THE NEW 1'ARL7AMENT HOUSES.

Tire Report of the Commons renenit tee appointed to settle the prelimiteuy arrangements for the rebuilding of the Houses of Par- liament, is on the whole highly satisfactory, and promises at least a conmealions buntline. The a sconi m elatious stipulatea are ample. Three will be nearly two feet of sitting-room for each !‘Iember- suffivient, surely, for the most Mich-hunt person, and athedieg

case in the fullest nester to the ya propestions of sir ROBERT VAUGHAN hinneif. (Load 1A LNIEslICRY, in the l'eerS, stipulate!)

for two eel three inches- for diesity•s sake, we suppose.) The

Strangers: Ganery te conelin two hundred: and the convenience of tluee in sterisus roseesisteeciie to Parliamentary recosoation,

the Reprieve is espsei liv r 'ed. S. ats for a hundred Vaiters

are also provided in the hely of the House; and there is to be a lobby for persons lee hes besieess e it II n'llibors. Cement- tee-rooms td the maulers of t hit ty, telly mid er large ditnensioes; two lobbies for taking ilk iHon aul a pas-age of c.nuuuntication all round the 'lenses. a incest cenveeienee—are ctnuII

the most important advanteges or the iisw Thorough ventilation of an the issans is properly specified; but nothing is said about the wails to he adopted for transmitting

sound,—which, in a boialine where the %vice and ear are in such constant exercise, is of pram. imps-tame!. The attention of the architects requires to he es peeially called to this point ; for instances of the most lamentable rtilure in this particular ate not mitre- quent ; and when once the hoi: ling is erected there is no remedy

for the defect. Those a he base spoken, or have listened to a speech, in Exeter Ball, must be see:elite of the painful effects of impel feet or excessive reeeiance. The architects should therefore be requited to explain, beforehand, the nature and operation of their arrangements for convey Mg soiled; and these should be submitted to the judgment of scieut mete

The design is to be open to public competition, as was known before; and it will surely be the fault of the architects alone if the building is not avorthy of the nation. The leading architects, we believe, arc opposed to open competition, and arc for having it limited to a select few of eminence. 'Why, unitise to make their chance the !,seater, does not appear. They say that competition is mere deception—that favouritism determities it. Doubtless such has been tic case: but it must not be so in this instance: and it is no argument against fair competition, that the competition is not fair. All the designs will of course be submit- ted to the public inspecti, n. This e ill be one cheek to uidiumess.

The designs are all to be to a fixed scale; and coloured draw- ings, bird's-eye views, models, and other ingenious modes of attracting attention more to one design than another, are pre- cluded. Each will stand fairly upon its own intrinsic merits. These are excellent reeulations. We do not object to models as superfluous, however: quite the reverse. We would suggest the expediency, Lay the recessity, of having models made of the designs selected by the Pet. 'ominissieners appointed to examine the plans submitted; that Parliament may judge of the relative claims of the chosen few pains, OH the only sure grounds upon which the merits of an arehitectursi design can be accurately de- terrniaed in a picturesque point of view, especially in a building of complicated parts. For want of a model, Mr. NASH miscalcu- lated the effect of his egg-shell dottle at Buckineham Palace.

The successful comretitor is, very properly, eut guaranteed the erection of the buil:lees: as, though he may be very competent to produce a design, his expericece may not be adequate to the task of construction. His cempcnsatien comes in the shape of a thousand pounds, in additi, n to the five hunarcd pounds awarded to caeh cf. the II:see:isle whose plans are accepted for comparison and final choice. Thus, if there be any jobbing in obtaining the etectior, of ths the plan and design of the edifice will not suffer: and N'• felt the instance et' the Custom- house yet fresh in pelilic tee .1:ect am, proper pseeaution will he taken to insm c the stithi'ity stsusture. With a view to greater impartiality el j!:r1,_!!:.ent, it has been suggested that the five Commissioners ought 1.1it to be appointed until the designs are all sent in. This, or s, .::e erpkaleat arrangement, would no doubt be desirable.

The Committee have rica-ile.1 that t!e style of the buildings is to be " either Gothic or El izerhet iree- Inasmuch as the Grecian is repudiated, we are glut her that stye is not adapted to an irre- gular and complicated mass of bti:hlin,; nor is it suited to our cloudy climate, where port,coes and colonnades are not wanted to screen us from the sun, and where the ornamental projections require to be boll and prominent, to contend against the gloomy atmosphere. The Roman, or PsIladian, might, we think, have been employed with fine effect : howeter, the Gothic will perhaps most generally please, as being in accordance with the Hall and Abbey. The Mali, indeed, might form a striking feature in the

general design; and but for those costly little cabins the Law Courts, and that eyesore St. Margaret's Church, the whole mass of buildings would be in keeping. The phrase " either Gothic or Elizabethan," however, is vague, and capable of awkward misconception; for what is conuntenv understood as the Elizabethan style, is a monerel mixture of

Vie Gothic and barbarous distortions of classic architecture. The n w house in Piccadilly opposite Burlington House, and the Law Life Assurance Office is Fleet Street, are modern versions or the

Elizabethan style: both of them are picturesque enough, though ultra-quaint in detail. In large piles of building, like Hatfield House, Wollaton Hall, &e. the details are subordinate to the masses in the genet al effect : but %re ;Anise those noble struc- tures in spite tether than on account of the absurd anomalies of their decorations. Antiquity gives them a venerable air, ana insures that toleration which would not be extended to a modern building. Such monstrous incongruities and puerile extrava- gancie( as constitute the style called Elizabethan, are utterly unfit for a national edifice.

Mr. II AKEW11.1., in a pamphlet* opportunely published, asserts the puie Elizabethan to be that modification of the classic style known as the Cult-pee:woo of Italy; and instances Longleate, in Wiltshire, and Wollatoil Hall, in Nottinghamshire, as nb4lels of it ;and part-; only ef Ih i field House, in IlertfordshirteAndley End, in Essex, and Delon House, iii Buckinghamshire. His definition of " pure Elizabethan the absence of any portion of Gothic. We take the fact to be, that there is no such thing as " pure Elizabethan." The term is loosely adopted to denote the style that prevailed in the arehitecture of ElezellETIt'S reign. It l a barbarous version of the Cinque Ceato, (which is itself a bastard varieties of the classic,) where the breadth, massiveness, and grand proportions of the antique, are frittered away into a piled-up mass or story upon story and column upon column. The choicest examples in Mr. Iliseewt Le's book are but elaborate heaps of in- eongruity, having neither grandeur nor elegance. The Cinque Cent*, is the Della Crusca of architecture. The mighty genius of Meeteer. ANGELO trampled it into its native insienitivance ; front which mat even the power of BRAMANTE, DONAThL1.0, or (=nit-Weal, could rieleem it permanently.

What we understand the Committee to mean, however—and we hope the architects will so read their intention—is that the style known ae Tudor Gothic, which is employed with such grand and picturesque effect iu Haddon Hall, Hampton Court,and other buildings erected immedeitely previous to the Elizabethan age, should be adopted in preference to early or pointed Gothic. In the Tudor style, the arches of doors and windows form angles so obtuse as almost to appear square. Large bay windows, too. with stone mullions—admirably calculated for lighting spacious apartments, and of very imposing and picturesque effect —are among its prominent features. This style also admits of the sub- stitution of :rich tracery instead of the castellated battlement of military architecture, and of stacks of ornamented chinmies in place of the pinnacles of cathedrals and churches. It is in fact Gothic applied to the purees domestic purposes of palatial edifices; in which battlements and spires are out of place. It also allows of the use of red brick with stone dressings; which gives a cleanly and cheerful look to the buildings even of a smoky city, without impairing the magnificence of effect. This version of the Gothic is, moreover, so far national, that it is peculiar to our own country; and from the irregularities of form which contribute to its picturesqueness, and the absence of projecting buttresses and colonades, is admirably adapted to make the most of little room and irregular space. We agree with Mr. IIAKEWILL, that this is not Elizabethan : it is something much better.

Mr. BRITTON, the antiquarian architect, has promised the pub- lic his view of the matter. In the mean time, we think the Com- mittee should " explain."

• " .1n Attempt to &lei-mine the exact Chamfer of Eliz:thethan Architecture." By James ii alien ill, Air:Meet. author of the Picturesque role of Italy."