CHAPTER IV

.

CHIEF ITALIAN WORKS.

Plan of the Chapter. (A.) ORIGINAL BUILDINGS--Varieties of his Italian style--First manner--Reform Club--Manchester Athenæum--New wing at Trentham--Second manner--Bridgewater House--Third manner--Halifax Town-hall. (B.) CONVERSIONS AND ALTERATIONS--College of Surgeons--Walton House--Highclere House--Board of Trade--Architectural gardening--Trentham Hall--Duncombe Park--Harewood House--Shrubland Park--Cliefden House--Laying out of Trafalgar Square. (C.) DESIGNS CARRIED OUT BY OTHERS--Keyham Factory--Ambassador’s Palace at Constantinople--General remarks on his Italian architecture.

The steps by which Mr. Barry won his way to a high professional position have been narrated in chronological order. For the period of his life, from 1821 to 1829, is the one which is in itself most interesting and suggestive to those entering on a professional career.

It shows clearly enough, even by the variety of his designs, the fertility and versatile character of his mind and his unwearied energy of work. It illustrates the difficulties and disappointments, which present themselves at the outset of most professional careers. It is not uninteresting to remark the comparatively fruitless character of its earlier years, and the rapid increase of work towards its close, an increase which continued with progressive rapidity till the great work at Westminster absorbed all his time and powers. If the lesson which it reads is not uncommon, yet it is at the same time one which never loses its value and interest.

But after this time his life had few vicissitudes. It became more and more absorbed in actual work, and its progress was marked, not by years or by events, but by the buildings which rose everywhere under his hand.

It seems better therefore to neglect the order of time, so as to follow only the connexion of subject, and endeavour to group together in some intelligible arrangement the various works which he was called upon to execute. The New Palace at Westminster will demand a separate treatment of its own.

The present chapter will be devoted to a notice of his chief works in the Italian style, both public and private buildings. The success of the Travellers’ Club naturally turned his attention principally to this style for some time. In it, perhaps even to the last, he worked with the greatest pleasure; and probably, if the choice had been left to him, without any influence of external authority or local association, it would have been the style of his New Palace.

His Italian works accordingly are numerous,[43] and naturally divide themselves into two classes: the first, of buildings erected by him; the next, of buildings which he was called upon to alter, to an extent often amounting to a complete transformation. Some brief notice may also be necessary of buildings for the designs of which he was consulted, although the execution of the designs was not under his direction.

The first class of designs is not very numerous compared with the second. This might have been partly accidental, but it probably was due in great measure to his own fertility of resource, and the keen eye which he had for the capabilities of existing buildings. As he seldom admired any building unreservedly, so he seldom despaired of any, even of those which most men would have condemned as hopeless. When he was consulted therefore by public bodies or by private individuals, who needed additional accommodation, or desired greater architectural effect, he could generally strike out some plan of alteration which satisfied both requirements, while it appeared less costly than the erection of a new building, and preserved something of the charm of old associations. It may be questioned whether more real originality is shown in the design of what is absolutely new, than in the power of impressing a new character on old materials. But he used to regret the comparative fewness of his opportunities of erecting new buildings, unconscious that it was in some degree due to his remarkable power of giving fresh life to the old.

(A). It is, however, in his original buildings that his principles of Italian design can be most clearly traced. Those principles remained essentially unaltered. No competent eye can ever fail to recognise his hand. But he had certainly different “manners,” and these are most distinctly impressed upon the Italian buildings which he erected _de novo_. The first manner is that of his Travellers’ and Reform Clubs, and to it belong the new wing which he erected at Trentham and the Manchester Athenæum. The second is marked in Bridgewater House. The third is distinctly seen in one of his last designs, the design for the erection of the Halifax Town-hall, which was carried out after his death. It must, of course, remain uncertain how far it would have been modified in process of execution, had he lived to see the work complete.

* * * * *

REFORM CLUB.--The Travellers’ Club was completed in 1831. Since that time the great competition for the New Palace at Westminster had been decided, and his success had secured him a place in the first rank of British architects. In 1837 he was called upon to enter a select competition with Messrs. Basevi, Blore, Burton, Cockerell, and Smirke, for the erection of the Reform Club. His design was almost unanimously chosen. He felt some difficulty in designing a building of such superior magnitude in the same Italian style, side by side with his favourite Travellers’. He would gladly have varied it as much as possible, but he could not bring himself to depart from the “astylar” style; for of engaged orders he never thoroughly approved. The Farnese Palace was doubtless in his mind during the conception of this design, and a charge of plagiarism has been grounded upon certain superficial resemblances, in the same way and with the same injustice as in the comparison of the Travellers’ Club with the Villa Pandolfini.[44]

In this Club-house, as the sides were liable to be seen at the same time, an almost complete uniformity

[Illustration: REFORM CLUB HOUSE, PALL MALL, LONDON.

PLAN OF THE GROUND FLOOR.]

of design was preserved throughout the three visible fronts. To complete breaks of design under such circumstances he had a rooted objection; he would rather risk monotony, than break unity and give the effect (so often seen in Venice) of façades merely “applied” to a building. Here, as in the Travellers’ Club, simplicity, solidity, and repose, were the great objects aimed at. The entrance seemed to some to want importance; he tried (in deference to advice) columns and pilasters; a porch he would not hear of, for it seemed to him a mere excrescence. But the design so enlarged seemed out of harmony with the windows; it appeared to break the unity of the design, and the entrance was therefore left in its present simplicity.

In criticizing his own design, he greatly regretted that he could not give to his upper windows an importance commensurate with that of the lower stories, such as is found in the three full stories of the Farnese Palace. He also took blame to himself because, for want of some relief, the columns flanking his windows appeared to be embedded in the wall. He would have gladly given more boldness to the dressings of the lower windows, and possibly more size to the windows throughout. With these exceptions, he continued satisfied with his design, and public opinion has certainly continued to confirm that satisfaction.

In the original plan the central portion of the interior was occupied by an open Italian cortile. A roof thrown over this converted it into the magnificent Central Hall, which is now one of the greatest ornaments of the building. A rival design (Mr. Cockerell’s) had a Central Hall. It is possible that this may have first suggested the idea to the successful architect. But considerations of convenience and suitability to an English climate would have been sufficient to recommend such a step, and little change after all was made, except the addition of the roof.

It will be easily seen that the grand effect of a Central Hall, which became afterwards a leading feature in his Italian designs, cannot be obtained without considerable sacrifice. It is liable to interfere with the due provision of light and air for the basement story, and, in spite of much skill in contrivance, this defect may be traced in the case of the Reform Club. It is likely also to interfere with the existence of a grand central staircase, as it does in this case and at Bridgewater House. But it was a peculiarity of Mr. Barry’s plans that he seldom gave up much space to a grand staircase. As afterwards at the New Palace at Westminster, he was apt to consider such space as comparatively wasted, and to think a more effective use might be made of it for a great hall or gallery. At the Reform Club certainly he never regretted the sacrifice needful to secure his magnificent Central Hall.

With the internal decoration Mr. Barry took great pains, but felt great compunction in the use of imitations (scagliola and painting) in the place of real marbles and other precious materials. Necessity compelled the “imposture,” for, even as it was, the expense was great, and (in the opinion of some members of the Club) excessive. But with _carte_

[Illustration:

_L. H. Michael, del._

REFORM CLUB, PALL MALL.

VIEW FROM PALL MALL.]

_blanche_ as to expenditure, he would have expelled every trace of it, and have rivalled the examples of gorgeous decoration, which had struck him in Italy.

This Club was remarkable for the great attention paid to internal convenience. More particularly the kitchen department, in which the enthusiasm and knowledge of M. Soyer were allowed full scope, was held to be a model of excellence. The whole has been named (by Mr. Digby Wyatt) as an example, that “the most minute attention to comfort, and the satisfactory working of utilitarian necessities, are compatible with the exercise of the most delicate sense of refinement, and the hardihood of genius.”

The annexed illustration gives a perspective view from the west (taken from Pall Mall), and a plan of the ground floor. The chief point notable in the latter is the careful attention to absolute symmetry of arrangement,--the centres of doors, colonnades, entrances to staircases and the like, being all made to balance with one another. The espacement of the windows, dictated by the external design, was also made to adapt itself symmetrically to each room, and in no case was recourse had to the device of blank windows--a device to which, though not uncommon in ancient and modern examples of Italian, Mr. Barry had a decided objection. Another point is the careful provision of direct lines of communication by corridors, and the picturesque treatment in many cases of their termination. Generally speaking, it will be found that it unites stateliness and architectural symmetry with great cheerfulness and practical convenience.

The building, as a whole, was a decided success. Grander in scale than the Travellers’ Club, it carried out more thoroughly and emphatically the principles of design, which had made the former building famous. Its exterior, perhaps, produced less effect on the public, for the earlier design had pre-occupied the ground of originality. But it established Mr. Barry in the first rank of Italian architecture, and showed, alike by its points of similarity and its points of difference, that his former success had not been a happy accident. On the interior the difference of scale told for more than on the exterior. In the Travellers’ elegance and comfort alone could be aimed at. In the Reform Club there was an opportunity of adding grandeur, without destroying the former characteristics. No one could doubt that the opportunity had been nobly used. At the time of its erection the building stood almost alone, as a model to foreigners of what a great English Club could be. Other buildings have risen since on the same or even on a grander scale, both as to size and magnificence of ornament; but still it may be doubted whether its high position has been impaired.[45]

MANCHESTER ATHENÆUM.--The Manchester Athenæum, as has been said, belongs to this period of his Italian style. The exterior is plain, for it has no

[Illustration: BRIDGEWATER HOUSE. LONDON.

PRINCIPAL FLOOR.]

great advantage of position, and economy was an object; but in its refinement of detail and perfection it is as characteristic as his greater works. In the interior there was one remarkable feature involving some bold and even hazardous construction. The confined space made it necessary to erect the great Lecture Theatre on the top story; and this, considering its size and the large number it was to accommodate, was a matter of no slight difficulty, but it was successfully achieved.

THE NEW WING AT TRENTHAM also belongs to about the same period. The annexed woodcut shows its general character--a Palazzino in itself, with an engaged order, not altogether unlike his favourite Banqueting-house at Whitehall. It needs no more special notice.

BRIDGEWATER HOUSE.--The building which most distinctly marks his “second manner” is Bridgewater House. The change is chiefly traceable in a tendency to greater freedom of treatment, and to a desire for greater richness of effect. It seems to have been partly due to a general change of architectural taste in these directions, partly to his own habituation to Gothic work at the New Palace of Westminster.

Bridgewater House (built for the Earl of Ellesmere in 1847) was the last of his great Italian buildings in London. In his first design, fearing apparently too great a similarity to his Club-houses, and inclining to a more ornate style, he attempted to depart from his usual principles, and produced a design (exhibited at the Royal Academy) in which on a lofty basement appeared a grand Corinthian order with engaged columns and entablature unbroken. But, as usual in such cases, he could not rest content with this dereliction from the principles in which both study and experience had confirmed him. He could not make up his mind to a “walled-up colonnade,” and double stories masked by a single order.[46] The design was rejected as too costly; and he not unwillingly returned to his usual style, and produced the design now executed.

In it there was, as has been said, another conflict of principles in his mind. Profuse Gothic ornamentation had made his earlier Italian simplicity seem insipid; for a time his pencil was busy, covering every yard of plain surface with panelling and sculpture. But here also his old principles reasserted their dominion, and the design ultimately came out as we at present see it, more ornate than his former works, but yet preserving a general character of simplicity.

The street front remained uniform as in his Club-houses; in the Park front internal requirements forced upon him the very effective variety of the great three-light windows at each end of the façade. The porch he was obliged to add for convenience sake, but, as it were, under protest, for it seemed to him, as usual, an excrescence. The chief peculiarity in the design was the treatment of the upper

[Illustration: BRIDGEWATER HOUSE, LONDON.

ELEVATION OF FRONT TOWARDS THE GREEN PARK.]

windows. He was obliged to make them small and place them close under the cornice, and accordingly he united them by panels, and treated them as a kind of frieze. But this also he did not in the abstract approve; he doubted whether they were not too small for a story, yet too large for a frieze, and whether the effect was not to diminish the apparent height of the building. Another unusual step was the concealment of the roofs, and the substitution of a balustrade. It is curious that, whereas in his earlier designs (_e.g._ the Travellers’, Walton, and the Reform Club) he had used a visible roof, yet in some later designs (_e.g._ Bridgewater House and Cliefden) he departed from this principle, and employed a balustrade. The two are of course not incompatible, and indeed, especially if the roof be high pitched, some protection of balustrade or parapet is needed in London streets to prevent masses of snow, slates, &c., from falling. In his great design for the Government Offices, Sir Charles showed in almost all cases both a visible roof and a balustrade, and accordingly, in the design for the Halifax Town-hall, carried out since his death by his son, a similar arrangement is adopted.

The annexed woodcuts give the elevation of the Park front, and the plan of the principal floor. The latter manifests the same characteristics already noticed in the Reform Club. It is quoted by Mr. Kerr, in his ‘English Gentleman’s House,’ as a typical specimen of a stately and symmetrical plan, and contrasted with one in which a convenient irregularity and picturesque effect are the main objects proposed.

It will be observed that the centre of this building, as of the Reform Club, is occupied by a fine hall, the result here also of an after-thought, for in the original design its place was occupied by a grand staircase, enclosed by walls. For the decoration of this hall he had formed great designs, which were never to be carried out. Delays interposed, and after the death of Lord Ellesmere the hall was placed in other hands. Mr. F. Götzenberg, a German artist, directed its decoration, and in 1858 the architect was invited to inspect the work, and aid it by his criticism. But, as might be expected, he found the principles adopted by M. Götzenberg very different from those which he had in his own mind. He could not take the responsibility implied in any interference or suggestion, and he retired with deep regret.

The building is certainly one of his most beautiful designs. It shows that the greater taste for richness and variety of effect had not injured that delicacy of proportion, and exquisite finish of detail, which had been so remarkably characteristic of his earlier buildings.[47]

HALIFAX TOWN-HALL.--The Halifax Town-hall, the last Italian building which he designed, marks still more strikingly the change which his mind had undergone since the erection of the Travellers’ and Reform Clubs.[48]

“This was the last of Sir Charles Barry’s works, and is in many respects one of the most interesting. Its interest arises not from the size or importance of the building, but from the evidence afforded by its design of the results of a long experience in the mind of its architect.

“In the design of the Reform Club, and still more remarkably in the design of the Travellers’ Club, he had adopted that type of Italian architecture which aims at producing grandeur of effect by the symmetry of its parts, the regularity of its arrangement, and the simplicity, verging on severity, of its details. Ornament is sparely applied in these buildings, and is in all cases subordinate to the strict regularity which governs the design. The only exception to this regularity, viz., the position of the entrance door to the Travellers’ Club, was always regarded by the architect as a blemish, only to be justified by its absolute necessity, and forced on him by the nature of the site.

“When, many years afterwards, Bridgewater House was designed, Sir Charles Barry had evidently changed his views in some degree; for this building, although preserving the rhythm and symmetry of a stately Italian palace, relies more on its ornamentation than either the Reform Club or the Travellers’.

“In it, as in the alterations to the Treasury Buildings in Whitehall, which were proceeding at about the same time, we see indications that Sir C. Barry had begun to give to his Italian architecture a character differing considerably from that which marked his earlier productions.

“One important feature however may be remarked, as common to the Travellers’ and Reform Clubs on the one hand, and to Bridgewater House on the other, namely, the unbroken cornice which surmounts each building. The cornice is proportioned to the whole height of the building, and it is a curious circumstance that Bridgewater House is the last of his designs which contains this feature. In the case of the Treasury, the original design by Sir John Soane controlled of course very decidedly Sir C. Barry’s operations, but the features which he introduced, namely, the broken entablatures (tending towards a vertical, as opposed to the original horizontal effect of Sir J. Soane’s work), the carved panels between the two principal rows of windows, the covering of the entire surface with rustication and panels, the elaborate carving in the attics, go far to show that, whether influenced by the decorative character of the New Palace, Westminster, or by other considerations, he was rapidly changing the character of his Italian designs, and ornamenting them with increased decoration. The same tendency may be observed in his subsequent designs for the sculpture galleries at Shrubland Park and for the Government Offices. At Shrubland the entablature is broken over the columns and pilasters, and in his design for the Government Offices Sir C. Barry showed his opinion of the present Treasury buildings by adopting them as an integral part of

[Illustration: HALIFAX TOWN HALL.]

his design, which was indeed materially influenced by this circumstance.

“In the design for Halifax Town-hall the freedom of treatment above referred to may be clearly noticed to an even greater extent, not only in the more decorative portions of the work, but also in the arrangement of the plan and general character of the entire design. The tower and spire, which are placed at one corner of the building, form one of its most remarkable features; and, though it is possible that Sir C. Barry might have somewhat modified his design, if he had lived to carry it out, its general outline, and even its details, were too far advanced at the time of his death to have admitted of any radical interference with its essential characteristics.

“The Town-hall is situated in the middle of the town, on a site which, from its confined character, is not in itself favourable to architectural effect. The tower is placed at one corner of the building, so as to face the principal street, and to form the main entrance to the Town-hall. The Tower is surmounted by a spire of a remarkable design, which, in common with the whole of the building, displays a marked Renaissance character, while from its position it gives an irregularity of outline to the entire design, greatly at variance with the symmetrical arrangement observable in Sir C. Barry’s earlier Italian buildings. It may be noted however that in the New Palace at Westminster, which has often been criticized as planned on Italian principles, he placed his towers in positions of great irregularity as regards the plan, which in other respects is arranged as far as possible on the principle of strict symmetry. The design at Halifax consists of two orders, with broken entablatures and arched windows in each bay. At the corner opposite to the Tower the Council-room forms a second projecting mass, thus departing still further from a symmetrical arrangement of plan, and there are also smaller projections at the other angles of the building. At Sir C. Barry’s death the foundations of the building were just completed, and its erection was intrusted by the corporation to me. At this time the details of the exterior had all been fully made out and revised and approved by him. The interior however had not been fully designed, and I am therefore responsible for its architectural treatment, as also for the addition of a high roof to the building, which latter feature was not to be found in the original design. I have also succeeded in restoring to the design several decorative features, which were at first omitted from the contract from motives of economy, but which were readily sanctioned, on my recommendation, by the corporation, whose public spirit and desire to do justice to Sir C. Barry’s last design deserve from me a word of grateful recognition.--E. M. B.”

It does not concern us to discuss the abstract merits of this gradual change of Italian style, visible in Sir C. Barry’s works. But it is certainly interesting in itself, and if it illustrates, as probably is the case, a tendency in the architecture of the present day to break down the rigidity of conventional divisions, and vary established styles by greater freedom of treatment, it will serve to illustrate the remark made in the first chapter, that his mind was one eminently plastic and progressive, and one which therefore would partly guide, and partly follow, the general movement of architectural taste in the country. Holding, as he did, most strongly, the opinion that the styles which divide the architectural profession into two rival camps, had each their characteristic excellences, it is not surprising that he allowed their influences to interpenetrate and modify each other. It still remains to be seen whether his practice does not represent a tendency, which will be more fully exemplified hereafter.

(B). The second class of Sir C. Barry’s designs includes those which had for their object the alteration of existing buildings. In this work his skill was proverbial and almost unrivalled. Possibly his sanguine belief in the capabilities of the materials at command may at times have even misled him into attempting alteration, where demolition and reconstruction would have been little less difficult and much more satisfactory. But as has been said, it is doubtful whether his originality and power of resource were not manifested at least as much in this kind of work as in the erection of new buildings. In many cases, not only the fronts, but even the openings of the windows, would be preserved, and yet the building would become new under his hand, and what was plain and commonplace would start into richness and beauty. Like a masterly translation, the design bore the appearance of unfettered originality.

COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.--One of the first instances of such conversion was that of the College of Surgeons in Lincoln’s Inn. Great additions were required, and the site was accordingly extended. As usual, not only was he to retain as much as possible of the old building, but the portico, the principal feature of the original building, was, above all, to be preserved. Mr. Barry himself would gladly have dispensed with the portico altogether; it was (what he strongly disliked) a mere porch attached to the building, not (as in the old Greek temples) an essential and dominant portion of it. But he could not venture upon this; so he changed its position to the centre of the new front by shifting one or two columns from one end to the other, and left it otherwise unchanged. The leading feature in his design was the severe and massive cornice, predominating over the portico and front generally, and uniting the attic with the main stories. The front itself he treated as a background, carrying simplicity almost to baldness in order to subordinate all to the main effect. It will be seen, of course, and it has been already remarked, that in this change he was carrying out the leading principle of his Italian street fronts, the use of the great cornice to give unity and completeness to the design. Although more of the exterior was preserved than usual, yet the spirit of the whole was changed; and, plain as it still was, it gained a striking and original effect.

The interior was almost entirely remodelled. The most important change was in the New Museum. The old one had been divided for architectural effect

[Illustration: COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS.

VIEW OF PRINCIPAL FRONT AS ALTERED.]

by massive piers and transverse arches. All obstructions were now cleared out; ample space and light were secured; indeed, not a foot of space was wasted, and the light, diffused by transmission through a continuous cove (the ceiling being left as a reflector), was excellent. It became, as the curators declared, a cheerful and most convenient museum. At a later period (1850) he was called upon to carry out some further internal changes. These were intended merely to give additional accommodation, and little architectural effect was aimed at. An additional museum was erected on the same principles of design which had dictated the alteration of the old, but with somewhat more of light through the roof. Two new theatres were added, with suitable offices. No alteration was made in the front.[49]

WALTON HOUSE.--The next specimen of Mr. Barry’s power of reconstruction, under very different circumstances, is seen at Walton House, belonging to the Earl of Tankerville.

The house stands on the banks of the Thames, in a position very pleasant and beautiful in itself (almost buried in its magnificent trees, and affording a ready access to the river), but having little openness or elevation, and therefore placing some difficulties in the way of architectural effect. The house had been a somewhat commonplace straggling building. The site was such as to require a certain amount of irregularity in treatment. In 1837 Mr. Barry was consulted for its reconstruction. This was the time between the erection of the Travellers’ and Reform Clubs, and belongs architecturally to his earlier Italian style. Some considerable additions were made, especially a fine entrance corridor, and a belvedere, on which probably the architect relied for giving effect to a building which wanted elevation of site. But the whole house was remodelled both externally and internally--the work as usual growing in conception during its progress. It became externally an elegant and at that time an almost unique specimen of an Italian villa. The size is not considerable, but every detail is studied so as to produce that effect of harmony and perfection at which Mr. Barry at all times aimed. The style is simple, with the characteristic features of a predominating cornice, and (as in the Club-houses) a carefully studied proportion of solid wall to windows, and an Italian roof made a visible and ornamental feature.[50] Seen, as so many Italian villas are seen, on some rising ground, and with opportunity of comparatively distant views, it might have produced a more striking effect. As it is, although the plan and composition are well adapted to the site, some part of its beauty is lost.

The interior arrangement has been quoted by Mr. Kerr[51] as an example on a smaller scale, and on a somewhat irregular plan, of the same “stateliness”

[Illustration: WALTON SURREY.

By Sir C. Barry.]

of design which he observes in Bridgewater House. Yet it was certainly adapted most thoroughly to the special requirements of the case, and cannot be accused of sacrificing convenience to effect. The chief feature is the long entrance corridor, spacious and symmetrical, divided by pilasters into equal bays, each square having its pendentive ceiling--somewhat in the style which in an Italian climate would have produced an open loggia. The internal details of the rooms are simple, but with the simplicity which is the result of study and of thorough understanding of principles. The house marks the change of taste (which Mr. Barry had certainly a considerable share in promoting) from the older Greek style of country houses, with their huge porticoes and massive details, to the greater elasticity, elegance, and brightness of the Italian style. It can hardly be doubted that the change was an improvement, both in architectural propriety and in domestic comfort and cheerfulness.

HIGHCLERE HOUSE.--But in the same year, 1837, he was called upon to exercise his skill in conversion on a grander scale, and in a far more striking manner, for the Earl of Carnarvon, at Highclere in Hampshire. At Walton he had to add much, and almost to reconstruct. At Highclere the whole constructional framework of the house was retained, and yet the building became in the strictest sense new and original. In fact, the contrast of its former and present condition, shown by the comparison of the two woodcuts, almost renders any comment unnecessary. The old building, as will be seen at once, is designed in the comparative flatness and insipidity of bare classicism: under his hand it became a palace, rich and original in design. Yet not only were the main walls preserved, with scarcely any extension of the building or plan, but even the secondary features were kept intact. In no case was the level of any floor or the opening of a window changed.

The style chosen was less simple and richer in effect than the style of pure Italian. He called it “Anglo-Italian,” an Elizabethan or Jacobian style, which he thought excellent, when, as must often be the case in domestic architecture, the openings were of necessity too crowded for the purer Italian style, of which he had given examples in his Club-houses.[52] The centre, contrary to his usual practice, he elevated by an attic, feeling that the style admitted greater freedom and irregularity of treatment, and wishing to give importance to the great entrance; for he considered that the lofty and beautiful central tower and the elevated angle-turrets would preserve the needful unity of design.

The building thus transformed was one of his favourite works. It certainly is in itself one of the most striking country seats in England, and he could fairly claim it as his own, and rejoice over the beauty created out of unpromising materials and under conditions of no slight difficulty.

BOARD OF TRADE.--But of all examples perhaps the one best known is the conversion effected on the

[Illustration: HIGHCLERE HOUSE, HAMPSHIRE.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE HOUSE PREVIOUS TO THE ALTERATIONS.]

[Illustration: HIGHCLERE HOUSE, HAMPSHIRE.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE HOUSE AS ALTERED]

[Illustration: THE PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE, BOARD OF TRADE, AND TREASURY, WHITEHALL.

BEFORE THE ALTERATION BY SIR CHARLES BARRY]

Board of Trade at Whitehall. He had to deal with a building, which had long been before the public eye in a prominent position, and which was not without many points of architectural excellence. But the altered building seemed to take the public by surprise; it was practically new in design and spirit, and, though exposed to much censure from one class of critics, it commanded general admiration. The comparison of the two woodcuts, which show its present and its former condition, will easily explain the vividness of effect produced, and will show (what is elsewhere noticed) the growing taste for richness and vigour of effect visible in Mr. Barry’s later Italian style,[53] and in this case remarkably contrasted with the strict classicism of the original.

Yet the conversion was carried out under conditions which might have seemed hopeless shackles on his genius. Not only was it necessary to preserve all the levels of the floors and the position of the openings, but he was obliged also to keep and work in the Corinthian order of the original building, in spite of his objection to engaged columns. The original design, with many points of excellence, yet seemed to him to want symmetry, force, and grandeur. To remedy these defects, he raised the order on a basement story, did away with the superstructure, which seemed to oppress it, and, removing the colonnades, which by their shadows and projection cut up the wings, he gave the great flanking masses their full effect.

The question next arose, whether the entablature should be broken or not. Mr. Barry’s objection to engaged columns has already been mentioned. Here, however, such an arrangement was forced upon him, and the question was, how the impropriety could be best alleviated. He had begun to think of breaking entablatures (which in days of classical purism would have shocked him), partly from the example of Inigo Jones’s Banqueting-house, partly from his Gothic studies, and the tendency to vertical lines which they fostered. He conceived that, when this step was taken, the engaged column changed its character; it no longer affected to support the entablature, but became avowedly an adjunct. This feeling, joined to the desire of greater variety and richness, carried the day, and, in this case and others, the entablatures were broken. In looking at his own work he felt that, from the necessary position of the columns, the breaks were somewhat over-crowded; and he rather regretted that he had not carried out an idea, which had occurred to him in studying his design, of crowning the principal windows with pediments to relieve the appearance of squareness. Otherwise he was contented and pleased with his work, which has been acknowledged as having given one more striking building to London. He long hoped that the façade would have been extended along Downing Street, and have terminated in a mass corresponding to those which now flank the elevation. His ideas indeed went beyond this: far larger schemes of extension were conceived by him in connection with the designs for the Government Offices. But

[Illustration: THE PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE, BOARD OF TRADE, AND TREASURY, WHITEHALL.

AFTER THE ALTERATIONS BY SIR CHARLES BARRY.]

[Illustration: TRENTHAM HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE. THE SEAT OF THE RIGHT HON. THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND.

PLAN OF THE PRINCIPAL FLOOR, AS ALTERED AND IMPROVED BY SIR CHARLES BARRY. THE DARK LINE INDICATES THE ADDITIONS AND ALTERATIONS.]

none of these were destined to be realized, and the building remains in its original dimensions.

TRENTHAM HALL.--The next group of alterations to be noticed brings into prominence a kind of work, in which he took the greatest pleasure, and achieved very brilliant results. This was the architectural laying out and ornamentation of gardens. Early in his career he had made some essay in this direction at Mr. Attree’s house in Brighton Park. Up to the last he retained almost a passion for it. His idea was that the definite artificial lines of a building should not be contrasted, but harmonized, with the free and careless grace of natural beauty. This could only be effected by a scheme of architectural gardens, graduated, as it were, from regular formality in the immediate neighbourhood of the building itself, through shrubberies and plantations, less and less artificial, till they seemed to melt away in the unstudied simplicity of the park or wood without. In this the architect and landscape gardener must work side by side.

These views he had the opportunity of exemplifying on a grand scale in the works carried on for many years at Trentham Hall, the residence of the Duke of Sutherland. To the old building containing the state reception rooms, he simply gave a better cornice and improved its details, adding moreover a grand entrance hall, which served also as a billiard saloon, and communicated with the state rooms by a fine semicircular corridor. He succeeded also in grouping together very effectively the straggling offices of the great house. Though he could not effect all that he wished, he was able thus to give some grandeur and unity to the large mass of building. The design of the private wing has been already mentioned.

But the great work was the change effected in the gardens.[54] His difficulties are stated by a high authority, the late Mr. Loudon:--“We could not help doubting whether even Mr. Barry could make anything of this great dull flat place, with its immense mansion, as tame and spiritless as the ground on which it stands; we have seen the plans, however, for the additions and alterations. Let no man henceforth ever despair of a dead flat.” The hall was surrounded by lawns and paddocks, reaching down to a lake. These were converted into a succession of gardens of regular design, stepping down by terraces from the house to the lake, and by balustrades, vases, statues, and flights of steps, so connected with the architecture of the house as to spread out its base, and give it the dignity and apparent height which its natural position forbade. This was a principle which Mr. Barry at all times pursued; gardening was, of course, with him only a handmaid to architecture, and in this particular case such treatment was the only method by which the lowness of site could be corrected, and dignity be given to what otherwise must have been but an ordinary country seat. He effected much; could he have carried out his whole scheme he would have had an “Isola

[Illustration: TRENTHAM HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE.

VIEW OF GARDEN FRONT, AS ALTERED, WITH TERRACED GARDEN, PAVILION, &c.]

Bella” on the lake, and converted the lake itself into an architectural basin. For in his development of the principle that all garden work connected with buildings should have an architectural character, he was accused sometimes, not quite unjustly, of desiring to extend the domain of Art, even at the risk of encroaching upon Nature herself.

Probably the disadvantage of site still shows itself, and it may be that the materials at his command were somewhat impracticable; but the great confidence and liberality of his patrons gave him abundant scope, and the result is a building which may take high rank among the palaces of England.

DUNCOMBE PARK.--Another conversion, on a smaller scale, in which remarkable effect was produced by much less alteration, was carried out at Duncombe Park, the seat of Lord Feversham. The immediate object contemplated was the increase of accommodation in the stables and domestic offices, but the opportunity thus presented of improving a building, which stands on one of the noblest sites, and commands one of the finest views in England, was not to be lost. A design was prepared accordingly, meeting the special requirements of the case, but going far beyond them in its aim.

The house, which is ascribed to Vanbrugh, and was probably built by one of his pupils, is massive and imposing in its style, and severely plain in details. But it seemed to Mr. Barry merely to occupy the site, without harmonizing with the surrounding scenery of the park. His object was to bring it into this connection, and soften the boundary-line between nature and art.

The main building he did not alter, except by suggesting a portico to the entrance front, known to have formed a part of the original design, though never actually executed; but he swept away a mass of subordinate buildings on each side, containing the existing offices and stables, and, designing a noble entrance court in proportion to the massive scale of the building, he flanked it with two blocks of buildings (containing the accommodation required), symmetrically designed, and showing remarkable boldness of detail. These new blocks of building he connected with the central building with quadrantal corridors, closed to the side of the entrance court, but open to the private gardens on the other side.

Having thus given grandeur and unity to a previously ineffective building, he proceeded to connect it with the scenery around. He altered the great avenue of approach through the park, so as to bring it, where it approached the new entrance court, into a position of centrality to the building. On the other side he remodelled the private gardens in his favourite Italian style, and so gave to the windows of the private apartments a view more suitable than that of the grass fields, into which they had previously looked.

The effect, as usual, was to give the house perfect novelty and dignity of effect, by utilising to the utmost size and capabilities comparatively wasted before.

HAREWOOD HOUSE.--A somewhat similar work was carried out for the Earl of Harewood, in the years 1843 to 1850. Harewood House is situated about nine miles from Leeds, in a position of great beauty, looking over the valley of the Wharfe. It was a house of some scale and pretension, built in 1759, by Messrs. Carr and Adams, with a lofty centre, having a large engaged Corinthian order, and connected by lower curtains with the wings, which were plainer in design.

It had apparently some massiveness of design and merits of proportion. It needed finish, life, and variety. The treatment of the work by Mr. Barry (additional accommodation being required) was simply to raise the wings, altering their design so as to bring them into greater importance and greater harmony with the centre, and to improve the design of the centre itself, by adding a handsome balustrade, and by raising the chimney-stacks to the dignity of architectural features, so as to vary the flat and monotonous lines of the former roof. Little else was done except that some beautiful carving (by Mr. Thomas), in the pediment and elsewhere, gave the greater richness and life which the original design wanted. But the effect was considerable, and the house now commands attention, not only by its scale and proportion, but by the evidence of taste and design visible throughout.

In the interior the work merely included some alteration and enlargement of the principal rooms and basement, and some new decorations.

But the gardens here also engaged his attention. The park and grounds had been laid out by Mr. Lancelot Brown (well known in the last generation as a landscape gardener), but the garden near the house itself remained to be treated in Mr. Barry’s usual style. A grand terrace garden was formed on the south side, rising by a handsome flight of steps to the level of the house, adorned with sculptures and fountains, and laid out in parterre beds of architectural design. The gardens, kept up as they are with great care and skill, are among the chief sights of the neighbourhood. It need not be added that they thoroughly harmonize with the building and give it completeness and magnificence.

SHRUBLAND PARK.--But of all parks of this kind probably the most successful was that carried out for Sir W. Middleton at Shrubland Park in the year 1848. Inferior in extent to the work at Trentham, it presented greater capabilities, and was more perfect in result. On the house itself he produced a striking alteration. The original building had little architectural character; but it had been considerably altered in 1830 from the design of Mr. Gandy Deering. On the house, as thus altered, Sir C. Barry had to work, and the effect produced will be seen by an inspection of the annexed woodcuts. He added a new entrance, with a sculpture gallery on each side. At the same time he raised a portion of the house, so as to form a beautiful specimen of his favourite Italian towers, and substituted balustrades for the large pediments surmounting the various fronts, which would have grouped ill with the tower, and,

[Illustration: SHRUBLAND PARK, SUFFOLK.

VIEW OF GARDEN FROM THE NEW TERRACES.]

[Illustration: SHRUBLAND PARK, SUFFOLK.

VIEW OF THE GARDEN FRONT AS ALTERED, AND OF THE NEW STEPS AND TERRACES TO GARDENS.]

by distracting the eye, have interfered with unity of effect. A handsome lodge was added with a central tower, through which the main approach passed.

But the glory of Shrubland lay in its gardens, and it is in them that the traces of his hand are most plainly seen. Beautiful in themselves, they seemed to agree too little with the house, which had now assumed some architectural pretensions.

The upper garden near the house was therefore rearranged, and enclosed by balustrades. A handsome flight of steps led from the upper to the lower garden. At the foot of the steps an open loggia was placed, and the adjoining ground laid out with architecturally formed beds.

The works show in a very marked manner the refined taste and exquisite finish which distinguished all his designs. The whole principle, indeed, of his arrangements was dictated by the desire of perfect finish and harmony, against which the original scheme, bringing an ordinary flower-garden up to the very walls of the house, appeared to him to militate. Few works produced so much effect, considering their scale, and certainly few were so entirely after his own heart, as those at Shrubland Park.

CLIEFDEN HOUSE.--Of all his conversions of existing buildings, this was the one which approached most nearly to the conditions of an original design. But his work was still in some degree fettered by the circumstances of the case.

The house was originally built, in a fashion very prevalent some years ago, having a centre with two distinct wings, which were virtually separate buildings, and were only joined to the central mass by connecting corridors on the ground-floor. Such a plan produces much external grandeur; but this advantage, and some others which belong to it, are dearly purchased at the cost of internal convenience, especially when, as at Cliefden, the servants’ rooms are placed in one of the wings. A fire destroyed the central mansion, but spared the wings; and to Sir C. Barry was assigned the task of rebuilding what had been destroyed, without sacrificing the portions remaining, and of rebuilding it on the old foundations, which were still intact, and which it was desired to utilise.

The first design which he prepared was set aside for economical reasons. It differed materially from Cliefden as it now is. It was an astylar Italian design, comparatively simple in detail, and having the angles raised into towers, so as to be prominent features. Thus, although designed on symmetrical principles, it would have presented far greater variety of outline than the building actually erected. Considering its magnificent position, and considering also the different points of view and the great distances at which the house can be seen, the architect greatly regretted the necessity which forbade the realisation of his original design. He thought that a more vertical tendency and more varied outline would have contrasted better with the horizontal line of the beautiful bank of wood, out of which it rises.

The present house is built on the old

[Illustration: PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR.]

[Illustration: CLIEFDEN HOUSE, BERKSHIRE.

ELEVATION OF THE GARDEN FRONT.]

foundations,[55] the centre being the only new portion of the building. The plan is that of a first-rate Italian villa, and is remarkable for uniting elegance to great convenience of arrangement. For the great charm of Cliefden is its lovely view over the valley of the Thames, and it was absolutely necessary to bear this in mind in the arrangement of all the living-rooms. At the same time it was necessary to provide such access for the servants’ wing as should in some degree mitigate the inconvenience of the old plan of the house, and to arrange the staircase and corridors with due regard to dignity and architectural effect. The solution of the problem may be deemed highly successful, and will have some interest to the professional student.

In the external design Sir Charles adopted (what was unusual with him) an engaged order with unbroken entablature. In regard to the design generally, it may be doubted whether the house is of sufficient size to justify the use of an order of two stories, which, as seen from a distance, gives some impression of a want of breadth in the design. But, bearing in mind the circumstances alluded to above, we may conclude with some probability, that Sir Charles contemplated the enlargement of the design, by carrying up and rendering prominent the low side buildings, containing the dining-room and the private apartments. Such an addition would exemplify a method of treatment of which he was fond, viz., the employment of a central mass with two slightly elevated angles, and would certainly add greatly to the effect of the garden-front.

The house, however, as it stands, may claim attention on its own merits. It was one of his latest Italian buildings, though showing much of the simplicity of his earlier designs.

TRAFALGAR SQUARE.--Of all Sir C. Barry’s works, the one which is generally considered as least successful was the laying out of Trafalgar Square. On this subject he was consulted by the Government in 1840, and his chief idea in the arrangements, which he suggested, was to improve the effect of the National Gallery.

A plan was already under consideration, which contemplated the raising the whole square to the level of the pavement in front of the new building, and finishing it with a terrace and balustrade towards Cockspur Street. To this he had a strong objection. In common with the world at large, he considered the National Gallery to be already greatly deficient in importance and unworthy of its magnificent site. Such a terrace as was proposed, seen in the foreground on approaching from Whitehall, would throw it back into utter insignificance. He advised, therefore, that the level of the square should be kept down to that of Cockspur Street, instead of being raised to that of the base of the building, and the terrace thrown back so as to make it appear a part of the building, thus increasing instead of diminishing its height. This plan was adopted, but greatly injured by the erection of the Nelson Column, against which Mr. Barry protested in vain. Not only did it cut up the building, but it interfered with a grand flight of steps, which he contemplated in the centre of his terrace, of the width of the whole portico of the gallery, and appearing from a distance to be a part of it. Its own design would be no compensation: for to the use of columns, as pedestals for statues, he objected on principle. He would have had the Nelson and Wellington Monuments (treated in a different style as grand designs in sculpture) placed on either side in the position of the present fountains. When this proved to be impossible, he introduced the fountains as a last resource. He intended them to be far larger; he wished them, indeed, to be of the scale of the grand fountains in front of St. Peter’s at Rome; but for this funds were not forthcoming, and an unexpected difficulty was found in obtaining a full supply of water. But, though fully aware that they were too small, he never felt the justice of the severe criticism which has been so unsparingly lavished upon them. For in this case, as in others, the architect’s work is criticized in ignorance of the limitations imposed upon it by necessity, and the interferences from without to which it has been subjected.

* * * * *

Besides these buildings, for which he was entirely responsible, there were several instances in which he gave general designs to be carried out by others; for, as his own time was more and more occupied, superintendence became difficult. But he never much liked this; in the buildings which he actually erected he was as fastidious in regard to details, as he was careful in studying the great lines of the design; imperfection in detail was to him as a discord at all times, but doubly painful when it seemed to mar an idea originally his own, and he could hardly rest till it was removed.

Thus in 1847 and 1848 he made some extensive designs for the Government, to be carried out at Keyham Factory. They were intended to give some architectural character to the buildings, planned by the Government engineers for the execution of work for the steam fleet. These included foundries, smithies, turning-shops, &c., buildings necessarily of great extent and inconsiderable height. The designs made were Italian--simple, of course, but effective in character. They deserve notice not so much in themselves, but as being the only example of his treatment of a class of buildings, which it has been common to despair of artistically, and to surrender to the domain of plain and even ugly utilitarianism. In the same year he modified the design for the Ambassador’s palace at Constantinople, to an extent which greatly determined its general effect.

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It will be seen from this brief description of Sir C. Barry’s principal Italian works, that, not merely by their number and size, but by their variety of character, and the existence in almost all of some special features of design or construction, they exercised a very powerful influence on the Italian architecture of the country.

They certainly appear to have carried out, to as great an extent as practice can ever carry out the dictates of theory, the principles which have been described at the close of