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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[October, 



It affords us much pleasure to be able to furnish our readers, through 

 the kindness of the talented architect Mr. H. Lonsdale Elmes, wilh a 

 copper-plate engraving of the principal facade of St. George's Hall, 

 Liverpool, now in course of erection, and which, when finished, will 

 justly be the pride of Liverpool; and from what we have seen of the 

 designs of the interior, we can safely say that it will stand pre-emi- 

 nently as one of the most noble buildings of this country. It is a 

 pleasure to find, which we desire to see more general, that the Com- 

 mittee very ably support Mr. Elmes in his designs, and do not attempt 

 to mar the general effect on the score of penury or false economy. 



The judicious appropriation of the spaces with the recesses be- 

 tween the pilasters, for figures and bas-relievo is excellent ; it will 

 afford the Liverpool people an opportunity to display their patriotism 

 by erecting statues with appropriate tablets below, in commemo- 

 ration of men who have devoted their talents to the extension of the 

 arts and sciences, to commerce and manufactures, such as Watt, Davy, 

 Dalton, Brindley, Woolfe, Arkwright, Stephenson, See. 



The general dimensions of the building, with some very appropriate 

 remarks, have already appeared in the "Companion to the Almanac " 

 for 1842, of these, and the wood engravings, we shall avail ourselves, 

 with some addition and correction; the wood engraving*, although not 

 strictly correct in all their details, are sufficiently so to show the 

 general character of the building and its situation. 



It was originally intended that the "Hall" and the "Courts" 

 should form two separate structures; and ground for the purpose 

 having been given by the corporation in the spring of 183'.', pre- 

 miums were offered for designs for the first-mentioned and shortly 

 afterwards for the oilier building; and in both competitions (the first 

 of 75, the second of 8li candidates) the first premium (2.'>u ami 3no 

 guineas respectively) was awarded to Mr. H. Lonsdale Elmes, whose 

 design for the " Hall " presented a Grecian Ionic colonnade, while 

 that for the Assize Courts showed a Grecian Doric facade, consisting 

 of a central portico and lateral colonnades immediately connected 

 with it. According to the instructions first given, St. George's Hall 

 was to have been on the site near T in the aunexed block plan of 

 the situation, while the courts would have been as at present, so that 

 the two buildings would have stood at right angles to each other, the 

 "Hall" with its principal front facing [the south, the facade of the 

 courts being to the cast, and opposite that of the railway terminus, 

 which is also shown in the plan. This arrangement was, however, 

 subsequently abandoned, as St. George's Hall must have been over- 

 lapped by the other at its western extremity, it being impossible to set 

 back the latter so as to clear the facade of the hall, and allow the 

 whole of it to be seen in a front direction. As the successful compe- 

 titor for both buildings, Mr. Elmes was accordingly instructed to re- 

 model his plans, when it was finally determined to unite the two into 

 a single pile, and, so altered, his design was finally approved by the 

 Town Council (May, 1841), and the foundations shortly after com- 

 menced. The following perspective sketch will serve to show the 

 general style and composition of the design. The order now adopted 

 is Corinthian, continued throughout, and arranged so as to produce a 

 very rich poly style composition, possessing more than an ordinary de- 

 gree of variety and contrast. In order to make up for the unfavour- 

 able impression attending the minuteness of the scale of the drawing, 

 it must be borne in mind that the eastern facade, or the longer side of 

 the building, is 420 feet, or only 38 less than that of the National 

 Gallery, and much loftier, the columns being 45 feet high and 4 feet 

 7 inches in diameter. The south front, which owing to the great fall 

 of the ground at the end of the site (about 10 feet), has the appear- 

 ance of being raised upon a terrace, and thereby acquires both addi- 

 tional dignity and picturesque effect, consists chiefly of an octastyle 

 diprostyle portico, recessed within so as to make its entire depth 

 28 feet. The columns are raised upon a stylobate 10 feet high, and 

 continued along the ether fronts, and the height from the ground-line 

 to the apex of the pediment is 9a feet, which is only 6 or 7 less than 

 that of the dome of the National Gallery. This front alone would 

 constitute an imposing piece of architecture — and is upon a scale 

 greatly surpassing anything of the kind yet erected in the metropolis 



— yet it appears little more than a subordinate portion of the whole 

 when compared with the eastern facade. Independently of its beau- 

 ties of design, this latter has the merit of clearly expressing the 

 general internal arrangement of the plan : the advanced or mono- 

 prostyle colonnade in the centre is 200 feet in length, and, being re- 

 cessed, forms within an ample sheltered ambulatory 2(i feet in depth; 

 this corresponds with St. George's Hall, which comes in between the 

 two Assize Courts, and defines itself externally in the composition, 

 by being carried up higher than the rest. This division of the front 

 consists of 1") intercolumns, and the one on either side of it of 5 

 more. The architect has placed here square pillars, between which 

 an ornamental screen is carried up below, while the upper part of 

 their shafts are insulated ; thus a double contrast is produced, first 

 between the columns and the square pillars, next in respect to the 

 closed and open spaces between the latter. The north front presents 

 a projecting hemicycle in which the order is continued in attached 

 columns ; thus, while that part is so far in keeping with the rest, a 

 very agreeable variety is produced, and the view of the building from 

 the north-east differs considerably from that from the south-east, given 

 in our cut. Whether contemplated or not, one advantage resulting 

 from the north end of the building being brought out semicircularly 

 is, that that projecting part will catch the sun much earlier than it 

 would else strike upon a front so unfavourably placed as to aspect. 

 This portion of the plan will form a concert-room to which there will 

 be a separate entrance, and it makes the entire extent from north to 

 south, including the steps leading up to the south portico, 500 feet. 

 Taking into account its unusual altitude, this structure will in point of 

 magnitude alone have very few rivals in the kingdom ; and how far it 

 will have any for beauty and magnificence as an example of modern 

 Grecian architecture, we will leave our readers to judge. 



As regards the interior, we shall at present content ourselves with 

 merely pointing out its principal divisions and their intended pur- 

 poses. St. George's Hall (indicated in the plan by the letter G), 

 measuring 169 by 75 feet, and So high, will be further extended along 

 the upper part of its sides by a series of recesses 13 feet deep, ap- 

 parently obtained out of the thickness of the walls, but in reality 

 coining over the corridors which surround this part of the interior, 

 and both separate it from, and connect it with, the two Law Courts 

 AA. On the west side of the hall the light will be admitted laterally 

 through windows within those recesses, and on the opposite one 

 through small domes, one in each recess. Duiing the assizes this 

 spacious hall will be opened to the public as the approach to both the 

 courts. At other times it will be appropriated, at the discretion of 

 the council, to public or private meetings. The two courts, which 

 are lighted from above, arc similar in size, viz., GO by 50 feet, and 45 

 high; and the concert-room at the north end of the building is 75 feet 

 from east to west, and of the same extent in the other direction, 

 measured through the spacious hemicycle on its north side. The 

 other principal apartments and their dimensions are as follows: — 



Vice-Chancellor's Court 

 Sheriffs' Jury Court 

 Grand-Jury Room 

 North Entrance Hall 

 South ditto 

 Barristers' Library 



ft. ft. ft. 



25 by 29 18 high 



29 „' 25 18 „ 



41 „ 25 22 „ 

 74 „ 52 30 „ 

 40 „ 25 19 „ 



42 „ 25 IS „ 



The whole of the building will be thoroughly ventilated under the 

 joint direction of Dr. Reid and the architect, and in such manner that 

 the whole power of the apparatus may be directed to any one or more 

 of the apartments according as circumstances may require. 



The building will be entirely faced with stone from Stanc'.ilVe 

 Quarry, Darley Dale, near Matlock, Derbyshire, one of the specimens 

 recommended by the Parliamentary Commission for the new Houses 

 of Parliament, it can be obtained in very large blocks, which is an 

 advantage for this style of architecture. Although the columns are 

 13 ft. from centre to centre, the architraves will be in one length. 

 The great hall is to be vaulted with a semicylindrical vault of solid 



