. American architecture . cation of someof the truths that he arrived at by feeling, however in-conclusive is the reasoning by which he endeavors tosupport them, and one of these is the text, so muchpreached from in the Seven Lamps, that where restis forbidden, so is ornament. Wall Street and thebusiness quarter of Boston, and every commercial palacein every city, violate, in differing degrees, this plain dictateof good sense and good taste, even in the very rare in-stances in which the misplacement of the ornateness isthe worst thing that can be alleged against it. In thebest of the commercia
. American architecture . cation of someof the truths that he arrived at by feeling, however in-conclusive is the reasoning by which he endeavors tosupport them, and one of these is the text, so muchpreached from in the Seven Lamps, that where restis forbidden, so is ornament. Wall Street and thebusiness quarter of Boston, and every commercial palacein every city, violate, in differing degrees, this plain dictateof good sense and good taste, even in the very rare in-stances in which the misplacement of the ornateness isthe worst thing that can be alleged against it. In thebest of the commercial buildings of Chicago there isnothing visible of the conflict of which we hear so muchfrom architects, mostly in the way of complaint, betweenthe claims of art and the claims of utility, nor any ev-idence of a desire to get the better of a practical clientby smuggling architecture upon him, and deceiving himfor his own good and the glory of his architect. It is avery good lesson to see how the strictly architectural sue-. GLIMPSES OF WESTERN ARCHITECTURE j ^7 cess of the commercial buildings is apt to be directly inproportion to the renunciation by the designers of con-ventional architecturesqueness, and to their loyal ac-ceptance at all points of the utilitarian conditions underwhich they are working. The Studebaker Building is one of the show build-ings of Chicago, but it cannot be said to deserve thisparticular praise in so high a degree as several less cel-ebrated structures. It partakes — shall we Scty?—toomuch of the palatial character of Devonshire Street andWall Street to be fairly representative of the severity ofcommercial architecture in Chicago. It is very ad-vantageously placed, fronting the Lake Park, and it isin several respects not unworthy of its situation. Thearrangement of the first five stories is striking, and thearcade that embraces the three upper of these is a strik-ing and well-studied feature, with detail very good initself and very well adjusted
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectarchitecture, bookyea
