SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES OF FOREIGN EXAMPLES. In many towns, both in France and in Germany, will be found remains of houses of the thirteenth century; usually they have undergone much alteration, particularly in the ground floor, so that original entrances are but seldom extant. It would seem, however, that in general the ground floor was used for store-houses, or in some cases shops, and in France was often built with an open arcade, and that the chief dwelling room was on the first floor. The town houses of this century are usually found to have narrow fronts, and in Germany and the north of France high gables; they are often of three or four, and sometimes of five stories. Examples of houses of this kind may be found at Treves; one large one of transition Romanesque style is not far from the Black Gate, and remains of lesser ones in a street leading northwards from the old Rath-haus, now the hotel called the Rothes Haus. Some of these have the chimney partly projecting from the centre of the front, and corbelled off in an ornamental manner a little above the level of the first floor. A house at Laon, (in the Rue des Chanoines,) which is very late in this century, and has been but little altered, appears to have had a cellar, and over this three stories. The first, or principal floor, has a range of three windows, each of two squareheaded lights; over these are very tall crocketed canopies of much elegance, enclosing tracery of an early character. In this room is a fire-place, the only one of which traces remain. Another class of houses of this century is that of those with towers; of these, probably the most remarkable examples remaining are at Ratisbon. In that city are several of this date, more or less complete. The most perfect seems to be that in the Waller Strasse, which street is said to derive its name from the family to whom this house belonged. It has a tall narrow front of four stories; all the lower part has been altered, but in the fourth story the two original windows remain; each is of two lights, separated by a shaft, the one has trefoiled arches, while those of the other are plain pointed. The front finishes with a cornice, and is not gabled towards the street. The tower ranges with the front of the house, and is tall and slender. It has no less than nine stories; in each is a window of two lights, divided by a shaft, excepting in the third story, in which the window is of three lights, and the ninth, in which there are two small separate windows. These windows are of the most studied variety, no two being quite alike. This building seems to be quite of the end of the century, unless, as may be the case, some of the windows are later insertions. An example of considerably earlier date, and very little altered, remains at Gondorf on the Moselle. It is oblong in plan, with a tower ranging with one of the ends. It is of four stories besides the space in the roof, and has stepped gables at each end. The windows of the ground floor and original entrance have been destroyed or altered; those of the first and second floors are of two lights, while those of M m the third are single lights trefoiled; at one end is a small projecting oriol. There seem to have been no vaulted floors, and the stairs appear to have been of wood, and carried in flights against the wall at the end at which the tower stands. The tower is entered by doors leading from several of the stories; the windows in it are either mere loops, or plain square openings. Its proportions are tall and slender, and it rises considerably above the house. There are remains of fire-places on the ground and the first and second floors. It measures internally about 42 ft. by 28 ft. Houses of a similar character are said to exist at Metz, and perhaps at Toulouse. Of houses of the first class there are remains more or less considerable: at Beauvais, Bourges, Autun, Puy, Tournay (?) Limoges, St. Yrieix, Chagny (?) Cluny, &c. At Laon, besides the house above mentioned, are some considerable remains in a narrow street leading out of the Rue des Chanoines; the most remarkable portions are two immense chimneys with circular shafts. Of thirteenth century houses of greater size and less simple plan, but few remains appear as yet to have been noticed. One fine example exists in the bishop's palace at Laon, now used as the Palais de Justice. The most striking part of this is a large building of three stories; the two lower ones have only small pointed windows, but the upper, which possibly formed a great hall, has two sets, each of three windows, of large size; they probably contained tracery, but modern casements have been placed in every window. On the north side the two lower stories have buttresses, the upper three semicircular turrets, one at each "L'Art en Allemagne par H. Fortoul, vol. ii. p. 486. 1846. Annales Archéologiques, March, A very fine example is engraved and described in the Annales Archéologiques, March, 1846, in the article "Architecture civile du Moyen Age," by F. de Verneilh. |