The chapel and library of Brasenose College, Oxford, have escaped the
full amount of attention which they deserve, probably because they
lie outside the range of books dealing with the accepted division of
architecture into Gothic and classic. But for that very reason they
are of interest to the present inquiry. The detail on the whole is
more classic than Gothic, but it is dealt with in a manner reminiscent
of Gothic; the cornices break forward over the pilasters, and round
the slight projections caused by the advancing of alternate windows;
the windows have Gothic tracery; pilasters are used in the place of
buttresses (Fig. 63). Indeed the general design is Gothic in its
arrangement, but classic detail has been applied to it, which in its
turn has modified the Gothic handling. The whole effect is interesting.
The designer has not merely made a Gothic design carrying it out with
classic detail, nor has he made a classic design, giving his windows
Gothic tracery. But each style has influenced the other. The Gothic
treatment has modified the classic detail, the classic detail has
modified the Gothic treatment The detail itself is quite refined,
it is not the work of an ignorant man; the ornament is judiciously
introduced, and applied with knowledge and skill. The oriel window on
the external front (Fig. 64) adjoining the east end of the chapel is
a charming piece of design, and the work generally is so well done
that it has been attributed to Sir Christopher Wren; but although
the attribution is erroneous it shows that popular opinion held the
building worthy of being coupled with a great name. It would appear
that a Mr. John Jackson superintended the building operations, and as he
made a model for the chapel roof,[42] he may fairly be credited with
the whole design. The first stone of the chapel was laid on the 18th
June 1656, and the work was practically finished by 1666, in which
year, on the 17th November, the dedication took place.
[Illustration: FIG. 65.--House in Southgate, Gloucester, 1650.]
The old house in Southgate, Gloucester (Fig. 65), until recently the
City Tea Warehouse, is a curious mixture of the old and new styles.
According to the date on a chimney-piece it was built in 1650. The
projecting stories, the panels and brackets below the windows of the
top floor, and, indeed, the general treatment of the whole front,
belong to the order of things that was passing away. The wide windows
with their pediments, some straight and some curved, and the stiff
floral pendents are indicative of the new style then coming into vogue.
If the sash-windows were adopted from the outset, they would be a still
more decidedly modern note. But if, as in all probability was the case,
they merely replace the original mullions the native aspect of the
front would have been less classic.
[Illustration: FIG. 66.--Houses at Ipswich.]
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--Nixon’s Grammar School, Oxford, 1658
(now destroyed).]
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