Houses at Münster, Westphalia
H. W. Brewer
c. 1880
Signed lower left
Source: Stevenson’s House Architecture, I, 256
Click on image to enlarge it
[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Commentary by J. J. Stevenson
These gables had usually several stories in their height. They were the features in the building of most interest to the designers ; the chief field for ornament ; in towns they were towards the street. These characteristics the German Renaissance inherited, changing the Gothic ornaments and details into Classic ones.
This process is well illustrated by the accompanying drawing of part of a street in Minister (fig. 81), which has already been given, but is inserted here for convenience of reference. The taller house is a typical example of late Gothic, though it has lost something of its Gothic character, from the removal of the rnullions and tracery of the windows. The lower part is without ornament, but from the cornice level the design springs upwards with true Gothic aspira- tion. The stepping of the gables is disguised somewhat by the ornamental pillars or pinnacles, as compared with the simple steps of the gable of the house farther off, part of which the drawing shows.
The Renaissance house is similar in design. The arcade of pointed arches probably belongs to an earlier building, of which this portion had been left when the house was rebuilt, as it is a portion of the continued arcade of the street. As in the Gothic house, the lower stories are plain, and the ornamentation commences at the cornice level. This gable also is stept, but the steps are disguised by being filled up with scrolls. The horizontal lines are more enforced ; the chief characteristic of Classic architecture, as compared with Gothic. There is not the same impression of aspiration, though Gothic influence survives in the little spikes or pinnacles, but there is more ease and gaiety.
Bibliography
Stevenson, J. J. House Architecture. 2 vols. London: Macmillan, 1880.
Victorian
Web
Archi-
tecture
H. W.
Brewer
Next
Last modified 17 July 2017