THE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE OF ARCHITECTS.
IN a literary point of view, this volume is beneath criticism. The author's grammar is not always unimpeachable ; his construction is as crude and as unlike English as can well be conceived ; and his attempts at learned discussion or disquisition are alien to his subjects, and badly introduced. Its professional facts, although bearing a slender proportion to its extraneous or useless matter, have a practical value to any persons engaged in building specu- lations, or connected with house property. The floating informa- tion which Mr. NOBLE gives from his own experience or that of others is useful ; the particulars which he has collected from temporary pamphlets, or the gossip of his seniors relative to pro- fessional practices in the olden time, are curious. It appears that at the commencement of the last century, the whole number of architects in the United Kingdom did not ex- ceed twenty-five. Their charges previously had been vague ; but about that time, they began to be systematized, and 5 per cent. on the outlay included every expense, "from making the first sketch for a design, to the complete execution of the work, the final arrangement and settlement of the cost, and certifying and signing the various accounts." At present, 5 per cent. is the es- tablished charge in private business, exclusive of expenses. In public business, 3 per cent. is the usual remuneration, unless some special arrangement is made : and a handsome remuneration it fre- quently is. SMIRKS, for instance, received for the alterations of the Customhouse, 54001.; for the mere building of the Post-office, 60001., exclusive of furniture fittings and the expense of the site and approaches; and for the British Museum, 6726/. NASH, who was always a lucky creature, appears to have got 5 per cent. upon Buckingham Palace, if not upon his Other works ; so that he must have made upwards of 30001. by the royal stables only ; and for the Regent Street and Strand improvements and the planning of the Park, he was paid no less than 46,196/., up to the 8th May 1828: and yet had the assurance to say that he was "very badly" remunerated. Some architects of the present day, as WYATV I LT.% Smuts% and NASH, also consider that the employer is to pay for the measuring of the works and making out the accounts, as well as for journies. Others hold that the 5 per cent. covers the mea- suring. In the olden time, it has been already said, this charge included every thing ; but the surveyors, in the days of our fore- fathers, were also in the regular habit of taking 5 per cent. on the amount of their bills from the tradesmen exployed, and 10 per per cent. when they could get it, whilst some actually went snacks with the builder,-practices greatly diminishing, though not, we think, to the extent assumed by Mr. NOBLE.
The subject we have thus far touched upon, is only one section of Mr. NOBLE'S book. The others are of a more technical character; relating to tradesmen and measurers, the calculations necessary in valuing property, the points to be regarded in laying out land for building on, and some practical hints that will be useful to town architects suddenly called upon to practise in country districts. Intermingled with these, are a number of curious statistics, relating to the old and new values put upon premises in Pic- cadilly in consequence of a late parochial survey, and to the cost of certain houses in London, as well as a comparatite view of ground-rents per acre in different situations, together with a variety of purely professional information. From some of the sections we glean a few facts.
Under the old assessment in the parish of St. George, Hanover Square, the Duke of WELLINGTON was rated at 800/. a year- under the new, at 18501.; which is a tolerable confirmation of the alleged partiality in the collection of the late House-tax. The Duke of DEVONSHIRE'S teas 10001.-it is 25001.; the Dutchess of GLOUCESTER'S formerly stood at 500/.-now at 10001.; the Duke of CAMBRIDGE, 8001.-1350/.; Lord'Esnox (this was cruel) 440/. -7701.; N. M. ROTHSCHILD was raised from 300/. to 500/.; Lord WILLOUGHBY D'ERESBY from 4201. to 800/., whilst the Pulteney Hotel continued at its former rate, 1000/. per annum. The average rent on the Paddington estate at the top of Oxford Street, (whose east front abuts upon the Edgeware Road, and the South upon the Uxbridge Road, facing Hyde Park,) is 140/. per acre, including the ground for roads and squares. If they be deducted and the plots reduced from 481 to 30 acres, (the quantity built upon,) the rent is 2251. per acre. On the same property further westward, contiguous to the broad avenue of Kensington Gaidens, the mini- mum ratio, previous to 1824, was 30/., and the maximum 50/. per acre. At Islington, the land between the lower Road and Canon- bury Square, containing 31 acres, was let in 1819 in "one take" at 211. per acre for the whole, or, reckoning only plots for building on, at 271. per acre. The first three years were to be at a grass-rent ; the full rent was not to commence till the eleventh year; 9d. a thousand was to be paid for all bricks made on the land, and 2s. 6d. if actually sold and removed. Spa fields, immortalized by orator HUNT and Lord SIDMOUTH'S prot6g6 CASTLES, was let to ODD in- dividual at 37/. 10s. per acre, or 541. 10s. 6d. for building parcels only. Of that aristocratic neighbourhood Belgrave and Eaton Squares, Mr. NOBLE shall give the details- " The amount obtained for building ground, intended to be appropriated to dwellinghouses of the first and second rates or classes of building, was 130/. per acre; the streets varying in width from 70 to 80 feet between the fronts of the respective houses, (having at least eight-feet areas,) which, together with the enclosures termed squares, form about one-fifth of the whole, quantity ; and thus the building parcels amount to 1801. per acre.
" The dwellinghouses in minor situations for the third and fourth-rates, pro- duced a ground-rent of 601. per acre ; the streets from 50 to 00 feet in width be tween the fronts, having areas six feet wide; and these voids occupy about one- eighth of the whole, making it 671. 10s. per acre."
The natural value of any or all of this property, for the pur- poses of agricultural production, was, at the very highest, a few pounds per acre. Yet there are persons, and professing tou to in- struct the world in political economy, who tell us that houses are exactly like other commodities, and that the only element in house-rent is the cost of the building.
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