Читать книгу The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's Work - Virginia Penny - Страница 48

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We scarcely know to what extent this branch of business can come within the province of woman. Yet it is as practicable, perhaps, as some we mention. Civil architecture is the only one open to women. In this art we are as a people little more than novices; yet great improvements are going on. In a century's time, perhaps, the art in this country will have obtained the perfection of ancient nations. Properzia di Rossi, born in Bologna, 1490, is said to have furnished some admirable plans in architecture. The author of "Women Artists" mentions as designers in architecture, Madame Steenwyck, of the Dutch school, and Esther Juvenal, of Nuremberg. She also gives the name of a lady who was a practical architect in Rome, in the seventeenth century—Plautilla Brizio—who has left monuments of her excellence in that species of art. The villa Giraldi, near Rome, is the joint work of this lady and her brother. "The wife of Erwin von Steinbach materially assisted her husband in the erection of the famous Strasbourg cathedral; and within its walls a sculptured stone represents the husband and wife as consulting together on the plan." The most varied and general information is desirable for a first-class architect. A knowledge of drawing and the first principles of geometry are the most important requisites. Some architects select the materials for the building, which of course requires a knowledge of the different kinds and conditions of wood, their fitness for various parts of a building; also, the qualities of iron, stone, brick, and whatever goes toward making up the building. An architect should also select the most suitable site for the erection of the intended structure, which would be decided, to some extent, by the way in which it was to be used. He also should be able to judge the nature of the soil, and the way in which a want of fitness may be remedied. Then he must see that the foundation is securely laid; and, as the building progresses, that the workmen carry out the details of the plan which he furnishes. Much of this work seems unsuitable for women; but the making and executing of plans could be very well done by them. It would give exercise to their taste and inventive talents. Men employed in architectural drawing earn from $1.25 to $3 a day of ten hours. Miss H. told me of a wealthy lady in New York who is quite an architect by nature. Mrs. D. told me of a young lady of her acquaintance who is gifted with talents that would make a superior architect. She has planned several houses for her father, who has sold them at an advance of from $3,000 to $4,000, on account of the convenient arrangement of the rooms and their tasteful decoration. She displays exquisite taste in the selection and arrangement of furniture. She is withal economical in her expenditures. She is a close calculator of the cost of materials, and a great economist of space.