Compromise
Almost immediately, Furness's original vision was compromised as the company expanded. Within a couple years, a low, curved balcony was added at the rear, and another at the front beneath the great Gothic window, accessed by a spiral staircase to the banking floor and later from the building to the east. The bank was expanded north to Ranstead Street, the clerestory windows blocked, and a second balcony added at the rear. By 1888, the Provident had bought up all the adjacent properties to the east, and hired Furness, Evans & Company to build a 10-story office building.
Furness's Provident Building (1888–90) was a disappointment, a busy Bavarian fantasy attached to a model of creative rationalism. On its lower stories, he replicated the polychromatic materials of the bank and echoed the Gothic arch, but mostly the office building was ponderous and pretentious. Its steep, 3-story red-tile roof was matched by a new pyramidical roof for the bank's tower—a duncecap on what had been the brightest student. The office building's 1945 demolition (and the removal of the duncecap) enabled architects to look at the original bank anew.
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Famous quotes containing the word compromise:
“It’s true Heaven forbids some pleasures, but a compromise can usually be found.”
—Molière [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] (1622–1673)
“We need not fear excessive influence. A more generous trust is permitted. Serve the great. Stick at no humiliation. Grudge no office thou canst render. Be the limb of their body, the breath of their mouth. Compromise thy egotism.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The theatre is a gross art, built in sweeps and over-emphasis. Compromise is its second name.”
—Enid Bagnold (1889–1981)