18^17. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



379 



another of similar rude sculpture, are preserved \a two niclies in the Old 

 Bailey front of the present building. 



On tlie removal of all the city gates except Temple-bar, the corporation of 

 London resolved on building a new and mure capacious prison, in the 

 room of Newgate and Ludgate, the latter of wliich was appropriated solely 

 for debtors who were citizens of London. .The duty devolved upon Mr. 

 Dance, the city surveyor, who accordingly prepareil his designs, and the 

 first stone was laid on iNIay 23, 1770, by the lord mayor (Alderman Beck- 

 ford.) This was the last public act of this eminent and patriotic citizen. 

 The prison w^s broken into by the rioters In 1781), the prisoners set free, 

 .ind the Interior burned. It was speedily repaired, and after several recent 

 improvements and alterations has become the city and county felons' gaol. 

 On a continuous rusticated ground story are erected a central building 

 and two wings, deeply recessed from each other, and producing thereby an 

 harmonious proportion of light and shade; The governor's house a»d 

 offices, some of which have been occasionally used f )r slate prisoners under 

 punishment for political offences, occupies the central building, and in the 

 solid wall between it and the wings are constructed doors of solemn and 

 gloomy aspect, leading to tlie two different departments of the prison. Over 

 these doors are representations in sculpture of fetters, clialns, and hand- 

 cuffs, such as were formerly in use for felons. These, with the entrance- 

 doors and windows to the governor's house, are the only apertures next the 

 street, and, with the coarse chamferred rusticated stones of which the 

 building Is composed, and the massive modillion cornice and plain blocking 

 course with which It is surmounted, give an air of sombre melancholy 

 appearance to the buildlug, truly characteristic of the purpose for which it 

 was erected. Indeed, It may be considered as one of the most characteris- 

 tic, designs that ever emanated from an architect's mind. When viewed 

 from the western end, from which tlie lateral front next Newgate-street 

 being that of the north wing, with Its deep recesses terminating with the 

 south wing next the court-yard, which separates it from the sessions-house, 

 the merits of the design are peculiarly striking. 



The other prison, that called Glltspur-street Compter, owes Its origin to 

 the same cause as the former, and was erected In the stead of two or three 

 smaller, dilapidated, and less commodious houses of detention. It is situated 

 on the eastern side of CTlltspur-street, In a line northward of Newgate. 

 The elevation is composed of a centre and two wings projecting from the 

 main body of the building, which Is of Portland stone, laid in rusticated 

 courses, and as It is more a house of correction for misdemeanors, and for 

 the detention of untried prisoners till taken before a magistrate, than a 

 penal gaol, it has a series of small semicircular headed windows, and a 

 single central door next the street. Fur the same reasons, the design Is 

 less gloomy, and also less picturesque, than its more solemn neighbour ; 

 yet it is au excellent and very appropriate design. 



The Lunatic Asylum of St. Luke's, Middlesex, Is another work of the 

 same architect, the original building, which was established by voluntary 

 contributions, as an improvemeat upon the royal hospital of Bethlehem, 

 being taken down to make way for the new square and other buildings on 

 the FInsbury estate of the corporation of London. It stands on the north 

 side of Old'Street-road, and is au extensive and lofty building, consisting 

 of a centre and two wings, bearing a just and harmonious proportion to 

 each other, and to the buildings which unite them. They are divided into 

 a series of semicircular recesses and piers. The semicircular part, which 

 is near the ceiling of each story, gives light and air to the cells without ex- 

 posing the unhappy inmates to the gaze, and ofien derision, of the multi- 

 tude, as was the case in the old hospital in Moorfields. Its whole aspect 

 is commanding and highly characteristic of the use to which it is designed, 

 and shows how far genius may use even the plainest materials — this build- 

 ing being, like many of Palladio's, plain brick and a few simple stone 

 dressings; and It is not too much to say that few buildings in our metro- 

 polis, or perhaps in Europe, surpass this for uuity and appropriateness of 

 style. 



The Royal College of Surgeons, on the south side of LIncoln's-lnn-fields, 

 is another example of the genius of this tasteful architect. The building 

 is very extensive, occupying a large frontage next LIncoln'sinu-fields, and 

 a great depth lo its south front in Portugal-street. The principal front is 

 decorated by a six-columned portico of the Ionic order, tastefully adapted 

 from the Illssus, with a proper entablature and acroteria. In the frieze is 

 inscribed—" Collegium Regale Chirugorum." 



Upon the acroteria above the entablature are a row of antique bronze 

 tripods, attributes of Apollo Medicus, the ancient tutelary god of surgery. 



Over the centre intercolumniation is a massive shield, on which is sculp- 

 tured the armorial bearings of the college, supported by two classical 

 figures of /Esculaplus, with his club and mystic serpent. In the interior 

 are a spacious and handsome museum, board and council-rooms, libraries, 

 conversation rooms, a handsome hall, and domestic apartments. 



The Royal Academy thought so well of the principal front of this build- 

 ing, as to propose It as a tit subject for the competition of Its architectural 

 students, who were required to present two drawings, one In outline, Ggurcd 

 fi'om actual measurement, and the other shaded and tinted; when their 

 first silver medal was awarded for the best drawings to Mr, George Allen, 

 whose premature death was mentioned in these pages a few months since. 



The college have recently made large additions and improvements to this 

 building, by adding two columns to the portico, an additional length on the 

 front, and many alterations in the interior, under the direction of James 

 Barry, Esq,, R,A., architect of the new Houses of Parliament, 



The gallery of the British Institution, in Pail-Mall, Is another instance 

 of this architect's taste and invention. The principal front is amenable to 

 no architectural law ; yet It Is a beautiful architectural composition. The 

 picture galleries are harmonious in proportion and well lighted. It was 

 originally built for the tirst Alderman Boydell, for the reception of the pic- 

 tures that were painted at his expense, for his splendid edition of Shak- 

 speare; and was called, until Its present occupancy, "The Shakspeare 

 Gallery." Its use was indicated by one of the most elegant pieces of sculp- 

 ture ever executed In modern times, representing the apotheosis of Shak- 

 speare, by Banks. 



The south front of Guildhall, another work of this architect, has received 

 much censure from not having fallen within the rules of any style of Pointed 

 architecture hitherto executed. That Mr, Dauce was not ignorant of th« 

 proportions of Gothic architecture, although he might not worship It with 

 all the fervour of the black-letter Dr. Dryasdusts, may be proved by his 

 able restoration of the ancient church of St. Bartholomew the less, before 

 the rebuilding of the interior by Mr. Hardwick. , The fapade of Guildhall 

 belongs to no style, and is amenable to no laws ; but may be considered as 

 a fanciful dream of its inventor, composed of civic ornaments of swords and 

 maces, caps of maintenance, shields, and other civic heraldry, embellished 

 witli windows neither Gothic nor Hlndiistauee, but a mixture of both, as 

 if some of the pictures of his eastern friends, Hodges and Daoiells, with 

 some of VV^ren's, had been floating before his eyes like dissolving views. 

 The porch Is surmounted by a row of queer-looking ornaments, resembling 

 nothing so much as the back flaps of George the Third's life-guards. It is, 

 however, a picturesque and most original composition. Whatever faults 

 may be attributed to Mr. Dance's front to the Guildhall, they are more 

 than compensated for by his well-proportioued, original, and elegant cham- 

 ber erected for the meetings of the common council of the city of London. 

 The room is of the proportion of two cubes, the centre being giveu to the 

 body of the court, on the floor of which are ranges of seats for the com- 

 moners. The western half-cube Is raised above the level of the court, and 

 is appropriated to the chair of Ihe lord mayor, a bench on either side for 

 the aldermen, recorder, and sheriffs, with a seat and table below for the 

 accommodation of the town-clerk, the common crier, and the clerk of the 

 court. The eastern half-cube is separated from the body of the court by a 

 bar, at which counsel, petitioners, and other persons who have to address 

 the court, appear. From the door below the bar is a passage leading to a 

 commodious reporters' box at the further end ; and at the eastern end of the 

 chamber Is a spacious gallery for persons wishing lo hear the debates, 

 which is free to every one so long as there is room. The centre of the court 

 is covered by au elegantly-proportioned spherical cupola, supported on 

 four segmental arches, and lighted from above by a capacious circular 

 lantern. In the spandrels under the cupola were formerly four allegorical 

 figures, palnled by Richard Westall, R.A., but being much injured by 

 damp were removed. At the upper end of tlie chamber over the lord 

 mayor's chair Is a fine marble statue of George III,, executed by Chantrey, 

 at a cost of upwards of 3,000/, Under each pendentive of the cupola is a 

 marble bust on a lofty pedestal of Nelson, Wellington, and Granville 

 Sharpe. The walls are decorated with several fine historical pictures and 

 portraits, many of which were the gift of the first Alderman Boydell, 



One more building of this Mr, Dance must be mentioned, for the bold 

 originality with which he violated one of the first principles of his art, and 

 which may be condemned by Palladian pedants, as the Dryasdusts have 

 his Guildhall-Gothic — namely, the little church of St, Alphage, in London- 

 wall. The ancient church on this spot escaping the fire of London, 

 became, about the time the additions to Guildhall were proceeding, so 

 dilapida'.ed, that it was rebuilt from this architect's designs. The singn- 



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