The Englishman's House: A Practical Guide for Selecting and Building a House

by C. J. Richardson

railing were put up by Mr. W. Jackson, the chief building lessee on the same estate, at a cost which amounted to upwards of 2000l.

Section through length of building.

The lodge contains two rooms on the ground floor the front room being 17 feet by 12 feet, the back room 13 feet by 11 feet. The basement has two rooms of the same size; with a small yard, a place for coals, and a dry area surrounding the whole. The plans are shown under the perspective view; the front and side elevations on page 128; the small portico has the centre columns without rusticated blocks, so that no square edges or projecting parts obstruct the entrance of persons into the lodge.

Cross section.

The section through the length of the building shows the two upper and the two lower rooms, with the sunk yard; it does not show clearly the section of the ground outside the building; the level of this is 18 inches below the floor of the upper rooms. The basement is completely buried, but as the small structure stood upon a mound and was protected by a dry area, this was of little consequence. The cross section next given shows the level of the outside ground correctly, with the two dry areas. Over this cross section are given two small details of the construction of the roof.

The building was of stone and brick, the ashlar front of the walls Bath stone, and the cornice of Portland—this was made so as to form the gutter.

The lodge has lately been taken down, and reconstructed on the opposite side of the entrance gate. So completely was this done that only one small block of stone was required to complete it, and this was only a replacement of one broken. The structure itself has been reproduced by the Government as a lodge opposite to the Exhibition Road. In the cut at page 127, is given a section through the portico and a section through the end wall.

The first design, made by the author, was intended to embody the views of His Royal Highness Prince Albert, in regard to the arrangement of the buildings for the purpose of Science and Art then proposed to be erected on the newly purchased estate. They comprised one for the collection of Pictures, at that time occupying only half the building at Trafalgar Square; this, the New National Gallery, was to be surrounded with other structures, affording ample accommodation for the chief learned and Artistic Societies of London. A large central Hall of Arts and Sciences was to be placed in their midst; the whole to form a metropolitan institution for the promotion of scientific and artistic knowledge as connected with industrial pursuits. It is well known that the surplus funds of the Exhibition of 1851, amounting to the sum of 150,000l., were offered by the Royal Exhibition Commissioners at the instance of the Prince, for the purpose of carrying out this grand conception. The report of the House of Commons’ Committee on the National Gallery strongly recommended the offer to be accepted, and Parliament at first assenting, voted another sum of like amount for carrying out the entire project. The sum of 300,000l. was found, however, insufficient for purchasing the whole of the ground required, and a further grant of from 25,000l. to 27,000l. was voted by Parliament, and a sum of 15,000l. was given by the Royal Commissioners. Mr. Cubitt was engaged to obtain the ground, and the roads through the Harrington estate were planned by him in conjunction with the author, who aided him to the utmost of his power in obtaining the land requisite to complete the site required for the various buildings proposed to occupy it. The site was 2100 feet in length, by an average breadth of 1200 feet, and consisted of about 56 acres; the level of the ground on the north of Kensington being about 36 feet higher than the portion at Brompton. Another block of land, upon which the Department of Science and Art is at present placed, made a space with an average width of 700 feet—in the whole 86 acres.