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[| HE latest cha ‘in the long history of museum — 
building at th Kensington opened in 1909 | 
when a large deputation of those interested in science 
and industry presented to the president of the Board” 
of Education a memorial urging that the time had~ 
‘come for action with the view of providing proper 
housing for the Science Collections at South Kensing-— 
ton. The memorial, and the speakers who supported 
it personally, focussed the opinions of all the leading’ 
scientific and technical societies and p 
institutions. Acting on the repre- 
sentations then made to him, the 
president of the Board of Education 
appointed in rg1o a “‘ Departmental 
Committee on the Science Museum 
and the Geological Museum,’’ with Sir 
Hugh Bell as Chairman. Three years 
later, the adoption of the report of 
that committee appeared to secure 
the early provision of adequate 
facilities for a well-directed advance 
in the usefulness of these museums. - 
_ Building operations were duly com- 
menced, but were interrupted during 
the war period. Resumed later, they 
have made so little progress that 
representatives of the societies which 
originated the movement in 1909 have 
recently had occasion to consider the 
present position and to make a 
representation with regard to it. As 
the matter is one of wide interest, the 
following summ of its salient 
features may be of interest to those 
who are not familiar with the pub- 
lished papers that bear upon it. 
THE ScreENcE MuSEuUM. 
For forty years the Science Col- 
lections have been developing on con- 
sistent lines. For more than twenty 
years they have been recognised as 
being, among national collections of 
the same field, the best museum col- 
lections in the world, but as having 
the meanest of museum buildings. 
It is now thirteen years since the 
appointment of Sir Hugh Bell’s 
committee—a strong departmental 
committee of men versed in pure and 
applied science. That committee 
took careful measure of the possi- 
bilities and of the needs of the Science 
Museum, and formulated a well-con- ye 
sidered and clear report upon the j 
whole matter (Report, 1911, and 
Report, Part II., 1912). This report 
received warm approval at all hands, 
and it was adopted by the Govern- 
ment as the basis for the develop- 
ment of the Museum. The first requirement to be 
met was necessarily the erection of adequate and 
worthy building accommodation. i 
In its report the committee quoted the exhibition 
space available in 1911 as 98,000 sq. ft. (94,000 sq. ft. 
in old buildings and 4000 sq. ft. in the new Western 
Hall), and said that buildings twice as large would be 
required for the then existing collections without the 
addition of a single specimen. The committee 
estimated at 265,000 sq. ft. the total exhibition space 
* Report of the Departmental Committee on the Science Museum and the 
Geological Museum, 1911, Cd. 5625; (Part II.) rgr2, Cd. 6221. 
NO. 2800, VOL. 111] 

NATURE 

q a ——l ] 
: [es] P 
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 
WESTERN BLOCK 
NEW BUILDING FOR SCIENCEiMUSEUM 
i 

895 
Museum Building at South Kensington. 
then required in new buildings, and recommended the 
provision of a building to occupy the ground available 
on the existing site, as shown on the accompanying 
plan (Fig. 1), this building to be erected in three 
successive sections, the eastern, the central, and the 
western blocks. The committee reported that the 
central as well as the eastern: block would be required 
for the more immediate needs of the Museum. 
In the programme for the replacement of the old 
CONSORT ROAO 
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ROAD 
'MPERIAL INSTUTUTE RQAD 
5 “ii of 
OF SCIENCE 
x [Pp 
CENTRAL BLOCK] | EASTERN BLOCK 

SX Hd SB leone 

| NEW BUILDING 
FOR GEOLOGICAL 
SURVEY | 
AND MUSEUM 
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM 
coR 0 M_WOE GE ROA O 
Scale of Feet 
100 200 joo 400 500 geo ‘ 
G:C Galleries connecting Science & Geological Museums...... 
L.T &N.H.G = Lecture Thestre & Natural History Museum Galleries. 77 
Fic. 1, 
buildings by a continuous building age thie the 
whole of the Science Museum site from Exhibition 
Road to Queen’s Gate, three periods in the process 
are distinguished. The first, period covers the 
erection of the eastern block; this is the present 
period. In the second period, when the new central 
block will be in process of erection on ground cleared 
by the demolition of the main part of the existing 
old buildings, the eastern block of the new building 
with the existing western galleries and western hall 
“‘ will afford opportunity for exhibiting the collections 
made during the first period and for working up the 
