152 
LONDON INTEENATIONAL 
yet really better adapted to the purpose for whicb it was in- 
tended, in the end giving very general satisfaction. 
The building of 1851 covered 19 acres ; this of 1862, a lit¬ 
tle less than 26. The flooring space afforded by the former 
was 989,784 square feet; in the latter, some 450,000 more. 
The main portion of the palace of 1862, or that finished in 
uniform style, and supplied with galleries, is rectangular in 
form, measuring 1200 by 700 feet, with a tower at each of the 
four corners and at the center of the south side, and with two 
immense domes—one at -the center of the east, and the other 
at the center of the west end of the palace. The walls on the 
east, west and south are of brick; the north side, fronting the 
Horticultural Grardens of the Eoyal Society, is of glass. The 
domes, 160 feet in diameter and over 200 feet high, are also of 
glass; the roof self-supporting, and mostly of glass, letting in 
a flood of light, sufficient for a close inspection of the minut¬ 
est articles. 
Interiorl}^, this main building is divided longitudinally on a 
right line connecting the two domes by a grand nave, 85 feet 
wide and 100 feet high, over-arched by a roof supported by 
deep girders of wood, on the fronts of which, in bright bold 
letters, are the names of the countries whose exhibition courts 
lie on either side. At each end, crossing this nave at right 
angles, and with one of the grand domes over its center, there 
is a transept, of equal width and height, and constructed in 
like manner. While directly across the center of the palace, 
from the central tower and entrance on Cromwell road to the 
main entrance in the Eoyal Society’s Grardens, there is another 
broad avenue. If, now, it be borne in mind that parallel to 
the three outer walls of brick, and extending their whole 
length, some 60 feet from them, there is a brick wall from 
ground to roof, opening into the exhibition courts by great 
arched door-ways below and glass windows above—thus afford¬ 
ing separate space on the ground floor for wagons, fire engines, 
masses of mineral and other heavy articles, and offices, but 
more particularly forming a ^rand gallery, with abundant wall 
room, and more than half a mile in length, for works of art— 
