eminent services have been rendered by Mr. Peter Nicholson (now resident in Newcastle) to scientific men in general, and to the operative mechanics of this country in particular, by his drawings connected with the construction of buildings, and by his valuable inventions and publications of various kinds, which have been the result of a long life spent in the pursuit of useful improvements in the various branches of mechanical science; and, while his conduct through life has been marked by uniform respectability of character, his devotion to science has precluded him from acquiring that competency for declining life which his talents might otherwise have enabled him to secure. This meeting, therefore, feels it due to his merits to attempt to make some provision for him, and to render comfortable the old age of a man to whom the public owes so much." It is most gratifying to observe that upwards of a hundred persons, in Newcastle alone, have put down their names for various sums from 5s. to 10. We trust that Mr. Nicholson's admirers (and they are many) in London, and other parts of the country, will not be behind his Newcastle friends. Subscriptions will be received in London by Mr. Weale, at his architectural library, High Street, Bloomsbury; and in every part of the country by any of the banks, to be transmitted to the bank of Sir M. W. Ridley and Co., Newcastle. We have known Mr. Nicholson since 1810, and have a very great respect for him. If he had been able to publish his architectural dictionary, and his other works, on his own account, he would have now been in the possession of a handsome income; but this not being the case, what is to become of an author, at sixty-eight years of age, who has nothing to depend on but his pen? He has an undoubted claim on a generous public. We have been very highly gratified by the perusal of the speeches delivered at the Newcastle meeting; and the more so, as most of them were made by architects, surveyors, and builders.

Staffordshire. Trentham Hall, the residence of the Duke of Sutherland, is about to undergo extensive improvements. When we first heard of this, and that Mr. Barry was employed, we could not help doubting whether even he could make anything of this great, dull, flat place, with its immense mansion, as tame and spiritless as the ground on which it stands. We have seen the plans, however, for the additions to and alterations of the house, and for the formation of a large architectural garden, and we must confess that we were delighted and astonished by them beyond measure. Let no one henceforth ever despair of a dead flat. We shall not attempt to describe the additions made to the house at present; but we may observe that the modifications of the ground, and of the large lake of water and its islands, which are proposed by Mr. Barry, prove him to have as just a taste in landscape-gardening as he has a refined and correct one in architecture. The architectural flower-garden, which will contain several acres, will be the largest and best thing of the kind in England. On one of the islands, a villa, with terraces in the manner of the Isola Bella, will be erected, as a feature to be seen from the house over the architectural garden; and a column, now erecting on a distant hill, will form another feature. The fountains of the garden, which will throw their waters as high as those at Chatsworth, Versailles, or Nymphenburg, will be supplied by a steam-engine, or by a water wheel on a distant stream; and no garden beauty will have a more striking effect in Staffordshire than this feature.

Yorkshire. Leeds, April 9. 1834. I am happy to congratulate you on the publication of your Architectural Magazine; a work which has, in my opinion, long been wanted, especially in this part of the country, where bad taste is displayed daily by men who profess to be builders, but who have not the least knowledge of architecture, and who are filling our streets with such barbarous structures as would "make the angels weep." Your excellent Encyclopædia of Architecture has already done much; it has opened the eyes of many who build; and I sincerely hope your Magazine will do more, and attain the important ends which its conductor has in view. Having observed that you have published several notices of buildings projected, in progress, and completed, I beg to forward for your perusal the following hints of what is going on this

neighbourhood, for insertion in your pages, in case you should think them worthy of that distinction.

A Schoolhouse is erecting at Wakefield, from the designs and under the superintendence of Richard Lane, Esq., of Manchester. The building is already covered in, and the whole is expected to be completed about next midsummer. It was projected by a number of gentlemen in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and is called the West Riding Proprietary School. The building is in the Tudor Gothic style of architecture, and is a neat structure. The principal front extends 153 ft. in length. In the centre are two turrets, which rise to a height of 56 ft., between which is the principal entrance doorway, and a large window divided by vertical mullions. On each side of the turrets are four windows of lofty proportions, and at each end there are wings with gables, and large windows; the wings project in conformity with the centre, and about 5 ft. from the line of the building. The structure extends in width 58 ft. 6 in., rising, exclusive of the basement story, to the height of 35 ft. The chief feature in the interior consists of an entrance hall, 60 ft. by 30 ft., which is lighted by a window at each end, of large proportions. On each side are two class rooms, severally 40 ft. by 18 ft. - There are also in the basement story several small apartments for the accommodation of the domestics connected with the institution; and a large play-room, which is entered on the back part of the building by several arched doorways. The foundation stone was laid with much ceremony by the Earl of Mexborough, on the 6th of February last. The building is wholly constructed of gritstone from the quarries at Heath, near Wakefield; except the plinth and mouldings, the stone for which is procured from Warwick Delph, near Huddersfield.

A New Savings Bank, of the Ionic order, from designs by Mr. Charles Mountain of Hull, is also erecting at Wakefield. There are other works going on in the neighbourhood, which I should have noticed in this letter, had I not already extended it to so great a length: however, if you approve of these few hasty remarks, I will most willingly furnish formation in my power.

A-Young Architect.

in

you with every We shall be much obliged to our correspondent for accounts of the buildings alluded to, and for whatever other information he can send us, suited to the objects of the Magazine. Cond.

SCOTLAND.

Communication of Sound in Public Buildings. — A number of experiments have been made this winter, in Dr. Reid's New Class-Room, Edinburgh, in reference to the communication of sound. The principal peculiarities in the class-room, in this respect, are, 1st, the great distinctness with which every sound is heard in every part, though numerous forms and pillars must intercept, to a considerable extent, its progress in different directions; 2d, the total absence of any echo, or even prolonged reverberation, which, though it may at times add to the sound, necessarily renders each succeeding sound less distinct and articulate; and, 3d, the uncommon facility with which the voice is sustained in every part of the rooin. The first observation made by almost every individual who visited the premises, when the class-room was building, was, that no individual could ever be heard distinctly in a room so constructed; but when they came to try it, after the room was finished, they all admitted that they never had been in any large room where so trifling an effort was required to maintain the voice at a proper pitch, either in speaking or singing. The last experimental trial was made on Friday evening, and was numerously attended. The Lord Provost and several other members of the Town Council, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, a number of the Members of the Royal Society and of the Society of Arts, the President of the College of Surgeons, and other eminent scientific gentlemen, were present on this occasion. Dr. Reid explained the construction of the class-room, and attributed its power of communicating sound principally to the following circumstances:

Ist, To the walls being made as low as possible, though the roof is elevated in the middle of the class-room. When the walls of any building are carried

to a great height perpendicularly, much of the sound that falls upon them, being reflected above the heads of the audience, is entirely lost to them.

2dly, To the inclination of the roof, which has been constructed in such a manner, that all the pulses of sound which fall upon it are reflected across as great a portion of the audience as possible.

3dly, To no part of the walls or roof being concave. Concave surfaces frequently collect the sound into foci, and ought to be avoided, except where it may be necessary to throw forward the sound in a particular direction.

4thly, To the construction of the floor, which, instead of being boarded or paved in the usual manner, presents a dull or unreflecting surface, so that, when any pulses of sound shall have once fallen upon it, they are never returned to the roof. There is, therefore, no continued reverberation; hence, each succeeding sound is clear and distinct, never being mixed up with the secondary vibrations from any preceding sound.

5thly, To the introduction of thin boards of wood as frequently as possible, so as to produce, as it were, a large sounding-board. [Where, and how ?] 6thly, To the intersection of the roof and walls with numerous cross spars, so as to prevent the sound passing along them at any part, as in whisperinggalleries, &c.

Dr. Reid, in describing the class-room, spoke in different places, and was heard in the most distinct manner, even when totally out of sight of the audience, and at the distance of upwards of 90 ft. from some of them, in situations, too, where there were numerous intervening pillars, &c. In concluding his observations, Dr. Reid mentioned his obligations to many of the members of St. Cecilia's Society, for the assistance they had given him in trying the power of the room with vocal and instrumental music. (Caledonian Mercury, March 24. 1834.)

We shall be much obliged to Mr. Milne, or to any other of our Edinburgh correspondents, for a plan, and sections, with such descriptive and architectural details as may be necessary to give our readers a complete idea of this class-room. Cond.

ART. III. Retrospective Criticism.

DAIRY and Poultry-House. -- Sir, In your Encyc. of Cott. Arch., § 1947., figs. 1721, 1722, and 1723., you give plans and elevations of a dairy and poultry house, but you do not mention how they are situated relatively to each other I think this important, as nothing can be more offensive than the smell of a poultry-house; and I should think, if it were too near the dairy, it would be apt to give an unpleasant taste to the milk.-W. Jan. 1833.

Table. Sir, In your Encyc. of Cott. Arch., § 1749., you speak of a table, which you promise to describe afterwards. This you have omitted to do. It is, indeed, mentioned a second time, § 2085., but no intelligible description of it is given. I wish you would remedy this omission in your Architectural Magazine. T. W. March, 1834.

Stands for the Extra-Leaves of Dining-Tables.-In your architectural Encyclopædia you give two or three designs for stands for the leaves of diningtables. They are very handsome; but I prefer one which serves as a sideboard, or side-table: the leaves slide horizontally into grooves immediately underneath the slab, and are protected from dust by a door opening like the door of an escrutoire. I have also seen a pedestal with two arms, one near the foot, and one near the top, with grooves for the leaves to slide in perpendicularly.-T. W. Yorkshire.

Slate has been, for some years past, used in this part of the country for dairy shelves, skirting, and wall linings, window-sills, and the like; but I have never yet seen it applied in articles of furniture, as your correspondent recommends. (p. 41.) The slate is procured here in large slabs, and is more expeditiously cut dry with a common hand-saw, and afterwards wrought with rasps and files, than in the manner of cutting stone and marble with the aid of water and sand.-Z. Hertford, March 21. 1834.

64

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a

Chimney Shafts. In fig. 25., p. 64., in my "Notice of a common error in building ornamental Chimney Shafts," the engraver has mistaken my drawing of the cap. I shall therefore feel obliged if you will correct this mistake, by inserting the accompanying sketches. Fig. 63. shows the way in which the cap ought to have been drawn; and fig. 62. is a section of the moulding: the base is similar to that of fig. 64. Fig. 25. (p. 64.) is one of the simplest forms of chimney shafts; but I shall now give you one of a superior description.

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Fig. 64. is taken from a chimney shaft at Eastbury House, Barking, Essex: it is entirely built with brick, and rises 17 ft. above the cornice of the base on which it is placed; a, in fig. 65., is the plan or horizontal section of one half of the shaft at a, in fig. 64.; and b, in fig. 65., is the plan of the shaft at b, in fig. 64. There is a stack of five of these shafts in the centre of Eastbury House; and, by their beautiful proportions, and commanding height above the roof, they produce a strikingly grand ? and picturesque effect. There are many examples of brick chimney shafts still remaining in the ancient mansions of England, well deserving the attention of the archi

tect; and, as chimney shafts form a principal feature in modern domestic architecture, their forms and situations cannot be too much studied. E. B. Lamb. Little James Street, Bedford Row, April 7. 1834.

ART. IV.

Queries and Answers.

A NEW Grecian Tile, &c. In 1831, Mr. Davis presented some improvements on the ancient Greek method of tiling to the Bath and West of England Society, which are described in their Transactions as most ingenious and beautiful. Mr. Davis, when speaking of them, in his letter to the secretary, says, "I believe I am enabled to produce that style of roof which is supposed to have given the first idea of the Doric order of Architecture." (Brit. Farm. Mag., vol. vi. p. 111.) Should this meet Mr. Davis's eye, we shall feel much obliged by his sending us sketches, accompanied by some descriptive particulars, of the tile above referred to.

Cond.

Portable Smithy.Might not a portable smithy, or blacksmith's forge, be useful in a neighbourhood of small farms, none of which were large enough to support a smithy separately? I have seen such a thing manufactured by, I think, Holtzapffel.-W. Jan. 1833.

THE

ARCHITECTURAL MAGAZINE.

JUNE, 1834.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

ART. I. Architecture considered as an Art of Imagination. By the CONDUCTOR.

We have already stated (p. 97.) that architecture is an art of imagination as well as one of reason and taste. When we speak of imagination, we allude to that power of the mind which consists in recalling ideas previously treasured up there by the memory, and presenting them in new combinations. Now, it is evident that a person may feel pleasure in beholding an object, without having many ideas treasured up in his memory respecting it; and this is what we have called having a feeling, or a natural taste, for an art. When that feeling is cultivated, the memory and the recollection are, no doubt, called into exercise by it; but not necessarily to that extent which would justify us in stating that the possessor of such a feeling had a taste for architecture as an art of imagination.

An art of imagination is an art which depends directly on the imagination of the artist for its creations. This, we think, is precisely what is meant when architecture is said to be an imaginative art; and hence it follows that the expression is more used with reference to the exercise of their profession by architects, than to the taste or criticism of lovers of architecture. All arts or occupations where invention, or the power of forming new combinations, in the artist or artisan is eminently required, may be called arts of imagination: for example, a machinist, who invents new machines, may be said to practise an art of imagination in doing so. The term, however, is not generally applied to the combinations of the machinist, as his inventions are addressed exclusively to the reason, and can be judged of by mathematical calculation; whereas, by the common consent of mankind, the expression "arts of imagination" is confined to those arts, the inventions of which address themselves to the feelings, and, through them, to the imagination; in short, to those arts which produce emotion, or vivid mental feeling, as distinguished from merely physical feeling. A machine on a new construction, a new composition in landscape, or an entirely new architectural design, are alike produced by the artist from the stores of his memory, passed through the alembic of his