THE ART GALLERIES

Copyright © 1999 by David H. Fox.  All Rights Reserved

Two art galleries were designed by the Audsleys.  In the late 1880s, the Audsleys were called upon by their fellow members to design the Liverpool Art Club Picture Gallery on 98 Upper Parliament Street, Liverpool.    

The second commission was the firm's first project in the United States and one received very much by chance.  Just prior to his departure on a European trip in June of 1883, Frederick Layton, a wealthy food supplier of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, mentioned to some friends his desire to someday donate an art museum to the city.  Word of this went about and Layton found himself embarrassed when the press inquired about the date of this benefaction.  While on ship, he mentioned his predicament to the gentleman sitting opposite him at dinner--William J. Audsley.  Whether G. A. Audsley was also on the ship is not clear, but the result was the Layton Art Gallery of Milwaukee, opened 5 April 1888.  The following description of what has been described as G. A. Audsley's "favorite" building was probably written by him: .        Allen Johnson (Ed.), Dictionary of American Biography (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1943), 1:422.

As soon as Mr. Audsley's plans had arrived in this country and Messrs. Mix & Howland had worked out the specifications, the ground was broken under the direction of John Roberts, the mason contractor, who had charge of the work from that time till a month or two, when some extra work of painters, glaziers and braziers alone was left undone.  No building was ever more substantially and painstakingly reared in this city, according to the experience of Mr. Roberts.  Unwavering adherence to this policy frequently necessitated vexatious delays and, of course, greatly increased the expense.  But the result is fully commensurate with all sacrifices.  The, by this time popularly familiar, facades present a mixture of the severely plain in general proportions with the fancifully elaborate special features.  The north, south and east walls are of cream brick, unrelieved from basement to coping by naught but simple pilasters of the same material.  The front, however, with the north and southwest corners, is well broken up into portico and vestibule, with their heavy balustrade, supported by fifteen pilasters and piers in Thompson's variant of the Anglo-Hellenic Renaissance.  These, diverging from a pair of noble neo-Egyptian columns in the middle facade of the portico, are arranged about this and along the vestibule singly and in groups of two and three.  These piers and pilasters are certainly unique in the development of one feature, the Astragal or Annulet--neither term is technically incorrect in its application, since the architectural design is not remotely Doric nor yet Ionic; indeed, if properly suggestive of any classic style whatsoever it must be of the Corinthian, because of its florid exuberance.  Be the proper designation therefore what it may, the conventional bead beneath the capital has be elaborated into a section of the shaft, constituting about one-sixth of its entire length.  It is richly carved [molded] in terra cotta to suggest the lotus. In the capital proper, the papyrus is similarly treated and in the frieze the palm and papyrus alternate.  The cornice and architrave are unornamented.  In the balustrade above each pilaster the papyrus appears again, as though a crescent offshoot.  Each of the windows is flanked by small pilasters of its own, when spring a rich efflorescence of the lotus leaf and flower, supporting a plain coping, surmounted by a cornice carved in the style of the main frieze.  Briefly, the structure may be described as being designed in Hellenistic simplicity, elaborated with floral symbology of Egypt, and yet admirably adapted to the climatic rigors of the American Northwest and to the uses of a popular art gallery.  Its dimensions are 100 X 35 X 33, the portico measuring 20 X 10 X 25.

Upon mounting the broad flight of steps leading to the portico, we have, from the vestibule upon which it gives access, the first glimpse of the interior of the gallery.  It reveals an agreeable vista through a double row of stately piers resting upon a tesselated floor of white marble bordered with red slate.  The columns are massive and square with heavy beaded bases, and capitals having an ornament in perfect keeping with the architectural style (Thompsonian Greek) of the exterior.  The vestibule opens into and is continuous with the Sculpture hall, a beautiful salon, 25 feet by 38 feet, flanked by pilasters of the same character as the columns of the vestibule.  These pilasters support a broad, open frieze richly embellished with the uniform style of ornamentation (in altorelievo), of which the conventional Anthemion, Lotus and Papyrus are the elements, and above projects a bold by chastely-filled cornice of severe outline and well proportioned parts.  From the cornice springs the vaulted ceiling--a most graceful cove terminating in a Greek fret with a rosette at each corner.  Above rises the well for the skylight which, in its turn, is similarly ornamented, the fret work here being ingeniously made to mantle the ventilators.

The Sculpture hall, though not perhaps destined to receive a great many pieces of statuary, has the full perpendicular proportions calculated to accommodate every style from the statuette to the colossal.  If it be objected that the size of the Sculpture hall is not in proper proportion with that of the three adjoining picture galleries it can be answered that it is commensurate with the proportional rate of production and acquisition of statues as compared with pictures.  Furthermore the piers of the coping, banks of the staircase, and indeed the whole facade of the exterior of the edifice, offer suitable places for a high order of sculpture in stone or bronze, even in this northern clime.  In its construction this hall would naturally have more architectural pretensions than the galleries, since sculpture bears a more intimate relation to architecture and requires this adjunct as a back-ground.  The decoration is purely sculptural, the walls being painted a simple greenish gray, agreeable to the eye and of sufficient depth of tone to relieve any marble, while it is also light enough to relieve in a reverse manner any bronze or dark colored stone.  The Sculpture hall may therefore be justly admired for its beauty of form, the simplicity of the arrangement, and its perfect adaptation to the uses for which it is intended.

From the Sculpture hall the visitor passes through heavy oak door-ways into the galleries, properly so called.  These are noble rooms, three in number, the main and east one being 30 feet by 80 feet; the north and south ones 25 feet by 40 feet.  They are amply lighted from above and furnished with sliding shades modelled after those in the Riks Museum [Amsterdam, Netherlands].  Notwithstanding the advantage of northern side light, every other kind being more or less mellowed by the rays of the sun, a sky-light, well made and controlled by the shades here used, is undoubtedly preferable to all others.  The apparent reason for this is that in stormy and dark weather, which is precisely that during which art galleries are most frequented, such a light is more abundant and extensive, indeed quite the same as the open canopy of heaven.  Three feet from the floor on the wall a moulding is attached indicating the line of honor for choiceness of position, it being the height at which the pictures of good dimensions can be favorably viewed.  This moulding also serves as a support for the larger pictures; the smaller ones are adjusted upon brackets and all are attached directly to the wall from behind, there being no chains and hooks in the gallery, these latter having been long considered an unmitigated nuisance by all intelligent collectors.  Corresponding to this moulding, and two feet from the wall, runs a plainly finished, brightly burnished iron rail serving as a guard to the pictures.  Oak settees covered with crimson velvet offer momentary rest to the fatigued visitor.

The walls of the north and south galleries are of a deep maroon, dull turpentine finish, while those of the east gallery are more brightly done in Tuscan red oil.  A heavy oak base board, rising almost to the dignity of a wainscot, has the effect of supporting the walls.  Architecturally the galleries are finished above the moulding, twenty feet above the floor, in a manner corresponding exactly with that of the sculpture hall above the pilasters.  But in the galleries chromatic effects, chastely subdued and therefore wholly appropriate, take the place of the severe white in the hall.  A frieze beaded in light and dark bluish green, relieved by a stripe of Tuscan red, supports the magnificent sweep of the cove above shaded greenish olive.  The Greek border is of a darker green, the fret and corner rosettes being bronzed in dull gold.  The skylight well, and its two heavy, yet graceful trusses, are however finished in pure white.

On either side of the vestibule, doors open into the trustees' and curator's rooms respectively, to each of which are attached toilet rooms, splendid in finish and perfect in comfort.  The former is designed for the sessions of the board of trustees, and the latter for the transaction of the routine and directory business of the gallery.  These rooms are artistically decorated, and furnished in a manner worthy the appurtenances of so fine an edifice, Mr. Layton having given the curator carte blanche in the matter.  The walls are of a light olive terminating above in an oak moulding and wide border of twilight green, which is surmounted by a band of deeper hue.  Then follows a simple cove of subdued grayish pink supporting the ceiling composed of an azure border and light buff field striped with golden ochre.  The dado is orange stained with sienna and capped with an ornamentation known as the Trojan pattern.  The floors are spread with druggets of a deep olive with solid maroon borders.  The furniture is of oak, antique finish, made expressly for the gallery to harmonize with the woodwork of the interior.  The lambrequins are of electric blue damask, gracefully draped over brass rods, and the window screens are of olive silk.  The tables are covered with dark green cloth and the chairs with heavy embossed leather of rich design.  The gas fixtures are antique brass chandeliers, the style of Louis Quinze.  This room is further adorned by a large antique and curiously carved standing clock, the gift of John Hargreaves, Esq., Liverpool, Eng.  It is a John Fawcett of Richmond.  Upon the walls of the trustees' room are hung a couple of farmyard miniatures of J. F. Herring's, and the curator's office is adorned with a choice collection of architectural photographs, and a portrait of a pert little Parisian charmeuse from the brush of Edwin C. Eldridge, the gift of Mr. Layton.

After seventy years of use, the Layton Art Gallery, at 758 North Jefferson Street, was demolished in 1958. .        Gregory Filardo, Old Milwaukee (Vestal, NY: The Vestal Press, 1988), 27.