THE GREAT EXHIBITION BUILDINGS. 319 
question is, we believe, at the present moment engaging the 
serious attention of the Legislature. 
The first house entirely built of iron was, we believe, con- 
structed by the writer’s firm, at Millwall, London, in the year 
1840. It comprised a flour-mill, three stories high, with cast- 
iron pilasters at the corners and sides, with intermediate plates 
of sheet-iron. The interior was plastered upon wire gauze, leav- 
ing a space of three inches between the plaster and the external 
plates, to secure uniformity of temperature within. This mill 
was constructed in sections, and shipped, along with its steam- 
engine and machinery, to Constantinople, where it still exists. 
In subsequent years some few houses were constructed of cor- 
rugated iron plates, and the discovery of the gold-mines in 
California and Australia created a considerable demand for 
these, so that hundreds of houses, and even churches, ware- 
houses, &e., were despatched to these remote countries. 
Such was the history of our iron constructions up to the year 
of the Great Exhibition of 1851, when a new era in the applica- 
tion of iron dawned upon us, taking its rise in a rude sketch 
executed by Sir Joseph Paxton whilst travelling from Chats- 
worth to London. It is well known with what success this 
unique structure of glass and iron, so happily conceived, was 
ultimately erected. This was the first colossal building of iron ; 
next followed the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, and subsequently 
the Art Treasures Exhibition of Manchester and the Exhi- 
bition at Paris, of the same material. 
These structures are, however, likely to be eclipsed by the 
gigantic buildings of the same character in progress at South 
Kensington ; and it is in reference to these that we shall now 
attempt, without entering into a scientific analysis, to give some 
reliable data which may afford to our readers a clear perception 
of their magnitude, and of the purposes for which they are 
destined. 
The deep interest which the lamented Prince Consort always 
took in every movement calculated to promote the education 
and improve the condition of the people of these islands is 
proverbial ; and his increasing desire to raise the standard of 
taste in the industrial as well as the fine arts is so well known, 
that his premature removal has been universally regarded as a 
national calamity. It is no wonder, therefore, that the nation 
looks forward with some anxiety and with great hope to the 
success of the forthcoming Exhibition, as a kind of memento of 
the services and encouragement which have been lost to it 
through that heavy bereavement with which it has been visited, 
in common with her Majesty. 
In the building itself, which covers an area of nearly twenty- 
