Year: 1861

One magnificent nave will be continued from


this entrance in the Exhibition Road to the extreme


end of the building in the grounds of the Horticu


tural Society, and at the termination of this the


second dome will rise. The nave is, therefore,


to be 200 feet long by s5 feet wide and 100 high


The transepts, in which it terminates at either end


will be each 700 feet long by IS broad and 100 high


All the roofs will be of wood coated with felt, and


meeting in the centre at angle like the roof of


Westminster Hall and most of our old cathedrals.


The effect, however, from the interior will not be


that OF an angular roof, as the girders will be


arehed and colored, and these the eye will natu


rally rest. The method of lighting the interior


is one of the best that could be devised. In the


building OF 1851, all the screens that could be made
were insufficient to keep down the glare of the sun,
while on wet days all the of the plumbers
could not prevent the rain from dripping in. The
wooden painted roof does away at once with the
chances of rain in the proposed edce, and the new
method of lighting will have equal advantages.


On the side walls, beneath the roof OF all the
naves and transepts, will be clerestory, 25 feet
high, of glass and iron, which, with the light from
the domes, the glass and iron entrance, and the
windows in the walls, will make the light as equal
as 1t was throughout the building in 1851; while,
from the fact of this one being erected due east
and west, the glare of the sun is obviated The
galleries and interior columns of the structure are
exceedingly beautiful in design, and also is the
design for the iron-work cerestory. The columns
to carry the galleries are double, % feet apart and
" feet high To these will be fastened the broad
galleries which run all round the building though
the columns themselves will be continued up to the
clerestory to where the springing of the roof com
mences. Each of the main entrances beneath the
dome will be 60 feet high by so wide, with two
smaller porches at either, 40 feet by Is feet. In
addition to these there will be three entrances on
each side OF the building, facing the Cromwell and
Prince Albert roads, each of which will be sc feet
nigh by ~ feet wide. The picture gallery will run
the whole length of the structure, and will be situ-
ated on the Cromwell road side. This will be built
OF brick, with wall thickness of about two feet.
The pictures will not be hung higher than "a feet
from the floor; therefore only the upper portion of
this immense wing, if it may be termed, will be
used as the gallery for modern art. The basement
story will be set apart for the exhibition of car
riages and road vehicles of all kinds.


The picture gallery will be lighted by cleres-
tory as the other parts of the building By divid-
ing the space allotted to the paintings by brick
wall down the middle longitudinally, two galleries
are made, running parallel with each other, and |
each each 80 feet wide by 35 feet high. Thus, alto
gether, the Commissioners have length of wall |
space of four thousand six hundred feet at their |
disposal, or little than double the wall |
space of the Manchester Exhibition. The |
space set apart for machinery and agricultural |
implements will be in a kind of special wing |
erected for the purpose on the opposite side of the
building to that on which the picture gallery will
De situated. On the inner side of this department |
md between implements and the horticultural gar
lens, the kitchens will be built for the various re-
reshment departments. The whole design and all
he plans connected with the building are the work |
If Captain Fowke, r. E., and we think the public
will pronounce that, for the purpose for which it
Intended, no more beautiful structure has ever
'een planned, and certainly none could be better
'dapted Tor fulfilling all its various uses. The |
ime fixed for the exhibition is the same as that in
65l, viz: from the lst of May to the 18th of Oc-
ober. We believe her Majesty will close it in
person. The guarantee fund now amounts to


early t3OO,OOO, and it is anticipated that it will
xtend to much larger sum in the course of
reek two.