178 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



storage purposes. The divisions of the basement are 

 the same as those of this story, there being a cellar 

 under each store; but that under the eastern store is 

 occupied by the boiler for heating the building, and for 

 the storage of fuel. 



The entrance to the part of the building occupied by 

 the Society is by a flight of marble steps ten feet in 

 width, carried up between the two stores on Tremont 

 Street, and leading into a spacious vestibule. Here, on 

 each side of the door to the Lower Hall, is a marble tab- 

 let, that on the right being inscribed with the date of 

 the dedication of the building, the names of the Building 

 Committee and the Committee on the Statues, and those 

 of the architects and sculptor ; while that on the left 

 commemorates the foundation of Mount Auburn Ceme- 

 tery by the Society. The hall on this floor is 50 by 57 

 feet, besides the large, recessed stage, which is placed 

 between the private staircase previously mentioned, and 

 an anteroom in the south-easterly corner of the building. 

 It is lighted by three windows on each side, and fin- 

 ished with Ionic pilasters ; and the ceiling is supported 

 by four pillars of the same order, to correspond to that 

 on the outside in this story. These pillars and pilasters 

 sustain beams by which the ceiling is divided into large 

 panelled compartments, the walls being also decorated 

 with panelling. All the rooms of this story are seven- 

 teen feet high in the clear. 



This hall is ornamented with portraits and busts of 

 many of the founders, prominent members, and bene- 

 factors of the Society, which have been placed there 

 from time to time by the friends of these gentlemen, in 

 recognition of their services to the Society. The marble 

 bust, by Milmore, of Charles O. Whitmore, was pre- 



