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diff --git a/75202-h/75202-h.htm b/75202-h/75202-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8a109e --- /dev/null +++ b/75202-h/75202-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2547 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + + <title> + Balbus; or, The Future of Architecture | Project Gutenberg + </title> + + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + + <style> + +/* DACSoft styles */ + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +/* General headers */ +h1 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +/* Chapter headers */ +h2 { + text-align: center; + font-weight: bold; + margin: .75em 0; +} + +div.chapter { + page-break-before: always; +} + +.nobreak { + page-break-before: avoid; +} + +/* Indented paragraph */ +p { + margin-top: .51em; + margin-bottom: .49em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +/* Unindented paragraph */ +.noi {text-indent: 0em;} + +/* Centered unindented paragraph */ +.noic { + text-indent: 0em; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Non-standard paragraph margins */ +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} + +/* Horizontal rules */ +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap { + width: 65%; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; +} + +@media print { + hr.chap { + display: none; + visibility: hidden; + } +} + +/* Lists */ +ul {list-style-type: none;} + +li { + margin-top: 1em; + text-indent: 0em; + padding-left: 0em; +} + +/* Physical book page and line numbers */ +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + right: 3%; +/* left: 92%; */ + font-size: x-small; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-align: right; + color: gray; +} /* page numbers */ + +/* Blockquotes */ +.blockquot { + margin-top: 1em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-bottom: 1em; +} + +/* Text appearance */ +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +/* Small fonts and lowercase small-caps */ +.smfont { + font-size: .8em; +} + +/* Illustration caption */ +.caption { + font-size: .75em; + font-weight: bold; +} + +/* Images */ +img { + max-width: 100%; /* no image to be wider than screen or containing div */ + height:auto; /* keep height in proportion to width */ +} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 90%; /* div no wider than screen, even when screen is narrow */ +} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.tnote { + background-color: #E6E6FA; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding: 0.5em; +} + +.tntitle { + font-size: 1.25em; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +/* Title page borders and content. */ +.subtitle { + font-size: 1.5em; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +.halftitle { + font-size: 1.5em; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +.author { + font-size: 1.25em; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +/* Advertisement formatting. */ +.adauthor { + font-size: 1.25em; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +/* Hanging indent. */ +.hang { + text-indent: -2em; + padding-left: 0em; +} + + </style> +</head> + +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75202 ***</div> + + +<figure class="figcenter x-ebookmaker-drop" id="cover_sm"> + <img src="images/cover_sm.jpg" alt="book cover" title="book cover"> +</figure> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="halftitle">BALBUS</p> +</div> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="noi adauthor">TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW</p> + +<p class="noic"><i>For the Contents of the Series <a href="#TNotes">see the end +of the Book</a></i></p> +</div> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h1 class="nobreak">BALBUS</h1> + +<p class="noic">OR</p> + +<p class="noi subtitle">THE FUTURE OF ARCHITECTURE</p> + +<p class="p2 noic">BY</p> + +<p class="noi author">CHRISTIAN BARMAN</p> + +<p class="p4 noic"><span class="smcap">London</span>:<br> +KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span><br> +<span class="smcap">New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.</span></p> +</div> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="noic"><i>The same Author has also written</i>:</p> + +<ul> +<li class="hang"><i>THE DANGER TO SAINT PAUL’S</i></li> +<li class="hang"><i>THE BRIDGE: A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF BUILDING</i></li> +<li class="hang"><i>SIR JOHN VANBRUGH</i></li> +<li class="hang"><i>THE ‘RULES’ OF JAMES GIBBS</i></li> +</ul> + +<p class="p4 noic"><i>Printed in Great Britain by</i><br> +MACKAYS LTD., CHATHAM</p> +</div> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="BALBUS">BALBUS</h2> +</div> + + +<p>It is often maintained that there is a +similarity between architecture and dress +in that both are applied as a covering, +the one to the individual human body, +the other to the body politic. But there +is one thing that those who point to this +similarity are not always careful to bear +in mind, namely that it is precisely in +their relation to this human content that +the arts of architecture and dress differ +most widely. The bodies of adult men +and women are distinguished from one +another only by a few small variations of +colour and proportion. Of so little consequence +are these departures from the +universal norm that fashion experts are +freely permitted to disregard their effect, +and usually content themselves with +saying that “trousers are worn narrower” +and that “gowns are of pastel shades of +mousseline and chiffon.” Having, in +such observations as these, momentarily +exhausted the subject of sartorial growth, +they can do nothing but await the next +measurement, the next material, that its<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span> +guiding spirits may decree. What would +they say, however, if they were asked to +discuss the toilet of a greyhound, a +turkey-cock or a hippopotamus, and +compare it with the vesture appropriate +to human beings? Would not the +historian of clothes become deeply +embarrassed at such an enlargement of +his field of vision, at the sudden appearance +of such a multiplicity of forms? +Yet the scope and variety of his subject +would still be as nothing beside the scope +of architectural history, and the variety +of the architectural forms that it is the +task of this history to register, and +anatomize, and trace back severally to +their origin. For while the origin of +sartorial form is to be discerned in the +fixed and unchanging outline of the human +body, the origin of architectural form must +be looked for in the infinite diversity of the +social organism and in the sweeping and +rapid changes into which this organism is +for ever being thrown. Of all architectural +movements there is none, therefore, +so irresistible in its progress or so expansive +in its effect as that which owes its +existence to a social movement. In the +construction of the first circular cathedral +window on the one hand, and Sir William +Chambers’ experiments in Oriental design +on the other, we have two typical events<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span> +in the history of architectural form whose +influence upon the course of this history +has been far less profound than that, let +us say, of the publication of Rousseau’s +<cite>Emile</cite> or the repeal of the laws forbidding +the exportation of machinery. Had not +the very fact of Balbus building become +an index to the social condition of the +commonwealth? Thus any change in +the state of society may accelerate +building or retard it, and may likewise +alter the whole subject or content of a +particular province of building; while +events of a purely architectural origin and +significance most often leave a record +that is only skin-deep.</p> + +<p>But whether the movement be deep or +shallow, local or enlarged, the historian +has to consider it with just the same +degree of care. While we expect him to +give no part of his subject more than its +due, on the other hand we insist that the +ancillary and the fleeting shall be recorded +side by side with the chief and lasting +things. We do not, however, usually ask +this of the prophet, and even were we to +do so he would not be able to satisfy +us without incurring intolerable risks. +For the progress of an art is like the dual +movement of the sea, which is actuated +by wind and tide in mysterious combination; +and between these two forces there<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span> +is this great difference, that the one will, +after some little study, make itself known +in advance, but none but an ill-guided or +a mendacious prophet would attempt to +foretell the other. Tide and current are +important enough when we have to +construct a picture of past and present +movement, but in our anticipation of the +future they are our only guides. In +architecture as in dress the position of +the prophet is the same: he cannot +safely predict any new forms save those +that are moulded by the human entity +these forms invest. The shrewdest +observer of fashion would be at a loss to +give the precise length for the masculine +waistcoat of five years hence. Tell him, +however, that about that time there will +be a large demand for reefer suits from +the New Forest ponies, and he will +describe the design of these suits with +considerable accuracy. And in architecture +no less we must content ourselves +with seizing upon social movements +already at work, and may form our estimate +of future growth only by projecting +these movements into the architectural +plane, and there working out their +architectural equivalent.</p> + +<p>There are some, unfortunately, among +prophets and historians alike who remain +wholly or partly blind to this important<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> +truth, and who claim that an occasional +gust of wind is all that ever disturbs the +architectural waters upon which they keep +observation. According to them, there +has been no movement of greater consequence +than are the ripples on a stagnant +pool, nor do they encourage us to expect +any such movement in the future. Architecture +and dress are treated exactly alike +by these imperfect observers, and the +favourite topics of sartorial conversation +invariably reappear when architecture +becomes the subject of their talk. These +topics are dimension and material, and it +may be worth while to consider for a +moment in what manner they are sometimes +able to intrude into what would +appear to be a serious discussion of +architectural form.</p> + +<p>Everybody has heard it said at one time +or another that the skyscraper is the +building of to-morrow, and will soon lord +it over the streets of every great city. +Such a prophecy is about as likely to be +fulfilled as a prophecy concerning the +length of a garment. The size of a +building is a matter by no means devoid +of interest, but there is very little to help +us in making a forecast of that size, and +very little point in attempting it. Yet +whole buildings have been erected on the +strength of such a forecast. It is not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> +surprising that such buildings have afterwards +involved their owners in heavy +pecuniary losses, losses far heavier, indeed, +than would ever be sustained by a racehorse +backer working on a similar method. +Nor is there even the semblance of a +reason why size should be dignified with +the name of style, and a change of size be +spoken of as though it were tantamount +to the creation of a new formal entity. A +tall building might be continued upwards +until it reached the stars, and still we +should be unable to describe it as a new +architectural expression, an innovation in +the domain of artistic form. The Edgware +Road might, for that matter, have its +architectural configuration carried on +as far as Newcastle in the shape in which +it runs into Oxford Street, but we should +not thereby be entitled to hold it up as +the latest thing in street design. The +topless towers of Ilium were something +new in the size of towers only, and not in +tower design properly speaking, just as +the endless street of Edgware would be +a new thing in the size of streets only, and +not in street design. The same confusion +lurks in the statement that certain +industrial structures put up to store +large quantities of water, coal, grain +and similar commodities exhibit the +modern spirit more strikingly than any<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span> +other kind of building. What, one may +reasonably ask, is the difference between +a coal-scuttle and a coal store, between +a bucket of water and a tank of water, +between a bottle of beer and a vat of +beer? No doubt it is a novel experience +to come upon a coal-scuttle fifty feet high, +its bottom shaped like a cloud-burst, or a +bin of barley large enough to hold two +thousand tons. But is not the difference +the same as the difference between the +short street and the long street, between +the four-storey building and the forty-storey +building? We once more observe +a difference of size merely; it is the +shilling against the pound, the seven +horse-power car against the seventy +horse-power one. We have chosen to +make these things larger than we have +hitherto deemed it convenient to have +them, and who shall say what size we +may make them to-morrow?</p> + +<p>Beside this deluded belief in the +importance of dimension we may often +observe an equally fruitless concentration +on material. The architectural forms of +the future, we are told, will be determined +by the new material of which it appears +likely that this architecture may be built. +One could just as reasonably say that an +orchestral performance is determined by +such sounds as a haphazard collection of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> +instruments is likely of its own accord to +emit. Nothing could be farther from the +truth. In the present state of civilization +the notes played by the musicians upon +their instruments are determined by the +composer’s score; the engine of a car is +determined by the work that will be +required of it; the knowledge and skill of +our doctors are determined by the enactments +of the General Medical Council; +and the materials used in building are +determined by the kind of building that +the architect is asked to put up. In +another age these things may have been +slightly otherwise, but here and now they +usually conform to this rule. In another +age the materials with which you built, +like the horse you rode, the cheese you ate, +the doctor who attended you in sickness, +were no doubt conditioned by your exact +situation upon the earth’s surface, but +to-day they are not so conditioned. +To-day the industrial order of society has +achieved all but the completest liberty +to manufacture such materials as it may +think suitable, and to carry these materials +to whatever place may be chosen for their +employment. A modern building may +draw its substance from the clayfields of +France, Spain and Belgium, the forests of +Finland and Canada, the tar-impregnated +rocks of Switzerland, the granite-quarries<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> +of Ireland and Sweden, and yet betray in +not a single line that it is anything but +English in descent and urban in quality. +At no time in history has form been +dependent upon material, though it may +have been influenced by it to a greater or +lesser degree, and in our own age the +autonomy of form is more firmly established +than it has been in any other age of +which we are aware. It is hardly necessary +to add that to try and foretell the +future acceptance of a material would be +even more futile and more hazardous than +the attempt to foretell the future acceptance +of a dimension. If we cannot +determine the size that will be given to the +buildings of to-morrow, we know at any +rate what is the range of possible sizes +from which a choice will have to be made. +The range of possible materials, however, +may be fixed with no more accuracy or +finality than the range of possible propulsive +strengths of our future explosives, +or the range of ether movements susceptible +of being perceived or recorded by +man. The progress of modern invention +shows no sign of becoming retarded as yet, +and only when its end draws within sight +is there a likelihood that we may be able +to foretell its next and ultimate stage, and +lay down the limits of its achievement.</p> + +<p>But if we are unable to discover what<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> +will be the size of the buildings of to-morrow, +and of what materials these +buildings will be constructed, we may +console ourselves with the thought that +the whole field of architecture proper +remains open for us to explore at will. +We have, for example, but to regard with +some care those social movements which +are likely to suscitate a similar movement +in architecture, and the course of this +architectural movement will gradually +become disclosed to us. Two such social +movements will here be selected and their +immediate architectural consequences +followed out. The first of these is the +emancipation of modern woman, which +has produced a new type of building in +which the strongest architectural impulse +of the past and the highest architectural +excellence of the past are both conspicuously +absent. The other is the +determined fight that is to-day being put +up in order to prevent the complete +paralysis of street traffic in the great +towns of Europe, and, more particularly, +of the United States of America. The +effect of this struggle is to substitute for +the old impulse and the old excellence a +new impulse and a new excellence, both +of an inferior order, but of considerable +interest nevertheless.</p> + +<p>The question may arise whether architectural<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span> +creation can be the result of more +than one kind of human impulse. Do not +all buildings erected by man, it may be +asked, owe their origin to the same unchanging +desire, though the fruits of that +desire may be many and various? The +answer is that there are, indeed, two +distinct forces at work, two separate +impulses which, though most often acting +in combination, yet are neither similar in +nature nor of equal importance. We have +only to look from Westminster Abbey to +the Cenotaph in Whitehall to realize that +these two buildings are distinguished by +a profound difference of meaning and of +intention. Let us take the greatest +possible difference and reduce it to its +simplest aspect. It is (we may say) the +business of the architect to design buildings. +But he may set up round about his +buildings a number of lesser objects such +as bridges, parapets, columns, fountains, +and others suchlike. How do these two +kinds of structure compare? Are they +different in size only, and would the +Cenotaph, if it were enlarged to the size +of Westminster Abbey, become a work of +architecture commensurable with the +Abbey? Of course, it would not, for the +simple reason that the Abbey has an +<em>inside</em>. Now, it is not by chance that the +words <em>outer</em> and <em>inner</em> have become, in all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> +languages, the recognized metaphorical +equivalents of <em>body</em> and <em>soul</em>. The usage +is one that has occasionally been condemned +by students of the logic of +language, but it rests upon a perfectly +sound foundation in that it appeals to an +experience of universal validity, an experience +which, let it be noted, is derived from +architecture, and from architecture alone. +A building is the only thing that you may +both look into and look out of, both +extraspect and introspect, and having +learnt from the art of building thus to +regard the human mind from two sides, +as it were, we should at all times be +careful to distinguish this dual aspect +in buildings also. Now, in whatever +manner we may describe these two +views and the difference between them, +this much is certain: that the greatest +and most enduring qualities in architecture +are those that reside in the design and +arrangement of the internal spaces of a +building, of those enclosing forms that are, +in the last resort, the only justification of +that building.</p> + +<p>The idea is familiar to the architect, if +not perhaps in the very words I have +used, but he has not shown himself eager +to let the layman into the secret. How +many of us have not been puzzled by the +mysterious significance attaching to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> +word <em>plan</em>, and the still more mysterious +aspect of the thing itself? What is there +in a plan (for something there must be) +that gives it this supremacy among all the +possible representations of a building? +A building worthy of the name of great +architecture, so a simple answer might +run, is invariably composed of a succession +of spaces or cells. In this it resembles the +human body, which is made up of just +such a series—the cranial, thoracic and +abdominal cavities, as we call them—with, +in addition, the mechanical attachments +of the limbs. And in buildings, as +in the human body, the first essentials of +beauty are to be found in the shape, +disposition, and junction of this sequence +of cells. These are the important facts +about a building that are more fully +revealed in a plan than in any other kind +of drawing. We now know why an architect +always hastens to record his ideas in +the form of a plan—provided, of course, +that his subject is indeed an arrangement +of inhabitable cells. Sir Edwin Lutyens +did not begin by sketching out the <em>plan</em> +of his Cenotaph, but he cannot have found +anything except a plan of much use in +recording his ideas for his great war +memorials at Verdun and Arras, a +multicellular disposition, each of them, +of great richness and delicacy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="i_p019"> + <figcaption class="caption"> + <p><i>A pair of internal casts, illustrating the +development of the architectural cell group. +Above, a one-room dwelling-house. Below, +a typical small house of the Regency period. +The first floor has been removed, but the +elliptical staircase-well with its lantern-light +is shown complete. The front is +double-bayed and the vestibule has a vaulted +ceiling.</i></p> + </figcaption> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span></p> + + <img src="images/i_p019.jpg" alt="" title=""> +</figure> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span></p> + +<p>Let us consider for a moment how this +disposition has in the course of time come +about and how it has attained to its +present complexity. There follows, upon +cave and tent, the one-roomed cottage, +so distant in spirit from the modern house, +and yet persisting everywhere beside it. +Under its single roof the tenants sleep, +cook, eat; the very farmyard animals +were once admitted to its shelter, as the +camel and donkey are to-day admitted to +the Egyptian fellah’s hut. One by one, +however, this rudimentary dwelling puts +forth cells as need sharpens and opportunity +comes: the cattle are expelled to +one side, the kitchen hearth to another, +the beds to a third; cellar, larder, toolhouse +follow. New cells have fastened +themselves to the older ones; the +house has become an organized collocation +of parts; in it are found the +elements of a plan. But, though organized, +it remains haphazard in arrangement, +what one of Jane Austen’s characters +derisively calls “a scrambling collection +of low single rooms, with as many roofs +as windows.” Its growth is piecemeal +and experimental, undirected, almost +blind. It does not, however, remain so +for ever, for man is an animal that learns +by all that it does. In time these same +elements, once scattered, will be measured<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span> +and composed together into a house +by the prescient mind of one who will +henceforth be known as an architect. +A greater coherence, a greater orderliness, +is gradually but surely acquired, and from +the growing power of large and orderly +planning there spring the ultimate +achievements of architecture that are the +pride of our race. Town hall, palace, +theatre, church, all these proceed from +this same skill in the fashioning of cells +and in the gathering of them into a +reasoned whole, into a plan.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="i_p023"> + <figcaption class="caption"> + <p><i>A typical church of the Italian mid-Renaissance +with one large and four +smaller domes. This diagram and those +on <a href="#Page_19">p. 19</a> represent not the exterior of the +building but the interior space, its walls +and ceilings removed, and regarded from +outside as a solid, on the same principle +as that which governs the design of the +celestial globe.</i></p> + </figcaption> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span></p> + + <img src="images/i_p023.jpg" alt="" title=""> +</figure> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span></p> + +<p>To fashion, to gather; but at whose +command? It is not for the architect +to decide what cells there shall be; cells +of what size, dedicated to what purpose, +combined in what numbers. The architect +is a servant only, and these things are +the business of his master. It is when the +master fails to attend to them that we +get a building without a content, without +a soul: a building that is admitted to the +realm of architecture only on sufferance, +since there is nothing to give its cells any +particular shape, or to suggest or enforce +any particular disposition of these cells. +This is the typical building of to-day and +to-morrow, and among the various +agencies that have helped to bring it forth +the freedom of modern woman is certainly +the first, and is probably the most +important also. There are, in addition, +several causes of social instability that +affect architecture in one way or another, +and each of them helps to render modern +building more uncertain, more indeterminate, +or, as a biologist might say, more +clearly lacking in morphological differentiation. +On the formal side also (as +contrasted with the functional) two lesser +influences may be noted in passing. One +is that astonishing manifestation of anti-æsthetic +enthusiasm which has continued +in more than one guise ever since the +beginning of civilized society, but which +to-day gains an added strength in that +it has its source in the very stronghold of +art itself. It is to be feared that +Marinetti’s advice to use the altar of art +as a spittoon has not been altogether +neglected by architects, though their +fellow artists may have taken it rather +more deeply to heart. The other external +influence is more subtle but no less active. +It has been pointed out that only in a +plan can the chief virtues of great architecture +be adequately represented. It is a +significant fact that the chief vehicle of +architectural information to-day, the most +popular means of recording architectural +excellence, is the photograph, not the +plan, of which it is the direct opposite. +The photograph expresses all that the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> +plan leaves unsaid; it ignores all save a +small remnant of the major qualities registered +in the plan, and this remnant it +twists and falsifies to a degree which +renders its testimony worse than valueless. +We have still to be shown the +photograph that, representing the interior +of a room, will convey a modicum of +reliable information concerning the shape +of that room. For in looking at a room +through a photograph we are, be it +remembered, looking at it through a small +hole in a box. These two factors then +have, in so far as they enter into contact +with architectural form, been +clearly disruptive in their effect, but +the influence which must next engage +our attention is an incomparably deeper +one.</p> + +<p>It is exactly half a century since the +feminist movement began upon the career +whose triumphant finish coincided with +the great Peace of Versailles. There was +in this country no feminist agitation worth +speaking of, until the signal was given by +the Reform Bill of 1876. In the very +same year the late John Wanamaker, who +had for some time been in business in +Philadelphia as a dealer in men’s and +boys’ clothing, discovered that women +seemed prepared to do a certain amount +of shopping on their own account. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> +opened a new department, which became +the foundation of his later successes. +Where men had walked rapidly in and out, +mindful only of the tie or the pair of boots +they had come to buy, a long procession +of women wound its way from counter to +counter, dismayed by the many omissions +in their shopping list, and grateful to find +how easily these omissions were to be +repaired. The small band of women +workers marching to victory was followed +by an army of shoppers a hundred times +more numerous, and of such energy and +enterprise that men’s clothing departments +were everywhere incorporated into +their already extensive domain. The +allegiance of the whole body of women +must have been coveted for some time, +for even in the early years of the nineteenth +century the big west-end drapers +would clothe an eligible debutante in their +choicest productions, generously relying +upon her to find a husband who could +afford to pay her bills. But though the +bait was ready, its opportunity had still +to be found, and when the feminist movement +at last provided it the large drapers’ +store leapt forward, and the two +revolutions went on together in a +simultaneous advance. The first act of +public violence was committed by the +adherents of feminism in 1909, and as the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> +stones went crashing through the windows +of the Government offices in Whitehall, +the newly erected windows of Mr. Gordon +Selfridge became the cynosure of the more +pacific among feminine eyes. It will be +necessary later on to consider the influence +of modern woman from other angles of +view, but we may be sure that from none +of these has it been more potent or more +remarkable, for as a consumer of wealth +she is transforming the design of our +buildings more thoroughly than is clear +even to-day.</p> + +<p>Very few years elapse before the large +new drapery store assumes the characteristic +form that will gradually impose itself +upon many of our other buildings. It +is realized almost at once that no external +wall must cut off the ground floor of the +building from the pavement of the street, +for the business can only succeed if the +undreamt-of collection of goods is amply +and seductively displayed to the feminine +passer-by. For some time experiments +were made (notably by the Leonhard +Tietz stores in Germany) with buildings +clothed in glass from top to bottom, but, +though German architects are still toying +with the idea, the familiar stretches of +undivided glass are nowadays applied +to the ground floor only. Inside the +buildings, however, no walls are wanted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> +at any point, on any of the floors, and +there we find large open spaces offering no +obstruction to the view, and allowing +counters and show-cases to be moved +backwards and forwards with the +capricious tides of fashion. No longer is +the building composed of an expressive +sequence of definitely formed cavities; +there is only layer upon layer of formless +space, tier upon tier of vacant sites, along +which the hundred specialized departments +may pitch their glittering booths. +It no more resembles a piece of major +architecture than does a market-place +covered with awnings and sunshades. It +has become, in fact, a flight of hanging +market-places piled one upon the other, +rising high into the air, and delving many +yards into the ground.</p> + +<p>The constituent parts of this type of +building are fourfold. There are the floors +themselves; and there are the props +necessary to support these floors. There +is the covering, opaque or transparent, in +which the top and sides are wrapped to +protect the contents from the weather. +Lastly, there is the private road which +runs through the building from top to +bottom. This road belongs to the modern +composite type about which a little more +still requires to be said. Let us here but +observe that, reared on end and pointing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> +upward, it allows visitors to ride or walk +from one level to another, while at the +same time it contains within itself the +numerous pipes and conduits through +which water, heat and electrical energy +are delivered to each floor, and the sewage +carried away from it and discharged into +the public drain.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="i_p031"> + <figcaption class="caption"> + <p><i>Part of a modern commercial building, +divested of its outer wall curtain and with +the supporting metal framework removed. +The U-shaped floor-platforms are, as it +were, threaded on the vertical road, in which +are contained the lifts and stairways and +the various kinds of conduits. (Woolworth +Building, New York, by Cass Gilbert.)</i></p> + </figcaption> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span></p> + + <img src="images/i_p031.jpg" alt="" title=""> +</figure> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span></p> + +<p>The new eviscerated architecture, once +invented by the builder of the drapery +store for his regiments of feminine +customers, did not take long to gain a very +considerable following. Indeed, it could +not have had a more auspicious place of +origin. As the bee carries the pollen from +flower to flower, so the no less indefatigable +draper carried the seeds of this +architecture into the streets of every town +of importance. We need only remind +ourselves of the manner in which he is +pressing forward to-day in the West End +of London, transmuting with golden wand +the whole of Regent Street, large portions +of Oxford Street, and a great deal of +Kensington and Bayswater, into something +very rich and, as I have tried to +show, not a little strange. Richest of all, +perhaps, is the colonnade in Oxford Street +whose relation to the rest of London is the +relation between the majestic bulk of a +transatlantic liner and the diminutive +proportions of the fleet of tugboats that +surrounds her. The modern drapery +store is as large as it is ubiquitous, and its +wealth and power are consonant with +these outward signs of importance. The +Wanamaker store, of which I have already +spoken, provides an interesting example +of the eminence to which these establishments +have to-day attained. Everybody +is aware of the interest displayed by +publications such as the <cite>Daily Mail</cite> in the +building and equipment of the suburban +home, an interest which it would appear +not unprofitable for them to indulge. The +New York Wanamaker store, however, +opened in October, 1925, a great and +fascinating exhibition devoted exclusively +to the future development of the city of +New York. The first, to my knowledge, +of its kind to be held anywhere, such an +exhibition argues a sense of responsibility, +a foresight, courage and public spirit that +would be hard to parallel in any kind of +business. Most of all, of course, it points +to a very considerable degree of affluence, +for the exhibition itself was accompanied +by a wide and intensive publicity campaign +in the New York Press. A +commercial house that can afford to take +such pains towards the popularizing of +architectural and town-planning development +schemes may claim to be a fairly +important institution and an opulent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> +patron of the arts. Both the importance +and the opulence have been conferred +upon the drapery store by the emancipated +women of to-day.</p> + +<p>The possibilities of open-floor design for +all kinds of building were, then, +abundantly exhibited and widely perceived. +From shop and factory the new +device spread to the office block, whose +claim to be in the modern movement is +not usually admitted unless it consists of +the same succession of shelf-like floors +suspended round a central road. Schools +and universities have already subscribed +to the principle of unformed and +undivided space. An appeal recently +issued on behalf of the University of +Pittsburg opens with the statement that +14,460,000 cubic feet of space are required +for the University to discharge its normal +functions. I cannot forbear to mention +that one of the objects of the new +buildings is (so the appeal goes on to tell +us) to commemorate “the achievers of +Pittsburg” and to testify to their +“records of tonnage production.” The +idea of perpetuating Pittsburg tonnage +production in 14,460,000 cubic feet of +University is not without a pleasing logic +of its own.</p> + +<p>And what of the house and home? +Are we to meet there, too, with the same<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> +undefined vacuity, the same absence of +internal form? Already a Dutch architect +has built a house with nothing inside +its four outer walls except an upper floor +to which an open stairway gives access. +The upper and lower floors are subdivided +by means of movable screens, +which enable the owner to arrange his +rooms according to the fancy of the +moment, and, I suppose, to adjust his +houseroom to the measure of his hospitality. +This is, of course, how houses are +mostly constructed in Japan, but it should +be remembered that, though the Japanese +house is built entirely without walls, +whether internal or external, it yet +exhibits the utmost complexity and +formal refinement in the general lines of +its design. The plan is there, though only +its skeleton is permanent, and wall-divisions +are made movable for another +reason than that which is causing them +to vanish from our Western buildings. +Moreover, the Japanese house is of one +storey only, and if the open floor is likewise +to establish itself for good in our +own domestic architecture, it will +probably be restricted with us also to the +one-storey dwelling, to bungalow and +town flat. But even in these the outer +walls and windows will, of course, remain—at +any rate until we acquire the hardy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span> +constitution of the Japanese, to whom a +paper screen is sufficient protection in all +weathers.</p> + +<p>The breakdown of the principal architectural +impulse is complete the moment +the function of a building is expressed in +an undifferentiated mass of cubic feet. +It is at this moment that the second great +movement, the movement which is to +substitute a new external impulse for the +old internal one, first becomes manifest. +This movement springs, it will be recalled, +from the threatened failure of our communications, +a failure which is due, +however, to no deficiency in these communications +themselves, but to the vast +and unequal overcrowding of modern +cities. And the great increase of our +populations that is the principal achievement +of the nineteenth century presents +three aspects, each one of which requires +at this point to be carefully borne in mind.</p> + +<p>First, the growth of population was not +uniformly distributed, but went on far +more swiftly in the great towns of Europe +and America than it did throughout the +countryside. Thus, while the population +of England and Wales increased by about +90 per cent. between 1861 and 1921, the +corresponding advance for London was +about 133 per cent., while Berlin and +New York went up by 500 and 600 per<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> +cent. respectively. The difference, however, +is a diminishing one, having been +far greater throughout the second half of +the nineteenth century than it is to-day. +Our English urban population, for +example, grew during the decade 1870–1880 +at a rate which was nearly 200 per +cent. in excess of the rate of growth of the +rural population. The first decade of the +present century shows an excess in the +urban rate over the rural of only 10 per +cent.</p> + +<p>Our second observation is this: that +during the time when it was at its highest +point, the rate of growth of the urban +population rose too rapidly for the concomitant +growth of building to keep pace +with it. The result was that the growth +of building fell into arrears, and that such +arrears still in part remain to be made +good to-day. As the inhabitants became +more numerous so the shortage of houses +became more acute, until at last an ugly +and even dangerous congestion of human +beings began everywhere to show itself. +This congestion would never have existed +if the rate of building had been equal to +the rate of growth of the population; +swift as it was, the rate of building could +never become swift enough. A similar +condition, though due to a different cause, +prevailed after the great Fire of London,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> +when Wren himself was driven to +denounce the ill effects that flowed from +“the mighty demand for the hasty works +of thousands of houses at once.” Now, +it is a commonplace that the growth of +building may proceed in two directions, +but it is not always realized that the two +kinds of growth must proceed together, +that each has its appointed function which +the other is powerless to discharge. The +growth of a town <em>outward</em> at its periphery +is necessary, and the <em>upward</em> growth of +its central region is also necessary. The +first was the chief concern of the town-planning +of yesterday and to-day, which +unfortunately failed to carry out its +appointed task. The second is likely to +become the chief concern of the town-planning +of the immediate future. Let +us hope that it may be more fortunate.</p> + +<p>These two growths are identical in one +respect. Each of them remains, like all +forms of growth known to science, +entirely normal and beneficial so long as +it is correctly regulated. We know that +the growth of different parts of our body +is regulated by means of chemical substances +known as hormones, and that +where certain hormones are lacking, or +present in excess, we get the dwarf and +the giant, goitre and cretinism. When it +happens to the builders of a city that, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> +the happy phraseology of a seventeenth-century +pamphlet, “the Magistrate has +either no power or no care to make them +build with any uniformity,” they at once +become the agents of a growth that is +just as abnormal, just as obnoxious, as +these physiological ones. It would seem, +as the nineteenth century has taught us, +that the power of regulating architectural +growth begins to fail when that growth +exceeds a certain measure of speed and +urgency. Clearly, as the rate of growth +increases, so the regulating power must +also increase if it is to retain an effective +control over building, for if it fails to +increase in a similar ratio its influence +must come to an end. This is what has +happened all too often. Nor, haphazard +and ungracious as the growth of building +has been throughout the whole of Western +civilization, has it anywhere been more +irregular than at those points where it has +moved most swiftly, and where the +demands of the expanding population +have reached the utmost severity of +pressure. We are often told that New +York is a city of high buildings. It is +nothing of the kind: it is a moderately +low city disfigured by <em>a few</em> high buildings +only. Not more than one building in +every thousand in the Manhattan Island +district, famous for its skyscrapers,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> +exceeds twenty storeys in height. Nor +should it be forgotten that the <em>average</em> +height of buildings in New York is exactly +the same as that obtaining in London, and +rather less than the height of buildings in +Paris. But while the upward growth of +the two European cities has by no means +been uniform and harmonious, it has not +attained to the astonishing irregularity +that receives such unmerited praise from +English visitors to New York. It is the +irregularity that is of consequence, and +the source of this irregularity lies, on the +one hand, in the sharp and unequally +resisted strain put upon building by +its effort to overtake the rate of increase +of population, and, on the other, in the +complete or partial breakdown of proper +civic control, and the renunciation of the +civic standard in building.</p> + +<p>The third fact that has to be recorded +in connection with the growth of our +populations is a curious one. While the +growth of building merely tended to +become proportionate to the growth of +the population, it was necessary that the +means of communication should increase +at a much faster rate. The more people +there were, the more often and the more +rapidly these people were compelled to +move about from one place to another. +Thus, while the inhabitants of Europe and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> +America multiplied, let us say, like the +interest gathering upon a fixed capital +sum, the movement of these inhabitants, +of their various belongings, their food and +drink, the materials and products of their +labour, the waste left over from their +individual and corporate metabolism, all +this movement grew in scope, volume and +swiftness in the manner of compound +interest, or like a snowball enlarging itself +into an avalanche. It is impossible in +these pages to examine this mysterious +law in any detail, but an example of its +working may perhaps be given. It was +stated just now that during the sixty +years 1861–1921 the population of +England and Wales increased by about +90 per cent., or, roughly, from twenty +millions to thirty-eight. Many figures +might be quoted to illustrate the growth of +communications during the same period, +but those yielded by the Post Office, at +whose enterprising hands this growth +took origin, will be enough for our purpose. +We find, then, that the annual postal +revenue of this country had, in the year +1921, increased to forty-five millions from +four millions in 1861, an advance of +1025 per cent. If this is the rate at which +our communications must expand, no +wonder the London traffic authorities +complain that the more facilities they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span> +are able to provide, the greater becomes +the demand made upon those facilities. +Startling as the Post Office figures may +seem, if we could as readily estimate the +growth of the total movement along our +roads, including not only pedestrian and +vehicular traffic, but the transmission of +water, fuel, and sewage, and of written +and spoken messages as well, we should +find the growth yet more considerable. +Nor should we be surprised at the long, +heroic struggle of nineteenth-century +scientists and legislators to perfect this +great and complicated thing, the modern +road, or marvel to see them extend it +hither and thither, and guard it from +encroachments, and level and straighten +out its trajectory, and search out a firm +foundation for it, and render its surface +hard and impervious, and dry it, clean it, +illuminate it, and at last equip it for the +automatic distribution of water and fuel, +and for a continuous scavenging of all our +towns.</p> + +<p>It is this remarkable achievement of +civilized man that to-day threatens to +become ineffective. No sooner had the +growth begun than it became clear that a +keen rivalry between buildings and roads +was inevitable, and further that unless the +balance between these two were jealously +maintained, the result to the road, so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> +necessary to the life of our civilization, +would be disastrous. The first half of +the nineteenth century saw the passing +of innumerable private Acts connected +with roadmaking, and in 1848 the famous +Public Health Act set up a considerable +national machinery, since improved and +extended by many later measures. The +Public Health Act has, in point of fact, +two objects. While the more important +of these is to ensure the quick, safe and +efficient development of the roads, the +Act was also designed to ensure that the +growth of new buildings should not, in its +headlong speed, fall below a decent standard +of strength, comfort and cleanliness. +But all this time the road remains the +special care of the authorities, for, while +in their capacity of building controllers +they merely inspect and sanction such +work as is being done by private enterprise, +they themselves undertake the +making and mending of roads with +increasing pertinacity. Nor would their +work have shown the smallest sign of +failure were it not for the abnormal and +unregulated growth of our large cities, a +growth which has now reached a stage at +which the roadmaker must assume a +measure of control if the traffic in our +streets is to continue in motion.</p> + +<p>The control of buildings is no new<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span> +thing. In addition to the measures +enacted to safeguard the integrity of the +road-space we have had, for several +centuries, the right to protest against a +building being put up for a purpose that +may be considered noxious. Not only +has this right been enforced directly by +means of legislation, but the State has +made itself responsible for seeing that +such undertakings as are entered into +between landowner and tenant are carried +out to the letter. If anyone proposed to +erect a poison-gas factory in Grosvenor +Square, his neighbours would have +immediate power to restrain him, while a +fruiterer’s shop could only be expelled if +its owner were found to violate the conditions +under which the land is granted. +The law, however, upholds such conditions, +and by these two means manages to +exercise a considerable measure of <em>user +control</em>, as it is now commonly called. +Now, zoning is, by its very name, a +comprehensive system of user control of +this same kind. In so far, however, as it +merely forbids the erection of a certain +class of building in a stated zone, it can +scarcely be said to influence architectural +form. The true architectural importance +of zoning lies in the fact that, the town-planner +having failed adequately to +control the <em>height</em> of buildings, it places in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> +the hands of the roadmaker “emergency” +powers enabling him to control their +<em>capacity</em>.</p> + +<p>He cannot, however, hope to do this +justly and usefully without paying due +regard to the use or function of each +building at the same time that he inquires +into its capacity, and this dual control is +in fact the peculiar object of the roadmaker +in his quality of zoning controller. +Let me give an example of how he goes to +work. It has been calculated by the +committee which is preparing the development +plan for the New York region that +one mile of theatres is the cause of a daily +traffic movement of 36,000 vehicles. The +corresponding figure for a street of +suburban shops is only one-fourth as high, +while a mile of factories of ordinary size is +responsible for a mere 600 vehicles. On +the other hand, the rapid development of +labour-saving machinery is daily increasing +the output of modern factories, and +has, during the last seven years, more than +doubled the amount per worker of goods +traffic going in and out of the average +American workshop. In addition to the +moving vehicles, the stationary ones, too, +require to be considered, though a time +is no doubt approaching when the parking +of cars on public ground will be forbidden +in most large towns. The worst aspect of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> +this subsidiary problem is, of course, +presented by places of amusement, whose +audiences are acquiring the motor-car +habit even more rapidly than the community +as a whole. Not many years will +elapse before American theatre and concert +audiences habituate themselves to the +motor-car to the exclusion of any other +vehicle, and when this condition has been +reached the mile of theatres already +referred to will require a strip of land over +a hundred feet wide along its entire length, +in order to make room for the lines of +waiting cars. Fortunately the motor-car +has not yet attained such wide patronage +in our own country, but anyone who will +stroll down the narrow streets on the west +side of Shaftesbury Avenue, say between +the hours of eight and ten, on a week-day +night, must conclude that with us also +the difficulties are fast growing acute.</p> + +<p>What is the solution to this knot of +related problems? We can only reach it +if we calculate the capacity of each +building, multiply this figure by its traffic-producing +coefficient, and then set this +figure against the capacity of the +surrounding streets. Difficult as these +computations may appear, they yet are +entirely feasible. Upon them is founded +the science of zoning, a science which is +as yet so imperfectly understood by the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span> +majority of us that it has been necessary +to describe its origin and purpose in some +detail. We may now go on to ask what +is likely to be its effect on the architecture +of the immediate future. The answer is +one which may appear to contradict itself. +Devised for the purpose of protecting the +street from the undue growth of its +buildings, the zoning ordinance must tend +before all else to encourage the growth in +size of the average individual building, +and to grant it a measure of formal +autonomy which will rapidly destroy the +few remaining vestiges of coherent street +design.</p> + +<p>A height restriction, such as those in +force in England, is founded upon a conception +of civic order, but it may in +addition have one of three practical +objects. It may be designed to prevent +unstable construction, or to ensure that +the surrounding area is not unduly +darkened, or to allow a jet of water to +sweep over the roof in an outbreak of fire. +The zoning ordinance is concerned with +none of these things. Its object is to +regulate capacity alone, and this it does +by drawing an inclined line upward from +the centre of the street, thus fixing an +angle within which the outline of the +building is forced to remain. Now, it is +in the first place to be observed that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> +rapidly sloping walls are as impracticable +as they are unsightly in buildings of great +height. It follows that the ordinance +may best be complied with by breaking +up the façade into receding vertical +planes, each separated from the next by +a narrow terrace. And the larger is the +site occupied by a building thus falling +back along a fixed angle, the higher this +building will be allowed to reach, for in a +triangle of which the angles remain +constant the height will vary as the base. +In the second place, a building measuring +more than, say, sixty or seventy feet in +depth will require an open area to provide +it with an adequate supply of light and +air. In a skyscraper of the old-fashioned +type it was the custom to place this area +at the centre of the building, which +became a quadrangular box, encircling the +four sides of a deep central void. But it +is at its centre that a building erected +under the zoning ordinance is allowed to +reach its maximum height. To give up +this part, more valuable than any other, +for the necessary area would of course be +folly, and the area is, in consequence, +placed where the sacrifice of useful +volume will be smallest, that is to say, at +the periphery of the building, in such a +manner as to lie open to the street.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="i_p049"> + <figcaption class="caption"> + <p><i>A zoned building, consisting of an H-shaped +arrangement of parallelepipeds with +two external areas. The influence of the +American zoning law is visible in the +upper part only. It accounts for the +stepping-back of the central block and the +octagonal tower that surmounts each corner. +(Fraternity Clubs Building, New York, by +Murgatroyd and Ogden.)</i></p> + </figcaption> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span></p> + + <img src="images/i_p049.jpg" alt="" title=""> +</figure> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span></p> + +<p>A building erected under the zoning +ordinance will, therefore, occupy as much +ground as its promoter is able to buy with +borrowed money, and will, wherever +possible, spread itself over the entire area +of a city block, so that it is bounded by a +street on all four sides. Its outline will, +in addition, present two striking characteristics. +It will rise on all sides in a +succession of receding stages gathered at +the summit in a central tower-like mass +which, provided its area does not exceed +a prescribed limit, may itself escape the +restraining influence and rise unhindered. +And while at each corner the street wall +itself is brought to the full height permissible +under the ordinance, the central +part of each façade will be recessed so as +to form one or several open courts or +areas. At the moment of writing, London +is about to witness the completion of its +first building designed along these lines. +Why the American zoning regulations +should have been made to govern the +design of the new Devonshire House +building in London is not excessively +clear, but this interesting piece of work +does at any rate provide a valuable +illustration of the laws of growth to which +American architecture will in future be +subject. For this reason it is by far the +most interesting and the most characteristically +modern of our large new buildings.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span> +There is just now a curious tendency +to describe as modern a small +number of structures whose windows are +treated in accordance with a short-lived +æsthetic fashion of thirty years ago. +Devonshire House furnishes proof that +architecture is able to be more modern +than that, for here the new zoning +ordinance is, for the first time in London, +shown actively at work.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="i_p053"> + <figcaption class="caption"> + <p><i>A zoned building, more recent than the +last, showing the American zoning law in +full operation. The central parallelepiped +here runs across the two others, thus +forming six external areas separated by +six buttress-like projections. Each of these +projections is stepped back in obedience to +the zoning law. (Bell Telephone Building, +St. Louis, by Russell and Crowell.)</i></p> + </figcaption> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span></p> + + <img src="images/i_p053.jpg" alt="" title=""> +</figure> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span></p> + +<p>We may now see why it was remarked +that zoning had substituted a new architectural +impulse for the governing impulse +of internal form to which we owe the +major masterpieces of architecture. A +zoned building can never be a masterpiece +in the same sense as these. You +cannot compare a zoned building to +Chartres Cathedral, any more than you +can compare a suit of clothes to a paper-weight. +The form of the one is dictated +by something working from inside outwards, +while the form of the other is the +result of an agency working upon the +surface from without. The paper-weight +may be as beautiful in its way, but its +beauty does not arise, as the beauty of +clothing arises, from its power to invest +the human form with an apt, expressive +and dignified integument. In the same +manner the zoned building may be beautiful, +but not with the beauty of the +greatest architecture, which consists in +the fashioning of a dwelling-place, human +or divine, in such a manner as to guard +and delight those who enter into it. The +zoned building is, I repeat, like the +University of Pittsburg, a matter of +cubic feet piled up around a private road. +Any new formal impulse that may control +its growth resides in the street without; +any new formal excellence it may exhibit +has for its origin the directing authority +of this street. But in spite of the inferior +quality of its products, it is easy to see +that the zoning ordinance holds out a +considerable promise to the architecture +of the future, supplying a fresh and +vigorous motive in the place of an older +that is rapidly failing, and setting up the +authority of reason where caprice alone +now rules.</p> + +<p>Before we leave this subject, a word +may perhaps be added concerning the +limitations of this method of control. It +clearly cannot be applied everywhere +with equally pleasing results. A town +or a district in which the streets run at +right angles to one another will show it at +its best, for there, and there only, will it be +possible for the defining lines to meet with +any degree of regularity. London buildings, +too, have sometimes to conform to a +stipulated angle, though for another<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span> +reason than those of New York. But the +irregularity of our streets, and the +narrowness of most of our building +frontages, have caused these controlling +angles to become a source of grotesque +heterogeneity and ugliness instead of +allowing them to establish a new kind of +order. Nor should our town be one +containing sites excessively large, or have +some of its streets so narrowly spaced as +to produce sites that are sensibly smaller +than the average. The larger area will +permit of too great a building height, the +smaller of too little, and it would appear +necessary that the “street block” should, +in addition to a regular outline, observe an +approximate equality of size also. +Founded upon these two equalities, the +zoning ordinances proceed to build up an +equality of height, of content, which in +its turn begets yet another that is the +guarantee of their ultimate success. For +nothing will prosper in America that does +not pay, and fortunately zoning has been +found to pay, and to pay very handsomely. +The “realtors” of the big +American towns did not take long to +discover that, while the building of a +skyscraper must enhance the value of the +surrounding land, this enhancement is +considerably greater where the growth is +controlled than where it is left free to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span> +congest, and stifle, and darken, as in the +licence of nineteenth-century New York. +To the neighbouring landowner an unregulated +skyscraper, if it pointed to a +new opportunity, was at the same time +an evil and a discouragement, for, if all +buildings simultaneously went up to those +same heights, would they not mutually +destroy one another? The zoning +ordinance has thus become a part of the +republican policy of the United States, +under which a competitive society is made +to bring forth numbers rather than +eminence, and watches over these its +children with democratic solicitude.</p> + +<p>We have examined with some care the +evolution of wheeled traffic and the +changes its multiplication must inevitably +bring about in the appearance of our +streets. Is not flying, it may be asked, +always described as the locomotion of the +future, and is not the shape of our buildings +likely to reflect so important a +development? The first part of this +question would take us beyond the scope +of the present essay, but the answer to the +second part may perhaps form the +subject of a digressive paragraph. One +might reasonably say that the design of a +building is likely to respond to the needs of +aerial traffic in three ways only, but not +in any way that is likely to be of great<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span> +consequence. The first possibility is that +a building may be required providing +means whereby aeroplanes are enabled +to make a safe landing on its roof. A +flat roof of ample dimensions thus becomes +necessary, and yet we have seen that one +of the effects of the zoning ordinance is to +break up the roof surface of a building +into a series of narrow ledges. A building +upon the top of which it is desired to +bring an aeroplane to land will, therefore, +in those places where zoning prevails, +need to be conspicuously low. Possibly +a roof may here and there be projected +outward beyond the walls of a building, +an expedient whose drawbacks are such +that it is unlikely to be often adopted. +In any case it will be necessary to provide +an entrance to the building from this roof, +but there is nothing very new about that. +The second possibility is that the aeroplane +may have to be lowered from the +roof of the building to the street level. +The easiest way of making this descent +is (to quote from a newspaper advertisement +of the great Wanamaker exhibition +to which I have referred) by “corkscrewing +down the exterior of the building.” +One of the great mural cartoons included +(side by side with a Ford “family aeroplane”) +in this exhibition shows an +enormous cylindrical tower, encircled by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> +a descending spiral, very much like a +corkscrew in appearance. This tower is +not, however, an ordinary city building, +but, reaching high above the concourse +of these, a special structure surmounted +by a mooring mast for dirigibles. Happily +the building has yet to be designed that +will, while giving shelter, however +unworthy, to human beings, wrap itself +in a broad fire-escape for the convenience +of corkscrewing aeroplanes. And there +is, on the whole, no ground for supposing +that our urban architecture will at any +time pay so exorbitant a regard to the +advance of the aeroplane as to transform +itself in this manner.</p> + +<p>But it will be remarked that aerial +travel is bound to call into being a number +of buildings of a special kind, devoted to +this one purpose alone. May we expect +such buildings to be as novel and as +eminently characteristic as the Wanamaker +cartoon would appear to suggest? +It is difficult to believe that among them +there will be anything more unusual than +the dirigible hangar, which is already a +familiar sight, and which, to do it justice, +has a peculiar interest in that it is the only +modern building whose purpose contains +an unanswerable argument for a roof +vaulted throughout its entire breadth. +The hangar built at Orly by the French<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> +engineer Freyssinet is perhaps the example +best known in this country; if it is not, +it certainly deserves to be. But though +the rounded shape of a balloon clearly +demands a vaulted roof, there is no reason +why such roofs should not be used elsewhere, +as they have in fact been used for +many centuries; and in his Utrecht Post +Office the Dutch architect Crouwel has +given us a building that, stripped of its +great clock and its counters and other +furnishings, might easily be mistaken by +a wandering dirigible for its accustomed +lair. Striking though the appearance of +the Orly hangar may be found, it would +scarcely be fair to attribute its success to +the peculiar function it so efficiently +discharges. And if this is all that the +dirigible balloon is likely to do for architecture, +what shall we say of the +aeroplane? It would appear that only +when practising the movement described +by our American friends as “corkscrewing” +will the aeroplane need the help of +the architectural innovator. Till then +we must remain content to see it inhabit a +structure hardly distinguishable from the +coach-house of our forbears.</p> + +<p>The prospect opened to us by aerial +locomotion is limited, for no matter +how high our winged vehicles may one +moment soar, they cannot approach the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span> +earth without losing much of their +glamour and strangeness. Let us turn +instead to the far more considerable +factor which came before us at the +beginning of this essay. The emancipation +of modern woman was there glanced +at in only one of the three aspects of +which the two others have still to be +regarded. We saw how, as a consumer +of wealth, she has been instrumental in +withdrawing the art of building from the +light of its central inspiration, and depriving +it of the most highly treasured of its +resources. As a producer of wealth, her +influence has perhaps been less momentous, +but it is by no means to be disregarded, +for the modern dwelling-house +exhibits the fruits of it in almost every +detail of planning and equipment. So +profound are the changes it has suffered +that a medium-sized house, built, say, +three generations ago, and left in its +original state, presents almost insuperable +difficulties to the housewife of to-day. Its +cavernous succession of kitchens and +larders, its monumental boiling ranges, +its numberless stairs and endless dim +passages, all of these things must fall +into desuetude, unless a regiment of +muscular girls and women is enlisted to +maintain order among them. We all +know how in the leisurely age of our<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span> +great-grandmothers a house was much +more loosely, more vaguely planned, with +nothing resembling the meticulous precision +that is brought to bear upon it +to-day. It was not necessary in those +days to measure the distance the housewife +had to walk in order to put the dinner +on the table, for the walk was one which +she was never called upon to take. There +was no need to place a roomy and well-ventilated +linen-cupboard close to the +principal bedrooms, for the bedroom linen +might be kept anywhere and fetched from +anywhere without inflicting appreciable +hardship upon the housewife. But wide +though the gulf may be that divides the +modern house from that of the early nineteenth +century, the novelty of the former +would not be nearly so apparent were it +not for the much broader gulf by which +it is divided from that of a generation +later. During the second half of the +century the romantic revival was scattering +over the country a number of houses +whose unpracticalness was so gigantic +that they could only strike the beholder +completely dumb. The labyrinth at +Knossos being at that time still undiscovered, +these structures are generally +presumed to derive from the cathedrals +and dungeons of the Middle Ages. It is +by comparison with these preposterous<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span> +inventions that the post-war house stands +out in a yet more appealing and more +individual light. Instead of losing purpose +and definition, like the typical city +building, it has gained vastly in both these +qualities, and it has gained because, from +being the scene of the housewife’s activities, +it has become her instrument and +ally, and sometimes (it must be admitted) +her accomplice even.</p> + +<p>The next step, indeed, has already been +taken. It is possible even now to watch +the modern residence gradually assuming +the properties of a machine. At the +beginning of the last century nine-tenths +of the cost of a house went into the +structure, while the remaining tenth paid +for its fixtures and equipment. Nowadays +we spend almost as much on drains and +plumbing, on baths and closets, on bedroom +lavatory basins supplied with hot +water, on central heating, electric light, +telephones and suchlike, as we spend on +the building of the house. So remarkable +has been this development that an +American writer has prophesied a period +when houses will be given away free with +the plumbing. It is doubtful whether +such munificence will ever become a commercial +possibility, but the prophecy +contains more than a modicum of truth. +We may reasonably expect to see all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span> +but the most indispensable furniture done +away with in the small house of to-morrow, +while its walls, ceilings, and doors will +assume a blankness and roundedness that +has hitherto been thought needful only +in the operating chambers of our hospitals. +In order still to reduce the housewife’s +labours, the apartments will be brought +together in those vast blocks that are +meeting with such strenuous opposition +from private householders in the United +States, an opposition to which the zoning +authorities have almost invariably given +every support. What is the reason for +this opposition? It is that a new apartment +house will (in the words of a +recent American Court pronouncement) +“increase the fire hazard” of the district +upon which it intrudes, and will be +“creative of noises from autos, taxis, +milk wagons, drays, etc., in a locality +where peace and quiet now prevail; it +will obstruct light and air, and sooner or +later it will bring with it the immoralities +which always attend the building of such +structures.” The list of its potential +misdeeds goes on, but I have quoted at +sufficient length to show what are the +conditions to be expected when the house +is supplanted by large, noisy, and efficient +machines, which none but the richest +and the poorest may altogether elude.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span></p> + +<p>Is it inevitable that they will be +so supplanted? The displacement is +steadily going on, and the scope and +rapidity of the process must depend upon +the eagerness with which modern woman +sets herself to pluck the fruits of liberty +that are now so compliantly brought +within her reach. It should be borne in +mind, however, that the mechanization of +the house is inspired by a purpose +diametrically opposite to that entertained +by the pioneers of modern methods in +industry. The triumph of the powerloom +over the handloom was conditioned +by its ability to produce so many more +yards of material than the handloom could +be made to yield. But while the machine +was introduced into the industrial world +in order to multiply the products of +labour, the object of the modern house is +to diminish the necessity for labour. By +exchanging the handloom for the powerloom +the weaver could, while still taking +the same amount of trouble, produce a +greater result, but when the modern +housewife moves into a labour-saving +flat her object is by taking considerably +less trouble to produce the same result as +before. How and where she spends the +hours of leisure thus acquired is a question +which does not bear upon our present +argument, except in so far as this leisure<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span> +has enabled her to raise the drapery store +to the exalted place it occupies to-day, +and by this means to divert the trend of +modern architecture in the direction +which we have just been following.</p> + +<p>It is, then, largely by virtue of her new +position as a producer that the woman of +to-day has become able to exercise such a +signal influence in her quality of consumer +of wealth. But from both these points of +view we may perceive her acting immediately +upon the main architectural current, +while, if we consider her from the conjugal +point of view, her influence will +show itself only in the flow of the tributary +stream which is conveniently described as +decoration. It is a regrettable fact that +the decorative arts in England had, until +they suddenly came within this influence, +shown not the smallest sign of vitality +since Soane and Nash translated the Attic +enthusiasm of Shelley, Landor and +Winckelmann into stone and stucco. +Learned though he may have been, there +can be no doubt that John Soane was as +genuinely moved by the masterpieces of +Greek decoration as Shelley by the large +and authentic voices of Plato and +Æschylus. The modern decorator, however, +who ransacks the storehouse of +history from Robert Adam to the caves +of prehistoric man, is never animated by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span> +better instincts than those of the merchant +adventurer, and often enough by worse. +Of a creative impulse he is completely +innocent. And what are we to say of the +teaching of Ruskin, who followed upon +the heels of these great men, except that +it was calculated to impart a knowledge +not so much of decoration as of botany, +while its temper was wholly inimical to +such pleasure as might yet be taken here +and there in decorative skill? Stifled by +the tedious pullulation of Ruskin’s +“natural forms,” this pleasure appears to +be awakening once more, and it is to +modern woman that we must look for the +cause of this awakening.</p> + +<p>A convenient way of picturing the +change of outlook that has led to this +revival is to compare two familiar works +of nineteenth-century fiction separated +by a generation or two. Gautier’s +<cite>Mademoiselle de Maupin</cite> contains long +passages redolent of that nature-worship +which made Wordsworth a best-seller and +which inspired our Ruskin to discard the +principles of decorative design in favour +of those derived from the study of plant +growth. Innumerable landscapes are +presented to us in this book, many of them +bathed in moonlight of the most impeccable +romantic quality. Country +mansions, pleasure-pavilions, creeper-clad<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> +cottages, all these are concealed beneath a +dense mass of verdure, their existence +briefly hinted at, while the sinuous paths +by which they may be approached are +made the subject of the closest description, +together with the trees, shrubs, +creepers, herbs and mosses which form +their setting. Such power of attention +as remains in the reader is skilfully +directed upon the subject of feminine +apparel, to the treatment of which the +author brings a sympathy and animation +almost equal to those with which he +approaches the vegetable kingdom. But +the apartments through which his +characters move, the walls and furniture +against which their forms, so exquisitely +clad, stand disclosed to the reader, +receive as little thought as the exterior of +the buildings, so that it is impossible for +us to say what they are like. As soon +as the men and women cross the threshold +of a house, an impenetrable mist descends +upon their surroundings. Alas, there was +no one to take any interest in even the +most delightful of the houses or rooms, +and we are left to reconstruct them for +ourselves, aided only by our knowledge +of a few authentic remains.</p> + +<p>In Zola’s Nana we have a complete +antithesis to this fatigue, this chlorosis of +the decorative faculty. The adornment<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span> +of her immediate setting has with this +famous character become a consuming +passion. Her intuitive artistic knowledge, +her manifold inventiveness, never +cease to astonish the architects and +decorators who work at her bidding. +Nor, in her brief but triumphant career +through the world of vice, does she once +tire of devising fresh schemes of decoration, +schemes which Zola himself appears +to regard with an enthusiasm approaching +that of his heroine. As she pauses at last +on the brink of financial ruin, this passion +for decoration flares up with an almost +hysterical intensity. It is then that +she dreams of “un prodige, un +éblouissement ... un lit comme il n’en +existait pas, un trône, un autel ... en +or et en argent repoussés, pareil à un +grand bijou.” To the end her preoccupation +maintains its firm hold upon +her, for through it alone it was that she +could gain her mysterious ascendancy over +the minds and the senses of men. “Jamais +elle n’avait senti si profondément la force +de son sexe,” remarks Zola as he shows +her to us happily contemplating the +scenes of prodigious elegance that she had +established around her. Such is the +change of attitude which nineteenth-century +society must somehow have +witnessed before it could be so brilliantly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span> +recorded in writing. It is a similar +change that has infused new life into +modern decoration.</p> + +<p>The question may present itself whether +to connect this movement with Zola’s +unfortunate heroine is not to detract from +its merit or importance. That must remain +entirely a matter for individual judgment. +I will here but remark that, in borrowing +their light from the constellation of +unhappy spirits in which Nana shone so +vividly, the decorative arts are only +imitating the example set throughout +Europe and America by the art of +feminine dress, and that whatever is said +of one of these arts applies to the other +also. But this superficial resemblance is +not the only thing that unites decoration +with dress, for the modern movement in +decoration cannot be better described +than as an enlargement of the old and +more immediate business of personal +adornment. Both currents spring from +a common source, and if the younger of +them will always remain in some respects +apart from its sartorial companion, grown +with the centuries into a venerable +historic stream, we yet have reason to be +thankful that the arid waste of decoration +is being watered again, however fitfully.</p> + +<p>What is it that has turned the decorator +of to-day into a kind of transcendent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span> +costumier? I here have room to hint +at a couple of reasons only. In the first +place, it should be remembered that while +the avowed ideal of masculine clothing is +to render its wearers inconspicuous by +causing them all to look alike, the ideal +of feminine clothing is to give an appearance +of strangeness and singularity. Now, +nothing could accord more happily with +our mechanical civilization than the +masculine ideal; nothing, on the other +hand, could come into more violent and +more disappointing conflict with it than +the feminine. Modern industry does not +discriminate; it holds out to both sexes +the same opportunities for acquisition, +it heaps upon both the same monotonous +profusion of manufactured goods. A hat, +a mantle, a gown, is no sooner devised +than a million others of the selfsame +pattern pour in steady streams into every +corner of the world. A startling colour +cannot be affected by someone eager to +achieve distinction of appearance without +multiplying more rapidly than the +budding green in Mr. Wells’ <cite>Time Machine</cite>. +Provincial visitors to the West End of +London are astonished at the number of +well-dressed women they see about the +streets, and profess themselves unable to +distinguish between a duchess and a +shop-assistant, while Londoners who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> +tread for the first time the pavements of +Paris or New York find themselves +similarly baffled. Thanks to the ceaseless +activities of the large drapers’ store +(supported by the admirable enterprise of +artificial silk manufacturers) no woman +to-day, however penurious, need deny +herself any of those elegant accessories +that were the crowning luxury of her +ancestors. But, pleasing as this facility +may be to the multitude, is it to be +imagined that the more fortunate or +ambitious can look upon it with the same +satisfaction? Assuredly not, for they +have even invoked the law of copyright +in their attempt to resist it.</p> + +<p>In drawing our conclusions from this +spectacle of unwelcome equality it is +useful also to bear in mind the relation +between the female and the male populations +of Western Europe. During the +last half century the excess of women in +this country has, roughly speaking, +doubled in proportion to the total number +of inhabitants of both sexes. The effect +of a fixed and constant inequality may +be neutralized by a series of adjustments +in the social structure, but when the +inequality threatens to increase fourfold +in the course of a century the pressure it +engenders is not so easily relieved. One +of the most distressing sights to be met<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span> +with in Paris to-day is the large number +of coloured and mostly negroid males +that is gradually being assimilated by the +white population. There are some even +who predict that France will soon have +become a bi-coloured republic. Should +this unpleasant prophecy be realized, the +present excess of white females will no +doubt go a long way to account for the +change. Whether or not this excess has +done anything to stimulate the new movement +in decoration it is, of course, impossible +to say with certainty, but our +surmise receives the strongest confirmation +from the fact that in the United +States of America, alone among modern +countries in this respect, the modern +decorative movement appears to be +awakening no response at all. For in +that country alone the male population +exceeds the female by a surplus that is +increasing at almost exactly the same +rate as our own female surplus is increasing.</p> + +<p>The new movement has been described +as an enlargement of the art of dress, an +affinity which those who visited the 1925 +Paris Exhibition of Decorative Art will be +ready enough to acknowledge. Among the +most skilful of the exponents of the movement +is M. Maurice Dufrène, and no one +could wish for a more complete expression<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> +of its main characteristics than his +<cite>Chambre de Dame</cite>, shown at the 1925 +exhibition along with other apartments +by the same artist. Wherever one may +turn in this room, one’s eye rests upon +long sinuous curves whose rise and fall +is as the billowing of an exquisite garment. +The richness and amplitude of its +lines recall nothing so much as the +famous liquefaction that the silk frock +of Herrick’s Julia would undergo, more +particularly while the poet watched her +in the act of walking. The dressing-table +undulates round its absent mistress with +a softness of movement that causes one +to think of a fur or a cloak, while in the +distance, framed in a background of +streaming silver, the bed rolls lazily like +a magic carpet suspended on the breeze. +The cushions and lampshades have the +appearance of intimate garments too +pertly displayed. From an elongated +hollow in the ceiling, fringed with curling +foam, a golden light descends with studied +moderation upon the skin of a giant polar +bear, the canine adjunct enlarged and +architecturalized, its muzzle caught in the +loops of a heavy rope of silver. Everybody +said the room was a distinguished +success, and this, in so far as it served to +enhance a brilliant though imaginary +personality, it indubitably was.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span></p> + +<p>The chief manifestation of the new +movement, however, lies not so much in +its forms as in the teguments wherein +those forms are clothed. They are +invariably of the greatest succulence. +Soft, smooth, evenly or sharply luminous, +they answer one another like the modulated +textures of the dressmaker’s products. +Even metallic surfaces are made +to play their dull or glittering part in the +combination, for there is nothing, as +Baudelaire wrote in one of his poems, +that provides so telling a foil to the +warmth of woven materials as “l’énivrante +monotonie du métal, du marbre +et de l’eau.” It is only fit, therefore, +that among the most successful of all +these designers should be the metalworker +Edgar Brandt, whose fame has +securely established itself even on the +other shore of the Atlantic. To infuse +with profound feminine charm the design +of a metal grille or an ornamental +chandelier may appear difficult, but +this is what M. Edgar Brandt has +succeeded in doing; nor could we ask +for a more striking testimony to the +strength and singleness of the impulse +from which this modern movement in +decoration derives than we may find in +his triumphant enlistment of such unlikely +aids as these. The proper place and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span> +function of his work, of which I will not +attempt a detailed description, is as +unmistakable as the work itself. Only +the other day a candidate for an academic +prize in architecture introduced an +imitation of it into a design for a bank +building. Of course, he had to be rebuked +on behalf of the prize committee, happily +through the person of that witty and +scholarly critic, Mr. H. S. Goodhart-Rendel. +The particular manner of +design he had chosen, the designer was +told, should be confined to “the surroundings +of beautiful and expensive women.” +Its nature could not have been more +succinctly defined.</p> + +<p>Such, then, are, to the best of my belief, +the most important forces at work in +architecture to-day. Without doubt +these forces will drive the architecture of +to-morrow into a mould that is much like +the one I have here attempted to describe. +Are any new currents likely to manifest +themselves, adding their influence to that +of the currents with which we are already +familiar? Few men living to-day are so +bold that they would care to prophesy +without some visible omen to justify their +words. Our ideas about progress and +the future have themselves shrunk somewhat; +they have become more modest +than they were. To the nineteenth-century<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span> +European, whose faith was so miraculously +fortified by the discovery of natural +selection, these things had grown to be +the first and greatest realities of human +existence. Progress was to him a pleasing +and uninterrupted enlargement of his +worldly self, a direct and positive increase +of comfort, power, and general importance. +As for the future, the element of +variability, of possible differentiation, +that was contained in it seemed about as +great as the growth of a crystal might +show in a constantly replenished solution. +Even to-day there are some men living +who (like that most eloquent of worshippers +at the favourite Victorian shrine, +Mr. H. G. Wells) still look forward to a +continued expansion of the social organism, +an unbroken if less unvarying +accession of prosperity and power. But +it is becoming only too clear that the +band of orthodox believers is rapidly +dwindling; already in some places the +object of their worship is openly blasphemed +against. We are told that the +growth of an industrial society must +necessarily be limited in extent—nay, that +it must even be of limited duration. It +is argued with depressing force that the +opening-up of markets is like everything +else in this world, and can only continue +so long as there are markets to open up.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span> +Every day the future of our urbanized +civilization appears wrapped in a darker +cloud. Every day it becomes more +uncertain how long Balbus will continue +to build even in fulfilment of needs that +exist here and now. The modern amorphous +building, the “zoning” of volume +and outline, the labour-saving residence, +the subservience of the new decoration +to feminine dress: all these spring from +forces that exist to-day and that must +continue for some time longer provided +civilization is able to maintain itself in its +present form. More than this it is +impossible to foretell, except one thing +only, with an inadequate reference to +which I must bring this essay to an end.</p> + +<p>It has been observed how the growth +of population of our towns is even now +being followed by the architectural +expansion which is the somewhat retarded +concomitant of such a growth. This +growth, however, is slowing down and, it +may be, gradually subsiding. We continue +to build, but the tenants of the +buildings we put up will before long have +ceased to multiply. We have rediscovered +the first principles of the forgotten +art of town-planning, but only at a time +when our towns are becoming almost +adequate to the needs of their populations. +One of the most momentous<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span> +chapters in the history of humanity is +thus about to be closed, and it is surely +permissible at such a moment to +speculate awhile on what will succeed +it. What is to follow the great +age of city-building, whose ironic fate it +was to discern the laws that should have +governed its activities when it was too +late to obey these laws except on a point +of secondary importance, being then able +to obey only under penalty of death? +Are we to meet, after failing to grasp the +illusive opportunities of town-planning, +with new, and real, and unexhausted +opportunities of country-planning? I +have not in this essay attempted a +detailed description of the growth of our +towns, which is a thing of the present +and the past, but have confined myself +to certain things that must happen within +the boundaries of these towns before many +more years have elapsed. And though it +is too early as yet to speak with any +particularity of the repopulation of the +countryside, it is clear that no discussion +of the future can claim to be even approximately +just if it does not bear witness to +this new phase in the history of building. +Following unobtrusively upon a lengthy +procession of works on town-planning, +the first treatise on country-planning has +recently made its appearance. Though<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span> +only a pamphlet of modest dimensions, +it is fairly certain that the outward +growth it heralds will not be less +important than the centripetal one +which is even now being arrested, for +the exodus from the city has hardly begun +to-day, and the architecture of the +countryside still requires to pass beyond +the experimental stage and assume some +measure of permanence. But when rural +England has grown thus far, we may rest +assured that its permanence and stability +will exceed all that the city at any time +possessed, and in this manner will come to +pass what was prophesied to the Roman +philosopher Ædesius who, it will be +recalled, awoke one morning and saw that +the back of his left hand was covered with +writing. “After reverently saluting his +hand and the letters,” so the story goes, +“he found that the following oracle was +written on his hand: ‘On the warp of the +two Fates’ spinning lie the threads of thy +life’s web. If thy choice is the cities and +towns of men, thy renown shall be deathless, +shepherding the god-given impulse of +youth. But if thou shalt be the +shepherd of sheep and bulls, then hope +that thou thyself shalt be the associate of +the blessed immortals.’” Thus speaks +the divine portent of the future of architecture +also, and to whom except the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span> +architect skilled in country-planning, the +architect of to-morrow, could it be said +(as it was said of Ædesius and his pupils) +that “when they spread their wings +further than those of Icarus, though they +were even more fragile, he would lead +them gently down, not into the sea, but +to the land and to human life”?</p> + + + + +<hr class="chap"> +<div class="tnote"> +<p class="noi tntitle"><a id="TNotes">Transcriber’s Notes:</a></p> + +<p class="smfont">Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.</p> + +<p class="smfont">Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.</p> + +<p class="smfont">The Publisher’s Catalog for the <i>To-day and To-morrow</i> series, + referred to in the front matter above, was not contained in the + source material.</p> +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75202 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + |