Book III, Chap. VII. RECON STRUCTORS departmental staff would be admitted, the coins and medals would be preserved, arranged, and catalogued; they would be carried hence by the officers into the Outer Room when required for inspection. The room is somewhat more than half as large again as the present Medal Room; and as the absence of visitors, and of the barriers their presence JECTORS. now requires, would leave the whole space free, there would be ample MR. accommodation for any probable enlargement of the collection. The OLDFIELD'S library of the department might be arranged partly in this, partly in the Outer Room. AND PRO PROJECT OF RECON- continued. ROOMS IN OTHERS Of the apartments reserved as private, two are placed at the south (1858-1860)— end of the first and second floors, and each of these might, if necessary, be subdivided into two small studies, each twenty-six feet by thirteen, PRIVATE for the use either of officers or students. Private rooms are, however, required on the ground floor, to replace the female students' room, and the Assistant-Keeper's study, proposed to be removed for the new Nim- SUGGESTED. roud and Khorsabad Galleries. The most effectual provision for these and other wants would be one which has been suggested during the present inquiry, namely, to transfer to the Department of Antiquities the several rooms now occupied as the Trustees' Room and adjoining offices, and to remove the official establishment to new rooms to be erected on the east side of the Museum. Should this be found impracticable, the present Insect Room, and adjoining studies, might, in the event of the transfer of this part of the Zoological Department to the upper floor, furnish the required accommodation. In default of both these alternatives, rooms might be constructed north of the new Assyrian Galleries, though, in the opinion of the writer, this ground should only be built over as a last resort. The basement, both of the old and new buildings, would, though USE OF unfitted for exhibition, and shut up from the public, be more or less BASEMENT. 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. The basement under the new buildings may, with reference to LIGHTING OF lighting, be divided into three classes:-1. The rooms under the first six BASEMENT. 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 GræcoRoman, and greater part of the small Greek Galleries, would receive BOOK III, AND PRO JECTORS. MR. OLDFIELD's PROJECT OF STRUCTION capacious as the large separate case in the present British and Mediæval Room. The lighting would throughout be more advantageous for these collections than at present; and the rooms, from the character of the windows, might be bright instead of gloomy. 3. Gem Room.-As the contents of this and the succeeding room have more or less intrinsic value, an iron door might be placed at the end of the Medieval Gallery, to be open only when the public are admitted to the Museum. The Gem Room, twenty-eight feet by twenty-seven, would be fitted like the preceding. The gems would occupy the table-cases, (1858-1860) which would accommodate a far larger collection than ours, and would exhibit them in the best possible light for such objects. In the wallcases might be displayed the gold and silver ornaments, which would have much more space than as now arranged, though in a room only of the same size. continued. GEM ROOM. COIN AND PRIVATE ROOMS OF COIN DE- OUTER COIN ROOM. INNER COIN 4. Coin and Medal Gallery, fifty-six feet by seventeen. As the dome of the Rotunda would only rise a few feet above the floor of this gallery, and would, from its curvature, recede to a distance of several feet, windows on the east side would be quite unobstructed. In each might stand a table-case, six or seven feet long, on which would be exhibited, under glass, a series of coins and medals which, though not the most valuable of our collection in the eyes of a numismatist, would suffice to give the public an interesting and instructive view of the monetary art. In the drawers of these cases might be kept the moulds and casts of the Coin Collection. Against the side walls might be upright cases, or frames, for extending the exhibition; but the walls facing the windows, having a front light, would be unsuitable for coins or medals, and must be employed for some other purpose. 5. The rooms which remain would be a private suite for the Coin Department. The present rooms of that department are arranged in an order the reverse of what is best for security and convenience, the coins being kept in an outer room, which must be passed in going either to the Keeper's study, or to the Ornament Room, a room open to all persons merely on application. In the accompanying plan the contents of the Ornament Room have been transferred to the Gem Room and the Keeper's study is placed near the beginning of the private suite. Outer Coin Room, twenty-eight feet by twenty-seven, for the freer exhibition of coins to properly introduced persons, for the use of artists copying coins or other minute objects, and all other purposes now served by the Medal Room, except the custody of the collection, and work of the department. Inner Coin Room, fifty-five feet by twenty-eight, secured by a strong iron door, of which the Keeper, Assistant-Keeper, and Principal-Librarian, would alone have keys.—In this room, to which none but the BOOK III, RECON STRUCTORS AND PRO departmental staff would be admitted, the coins and medals would be preserved, arranged, and catalogued; they would be carried hence by Chap. VII. the officers into the Outer Room when required for inspection. The room is somewhat more than half as large again as the present Medal Room; and as the absence of visitors, and of the barriers their presence JECTORS. now requires, would leave the whole space free, there would be ample MR. accommodation for any probable enlargement of the collection. The OLDFIELD'S library of the department might be arranged partly in this, partly in PROJECT OF the Outer Room. RECON STRUCTION continued. ROOMS IN PLAN. OTHERS Of the apartments reserved as private, two are placed at the south (1858-1860)— end of the first and second floors, and each of these might, if necessary, be subdivided into two small studies, each twenty-six feet by thirteen, PRIVATE for the use either of officers or students. Private rooms are, however, required on the ground floor, to replace the female students' room, and the Assistant-Keeper's study, proposed to be removed for the new Nim- SUGGESTED. roud and Khorsabad Galleries. The most effectual provision for these and other wants would be one which has been suggested during the present inquiry, namely, to transfer to the Department of Antiquities the several rooms now occupied as the Trustees' Room and adjoining offices, and to remove the official establishment to new rooms to be erected on the east side of the Museum. Should this be found impracticable, the present Insect Room, and adjoining studies, might, in the event of the transfer of this part of the Zoological Department to the upper floor, furnish the required accommodation. In default of both these alternatives, rooms might be constructed north of the new Assyrian Galleries, though, in the opinion of the writer, this ground should only be built over as a last resort. The basement, both of the old and new buildings, would, though USE OF unfitted for exhibition, and shut up from the public, be more or less BASEMENT. 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. The basement under the new buildings may, with reference to LIGHTING OF lighting, be divided into three classes:-1. The rooms under the first six BASEMENT. 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 GræcoRoman, and greater part of the small Greek Galleries, would receive BOOK III, STRUCTORS AND PRO JECTORS. 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 (1858-1860) Collections of Antiquities, amounting to a net addition of forty-one thousand nine hundred and fifty-six square feet of superficial area.] MR. OLDFIELD'S PROJECT OF RECON STRUCTION continued. SUMMARY OF ANTIQUI TIES. EXTRA SPACE. SPACE IN SPACE TRANS FERRED TO. NATURAL 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. 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. The space in the basement it is unnecessary to estimate in detail, being manifestly superabundant for its purpose. 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. The public galleries are similar to the present Zoological Galleries, not GALLERIES. merely in their structure, but in their fittings. The wall-cases, therefore, PUBLIC might be available, without alteration, for the new collections; and the central cases might either be retained for Natural History, or removed STUDIES FOR to the new upper floors for Antiquities, as was found more convenient. OFFICERS AND STU- SUGGESTION FOR IN- THOSE FOR 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. 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). The total area of the apartments transferred to Natural History may be summarily stated thus: Book III, Chap. VII. RECON- AND PRO JECTORS. MR. OLDFIELD'S STRUCTION (1858-1860)- continued. GIVING IT A Independently of the increased accommodation, the advantage of CONVENIacquiring for Natural History the exclusive possession of the upper floor ENCE OF is obvious and unquestionable, though the gain is not limited to that DISTINCT department. By separating its galleries entirely from those of Antiqui- FLOOR. ties, 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. APPROXI- PENSE. EXPENSE OF The ground immediately round the Museum, on the average of its ESTIMATE OF 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. The houses in Charlotte Street are inferior in character to those on the other two sides, and might doubtless be GROUND. 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 |