TURE. arbyshire, was read by him a s it is considered a well-arg It is in the shape of the lette rances, and the carcase mark alte. Behind this are the whe "4 feet by 17 feet 6 inches in Both of these are open t by rows of glass slates, vac s necessary. The former he al supply of water. They ove are placed nineteen latter is the condemned tore, and boiling house. T room, and drying room. T arge pig slaughter-house, e which all cattle must enter with rooms for the conve eral lair for cattle, a matur niences at various points, a s somewhat over 50,000. gh his explanation in detal ery important feature reme n provided by the engines en ready is placed on a hist r placed into the cars; th arcase from the others, g the other carcases hang d; and in addition, the mes e after being dressed, and s houlders of the slaughterss , but the carcase is place dinburgh abattoir a cesta at Bradford an hydroiz the paper, in reference * ; the use of a triperys) apparatuses. An imp g animals in the county es and towns, that it e it was fed, and anci Condon by railway, a with the other, and the ution of the building rehend that enough ba ar information of whit plan such a structies ts of a city bu it is a builas should be co as have been constructed in the new Royal Exchange in London for the purpose of obtaining rent, should be connected with the fabric, save only as in Paris, where is a Tribunal de Commerce with its accessories, an establishment much wanted in England; and perhaps in addition to this, in a maritime country like ours, a large hall and offices for the transaction of business relating to the shipping interest. In London and other places it has been usual to leave the court of resort open to the heavens. The French are wiser; they build their exchange with a roof, for the comfort of those that use it 2940. The Exchange at Amsterdam seems for a long time to have prevailed as the model for all others. It was commenced in 1608, and finished in 1613, and its architect was Cornelius Dankers de Ry. It is about 271 feet long, and about 152 feet wide. The whole edifice is supported on three large arches, under which flow as many canals. On the ground floor is a portico surrounding a court, above which are halls supported on fortysix piers. The divisions which they form are numbered and assigned each to a particular nation or class of merchants. In the court and within the enclosure, is the place of meeting for mercantile affairs. At the top is another large hall, and a warehouse for various kinds of merchandise. 2941. As we consider the Bourse of Paris an admirable model, both in distribution and design, we shall briefly here describe it. The edifice in question was begun in 1808, under the designs of Brongniart, and completed by Labarre at a much protracted period. The general form on the plan is a parallelogram of 212 feet by 126 feet. It is surrounded by an unbroken peristyle of sixty-six Corinthian columns, supporting an entablature and attic. The peristyle forms a covered gallery, to which the ascent is by a flight of steps extending the whole width of the western front. The intercolumniations on the walls are filled in with two tiers, one above the other, of arched windows, separated by a Doric entablature, and surmounted by a decorated frieze. The roof is formed entirely of iron and copper, In the centre of the parallelogram is the Salle de la Bourse, or great hall, 116 feet long and 76 feet broad, wherein the merchants and brokers assemble. The Doric order is that used, with arcades round the sides, and between the arcades are inscribed the names of the principal mercantile cities in the world. The ceiling is formed by a cove, and in the centre a large skylight serves for lighting the great hall just described. It is rich in sculpture, and decorated with monochrome paintings to imitate bassi relievi, sixteen in the whole, that is, five on each long and three on each short side. They are all allegorical. The hall conveniently contains 2,000 persons. At its eastern end is a circular space railed off for the convenience of the agens de change: tl.ese only are admitted within it, and to it there is a communication from their hall of business. On the right are rooms for the committe and syndicate of the agens de change, for the courtiers de commerce, and a hall of meeting for the latter. On the left is an ample staircase leading to the gallery, supported by Dorie columns, and to the hall of the Tribunal de Commerce, with its several apartments and waiting rooms. From the gallery, as on the ground floor, a corridor extends round the Salle, communicating with the Chamber of Commerce, the Court of Bankruptcy, and other public offices. The cost of this very elegant and splendid building was about 326,000/ 2942. The Royal Exchange in London was erected from the design of the late Sir William Tite, and opened October 1844, at a total cost of about 150,000l. It is 308 feet long, and 119 feet wide at the west end, but 175 feet at the east end. The central area, which is uncovered as above noticed, is 111 feet by 53 feet, and with the arcades (21 feet wide) surrounding it, 170 feet by 112 feet. The whole west end on two floors is appropriated to the Royal Exchange Assurance Office, except the entrance to the court; there is another entrance at the east end under the tower, from which, by a small court, entrance is obtained to the underwriters' establishment of Lloyd's, for assurance of shipping, which occupies a large part of the first floor. The north, south, and east sides are let out as shops, except an entrance and rooms by the London Assurance Office, which also occupy part of the first floor. The subscribers' room of Lloyd's is 100 feet long by 48 feet wide; the commercial room on the north side is 86 feet long and 40 feet wide. Both of these apartments are lighted from the ceilings and by windows into the merchants' area; they are highly decorated, well warmed and ventilated, and the finest rooms of the sort in London, The ambulatory was highly painted and decorated in encaustic by Fred. Sang. 2942a. This building has no longer the prominence as a place of meeting of merchants it once had. The Stock Exchange, close by it; the Corn Exchange, in Mark Lane; and the Coal Exchange, in Lower Thames Street, have become as important. The Stock Exchange was rebuilt in 1854 by. Thomas Allason, jun. It is somewhat in the form of a Greek cross, having a dome of timber with skylights, 39 feet in diameter. It will hold about 1,200 members, but it is seldom all are present. Fireproof strong rooms with lockers are provided for the custody of securities. Besides the "house" or large reading and refreshment rooms, there are offices for brokers in the houses communicating. The Corn Exchange is now the greatest corn market in the world; in it the factors have each a stand or desk for their samples of corn. The Coal Exchange was rebuilt in 1849, by the late Mr. J. B. Bunning, City architect. It consists of offices on several floors around a central 3 x 2 hall 60 feet diameter, and 74 feet high to the top of the dome; it is formed principally of iron, and is decorated with representations of nature found in the coal measures, &c. 29426. The Exchange Buildings at Liverpool, formerly one of its grandest buildings, erected in 1801, by Mr. Foster, sen., has been lately rebuilt by Mr. Thos. H. Wyatt of London, on a much larger scale. The area of the Corn Exchange there is 100 feet by 98 feet, divided into three aisles by two rows of iron columns, the centre having curved iron ribs supporting the roof. There are 170 stands for the merchants. The architect was Mr. J. A. Picton, and it was erected 1851-53, at a cost of 11,000l. Corn exchanges, or corn markets as they are usually called, are now to be seen in every important town. In 1856, when that at Coventry was built, it was stated to be “the largest hall of the sort," being 110 feet long, 55 feet wide, and 46 feet high; across the galleries it was about 74 feet wide, being also used occasionally as a music hall. SECT. XIV. CUSTOM-HOUSES. 2944. It is almost unnecesary to inform our readers that a custom house is an establishment for receiving the duties, or, as they are called, customs levied on merchandise imported into a country, as well as of regulating the bounty or drawback on goods exported. According, therefore, to the importance and wealth of a city, the building to receive it is of considerable consequence. The first point that immediately presents itself is, that it should be provided with spacious warehouses for holding the merchandise which arrives, and in which it is, as it were, impounded till the duties are paid; and next, that there must be provided ample accommodation for the officers who are to supervise the levying of the imposts. Now, these being the data, it is manifest that there can be no building so subject to modification in every respect as a custom-house, and that that which might be well suited to a small town or city, looking to its trade, would be ridiculous either in excess or smallness in another. Yet there are general principles which should guide the student in designing the smallest as well as the largest establishment of this sort, and these are contained in the two maxims, of ample capaciousness for the merchandise to be received into the warehouses, and a panoptical view on the part of the proper officers, of that which passes in the establishment. Without these requisites, a customhouse is an ill-planned building; but it is not to be supposed that such an observation can apply to an establishment of this nature in a metropolis like London, the subdivisions and details of whose commerce have found as yet all the delegations of the customs in the various docks and sufferance wharfs still even too small for the commerce of the country, and have induced the government to extend the collection of the dues beyond the central establishment. We must, however, return to the custom-house calculated for a port of ordinary size, and not that of a metropolis like London, though presently we must refer to what in that has been thought necessary for our guidance in smaller matters. Security against fire must be strictly attended to. The warehouses and covered places for examining and stowing the goods should therefore be arched in brick or stone, and should, moreover, be as much as possible on the ground floor. The offices for the public and heads of the e-tablishment may be over them on the first floor. Both of these are, of course, to be regulated in-size by the extent of trade in the place. The general character should be that of simplicity; decoration is unsuited, and should be very sparingly employed. The species of composition most suitable seems to be pointed out in arcades and arched openings. The site should be as near as may be to the river or port, so that the merchandise may be landed and housed with as little labour as possible. 2945. The following is a general view of the apartments and offices of the London Custom House. The long room, which is the principal public room for the entries, &c., is 185 feet long and 66 feet wide. This, as well as the rooms next enumerated, are on the first or principal floor, viz. a pay office for duties, treasury, bench officers or commissioners' rooms, secretary's room, rooms for the inspector general, surveyor of shipping, registrar of shipping, surveyor of acts of navigation, strong rooms, comptrollers, outward and inward, surveyor of works; Trinity light office, bond office, board room, chairman's room, com. mittee-room and plantation clerk's office. On the ground floor are the following offices: for minute clerks, clerk of papers, petitions, messengers, landing surveyors, wood farm office, tide waiters, tide surveyors, inspectors of river, gaugers, landing waiters, coast waiters, coast office lo g room, coast bond office, coffee office, housekeeper, searchers, merchants and brokers' room, comptrolling searchers, appointers of the weighers and office for the plantation department. Besides these apartments there are warehouses for the merchandise. 2946. The above long list will give a notion of what would be wanted on a smaller scale; but on such matters the special instructions on each case must be the guide to the architect in making his design. Many of the above offices would, of course, be unnecessary in a small port, neither would the dimensions be so large as in the example quoted. The staircases, corridors, and halls must be spacious in all cases, the building being one for the service of the public. SECT. XV. THEATRES. 2947. A taste for dramatic representations prevailed at a very early period among the people of antiquity, and this was not diminished by the introduction of Christianity, even when the temples were deserted and paganism seemed extinct. The destruction of these, however, was its concluding triumph. It would be a difficult matter to fix the precise date of the abolition of the pagan theatre, but it seems likely to have resulted rather from the falling into decay of the old theatres than from a disinclination on the part of the people to the pleasure they received at them. It is not, however, the object of this section to trace the history of the theatre; though we think it right to say a few more words on the subject. With the revival of the arts, the taste for scenic representations appeared with the literature on which they are dependent. In Italy we find, therefore, the drama at this period represented in very large enclosures, such as the amphitheatre constructed by Bramante in the large court of the Vatican, whence the taste soon spread over all the nations of Europe. At 2948. The pleasure which flowed from this renewal of an ancient art was at first confined to few, and those were either men of learning or select societies, who bore the expenses, and again raised in the country a renewal of a theatre much resembling those of the ancients as respected the form and disposition. To prove this, we need only cite the example of the celebrated theatre at Vicenza, built by Palladio in 1583, and designed in imitation of the ancient theatres. Its form is a semi-ellipsis, whose transverse axis is parallel with the scene, encompassed with fourteen ranges of steps for the spectators. The greater diameter of this ellipse is 974 feet, and the lesser, as far as the stage, about 574 feet. the summit is a corridor of the Corinthian order, which, from the want of ground, could not be detached all round from the external wall. The nine central and the three external intercolumniations, therefore, where the columns touch the external wall, are filled with niches and statues. The stage is designed with two tiers of Corinthian columns surmounted with an appropriate attic. In the front of the stage are three openings through which three avenues of magnificent buildings appear, and at the end of each is a triumphal arch. All these are executed in alto relievo, but are foreshortened and diminished perspectively. A full account of this building, which is well worth the student's attention, is given in L'Origine dell' Academia Olympica, &c. Opera di Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi. Vicenza, 1690. For dramatic representations this theatre is no longer used, and at present it is only recognised as a monument of the extraordinary skill of the architect, and a memorial of the dramatic buildings of its period. The theatre at Parma, built by Aleotti, is another building belonging to the same class, and preserved, like the last-mentioned, as a curiosity. 2949. When, however, the taste for scenic amusements began to spread, the sovereign princes, who alone could support the expense of such establishments, began to make them a necessary part of their palaces; and the theatre, no longer a public and essential building, became what it now is, not an edifice for the reception and accommodation of the whole population of a city at certain periods, but a place which served for the habitual amusement of those who could afford it. The drama again revived, and its history is an index to the edifices that rose for its representation. Becoming thus necessary for the amusement of the better classes of society, the establishment of theatres was undertaken by individuals in almost every city, and competition was the natural consequence. Then began the division of the theatre into different parts, the entry to which was marked by different prices, and the separation of the common people from those of rank and fortune. 2950. Italy does not contain so many theatres, nor of such consequence, as might be predicated from the taste of its inhabitants. Among the earliest of consequence was that built at Bologna in 1763 by Antonio Galli Bibiena, (not to mention that built at Verona under the direction of the celebrated Scipio Maffei by Francesco Galli Bibiena,) with a noble portico in front and salons in the angles, possessing moreover great merit in its interior distribution. In the Italian theatres there is almost invariably a certain feeling of grandeur and unity about the interior little to be expected from the exterior, which in no way leads the spectator to the suspicion of a fine Salle de Spectacle behind it. 2951. France has the credit of having erected the first modern theatre that can be denominated an example in this species of monumental architecture. That to which we allude is the theatre at Bordeaux, which is 325 feet in length, and half that measure in width. It is surrounded by arcades, whose piers are decorated with pilasters of the Corinthian order, running up the whole height through the ground and one-pair stories. Set back, an attic is raised, which conceals the roof, wherein the necessary accommodations which a theatre requires are disposed. Whether we consider the exterior or interior of this edifice, everything is grand; the accessories are worthy of the whole, and the richness of the interior decoration is only equalled by the fine forms whereon the decorations are used. The ingress and egress are admirable; and a splendid concert-room and magnificent staircases complete the destination, to which it is so suited, as to afford the finest model of a theatre to which we can refer the student. The plans, &c. of this work were published by the architect, under the title of Salle de Spectacle de Bourdeaux, atlas folio, Paris, 1782. Paris but followed Bourdeaux in improving its theatres, and latterly the metropolis of England followed in the wake. 2952. The principal points for the consideration of the architect in the composition of a theatre, may be classed under the heads of utility, suitableness for the purpose, and taste in combining them. Under the first head must be placed the accomplishment of two main objects, those of seeing and hearing what passes on the stage. These, indeed, are intimately connected with each other, and are entirely dependent on the form adopted for the plan of the interior, that is, the general form given to the boxes which surround the part before the curtain. We are not aware of any plan which, in this respect, is not based on a quadrangular, elliptical, or circular form. 2953. The quadrangular form, besides its want of beauty, is not well adapted for fulfilling the objects with which we set out. In this, the greater number of spectators or audience who occupy the side boxes, are so inconveniently placed, that, to observe what is going on, their heads must be turned sidewise, and they are hence in a false position for the object. The actor being generally the point to which all eyes are directed, the spectator opposite the proscenium will look at him in a right direction; but as the spectator removes to the extremity of the side, it is manifest that the angle in which the head must be turned becomes sharper, and the position is then painful. Besides this objection, the form is known to be unfavourable to hearing or to the propagation of sound. 2954. The truncated oval is in some measure subject to the same inconveniences on the sides as the last-mentioned figure. It removes also a large portion of the spectators to a considerable distance from the centre of the scene, besides which, in the boxes near the proscenium, their seats tend in opposite directions to the actor. It has been to remedy these faults that the form of the horseshoe has been adopted, which is a sort of mean between the quadrangular and oval forms: and where the plot of ground is much longer than it is wide, it is a suitable figure, and one which affords the opportunity of increasing the number of boxes. 2955. When, however, the circumstances concur in allowing it, the adoption of the semicircular plan is doubtless the best. It is a figure which allows each spectator to be at an equal distance from the scene, that also by which the spectators in adjoining boxes less interfere with one another, that which affords the means of all seeing equally well, that in which the sound is most equally distributed, and that whose uniformity and simplicity seems to engender the best decoration. The semi-elliptic, with the transverse axis parallel to the proscenium, has interior advantages in some respects over the semicircle; but it induces great difficulty in connecting the proscenium itself with the auditory part of the house, and, by increasing the width of the proscenium, increases the perplexity in framing the roof conveniently for the painting rooms, and securely as respects the walls, 2956. Upon the destruction by fire of Drury Lane Theatre, a pamphlet appeared, entitled Observations on the Principles of a Design for a Theatre, by Benjamin Wyatt, London, 8vo. 1811. These observations are so well worth the notice of the student that we shall close this section by giving the substance of them. The heads for consideration, says the author, are: 2957. First. The size or capacity of the theatre, as governed by the width of the proscenium or stage opening; and by the pecuniary return to be made to those whose property may be embarked in the concern. Second. The form or shape of the theatre, as connected with the primary objects of sound and vision. Third. The facility of ingress and egress, as materially affecting the convenience of those who go to every part of the house respectively, as well as their lives, in cases of sudden accident or alarm. Fourth. Decorum amongst the several orders and classes of the visitants to the theatre, as essential to the accommodation of the more respectable part of those visitants, and consequently of great importance to the interests of the theatre. Fifth. Security against fire, as well in regard of insurance, as with relation to the lives of individuals going to the theatre. 2958. The size or capacity will necessarily depend very much on the width of the proscenium or stage opening, inasmuch as it is from the extremities of that opening that the form of the theatre must spring. The annexed is a statement of the width of the proscenium at the theatres named in that publication: A width beyond 40 feet seems to have been considered by the performers as inconvenient, from the space they would have to pass over in the business of the drama, but 50 feet appears now to be the maximum adopted. A greater width, indeed, than that stated prevents the easy and secure working of the scenes, for the machinery is increased in magnitude and weight as the height and breadth of the scenes increase. In mere spectacle and scenic grouping a reduction in the width of the proscenium, and depth of the stage, reduces the number of extra performers, or supernumeraries as they are called, which become necessary for filling the stage. Again, every additional foot given to the stage opening increases the quantity of canvas used in the scenes, as well as the framing whereon they are fixed. 2958a. In the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. xxvii., Mr. J. S. Russell gives some elementary considerations of certain principles in the construction of buildings designed to accommodate spectators and auditors, well worth the architect's notice. In every large room, says the writer, a perfectly good seat is one in which, without uneasy elevation of the head or eye, without straining or stretching, we can calmly and quietly take any easy position, or variety of positions, which we may be disposed to assume, and yet may in all of them see and hear the speaker with equal clearness and repose, so as to give him patient and undisturbed attention. The object, then, is to ascertain in what manner the interior of a building for public speaking, should be formed, so that throughout the whole range which the voice of a man is capable of filling, each individual should see and hear without interruption from any of the rest of the audience, with equal comfort in an easy posture, and as clearly as if no other individual auditor or spectator were present. (See figs. 1347. and 1348.) The position of the seats is first investigated. In the usual variety of station and of position, it appears from experiments that the range required for the purpose is more |