1850.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



GREAT EXHIBITION OF INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS. 

 {With an Engraving, Piute WW.) 



Ix our last number we ^ave a short reference to the various 

 desifrns sent in for the Exliihition Building in 1851; in our present 

 Me give an engraving, sliowing the plan proposed by the Building 

 { ommittee, as the result of their investigations. It will be satis- 

 factory to many of the competitors to find that the design of the 

 Committee is formed on the same system as their own. One grand 

 view is given through the building, from east to west, by an avenue 

 under the highest roof, and which will be appropriated for seats, 

 so that the visitors can scarcely fail to have their attention called 

 to the coup d'cpil. Tlie general arrangements are good, but a grand 

 dome is provided, on which we have more to say. 



Besides the central avenue, a corridor of communication is 

 provided around the building, and the spaces covered with trees 

 are appropriated as refreshment courts, likewise serving as centres 

 of transit, so as to facilitate access to the several departments. 

 The entrances are four in number — the outlets all around the 

 building. The elevations are sufficiently effective, without any 

 attempt at display. 



The iron dome, two hundred feet in diameter, or cone, as it is 

 likewise suggested, is made the chief feature, but we question very 

 much the expediency of the suggestion. Undoubtedly, it would 

 be a great triumph of English art, to erect such a work; but we 

 cannot help looking to circumstances, the more particularly when 

 no such exertion is needed, as the contents of the building will be 

 a sufficient demonstration of our powers and resources. It is better 

 to rely on the book than on the binding — on the jewels than on the 

 case — on the exhibition than on the building. The i/jec^nc/c should 

 consist in the objects shown, and we should not give in to the false 

 taste of seeking to make the building itself a spectacle. In St. 

 Petersburgh and in Paris, such an auxiliary as a colossal dome 

 might be required; but we need no such Mut. The ocean steamer, 

 which conveys the distant visitor — the railways, which bring him 

 within the metropolis — the bridges which span the river — will strike 

 him with wonder enough, and give him a full conviction of our 

 engineering and constructive power. As a matter of taste the 

 dome is not wanted; we think we have given sufficient reasons 

 why it is not wanted as an object of display. Use it has none; for 

 appropriated to works of sculpture, tlie most colossal bronze we 

 have — -even the Wellington statue, if brought across the road, will 

 seem a pigmy under the vast vault. 



While there is, in our humble judgment, no reason for making 

 the attempt, we question very much whether the attempt to con- 

 struct such a dome by the spring of next year will be successful, 

 great as are our resources. A failure will injure us in the eyes of 

 foreigners; success cannot win from them a higher opinion of our 

 skill, while whatever the funds at the disposal of the Commissioners, 

 there are so many urgent demands upon them as to render the 

 outlay for a dome very undesirable. 



Although all the details of the lighting are not given, there is 

 sufficient in the plan and elevation to show that top-lighting by 

 skylights is extensively used, whicli, for most objects of exhibition, 

 is far from being favourable. A skylight gives the very worst 

 light for most ornamental objects; and as the Exhibition will be 

 held in the summer months, when sun light and heat are strongest, 

 many delicate works must be very much injured, although a great 

 expense must be gone to for blinds. We think it very desirable 

 that side lights should be put in above the gutters in the central 

 roof, and likewise, as far as possible, in the refreshment courts, and 

 on the outside of the building. We are well aware there is an 

 objection to have openings in the walls, which might give facili- 

 ties for the removal of goods; but in a building so well guarded 

 we consider this of little weight. 



An arrangement, which we likewise consider as affording insuffi- 

 cient accommodation, is the height of the walling, which being 25 

 feet, is not enough for the display of carpeting and other goods of 

 extensive area. The height ought to be at least 40 feet. 



The building will certainly be vast in its proportions — beyond 

 anything which we have seen in London; for its length is about 

 23"i5 feet, whereas the Houses of Parliament have a fay-ade of 875 

 feet, London Bridge of 1005 feet, and Waterloo Bridge of 1326 

 feet. Thus the facade of the Exhibition Building is above twice 

 the length of London Bridge, and thrice that of the Houses of 

 Parliament. The breadth of the Exhibition Building being about 

 450 feet, and tlio area 1,000,000 square feet, the space roofed is 

 far greater than the area of Lincoln's-inn-Fields, or of the great 

 Pyramid of Gizeh. Never before was there a building so vast got 



No. 154.— Vol. XIIL— Jdly, 1850. 



up for a like purpose; for the dimensions of the Paris Exposition, 

 as shown in the engraving in the December number of the Civil 

 Engineer and Architect's Journal, are 800 feet long, and 330 feet 

 wide, constituting an area of 261,000 square feet. Thus the London 

 Exposition will have a faijade thrice the length, and an area four 

 times greater. 



The area of 1,000,000 feet will be covered with one roof, except 

 at the dome and the small refreshment courts; and the least 

 height of this roofing will be 24 feet high, the greatest 50 feet. 

 The spans will be 48 feet, except at the centre, where it will be 

 96 feet over the line of seats. Not only will there be a vast roof, 

 but likewise a vast flooring, formed of boarding, laid on joists and 

 sleeper walls. 



We are glad to see that, notwithstanding the invitations of 

 foreign architects and the compliments paid to them, the design 

 and construction of the building adopted is to be under English 

 auspices. 



LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE; 



By Samuel Clbgg, Jun., m.i.c.e., f.g.s. 



Delivered at the College for General Practical Science, Putney, Surrey. 



(president, his aaACG the dcke of buccleuch, k.g.) 



Lecture VII.— ATHENS: Fortifications— Temples. 



In contemplating Attica, the first sensation must be that of 

 wonder that a spot of earth so minute as scarcely to be perceptible 

 on the chart of the world, should have exerted so great an influ- 

 ence over the whole civilised globe — an influence felt in thought, 

 in speech, and above all, in art, even to the present day. There 

 is something sublime in the idea of a small state, naturally barren 

 and comparatively poor, solely by the moral and intellectual 

 energy of its inhabitants, rising like a giant to stretch its mighty 

 shadow over all ages and all lands. Athens itself is surrounded 

 by a halo of bright associations, — the Autu, one of the eyes of 

 Greece — the learned city — the school of the world. 



Great nations have risen, have conquered, and have passed 

 away, leaving scarcely a ripple on the ocean of time — for their's was 

 but physical power, and by nature finite; but the thoughts of 

 great men and the works of genius, like the immortal soul from 

 which they emanate, live for ever, to gladden the hearts of 

 unborn generations. 



While Thessaly and Arcadia boasted their rich woods and 

 plains, the mountainous district of Attica afforded but a scanty 

 support for a few shrubs and a thin vegetation; and in many 

 parts the bare calcai-eous rock, rising above the soil, defied alto- 

 gether the hand of the husbandman. But this sterility proved a 

 boon instead of a curse: all the activity and courage of the 

 inhabitants was called forth by necessity, that first great practical 

 teacher. The Athenians were driven to undergo danger and diffi- 

 culty abroad, in order to supply the wants of home: instead of 

 being cooped-up within the limits of a narrow sphere, they acquired 

 a love for enterprise and adventure; thus, at the earliest period 

 of their history, attaining that ardour and energy of character that 

 produced their after-greatness. Another influence was equally felt 

 by the Athenian. The barren country of Attica had ottered few 

 inducements to the invader: the people imagined themselves its 

 indigenous inhabitants, and were accustomed to weave golden 

 grasshoppers in their hair to denote that they also were children of 

 the soil. This belief gave them a passionate attachment to their 

 native land — to those hills and plains on which no proud conqueror 

 had ever set his foot. This patriotism — this strong love of country 

 — prevented that overweening selfishness, always so great a barrier 

 to progress, and brought the wanderer in search of learning, 

 ivealth, or fame, home, to enrich his beloved Athens with his 

 accumulated treasure. 



The original city of Athens was limited to the Acropolis, then 

 called Cecropia, after its supposed founder, Cecrops, who lived 

 about the same time with Moses. He was succeeded by a long lino 

 of kings, the most memorable of whom was Theseus. This hero 

 is said to have given new laws to the country, and to have founded 

 the Prytaneum as a court of justice for the whole of Attica. He 

 also established the Panathenaic festival; and, by these means, 

 attracted a great concourse to Athens, which thenceforward became 

 the capital of Attica, about 1300 b.c. At the death of Codrus (1091 

 B.C.) monarchy was abolished, and popular freedom gained ground, 

 until in the year 084 b.c. a democracy was firmly established, the 



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