeminded.Ifheiswholly

be understood how anyone might ever have believed

Oxford n

otherwise The flashing inspiration becomes a place Itis theprophet's aimto be thus abolished, to be

InArchitecturethereisaninterestingcomment on kin's Seven Lamps ofArchitecture. It draws attention to

Rus-Ruskin's ownrealization ofthe limitations ofhis great

book, by quoting the note in a later edition: ' . there

material construction.'

Itwouldindeedbedifficultto saywho wastruly

revolutionaryintellectualandsocialmovements,

examples of whicharein the

opening andclosing

chap-ters ofthisbook, maycertainly cause us to think of him

asaman whoseresponseswere not normalto hisperiod,

Attempts to write about Lethaby and his work have sometimes failed or not gone far enough to get at the

truth He has been labelled 'moralist', and he has been

thoughtofasrather finickyandself-contained,asocialist

andaromantic,whereas theevidenceofhiswritingsand works ofarchitectureanddesignsuggestsuchinterpreta-tions to be shallow Confusion arises perhaps because,

1W.R Lethaby,Form in Civilization, CollectedPapers on Art and

strong reaction against

Ruskinian and Morris-like

Geof-freyScott's ArchitectureofHumanismin 1914,* . abelief

deepensthecontentofarchitectural

Ber-nard Berenson, thatart is

'life-enhancing' Also, thathe

believed in a regeneration of humanist

principles and

background

ideaof humanism hadinitatouch of Maurice and

Kings-ley's Christian Socialism, Ruskin's Guild ofSt. George,

WilliamMorrisArtsandCraftssocialism,and Webb and

ShawFabianism.And do wenotalso seeitas

forits 'movements' andexperiments?

In Europeanantiquity, humanism workedin man to

offsettheseemingchaosofthecosmos. It

expresseditself

through a sense of community, in self-contained

imperial-ismbased ontheconceptthateveryone and everyplace

orderandrule,denialofspace,'static'form,balance,metry, and calm In Gothic times, man relied upon theconcept ofreligion, and with this his own position in

as the medievalconcept remained mysterious and herent infinite, notforced toofaralongpaths ofuseless

archi-tectural expression ofitled to production of'dynamic'

Form, to dramatization ofSpace, to daringin tion,resplendentbeautyinbuildings,andexquisitecrafts-

construc-manshipin artefacts. Renaissance man, rebelling againstthe inhumanity ofthe medieval and the restraints and

dogmas ofScholasticism, seeking to re-identify himself

becauseitseemedto

originat-ing Renaissanceforcewasseen.Withinthenew

order witkhecticandfantasticspiritinRoman Baroque

thenlostits

impetus, exceptforreanimationinWestern European Baroque, inwhich must beincluded English.

It came to an end ofgrace and beauty in the EnglishGeorgian, butfaintechoes ofitspower andgreatness re-

turned with individualistic

nineteenth-century classical

TheRenaissancewasa periodofthe

*

wholeman*,

ex-emplifiedbyMastersinwhom wasasynthesisofscience,

his-torybeingWren. In

viewpoint Philosophyand

concepts,

soughtnew and widerfields. Althoughtheperiodisnot

development of new materials in

daringin the useof knownforms,for

example,thedome.

And in mechanical

engineering and physical science,

modernideasowe muchto Renaissancespeculationsand

experiments Lethaby,inthisbook,suggeststhat"modern

Renaissance'

However, underthesway of humanism andtheclassical

thatfreedom andnecessity are one was to beforgotten,and freedom was tobe understood asindividual licence

andindiscipline. Inour ownsociety, 'neithersobrilliant

above nor stable below' as the eighteenth century, we

states-manship, totalitarianisms, stratified social cultures, the

schism between art and science Nevertheless, we have

wouldnothave becomefiniteandcoherentinthe shape

ofcivilizing reforms

In Architecture, Lethaby gives only six pages to theRenaissancebutthey are curiously interesting pages He

shows a Ruskinian dislike and distrust of Renaissance

itandGothic GeoflreyScottis criticalofthese

compari-sonsandquotesLethabyassayinginArchitecture:'Itmust,

partunderstood

theprimarystyles,Greekor Gothic,thattheRenaissance

isastyleof boredom. .Gothicartwitnesses to anation

in training, hunters, craftsmen, athletes; theRenaissance

is the art of scholars, courtiers . / Incidentally, Scott

does not take the quotation to the end ofthe sentence

which reads, . and the connoisseurship of men'.1 No doubt it is the logic of Scott's position in

pro-nouncestricturesonLethaby. 'Whenacritic', Scott notes,

1

XIXaccepted commonplaces, it is not easy to

hope that the

which were already becoming a legend and thought of

by some as romantic Lethaby, a

word; and he wasnot a

philosopherusinglogicalmethods andbringingproofinpursuanceofhisends.Psychologic-

penetrating

and sometimes (itwouldseem)withless

justificationthan

greatestheightwhendirectlyapplied tovisible

vividly conscious,

particu-larlyastotheirbeauty ortheirugliness.Asalreadynoted,

itwas, aboveall, hisnature to look upon things fromasocial andpersonalpointofview For himartwas not aspecialway of doingparticularthingsbutaway of doing

everything &way oflife. Notonlywas heinfluencedby Ruskin and Morris, butin the way they were alike in

1

Geof&eyScott,The Architectureof Humanism.London,1947 (first

his

and of Morris arenowadaysbetterunderstood, as istheirsignificance, and we have cause to be grateful to menlike Lethaby whose life-work has in some part been

teachers

ItshouldbestressedthatLethaby wasapractising

hetriedhardtowork ona'basisofutility' and, also like

doingso. None ofhis

works areconventional,none mere derivatives from the

academic styles, allavoidtheesotericlanguage ofthe art

nouveau movement strong and with widespread enceinhistime and thoughin designhisbuildingshave

influ-some ofthemannerisms of Norman Shaw,PhilipWebb,

compo-sition and from the ability to

Yet, throughout all his architecture and his design, he

delight-fulexample ofhis work.

giving generalized views on architecture and socialhistory,isremarkablyvariedin its

opportunity offered itself, in this book and in others,

he spoke out against 'architect's architecture', 'taste* as

it has become institutionalized in our culture, Fine

Art as a vested interest, and the division ofart from

existence

References to Lethaby's personalityand to influences

preface,

background andearlyhistory,and

in

diedinLondon, aged74,on 17 July1931.He wastheson

of RichardPyleLethaby who diedin 1904and of Mary

Lethaby who died in 1870, when William was thirteen.

1850asacabinet-makerandgilder.Richard Lethaby

mar-ried

Williamnotto lose

entirelythe benefitof motherlycare

Thefamilywasa Bible-Christians one andlivedatNo.2

Ebberley Lawn,Barnstaple,ahouse whichthefatherchasedin 1862.W.F Gardinerreferstosuchpurchasesasbeing atatimewhenBuilding Societies'werepeculiarly

pur-thegrowth ofthenewera intowhichtheworkingclasses

haveentered'.1 ThehouseisinaRegencyterracefronted

such ahome broughttothefamilya

feelingofwell-being,

ofsecurity,improvementinstatus,andincreaseddignity

Victorian

'progress' come true The father had lived

throughthe'hungry forties'and hadseenbadtimes and

muchsocial bitterness WilliamleftBarnstaplein

Febru-ary 1878 justafterhe became twenty-one, it might be

1W.

noted But he often returned to his home for holidays.

There is little doubt that the family, a small one, wasaffectionate and one might be sure that the artisanfather, who- looked peculiarly like Charles Dickens,

and the stepmother, a lady of considerable charm

class.

William wasbaptizedby William Reed,anotablenineteenth-century leader ofthe Bible Christians Thissecthaditsbeginningsinpost-Waterlootimesand was an

mid-outcome ofthenonconformistrevolt against the canismoftheupperclasses Ithadlostmuch ofitsseverity

Angli-andnarrowness bythemiddle ofthe century.Its leaders

thoughtthat libertyandthenew-bornfranchisebrought power,butalsoaccompanyingperils,thereforeeducationwasthe clear andChristian duty ofthe brethren. Many

Gothic Revival; some were by Alexander Lauder, an

architectunder whom young Lethaby worked William

probably gothisearlyeducationattheGrammarSchool,

an old foundationwhere John Gay had been taught,and

no doubt he had lessons in drawing at theLiterary and

Scientific Institute, under Lauder, who gave time to

Thereis no questionthatWilliam was brought up in

class-con-scious than

Church-and-Chapel conscious', and by a

1W.

ofradical elements in the politics ofthe period ofthe

It is hardly possible to discuss Lethaby without close

great influence the

latter had upon him. He revered Ruskin,

thirty-eight

grewinLethabydidnot allowofblind obedienceto the

him to Ruskin the maturer Ruskin, in a self-critical

mood Both wereseers,but Ruskin's

outpourings,which

alllevels

TolstoyandProustmust be numbered amongst

following the Second ReformBill, when Robert Lowe

'progress', were demanding knowledge not only as a

meanstotheend of

toliveinanew andforthemsuddenly bounteous world.Lethaby, inany case less intense inhis genius, was con-

cernedwithapublicbecoming somewhatgreater insize

in-formed; furthermore, it was a public being

been ably discussed, particularly by Dr. Joan Evans,2

1Aspecial editionof TheBarnstapk Times, 31 October1868, gives

aspiritedaccountofa publicmeetingaddressedbyarepresentativeoftheReformLeague Lethaby'sfather is listed ashavingattended.

and traits suggested as Ruskin's could well have been

forms; bothloved landscapepaintingabove otherkinds,

especiallywhenitwas ofasort 'inwhichnatureis made

moreformaland rhythmicthanshegenerally appears'

pre-occupied with questions ofcause and effect and came

rea-soning processes; both were engrossedwith social tions and criedoutforreforms Ruskin tragicallymani-

ques-fested histraitsto thepointofmaniabut Lethaby,possibly

becausehe had anacute senseoftheabsurdand profound

mani-festeditselfina

ofhis

ofintellect until the end Ruskin's parents were

first-cousins His mother was a Bible Christian.2 He was

brought upinwell-to-domiddle-classsuburban

surround-ings evenintripsabroad theequipage wasprivateand

'family' and in

4

a home of narrow conventionalities,

rigid rules, sternly exclusive of the world without'.3

aone-roomstone-builtschoolofancient history and

1

Op.cit., p 48.(Water-coloursbyLethabycan beseenatthe Library

oftheRoyalInstituteofBritish Architects,at theTateGallery,andat

theHuddersfleldArtGallery.)

3

*

lov-ing,wouldperhaps berathermoreobjectivethanthatof

a mother Thefamilywas

strictly religiousand devoutly

Chapel-going The home was small and William'searly

environment couldnothave beenwell-to-do,norcould

he and his family have enjoyed *a regular and sweetly

selfishmanner of

living5

.But he hadthebenefitsofbeingwithotherchildrenand hadfirst-hand

"Whenasayoung man helefthis home, he wentfirst

distin-guished andsuccessful Norman Shaw, movingfigure in

the development of Bedford Park, Chiswick, with its

amLethaby'spupil', andthereis reasonto believe Shaw

meant this. Lethaby stayed for twelve years, becomingchief assistant, until, as was customary in those times,Shawhelpedtostarthimin

com-missionforalargecountry house.AvonTyrell in

Hamp-shirewastheoutcome Butafteraboutten yearsLethaby

During very early days in London he won two majorprizesinarchitecturalstudy:theSoaneMedallionandthe

and anumber of minor awards

pro-vided funds and opportunity for travel and this he didwidely, asthegreatquantity ofhis note-books shows

SocialistLeagueand,later,theFabianSociety,atmeetings

of which he cameinto close contactwith Bernard Shaw

NormanShaw'sofficewasthe centreofagroup of men who metastheSt. George'sArtSociety, andthis

society

was the precursor ofthe Art Workers Guild, in which

William Morris was active The Guild was founded in

January I884.1 Lethaby was a leading member, indeed

oftheannualexhibitionsandlectured inthegalleries. He

became Master oftheArt Workers Guildin 1911,having

on the Committee ofthe Society for the Protection of

AncientBuildings.

In1896theLondon CountyCounciltook upthe

a new school the Central School ofArts and Crafts

Lethabyeventuallytookoverfullcontroland wassibleforitsscheme ofeducation,ascheme whichattracted

1RobertW.S.Weir,PaperreadonWilliam Richard Lethabybefore the

Art WorkersGuild, 22 April1932.Tobeseen at theLibraryoftheR.oyal

CollegeofArtinSouth Kensington wasre-organizedand Lethaby was madeProfessorofDesign.Heheldthesetwo

majorpostsconcurrently for anumber of

years, initself

a remarkablefact. HeretiredfromtheRoyal Collegeof

When the Design and Industries Association was

formed in 1915 he took an active part inits

and wroteseveralpamphletsin its support

In 1906 Dean Armitage RobinsoninvitedLethabyto

gotoWestminster and becomeSurveyortothefabricof

remaining in the post until 1928. He was Surveyor to

Rochester Cathedralfrom 1920to 1927

He was one ofthe

&Co.,furniture

abraveattemptto raisestandardsofdesignand

workman-ship.Inthishe wasassociatedwithErnestGimson,Sidney

Blomfield Thefirmcameto an endin 1892.

Duringhis activelife as a

furni-ture (asideboardisin the VictoriaandAlbertMuseum,

South Kensington), fireplaces, leadwork, embroideries,

As author ofthePreface andEpilogueto thisvolumeI

acknowledge withthanks the great help givenby theLibrary StaffoftheRoyalInstituteofBritish Architects;

1 VictoriaandAlbertMuseumCatalogue ofanExhibition of VictorianandEdwardian

the Curator, Mr. A E Blackwell, and the Board of

Ireland, who assembled most of the illustrations in

this edition; Mr. F J. Northcote; Mr Bruce Oliver,

Mr A. B Waters, M.B.E., G.M., F.R.I.B.A.; Mr. J.Brandon-Jones, A.R.I.B.A.; Sir Sydney Cockerell; Mr.Alfred Powell; Mr PercyJowett, C.B.E.; Dr. Charles

Grace A Crosby ofBarnstable, Massachusetts, U.S.A.,

theRoyalCollege ofArt,andthe Architectural

Mr R.E.Enthoven,F.R.I.B.A., forpermissionto

1954

W R Lethaby's principal

literary works

beencompiledbytheLibraryStaffoftheRoyalInstituteof

to the 'sweepand intensity' ofhis mind and to thefact

Architecture, MysticismandMyth, 1892

The Church ofSancta

Byzantine Building (jointlywith H. Swainson), 1894

London Before the

Architecture, An Introduction to the

the Art of

Building, 1911 in the Home University

Library of Modern Knowledge

Form in Civilization; Collected.Papers on Art andLabour,1922

Cockerell,editedbyViolaMeynell (1940),thereisa good

XXX WORKS

17 April 1953 The TimesLiterarySupplement publishedan

articlebyLethaby'sgreat friendAlfredPowell onSayings

ofLethaby'smanybrilliantaphorisms,one of whichwas:

Thiscapitalisawork ofthe sixth century, andbears themonogram

oftheEmperorJustinianonthe abacus. Inthe eleventh century it

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

with-out alteration ofcertain timed references to discoveriesand

1955

art ofbuilding is concerned not only with single

Egypt, Greece,and

Italyweregroupsofcitiesratherthangeographicalspacesempty of men anddwellings. Archi-

I wish, while outlining thelarger facts ofthehistoryof

time have been madeto its powers bydivers schools. A

might beachronology anddescription

build-ings;itmighttreatoftherise, fallandinteractionof

new thing ofvaluewas broughtinto architecture,

may be hidden bythedetail,so thatone maynotseethe

the onrush ofperpetuallychanging artwhich, whilewe

itmay beconvenienttostudytheart historically,itmust

be rememberedthatarchaeologyisnotarchitecture, any

history, architecture'is thepractical art ofbuilding, not onlyin the past, but now and in thefuture Yet evenin

might besuggested

On the other hand, the wall, the pier, the arch, the

vault, are elementswhichshouldbeinvestigatedlike the

a classification by essentialvariation Some day we shall

get a morphology ofthe art by somearchitectural naeus orDarwin, whowillstartfromthe simplecelland

Lin-relate to it themost complex structures In architecture

morethananywhere wearetheslavesof names and

cate-gories,andsolongasthewholefieldofpastarchitectural

experimentispresentedto usaccidentallyonly under

his-torical schedules, designing architecture is

conceivedas

itsaccumulated powerstoimmediateneeds the

efficiency relativeto a given purpose Thelack ofsuchatrueclassificationisinpartthereasonwhy modernarchi-

tects swing fromplayingatGreek to playing at Gothic,

andthenbackagaintoGreek,withpatheticallyineffectual

enthusiasm

Even in an historical narrativeit may be possible to

ARCHAEOLOGY, ARCHITECTURE AND ORNAMENT 3

examples, and the writerwould, above all, like to

sur-vey ofthe past. To anticipate, it may besaidhere that

a

always being hurledforward from

changeto change

In the introductionto the great Historyof Artin

Anti-quitybyPerrotandChipiezwe aretoldthat

c

architec-ture, andyet when we useit everyone knows what we

mean' Thatisrather a dangerous assumption.The

feeling that

high andpoeticword,whilethemass of

buildinginourcities isnothighly

isa tendencyto thinkthat architectureisonly decorated

or romanticbuilding. But whatis a decorated building?

decora-tion, whilethepyramids hadnone.What isa noble and romanticbuilding?Isnot anold

which seems to have risen self-built out ofthe ground,

noblerand

infinitelymoretouching thanthelastnew and

expensivevillais

likelytobe?Someinquirers,notsatisfied

above themere essentialsofbuilding.Buthere, again,adifficulty arises Whatis mere building? Everybuildingcarries somesort ofexpression, someessential appeal to

4 ARCHITECTURE

satisfiedme for atime itwas struck off in conversation

with emotion But what is usually understood by such

con-sciouslyembodiedina

oldworks ofarchitecture thushadtheirexpression given

to themarbitrarily. Thecottage, thebridge, the castlewere they intendedtolookpathetic,bold, romantic or

it is

mostsuperb castlewasdesignedtolookromantic,itwasdesignedtobestrong.Theplough, the hayrick,the

ship,

are all highly poetic, but their makers do not think of

likelytobecomeadiseaseofart,

beenspared to makeit aesthetic, and itilluminated the

whole problem.

Wecannot reachanysatisfactorydefinitionof

building itselfis bad building itembodies anabsurdity.

Onthe othersideit issaid, 'Muchbuildingismean and

poor,isthatarchitecture?'Notthat, either.Everyartmust

be judged on its

weakness and defects Yet to be realis not all; there is

evidentlyascaleofrealities. Allarchitecture is notgreat

architecture.TheotherdayI

passedalargegroup of

well-built structures that were