Architecture In Michigan

ZOU can teil the aate of glmost every x building in Detroit by its look,;' =ai(l an observant person, aíter a drive about the city. "First there are the old ?rench houses, built close to the Btreet, as f the land werc Karoe, whereas the builders had everything there was behind from lera to Chicago and beyoud. Then here re the porticoed housea with their Greek columns and iicdlments -the Cuitarían church on Lafayette avenue, ecen in the moonlight with the trees lo subdue the ansies, looks for all the world like the Partbunou. This ïomanized-Qreek architecture Üourished during Lewis Coss' time. "Then we have the mansnrd roof, a style which came to us from Napoleon the l'hird's Fiance- the France of show and iretension. How tawdry the maneard roof looks now! As a revolt from theso piue ornaments and cboap carvings o ran to the Qucun Anne arenitecture. Sorae of these hitter houses will last because they are simple and tboroughly built and good work is always good. "A presont we are having a great run on ha round arch construction which th ate H. Ji . RichardBon adoptcd as the basis of his ftyle. A utll-proportioned round arch is a beautiful thlng, provided there is weight above lt to be sustained and provided, too, that thu beauty of tho arch is not disslpated by oruameuts on it or near t. The plainer the wall space abont a round arch the better. People talk glibly about Romancsque architecture, thinking hat everything with a round arch falla into that category. No architecture is to )e catalogued in suoh easy fashion. Great, plain wall spaces are as much a sisn of the Romanosque as is the round arch; and deeper than external forma ars .h e aims and motives whicb the peoplt lave ezpressed in stone and mortar." 80 the speaktr went on, lamenting the 'act that etudents of architecture were jrone to look to the outside only and not ,0 the historica! and mental conditloni which make architecture what lt is. The ield is too large to discuss here; but what las been said, being applicable to the state at large equally with Detroit, will serve to show iuto what general caterories Michigan buildings may b grouped, according to the age of the city. Railroads are great civiüzers. Th Michigan Central has begun a good work n showing the people along lts line how to build their houses, their stores and .heir public buildings. Starting her in Detroit the Michigan Central station is an example of how much can be done in th way of produeing a stately pile with sim3ly bricks and mortar. It is a ereat mistte to believe that no building can be really good which is not coustructed of 6tone. Brick is now modeled into such shapes that lt lends itself easily to architecture, and then, too, brick is even more enduring than stone. The square tower on the Michigan Central station has nerved the better Detroit architeets to emulation; and many are the church plans which have been drawn with a square tower as the leading feature. But thus 'ar no congregation bas had the courage and the taste to make use of the square tower as it is used by the better architeets of today. The station at Tpsilanti was built durng the mansard roof period. For a long time it was the best building of iU kind n the line of tho rond. Many cltlco envled Ypsilanti, as they certainly had reason to; for, until very recently, the Central's depota at Detroit, Ann Arbor, Kalauia.uo and Battle Creek were worse than barns. In Yjisilanti the State Normal school ncver could boast of iti beauty. The addition of 1878 made mattera worse, and the two wings that have lately been added make it look like Darius Green togged out in his flylng machine. The city high school is neither particularly jood or bad, nor is there a 6ghtly church n the city, the newer ones being worse than those built before the war. In tbe new Starkweather memorial chapel, howcver, and in the new Savings bank buildng and Mr. Ainsworth's new block the city has some buildings to live up to architecturally. They are simply and enduringly built in the round arch style. About Ann Arbor there is a plenty of field stone, the constituents of which are [eldspar, hornblende and a little mica. The stone varias decidedly in color and works into solid looking structures. It is used with excellent effect in the very satisfactory Unitaxian chureh, in the houses of Prof. Frieze and Thomas M. Cooley, in several of the chapter houses, and notably in the new Central station. Had the architeets of this latter building refrained from using the Saracenic areh in this heavy material they would have madefan ezceptionally beautiful atructure. It is strange to note that not a single University building begina to be satisfactory as a piece of architecture. The new library is good on the inside, but externally it certainly is anything but a triumpb. ior lts Eastern designers. At Grass Lake, again, the rallroad eompany has set the townepeople an example which ought to stimulate them to do somethtug to make the town look respectable from the cara. The littlo station is built of field stone lightly piled so that at the corners the individual stones project, and the effect is picturesquo to a degree. Jackson has nothing worthy of note archtreturaih, and the oity is even really sufferlug from a lacle of paint. At Battle Creek and Kalamazoo the Michigan Central has Just completed stations which are models of beauty and convenience. In the former station a round arebed window with a 34 feet opening at the bae, is an idea caught frota Ricbardson's work and excellently carried out. Aside from their stations neither town can boast of any narticulurly good architecture. The Itoj building at Lansing has a great adviintas;o in the way of loeation. It domínalos the city. lts dome can be seen for miles from every direction. One wishes the cnrves of this dome were more generous, its lantern shoi ter and the ornamentation less órnate. Yet when one looks upon the sketches, one of which would have been selected had not Mr. Meyar's plan beeu chosen, one is thankful that a design so simple and, on tho whole, 60 harmonious was taken. There is a certain charm, too, about the archaic statuary in the front pediment. As for the rest, Lansing is an architectural waste. Grand Rapids boasts a new city building of light stone, with a öne clock tower. VVliüe tho structure is conventional in fashion, it has a certMn dignity of masa and material which mukes it uoteworüiy among public bnlldlngi In tl itate. Tho Peninsular club house, too, has a dlfmifled and exclusive look not out of keeping with the style of the club membei East Saginaw gives abundant evidenoe in its houses of the quiekly-made fortunes of many of its people. No other city In the state, save Detroit, has been quieker to catch the prevalling styles in architecture. That there is a tendency to run too much after the fashion of the hour Is only natural. The city has a bright, freeh look which makes it contrast strongly with tbose clties in which the increase of wenltli has been more slow and ¦where the citizens do not come so much into contact with Eastera people aud fashlona. At Mackinac a very large hotel has recently been placed in a coi6picuous position. The owner's Ideas of how' his building should look were gathered from a 6i;rvey of hotels built in the Catskills before the nar. The prevailing idea is a roof projecting in front and supported hy tall columns; the whole painted white. The architects have modilled this ideaby introduciug a rounded extensión at one end of the veranda and by treatiug the stumpy tower in a moillflod colonial fashion; but the general effect is certainly not plcturesque and everything at Macklnac should be picturesque. Hovever, the idea of lmmensity one gets on stepping upon the great plazza goes far to reconcile one to the abuse of opportunities in other directlons. The above characterizations of the architectural conditions in various Michigan olties are not intended to be exhaustive. Tliey are the haphazard observations of one whose visits wero in noway connected with buildings, but it is believed that they indícate clearly enough for present purposes the general tendencie in the various Dlacet adveitcd to.