The Institute Building. 25 



v.— THE INSTITUTE BUILDING. 



In the year 1869 the Institute occupied two rooms in the Westminster Palace Hotel, 

 temporary office-room having been previously given in Victoria Chambers by Sir 

 George Verdon, a Member of the Council. In the following year, rooms were acquired 

 au 20, Suffolk Street, Pall Mall East, In 1871 the subject of house accommodation was 

 again considered, and on November 20 of that year three rooms, constituting the first 

 floor of 15, Strand, were engaged at an annual rental of £150. This accommodation 

 was extended by taking in the upper floor of that house on January 7, 1873. 



In the year 1883 it was decided to acquire a permanent home for the Institute in 

 lieu of the very inadequate premises hitherto occupied. The lease of a site in Northum- 

 berland Avenue — the freehold of which has since been purchased — was secured, and, 

 after a total expenditure of £50,000, 'part of the present substantial and commodious 

 building was occupied in 1885. 



The growing importance of the Institute, the widening of its scope, and increase of 

 its membership rendered extension of the premises in occupation a matter of pressing 

 urgency, and in June 1910 the opportunity was afforded to absorb and consolidate 

 the whole property for the use and benefit of the Fellows. 



Under a reconstruction scheme the premises in Northumberland Avenue were 

 almost entirely rebuilt, with the idea of providing more suitable and adequate accom- 

 modation. As a result, instead of the seven inconveniently small and inappropriate 

 rooms formerly available, there are twenty-five well-equipped rooms, and the building 

 as it now stands consists of five stories apportioned as follows : In the basement is 

 the parliamentary library, library store-rooms, and the Information Bureau, together 

 with lavatories, &c. On the ground floor is the entrance-hall, on the left of which is a 

 general-room in which smoking is allowed and the daily papers, writing materials, &c., 

 are available. On the right is a reception-room in which ladies, as well as the Fellows, 

 can obtain tea and coffee, and meet their friends. On the right again are the hall 

 porter's lodge where Fellows obtain their correspondence, and the general office, in 

 which is the chief clerk's room. On the mezzanine floor is the Secretary's depart- 

 ment. The general library occupies the whole of the first floor. On the half-landing 

 between the first and second floors is the law library and map-room. On the second 

 floor, occupying the whole of the frontage to Northumberland Avenue and the portion 

 of the Craven Street premises, is the newspaper-room, a spacious apartment in which 

 the newspapers, official gazettes, &c., from all parts of the Empire are regularly filed. 

 On the third floor are the council-room and smoking-room, and on the fourth floor the 

 editorial department, the Empire lectures department, a typewriting room for the use 

 of the Fellows where letters can be dictated and typed, and the housekeeper's quarters. 



