COMPLETION OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
THE preparations for completing the new British Museum have aroused public curiosity to inquiie what is the character of the intended façade, and whether its design is worthy of the occasion, and calculated to satisfy the improved taste of the day. The answer to these very na- tural and proper inquiries' should be the publication of the architect's design : but this is withheld. The plan of the building was published in the Parliamentary report on this subject, several years ago ; but we are not aware of any authentic elevation or perspective view having sppeared : a model of the new edifice has, we understand, been deposited in the Museum fora long time, though we believe it has not been pub- licly shown ; and on asking for permission to see it, we were referred to the architect,—to whom, however, we did not apply.
The practice of withholding from the public designs for important buildings for which the nation has to pay, until the Government or Trustees have committed themselves by arrangements with the architect, should no longer be tolerated : it has led to the perpetration of all those enormous jobs which have made the fortunes of architects possessed of more talent for intrigue than invention, and studded the Metropolis with unsightly heaps of brick and stone, that offend the eye and are a reproach to the taste of the country. It was this that caused the erec- tion of that architectural abortion the National Gallery, which disfigures the finest site in London, and is not only paltry and ridiculous to look at but inadequate to the purpose for which it was erected. Had not the Government been pledged to the adoption of this absurd design, the burst of ridicule that assailed its first appearance would have prevented its erection. But the tenacity with which official people cling to an error is only equalled by the ease with which they are led into one. The practice of competition has done something to remedy this evil ; but the decision being come to before the designs are exhibited, public opinion has no influence, and can only confirm or dissent from the judgment of a Committee whose fiat is law : nor does this prevent the most shameless jobbing—as the Royal Exchange testifies.
As regards the new British Museum, we consider it to be an fait accompli : the design, whatever it may be, was approved and accepted several years ago ; and the building has been going on in the face of
the public, who have tacitly acquiesced in the decent propriety of its conventional classicality : three sides of the quadrangle are erected, and the fourth, which will form the principal or entrance front, is now com- menced. But as the facade is the most conspicuous and important part of the building in reference to the effect of the street view, people become anxious to know what it is to be like ; and their curiosity not being satisfied, doubts and misgivings are rife. This interest in the ap- pearance of a public building is a favourable sign of the times : the spirit of inquiry and the growing intelligence it indicates will tend to check, if not to put a stop to, the old practice of secrecy in these matters : the nation asserts i:s right to a voice in the approval or rejection of a design for a great public work, and it will not be long before this right is con- ceded. But as yet it is not ; and the stir making about the British Ma- sen:n is made too late : however much the design may be open to amend-
ment, we fear it is past praying for. Still it should be published : not that this would satisfy the public, or silence the clamour at its being withheld—its appearance would be the signal for a volley of criticism, to which we suspect it presents a fair mark.
From a glance at the plan, we opine that the facade will consist of a wide but shallow portico, projecting before the wings, and connected with theta by a row of columns. The wings are narrow, being formed by the ends of the two sides of the quadrangle ; and the space between them and the centre is cramped, so that the portico looks too big for the front: the array of columns may have an imposing appearance ; but we doubt if the effect will be adequate to the means employed, or answer the just demands of a building of such magnitude and importance. The facade will be flanked by a row of houses for the officers, and the space before it enclosed with an iron palisading and entrance-gates. Such are the general features of the principal front of the new building : they are too vague to enable us to form a decisive judgment of the whole design ; but certainly the facade of the British Museum will not be, to use the words of a correspondent, "as magnificent an example of Grecian architecture as the Houses of Parliament will be of Gothic."
Sir ROBERT SMIRKE, the architect, is too well versed in his profession to sin egregiously against propriety in compiling a colonnaded front ;
but his taste is of that conventional kind which prevents him from achieving any thing beyond a classical commonplace : when he essays originality, he deviates into incongruity. Our correspondent, who signs himself " Ignotns, haul Ignorans," indulges in some severe but deserved strictures on the architect. "Sir Robert Smirke," he observes, "has erected more public buildings in the Metropolis than any other living architect ; yet," he asks, "is there among them all, one which sober and impartial criticism can pronounce to be above mediocrity, or possessing other character than that of mawkish insipidity ? Is there a sin- gle one which affords evidence of mind or artistic feeling ; or which is ever referred to by the profession, and by writers on the art, as an example worthy of notice ? Is there one among them which possesses character ? Look at the Mint, the centre of the Customhouse, the Post-office, the Col-
lege of Physicians, King's College and the gawway leading to it from the Strand, the new buildings in the Temple, aud the Carlton Club Apart
from character, these are all very dowdyish, prosy, and dull ; entitled to the equivocal epithet 'respectable,' and no more : the church in Wynd- ham Place is not even that, for it is truly execrable. "With such proofs
of his talent before our eyes, is he now to be blindly intrusted with what ought to be the finest work of its kind in the British capital ; a splendid palace devoted to literature, science, and art ? "—We answer, that he should not have been ; but, unluckily, he has : the building is three parts finished, and the fourth, albeit the principal parr, must accord with the rest. Any glaring defect in the front ought to he amended, as far as it may be, by Sir ROBERT SMIRKE; but we question if it would be right and just to take the work out of his hands and intrust the com- pletion to another archi ec , even if the Trustees of the Museum would do so—which is not 'v ry likely. The blame rests not with the archi- tect, but with those who selected him for the task and approved of an inferior design. At that time, however, it was almost a choice between the smug commonplaces of SMIRKE and the puerile conceits of SOANE fur competition was not then known. SMIRKE has bad his day, and a long and prosperous day it has been for him : unfortunately, he has outlived it; and, still more unfortunately, his buildings will outlive him. The British Museum will he his last, and we can only wish it will be his best work : its general plan is good, its construction solid, and the interior is handsome and commodious ; let us hope that the facade will be "respectable."
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