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BOOK III, Chap. VII. RECONSTRUCTORS

AND PROJECTORS.

MR.

OLDFIELD'S

PROJECT OF

RECONSTRUCTION

cases, eight feet high, extend to one hundred and forty-six feet of linear measurement; those ten feet high will, when the collection is fully arranged, extend to eighty-four feet; the whole therefore may be reck. oned as equivalent to two hundred and fifty-one feet of cases, eight feet high. The total extent, however, of such wall-cases in the proposed gallery is four hundred and fifty-five feet. The projections also, with the tables and pedestals, may safely be estimated as providing twice the accommodation for vases painted on both sides which is now furnished by the dwarf central cases, besides exhibiting them much more conve (1858-1860) niently. It should be added that the vases would be better lighted than at present; whilst the length and comparative openness of the gallery would produce a more striking impression on the passing visitor. The accommodation here provided being so ample, it might be de sirable to appropriate one compartment of the gallery to an exclusively Etruscan Collection, comprising not merely the pottery of the Etruscans, properly so called, but that for which they were really more distinguished in ancient times, their bronze and other metal work.

continued.

PROPOSED
ETRUSCAN

APARTMENT.

TERRACOTTA
ROOM.

GALLERY OF
ROTUNDA.

Ассоммо

2. Terracotta Room.-Fifty-six feet by seventeen. As no windows could be made on the east side, there should be no cases on the west; but the western windows, which do not correspond with the others of this story, should extend from near the ceiling to four or five feet from the floor. A sloping case might then be placed in each window, for lamps and other small objects, requiring a strong light. Against the east wall should be cases for vases, and other large objects.

3. Gallery of the Rotunda.- From one hundred and eighty to one hun. dred and ninety feet in circumference, and about nine feet wide. The powerful light from the centre of the dome would be favourable to terra. cotta statuettes and bas-reliefs, which could all be contained in shallow wall-cases, that would not materially narrow the gangway.* The Townley Collection of bas-reliefs, now in the Second Vase Room, might be arranged in panels all round, so as to produce a decorative effect, agreeable to their original destination.

The entire space provided in these two rooms is much more than our DATION FOR terracottas can absolutely require; but this will facilitate an ornamental arrangement of the collection, appropriate to the character of the larger room. The small spaces between the Rotunda and the main building would serve for closets.

TERRACOTTAS.

GLASS ROOM.

4. Glass Room, twenty-eight feet by twenty-six.-The fittings proper for glass being different from those of terracottas, it is desirable to give

* In the accompanying Plan (of the Parliamentary Report, 1860), pilasters of unnecessary size have been inadvertently introduced into this gallery, reducing both the extent of the wall-cases, and the breadth of the gangway, in a manner never intended.

Book III, Chap. VII. RECONSTRUCTORS

AND PRO

PROJECT OF
Rxcon-

STRUCTION

continued.

it a separate room. This should be similarly arranged to the Vase Gallery, with wall-cases eight feet high, and table-cases in the centre. 5. Bronze Gallery, three apartments united; together eighty-two feet by twenty-eight.-As the advantage of a skylight for the bronze statuettes is necessarily sacrificed by the adoption of an upper floor, it JECTORS. would be best to place them, as far as possible, against each side of the MR. transverse projections, separating those sides by internal partitions, and OLDFIELD'S employing some contrivance to protect the bronzes from the cross light of the further windows, an arrangement possible with small objects in glass cases, though not with large statuary. In the middle of the (1858-1860),— gallery might be table-cases, placed longitudinally, or important objects on pedestals. The increase of accommodation in the Bronze Gallery, BRONZE as in the Vase Gallery, is more than proportionate to the increase of space. Though the superficial area is only two thousand two hundred MODATION. and ninety-six feet, in lieu of our present quantity, two thousand and twenty-one, the extent of wall-cases, which now is only one hundred and thirty-eight feet, would, even allowing doorways of twelve feet wide between each of these compartments, be increased to two hundred and fifty feet, equivalent, after allowing for the difference in height of the cases, to two hundred feet. This, if the Etruscan bronzes were transferred as already suggested, would liberally provide for the Greek and Roman Collection.

Each room should be fifteen to eighteen feet high; the windows exclusively on the east side, and extending from the ceiling to four or five feet from the floor. As the aspect is nearly N.E., the sun could not be injurious, and the glass of the windows, therefore, had better be unground.

GALLERY.

ITS ACCOM

SECOND

FLOOR OF

NEW BUILD

INGS FOR

ANTIQUI

TIES.

1. British Rooms, each twenty-seven feet by twenty-six.-That which BRITISH adjoins the staircase (and, if necessary, those on each side), should be Rooms. lighted from the roof, and have wall-cases all round, with a separate case in the centre. The other rooms should have wall-cases on the west side, and shallower cases against the transverse walls. Two long tablecases in each room might extend from the windows to a line with the doorway.

SUMMARY OF ACCOMMO BRITISH AND MEDIEVAL

DATION FOR

2. Mediaval Rooms, each twenty-eight feet by twenty-seven, and simi- MEDIEVAL larly arranged to the British.-Though the entire superficial area in the Rooms. British and Medieval Rooms is only five thousand and seventy-two feet, in lieu of four thousand and forty-six, the amount in the present building, yet the wall-space is four hundred and sixty-six feet, instead of only two hundred and ninety-seven, and the cases, having no windows above, might, if necessary, be made ten feet high, like the present. The gain in table-cases would be much greater. In lieu of six, there would be twelve, each sixteen or eighteen feet long, instead of ten; whilst the central case in the room adjoining the staircase might be at least as

BOOK III,

Chap. VII. RECONSTRUCTORS

AND PRO

JECTORS.

MR.

OLDFIELD'S

PROJECT OF RECONSTRUCTION

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 оссиру 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 wall. cases 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
MEDAL
GALLERY.

PRIVATE ROOMS OF COIN DEPARTMENT.

OUTER COIN
ROOM.

INNER COIN ROOM.

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, win. dows 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 em ployed 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,
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 PROJECT OF the Outer Room.

AND PRO

RECON

STRUCTION

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, continued. 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, ROOMS IN 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,
Chap. VII.
RECON-
STRUCTORS

AND PRO-
JECTORS.

MR.

OLDFIELD'S

RECON

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 PROJECT OF 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.] 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.

STRUCTION

continued.

SUMMARY OF
SPACE FOR

ANTIQUI

TIES.

EXTRA SPACE.

SPACE IN BASEMENT.

SPACE

TRANS

FERRED TO NATURAL HISTORY.

PUBLIC

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, 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. 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

OFFICERS AND STUDENTS.

SUGGESTION

FOR INCREASING

THOSE FOR SIUDENTS.

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