The Principles of Architectural Perspective: Prepared Chiefly for the Use of Students: with Chapters on Isometric Drawings and the Preparation of Finished Perspectives

By George Alexander Thomas Middleton

An efficiently arranged text book on perspective for the use of architectural draughtsmen. Its author, the architect G. A. T. Middleton (1861-1935), was for many years a leading figure in the Society of Architects, between 1884 and 1925 an independent breakaway group from the RIBA.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Apr 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781805232254

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Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 3

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 4

CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTORY. 5

CHAPTER II. — SELECTION OF POINT OF SIGHT AND PICTURE PLANE. 7

CHAPTER III. — VANISHING POINTS OF LINES LYING ON THE GROUND PLANE. 12

CHAPTER IV. — PERSPECTIVE VIEWS OF OBJECTS ON THE GROUND PLANE. 17

CHAPTER V. — MEASURING POINTS 24

CHAPTER VI. — VANISHING POINTS IN HORIZONTAL PLANES OTHER THAN THE GROUND PLANE; VERTICAL PLANES AND LINES; HEIGHT. 28

CHAPTER VII. — PERSPECTIVE VIEWS OF RECTILINEAR SOLID OBJECTS. 32

CHAPTER VIII. — CURVED OBJECTS, SPHEROIDS, INTERPENETRATIONS, INTERIORS, BIRD’S EYE VIEWS. 41

CHAPTER IX. — CONVERGENT LINES TO POINTS BEYOND THE LIMIT OF DRAWING BOARD; THE CENTROLINEAD AND ITS USES. 47

CHAPTER X. — VANISHING POINTS IN INCLINED PLANES. 53

CHAPTER XI. — SHADOWS FROM LOCAL SOURCES OF LIGHT. 57

CHAPTER XII. — SHADOWS FROM THE SUN. 61

CHAPTER XIII. — REFLECTIONS. 66

CHAPTER XIV. — ISOMETRIC DRAWING. 70

CHAPTER XV. — FINISHED PERSPECTIVE DRAWING. 74

THE PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURAL PERSPECTIVE

PREPARED CHIEFLY FOR

THE USE OF STUDENTS

WITH CHAPTERS ON ISOMETRIC DRAWING AND THE PREPARATION OF FINISHED PERSPECTIVES

BY

G. A. T. MIDDLETON, A.R.I.B.A.

AUTHOR OF BUILDING MATERIALS, STRESSES AND THRUSTS, THE DRAINAGE OF TOWN AND COUNTRY HOUSES, SURVEYING AND SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS, ETC.

SECOND EDITION, REVISED

ILLUSTRATED WITH FIFTY-FIVE DIAGRAMS AND EIGHT DRAWINGS BY VARIOUS ARCHITECTS

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

ADVANTAGE has been taken of the issue of a second edition of this little book to revise it with every care, correcting a few misprints and introducing words here and there which should further elucidate its explanations. Two new diagrams have been added, Figs. 28 and 32, and another and more correct method of working the centrolinead has been described, but no serious liberties have been taken, and no alterations made except where they have appeared to be essential.

I am indebted to Mr. W. H. Brierley for the loan of the drawing of Northallerton County Hall, of which he is the architect.

G. A. T. MIDDLETON.

April, 1907.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

MY little book entitled Linear Perspective being out of print, it was suggested to me that something more complete of the kind was required by the architectural student. Consequently, instead of a new edition with slight revision only, the present book has been prepared, in which it is endeavoured to present the theory of perspective drawing as a demonstrable branch of solid geometry, so that a student may grasp in logical sequence the principles involved, and obtain such a mastery of them as to render mistakes in their practical application difficult.

A chapter upon Isometric Drawing has been introduced, as this can often be used by an architect with great advantage, and it is rarely to be found explained in readily accessible books; the concluding chapter deals with the preparation of Finished Perspectives, and is illustrated by a series of excellent drawings, for permission to reproduce which I am greatly indebted to their authors, Messrs. F. W. Catterall E. Guy Dawber, C. E. Mallows, T. A. Moodie, R. Phené Spiers, H. I. Triggs, and W. H. Wood.

G. A. T. MIDDLETON.

March, 1903.

THE PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURAL PERSPECTIVE.

CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTORY.

OF the various systems of projection employed by an architect, that known as Perspective is the only one which represents his contemplated building as it would appear to a spectator. Scale drawings, such as plans, sections, and elevations, are perpendicular projections on to plane surfaces, and as such, while absolutely necessary as diagrams to work from, give an entirely false impression to the unpractised—and often to the practised also—as to what any given work will look like when erected in the solid. A perspective drawing, on the other hand, is a convergent projection, rays from the object being supposed to converge or focus upon some one point, and to be intercepted on their road thither, usually by a vertical plane, known as the Picture Plane; though planes other than vertical, and even cylindrical and spherical surfaces, have occasionally been used. Thus, if a one-eyed man keep his eye fixed at the focal point (known as the Point of Sight) and make a drawing of a building on a sheet of glass placed between himself and the building, tracing its outline as it appears to him on the glass, he will produce an exact perspective representation of the building; and conversely if a perspective drawing be made according to theoretic rules, erected in place of the sheet of glass and viewed from the Point of Sight, its outline will correspond with that of the building. If a piece of opaque paper be placed behind the glass, the drawing will still convey a correct impression of the building to the eye; and if the drawing be on