The Express.
London, England, 1857-05-04 00:00:00

the line of

between. him and thO

Abbey, including the demolition of Fludyer-street,
Crown-street, Charles-street, and one side of Great
George-street, right back to the Park and Storey's-
gate. That forme the northern half of the proposed
clearance. Let him now cross the way, and go on
till he has pawed Richmond-terrace. When he has
reached the iron gate leading into Richmond-mews,
let him panne again, and suppose a similar clearance
effected of all on his left hand between the line of
Parliament-street and the river bank, sweeping
away Cannon-row, Manchester-buildings, and both
sides of Bridge-street. This is the southern half of
the proposed clearance.
Such a clearance as thie would obviously afford, if
rightly improved, a grand opportunity for Metropo-1
litan embellishment ; it is not, however, a necessary
part of the plan for the concentration of the Govern-
ment Offices, and the case made out for it rests on
different grounds. The concentration of the Offices is
a proved economical necessity. The efficiency. of
the public service suffers materially, the expensive-
Seel of the public service is materially increased, by
the present dispersion of the buildings in which
it is carried on. The argument, then, for the coneentra-
lion of the Offices is economical as well u ;esthetic;
that for the improvement of the ground and ap-
preaches is aesthetic merely. In the present state of the '
national finances, there is little reason to anticipate
that the Legislature will pay much attention to con-
siderations of a purely esthetic character. We have
spent too much in demolishing Sebastopol (to say
nothing of what we may have to pay for demolieking
Clinton) to have much left for beautifying London.
The result, as far as it affects the present exhibition
of designs, must in all probability be, that out
of the 146 sets of drawings, models, and
plans sent in for competition to Westminster-hall,
those will probably be considered best to have
answered the practical end in view which combine
the three requisites of fitness for the accommodation
of the Government Offices, architectural merit, and
comparative economy.
Bearing these considerations in mind, it will
speedily become obvious to those who visit this ex-
hibition of designs, that many of the plans here sub-
mitted to public inspection must be regarded rather
as beautiful architectural dreams than practicable
possibilities. It is impossible, indeed, to walk up
and down the three narrow boarded Melee, which,
stretching from end to end of the great Hall, are
thickly covered with the results of architectural
ingenuity and toil, without feeling considerable gra-
tification at the evidence they afford of varied talent
and high professional skill. Few of the designs are
positively bad many evince a high order of ingenuity
and great felicity of combination. One or two are of
commanding merit ; one, in our opinion, considering
all the conditions of the problem to be solved, leaves
very little, if anything, to be desired. We may as
well say at once that the design to which we
should, on the whole, be thusinclined to give the pre-
ference is that numbered 141, and inscribed with the
motto, "Nee temere nee timide," This plan proposes
to concentrate all the Government Offices under one
roof, instead of dividing them, as is the case in
nanny of the designs, into two or more separate
monies of building. The frontage ranges along the
=line of King-stmt. The architect (as is
se also in plan 71) proposes to avail himself of
the existing Treasury building in Whitehall as form-
ing, with alterations, one wing of his great facade.
The alteration consists of increasing the elevation of
the existing building, by the addition at each of its
extremities of a second order. The two wings, thus
altered, would be connected bye grand centre, under
whisk an archway of the boldest dimensions gives
mews into a spacious quadrangle. The whole mass
of building will form a vast square, and from an in-
spection of the block plans, &c., it appears that the
eassunt of space required by Government will be
adequately and even abundantly provided for. AS
an architectural elevation, the facade of the pros
palled palace is imposing, from its vast extent, its
simplicity., and unostentatious good sense—a quality
as appreciable and as pleasing in buildings as in
builders. Its want is heights In order, probably,
to " draw up" the rest of the building, the architect
has planned in the north-west angle of the Park
frontage a vast square tower, to be called the
Albert Tower, and which in bulk, at all
evente, would form a counterpart to the great
Victoria Tower of Sir Charles Barry. But
here we think the comparison ends. The Italian
style does not lend itself to this kind of structure
with the same ease as the Gothic, and on the whole
the tower of No. 141 would, we think, be better
away. Supposing the tower struck out and an in-
ceased elevation given to the façade we an
hardly fancy a plan better adapted thai; this very
ingenious design to provide an adequate building for
the new Government Offices, which shall at the
some time be a conspicuous ornament to the
metropolis. The employment it makes of the
existing Treasury buildings must of course prove
• recommendation on the score of economy. The
other designs by which we were more particularly
struck were No. 76, No. 107, No. 112, and No. 126.
Meanwhile the Exhibition is an interesting one ; and
we advise everybody who cares about the architec-
tarsi decoration of London to go and see it.