Chapter VII: Reconstructors and Projectors (2)

The basement, both of the old and new buildings, would, though
unfitted for exhibition, and shut up from the public, be more or less
available for workshops, storing-places, retiring-rooms, &c. No part
of the existing basement would be made altogether useless, though the
rooms under the present Greek Galleries would all be somewhat
darkened. [Sidenote: LIGHTING OF BASEMENT.] The basement under the new
buildings may, with reference to lighting, be divided into three
classes:—1. The rooms under the first six or small Greek Rooms, the
south end of the Etruscan Room, and the north end of the Greek
Galleries, would all have ordinary windows, and be better lighted than
any part of the basement now used for the purposes mentioned. 2. The
rooms under the Roman Galleries, which would also have windows, would
be less well lighted than the preceding, being some feet below the
level of Charlotte Street, and being further somewhat obscured by the
grating over the area, and the parapet to screen it from passengers in
the street, which would both probably be thought necessary. 3. The
basement under the Græco-Roman, and greater part of the small Greek
Galleries, would receive a partial light from the openings between
them. To increase this, however, and to furnish the only light to the
basement under the Fourteenth Greek Room, and the apartments adjoining
its west side, panels of strong glass or open metal work might be
inserted at convenient places in the various floors, and serve rather
as an ornament to them. With the aid of some such arrangement, the
last-mentioned portions of the basement would serve as storing-rooms;
in default of it, they could merely be available for any apparatus
used in heating or ventilation.

[Then follows a General Summary of Additional Space provided for the
Collections of Antiquities, amounting to a net addition of forty-one
thousand nine hundred and fifty-six square feet of superficial area.]

[Sidenote: SUMMARY OF SPACE FOR ANTIQUITIES.]

This is somewhat less than the additional space demanded in the
estimate supplied to the Committee by Mr. HAWKINS; but it supposes the
removal of the Oriental and Ethnographical Collections, which Mr.
HAWKINS, when considering only the existing department, and not the
question of its modification, included in its contents.

[Sidenote: EXTRA SPACE.]

In addition, however, to the space provided for the collections, the
new buildings would comprise about eight thousand six hundred feet on
the three principal floors, for studies, closets, staircases, &c.

[Sidenote: SPACE IN BASEMENT.]

The space in the basement it is unnecessary to estimate in detail,
being manifestly superabundant for its purpose.

[Sidenote: SPACE TRANSFERRED TO NATURAL HISTORY.]

The Plan of the Upper Floors shows the accommodation which might be
provided, upon the present scheme, for the Departments of Natural
History, by transferring to them the galleries and studies on that
floor now occupied by Antiquities, and constructing an upper room on
the site of the staircase, to unite the Central Saloon (Return 379,
Plan 18, No. 1), into which the new principal staircase would conduct,
with the galleries so transferred. The apportionment of the space
amongst the different collections of Natural History must be left to
more competent authorities than the present writer. He may, however,
add a few words on the general character of the apartments
comprehended in the transfer. [Sidenote: PUBLIC GALLERIES.] The public
galleries are similar to the present Zoological Galleries, not merely
in their structure, but in their fittings. The wall-cases, therefore,
might be available, without alteration, for the new collections; and
the central cases might either be retained for Natural History, or
removed to the new upper floors for Antiquities, as was found more
convenient. [Sidenote: STUDIES FOR OFFICERS AND STUDENTS.] The present
Medal and Ornament Rooms might serve for the use of students, whilst
the four private studies numbered 6, 7, 10, and 10 in Plan 18, would
be used by the officers. [Sidenote: SUGGESTION FOR INCREASING THOSE
FOR STUDENTS.] The rooms for students might, if necessary, be further
increased by a trifling alteration, in the event of the official
establishment being transferred to the east of the Museum. In place of
the closet adjoining the Medal Room, a private staircase might descend
by a few steps to the entresol below, the whole of which might then be
made an appendage to the upper, instead of the lower floor, and would
furnish two convenient rooms for students, over those numbered 4 and 6
in Plan 17. The same staircase, falling in with one already existing
between the entresol and Secretary’s Office, would supply a private
communication between the upper and lower floors, in lieu of that
abolished for the construction of the First Egyptian Room (III, 69).

[Sidenote: SUMMARY OF SPACE FOR NATURAL HISTORY.]

The total area of the apartments transferred to Natural History may be
summarily stated thus:—

┌──────────────────────────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬─────────┐
│ │ │ Without │ With │
│ │ │Entresol.│Entresol.│
├──────────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
│Public Galleries: │ │ │ │
│ Present Galleries of Antiquities│ 19,185│ │ │
│ Proposed room over III (69) │ 2,660│ │ │
├──────────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
│ │ │ 21,845│ 21,845│
│Students’ Working Rooms │ │ 1,749│ 3,168│
│Officers’ Studies │ │ 868│ 868│
│Closets, Passages, and Staircase │ │ 936│ 1,557│
├──────────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
│ Total addition │ │ 25,398│ 27,438│
└──────────────────────────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴─────────┘

[Sidenote: CONVENIENCE OF GIVING IT A DISTINCT FLOOR.]

Independently of the increased accommodation, the advantage of
acquiring for Natural History the exclusive possession of the upper
floor is obvious and unquestionable, though the gain is not limited to
that department. By separating its galleries entirely from those of
Antiquities, the practical superintendence of each would be
simplified; one department would no longer be a necessary thoroughfare
to another; the confusion of ideas experienced by ordinary visitors
from the juxtaposition of collections so incongruous would be avoided;
and as each department would have a separate entrance, a facility
would be given for varying their periods or regulations of admission,
as the circumstances of each might at any time require; considerations
which must hereafter acquire increasing weight in proportion to the
increasing magnitude of the Museum.

[Sidenote: ESTIMATE OF APPROXIMATE EXPENSE.]

The ground immediately round the Museum, on the average of its three
sides, is valued in the Report of the Special Committee of Trustees
(twenty-sixth November, 1859), at about forty-three thousand five
hundred pounds per acre. [Sidenote: EXPENSE OF GROUND.] The houses in
Charlotte Street are inferior in character to those on the other two
sides, and might doubtless be purchased at a proportionately less
price; but the writer, being anxious to err only on the safe side,
assumes the average price as necessary. The ground proposed to be
taken is about four hundred and fifty feet long, by a breadth
generally of one hundred and fifty feet, but at the south end not
exceeding one hundred and ten feet; so that the total area is about
sixty-four thousand seven hundred square feet, or somewhat less than
an acre and a half. The price, therefore, may be set down at
sixty-five thousand pounds.

Buildings are estimated in the same report to cost about two pounds
per square foot, reckoned upon the total internal area of the
principal floors, without the basement. This calculation is founded on
buildings consisting of a basement, a ground floor, and one upper
floor. [Sidenote: OF BUILDINGS.] The buildings proposed by the writer
are in one respect more costly than these, as their basements bear a
larger proportion to those floors on which the cost is calculated. But
in two other respects they are more economical:—1. Because they
include, in one part, a second floor, which swells the space from
which the expense is calculated, without involving any addition to the
basement. 2. Because some of the galleries on the ground floor are not
really separate buildings, but parts of a single block of buildings,
subdivided merely by partition walls. On the whole, therefore, the
estimate of two pounds per foot seems the safest basis of calculation.

Now the quantity of internal area or floor space in the proposed new
buildings is—

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│For the collections 71,760 square feet.│
│For studies, staircases, &c. 8,600 „ │
│ ______ │
│Total 80,360 „ │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

This gives, therefore, one hundred and sixty thousand seven hundred
and twenty pounds for buildings, which, added to sixty-five thousand
pounds for ground, would amount to two hundred and twenty-five
thousand seven hundred and twenty pounds. A further sum must be added
for alterations of the existing building, particularly for the removal
and reconstruction of the staircase, and the formation of the two
rooms described as III (69) and XIII (15). Assuming the expense of
these alterations, quite conjecturally, at ten thousand pounds, the
total cost would be two hundred and thirty-five thousand seven hundred
and twenty pounds. The largeness of the valuation allowed for the
ground gives reason to believe that the actual expense of ground and
buildings would not exceed, and might probably fall short of, this
estimate.

[Sidenote: MEANS OF FUTURE EXTENSION.]

[In concluding his remarks on this plan of reconstruction, Mr.
OLDFIELD points out that if ever hereafter further extensions should
be required, they might be obtained without material disturbance of
the proposed galleries. [Sidenote: _Appendix to Minutes of Evidence_,
1860, pp. 245, _ad fin_.] For Antiquities, one or more additional
houses might be purchased either in Bedford Square, commencing with
No. 4, or in Charlotte Street, commencing with No. 3. The former would
be required for the prolongation of the Greek, Græco-Roman, or Roman
Galleries; the latter for the Etruscan or Phœnician. For the minor
collections on the upper floors either side would be equally
appropriate. If further space were needed for Natural History,
galleries might be built as suggested by Professor MASKELYNE,
extending either northwards to Montague Place, or eastwards to
Montague Street, as found convenient.]

To the clear and forcible exposition of his plan, thus given by its framer in the paper submitted to the Committee of 1860, many further elucidations were added in evidence. But enough has already been quoted for the perfect intelligibility of the plans so proposed for the sanction of the Trustees and of Parliament. [Sidenote: _Minutes of Evidence_, June, 1860, Q. 2034, p. 143.] ‘I think,’ said Mr. OLDFIELD, when questioned, in the Committee, as to the extent of provision _for the probable future_ requirements of the Museum, ‘the proper mode is to secure so much space as will at least meet those demands which are likely to occur during the construction of the building; and then, above all, to adopt a system of construction which would at any future time admit of an extension, without derangement of that which now exists, and so would obviate the very great expense and inconvenience which has hitherto occurred from alterations and reconstructions.’

In reporting upon this plan, originally framed in 1858, the Committee of 1860, after comparing with it two other but only partial plans of extension and re-arrangement, prepared respectively by Mr. Sydney SMIRKE and by Mr. Nevil STORY-MASKELYNE, observe: ‘Your Committee have reason to think that if any of these plans were adopted—involving the [immediate] purchase of not more than two acres of land, with the [immediately] requisite buildings and alterations—the cost would not exceed three hundred thousand pounds. If, however, only this limited portion of land should be at once acquired, it is probable that the price of what remains would be enhanced. If the whole were to be purchased, as your Committee have already recommended, the cost above stated would be, of course, increased.’

The recommendation here referred to has been already quoted in a preceding chapter, together with a statement of the grounds on which it was based.

[Sidenote: See Chap. III of Book III.]

The only additional elucidation, on this head, which it seems necessary to give may be found in a passage of the evidence of one of the Trustees, Sir Roderick MURCHISON, who, in 1858, with other eminent men of science, presented a Memorial to the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, praying that the British Museum might _not_ be dismembered by any transference of the Natural History Collections to another locality. After saying: ‘I entirely coincide still in every opinion that was expressed in that Memorial, and I have since seen additional and stronger reasons for wishing that [its prayer] should be supported,’ Sir Roderick added: ‘When it was brought before us [that is, before a Sub-Committee of Trustees] in evidence, that if we were largely to extend the British Museum at once _in sitû_, and that as large a building were to be made _in sitû_ as might be made at Kensington, we then learned that the expense would be greater. But I have since seen good grounds to believe that by purchasing the ground rents or the land, to north, east, or west, of the Museum, according to a plan which I believe has now been prepared and laid before the members of the Committee [referring to that of Mr. OLDFIELD, just described], and availing ourselves of the gradual[49] power of enlargement ... [Sidenote: _Minutes of Evidence_, 1860, Q. 1243–1250, pp. 102, 103.] the Nation would be put to a much less expense for several years to come, and would in the end realise all those objects which it is the aim[50] of men of science to obtain.’

The chief alternative plan is based on the transference of the Natural History Collections to an entirely new site, and on the devotion to the uses of the Literary and Archæological Departments of the Museum of the whole of the space so freed from the scientific departments.

[Sidenote: PLAN FOR THE TRANSFERENCE OF THE NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS
TO KENSINGTON (OR ELSEWHERE). 1861–62.]

The Committee of 1860 condemned this plan in the main (but only, as it seems, by a single voice upon a division), but what that Committee had under consideration was only the first form into which the plan of separation had been shaped. At the end of the year 1861 and beginning of 1862, that plan was again brought before a Sub-Committee of the Trustees, at the express instance of the Lords of Her Majesty’s Treasury, and it was thus reported upon:—

[Sidenote: REPORT OF SUB-COMMITTEE OF TRUSTEES, Jan., 1862.]

Your Committee, to whom it has been referred to consider the best
manner of carrying into effect the Treasury Minute of the thirteenth
of November, 1861, and the Resolution passed at the special general
meeting of the third of December of the same year, have unanimously
agreed to the following report:[51]—

[Sidenote: MINUTE OF TREASURY.]

The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury state in that
Minute, ‘That, in their judgment, some of the collections ought to be
removed from the present buildings, and that they will be prepared to
make proposals at the proper time to the Royal Commissioners of the
Exhibition of 1851, with a view to the provision, on the estate of the
Commissioners, of space and buildings, which shall be adequate to
receive in particular, at first the Mineralogical, Geological, and
Palæontological Collections, and ultimately, in case it shall be
thought desirable, all those of the Natural History Departments.’
Their Lordships, after having invited the Trustees to prosecute the
further examination of the question, continue as follows:—‘It will
have to be considered what other or minor branches of the collections
may, with propriety or advantage, be removed to other sites, or even
made over, if in any case it might seem proper, to other
establishments.’

Your Committee have, therefore, thought it their duty at the outset to
examine whether all the Natural History Collections, viz. the
Zoological and Botanical, in addition to the Geological,
Palæontological, and Mineralogical, specified in the Treasury Minute,
might with propriety and advantage be removed from the present British
Museum buildings. [Sidenote: ALL COLLECTIONS OF NATURAL HISTORY TO BE
REMOVED.] The importance, as regards science, of preserving together
all objects of Natural History, was forcibly urged by Sir R.
MURCHISON, at the special general meeting of the third of December. In
a Memorial laid before the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1858, and
signed by more than one hundred and twenty eminent promoters and
cultivators of science,[52] it was represented ‘that as the chief end
and aim of natural history is to demonstrate the harmony which
pervades the whole, and the unity of principle, which bespeaks the
unity of the Creative Cause, it is essential that the different
classes of natural objects should be preserved in juxtaposition under
the roof of one great building.’ Your Committee concur in this
opinion, and they have come to the conclusion that it is essential to
the advantage of science and of the collections which are to remain in
Bloomsbury, that the removal of all the objects of Natural History
should take place, and, as far as practicable, should be
simultaneously effected.

[Sidenote: BOTANY.]

With regard to Botany, it is a question whether the existence of the
Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew does not suggest an exception as to the
place to which the British Museum Botanical Collection should be
removed, reserving a small series for the illustration of fossil
Botany, in connexion with Palæontology.

It is to be kept in view that the removal of the Palæontology,
Geology, and Mineralogy, would leave unoccupied only two very
inconveniently placed rooms in the basement, besides the north half of
the north gallery on the upper floor (about four hundred feet in
length, by thirty-six in width); whereas the recently imported marbles
from Halicarnassus, Cnidus, Geronta, and Cyrene, fill completely the
space under the colonnade, extending to about five hundred and forty
feet in length. Nor can your Committee omit to add, that should the
removal of the Botany and Zoology be delayed, the final and systematic
arrangement of the collections which are to remain must be equally
delayed; while, if any portions of these were removed to other
situations in the Museum, or their final transfer postponed, many of
the objects retained would have again to be shifted for the sake of
congruity and economy of space.

It is, therefore, recommended by your Committee, that all the Natural
History Collections be speedily and simultaneously removed.

[Sidenote: ETHNOLOGICAL COLLECTION TO BE REMOVED.]

Together with these the Ethnological Collection ought to be provided
for elsewhere. Most of the objects which it contains have no affinity
with those which are contained in the other parts of the Museum, nor
is the collection worthy of this country for its extent, nor yet,
owing to its exceptional character, is it brought together in a
methodical and instructive manner. Occupying but a secondary place in
the British Museum, it cannot obtain either the space or the attention
which it might obtain, were it not surrounded and cast into the shade
by a vast number of splendid and interesting objects which have
irresistible claims to preference. Mr. HAWKINS was of opinion, ‘that
if Ethnography be retained,’ it would be necessary to quadruple the
space for its exhibition. The Select Committee in their report (p.
vii), state that ‘they have received evidence from every witness
examined on this subject in favour of the removal of the
Ethnographical Collection.’ If it were to be retained, an area of ten
thousand feet (same report, p. xi) would be required. Your Committee
cannot, therefore, hesitate to recommend the removal of the
Ethnographical Collection to a fitter place. [Sidenote: PORTRAITS.]
Nor can they hesitate in proposing the removal, from the present
Ornithological Gallery, of the Collection of Portraits hanging on the
walls above the presses containing the stuffed birds. Those paintings
having no connexion with the objects for the preservation of which the
Museum was founded, would never have been placed there had there been
a National Portrait Gallery in existence for their reception.

[Sidenote: SPACE LEFT VACANT.]

The following is a detailed statement of the space which would be left
vacant in various parts of the Museum by the removal of the above
collections....

Then follows an enumeration, first, of the space left vacant by the removal of the Geological, Palæontological, and Mineralogical Collections, amounting in the whole to an area of twenty thousand one hundred and thirty-five feet; secondly, of the space left vacant by the removal of the Zoological Collection, amounting to an area of thirty-five thousand four hundred and twenty-eight feet; thirdly, of the space left vacant by the removal of the Botanical Collection, amounting to five thousand nine hundred feet; and, finally, of the space left vacant by the removal of the Ethnological Collection, namely, a room on the south side of the upper floor, marked ‘3’ on the plan, ninety-four feet by twenty-four, giving an area of two thousand two hundred and fifty-six feet; and giving, in the whole, an aggregate area of sixty-five thousand and seventy-nine feet.

[Sidenote: TREASURY MINUTE; ALTERATION OF PRESENT BUILDING.]

Having enumerated the collections which might, with propriety and advantage, be removed from the British Museum, and stated the extent of new accommodation which would consequently be gained for other collections, the Committee proceeded to consider, in the words of the Treasury Minute, ‘the two important questions—first, of such final enlargement and alterations of the present buildings as the site may still admit, and as may be conducive to the best arrangement of the interior; secondly, of the redistribution of the augmented space among the several collections that are to remain permanently at the Museum, among which, of course, my Lords give the chief place to the Library Departments and the Antiquities.’

The Committee, agreeing with their Lordships that the chief claims in the redistribution of the augmented space are those of the Antiquities and of the Library Departments, then proceed to say that—

They have thought themselves bound also to pay attention to certain
other important purposes, to which a portion of the space to be
obtained by alterations within and by building on some remaining spots
of unoccupied ground, might be beneficially applied.

[Sidenote: TRUSTEES’ OFFICES.]

Your Committee have, in the first place, had their attention drawn to
that part of the existing buildings appropriated to the administrative
department of the Museum. The want of space for clerks, for Museum
publications, for stationery, for the archives of the Trust, for
papers of all descriptions, for the transaction of business with
officers and servants of the Trustees, and with tradesmen, as well as
the want of a waiting-room for strangers of all ranks who have to
attend on the Trustees, or wish to have interviews with their chief
officer or any of the persons attached to his office, is the cause of
great embarrassment and discomfort. To which is to be added the
inconvenience caused by the unsuitable arrangement of the rooms, which
renders those who occupy them liable to perpetual interruptions.
Moreover, by the strict rule forbidding the admission of artificial
light into the Museum, the period of available working time is
occasionally much abridged. Another site must be found for this
department; there are no means of providing on its present site
against the evils above mentioned.

In the next place, your Committee have taken into consideration the
absolute necessity of providing for the exhibition of specimens of
coins and medals, always intended by the Trustees, but never carried
into effect for want of space. [Sidenote: EXHIBITION OF COINS AND
MEDALS.] And not only a selection of coins and medals, but also one of
gems, cameos, and valuable ornaments, should be exhibited to Museum
visitors. The want of room for such a purpose is the source of great
trouble and inconvenience. The present Medal Room is much too confined
even for the arrangement and preservation of its contents, and for
such accommodation of its officers as is necessary to enable them to
perform properly their duties. Moreover, as visitors cannot be
indiscriminately admitted to the Ornament Room, still less to the
Medal Room, such of them as do not take the proper steps for gaining
access to those rooms are debarred from seeing even specimens of
objects which acquire a peculiar interest in proportion to the
strictness with which they are guarded. The general visitors should
have an opportunity of satisfying their laudable curiosity by seeing a
good selection of coins, just as they can at the present time see
interesting specimens of manuscripts and printed books; scholars and
persons who have special reasons for examining coins leisurely and
minutely, ought to have the means of doing so comfortably under proper
regulations, and in a separate room, in the same manner as readers are
allowed to use books; but no stranger should be admitted into the room
where the Collection of Coins and Medals is preserved unless in rare
and exceptional cases, and always in the presence of the
Principal-Librarian, or the keeper of the department.

[Sidenote: EXHIBITION OR PRINTS AND DRAWINGS.]

In the third place, your Committee, being aware of the importance of
space for the due exhibition of prints and drawings, and of the
repeated complaints of the keeper of that department, who cannot find
room wherein to arrange the collection so as to have it safely
preserved as well as readily accessible, have given their best
attention to those complaints. Most of the inconveniences which are
felt by visitors, as well as by Museum officers, in the existing Medal
Room, are equally felt in the existing Print Room; and many of the
wants which it is suggested should be provided for to make the
Collection of Coins and Medals as useful and instructive as it ought
to be in a great national institution, are wants against which
provision must be made in order to render equally useful and
instructive the Collection of Prints and Drawings. These wants are
ample space for classing, arranging, and preserving the bulk of the
collection, as well as ample space wherein to exhibit, for the
amusement and instruction of the public generally, such a selection of
prints and drawings as may be calculated to give a general notion of
both arts from their infancy to comparatively modern times, in various
countries, and according to the style of the most celebrated masters.
Studies should likewise be provided for the keeper, and also for an
assistant-keeper, in this department, as well as accommodation for
artists who come to copy or study critically any of the objects, or
classes of objects, forming part of this collection, and for those who
come for the purpose of researches requiring less minute attention,
and who desire to see a variety of prints and drawings in succession.

[Sidenote: BINDERS’ SHOPS.]

In the fourth place, your Committee have taken into consideration the
want of space for carrying on the binding of the Museum books. The
Collection of Manuscripts, and, much more, that of Printed Books, have
of late years been increasing with unexampled rapidity; but the
bookbinders’ accommodation has not been increased in a corresponding
ratio. The damage caused, particularly to new books, placed unbound in
the readers’ hands, may well be conceived; and the Trustees were
compelled, by the necessity of the case, to sanction an expedient of
doubtful legality, by allowing a large number of books, which in case
of misfortune might be easily replaced at a comparatively small
outlay, to be taken out of the Museum to be bound in a house
immediately opposite to it, hired by the bookbinder. Your Committee
think that such an arrangement, avowedly a temporary one, ought not to
continue a moment longer than is unavoidable; and that adequate
provision should be made as speedily as possible within the Museum
premises for binding all books belonging to the Trust.

[Sidenote: ALTERATIONS AND REDISTRIBUTION OF SPACE GENERALLY.]

Your Committee will now proceed to consider the questions of the final
enlargement and alterations of the present buildings, and of the
redistribution of the augmented space for the several purposes above
mentioned. In making the following proposals, your Committee have kept
in view the principle that it would not be advisable for the Trustees
to appropriate specifically to particular objects any particular
space. They will, therefore, as much as possible, confine themselves
to stating how the augmented space should be generally redistributed
among the remaining collections, giving the chief place to the
Antiquities and Library; the arrangement of the particular objects or
classes of objects should rest on the responsibility of the head of
each department, who would in due time submit his views to the
Trustees. Your Committee also wish it to be clearly understood that
the structural details herein suggested or implied, must be considered
liable to such modifications as the farther development of the scheme
may require.

BRITISH MUSEUM.

PLAN OF THE GROUND FLOOR.
]

[Sidenote: NEW STAIRCASES.]

In the building as now arranged, the principal staircase (No. 69 on
the plan of the ground floor) is situated on the left in the Entrance
Hall (No. 2); opposite to the entrance is the corridor (No. 80)
leading to the Reading-Room; east and west of that corridor, between
the main building and the new Library, there is an area (No. 70 and
79) about thirty feet wide unoccupied. It has long been suggested that
the principal staircase should be removed from No. 69, and that two
staircases be erected on the area 70 and 79, one on each side of No.
80. The hall entrance (No. 2) would be lighted by the skylight already
existing in the roof, and by a corresponding opening to be made in the
upper floor. The site of the principal staircase, No. 69, would be
occupied by a large room, seventy-five feet by thirty-five, giving an
area of two thousand six hundred and twenty-five feet, exactly like
the one opposite to it (No. 58) in height as in every other respect,
with a floor on a level with the rest of the building.

[Sidenote: PRESENT ROMAN GALLERY.]

There are blank windows on the north side of the principal staircase
that would have to be cut through to light the new room, and
additional light could be admitted if necessary. On the south of the
projected new room is a narrow room, ninety-four feet by twenty-four
(No. 3), designated as the Roman Gallery, the light of which is very
defective, especially on the side of the windows opening under the
front colonnade. The Collections of Antiquities contain some large
objects, more interesting archæologically than artistically, for which
light on each side of them is very desirable. If the wall now
separating the staircase from No. 3 were removed, and pilasters or
columns substituted (the upper part of that wall in the floor above
might likewise be removed if desirable), a room ninety-four feet by
sixty, giving an area of five thousand six hundred and forty feet,
admirably adapted for antiquities of this kind, would be obtained.

[Sidenote: TRUSTEES’ PRESENT OFFICES.]

At the western extremity of the Roman Gallery (No. 3), and turning
southward, are the Trustees’ room (No. 4), two rooms for clerks (No. 5
and 6), and the study of the Principal-Librarian (No. 7). It is
proposed to remove all the partition walls inside the space occupied
by No. 4, 6, and 5, and by the corridor on the east of No. 4, and to
open windows on the west side at the same height, and uniform with
those in the gallery No. 17, of which this part of the building would
then be a continuation, opening a communication like that on the
corresponding side on the east (between No. 56 and 63). The Egyptian
Gallery might thus be extended to the total length of four hundred and
sixty-five feet.

[Sidenote: NEW BUILDINGS ON NO. 11.]

By removing the corridor and study No. 7, as well as the projection on
the north side of the house now occupied by Mr. CARPENTER, so far west
as the point at which it would intersect a prolongation to the south
of the west wall of the first Elgin Room, a plot of unoccupied ground,
one hundred feet by seventy-five, might be turned to great advantage.
The interior arrangement of this newly acquired space would depend on
the purposes to which the Trustees should think fit to apply it:
whether, for instance, it might be advisable to throw into it the
third Græco-Roman Saloon (No. 10), which is now by common consent too
narrow, or whether the western part of that plot of ground had not
better be set out as a continuation of the Elgin Room, which should be
carried through the end of the above room (No. 10) and of the Lycian
Room (No. 13). Before finally deciding this point it would be
imperative to determine what is to be done with the Lycian Room, which
is in an unfinished state, because it neither is nor ever was large
enough for the collection for which it was intended; whilst, on the
other hand, it contains objects which ought never to have been placed
there, and which ought to be removed. [Sidenote: SPACE ACQUIRED (NO.
4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13).] Until the keeper of the department has
before him a correct plan of all the space which he may eventually
have at his disposal, and until he has well considered how the objects
to be placed ought to be arranged, he cannot give a decided opinion
upon any scheme for building on the plot now under consideration. For
the present purpose it is enough to say that the Trustees’ room and
those annexed (No. 4, 5, and 6), giving an area of about two thousand
nine hundred and fifty feet on the ground floor, and a large piece of
ground, one hundred feet by seventy-five, may be beneficially applied
to the Department of Antiquities.

[Sidenote: BUILDINGS ON NO. 31 AND 32, AND ALTERATION OF PRESENT PRINT
ROOM.]

No. 14 and 18 are the two Elgin Rooms, containing the finest reliques
of Greek art in existence, which have remained unarranged for years,
owing to the difficulties which the space hitherto available presented
for their definitive arrangement, and to the uncertainty of the final
appropriation of the space No. 31. It seems, however, to be generally
admitted that on the unoccupied plot of ground, No. 31, a continuation
of the second Elgin Room should be erected of the same width, to
include the Print Room, the floor of which should be lowered to the
general level of the Museum ground floor, and its width extended
westward about seven feet. Another gallery might thus be formed
altogether four hundred and seventy-five feet long and thirty-seven
wide. Should it not extend farther than the southern extremity of the
first Elgin Room (No. 14), its length would be three hundred and
thirty feet. The plot of ground, No. 32, ought also to be applied to
the accommodation of Antiquities. The study No. 23 should be done away
with. [Sidenote: ALTERATION OF STAIRCASE, NO. 27.] The two lower
flights of the N.W. staircase, No. 27, should be taken down and
reconstructed in No. 26 and 36, with the necessary alterations to
reconnect them with the two upper flights, which would remain as they
are now. The studies No. 28, and passage No. 29, should be cleared
away, as well as those above them, together with the lower part of the
western wall of No. 27, the southern wall of that space being
continued to No. 30, thus forming a passage or gallery, about
twenty-two feet wide, for communication between the Northern Egyptian
Gallery and the new gallery to be erected at the north of the Elgin
Rooms. From the new passage thus formed there should be an opening on
the south side, and a flight of steps to descend to the gallery which
is to be built on No. 32. There would be room under the new staircase,
in the space No. 36, to form an additional study for the Printed Book
Department, where it is much wanted. Upon No. 32, a gallery should be
erected from the basement, like the Assyrian Gallery, No. 15, to both
of which access might be had by two handsome staircases, descending
north and south of No. 19, from which it is taken for granted the
Phigaleian Marbles and other objects, now there, would be removed, the
central space being applied to better purposes.

BRITISH MUSEUM.

PLAN OF THE GROUND FLOOR.
WITH THE
PROPOSED ALTERATIONS.
]

It does not appear to your Committee that any farther accommodation
for Antiquities can be procured on the ground floor, without
interfering with rooms now appropriated to the Library.

[Sidenote: NEW GALLERY ON NO. 32, LIKE ONE NOW ON NO. 13.]

On the north side of the upper floor, all that portion marked 21, 32,
31, 30, 29, 33, 28, and 27, on the plan of that floor, now occupied by
Geology, Palæontology, and Mineralogy, should be transferred to the
Antiquities. It would be desirable to remove the two studies, marked
21, at the western extremity of that floor, and to add so much more
space to the gallery for exhibition.

[Sidenote: SPACE FOR ANTIQUITIES ON NORTH UPPER FLOOR.]

But before proceeding farther, your Committee wish to make one or two
remarks on the advantages which all the galleries on the upper floor
offer for the exhibition of Antiquities, even of considerable size and
weight, were any of the space on this floor wanted for such objects.
[Sidenote: FITNESS OF UPPER FLOOR FOR SUCH PURPOSES.] With respect to
light, as all these galleries may, if requisite, be lighted by
skylights (those on the east and west being so already), they will so
far meet with the approbation of those who are considered judges of
the kind of light peculiarly required for the exhibition of
sculptures. The size of the rooms gives ample space for the public
exhibition of Antiquities, including statues, not much less than
life-size, if necessary; whilst the galleries, though lofty, will not
dwarf them. Competent critics have pronounced that it is a mistake to
suppose that all sculptures look better in magnificent rooms. The
solidity of the Museum building, throughout, leaves no doubt of its
upper floor being strong enough to receive ordinary marble statues,
not to speak of busts and smaller objects. The floor of the western
end of the northern gallery, marked No. 21 and 32 on the plan, offers
extra solidity, as it rests on substantial walls at intervals of
twelve feet from each other. Your Committee have been assured by their
architect that a mass of marble, weighing several tons, might be
safely deposited on any part of that floor.

[Sidenote: STUDIES.]

With respect to the northernmost central portion (No. 33) of the
gallery now under consideration, it could not be better applied than
to studies for the officers of the Department of Antiquities. Five
such studies might be formed therein, each eighteen feet by sixteen,
opening on a corridor six feet wide and eighty-four long, in which
might be kept the Departmental Collection of Books for the common
daily use of the occupiers of those studies.

The whole of the eastern side of the upper floor, including rooms 35
to 40 (all Zoology), together with the rooms marked 41 (Zoology), 42,
43 (Botany), 1 (Zoology), 2 (the site of the principal staircase, as
well as the smaller staircase on the west of it), and finally No. 3
(Ethnography), should be transferred to the Departments of
Antiquities; subject to the consideration whether the rooms No. 42 and
43 might not be reserved for the Department of Manuscripts, if at any
time required. Space is wanted, not only for Antiquities now
unprovided with any accommodation, but also for the display of future
additions, and for the better arrangement of what is now
unsatisfactorily exhibited, either too far from the eye or in dark
corners. [Sidenote: SPACE FOR ANTIQUITIES ON THE EAST AND SOUTH UPPER
FLOORS.] A large number of objects, to be seen as they ought to be,
must be spread over twice the space which they fill at present; a
great many more, now placed where they cannot be seen at all, ought to
be removed to more suitable situations. [Sidenote: WEST SIDE OF UPPER
FLOOR TO REMAIN FOR ANTIQUITIES.] The whole of the west side—that is,
rooms 9 to 15—would continue to be applied to the exhibition of
Antiquities; it is not, however, to be assumed that the objects now
there would necessarily be left where they are, nor yet that, for
instance, Egyptian Antiquities should necessarily occupy the same
galleries which they occupy at present. From room No. 14 must be
removed either the Egyptian Antiquities now in it, or the Temple
Collection, which was placed there from absolute necessity, there
being no other space whatever where it could be exhibited. The British
and Mediæval Collections would probably have to be removed to some
other part of the upper floor, now occupied, or which it is now
proposed should be occupied, by Antiquities, where the transition
would be less abrupt than from Egyptian to Mediæval.

[Sidenote: EXHIBITION OF COINS AND MEDALS.]

As before suggested, space should be set apart for the exhibition of
Coins and Medals, besides that which is required for their safe
custody, arrangement, and study. Your Committee will presently state
how the latter ought to be provided for. As to the public exhibition
of coins, the three rooms, 8, 5, and 4, in which the coins, medals,
gems, &c., are now kept, would be admirably adapted for the purpose,
after the internal partition walls are removed. It would be desirable
to preserve the two rooms, 6 and 7, the one as a study for an
assistant, who should be always at hand to give information connected
with the coins exhibited close by, and to answer such questions as
would not require reference to the general collection; the other as a
waiting-room, to which a stranger might be more safely and freely
admitted, on the understanding that nothing valuable be kept in it,
whilst admission to the assistant’s room should be much more sparingly
granted. An obvious reason for applying this part of the premises to
the above purpose is, that it is provided with special doors, windows,
and locks, for the safety of the present contents. And as the objects
which it is proposed should be therein exhibited would be of some
considerable value, advantage should be taken of the existing
arrangements for their security. It is to be noted that this
exhibition would not interfere with the arrangement of any Collection
of Antiquities, with none of which could the coins and medals properly
mix, although so nearly allied to them.

BRITISH MUSEUM.

PLAN OF THE UPPER FLOOR.
]

The corresponding part of the upper floor on the south-east corner,
No. 44 and 45, is perfectly well adapted for the exhibition of prints
and drawings. As to space for the arrangement and preservation of the
prints and drawings, for the tranquil examination and study of them,
for the studies of the officers, &c., your Committee will presently
lay before you their views.

[Sidenote: EXHIBITION OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS.]

Your Committee have endeavoured to show how far a portion of the new
accommodation to be gained by removing the Natural History and
Ethnographical Collections, by alterations within the now existing
buildings, and by building on some remaining spots of unoccupied
ground, may with propriety and advantage be applied to the Departments
of Oriental, Mediæval, and Classical Antiquities, of the Coins and
Medals, and of the Prints and Drawings; your Committee will now show
what part of that accommodation might be made available for Printed
Books and Manuscripts.

[Sidenote: PRINTED BOOKS.]

When the erection of the new Library and Reading-Room was suggested,
it was stated that that Library would hold eight hundred thousand
volumes; that is, the annual increase for forty years, calculating
that increase at twenty thousand volumes. But the annual increase has
been, during the last five years, at the rate of upwards of thirty
thousand volumes, and during the last four years at the rate of about
thirty-five thousand, which number, however, is ultimately reduced by
the practice of binding two or more volumes of the same work in one;
while, on the other hand, the new building will certainly contain two
hundred thousand volumes more than it was originally estimated to
hold; so that if the present rate of increase continues, as it ought,
the new Library will be full in about twenty-five years from this
date. It was necessary to say thus much, as a notion seems prevalent
that a great deal more was promised when that building was suggested,
and that the number of books, which that new Library can hold, may
reach an almost fabulous quantity, and the space be sufficient for an
extravagant number of years.

[Sidenote: ROOMS IN BASEMENT TRANSFERRED TO PRINTED BOOKS.]

The rooms on the basement floor of the north side, both marked 15 on
the plan of that floor, and now occupied by Geology, cannot be
otherwise appropriated than to the Department of Printed Books; the
same is to be said of the seven small rooms, marked 17, now used for
Geology, as well as of rooms 18 and 19 on the east side, now used for
Zoology; all these rooms are immediately under the Department of
Printed Books, and naturally belong to it. The rooms marked 13, 14,
and 16, from west to east, were formerly appropriated to the
Department of Printed Books, to which they should now be restored.
When the first importation of Halicarnassian Antiquities took place,
they were deposited temporarily in these rooms, as no other space
whatever could be found in which to shelter and unpack them. In this
space are now arranged the Inscriptions, which have had to be removed
from under the colonnade to make room for the Marbles recently arrived
from Cyrene. Appropriate space for the Inscriptions will be found
without difficulty in the Department of Antiquities, enlarged
according to the foregoing suggestions, or, at all events, in the
basement, either now existing or to be built under the galleries for
Antiquities on the west side of the Museum, where sufficient light may
be procured for objects like these, which are of no great interest to
sightseers, and therefore need not be publicly exhibited; enough that
they be easily accessible to the small number of antiquarians and
scholars who may wish to examine them.

[Sidenote: PART OF NORTH GALLERY IN UPPER FLOOR TO PRINTED BOOKS.]

The north galleries on the upper floor are divided lengthways, from
east to west, into two portions; that now containing Zoological
Collections (No. 22 to 26) can be advantageously appropriated to the
Department of Printed Books when required. The volumes placed there
can be easily lowered down and returned through a hoisting apparatus
to be placed at either the south-east or south-west corner of No. 24,
immediately above No. 41 on the ground floor—the nearest point of any
in the main Library to the Reading-Room. By these various alterations
space would be provided for about two hundred and fifty thousand
printed volumes, in addition to that which still remains available in
that department, from which, however, space for about fifty thousand
volumes would have to be deducted, as will be presently shown.

[Sidenote: WANT OF SPACE IN DEPARTMENT OF MANUSCRIPTS.]

Although there is now space remaining in the Department of Manuscripts
for the accommodation of twelve thousand volumes, and although the
annual average increase of manuscript volumes may be safely reckoned
at less than six hundred and fifty, your Committee have, nevertheless,
felt that prospective increased accommodation should now be provided,
not only for the Collection of Manuscripts, but still more for artists
and readers who have occasion to refer to select manuscripts, as well
as for assistants, of whom two, together with one attendant and eight
readers, are pent up in a space of thirty feet by twenty-three,
crowded with tables, chairs, &c., which scarcely allow room for moving
from one place to another or for access to the officers’ study on each
side. The Head of the Department of Manuscripts has recently
represented to the Trustees his want of six assistants; but he has, at
the same time, been obliged to state that, if appointed, he should not
know where to place them. The Trustees have complied with his request,
to the extent of granting two new assistants; and he will experience
great difficulty in placing the two who are to be appointed. Add to
this, the interruption to which each of these persons is unavoidably
liable from each of the others in the performance of his duties and
occupations, owing chiefly to the narrow space in which they are
confined.

BRITISH MUSEUM.

PLAN OF THE UPPER FLOOR WITH THE PROPOSED ALTERATIONS.
]

On account of its locality, the Department of Manuscripts cannot
derive any direct advantage from the removal of the Natural History
Collections; no space which will thus become vacant can be rendered
available for the purpose of remedying the inconveniences here stated.
As, however, the Department of Printed Books obtains the additional
accommodation before mentioned, a portion of the space now occupied by
Printed Books, very conveniently situated to supply the wants of the
Department of Manuscripts, ought to be transferred to this department.

[Sidenote: SPACE TO BE TRANSFERRED FROM PRINTED BOOKS TO MANUSCRIPTS.]

It is, therefore, proposed that the study, marked No. 57 on the ground
floor plan, be removed to the north end of No. 55, now occupied by
Printed Books, and that the site of No. 55 be attached to the
Department of Manuscripts. In that gallery, one hundred and fifteen by
eighteen, excellent accommodation, with abundance of light, would be
found for twenty thousand manuscript volumes—for fifteen students at
least (this number is ample if admission be strictly and _bonâ fide_
limited to the class of persons for whom it is intended) at separate
seats, each having a table space of two feet and a half in depth and
four in length,—and for ten assistants or more, admirably placed for
superintendence. The area of the eastern recess of No. 56 would then
be quite clear, and available for the exhibition of manuscripts, like
the western recess in the same room. And when as large an exhibition
of manuscripts as the space permits is accessible to the public (and
still more accommodation for this exhibition might be found in the
present Department of Manuscripts), the same restrictions as have been
suggested with respect to coins and to prints ought to be imposed on
the handling of select manuscripts.

It now remains to find space wherein to provide proper accommodation
for the binder, as well as for the Trustees’ offices, for the
Collection of Prints and for the Collection of Coins.

[Sidenote: BUILDINGS IN THE GARDEN ATTACHED TO PRINCIPAL-LIBRARIAN’S
HOUSE.]

On the east side of the roadway parallel to the Department of
Manuscripts, there is a piece of ground extending to Montague Street
on the east, to the house No. 30, in that same street towards the
north, and to the Principal-Librarian’s house on the south. On a
portion of this ground stands an old building, now partly appropriated
to the binder and partly used as a guard-house; the remainder forms
the garden attached to the residence of the Principal-Librarian. It
appears to your Committee that by substituting a new building for the
one existing, and by building on the greater part of the garden, ample
accommodation will be found for what is wanted. Your Committee cannot
abstain from mentioning that this great sacrifice of personal
convenience on the part of the Principal-Librarian was suggested and
brought under their notice by that officer himself.

It was some years ago suggested by the Government that the military
guard might be dispensed with at the Museum; at times when the
services of the army were pressingly required, it was felt that
soldiers might be more usefully employed than in being kept for mere
show at the Museum. It was, however, thought that on removing the
military guard, better provision should be made for the safety of the
Museum.

[Sidenote: MILITARY GUARD DISCONTINUED.]

Then follow various details of minor consequence; to which succeed an enumeration of the additional space gained for the Collections of Printed Books, Manuscripts, Prints and Drawings, Antiquities, Coins and Medals, as well as for offices, store-rooms, bookbinders’ shops, &c., by the proposed alterations, as respects each of the several Departments of Printed Books, Manuscripts, and Antiquities; and a summary of the whole, from which it appears that the additional space gained by the Department of Printed Books amounts to an area of seventeen thousand eight hundred and three square feet; that the additional space gained by the Department of Antiquities amounts to sixty-seven thousand six hundred and ninety-two square feet; and, finally, that the additional space gained by the Department of Manuscripts amounts to three thousand four hundred and thirty square feet.