Popular Technology Volume II Part 8

2. The construction of buildings as means of shelter from the weather, appears to have been among the earliest inventions; and, from the skill exhibited in the construction of the ark, we have reason to believe that architecture had been brought to considerable perfection before the deluge. This opinion is also supported by the fact stated in holy writ, that the descendants of Noah, not more than one hundred years after the great catastrophe just mentioned, attempted to build a city and a lofty tower with bricks burned in the fire. This project could never have been thought of, had they not been influenced by the knowledge of former centuries.

3. The confusion of the language of the people caused their dispersion into different parts of the earth; and, in their several locations, they adopted that method of constructing their dwellings, which the climate required, and the materials at hand admitted; but, whatever the primitive structure may have been, it was continued, in its general features, from age to age, by the more refined and opulent inhabitants; hence the different styles of building, which have been continued, with various modifications, to the present day.

4. The essential elementary parts of a building are those which contribute to its support, inclosure, and covering; and of these the most important are the foundation, the column, the wall, the lintel, the arch, the vault, the dome, and the roof. Ornamental and refined architecture is one of the fine arts; nevertheless, every part of an edifice must appear to have utility for its object, and show the purpose for which it has been designed.

5. The _foundation_ is usually a stone wall, on which the superstructure of the building rests. The most solid basis on which it is placed is rock, or gravel which has never been disturbed; next to these are clay and sand. In loose or muddy situations, it is always unsafe to build, unless a solid basis can be artificially produced.

This is often done by means of timber placed in a horizontal position, or by driving wooden piles perpendicularly into the earth; on a foundation of the latter description, the greater part of the city of Amsterdam has been built.

6. The _column_, or _pillar_, is the simplest member of a building, although it is not essential to all. It is not employed for the purpose of inclosure, but as a support to some part of the superstructure, and the princ.i.p.al force which it has to resist is that of perpendicular pressure. The column is more frequently employed in public than in private buildings.

7. The _wall_ may be considered the lateral continuation of the column, answering the purposes both of support and inclosure. It is constructed of various materials, but chiefly of brick, stone, and marble, with a suitable proportion of mortar or cement. Walls are also made of wood, by first erecting a frame of timber and then covering it with boards; but these are more perishable materials, which require to be defended from the decomposing influence of the atmosphere, by paint or some other substance.

8. The _lintel_ is a beam extending in a right line from one column or wall to another over a vacant s.p.a.ce. The _floor_ is a lateral continuation or connexion of beams, by means of a covering of planks.

The strength of the lintel, and, in fact, every other elementary part of a building used as a support, can be mathematically determined by the skilful architect.

9. The _arch_ answers the same purpose as the lintel, although it far exceeds it in strength. It is composed of several pieces of a wedge-like form, and the joints formed by the contact of flat surfaces point to a common centre. While the workmen are constructing the arch, the materials are supported by a _centring_ of the shape of its internal surface. The upper stone of an arch is called the _key-stone_. The supports of an arch are called _abutments_; and a continuation of arches, an _arcade_.

10. The _vault_ is the lateral continuation of an arch, and bears the same relation to it that a wall bears to a column. The construction of a simple vault is the same with that of an arch, and it distributes its pressure equally along the walls or abutments. A complex or groined vault is made by the intersection of two of the common kind.

The groined vault is much used in Gothic architecture.

11. The _dome_, or _cupola_, is a hemispherical or convex covering to a building or a part of it. When built of stone it is a very strong kind of structure, even more so than the arch, since the tendency of the parts to fall is counteracted by those above and below, as well as by those on each side. During the erection of the cupola, no centring is required, as in the case of the arch.

12. The _roof_ is the most common and cheap covering to buildings. It is sometimes flat, but most commonly oblique, in shape. A roof consisting of two oblique sides meeting at the top, is denominated a _pent_ roof; that with four oblique sides, a _hipped_ roof; and that with two sides, having each two inclinations of different obliquities, a _curb_ or _mansard_ roof. In modern times, roofs are constructed of wood, or of wood covered with some incombustible material, such as tiles, slate, and sheets of lead, tin, or copper. The elementary parts of buildings, as just described, are more or less applicable in almost every kind of architecture.

13. The architecture of different countries has been characterized by peculiarities of form and construction, which, among ancient nations, were so distinct, that their edifices may be identified at the present day even in a state of ruin; and, although nearly all the buildings of antiquity are in a dilapidated state, many of them have been restored, in drawings and models, by the aid of the fragments which remain.

14. The different styles of building which have been recognised by the architect of modern times, are, the Egyptian, the Chinese, the Grecian, the Roman, the Greco-Gothic, the Saracenic, and the Gothic.

In all these, the pillar, with its accompaniments, makes a distinguished figure. The following picture has therefore been introduced by way of explanation. The columns are of the Corinthian order of architecture.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

15. _The Egyptian style._--The first inhabitants of Egypt lived in mounds, caverns, and houses of mud; and, from these primitive structures, the Egyptians, at a later period, derived their style of architecture. The walls of their buildings were very thick, and sloping on the outside; the roof was flat, and composed of blocks of stone, extending from one wall or pillar to another; and the columns were short and large, being sometimes ten or twelve feet in diameter.

Pyramids of prodigious magnitude, and obelisks composed of a single stone, sometimes often exceeding seventy feet in height, are structures peculiarly Egyptian. The architecture of the Hindoos seems to have been derived from primitive structures of a similar character.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE.]

16. _The Chinese style._--The ancient Tartars, and other wandering tribes of Asia, appear to have lived in tents; and the Chinese buildings, even at the present day, bear a strong resemblance to these original habitations, since their roofs are concave on the upper side, as if made of canvas instead of wood. Their porticoes resemble the awnings spread out on our shop-windows in the summer. The Chinese build chiefly of wood, although they sometimes use brick and stone.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A CHINESE PAG.o.dA.]

17. _The Grecian style._--This style of building had its origin in the wooden hut or cabin, the frame of which primarily consisted of perpendicular posts, transverse beams, and rafters. This structure was at length imitated in stone, and by degrees it was so modified and decorated in certain parts, as to give rise to the several distinctions called orders of architecture. The Greeks, in perfecting their system of architecture, were probably aided by Egyptian examples, although they finally surpa.s.sed all other nations in this important art.

18. _Orders of architecture._--By the architectural orders are understood certain modes of proportioning and decorating the column and entablature. They were in use during the best days of Greece and Rome, for a period of six or seven centuries. The Greeks had three orders, called the _Doric_, the _Ionic_, and the _Corinthian_. These were adopted and modified by the Romans, who also added two others, called the _Tuscan_ and the _Composite_.

19. _Doric order._--The Doric is the oldest and most ma.s.sive order of the Greeks. The column, in the examples at Athens, is about six of its diameters in height; in those of an earlier date, it is but four or five. The temple here adduced to ill.u.s.trate this order was built by Cimon, son of Miltiades, about the year 450 before Christ. It is said to be in a state of better preservation than any other of the ancient Greek edifices at Athens. It will be seen that the shafts are _fluted_, that is, cut in semicircular channels, in a longitudinal direction. The United States' Bank, at Philadelphia, is a n.o.ble specimen of this order.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TEMPLE OF THESEUS.]

20. _Ionic order._--This order is lighter than the Doric, its column being eight or nine diameters in height. Its shaft has twenty-four or more flutings, separated from each other by square edges; and its capital consists, in part, of two double scrolls, called _volutes_, usually occupying opposite sides. These volutes are supposed to have been copied from ringlets of hair, or from the horns of the G.o.d Jupiter Ammon. The following example of this order consists of three temples, each of which was dedicated to a different individual, viz., Erectheus, Minerva Polias, and the nymph Pandrosus.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ERECTHEUM AT ATHENS.]

21. _Corinthian order._--The Corinthian is the lightest and most decorated of all the Grecian orders. Its column is usually ten diameters in height, and its shaft is fluted like that of the Ionic.

Its capital is shaped like an inverted bell, and was covered on the outside with two rows of the leaves of the plant acanthus, above which are eight pairs of small volutes. It is said that this beautiful capital was suggested to the sculptor Callimachus by the growth of an acanthus about a basket, which had been accidentally left in a garden.

22. The Greeks sometimes departed so far from the strict use of their orders, as to employ the statues of slaves, heroes, and G.o.ds, in the place of columns. A specimen of this practice is exhibited in the cut ill.u.s.trative of the Ionic order. It belongs to the temple dedicated to Pandrosus.

23. The most remarkable buildings of the Greeks were their temples.

The body of these edifices consisted of a walled cell, usually surrounded by one or more rows of pillars. Sometimes they had a colonnade at one end only, and sometimes at both ends. Their form was generally oblong, and as the cells were intended as places of resort for the priests rather than for a.s.semblies of the people, they were but imperfectly lighted. Windows were seldom employed; and light was admitted at the door at one end, or through an opening in the roof.

24. Grecian architecture is supposed to have been at its greatest perfection in the days of Pericles and Phidias, when sculpture is admitted to have attained its highest excellence. It was distinguished, in general, by simplicity of structure, fewness of parts, absence of arches, and lowness of pediments and roofs.

25. _Roman style._--The Romans adopted the three Grecian orders, with some modifications; and also added two others, called the Tuscan and Composite. The former of these they borrowed from the nation whose name it bears, and the latter they formed by uniting the embellishments of the Doric and the Corinthian. The favorite order in Rome and its colonies was the Corinthian. Examples of single pillars of these orders may be seen at the end of this article.

26. The temples of the Romans generally bore a strong resemblance to those of the Greeks, although they often differed from the specimens of that nation in several particulars. The stylobate of the latter was usually a succession of platforms, which likewise served the purposes of steps, by which the building was approached on all sides. Among the Romans, it was usually an elevated structure, like a continued pedestal, on three sides, and accessible in front by means of steps.

The dome was also very commonly employed rather than the pent roof.

The following is an example of a temple at Rome.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TEMPLE OF ANTONIUS AND FAUSTINA.]

27. _Greco-Gothic style._--After the dismemberment of the Roman empire, the practice of erecting new buildings from the fragments of old ones became prevalent. This gave rise to an irregular style of building, which continued in use during the dark ages. It consisted of Greek and Roman details combined under new forms, and piled up into structures wholly unlike the original buildings from which the materials had been taken. Hence the appellations _Greco-Gothic_ and _Romanesque_ have been applied to it. The effect of this style of building was very imposing, especially when columns and arches were piled upon each other to a great height.

28. _Saracenic style._--This appellation has been given to the style of building practised by the Moors and Saracens in Spain, Egypt, and Turkey. It is distinguished, among other things, by an elliptical form of the arch. A similar peculiarity exists in the domes of the Oriental mosques, which are sometimes large segments of a sphere, appearing as if inflated; and at other times, they are concavo-convex on the outside. Several of these domes are commonly placed upon one building.

The _minaret_ is a tall slender tower, peculiar to Turkish architecture.

29. _Gothic style._--The Goths, who overran a great part of the Western empire, were not the inventors of the style of architecture which bears their name. The term was first applied with the view to stigmatize the edifices of the middle ages, in the construction of which, the purity of the antique models had not been regarded. The term was at first very extensive in its application; but it is now confined chiefly to the style of building which was introduced into various parts of Europe six or eight centuries ago, and which was used in the construction of cathedrals, churches, abbeys, and similar edifices.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GOTHIC CATHEDRAL AT YORK.]

30. The Gothic style is peculiarly and strongly marked. Its principles seem to have originated in the imitation of groves and bowers, under which the Druid priests had been accustomed to perform their sacred rites. Its characteristics are, pointed arches, pinnacles and spires, large b.u.t.tresses, cl.u.s.tered pillars, vaulted roofs, and a general predominance of the perpendicular over the horizontal.

31. The ecclesiastical edifices of this style of building are commonly in form of a cross, having a tower, lantern, or spire, erected at the point of intersection. The part of the cross situated towards the west is called the _nave_; the eastern part, the _choir_; and the transverse portion, the _transept_. A glance at the following diagram will enable the reader to understand the form of the ground-work more fully.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

32. Any high building erected above a roof is called a _steeple_, which is also distinguished by different appellations, according to its form: if it is square topped, it is a _tower_; if long and acute, a _spire_; or if short and light, a _lantern_. Towers of great height in proportion to their diameter are denominated _turrets_. The walls of Gothic churches are supported on the outside by lateral projections, called _b.u.t.tresses_, which extend from the bottom to the top, at the corners and between the windows. On the top of these are slender pyramidal structures or spires, called _pinnacles_. The summit or upper edge of a wall, if straight, is called a _parapet_; if indented, a _battlement_.

33. Gothic pillars or columns are usually cl.u.s.tered, appearing as if a number were bound together. They are confined chiefly to the inside of buildings, and are generally employed in sustaining the vaults which support the roof. The parts which are thrown out of a perpendicular to a.s.sist in forming these vaults, have received the appellation of _pendentives_. The Gothic style of building is more imposing than the Grecian; but architects of the present day find it difficult to accomplish what was achieved by the builders of the middle ages.

34. In the erection of edifices at the present day, the Grecian and Gothic styles are chiefly employed, to the exclusion of the others, especially in Europe and America. Modern dwelling-houses have necessarily a style of their own, so far as relates to stories, windows, and chimneys; and no more of the styles of former ages can be applied to them, than what relates to the unessential and decorative parts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DORIC. IONIC. CORINTHIAN. COMPOSITE. TUSCAN.

PILLARS AND ENTABLATURES OF THE FIVE ORDERS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CARPENTER.]