The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

2o6 THE

ARCHITECTURE

OF

HUMANISM

parts. Ratio,

identity, and

correspondence form

partofthenecessary

webandfabric

ofourthought.

Reason

is compelled to

seekthem, WTien it

finds

themwefeel

consciousofunderstanding

andcontrol.

Orderis a desire of

the mind. Andit isfoundin

classic

architecture. What more

natural, then, than

to say that

architectural beauty

—

^the beauty of

classicarchitecture,atany

rate—consistsinOrder?

Whathigher

ormoreperfectbeauty,Plato

asked,can

exist,than

mathematicalbeauty? Andtheacademic

criticism, with its canon of

mathematical ratios,

enforcesthe

demand.

Theintellectual

biasofourcriticismmustbepro-

foundwhichallowsthistheory'tobeasserted. For

this agreeable

fancy—so flattering to the intellect,

andsoexalted—

dissolvesatthefirstbrushofexperi-

ence. It shouldatonce beapparentthatOrderin

design

istotally^stinctfromBeauty. Manyofthe

ugliest

patterns and most joyless buildings

—

^build-

ings from which no being can ever have derived

delight

—

possessOrderinahighdegree

;

they

exhibit

fixedandevidentratiosofdesign. Instancesofthis

amongthehideousfiats,warehousesandothercom-

mercialbuildingsofour streets

require nocitation.

Hereis Order,andnobeauty,but,onthe contrary,

ugliness.

Eighteenth-century critics,

perceiving this diffi-

culty, werefond ofsayingthat beauty

consistedin