6 



INTRODUCTION. 



Plan by In connexion with the Government scheme for utilising a 

 Fowke for portion of the Exhibition buildings at Kensington Gore, a 

 E^b'bT ^ an ^ a( ^ ^ een P re P are( ^- Captain Fowke, assisted by Mr. 

 building. Hunt, for completing and rendering them permanently 

 substantial. The plan gave " a decorated building in 

 Portland stone/' of the French Renaissance style of archi- 

 tecture, and occupied a site measuring 1,150 ft. by 738 ft. 

 The cost was estimated at £469,000, or rather less than 

 3d. per cubic foot. It was printed as a Return to an 

 Order of the House of Commons of the 19th of June, 

 1863. A principal portion of this building was to be 

 appropriated to the purposes of the desired Natural History 

 Museum. 



In January, 1864, the Commissioners of Her Majesty's 

 Works issued an advertisement for designs for a Natural 

 History Museum and a Patent Museum, to be erected on part 

 of the site of the International Exhibition at South Ken- 

 sington, the designs to be delivered at the Office of Works on 

 the 30th of March. The extent of ground was the same as 

 that in Captain Fowke's plan ; and the plan prepared by Mr. 

 Hunt, in September, 1862, from Professor Owen's suggestions, 

 was proposed as a model in respect to dimension and 

 internal arrangement. 

 Capt. The plans of the various competitors were submitted to 



Fowke s H.M. Commissioners of Works, who awarded prizes to three 

 of the number, giving precedence to that of Captain Francis 

 Fowke, R.E., and then referred the three premiated plans to 

 the Trustees of the British Museum. The internal arrange- 

 ments in Captain Fowke's plan were disapproved by the 

 Museum officers, and he was desired to modify them in 

 His death, conformity with the requirements of the Trustees. He was 

 engaged in this labour when his death occurred, in September, 

 1865. 



Description Captain Fowke's design occupied the site from the Horticul- 

 Fowke's tural Gardens to Cromwell Road, and from Exhibition Road 

 plan. ou £] ie eas t t 0 Q ueen ' s Q a te on the west. It consisted of a 

 main building, fronting Cromwell Road, and two detached 

 wings, and was intended for both a Natural History Museum 

 and a Museum of Patents, the wings being appropriated to 



