还记得在第21章某一段里我们将建筑物的内部和外部放在一起来谈的吗？怀特豪尔宫宴会厅是一个重外轻内的典型范例。建筑物外部看起来像有两层楼，但实际上，里面只有一层——只是一个四面都有阳台的大房间。
然而，宴会厅是一座漂亮的建筑物，内外都一样抢眼。看看它那些临街的罗马式柱子和粗糙质朴的石块，简直就像是意大利文艺复兴式建筑物。宴会厅一直还叫宴会厅，尽管它被用作礼拜堂很多年，但最终被用作博物馆。
英国在伊尼哥·琼斯之后接下来的一位伟大建筑师，却不是搞建筑的。至少一开始不是。他是一位航天员和大学教授。他就是克里斯多弗·雷恩爵士。
克里斯多弗·雷恩爵士因为一场大火而成了一名著名的建筑师。这是1666年发生的世界上最大的火灾之一。伦敦一栋大楼突然起火，火势迅猛，难以泼灭，很快就蔓延到其他建筑物。没过多久，伦敦的一大片区域都被烧毁了。《伦敦桥被烧毁》这首歌唱的就是1666年的那场大火。除了伦敦桥和成千上万栋建筑物外，还有五十座教堂被烧毁。其中最大的一座教堂是古老的圣保罗大教堂。克里斯多弗·雷恩爵士受命重新设计圣保罗大教堂和其他教堂。
克里斯多弗爵士认为哥特式建筑丑陋不堪。他喜欢文艺复兴式建筑风格，所以他就把新的圣保罗大教堂建成了文艺复兴式。
圣保罗大教堂和哥特式大教堂一样，也取十字形样式。但在交口处上方克里斯多弗爵士建了一个非常大的圆顶，再安上一座石制顶灯。圆顶实际上是三层一体的——外面圆顶，里面是圆顶的天花板，中间是砖砌夹层。这个砖砌夹层在圆顶中支撑着很重的石制顶灯。
圣保罗大教堂的外部有两层柱子，一排在另一排上面，像宴会厅一样。这就使它比罗马的圣彼得大教堂更好看，因为圣保罗大教堂的双层柱要比圣彼得大教堂的单层巨柱在判断高度上能提供一个更好的比例。
不幸的是，圣保罗大教堂建造得有点粗心。墙壁材料质量低劣，久而久之，整个教堂就会倒塌。几年前，工人们给大教堂的地基和支撑结构进行了加固，有一段时间教堂没有开放。如今大门又敞开了，大教堂加固了，不会倒塌了。
克里斯多弗·雷恩爵士自己就葬在圣保罗大教堂里。他的墓上用拉丁语刻着：“如果你想看看我的纪念碑，那就看看你的周围吧。”圣保罗大教堂就是他的纪念碑。圣保罗大教堂不仅是英国最大的教堂，而且是伦敦的伟大丰碑。
说到克里斯多弗·雷恩爵士所设计的其他五十多座教堂，没有哪两座是相似的。有些因外部设计出名，大多因漂亮的内部装饰知名，更多则因优雅的尖塔闻名。事实上，克里斯多弗·雷恩爵士是因他设计的文艺复兴式尖顶而扬名天下。人们非常钟爱这种设计，以至于美洲殖民地教堂也修建了类似于他设计的尖顶。
关于文艺复兴式建筑规则和设计的书籍今天都有出版，许多建筑物正是依据这些书上的描述和设计而诞生。比如帕拉迪奥论建筑的书就已译成英语，被英国和美国的建筑师们广泛使用。
英国在克里斯多弗·雷恩爵士死后很多年后还在使用文艺复兴式建筑风格。在乔治一世、乔治二世和乔治三世统治时期，文艺复兴式建筑在英国形成了自己特有的风格。它被称作“乔治风格”。我们在后面谈论美国建筑时，会更多地涉及乔治风格。
FROM HUTS TO HOUSES
从茅屋到房屋
JUST suppose you had to go to a wild，unexplored land and live there the rest of your life.What kind of house would you build？Probably you would build a log cabin if you had an ax and could find plenty of trees.But if you had never heard of a log cabin，the chances are you would build some other kind of shelter that you had heard of—a cave perhaps.
The first English settlers who landed in America had never seen a log cabin.What they thought of first were the little huts of the charcoal burners that they had seen in the woods in England.These huts were made of branches and twigs woven together，somewhat as a wicker chair is woven.The early settlers built their shelters like the charcoal huts and put steep-pointed thatched roofs on them.Do you know what a thatched roof is？It’s a roof made of straw.When these huts were finished，they must have looked very much like the wigwams of the Indians.
But what about log cabins？Surely the early settlers used them？Yes，they did use them as soon as the Swedes had settled in Delaware.The Swedes had lived in log cabins in Sweden and when they came to America where logs were easy to get，they built log cabins there also.Then the use of log cabins quickly spread.Log cabins were used by the pioneers and settlers as they pushed west away from the seacoast，for trees were plentiful.
At least one log cabin has become famous.It is the one Abraham Lincoln was born in.Now the whole cabin is kept in a big marble building built especially to hold it and protect it at Hodgenville，Kentucky，Some of the early buildings that the settlers from England built were Gothic in style.At Jamestown in Virginia the settlers built a simple little brick Gothic church which has since fallen to pieces.But another little early church called St.Luke’s is still standing.St.Luke’s has the pointed windows and steep roof of the Gothic，and this seems strange because the Renaissance had reached England some years before America was settled by Englishmen and the Gothic style had gone out of style in England.
In New England as well as in Virginia some of the early houses were Gothic.They were built of wood and had windows opening at the side on hinges （the way a door opens），with many small panes of glass in each window—casement windows they are called.Generally the second story of these houses stuck out a foot or so beyond the first story so that there was an overhang in front.Several of these old Gothic houses are still standing.
After a while books about architecture began to find their way into the Americancolonies.These books came from England where Renaissance architecture was in full swing.The books had plans and diagrams or drawings in them which the American carpenters found very handy guides for making houses.King George was reigning in England，first King George I，then George II，then George III，and so the English Renaissance architecture was called Georgian architecture.And after the first few Gothic buildings our early American architecture was Georgian too.We call it now Georgian Colonial or sometimes just Colonial.
Most of the Georgian Colonial houses were made of wood in the North and of brick in the South，but in Pennsylvania stone was used.The houses weren’t built by regular architects，but by the master carpenters who used the books sent from England to guide them.The houses were so suited to this country that architects to-day still often use this Georgian Colonial style for houses.
Besides Georgian Colonial there was Dutch Colonial much liked by the Dutch settlers in New York.The Dutch Colonial houses generally had a roof that sloped down beyond the front of the house to cover the porch.The Dutch Colonial style is also being used again in modern houses in America.
The Colonial houses were generally made plain and simple.They were never decorated much，like Baroque buildings，and that is one reason they seem so charming to us.Most of the decoration was carved in wood on the doorways，the mantel-pieces，the stairways，and the ceilings.Sometimes there were wooden pilasters or half columns or columns in the Roman style at each side of the door.Often there was a transom window over the front door.This would be decorated with carved wooden tracery sometimes in the shape of a fan，and called a fan-light.
