THE GEE AT EXHIBITION BUILDINGS. 321 
tower, where he will have an uninterrupted view of the whole main gallery. 
The interior decoration of these rooms is very simple, and may be briefly 
described as a plain cove extending to each side of the skylight, and resting 
on a moulded cornice.” 
Thorough ventilation is amply provided by the admission of 
am through apertures at the level of the floor, and allowing 
the vitiated air to escape through louvres* in the skylights 
above. The lighting of the gallery is very successful, and the 
important point gained is an equal distribution of light, so as 
to prevent any reflection of rays from the picture to the eyes of 
the spectator. This has been successfully accomplished, and 
there is every reason to believe that' in any position where 
the spectator may stand, the pictures will be seen with the best 
possible effect. 
The galleries, which extend along both sides of the nave and 
transept, are supported by cast-iron girders, which rest on the 
double columns, which ascend to a height of fifty feet from the 
floor, and from which spring the principal arches of both nave 
and transept. These girders are at right angles with the line 
of the nave and transepts, and rest on single columns twenty- 
five feet high under the centre of the fifty-feet wide galleries, 
and on those which surround the spacious courts on both sides 
of the nave. They are formed of a series of equilateral triangles, 
which unite the lower and upper flanges, and are calculated to 
support more than four times the load that ever can be brought 
upon them by a crowd of people closely packed. Between the 
transverse cast-iron girders the joists and flooring are supported 
by wooden beams trussed with iron rods ; and on these and the 
front iron beams (to which is attached handsome railing on both 
sides surrounding the nave and courts), are placed the joists and 
boarding, forming an extent of upper-gallery accommodation 
equal to one mile and a half in length, and varying from fifty 
to twenty-five feet wide. 
The upper girders which support the flat roof, covered with 
felt and zinc, are of lighter construction than those below, but 
of sufficient power to resist four times the weight to which they 
can ever be subjected. The level of the flooring is five feet 
below that of the surrounding streets ; and the object of thus 
sinking the floors is to obtain a more imposing view of the 
building as the visitor enters from the domes at each end. He 
will, therefore, ascend two steps to a large platform or dais at 
each entrance, and from thence descend, by a flight of steps 
eighty feet wide, into the nave or transepts on three sides. 
There are four large courts : two of them 250 feet by 200 feet ; 
two more, 250 feet by 86 feet wide ; and two central courts. 
* Louvre, lover, or loover, from the French word Vouvert — the opening. 
