118 THE BUILDING NEWS. Frx. 9, 1872.
richer classes to use- proper means to effect it, and
still greater to get the poor, who breathe an atmo-
sphere stifling to persons unaccustomed to it. He
recommended the Howard ventilator, which had
been adopted with success in barracks. Light, he
considered, to have great effect upon recovery in
illness. In repapering a room, care should be take
to remove the old paper, as where paper was put
over the old, it has been proved to be a fertile
source of disease.
The CuHaArrMan then called upon Mr. Fletcher to
reply. He, in answering Professor Kerr’s statement
as to the one-room theory in model dwellings, he
contended that even if each room were occupied
by a single family, his would still be a great im-
provement, inasmuch as they would have all their
conveniences on the same floor, and consequently,
only one-third the number to use them as in an ordi-
nary house of three floors. With regard to the
ventilation of sewers we ought to look more to the
engineer than the architect for the mitigation of
this evil. He stated that Dr. Fowler’s statements
with respect to ventilation were not quite accurate,
because it is well known that the fire draws the foul
air up the chimney, and consequently the fresh
would come in through the window.
—————
MODERN METROPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE.
CORRESPONDENT of the Times calls atten-
tion to the unsatisfactory way in which public
buildings are erected in London :—
“Do the public and Parliament,” he asks,
“realise the fact that at the present time more than
£2,000,000 sterling is pledged to the erection of
public buildings, the architecture of which has been
decided in the most absurd and haphazardous
fashion ? Never has the violation of common sense
in the determination of what our public buildings
are to be been so conspicuous as at the present time.
To mention only great buildings, arrangements are
made, or being made, for building the Law Courts,
the Public Offices in Downing-street, the National
Gallery, the South Kensington Museum, the
Natural History Museum, and the Post Office. The
plan for the War Office and Admiralty are being con-
sidered, Heaven only knows how or by whom. We
have a First Commissioner of Works, who is some-
times in the Cabinet and sometimes not. He takes
his orders from the Treasury, which by fits and
starts let him have hisown way. If by chance the
Chancellor of the Exchequer is a great connoisseur
of architecture, or thinks himself so, then there arises
a little friction between these functionaries, but the
‘Treasury is the constitutional authority for finance,
and if it goes into architecture it steps beyond its
province. Theoretically, the First Commissioner for
Public Works is a Minister accountable directly to
Parliament; he is not chosen, and ought not to be
chosen, for any professional qualifications. His
business is to be responsible to Parliament for the
administration of a proper system. But the work-
ing of the present ‘no system’ is to permit the
First Commissioner for the time being to indulge in
any whims of his own. At one time it may be ‘cost-
liness and extravagance;’ as Mr. Gladstone says. He
may be succeeded by a Minister who acts with
- vacillation and uncertainty,’ and then may come a
Minister to whom Mr. Gladstone would impute
- meanness.’ During the reign of Lord John Manners
the public were threatened with a period of Gothic buildings. The public offices in Downing-street were designed as Gothic and the harlequin wand of Lord Palmerston (not, by the way, First Commissioner of Works, but First Lord of the Treasury) turned them into what was intended to be Italian Renaissance. The building for the University of London was actually begun as a Gothie building, and it, too, turned into an Italian one. Just the opposite oc- curred with Captain Fowke’s designs for the Natural History Museums. He obtained by unanimous con- sent the first prize in an open competition for an Italian building. He dies ; Mr. Cowper Temple, with delightful innocency, puts the execution of it into the hands of a Gothie architect. Lord John Manners reappears in his fayourite character as First Com- missioner, and puts aside the design chosen by a public competition for one in a style of Gothic which it is difficult to characterise, and approved by no one but himself. Some people call the style Byzantine, and others Norman. It is said that Mr. Ayrton is going to be responsible for the execution of it if Parliament allow him. It is supposed that the pre- sent Chancellor of the Exchequer is the architectural authority for the Law Courts, having once recom- mended the House of Commons to adopt the style of Inigo Jones.” One method of curing this state of things, or of preventing the erection of unsatisfactory buildings, would be the production of models of the buildings
to be erected. He also thinks the First Commis-
sioner of Works, should have the advice of a Council.
“Let this permanent Council consist of three archi-
tects—one named by the Government, one named
by the Royal Academy, and one named by the
Institute of British Architects; of three artists
named by the Government—one a painter, one a
sculptor, and one a decorative artist, together with
three laymen—one being a member of the House of
Lords, and another a member of the House of Com-
mons; in all, nine persons. To insure responsible
attendance to the duty, let this Council be paid. A
very moderate proportion on an expenditure of three
millions spent on public buildings, say a farthing in
the pound, would amply suffice. This Council would
act as ajury to give a verdict on behalf of the public,
and the First Commissioner would be the judge to
adopt it or to give good reasons for refusing it. The
operation of this plan would be as follows:—The
planning of the building, its adaptation to site, its
cost, and its execution, would rest upon the sole re-
sponsibility of the First Commissioner of Works.
He would get the plans either through his own office,
or through an architect, or by public competition.
The plans, with a sufficient model, would be laid
before the Permanent Council of Taste. Their
report would be made and published, and the model
and plans exhibited to the public. The First Com-
missioner would then report to the Treasury, and
the cost of the proposed building would be submitted
to Parliament. By this means the caprices of the
past ten years, with their “extravagance, vacilla-
tion, and meanness,” would be prevented. Parlia-
ment would be made fully aware for what it has to
vote public money, and the public would haye its
proper voice of authority and the means of express-
ing its opinion on buildings which are always to be
before its eyes, to gratify or disgust them.”
ee eee
DECAY IN STONE: ITS CAUSES AND
PREVENTION.*
(Concluded from page 98.)
ITH respect to the stone used in the Houses
of Parliament, while generally they attribute
the local character of the decay to structural dif-
ferences obtaining in the stone, they say the compo-
sition of the stone is such as to render it peculiary
amenable to the sources of disintegration already
mentioned. The chemical analysis of the Auston
or Houses of Parliament stone is as follows:
Carbonate of lime ........... ound ak iteh)
Carbonate of magnesia . 42°07
Protoxide of iron..... 0-49
Peroxide of iron . 0-24
Silitareccne seu .. 0°56
WGOr (easnee ses pexeceee 0-51
from which it will be observed that the carbonates
of lime and magnesia are, in fact, the principal
constituents. Now it is well known that the
chemical action of carbonic and sulphuric acids
in combination with water will gradually dissolve
and remove the carbonates of lime and magnesia.
On this ground, therefore, the commis-
sioner considered that dolomites or magnesian
limestone were neither desirable nor safe materials
for building purposes in London, The conclusion
may not appear altogether warranted by the facts,
because where, as in the case of the Geological
Museum in Jermyn-street, proper care in selection
had been exercised, the stone work appears to stand
remarkably well. While the chemical effects of the
atmosphere should, undoubtedly. in London and
all large towns, always be considered in determining
the character of any building stones, the mechani-
cal effects, or in other words, the influence of wind,
rain, and frost should receive an equal amount of
attention. The chemical action of the atmosphere
produces a change in the entire nature of limestones,
and in the cementing substance of the sandstones,
according to the amount of surface exposed to it.
The mechanical action occasions either a remoyal or
a disruption of the exposed particles, the former by
means of powerful winds and driving rains, and the
latter by the congelation of water forced into or
absorbed by the external portions of the stone
These effects are reciprocal chemical actions, render-
ing the stone liable to be more easily affected by
chemical action, which latter, by constantly present-
ing new surfaces, accelerates the disintegrating effects
of the former. It is now generally admitted, that
buildings in this climate are found to suffer the
greatest amount of decomposition on their south,
south-western, and western fronts, arising doubtless
from the prevalence of wind and rain from those
- Paper read before the Civil and Mechanical Engineers’
Society, January 19th, 1872, by Mr. JAMES B. WALTON, Assoc. Inst. C.E.
quarters ; it is highly desirable then to select stones of great durability for building fronts of such as- pects. A curious instance of the different degrees of durability of the same material subject to the effets of the atmosphere in the town and country vas given by the Commissioners of 1839, who were intrusted with the selection of the stone for the Houses of Parliament. It is worth repeating. During their visit to Portland they noticed a number of blocks of stone, which were quarried at the time of the erection of S. Paul’s Cathedral. These blocks were covered with lichens, and although they Ind been exposed to all the vicissitudesof the marine atmo- sphere for more than 150 years, they still exhibited beneath the lichens their original form, even to tie marks of the chisel employed upon them, whilst tae stone taken from the same quarries, selected 10 doubt with equal, if not greater care, and placed in the Cathedral itself, is in those parts which are ex- posed to the south and south-westerly winds fourd in some instances to be fast mouldering away. if this prove anything at all, it certainly upsets Mr. Cross’s theory that selection is everything. In the earlier part of this paper I alluded to the question of the stone being placed in the building upon its natural or quarry bed. For the want of a little attention and thought people blindly rush to the conclusion that the neglect of this pre- caution is the sole cause of the decay which too frequently follows. In the case of the Houses of Parliament, it is very evident that the bedding of the stone had nothing whatever to do with the decay, and it does not ap- pear to me to be a matter of much importance with many of the limestone rocks in ordinary building use whether this is attended to or not. But the case of sandstones is often very different ; let me give you an instance. Here are two specimens of the sandstone of which Furness Abbey is bnilt—one is from the quarry adjoining the ruins where the stone was obtained for the building, and the other from the Chapter House, which is, or rather was, an exquisite piece of twelfth-century work. These specimens I brought with me yesterday on my return from the district. The specimen from the quarry you will see is about the thickness of an ordinary half-inch tile; it was removed without any difficulty, the ten- dency being to partin laminated form. Now it is evident that if this stone had been indiscriminately used, without any regard to its natural bed, the effects would have been very disastrous, as from the fact of its being a highly-porous and absorbent stone, the mechanical effects of the atmosphere would soon have told upon it; on the contrary, when used in its natural position, nothing can be better than the way in which it has withstood the atmosphere and resisted decay. The specimen from the Chapter House has been faced for upwards of seven hundred years, and yet there is not the slightest trace of decay apparent. In proof of the value of this stone, soft and friable as it may appear, it may be stated that in several parts of the ruins the dog-tooth ornament has been extensively used to enrich the mouldings of the door and win- dow. This ornament in many cases is not more than an inch and a half across, and yet I saw num- bers of them as sharp and perfect as they were when first executed. There is another point with regard to these specimens worthy of notice, 7.e., the comparative difference in their weight ; that from the quarry was taken from a spot sheltered from the rain, and is light in the extreme, whereas the piece from the Chapter House was taken from a mass of débris lying on the ground and exposed to the full force of the rains, which, in those parts, have been incessant for the last twomonths. The amount of rainabsorbed by this piece must be something astonishing owing to the great increase in its weight. or my own satisfaction and study I shall weigh this specimen at once and again when it is dry, and also see what influence the first frost will have upon iz. The latter, one would judge, will be nothing at all, or the stone would have perished long ago. The difficulty in treating a question of this kind, is to know how to compress one’s thoughts, and in the compass of half an hour or so to put the results of years of observation and study. I have endea- voured to get hold of a few first principles rather than deluge you with the experience of other people, because, in this subject at least, it has been produc- tive of little good. The more I have thought about it, the more I have been convinced that it is better to pin one’s faith to no man, but to strike out on a path of observation for oneself. Our friend the Presi- dent has set us a good example, as I have been re- peatedly astonished at the amount of valuable prac- tical information and experience he has been able to accumulate. The decay of stone opens a vast field for our thought. The subject cannot stand alone or be con-
