THE UPPER HALL. 181 



the dome of the State House beyond. The room is 

 lighted also at one end by a window on Bromfield 

 Street, and at the other by one on Montgomery Place. 

 Its dimensions are about 50 feet by 20 ; and the north- 

 ern end may, by folding doors, be shut off into a 

 separate room for the use of the Fruit Committee. 

 Under the stairs leading to the Upper Hall are two 

 small rooms opening both into the Library Room and 

 the vestibule ; that on the southerly side of the building 

 being appropriated to the Flower Committee, and that 

 on the north for general purposes. 



The ascent to the Upper Hall is from the vestibule, 

 by a broad flight of stairs on each side of the building. 

 The stage is placed, as in the Lower Hall, between the 

 private stairway and an anteroom, and, excepting the 

 space taken up by these, the hall occupies the entire 

 upper story of the building, the length (not including 

 the stage) being 96 feet, the width 50 feet, and the 

 height 26 feet. It has a graceful coved ceiling rest- 

 ing on a rich cornice, supported by pilasters, the capi- 

 tals of which correspond with those on the outside of 

 this story. The faces of these pilasters, as well as of the 

 piers which support the arched window-heads, are orna- 

 mented with moulded panels. The walls are dadoed to 

 the height of the window-sills (as are also those of the 

 Lower Hall and vestibule), forming a stylobate for the 

 pilasters. The panels between the cross-beams on 

 the ceiling of this hall are ornamented with bold 

 mouldings, with drops at the intersections. Over the 

 head of the stairway in each front corner of the building 

 is a gallery, which formerly extended across the end of 

 the hall, the central portion having been removed in 

 1871. These galleries are supported by Doric pilasters 



