THE ARCHITECT is intended to be a professional, artistic, and technical journal of the first class. Its pages will be open to all subjects connected with the art, the science, or the business of Building, taken in the widest sense. The Professional Architect and the Civil Engineer, the Builder, the Art Workman, and the Mechanic, will each find The Architect treating upon subjects which are of importance to himself. The examples which such persons require as objects of study, the opinions they desire to know, and the news which it will be their pleasure or their business to learn, will be supplied, so far as any journal can possibly do so, week by week, in the columns and by the illustrations of The Architect. Nor will the general public be forgotten. The public at large is directly concerned in a thousand ways in matters relating to Architecture, Engineering, and Building. The interest in such subjects is happily on the increase; and it will be our endeavour so to conduct this journal that the general reader, as well as any of those to whom its title more directly appeals, shall find it attractive and agreeable, as well as instructive, and thus take part in that popularizing of a knowledge of the fine arts, and especially of Architecture, which is one of the great movements of the day. The Architect aspires to take a first place among those journals which are quoted as authorities in the various branches of Science, Art, Literature, or Business; and those conducting it will spare no pains to secure the services of the most skilled writers, to illustrate the works of the best Architects and Engineers, and to supply the latest and the most authentic intelligence.
The practice of Architecture in the present day—alike at home and abroad—will probably claim a larger share of our space, and receive more constant attention, than any other topic; and here it is our firm determination to be the organ of no clique or party, and to refrain from all that can be termed personal in an offensive sense. We will fearlessly and as far as possible impartially state, and where necessary criticise, the views of all parties, both as to artistic matters and points of professional practice. One duty of the public press, not always the pleasantest, yet probably amongst the most important of any, is to criticise. Good, honest, dignified, unprejudiced criticism is always of the highest public advantage when directed towards its legitimate subjects, and written in the proper tone; and when occasion calls for it, it is hoped that the writing of this stamp will always be forthcoming in The Architect.
It is intended that select examples of ancient works—English and foreign—shall occasionally appear among the illustrations of architectural and constructive subjects; and a critical examination of old examples, as well as of works in progress, will form a feature of the journal. The illustrations will be uniformly chosen with a view to their practical value, and will he lithographed or cut by the best available engravers. Thoroughly good specimens of art workmanship in metal, wood, stone, and textile fabrics, and of all descriptions of decorative art of various styles and periods, will occasionally be selected both for description and representation.
Of the sister arts of Painting and Sculpture, such notices will be given as the space at command in a periodical which necessarily must be so much more than purely an art journal will permit.
General literature is unquestionably quite beyond our limits, but the literature of architecture, engineering, and building will be constantly and carefully reviewed. The varied and valuable publications issued on the Continent, and far too little known in this country, will be noticed, as well as those published in Great Britain; and it is our hope that not only will the pages of The Architect contain an impartial and sufficient review of every work bearing on any of our subjects which shall appear from this day forward, but that occasionally the nature of some of the valuable stores contained in our forgotten books and important libraries may be so pointed out that students may he guided to unsuspected sources of knowledge.
Building as an art, and Engineering as a science, form another group of our proposed subjects,—including the nature and use of all building materials, the contrivances and appliances belonging to building, the art of construction, and the science of designing works of engineering. Good examples of arrangement and contrivance will be given among the illustrations, and the special structures which have to be designed for exceptional purposes will not be overlooked. Machinery and mechanical engineering generally lie outside our limit, except when designed specially to do the work of the builder; but all labour-saving appliances which may appear will be carefully noted. In fact all new inventions brought under our notice and which seem
