396 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1907 



Near by a gymnasium has been built for the men, boys 

 and girls. A triangular piece of ground adjoining one of 

 the ravines has been profitably used as an open-air swimming 

 bath. The shape of the bath is oval, one hundred feet in 

 length and seventy-five feet in breadth. Wooden dressing- 

 rooms with quaint thatched roofs add a picturesque note to 

 the surroundings. 



The first public 

 building to be 

 erected at Port Sun- 

 light was the Glad- 

 stone Hall, opened 

 by the late Right 

 Hon. W. E. Glad- 

 stone, in I 89 1. It 

 is used as the 

 woman's dining-hall 

 and a concert room. 

 It has a spacious 

 stage, with foot- 

 light and stage cur- 

 tain, concerts and 

 theatrical perform- 

 ances being given 

 here during the win- 

 ter months. In ad- 

 d i t i o n there is a 

 large kitchen with 

 every necessary ap- 

 pliance for cooking 

 and h e a t i ng the 

 workpeople's food, 

 which is done free 

 of charge. As the 

 hall was inadeijuate 

 for the needs of the 

 village, an addition 

 has been built, which 

 is named Hulme 



Hall. This contains dining-rooms devoted entirely to the 

 use of the women and girls from the works, fifteen hundred 

 of whom sit down at one time in groups of six at a table. 

 The following is a fair example of the tariff in the restau- 

 rant: Meat and potatoes, hot pot or roast mutton, four cents; 

 pudding, two cents per plate; soup per pint, with slice of 



A Cc 



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bread, two cents; pie two cents; tea, one cent per cup; bread 

 and butter, one cent. Needless to add that the restaurant 

 is not run at a profit, but the amount received for the food 

 supplied to the girls, in addition to paying for the food, also 

 defrays the cost of cooking and attendance. Only the best 

 that the market can supply is provided. A happier or 



brighter sight than 

 the hall at noon, 

 with hundreds of 

 cheerful girls seated 

 at the tables, would 

 be difficult to find. 



The village post 

 office and telegraph 

 office focus the at- 

 tention of the vis- 

 itor. They were 

 originally built as a 

 block of cottages, 

 with a shop at one 

 end. The h a 1 f - 

 timber work in this 

 shoD is of solid oak, 

 and it is built in the 

 same way as it 

 would have been 

 had it been erected 

 three hundred years 

 ago. In fact, all the 

 half - timber build- 

 ings at Port Sun- 

 light are reproduc- 

 tions of houses built 

 at that time. 



The men's social 

 club house, with its 

 beautiful pavilion, 

 bowling green and 

 quoiting ground, 



has proved a most successful building for its intended pur- 

 pose. It is well equipped with billiard-rooms, and chess, 

 drafts and ping-pong may be played. There is also a reading- 

 room, where the leading periodicals and newspapers of the 

 day are to be found. 



Instead of the corners of terraces being disfigured by shops, 



Garclt 



Real Interest Is Combined with Genuine Variety 



