The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-09-19 00:00:00

THE VENTILATION

The ventilation of this great building—in which the
enormous quantity of hundreds of tons of air is used in
the Great Hall alone at a single sitting on special occa-
sions—is a question that has been the subject of considera-
tion from the commencement of the structure.
At the suggestion of the late Mr. Elmes, whose genius
appears to have been directed to everything that could
enhance the importance of this noble structure, Dr. Reid

this department in
continued to direct it

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s in 1841, since which he

The great features of the arrangement appear to be, that
the whole of the building is treated as a gigantic pneuma-
tic apparatus, in which the air introduced in all the great
apartments is entirely under control, whether in regard
to ingress, egress, temperature, or moisture; while, even
in the individual apartments, special resources have been
secured, more particularly at the fire-places, though in
these rooms the arrangements are not carried out to the

same extent as in the flail, Courts, and Conc,ert-room.
The principal source of supply is obtained at the East
Portico, passing from thence under the Great Hall.
Here, under the centre, a steam-engine, to which the
entering air has no access, from the manner in which the
chamber containing it is constructed, commands four
instruments tlmt receive mid regulate the movement of

the air to

to the south, to the east, and to he

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s heated to any- required
coils of Warm water apparatus.
ljusted to any required temperature; and
channels are also provided, by which the air can be sent
without passing through this apparatus.
The valves enable the air to be directed upon the Great
Hall exclusively, or upon the Courts or the Concert-room.
as may be required, or distributed in varied proportions
upon these or the library and contiguous apartments.
The vitiated air is discharged at the roof of the Great
Hall. The smoke flues are altogether peculiar. Not a
singls chimney is seen outside, but the smoke from
upwards of a hundred fires is conveyed to large horizontal
flues that terminate finally in four vertical shafts concealed
within the angles of the Great Hall. To defend these
from the action of a gale of wind and the endless eddies
that whirl around the angles of the roof, a double provi-
sion has been made, consisting of louvres in the interior,
and externally of large curved deflectors, which turn aside
the strongest currents that play upon them. Open fires
with smokeless fuel have been used continuously since the
Assize Courts were opened in 1851, and no sweeping has
ever been necessary, nor is it expected that they will ever

which sari be

require sweeping.-
The Law Court and Concert-room discharge their
vitiated air into another series of vertical flues, which are
also concealed in the angles of the Great Hall, and numer-
ous special arrangements permit and secure an amount of
ontrol of atmosphere such as, we believe, has not hitherto
been introduced to an equal extent in any other building.
The boilers are placed at the angles of the vaults under
the Great Hall, and, in addition to the power required for
the water apparatus and the engine, additional force is
given for the rapid production of moisture. An auxiliary
steam apparatus has also been supplied for assisting in
the warming of the immense amount of stone-work in the
interior in cold weather. The great flues are fort:lndia
the spaces under the arches that support the floor of the.
Great Hall, the Courts, or the north or south Entrance-
hall. Their size is such that they in general admit of the
tallest men walking erect in them, and the central por-
tion over the engine-room forms a chamber twenty feet in
diameter, from which the air can be propelled in any
direction.

While the use of the engine is required' for the more
perfect and efficient action of the ventilation, a minor
force can be secured by the action of the flues and other
discharges on less important occasions.
To describe the details of such arrangements would
require a volume, so many are the varieties which the
highly decorated state of the architecture has rendered
requisite ; and, indeed, an inspection of the ventilating
apparatus can alone give any proper idea of its great
extent, and of the perfect control and simplicity of its
action, however varied it may appear at first.
We cannot but hope that the example given here of a
building equally free from all the ordinary distortions of
external chimneys, as well as from that smoke which is
palpable in Liverpool, will assist in the introduction of
similar appliances in purifying the general atmosphere of
the town,.while the extent of the movements that comp
mend hundreds of tons of air per day will assist'in deve-
loping that rising taste for a pure air in the habitations
of the people, with all its accompanying influences on the
comfort of public buildings, and the wear and tear of the
constitution among public men ; to say nothing of the
facilities thus given for the more general introduction of
gas, and other practical improvements which have already
attracted public attention in the town.
Large works such as these produce an interest and
impression even upon the casual observer, and lead him,
sooner or later, to reflect upon the condition of his own
dwelling, and to forward the general cause of san4ol7
improvement.

GENERAL REMARKS.

Having now concluded a somewhat detailed, though

necessarily imperfect, survey externally and internally of
this very noble edifice, a very few remarks may not im-
properly be appended, relative to the manner in which
the various departments of the complicated works con-
nected with it have been carried on. In reference to this
subject, a distinguished portion of the merit belongs to
Mr. Robert Rawlinson, whose scientific skill, as an engi-
neer, was conspicuously displayed in his arrangements for
giving strength of fabric, combined with lightness of
material, in the construction of the great arch forming
the ceiling of St. George's Hall. This portion of the
work, which was conducted entirely under his superin-
tendence, was at his recommendation executed chiefly- of
tubular bricks, invented by himself, by the use of which
it is estimated that he saved upwards of a hundred and
sixty tons in the weight of that arch alone. His skill in
constructive art is further attested in connexion with
this arch, by the fact, that so truly had it been turned in
all respects, as only to yield three-eighths of an inch in the.
crown when the centres were struck ! Of the various
tradesmen who have been employed throughout the works
it would be difficult to speak in terms of exaggerated praise.
Of those gentlemen the following are the names, together
with the denomination of work for which they were re-
spectively contractors :
Mr. John Tomkinson, for the stone and brick-work
contained in the carcass of the building, including
the roofing arch of the Great Hall.
Messrs. Nuttall and Hargreaves, Warren-street, for the.
_ _rest of the masonry connected with the building.

c,_
Messrs. Furniss and Kilpin, Lawton-street, for the.
carpentry and joiner work.
Mr. Thomas Jones, Mount-pleasant, for the plasker—
work.

Mr. C. S. Kelsey, Pine-street, modeller.
Mr. W. Porter, Upper Frederick-street, for the
plumber's work.
Messrs. Troutbeck and Wannop, Hanover-street, for
the painting and decorating.
Messrs. Minton and Son, for the encaustic tiles, itt-
chiding the floor of the Great Hall.
Messrs. Weber and Co., Bevington-bush, for tha ge-
neral iron-work.
The Coalbrook-dale Company, for the gates.
Messrs. Messenger, Broad-street, Birmingham, for the
chandeliers.
Messrs. Holden and Parker, Church-street, for the
furnishing and upholstery.

High praise is likewise due to Mr. Weightman, the
borough surveyor, for the able assistance rendered by
him at critical periods during the illness and at the depth,.
of Mr. Elmes ; and in an especial degree to Professor.
Cockerell, for his able superintendence and careful work-
ing out of the details of the splendid structure.
While heartily according to St. George's Hall all the
merit which its most ardent admirers can bestow on it,,
we cannot consent to a blind acquiesence in its superiority
to all other modern structures. Such adulatory remarks
and uncalled.for comparisons are as unwise as they are
greatly unfounded. St. George's Hall. is, without doubt,
a noble structure, and does not require such aid in support
of its claims to excellence as are to be derived from =-
warranted and unwarrantable comparisons. Those are Let
step-dames to its great merit, who claim for it a place MS
unsuited to occupy. Such advocates forget the lofty pne-
tensions of other European structures, overlooking the
artistic claims of the celebrated Winter Palace and noble
Cathedral Church of St. Petersburg; they must be entirebr
oblivious to the majestic grandeur and seductive
beauty of St. Peter's at 'Rome, in which the sublime genius
of Buonarotti found scope for its fullest flights, and on me
area embracing eight English acres, at a cost of ten mil-
lions of pounds sterling, erected a structure whichdeserw-
edly occupies the foremost place among the competitces.
for fame and admiration in modern edificial art. To corns
nearer home, and to approach more closely to our mu
time, they seem wholly forgetful that Inigo Jones reared
Somerset House, or that Sir Christopher Wren constructed
Greenwich Hospital, and completed his claims to British;
architectural supremacy by the erection of St. Paul's--ea
edifice on which a million and a half of pounds sterling were
economically and judiciously expended, in rearing a fabric
to which the British people point with justifiable pride-
Such remarks are made in no captious or depreciatory,
spirit. They are adduced as incentives to further progress,.
which is always best promoted by a due appreciation of
the proper place held by competitors in a contest fen
honourable distinction. In the erection of St. George's
Hall, Liverpool has done itself great honour, but it mast.,
not therefore cajole itself into a belief that the goal of ex-
cellence is therefore won. A highly creditable position izr
the noble race has been achieved, but no small or stinted-
exertion must yet be made, before the competition for pse.-
eminence is completed ; towards that point let every emu.
bus effort be directed, and, rising upwards and pressing
onwards, let every step gained be made a means to farther-
advancement.

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