Street in Ratisbon
H. W. Brewer
c. 1880
Signed lower right
Source: Stevenson’s House Architecture, I, 148
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“The drawing of a street at Ratisbon gives an idea of what a northern middle age city must have looked like. Every important house had its tower to defend it and to retire to in case of attack. In these houses there is no attempt at symmetry or regularity; the windows are of any size required, and are placed wherever convenience dictates. The pointed arch is used consistently throughout, the larger square windows being probably later insertions. But in the application of Gothic to house building from the earliest period, the window openings were made squareheaded. Numerous instances occur, where under a pointed arch the window openings are square. Sometimes the pointed arch is purely ornamental, and carved on a simple straight lintel” (I, 149).