2 
ditional building, rendered still more indispensable bv the 
purchase of the Townley Marbles in 1805. A Gallery 
adequate to the reception of both was completed in 1807; 
after which, although the Trustees meditated, and had plans 
drawn for new buildings, none were undertaken till 1823, 
w T hen, upon the donation from his Majesty King George 
IV. of the Library collected by King George III., the 
Government ordered drawings to be prepared for the erec¬ 
tion of an entirely new Museum, a portion of one wing of 
which was to be occupied by the recently acquired Library. 
This wing, on the Eastern side of the then Museum Gar¬ 
den, was finished in 1828; the Northern, Southern, and 
part of the Western sides of an intended Quadrangle have 
since been progressively added.. The last remain of the 
original building was removed in 1845; and the Gallery, 
built in 1807, as above stated, for the Townley Marbles 
and other antiquities, was removed during the winter of 
1846, to admit of the completion of the Western side of 
the new Quadrangle, the w r alls of which are at present 
rising. The principal facade of the new Museum is com¬ 
pleted, except its sculptural decorations, the execution of 
which will necessarily occupy some time. The order of 
architecture adopted throughout the exterior of the build¬ 
ing is the Grecian Ionic. The Southern Facade consists 
of the great Entrance Portico, eight columns in width, and 
two intercolumniations in projection. On either side is 
an advancing wing, giving to the entire front an extent 
of 370 feet, the whole of which is surrounded by a colon¬ 
nade, consisting of forty-four columns, raised upon a stylo¬ 
bate five feet and a half high. The columns are five 
feet at their lower diameter, and forty-five feet high; the 
height from the pavement of the front court-yard to the 
top of the entablature of the colonnade is sixty-six feet 
and a half. 
