ARCHITECTURAL NOTES
MODERNITY AND TWO NEW LONDON BUILDINGS
THERE is no part of architectural criticism about which there is more acute difference of opinion than the degree of newness, originality or modernity which should exist in any design. Practically all would agree that a modern building should not be a slavish copy of an ancient one, but the varying degree of divergence from accepted models is and always will be a subject. of controversy. At one end of the scale there are buildings which are traditional and then there is every grada- tion Of modernity till its quintessence is reached in the work Of, say, Erich Mendelsohn, whose brain has given birth to a new architecture complete in every detail, as Pallas sprang fully armed from the brain of Zeus. Originality so extreme as this is almost impossible to discuss,.far less criticize, as there is no canon whereby to judge it. One can say whether one likes it or not, but obviously this is a purely personal reaction, and it may be judged on the grounds of practicality and con- venience. On these grounds criticism should be ruthless. When an architect is considering questions of symmetry and proportion a certain sacrifice of convenience 'may be excused. But when he has thrown overboard such considerations as mere antiquated clap-trap, then there can be no reason why he should not be guided solely by utilitarian factors. In addition to the difficulty of adjusting one's eye to new styles, there is also the perplexity of new materials. Everyone appreciates the beauty of Portland stone washed white by the rains from the south-west or clothed in black velvet by ilie London soot. We also knoW that some brickwork is beautiful and other is Ugly. Flit what are we to think of glazed brick or terra-cotta, whether glazed or not ? Obviously every utilitarian consider- ation is in its favour. It can be washed periodically and
emerge exactly as it left the builder's hands. .If every building in London were made of some glazed material it would be the end of dinginess. The whole town would be as bright and clean as a new pin. It is humiliating and melancholy to have to confess that many of us—in fact mostwould hate:it like
that. It is probably only a question of time befOre Mu-Ideas
adjust themselves mid we shalrfeel as 'much disgust for a soot- harbouring surface as we now experience when we find in some small French town a galvanized bath coated with the accumulated soap of former users instead of a shining white affair on which the faintest particle of dirt can be seen and
removed immediately. But pending such an acclimatization, glazed terra-cotta has been . aptly compared by Professor Reilly to a celluloid collar. It is just as practical and quite as
hateful. . . -
There are two new and neighbouring-buildings in Londo5
"which are interesting examples of the different ways in which this eclectic age tackles its building problems. One houses the head office of Messrs. Austin Reed in Red Lion Square and the other is a vast block, as yet unfinished and unoccupied, between Southampton Row and Bloomsbury Square. Messrs. Austin Reed's offices are a comparatively low building, and there was nothing to prevent their being treated, had client and architect so wished, on traditional lines. But instead they decided to wake the echoes of Red Lion Square with the most clamorously modern building in London. Its walls, which are faced with buff glazed terra-cotta, " batter" in- wards as they rise, which gives the effect of a photograph taken with the camera slightly tilted. Most of the windows quite rationally and properly are holes in the walls, except for one tier which peep out of a tall bronze projection, the utility of which is difficult to fathom. The same may be said of some superimposed ornament on panels placed perpendicularly between the other windows. If the spectator can succeed in the difficult task of disregarding the mere newness and eccen- tricity of the design and can look upon it merely as a large box to protect human beings from the weather, then, I think, it will appear pleasing and rational. Personally I like it except for the buff glazed terra-cotta which I cannot yet stomach. At any rate Messrs. Austin Reed are very much to be con- gratulated on creating offices which are a serious contribution to the development of architectural design, though whether such pioneer work will be followed or not remains to be seen.
The new block between Southampton Row and Bloomsbury Square is not an old problem solved by new formulae, but a new problem solved by old ones. It is an immense building towering up to the extreme height allowed by the London Building Act. As at Selfridge's, several stories are comprised in the height of the great order and the walls become sheets of metal pierced with windows. But in this huge new block there is no decorative motif which is not based on pure Greek tradition, and it is interesting to see how successfully such motifs can be applied to a building totally dissimilar from any they were originally designed to decorate. The building differs from Selfridge's in having another story and a sloping roof above the main cornice. It is certainly one of the most imposing and successful of the new commercial buildings in London.
It is impossible to say whether the future of architecture is going to develop along these lines or whether it will plunge into the greater dangers or possibly the sublimer successes which may follow a complete break with the past.
GERALD WELLESLEY.
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