ART.
ACADEMY ARCHITECTURE, 1919.
PEanars inevitably, there is an air of exhaustion this year about the Architectural Room at Burlington House. True, the walls are well lined, or, to be more exact, they are closely covered, by a neat mosaic of gold frames, containing pictures more or less architectural. But it is evident that many are " old stock " taken down from office walls and sent in to stand their chance before the lenient judges of the Royal Academy, and, if happily accepted, to play the part of professional cards in announcing that " Mr. Michelangelo Jones has now resumed practice, and will be pleased to build in this style on the slightest provocation." One conjectures, also, that the number of designs submitted can have only exceeded the number hung by two or three. The presence of not a few of the exhibits is else inexplicable. Still, as an illustrated architectural Who's Who, the show is not without its interest. Generally speaking, the work shown by the Elder Brethren of the profession is remarkable for its tedious insipidity, and it is to the rising generation that one must chiefly turn for any gleam of real and vital architecture. There are, of course, exceptions. To be eminent is not necessarily to be passe, nor is mere youthful virility to be mistaken for inspiration.
Sir Edwin Lutyens combines, as ever, a scholarly maturity with adventurous adolescence, and his large projets for the New Delhi, which, with Mr. Baker's grandiose designs, almost cover the East Wall, show him to be still developing. One seems to recall that the original "Warrant Designs" wero far more classical, with but a faint hint of Indian influence— a graceful native gesture introduced here and there in courteous acknowledgment of Eastern hospitality to Western art. For better or worse, however, it would seem that the East is leading Sir Edwin captive. He is off with the Orders and on with the minaret, to the regret of some of us who would have had him less impressionable.
Sir Reginald Blomfield sends in his usual round-hand exer- cises in " Pure Queen Anne" ; whilst the President, Sir Aston Webb, has a number of exhibits widely differing in subject, but all in his familiar style. Those who approve the Victoria and Albert Museum will equally admire his design for Sussex Cottages.
Mr. Ernest Newton has seen fit to design for Jony-ensksaa, in France, a pure Newton-Tudor chateau. Though admirable as a Berkshire manor-house, its arbitrary export across the Channel seems unimaginative, unnecessary, and regrettable. Sir A. Brumwell Thomas has evidently thought things over since he built the Belfast City Hall, and the design that he shows, for the entrance to a ball-bearing works, has a fine austerity. There is great dignity, and breadth too, about Mr. Morley Herder's excellent design for the National Institute of Agri- cultural Botany at Cambridge. Though hung obscurely at knee level, it is one of the beet things in the room.
Mr. G. Gilbert Scott has three fine church designs to his credit, but for which, and the large model for a noble memorial church in brick exhibited by Sir Edwin Lutyens, ecclesiastical archi- tecture would make but a feeble show. Very pleasant are the works of Messrs. Hepworth and Wornum and of Mr. Philip Tilden. One is intrigued to know how Mr. Tilden proposes to light the ball of the rather prison-like though stately little London house of which he shows us the front.
It might well be made a rule that a key plan, at least, be shown on all pictures of architecture. For instance, one hankers for a plan of Mr. Clough Williams-Ellin engaging pies-de-terre cottage, represented by an exceedingly well-executed model. Classic motifs and reed-thatch may sound unlikely house.mates. but Mr. Williams-Ellis has contrived to reconcile them with success. He describes the house as being " designed to be built in three successive parte," an announcement that would have been more interesting had he provided an explanatory plan. There are several early works of Mr. H. T. Hare, retiring President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and some dispiriting designs by Mr. Carte. The Who's Who is, in fact, remarkably complete. A number of undistinguished photo- graphs and a quantity of banal sketches for memorial windows have been used as "filling in" for awkward spaces. Still, though it need detain no one long, the Architectural Room is
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