ART. I. Remarks on the Fitness of the different Styles of Architecture for the Construction of Country Residences, and on the Employment of Vases in Garden Scenery. By A. J. DOWNING, Botanic Garden and Nursery, Newburgh, N. Y.

Ir is in the highest degree gratifying to witness the rapid improvement in the taste for building, which is extending itself throughout the country. Here, where from the scarcity of good architects to direct the public taste, that taste must be formed and controlled, in a great measure, by the landed proprietors themselves, it reflects the more credit upon its possessors. From the buildings of a country, as they exhibit, in their external appearance and internal arrangement, the evidences of comfort, convenience, elegance of proportion, and beauty of detail, the traveller indeed may form a very just opinion of the character of its inhabitants ;-he can distinguish, in different countries, the general march of civilization, exhibited in the wants of those inhabitants, dependant upon the degrees of intelligence and cultivation of which they may be possessed-from a savage state of barbarism, when man subsists by hunting, and constructs for himself a rude hut of bark or logs, to those refined stages of society, in which the luxury of man has caused him to expend millions in the erection of a single palace.

Judging, in this manner, of the state of a population by their apparent wants, in the domestic and social relations, and the perfection of the art by which they satisfy those wants-we conceive that, in the Northern and Middle States, the stranger must derive a highly favorable impression from observations of this nature. The great number of tasteful villas, neat farm

houses and comfortable cottages scattered every where, by the borders of our high-roads, on the margins of our rivers and in the neighborhood of our towns and cities, display an air of almost universal neatness and enjoyment, that speaks louder than words in favor of the moral and intellectual condition of the inmates. If there are but few splendid mansions and costly palaces, there are, on the contrary, but few of those materials which form the almost invariable accessories to such pictures-few miserable hovels and comfortless tenements, bespeaking poverty and misery in their inhabitants.

We have noticed, with much pleasure and a slight degree of fear, the great prevalence of the Grecian style of architecture in our buildings erected for country residences, within a few years past; -pleasure, because a Grecian villa, with its elegant proportions and chaste purity of style, is one of the most beautiful of all structures for the habitation of man ;-fear, that, in the universal mania for the five orders, our country gentlemen would either entirely forget, or argue themselves into the belief, that there is no architecture but the Grecian. There is nothing which contributes so much to the wonderful beauty of nature as her endless variety. The most chaste and pleasing object may weary to the eye by constant repetition, and the most classic and correct style of Grecian architecture may become monotonous and tiresome, if every structure that we meet with, from the smallest cottage upwards, is ornamented with its Doric, Ionic or Corinthian portico. This is not all. In the perpetually varied surface which the face of our country assumes, it is not alike in every situation that the Grecian architecture is appropriate. The smooth or gently undulating plain-the smiling cultivated country, and that peaceful expression of the landscape which is in good keeping with, and should accompany the horizontal lines and regular symmetry of the Grecian style, are by no means to be found in every situation, nor is it, in all cases, desirable that they should be component parts of every country residence. On the contrary, many persons prefer, or are attached, by associations, to districts of country where the features are wilder, more romantic and picturesque-where the hand of man has been only partially laid upon the forest, and where, in her lofty mountains, rugged defiles and shadowy woods, nature has stamped a character of rugged grandeur and beauty upon the scene, which art may never efface. It is not in such situations that a person of taste will desire to see, or feel satisfied with, the polished style of the Greek temple. He will rather prefer a style like the Gothic, which sprung up among the rocks and fastnesses of the northern nations of Europe, and which, from its very origin, nature and character, is admirably adapted to harmonize with nature in her wildest and most picturesque aspects. The Gothic and baronial

castles have, it is true, passed away with those feudal times which gave rise to them; but the Gothic architecture is by no means less adapted to the wants of modern life. On the other hand, the Gothic cottage, irregular and picturesque in its outline, may, in its internal arrangement, be made to conform to the requirements of domestic life, while, unlike the Grecian (which is a whole in itself), subsequent additions may be made to the edifice, and only add to the beauty and good effect of the entire building. By thus adapting the style of architecture to the character of the scene in which it is placed, a point quite lost sight of in works upon architecture (and which, as there is no practice of landscape gardening in this country, may be very properly inculcated through a medium like the present), a harmony and variety is produced by these two styles alone, which will be productive of the highest pleasure. But, in the erection of country residences, we would by no means desire to be limited to these two styles, and, like some architects, consider every thing else barbarous. On the contrary, we consider any style of architecture the most suitable and proper, which shall be found, in the most perfect manner, to attain and answer the ends desired. In this point of view, it is perhaps questionable whether the Grecian, with its open colonnades, so delightful under a warm sky, is as suitable for a northern climate like ours, as the Gothic, with its thick walls and comfortable apartments. But as we have all the extremes of temperature in this climate which are found under the remote zones of latitude, a greater variety of forms may also be permitted in building, than in either a very hot or cold country.

In applying these two principles, viz. fitness to the end desired, and harmony of expression with the landscape, to the villas and seats of our inhabitants, a person of judicious taste will readily perceive great faults, both in the style of architecture selected, and in the choice of the sites; and it cannot also fail of occurring to him how many beautiful and admirably adapted forms for private dwellings are totally neglected, from a perverse blindness to every thing but the prevailing mode. There can scarcely be a more appropriate, agreeable and beautiful residence for a citizen who retires to the country for the summer, than a modern Italian villa, with its ornamented chimneys, its broad verandah, forming a fine shady promenade, and its cool breezy apartments. Placed where a pleasant prospect could be enjoyed -a few statues distributed with taste over the well-kept lawn-a few Italian poplars, with their conical summits rising out of the gracefully-rounded clumps of foliage which should surround it— the whole would be quite perfect and delightful. If, again, we imagine a quiet village, nestled at the foot of some of our fine mountains, in the neighborhood of which is a pretty picturesque

valley, with a glimpse at the blue sky, rocks, and a waterfall, pure air and a delightful mountain-view-place there a neatly constructed Swiss cottage, with its long projecting eaves, curious galleries, and quaint flight of stairs-a small farm stolen from the surrounding hills, with a few cattle grazing in the fields-perchance a goat or two browsing near the house, and the picture is complete. It is a mistake to suppose, with many, that the same degree of comfort and even of luxury may not be attained in structures of this kind as in a Grecian villa. The same elegance in the apartments, furniture and decorations, always keeping sight of a unity of expression, may be permitted; and, in short, those who are acquainted with the original form of the Greek temple, the prototype of our modern buildings, and are aware how apparently unsuitable such forms and proportions are to our domestic purposes, will at once appreciate how easily even a Swiss cottage can, by a judicious taste, without altering its character, be so arranged internally, as to give the greatest possible share of comfort, convenience and elegance.

There is, also, yet much room for improvement among us, with regard to the situation of the house, and the laying out of the grounds which surround it. It is by no means rare to find some of our finest houses, in the country, where there is no scantiness of surface, placed within a stone's throw of the high-way. This, however, but betrays the influence of habit. In the first settlement of every country, of course the society of our fellowbeings is strongly desired; the highways being the only means of communication, and the houses but thinly scattered, they are very naturally placed so as to attract the eye of the passer by, and be easy of access. But, in a comparatively thickly settled country, retirement is the great desideratum, and, upon estates of any extent, therefore, the mansion should be placed at such a distance from the public road, as that the approach may give some idea to the stranger of the extent of the grounds. It is needless to lay down any rules for the formation of this approachroad, as, in all cases, it will depend so much upon the situation. We would rather rely upon a general unity of expression, than upon any fixed rules. Neither do we conceive that, in this country, we are by any means bound to follow undeviatingly the European modern style of laying out the grounds. In a highly cultivated country like England, where the most striking features of nature are in a great measure effaced by art, a pleasureground, formed in the natural style, is capable, by contrast, of affording the greatest pleasure. For the same reason, here, where nature still riots unsubdued in all her magnificence and grandeur, it would, in many cases, be idle and absurd to attempt to imitate her. An artificial cascade, or the water-works of Versailles, would be but paltry affairs, if placed by the side of

Niagara. There is, however, room for the display of various styles, as well in laying out ground as in building, and, in the neighborhood of the old Atlantic cities, well kept grounds, in the modern style, would be at once appropriate and delightful. So also in those wilder situations in the country, where nature exists in her pristine loveliness, the eye is occasionally delighted to witness the work of art-a fine building and a stately avenue. In short, the ultimatum of our wishes is, to see our numerous and intelligent landed proprietors exercising a well cultivated and nicely discriminating taste, with which, taking advantage of the location, they would produce, in their buildings and grounds, the greatest beauty and enjoyment, combined with a perfect harmony of expression, in the whole scene.

*

It will not be inadvertent to the present hasty remarks to hint at the additional charm which may be produced in highly finished places, especially where the buildings are in the Grecian style, by introducing into the lawns and gardens the classic vase in its different forms, and, if thought desirable, statues also. They serve as it were as a connecting link between so highly artificial an object as a modern villa, and the verdant lawns and gay gardens which surround it. Elevated

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upon pedestals, and placed at suitable points in the view-on the parapets of terraces near the house-before a group of foliage upon the lawn, and at proper intervals in the garden, they give a classic and elegant air to the whole, which adds greatly to its value. Beautiful in their forms, contrasting finely with the deep green of vegetation, and leading the eye gradually from their own sculptured beauty to the architectural symmetry of the building, of which they form as it were a continuous though detached part, amalgamating it with the grounds in which it is placed-their effect can only be appreciated beforehand by those who have studied the excellent effect produced by their introduction into the scene.

*The above are copies of two handsome and cheap vases now manufactured in New York. Fig. 10 is two feet six inches high, without the pedestal (b), and is formed of plaster or Roman cement (so prepared as to withstand the weather), at Coffee's manufactory, Canal Street, New York, where many other fine patterns may be found. The