601 theatres, very well planned (Fig. 33). Hamburg has had its new municipal buildings (Herr Grotjan), a florid Renaissance building with a central tower, showing in its general effect and grouping a good deal of Gothic feeling. Mention may also be made of the new LaAv Courts at Leipzig (Herr Hoffmann), a building with no more charm
Fig. 28.—French “Maison de Campagne ” (mild type.) about it, externally, than the Berlin Parliament Houses, but with some good interior effects (Fig. 34). The new Post Offices in Germany have been an important undertaking, and are, at all events, buildings of more mark than those in England. There has also been a great deal of new development in street architecture, which shows an immense variety, and a constantly evident determination to do something striking ; but we find in it neither the dignity of Parisian street architecture nor the refinement of modern London work; there is an element of the bombastic about it. No modern building on the European continent is more remarkable than the Brussels Law Courts, built in the early years of our period, from the designs of countries. tlie late Poelaert, an original genius in architecture, who had the good fortune to be appreciated and given a free hand by his Government. The design is based on classic architecture, but with a treatment so completely individual as to remove it almost entirely from the category of imitative or revival architecture ; somewhat fantastic it may be, but as an original architectural creation it stands almost alone among modern public buildings. In Vienna the scholastic classic style has been retained with much more purity and refinement than in the German capital (Fig. 35, see Plate). Budapest, on the other hand, which has almost sprung into existence since 1875 as the rival of the Austrian capital, has erected a great Parliament building of florid
character (Fig. 36, see Plate), in a style in which the Gothic element is prevalent, though the central feature is a dome. The plan (Fig. 37, see Plate) is obviously based on that of the Westminster building ; the exterior design, however, has the merit of clearly indicating the position of the two Chambers as part of the architectural design, the want of which is the one serious defect of Barry’s noble structure. In Italy modern architecture is at a very low ebb ' the one great work which comes within our period has been the building of the facade to the Duomo at Florence, from the design of the late He Fabris, who did not live to see its completion. As the completion in modern times of a building of world-wide fame, it is a work of considerable interest, and, on the whole, not unworthy of its position ; that it should harmonize quite satisfactorily with the ancient structure was hardly to be expected. It was probably the completion of this facade which led the city of Milan to start a great architectural competition, a few years since, for the erection of a new facade to its celebrated cathedral, not because the facade had never been completed, but because it had been spoiled and patched with bad 18th-century work. Theambition was a legitimate one, and the competition, open to all the world, excited the greatest interest; but the young Italian architect, Brentano, to whom the first premium was awarded, died shortly afterwards, and other causes, partly financial, led to the postponement of the
Fig. 34.—Interior of Leipzig Law Courts. (Hoffmann.) scheme, though it is understood that there is still an intention of carrying out Brentano’s design under the direction of the official architectural department of the city. Authorities.—The literature of architecture as a modern art is limited, the most important publications of recent times being mainly devoted to the study and illustration of ancient architecture. The following, however, may be named:—James Fergussox. History of Modern Architecture (2nd edition). London, John Murray, 1873.—T. G. Jackson. Modern Gothic Architecture. London, H. S. King, 1873.—J. T. Micklethwaite. Modern Parish Churches. London, 1874.—E. li. RoBson. School Architecture. London, John Murray, 1874.—J. J. Stevenson. House S. L —76
