cupolas and towers, so as to produce a grand outline. The annexed woodcut shows its effect, side by side with that of the present building. And an extant correspondence proves that it was allowed to be practicable and grand, and that the expense of carrying it out was found to be a comparatively small percentage on the whole outlay—a sum quite insignificant in comparison with that devoted to the waterworks, and with other sums lavished on less important objects. But once more he was to be disappointed. The design was “declined with thanks.” Yet it would have been worth while to do much to redeem from ugliness a building, which has the advantage of enormous scale, and which must be a conspicuous feature in every view of the environs of London. The plan proposed would have had a striking and even magnificent effect, and one, moreover, unique in its kind. Few can fail to regret that, even when rejected, it was not allowed to suggest some bolder and more artistic treatment than is seen in the existing building.

Alterations in Piccadilly and Pall Mall.—Another improvement, on which he was consulted by the Government in 1841, was the proposed widening of Piccadilly. He put the project into proper shape, and it was carried out accordingly, bringing into Piccadilly the fine row of plane-trees which extend to Hyde Park Corner, and which are the only trees standing in a great London thoroughfare. But, as usual, his desires went beyond the instructions given him. He cast a longing eye upon the Green Park, which seemed to give room for a great design. The reservoir now existing was to be transformed into an ornamental basin, flanked by appropriate fountains, and surrounded by terraces with balustrades, vases, and statues. Fine broad flights of steps were to lead down to the Park, and thence by a long walk ornamented with sculpture to Hyde Park Corner. The object was to combine in one grand design what is now a somewhat wasted and ineffective space. But here again economy stepped in to forbid its execution; and the design exists on paper only.

Another fine idea, referring to the same quarter of London, remained equally barren of result. When the Marble Arch was in want of a site, Sir Charles proposed to do away with the obstructions which now encumber the east end of Pall Mall, so as to make a wide opening to the Park, which should be occupied by the Marble Arch with Stafford House on one side, and Bridgewater House on the other.[112] It was in such positions alone, where the Arch was combined with flanking buildings or rested on solid masonry as abutments, that he thought it a grand or even a rational feature. Standing alone, or with mere iron railing on each side of it, it seemed absolutely unmeaning, and therefore unsatisfactory. In the position proposed, it would certainly have looked well, and supplied (what is much needed) a grand termination to Pall Mall, and a good entrance into the Park. The annexed woodcut will show its effect, and the amount of alteration which it would

entail. It may not be too much to hope, that hereafter some such worthy termination may be found for one of the finest streets in London.

Westminster Improvements.—While thus conceiving designs for the architectural improvement of the metropolis in general, it was only natural that he should pay special attention to the neighbourhood of Westminster, in which his own main work lay. More particularly the constant sight of the river, with its glorious capabilities, and the miserable defacements of its banks, stirred him up to many projects for its embellishment.

Westminster Bridge was, of course, his first anxiety. The old bridge (the oldest in London since the old London Bridge had disappeared) was not only ugly in itself, but by its high roadway and parapets, and the massiveness of its general structure, exaggerated the defects of the site of the New Palace. He looked upon it with a jealous eye, eager to notice the first symptoms of decay. When that decay became serious, he suggested every device for lowering it and lightening in the course of its repairs; and, when all repair failed, and its demolition was found to be inevitable, he rejoiced over it as an enemy removed from his path. He then set to work at once to design a new bridge; its width he made no less than 100 feet, its height he lowered as much as possible, in defiance of all complaints as to the navigation. The lowness of the banks, in his mind, forbade a grand massive bridge, like London or Waterloo Bridges, which must dwarf all architecture near it, and which was only fit to rest on banks of rock, or granite abutments, massive as itself. Lightness and elegance here were the first things needful. In style he would have Gothicized to suit the New Palace, and he would have carried out the work far beyond the erection of the bridge itself. In his design there was to have been a second Gothic bridge at Lambeth, a new river front was to be given to Lambeth Palace, and a fine avenue and quay formed along Bishop’s Walk to some new Gothic building at the foot of Westminster Bridge. All the eyesores on the Surrey side of the river, which marred the view from the terrace of the New Palace, were to have been swept away, and the river would have flowed on through a vast Gothic quadrangle.

But this again was one of those comprehensive schemes by which he alarmed economists, and the general design for the time was set aside. There is now a bridge at Lambeth, but it is the present paltry-looking suspension-bridge. There is to be the Surrey embankment, but it will hardly harmonize with the new bridge erected at Westminster. Yet, probably, by the time all is done, the same area will be covered, and the same expense incurred, without any general and comprehensive scheme. When it was set aside, he thought it better to keep the bridge distinct, though not inharmonious, in character. He adopted, rather in deference to authority than to his own taste, elliptical arches, at first seven in number, afterwards for convenience reduced to five; and submitted to the Board of Works a design, in which he endeavoured to preserve strictly the requisites above mentioned.

The design was never carried out, but the present bridge fulfils many of the requirements which he had in view, and does something like justice to the great building at its foot.

His views as to the improvement of the river were not indeed confined to Westminster. The Thames Embankment schemes, so long discussed, and now at last in course of execution, were not unfrequently in his mind. He made several designs[113] for carrying out a work, which he felt to be essential to the thorough usefulness and architectural beauty of the Thames, and in which his own work at the New Palace gave him a special interest.

Extension of the New Palace at Westminster.—But of all designs in this quarter of the town the one which he had most at heart, and to which he returned again and again, was the extension of his great building on the land side. Such an extension was (as has been shown) contemplated in his very first design; and, almost up to the time of his death, he continued to urge it on the Government.

The extension was certainly contemplated by him mainly as an architectural improvement. In 1853 he wrote as follows:—“By means of these additional buildings the irregular, disjointed, and incongruous character of the present building on the land side would be removed, a degree of unity given to it on that side, in harmony with that already obtained on the river front; and the principal entrance to the palace would then become a marked and important feature of the building.”

But it was also intended to meet an absolute necessity. The requirements of public business have greatly increased within the last twenty years. The Government are at this moment renting house property, for the accommodation of public offices and Royal Commissions, and for other purposes, at an annual cost exceeding 37,000l.[114] The houses in Bridge Street are now removed: the Law Courts are speedily to follow them. The Government are therefore now, as he foresaw that they would be, in possession of a valuable site. The question with him was, whether it should be made use of to meet the official requirements by supplying the accommodation wanted close at hand, with great convenience and economy to the public, or whether it should be left open, and so far useless, while these requirements were still met insufficiently and inconveniently elsewhere.

To the latter course Sir Charles was strongly opposed. There could be nothing to recommend it, except the notion that it would give a better architectural effect (for there is already open space close at hand, fully sufficient for sanitary requirements). But this notion appeared to him utterly erroneous. By leaving New Palace Yard open, or enclosing it only by a railing, the buildings surrounding it (Westminster Hall and the rest) are viewed from the higher ground of Bridge Street, and appear actually sunk, while the area itself, having a considerable diagonal fall across the open space, is singularly unfortunate in its effect. By pulling down the Law Courts, and opening the whole side of Westminster Hall, he conceived that a still worse effect would be produced; for the scale and parts of the Hall are so large, that it must be utterly incongruous with the buildings round it. He conceived therefore that this proposal to leave the space unoccupied would be detrimental architecturally, while in an economic and practical point of view it would be an unwarrantable waste.

Accordingly his proposal[115] was to erect a line of building, occupying the site of the Law Courts and the western and northern sides of New Palace Yard, giving ample and even liberal accommodation for all public needs. New Palace Yard was to be entered on its west side by a grand gate-tower, or triple archway flanked by towers, leading by a gentle and uniform slope (about 1 in 50) to the present entrances, which, having been always intended as archways for an interior court, have not sufficient dignity or importance for the chief public entrances to the building. On the south side, Westminster Hall would form a grand centre with a range of buildings on each side of it; and on the north side, if a high range of buildings were thought objectionable, a cloister with one story above it, or an open arcade, might mask the building from the high ground of Bridge Street. The great entrance gate-tower he had proposed to call the Albert Tower, in a kind of correspondence with the Victoria Tower, which is the great royal entrance, serving like it to mark the date of the building, and to commemorate the lively interest which the late Prince Consort took in all that concerned its artistic decoration.

Such was the scheme formed by him, and again laid before Lord Palmerston’s Government by his son Edward in 1864. The annexed woodcuts will show its general character. It has now some special interest, because the removal of the Law Courts must soon give the question a practical importance. All that is at present being done is to complete the Clock Tower on its western side, to enclose New Palace Yard by an iron railing, and to construct an arcade or cloister along its eastern side, with a subway at the northern end passing under Bridge Street to the Thames Embankment. There is nothing in all this, which is inconsistent with the subsequent execution of Sir Charles Barry’s designs, either in their original form, or with some modifications of detail. It can hardly be doubted that such execution would have much to recommend it, in regard both of artistic and of practical considerations.

General Scheme of Metropolitan Improvements.—But all these designs were embodied, and, as it were, absorbed, in the great design for Metropolitan Improvements, which he exhibited in 1857, on occasion of the Public Offices’ competition. Into that competition he did not wish to enter. He was indeed retiring from his profession; his constitution had been a good deal shaken; the remuneration controversy, and the attacks made on the New Palace

at Westminster, had disheartened, though they had not overcome him. But he wished to embody all the designs for the improvement of the Metropolis, which had floated before his mind, in one grand scheme, and to leave it (so he expressed it) as a legacy behind him. He thought of Sir Christopher Wren’s grand design for the rebuilding of London after the fire, and the example stirred him up to boldness and extensiveness of conception. That it would be but an ideal he knew well; he exhibited it without reference to the conditions of the competition, and without any idea of seriously concerning himself with it. It was, in fact, brought forward in the names of his sons Charles and Edward, in the hope that, if it secured public attention and approval, some of its leading features might be executed by their hands. At any rate he conceived that it would point in the right direction. Even if it were not substantially adopted at any time, yet it might set the minds of others at work. Before all things, he felt that in the great Metropolitan improvements, which every day’s experience proves to be something more than desirable, the chief danger to be avoided was that absence of a general scheme, or at least general conceptions, which has, in England especially, wasted time and money on erections of isolated and often misplaced magnificence. He wished to place on record the strong expression of this feeling, and he left the scheme, which he himself conceived to be the best, for the criticism and consideration of those who should come after him. With that vague presentiment elsewhere noticed, that the end for him was not distant, he often said that he desired to leave it as his architectural memorial.

It has been thought right accordingly to embody in this work, first the general plan of his Westminster improvements, and next a considerable part of a large drawing, executed almost entirely by his own hand, and containing on a small scale, but with an artistic effect which can hardly be reproduced, elevations of the chief buildings, which he proposed to open to public view, to remodel, or to erect.

The following is the description of the design which he himself attached to it:—

General Principles of Plan.

The Government Offices and Their Adjuncts.

Thoroughfares and Traffic.

Miscellaneous Improvements.

Such was his own sketch of his great plan, which, with the annexed plan and illustration, will render further description needless.

It is probable that few will question its grandeur and comprehensiveness. It would have made Westminster a palatial quarter of the town, grouping together the buildings, which the public service of a great country requires, in an unity, justified by their actual unity of purpose, and all but necessary to their full architectural effect. The great quadrangle of nine acres, with its sides formed by the Abbey, the Government Palace, the New Palace of Westminster, and the public buildings removed in order to clear the area, must have been its most striking feature. Hardly inferior in magnificence would have been the Park view of the Government Palace with the enclosed Parade, the large area cleared along the Thames Embankment, and the great line of public buildings extending from Great George Street to Trafalgar Square. Essential points in the scheme were the embankments on both sides of the river and the large spaces reserved, to be laid out in public gardens, and so to give breathing space and opportunity for seeing the great piles of building proposed. Taken altogether it would have produced a general effect hardly to be equalled in Europe.

But it should also be noticed, that the plan was eminently practical. It sacrificed little, it indicated the main lines which public improvements must eventually take, and it was capable of being carried out gradually. The concentration of public offices is demanded by public convenience; the opening out the great buildings to be erected will be an architectural necessity. The Thames Embankment is now a reality, though Sir Charles would have little dreamt that its effect would have been allowed to be broken in upon by the Hungerford Railway Bridge, and the enormous mass of the Charing Cross Station. The enlargement of the National Gallery is now only a question of time. The opening of great lines of communication is hardly likely to be long deferred. In the whole scheme therefore there was nothing visionary, nothing impracticable.

Its cost no doubt would have been great. But it would not have exceeded the cost, which will be ultimately incurred; and, if it had been carried out gradually, the burden on the public resources would have been almost imperceptible.

In the present state of public feeling as to the value of Art in itself, and in its influence on the national character, there can be no doubt that great public improvements will be demanded. The example set in Paris can hardly be quite lost upon us. Unless unforeseen necessity should absorb the public resources, great sums of public money will certainly be expended. That which is to be ardently desired is that the authorities who direct the public expenditure should have before them some great and comprehensive scheme, which, while it leaves all details perfectly free, and so avoids monotonous uniformity, may indicate the general principles to be followed, and at least see that one improvement does not destroy or ruin another.

If the great scheme which occupied Sir Charles Barry’s last years sets men’s minds to work, indicates public necessities, and suggests the general lines of public improvement, it will (as has been said) do all that its author hoped for. An artist, himself incapable of following servilely the plans of others, could have desired nothing more than to stimulate and guide the free conceptions of the future.

CHAPTER IX.

GENERAL NOTICE OF PUBLIC LIFE.

In respect of such official labours, it must be remembered, that his constant occupation in professional work, and his great dislike of public speaking and public appearances, kept him to some extent removed from public life. No one acted more consistently on the conviction, that each man contributes most to the great sum of general progress by doing in the best possible way the task, which his station and talents specially mark out for him. But, whenever questions arose directly or indirectly bearing upon Art, he was naturally called upon for his opinion and his services; and under these circumstances, even at the busiest periods of his life, he could always make time for the work, and take the liveliest interest in its progress.

He served, therefore, on several public commissions. In some respects he must have been an embarrassing coadjutor. At all times he was more inclined to originate than to criticize; and he would seldom consent to limit his ideas by strict considerations of immediate practicability. He was apt therefore to strike out a line of his own, for which perhaps he could not command the sympathy of his colleagues; and, even when he found the impracticability of such wider schemes, he was reluctant to acquiesce in any others, which might seem to him too narrow for the occasion. Yet it has been seen how frequently it happened, that the ideas which he threw out proved ultimately fruitful, though under other hands, and under different circumstances from those contemplated by himself. For perhaps one of his most striking characteristics was quickness of conception, and a certain “readiness of mind,” which made its large resources available on the instant. This was certainly united in his own actual work with an unwearied industry in the working out of his general conceptions, and a willingness to consider and test them in every possible point of view. But in the task of suggestion and criticism, which belongs to a commission, it had the opportunities of rapid and fruitful exercise, and he was always ready to meet every need, and overcome every difficulty. Partly from a sanguine hopefulness, which led him to make light of obstacles, partly from a deliberate conviction, that in a country like our own considerations of expense are trifling, if any great public want is really supplied, he was always led to boldness and comprehensiveness in his conceptions, which might probably cause alarm in the first instance, and prevent the immediate execution of his designs, but which nevertheless arrested public attention, and showed the ultimate object which public convenience demanded. There are few public improvements at present proposed, which did not at one time or another come under his official notice, and set his pencil to work.

He was connected also with most of the artistic and scientific societies of England, and found in them abundant scope for activity.

Royal Academy.—In the work of the Royal Academy he took the greatest interest, for he had high ideas of what it should attempt in the guidance and direct inculcation of Art. Being himself a man little fettered by system, he was quite aware how little academies can kindle originality of talent, how liable they are to the danger of ignoring or even discouraging it. He had artistic friends, whose genius he greatly admired, among those who stood aloof from the Academy, who were the bitterest denouncers of its actual work, and who would have denied it even a theoretical value. But he always maintained that it had a most important sphere, and he contended, that, allowing for the inevitable defects of all institutions, it was working usefully and conscientiously in the right path. This being the case, he was anxious at all times to improve and develope that action still further, so as to make it, even more than it is, the mainstay and guide of artistic progress.

It was to his own department of Art that his attention was mainly directed. This was due, not by any means to a narrow-minded exclusiveness, for his great desire was that all branches of Art should be proportionately represented, but to an idea that architecture and sculpture existed in the Academy almost by sufferance under the overwhelming predominance of the painters, and that they ought to have a larger influence and more extensive representation. His own art he believed to be most comprehensive of all in its scope and requirements, and at least as powerful as any, in its effects on the taste and intellectual progress of the country. He was therefore impatient of its being regarded as holding a secondary position, and having a quasi-mechanical character. As an Associate, an Academician, and a member of Council, he laboured at all times to advance its due claims.

More particularly he felt that there was in England a great want of a more formal and definite architectural education, and this want he conceived that the Academy ought to supply. In 1856 a large Committee was formed, with orders to consider how the instruction in the schools of the Royal Academy could be improved. The subject of Architecture was delegated to a small sub-Committee, consisting of Messrs. Cockerell and Hardwick, and Sir C. Barry. Each member of the Committee prepared suggestions for a scheme of architectural instruction, and these suggestions were carefully and thoroughly discussed. No result, however, followed from the time and thought expended on the subject; indeed, the sub-Committee were fettered by alleged deficiency, both of accommodation and of funds, for the carrying out of a perfect scheme. They reported accordingly in favour of an annual grant of 150l. for a travelling studentship, to be held for one year, and gained by competition amongst the students who had obtained the gold medal. But even this was not acted upon.

Sir C. Barry himself greatly doubted the cogency of the arguments brought against the proposed improvements, believing that space could be found or made, and that some part of the pecuniary balance in favour of the Royal Academy (which was stated officially in 1860 as amounting annually to above 3000l. on an average of seven years) might be well expended for such a purpose, instead of being added to the large funds (above 100,000l.) already in hand. His own paper of suggestions is full and elaborate. Perhaps it may seem to err on the side of excess in requirements; and possibly his strong sense of his own want of regular artistic education may have inclined him to this side; but it will probably be thought to point in the right direction, and will have interest at this time, when it is felt that artistic education is not only both possible and desirable, but also capable of being based on systematic principles. The practical question must recur, and, when it does so, some guidance must be found in the record of the opinions of any who have thought much on the theory of architecture, and have had experience of its actual capabilities and needs. The transference of the Academy to the larger accommodation now provided on the Burlington House site must remove all difficulties of space, and probably, by the very fact of change and enlargement, give an impetus to activity and efficiency of work.

His scheme is accordingly subjoined.

CURRICULUM FOR THE STUDY OF ARCHITECTURE.

Honours of the Royal Academy.