The outer inclosure, on the ground-floor, is formed by dividing each
24-feet bay between the columns into three 8-feet bays by half columns of
wood, between which is placed boarding, held in its place by iron clips and
bolts; a plinth, four feet high, is formed immediately above the floor by
frames, filled with what are commonly called louvre-blades, which are hung
on pivots, and of which a large number can be moved simultaneously for the
admission of air; similar ventilating-frames, three feet deep, are
introduced at the top of each storey round the entire circuit of the
building, and by this means a ventilating-surface of no less than 40,800
square feet is obtained, or rather more than one acre.
[Illustration: PORTION OF THE LOWER STOREY OF THE PRINCIPAL ELEVATIONS.]
Externally some light arches are inserted, and open panels form the
inclosure for the upper louvre-frames. The details we have been describing
may be readily traced in the engraving of a portion of the lower storey as
seen from the outside. The exit doors occupy one of the 8-feet bays opening
about six feet wide. The inclosure to the upper storeys closely resembles
those of the ground-floor, but glazed sashes are substituted for the close
boarding, and the plinth is omitted. Each storey is crowned externally with
a cornice and cresting ornament, and over the columns posts are carried up,
to which flagstaffs will be fixed.
To return to the interior. The whole of the floor is boarded; that below is
laid with an interval of half an inch between the boards, to allow the
passage of dust from the millions of feet by which it will be trod; the
gallery floor, on the contrary, has iron tongues between the boards to
prevent the dust from coming through on the heads of the visitors below.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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