31 



the sills of the windows, and the doorways leading to ante- 

 rooms and staircase are ornamented with rich architraves with 

 pedimented heads. The panels between the cross-beams on tlu- 

 ceilings, arc ornamented with bold mcmldings, and with droi)s at 

 the intersections. The eficct of the whole when completed will 

 be rich and attractive, and the hall will doubtless be ffreatlv in 

 request for concerts, lectures, and other public occasions re(piir- 

 ing a central and convenient locality. 



The external style and appearance of the building are of a 

 dignified and monumental character, and well calculated for 

 imposing effect. The front extends 55 feet, on Tremont Street, 

 and is divided into three general divisions, or bays. The centre 

 of these is decorated with an order of coupled columns, re- 

 peated in pilasters, behind, and carried through the three 

 stories — Doric in the lowest, Ionic in the second, and Corinth- 

 ian in the third or upper story. A rich composed cornice 

 crowns the whole fii^ade, surmounted by a central attic, as a 

 pedestal for a superb figure of Ceres, cut in white granite, from 

 the celebrated antique in the Vatican, as given in the 3Iuseo 

 Pio Clementino^ p. 27. The angles of the front are decorated 

 wdth projecting piers, cut with rich, vermiculated quoins, and 

 forming bases at the top of the entrance story for two other 

 figures, one of Pomona, and one of Flora, the latter copied from 

 the renowned Flora Farnese at Naples. These elegant w^orks 

 of art form, it is believed, the first examples of statuary of a 

 high order of excellence ever placed in similar positions in this 

 country. 



The style displayed in this costly and elegant design is one 

 which, it is believed, accords well with the character and 

 requirements of such a structure. It will at once be recognized 

 by all those conversant with such matters, as the prevailing 

 method of modern Europe; a style, which the taste of the 

 present Emperor of France, in particular, has so largely illus- 

 trated in most of the modern works of the French capital. 

 From its great intrinsic beauty, not less than from its extreme 

 readiness of adaptation to the wants and uses of the present 

 dav, it has attained, under the general title of the Renaissance, 



