“A MODEL SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE.

The department of architecture of Columbia College has closed its work for the year with its annual exhibition of drawings. This department was organized eight years ago largely through the liberality of Mr. F. A. Schermerhorn, who contributed the necessary funds to place it on a firm basis. It has grown with unusual rapidity, and is now one of the strongest parts of the School of Mines of Columbia College. During the past year, sixty-five students were registered in the department, an increase of twenty-five over the preceding year. The money furnished by Mr. Schermerhorn has enabled the trustees to supply a liberal collection of apparatus, models, books, photographs, and drawings; and the whole forms a collection of working material not equalled by another institution of the same kind in the country. Columbia is fortunate, also, in possessing in Professor William R. Ware, who has charge of this course, a teacher who combines sound technical knowledge with a warm sense of architectural form, and it is to him that the success of this school of architecture is chiefly due.

With a large body of students it is, of course, possible to produce large quantities of work, and this was the first noticeable feature in the recent exhibition. Four or five rooms were completely filled with the work of the students. Specimens were shown in all departments of architectural drawing. There were studies in historical ornament, many of them highly spirited sketches; problems, with details and perspectives; original designs; carefully prepared elevations; studies in perspective, in shades, and shadows; pencil drawings from the cast; memory drawings, — sketches from descriptions of photographs, and highly interesting as showing the attention that must have been given to the study of styles in order to produce such results; free-hand sketches of actual buildings and from photographs; applications of design and water colors. Nor was the quality of the work less noticeable than the quantity. In a collection of the work of an entire year, some drawings would be necessarily included that are more or less imperfect; but there were few of these, and they all evinced an extraordinary degree of application on the part of the students, and untiring energy on the part of the teachers and instructors.

Many of the pen-and-ink drawings were exquisitely done, and compared very favorably with the work of more experienced draughtsmen. The work of the students in this department does not cease with the conclusion of the college year. On the contrary, they are encouraged to enter architects’ offices, and to make frequent sketches during the summer. One hundred drawings are required to be handed in at the beginning of the college year as evidences of summer work, though each day passed in an architect’s office is accepted as the equivalent for a drawing. The hand and mind of the student are thus kept in constant practice, and there is no doubt but that much of the superior work in this school arises from the fact that the work is constant the year round, and is not interrupted by three months of idleness. One of the most interesting sections of the exhibition was that devoted to summer work. The exhibit was large, and included specimens of all kinds of drawings, both from actual buildings and from photographs. The quality of the subjects was an interesting commentary on the manner in which the tastes of these young men had been trained.

The problems of execution included a staircase, with perspective and detail drawings, elevation and details of a classical window, and several other subjects. All these were class-work, and were marked with the criticisms of the professor. Another interesting series were designs for a wrought-iron gate, and some studies for a Roman villa, by the first-year students. Space does not permit, nor is it necessary, to enumerate all the drawings shown. The exhibition was one to have been seen to be appreciated. The work was characterized not only by marked ability on the part of the students, but also testified to the great care and thought displayed by the teachers. The drawings showed an enthusiasm for the work which is not always to be found among undergraduates.

A word as to methods. The course in architecture extends over three of the four years’ course in the School of Mines. The first college year is devoted by all the students to general studies; but in the second year the class is divided into sections, each pursuing a technical study. In the course in architecture, drawing is an important feature throughout the three years. In the first year the elements of architecture, with the forms and proportions of the five orders, are taught, together with the study of Greek and Roman architectural history. In the second year technical studies in the mechanics of solids are introduced, and a survey made of the materials employed in construction, their application and uses. In the fourth year, studies in the properties of materials are continued, and contracts, specifications, superintendence, and the details connected with the practical work of the architect, are considered. Throughout the whole course there are lectures and exercises in the history of architecture, as well as in the history of painting and sculpture, the aim being to make the students familiar with designs and styles which they might never even see in the daily routine of an architect’s office.

The future of the department of architecture in Columbia College promises to be unusually brilliant. The trustees of the college have recently established a two-years’ fellowship in architecture, which is the most valuable prize now open to architectural students in America. The conditions under which this will be awarded have not been decided as yet; but it will doubtless be a travelling fellowship, open to all the graduates of the department, thus enabling the recipient to pass two years in travel abroad. The income amounts to $1,300 for the two years. New York will soon possess, in the Museum of Architectural Casts now being prepared for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the finest collection of architectural models in the world. No part of this collection is yet in place, though a portion of it has been received at the museum, and the promises of the museum authorities indicate a collection of extraordinary value and interest. With this collection within easy reach, Columbia College will stand easily in the front rank of architectural schools in this country, and will compare favorably with the best in Europe. Each year witnesses some new improvement to the department, both in the way of teaching and in the apparatus. The schools of architecture in this country are limited in number, and it will require hard work on the part of the others to keep abreast with Columbia.

Barr Ferree.”

Reference Data:

Science, Vol. 13, by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1889, pages 476-7