Introduction

THE portico is characteristic of classic architecture in all countries and at all periods. Its purpose is three-fold: it is used (1) to provide shelter; (2) to emphasise the main entrance to a building; and (3) as a means of imparting dignity and character, at the same time producing effects of light and shade.

A portico may form an integral part of a building and express its mass as a whole; or, it may be reduced to the status of a sub-motive of major interest, or, the scale being relatively still further reduced, several porticoes may be introduced to serve as minor features with the object of enhancing the mass of a building. The proportions governing temple fronts have been generally followed for porticoes, but considerable licence in the disposition of columns, entablatures and pediments is characteristic of many of Renaissance origin.

Porticoes on a large scale express the unity of a building (Fig. 13). Classic temples, such as the Parthenon and other Greek peripteral buildings, and Roman examples, like the Maison Carree at Nimes, have been widely adapted to the requirements of later periods.

The portico may be used singly, as the main feature of the façade of a building, permitting wide variety in the arrangement of the wall behind the projecting columns; or, it may be used in two storeys, such as the double loggia; while in the form of the porte-cochere it first came into use in France and England at the close of the eighteenth century. Other uses can be cited, such as at the entrances to mansions in town and country, and finally, as the minor features characteristic of the “Portico Period” a century ago, when a London house was considered to be incomplete without this type of entrance. For buildings of large size, the portico with or without a crowning pediment should be further considered, first, as an attached feature with its arrangement of steps forming the chief interest and expression of a façade as in the front of the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields by James Gibbs; the National Gallery and University College, both by William Wilkins (see Plate XC for the plans of these); the Mansion House and the Royal Exchange, all in London, and St. George’s Hall, Liverpool. Secondly, as a detached structure, used partly as a propylæum or gateway without an arch but with supporting pylons on either side, and partly as a screen. One of the best designs of this type with supporting colonnades is that of the Portico of Octavia, Rome, which dates from the Augustan age. Other outstanding instances of it are the Brandenburger Thor at Berlin by Langhans; the gateway and lodges at Euston Station, London (Plate LXXXIX), by Thomas Hardwick; the entrance to Chester Castle by Thomas Harrison (Plate LXXXIX), and the gateway on Holyhead Harbour by the same architect.

Attention should also be directed to the attachment of porticoes to buildings, as well as to the arrangement and recessing of the wall surfaces that form their background. In this connection the porticoes of the Pantheon, Rome, the Pantheon, Paris (Plate LXXXVIII), and St. Paul’s Cathedral, London (Plate LXXXVIII), should be studied, in all of which the vaulted ceiling is introduced. Another fine example is the façade of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, by George Basevi, where the ceiling is flat coffered. This particular design is extremely interesting, and a study of its arrangement will show how a portico with pediment and flanking colonnades has been inset between supporting masses in the form of lofty pylons.

Another form of portico curved on plan was derived from the circular temple. It first made its appearance in Italy and France, and Sir Christopher Wren added semi-circular porticoes on a large scale to the transepts of St. Paul’s Cathedral: later, James Gibbs used the same feature at the base of the tower of the Church of St. Mary-le-Strand, London. At the close of the eighteenth century, many English architects had recourse to French methods of planning, with the result that semi-circular porticoes were frequently introduced as minor features for country mansions.

In discussing porticoes, it has not been possible to define rigid principles for their application, neither is it convenient to separate them from the general series of elementary forms; many of the examples of façades illustrated in that series (Plates LXIX to LXXVI) exhibit a portico in some form or another.