Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 11, no. 264: April 5, 1873

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"W"""^ AND BUILDERS' GUIDE Vol. XI. NEW YOKK, SATURDAY, APPJL 5, 1873. No. 264. TIÎE Published Weer.lv bu ;U ES f ATE RECORD âSSOCIATiON. TKHMS. One year, in advance......................$6 00 Ail comniunications should lie .iddressed to C. AV. s\vh;h;t. 7 .V^'1> 9 WARURN Strkut. No receipt for moî'.ey due the RuAT, EsT.vi'E RECORD will be acknowlcdied unle.ss signed l)y oiie of our regnlar collectors. lTi;.\liY D. S.Mn'li or TiiO.M.v.S F. Cu.m.ming.s. AU bills for coUection will be sent from the office on a regu¬ larly lu'inted form. Spécial Notices. Those in want of lightning rods and indisposed to deal with wandi^rincc and irre.^ponsible peddler.s are referred to the card of ilr.' J. D. We.st 40 Cortlandt st., who has been in business in this city for fche lasfc 20 years, and in his pres- enfc location since ISGÛ. Wk had our attoution called recently to an invention of Mr. F. Siebold, 387 Third avenue, which it strikes us is eminently oah.-ulated to case the pahis of the sick. It is an Iron Chair which, by its consfcrncfcion, allows of many clianges of po.sifcion to fcln; occupant, and aiïords great facili¬ ties for surgical opérations. Indeed, ifc wonld be a luxuri- 0U3 appendiige to office, library br chamber. Readers of the Real Estate Record will bear in mind that only a few copies of the two first numbers of the Mortyage Giroidar are to be had. The demand is increasing every day, and onr subscription list contains the names of leading bankers, merchants, and property-ow¬ ners, who appreciate the value of the publica¬ tion. Ail those bound to give crédits should be in possession of the Oiroular. It is published evéry Wednesday. Subscription, $10 per annum. Number 3 is now out. THE ARCHITECTTJIIAL PEOrESSIOW. TnERE is perhaps no well-recognized profes¬ sion in the world in which a larger diversity of Icnowledge is required of its professors, or one involving more responsibility, and yet occupy- ing so anomalous a position, as that of the ar¬ chitect. The profession of architecture, as it now exists, is assumed by many to be the result of a mère accidentai course of events, and not based upon any absolute necessity for its exist¬ ence. This question has recently given rise to much discussion iu England, owing to sundry articles which appeared in the pages of the Quarterly Remew, attacking the profession and assei-ting the position that it is entirely a modem contrivance, and that in former times the builder or craftsman and the de¬ signer of a building were identical. Indeed, we hâve just heard this same idea repeated by Mr. Rus"SELL Sturges, who, in his lecture on art at the Academy of Design, a short time ago, said :---" The ward 'Akçjiitect' must be cast aside. It once meant Master- Builder, now it means nothing." In reply to this idea it has been argued, as far as mediaîval buildings are concerned, that however much the latitude allowed to individual craftsmen— and the work bears évidence that each must hâve been a master in his line—it is quite im¬ possible that such magnificent constructions as the old cathedrals, exhibiting such harmony in ail their multitudinous détails, could hâve been produced in any othei- way than under the con¬ trol of one directing mind. If we go" back to the G-reek era, we find the position assumed by the writer in the Quarterly, ^iz.—the déniai of a separate profession of architecture—equally untenable ; for besides the impossibilty of imagining how such a buildiug as the Parthenon could hâve been evolved, stage by stage, from any number of skilled workmen, each working from his own " inner consciousness," one cham¬ pion of the profession came forward, and in a single quotation completely demolished ail the fine-spun théories which the Quarterly had been building upon its application of the word " architectones." This quotation is from no less an authority than Plato, who says :—" The pay of a common builder was five or six minae, but that an arcldtect would require more than ten thousand drachms." Clearly, therefore, there was a distinction among the ancients, in Plato's time at any rate, between architects and builders. And yet it cannot be denied that the profes¬ sion of architecture holds a somewhat isolated position when compared to that of other caU¬ ings of a decidedly constmctive nature. Ships, for instance, and machinery are constructed without the aid of any distinct profession apart from the trades, the designer and constructor being in each of the latter cases one and the same ; and so the question mighfc be asked why can it not be so with buildings as well. Indeed, in many cases it is aiready so. Probably more than one-half of the buildings existing in New York were erected without any architect at ail, and though a large majority of them are un- sightly enough, they hâve still answered their purpose, and hâve not tumbled down. Where then is the use of an architect ? The answer is to be l'orrnd in the simple fact that there are cases in which a far higher order of aesthetic knowledge is requisite than that ol' merely put¬ ting materials together ; cases in which, al¬ though a knowledge of the art of buUding is n( cessary, it is but a mère adjunct to the final result; and consequently, while the accom¬ plished architect should be also a good builder, it is not at ail requisite that a builder should be an architect. An architect's multifaiious qualifications may be summed up under three leading heads:— Artistic taste and skill in design, constructive knowledge, and business qualifications. Much of the first of thèse is actuuHy bom with a man? as much so as in the case of a sculptor or painter; although it cannot be denied that éducation can overcome natural defects in the case of architecture, and enable an inferior man even to make his mark in it much more easily than in either painting or sculpture. But this is simply owing to the fact that the standard of criticism in both the latter cases is more arbitrariîy laid down than in that of the first. A so-called architect may put up a perfect monster of construction, and find plenty to praise and admire it, as occurs daily in our midst, because there is no universal and décis¬ ive criterion by which to judge it ; but if a sculptor perpétrâtes a monster of a human figure, or an artist an intolérable daub, the merest tyro can bring either of them to the bar of infallible judgment—Dame Nature herself. And yet thorough skill in design is an attribute rarely possessed. ïo be able to grasp aU tlie features of a large fcti-uctnre, so as to reduce each part to its own spécial use—to subordinate and keep in thorough harmony each individual portion ; to overcome ail difiiculties of site and often the conflicling but necessary and inexorable demands of accidentai circumstances; and to invest aU thèse with an inhérent spirit of beauty and appropriateness, require no mean order of intellect. Then again, as regards constiaictive skiU, an architect should be thoroughly posted in the strength and quality of materials, tb.eir projier nses, and the modes of putting them together. Although not laboring with his own hand.'î, he should know enough to be able to direct those who do. It is idle to plcad ignorance, in case f-f mishaps, where one as¬ sumes the capacity of director; and architects hâve not only been tried for m..n.slai:ghter through the faUing of buildings, but hâve been held legiUy responsiblu in many other casts where their ignorance of building has enabled contractors to take undue advantage of the clients who had confided themse'.ves to their care. If we turn to an architect's necessary business qualities, we find thèse quite as un- limited as those of a lawyer; requiring î^n equally large amount of varied knowledge, Sys¬ tem, foresight, courtesy, nnd tact in dealing with his fellow-men. A good spécification is as elaborate and well-studied a brief as ever emanated from a lawyer's ofiicc ; one in which a con-cientious architect has to look after his client's interests to the value of a tenpenny nail, it tnr.y be, in the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of doll a-s. As a position of high tmst, it necessarily involves tie deepest integ¬ rity and soundest judgment on the part of those who occui^y it. It seems idle to ques ion whether a calling requiring such v.^ried knowl¬ edge and îalents, inyolyL g so much labor and