and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
| Vol. X. No. 282.] | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1827. | [PRICE 2d. |
Architectural Illustrations.
No. III.
HANOVER TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK.
"The architectural spirit which has arisen in London since thelate peace, and ramified from thence to every city and town of theempire, will present an era in our domestic history." Such is theopinion of an intelligent writer in a recent number of Brande's"Quarterly Journal;" and he goes on to describe the new erectionsin the Regent's Park as the "dawning of a new and better taste, andin comparison with that which preceded it, a just subject ofnational exultation;" in illustration of which fact we haveselected the subjoined view of Hanover Terrace, being thelast group on the left of the York-gate entrance, and that nextbeyond Sussex-place, distinguishable by its cupola tops.
Hanover Terrace, unlike Cornwall and other terraces of theRegent's Park, is somewhat raised from the level of the road, andfronted by a shrubbery, through which is a carriage-drive. Thegeneral effect of the terrace is pleasing; and the pediments,supported on an arched rustic basement by fluted Doric columns, arefull of richness and chaste design; the centre representing anemblematical group of the arts and sciences, the two ends beingoccupied with antique devices; and the three surmounted withfigures of the Muses. The frieze is also light and simply elegant.The architect is Mr. Nash, to whose classic taste the Regent's Parkis likewise indebted for other interesting architecturalgroups.
Altogether, Hanover Terrace may be considered as one of the mostsplendid works of the neighbourhood, and it is alike characteristicof British opulence, and of the progressive improvement of nationaltaste. On the general merits of these erections we shall availourselves of the author already quoted, inasmuch as his remarks areuniformly distinguished by moderation and good taste.
"Regent's Park, and its circumjacent buildings, promise, in fewyears, to afford something like an equipoise to the boastedPalace-group of Paris. If the plan already acted upon issteadily pursued, it will present a union of rural andarchitectural beauty on a scale of greater magnificence than can befound in any other place. The variety is here in the detachedgroups, and not as formerly in the individual dwellings, by whichall unity and grandeur of effect was, of course, annihilated. Thesegroups, undoubtedly, will not always bear the eye of a severecritic, but altogether they exhibit, perhaps, as much beauty as caneasily be introduced into a collection of dwelling-houses ofmoderate size. Great care has been, taken to give something of aclassical air to every composition; and with this object, thedeformity of door-cases has been in