Architectural Ornaments and Decorations. I could wish, in speaking of architecture, if the use of language would admit of such distinction, to make a difference between the words ornament and decoration. The former should include every enrichment bearing the semblance of utility; the latter is supposed to have no relation whatever to the uses or construction of the building; thus, for instance, a house may answer all the purposes of habitation without a column, a pilaster, an entablature, a pediment, a dome, an arcade, or a balustrade, which I call the external ornaments of Grecian architecture *.
*[That these ornaments, although not absolutely necessary, should appear to be useful, is evident, from the disgust we feel at seeing them improperly applied; as in a column without an entablature, or an arch supporting nothing, or a pediment without a roof; but I do not consider columns, or pilasters, as ornaments, when used, as we often see them, to the doors of houses; they may then more properly be called decorations in a bad taste, A column is the most sumptuous ornament of Grecian architecture, and should never be subordinate to any other part of the edifice; it should either belong to the entablature and cornice of the building, or it should be wholly omitted. If the door requires a projecting covering, it is far better to support it by consoles, or cautlivres, or even small cast-iron pillars, without architectural pretensions, than by two diminutive columns, which bear no proportion to the buildings against which they are attached. This observation, however, does not include those porticos to churches or public buildings, which form a colonnade on so extended a scale, that they become, in a manner, detached and principal; of this kind are the magnificent and useful colonnade at STOKE POGIES, and that added by the same architect to the garden front of FROGMORE.]
