The life and works of Sir Charles BarryBarry, Alfred
General
The life and works of Sir Charles Barry
Barry, Alfred
Architects -- Great Britain -- Biography; Barry, Charles, 1795-1860
The doubts and misgivings which I entertain as to the site at Kensington
for the comprehensive purposes to which it is proposed to be applied,
are--Firstly, That it is far too much to the west for the general
convenience of the Metropolis, particularly for the industrial community
and the working-classes at the eastern and central portions of the
town. Secondly, That to carry out efficiently the principle of
concentration as regards both Art and Science, it would not be large
enough to accommodate the National Library and the entire collection of
arts and antiquities at the British Museum, which should, in my opinion,
form a part of such an institution; neither is it probable that the
Learned Societies, whose meetings are usually in the evening, would be
induced to form part of the Institution in such a distant locality.
Thirdly, That it would render several old established and popular
National Institutions, which have been erected at considerable cost,
more or less useless; such as the British Museum, the present National
Gallery and Royal Academy, the Museum of Economic Geology, and the
Society of Arts, &c. And, Lastly, The enormous and indefinite cost that
it would be necessary to incur, and the great lapse of time and
inconvenience resulting therefrom, that might, and probably would,
ensue, before such a large and costly institution would be completed, so
as to render its advantages and usefulness thoroughly available.
From a rough calculation which I have formed of the buildings shown in
Your Royal Highness’s plan for the National Gallery alone (which
contains 1900 squares of buildings--_i. e._, is 30 per cent. larger than
the entire British Museum), taking the Palace at Caserta, with which, in
point of length and proposed design, it would so nearly assimilate, as a
type of the style to be adopted--the cost would be little less than a
million and a half of money; and to erect the other buildings,
containing about 3995 squares, as shown in the same plan, within the
main roads only, in a similar style, together with the enclosure, laying
out of the ground, and formation of roads, &c., would probably cost an
additional two millions and a half.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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