VICTORIAN ERA SPECTACULAR
LOVE OF CHANGE
"PERPETUAL VARIETY OF EVERY FEATURE OF THE BUILDING...GREAT ART, WHETHER EXPRESSING ITSELF IN WORDS, COLOURS, OR STONES, DOES NOT SAY THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN...WE MUST NO MORE EXPECT TO DERIVE EITHER PLEASURE OR PROFIT FROM AN ARCHITECTURE WHOSE ORNAMENTS ARE OF ONE PATTERN, AND WHOSE PILLARS ARE OF ONE PROPORTION, THAN WE SHOULD OUT OF A UNIVERSE IN WHICH THE CLOUDS WERE ALL OF ONE SHAPE, AND THE TREES ALL OF ONE SIZE...NO PLEASURE IS TAKEN ANYWHERE IN MODERN BUILDINGS, AND WE FIND ALL MEN OF TRUE FEELING DELIGHTING TO ESCAPE OUT OF MODERN CITIES INTO NATURAL SCENERY."
- Ruskin
Ruskin's statement above serves as a perfect description of the design of the Waxahachie Courthouse. The roof of the building rises and falls all in different spots and in different manners. Each seperate piece of roof finishes itself off in a point unique from the others. The gargoyle faces that surround the Courthouse are also different, no one face is the same. As according to Ruskin, the architect artist takes his work in a "new direction of mental interest [which] marks an infinite change in the means and the habits of life" (Ruskin, 714). Just as with the love of nature, the artists strives to resemble the present day while still providing the viewer with changing images, each one possessing its own beauty and uniqueness. The bright outside of the building also seems interesting to me in that it stands out of the "one pattern" causing it to strike the eye and provide an "escape out of modern cities." The checkered borders that circle around the Courthouse are an added break from the norm that gives the building flair.
All quotes are taken from author John Ruskin's "The Stones of Venice." (1853)