There are none of the now numerous architectural associations of the country which can more deservingly congratulate themselves upon the early success of their first few months of existence than the Cleveland Architectural Club, which was organized on the 22d of last November, and is now only four months old.

Its original members, fifteen in number, met in the office of Messrs. Coburn & Barnum, and here the meetings for the few succeeding weeks were also held.

It soon became evident that a wide field of usefulness was open to the new organization, and a permanent location of its own would become necessary. Such a location in the heart of the city, with all necessary conveniences, was found in the Garfield Building, and the new rooms have been properly fitted up for the use of the club.

With the purpose of making the influence of its work as far-reaching as possible, the restriction which has commonly been applied in other similar clubs, limiting the membership to architects and draughtsmen, or at least limiting the number of non professional members, has been entirely done away with, and any one who may have an interest in architecture or the "allied arts" is eligible for membership. What will be the effect of this arrangement it remains for the future to decide. In some of the older clubs it has been found by experience that the professional membership was overbalanced and its work impeded by a too large non-professional element, and the professional lines have been closely drawn in consequence.

The work thus far entered upon is modest but of an important character, and if pursued with the earnest purpose which has marked the first few months will lead to a fruitful future.

Of the monthly competitions in design the one for March, the subject of which is a scheme for the public buildings of Cleveland, has attracted considerable attention, and the public exhibition of the designs will doubtless lead to profitable discussion outside the club. A plan which we believe has not been adopted here, but which has been the means of awakening considerable interest in the study of design in the clubs of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, might possibly be followed to advantage. In the January number of The Brochure Series the competitions instituted by the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects were outlined. Of course with all the numberless calls upon his time, the average draughtsman does not have the leisure to properly study and render the drawings required in these competitions; but by the joining of forces four or five, or even more, men can easily work out such a problem, and in some respects the advantages to be gained are greater than is the case when an individual works alone. Several large tables can be provided in the club-rooms, and the problem worked up as a club design. This plan has been followed in the Boston Architectural Club with great success.

The study of academic design is of the utmost importance to the young architect, and unfortunately the opportunities for such study in the usual routine of office practice are not very extensive. The working out each season of two or three such designs as those required by the Beaux-Arts Society will be of material benefit to the older men who are already familiar with the academic methods of design, and of much more benefit to the younger men whose opportunities have been more limited. The criticism and suggestion of the older men in the profession is easily obtained while the work is in progress. Nothing could be better calculated to foster a certain esprit de corps, which is certainly a desirable quality in any club.

The personnel of the Cleveland Club is as follows: Benj. S. Hubbell, president; Harry S. Nelson, vice-president; Herbert B. Briggs, secretary; Perley H. Griffin, librarian; E. E. Noble, treasurer; W. D. Benes and Wilbur M. Hall, members of the executive board. The officers and Robert Allen, Frederick Baird, J. W. Russell, G. B. Bohm, Williard Hirsh, Ray Rice, Albert E. Skeel, and C. S. Schneider constitute the charter membership.

Books

Church of Sancta Sophia, Constantinople: A Study of Byzantine Building. By W. R. Lethaby and Harold Swainson. Macmillan & Co. 1894. 307 pages with illustrations. $6.50.

It seems especially fitting that a notice of Mr. Lethaby's work on the church of Sta. Sophia, or as he calls it Sancta Sophia, should appear in the same issue with the beautiful Byzantine capitals from Ravenna, which we publish this month. In the description of this work from Ravenna, on another page, the connection is pointed out between Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire in the East, and Ravenna, then the Western capital.

The work before us is an important and exhaustive study, both architecturally and historically, of this beautiful building, which Mr. Van Brunt has called "the central building of the world." Nothing has ever been done in enriching interiors which approaches in splendor the best work of the Byzantine builders, and Sta. Sophia, by general consent, is the most beautiful of the Byzantine churches; but its exterior is by no means without faults, and its claim for distinction would fall if supported only by this.

The book takes up in order the history of Sta. Sophia, with citations of various authorities for statements concerning its early history; accounts of the various vicissitudes through which it has passed; its construction, lighting, details, mosaics, etc., all carefully and conscientiously described, the descriptive portion based on a painstaking study of the building itself. The illustrations which accompany the text are numerous and excellent; there is no attempt to furnish illustrations at large scale, which are already accessible in Salzenberg.

The monumental work of Salzenberg, which has been the architect's reference book for Sta. Sophia, is referred to and largely quoted from.

The two articles by Mr. Henry Van Brunt and Prof. A. D. F. Hamlin, published in The Architectural Review, Vol. II., No. 5, and Vol. III., No. 2, will be found of considerable interest in connection with Mr. Lethaby's book.

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The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Vol. 01, No. 03, March 1895

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The Cleveland Architectural Club

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The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Vol. 01, No. 03, March 1895

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