| 1. Machinery in Motion. 2. Other Machinery. 3. Seats for Visitors. 4. Refreshment Courts. | 5. Raw Materials. 6. Manufactures. 7. Sculpture and the Plastic Arts. 8. Small Court. | 09. The Rotunda. 10. Principal Entrance and Executive Offices. 11. The Other Entrances. | 12. The Drive in the Park. 13. The Kensington Road. 14. The Queen's Private Road. |
An objection might, perhaps, be raised to this part of the building, that it was too commodious, and that there might be some danger of its being converted into a lounge, while it was occupying too much of the space intended for the Exhibition, for a secondary, though certainly necessary purpose; it was, however, considered by the Committee, that of the vast number of visitors that might be expected to be in the building at one time, so many would avail themselves of the accommodation provided as to render a less amount undesirable. The principal courts were surrounded by a covered way, where refreshments were also to be served at long counters, in the manner of the railway-stations.
All these arrangements will readily be understood by a reference to the plan of the design we have been describing, which plan, together with a view taken from the south-east angle of the building, will place before the reader the result of the labours of the Committee. The materials proposed for the construction of this building were fire-proof throughout, with the exception of the floor and its supporting timbers.
The above design, at least in all its leading features, for some of the details were subsequently added, was laid before the Royal Commission, at the same time with the Report already quoted, and was by them approved, and the Committee proceeded to prepare the necessary working-drawings and specifications for the execution of the work. These proceedings of the Committee occupied until the 24th of June, when large lithographed copies of the most important of the drawings, together with printed copies of the specifications and other details, were issued from the offices of the Executive, contractors having been some time previously invited by public advertisement to send in tenders for the execution of either a part or the whole of the work. The tenders were to be on two systems, one on the supposition that the Royal Commission were to become the bona fide purchasers of the building; the other, that the contractors were to erect and maintain the building during the time of the Exhibition, after which they were to remove it and take back the materials at their own risk, receiving a proportionably diminished sum.
It has been considered necessary to describe thus minutely the labours of the Committee and the design in which they resulted, in order to show how far it paved the way for that which was subsequently adopted, and to give them that credit which they undoubtedly deserve for devoting so much of their valuable time for the furtherance of a great public undertaking.
HE design of the Building Committee, when published to the world, met with anything but public approbation; some of the objectors called in question the practicability of the execution of the enormous dome, at least within the time assigned; others complained that the outlay would be unnecessarily large for a purpose avowedly temporary, and expressed their fears that so costly a structure once erected, there would be the less probability of its subsequent removal; but the objection which appeared to have most weight with the public at large was, the great amount of solid brick construction in the walls, &c., which, it was urged, would require a longer time than could be allowed for their erection, and that the carting of the materials would cause serious injury in the Park and the surrounding neighbourhood. This strong current of objection seemed to bid fair to overwhelm the much-abused design. To increase the difficulties which seemed to gather round the progress of this noble undertaking, an exceedingly vexatious and factious agitation was got up in opposition to the proposed site in Hyde Park, and petitions and counter-petitions were presented to both Houses of Parliament, and much of the time of the Legislature was wasted in fruitless discussion on the subject. The Building Committee thought it desirable, under these circumstances, to lay before the public their reasons for recommending the site in the Park, and therefore issued a memorandum of the grounds on which it had been selected.[[2]] The result was, that the opposition was defeated in the Legislature, and finally crushed by the force of public opinion.
